This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart Choice. Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies.
So you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.
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So book your test drive for Polestar 3 today at Polestar.com. I'm living my best life. Yeah, yeah. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Here's the other surprising part.
With guest host, Brian Weber. Yeah, big twos to fill. Eisen's a legend. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The Rich Eisen Show.
Do you know who I am? I'm a guy on television. I have my own show. And now. Sitting in for Ridge, here's Brian Weber.
It is the final hour of the program. I appreciate you spending part of your holiday with us. 844-204-7424. The number of the call. A groundbreaking program so far.
Historic, not only because we've been documenting. The excellence of Joey Chestnut, we took a phone call in the very first hour of the program. It was the day the earth stood still.
So we can keep that going next week. I'm back with you on Monday. I presume there'll be more NBA news. We're going to talk much more about. The ramifications and the consequences of what has happened so far dating back to.
The agreement between the Rockets and the Suns to send Kevin Durant to Houston. A reminder of that deal cannot become official until Sunday.
So when I'm back again Monday, will I be talking about? A historic, unprecedented seven-team deal. being finalized across the NBA. We will tackle that coming up. And we'll do it concisely because in 20 minutes, we'll say hello to our second and final guest after we had a great NBA conversation with James Jackson of the Athletic, with a reminder.
If you miss any portion of any program, you listen anytime on demand, the podcast will be up not too long after the end of the show. Levi Weaver, Of the Athletic will talk baseball with us coming up in 20 minutes. And I cannot close the program without. A smidge of football.
So in 40 minutes. As your fillin' hack. with verbal pyrotechnics. Fireworks coming up. Who has the most combustible quarterback room in all of football?
That is on the agenda. If you want to have that and on social media, based on how old my references are, it's probably pretty clear that I don't have much of a life. We can go back and forth after the program on the X platform. That is BW Weber, Weber with two B's. As I mentioned at the conclusion and just got back to it, really enjoyed that conversation with James Jackson, staff editor of The Athletic.
In addition to the writing he does. Editing matters, and he gets to interface with their lineup of terrific NBA scribes like David Aldridge. Hall of Famer, Sam Amick, and other terrific writers. And as we think about what has been going on, And what the impact is. It's pretty clear.
And I'm trying to tap into my memory without Googling. This is just pride. Pretty clear, we have the broadest disparity between East and West since. The initial years of this century that sounds like a long time ago. It's not a black and white movie.
But the broadest distinction I can come up with in the NBA between the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference based on the implosion of the Celtics and All the moves that have solidified Denver and Houston, most notably. OKC hasn't had to do anything because of how well-built they were and are by Stan Presti. But the biggest gulf between the conferences that stands out to me. would be those finals between The Lakers with the pacers And the Nets. And if you think about historically low ratings, even 25 or 22 years ago.
Those numbers were ghastly.
Now, today. Executives would cut off a finger to get them because the whole world has changed, and you kids won't put your phone down, and nobody's watching TV. But. To me, that's the comp. You got to go back to that Laker team that ran it back three years in a row.
with those championships, including the win over the Sixers. That's how long it's been since we've had this kind of disconnect East versus West.
Now one move for the Nuggets, and I'm not trying to get too deep in the weeds because I realize this is a national platform Nobody combines sports and entertainment better than Rich. I try to bring a lot of energy and keep it light on the holiday, but. It is my job, and I take this stuff seriously. Hopefully, I don't take myself too seriously, and I know that's probably not accurate. As I was thinking about what the Nuggets have done.
And Everyone's going to gravitate towards the Cam Johnson move as they should because he's an upgrade over Michael Porter Jr. I'm not talking about the raw counting stats. I'm referring to his versatility and Denver blowing up, quote unquote, their big three. And in no way am I bashing Michael Porter Jr. I admire anybody.
With that kind of commitment to coming back from multiple back injuries, and he was a part of that championship run. The problem in Denver was ownership. Stan Krogke, who was a very good person. who has all that sweet Walmart money, didn't want to spend to keep. The core of that team intact.
referring to key reserves like KCP. Jeff Green and Bruce Brown.
So what do you know? Bruce Brown came back this week. Not an earth shattering development, but we saw after the title was won Back-to-back losses in a game seven, reflecting that the team was too Joker-centric.
Now, it's wise to build around. The most versatile big man we've ever seen, but it's not arm wrestling. He can't go out there and play. One-on-one basketball. Even A generational talent like Nicola needs more help.
So, all the moves Denver has made, headlined by Johnson. Augmented by Brown. I like the pickup of Tim Hardaway Jr. All of this had one goal in mind that was more depth because. Seems like OKC now has laid out the formula.
You have the face of the franchise. You have that transformational talent, SGA versus the Joker in this case, then you need a bunch of dudes. Because this league is all about depth. Look at Indiana. If we're thinking about the comp East versus West, unfortunately, now everything's changed for the Pacers.
Halliburton presumably lost for the year with the torn Achilles. And I feel good for Miles Turner because I'm with you. Usually in February.
So I spend time talking about what's coming up. heading into the trade deadline, then nothing happens every year. Felt like we talked about Miles Turner going someplace and he got paid. By Milwaukee, and now he's in a situation where he can run with Giannis. But Indiana was the one team that could match the depth, talking about this season before all these moves occurred.
Indiana. If you looked at their roster, Had equal or better depth than OKC, and that's how they hung around. With Halliburton. Dealing with the calf injury, and even when he went down with the torn Achilles, I keep repeating this because it was fascinating to watch him real time. They let it have time.
Game seven was tied with about four minutes ago in the third quarter, and then TJ McConnell realized he was TJ McConnell. For all of the Jim Rats who lived through him vicariously, you did see all those turnovers, right? And the five-count, there's a reason why he was undrafted coming out of Arizona. I am not burying him. Talk about a guy maximizing your potential.
But there's also a reason why He was Supposed to be a backup and not get the kind of minutes he had to play in game seven. But if we're stacking up rosters now looking for who's winning the war of depth. Denver is in an interesting situation. And again, This is not something that's going to lead Sports Center if Rich was hosting it back in the day. But Joker really hasn't had a legitimate backup for a long time.
So when I saw Jonas Valenciunas, plus I just like saying that name, I missed working a tennis channel because after twenty years I could actually say all those interesting international names. Like Anna, And let's hum over. Valid shooters. According to reports... may not be going to Denver.
Now, the trade can still go through from Sacramento to Denver, but according to reports, he could be going to Greece.
Now again, this is not breaking news. But I think the separation between OKC Houston and Denver has gotten so narrow, these are the kind of secondary acquisitions that matter. Or perhaps this is just his agent looking for some leverage. But back to the notion that, hey, nothing happened this week in the NBA. Because Kevin Durant didn't summon five teams to go see him in the Hamptons like it was 2016.
That's just intellectually lazy and false. A lot happened. You just have to take the time, and that's what I'm trying to do, without belaboring things, understanding the audience is always changing, especially on a holiday. Sum up the impact of all of these moves.
So, what's it mean? OKC, in my estimation, still clearly the team to beat.
Now, I'm trying to be consistent because. There's a reason why we've had seven consecutive different champions in the NBA for the first time ever. Never happened before. Because of unprecedented Parody, and a lot of that also reflects the new collective bargaining agreement.
So, for example, When the Bucs broke through and won that title, a lot of us, myself included, thought. Yannis? Top three player, still is. Will be stacking multiple championships. Not one, not two, not three, not four.
Didn't happen. Denver? I alluded to their big three. I figured, okay, here's a team that's going to. At least win.
An additional championship or two, and they still might. But it feels like they squandered a couple years. Of Joker in his prime by not building that supporting cast the way you need to. And I was dead wrong about Boston. But Forgive me, I could not have foreseen that Tatum would go down.
With that Achilles injury. And the new ownership group would come in and effectively say to Brad Stevens, listen, we're paying $6.1 billion for this team. We're not going to spend as wildly as the previous ownership group did.
So you got to make the moves to get the books to align. But if we're thinking about where things stand right now with the thunder. Tell me why. At 844-204-7424, even with. Denver aggressively and creatively.
Building that roster. We've gone through all the moves made by the Rockets with potentially more to come as that deal between them and the Suns could expand. Tell me why, barring injury. The Thunder are not poised to win multiple titles. Second youngest team in the shot clock era to win it all.
SGA, many of you don't like him? Primarily because you think he's got some cheat code with his ability to draw fouls and get to the line. Every superstar. Does that? Last time I checked, it's still within the rules, and we know in the NBA more than any other league, stars get whistles.
That's how it works.
Now, you could say, hey, you didn't like James Harden having that same approach and that same. cheat code But it worked for him. At SGA. is not flopping like a European soccer player. He's creating contact and getting to the line.
Nothing wrong with that. But I keep reading things, and yeah, maybe I need to get off social media. Like, SGA is the most boring MVP we've ever seen. And then we're going to break it down. We're going to do a list because you've got to do a list of everything now in sports media.
That's just. People hating the hate. And that's what the trolls do. But that big three that's already in place. With SGA and J Dub, I'll roll it out there like I'm hip, and Shed Holmgren.
Who eventually is going to weigh more than 180 pounds, plus a bunch of guys we never talk about, like Dort and Alex Caruso, who I think I went to high school with. He's not 55, but he looks like it, and Hartenstein. You get my point. They have overwhelming depth. They have Plenty of draft capital.
The question for the Thunder will be: will ownership spend to keep that team intact? And I don't know. You're going to believe Clay Bennett? And his family? Because Paul Part of my Pushback on OKC, and this is my own bias.
I always go back to they shouldn't exist. The Thunders should only be around as an expansion team. That team being ripped from Seattle still bothers me just because I love that town and I know how passionate a hoops city Seattle is, having covered NCAA regionals there and having friends who grew up going to the Sonics games years ago.
So, Clay Bennett's the guy who told everybody in the Emerald City: no, no, this team's not going anywhere. Don't be concerned with the fact that I still have a house in Oklahoma and my money there. No, no, no, we're going to stay here.
So, if you believe that that was only one lie. And you're not what you consistently do, that would be my concern about OKC. Here's a team that figured out how to when on the road in the playoffs. Because you can't skip steps. In the NBA postseason, you got to build up that scar tissue.
Mission accomplished.
Now, it felt underwhelming because it took him seven games, but that was just a misperception from Vegas. And I fell victim to it as well. I thought okay seeing five. I'm just glad we got a game seven for the first time since LeBron shot the Warriors on the road. But as we think about now what it's going to mean moving forward.
Okay, see. And then you can slot it any way you want. I'd go Houston, then Denver. And we still have a lot to process in the Western Conference. How about Minnesota?
All they've done Has made back-to-back trips to the conference finals.
Now, my concern would be they didn't get better. And if you're Not improving. you can say, well, at least we're going to have continuity, and I'll do the Larry Bird. You're getting better, you're getting worse. And I have an issue with a team that's relying on Julius Randall to be their second best player.
But I cannot kick them for being four wins away, or however many wins they fell short of going to the NBA Finals in consecutive years. Notice I've. Done something record setting. Sixteen minutes in, I have not mentioned the Lakers because they're not worthy of conversation on a national platform other than hosts who just want to grab the low hanging fruit. LeBron will skip him for next week.
I'm sure there'll be more earth-shattering developments. Luca has his decision to make. Does he decide to sign the extension this summer or wait for a year? They finally did something, anything, picking up DeAndre Aiten. I realized that this team was a donut.
With nothing in the middle.
Well, Who's responsible for that? Rob Polinka. And for all the people Who just bow at the basketball IQ of J.J. Reddick, who's a bright guy? I'm not going to undermine his hoop's intellect.
Did he forget he had a bench? Matching up with Minnesota? Did he go to a Tom Thibodeau TED talk who said, no, no, no, just play your starters. And Beat them into the ground. Because he got outcoached by Chris Finch.
Also, it's an indictment that if you want to support JJ, who's he going to put in? Because that's how flimsy this roster is.
So. All Laker talk all the time. Is the same as all cowboy talk all the time, understanding the Lakers have actually won something. That was hyperbolic. Cowboys haven't even made a conference championship game in nearly 30 years.
But this is what we do in sports media. We gravitate towards the bright, shiny objects. I could talk about Memphis. I haven't even hit on the Warriors, although age is your concern. And if Steph is already now breaking down.
Is that going to get better or worse? And Jimmy Butler is 140 years old. But to me, Here's why I enjoy the NBA. Because the transaction And Dan Lebetard. Came up with this line.
I want to give him credit. The transaction in hoops is often more fascinating than the action. And we'll have plenty of time to continue this conversation when I'm back with you on Monday. I'm Brian Weber, Infor Rich Osen, 844-204-7424. Last call for phone calls.
Hit me up on the X platform, BW Weber. Weber with 2Bs, straight ahead. We return to the diamond. We've hit on the Yankees. The Mets, the Dodgers, I'll stay big, market-centric.
We'll take you to Chicago as well. Are the Cubs still the team to beat in the National League Central? Looking forward to spotlighting the bigs with Levi Weaver of the Athletic. I'm Brian Weber, always having a good time with you when I'm in for Rich. This is the Rich Eisen Show.
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart Choice. Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies.
So you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.
Getting the song out of the soul. Welcome to AutoZone. What are you working on today? Hey, that's the spirit. Right now, we're celebrating free with a free STP oil filter when you buy five quarts of oil and free Duralast brake pads when you buy two rotors.
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Safety is all about making the right decisions on the road and when selecting a vehicle. Learn more at hyundaiusa.com. Call 562-314-4603 for details. Pleased to be joined now by Levi Weaver. He handles the wind-up MLB newsletter for the Athletic.
And, Levi, as we have our first conversation, I want to tell you. You have the greatest X handle I've encountered in a long time as someone who loves baseball history. And often throws out the name Rip Sewell. Tell me how you arrived at the 3-2 Ephesus as your Twitter. I don't work for Eli, I don't work for Elon.
How did you get 3-2 Ephesus as your X handle? Uh yeah, so I am not a pitcher. I played uh I played infield in high school and then When I was like nineteen I was playing in a just a an amateur league and they asked, Hey, do you want to try to pitch? And I was like, Sure, I'll try it. And I was not very good.
I walked a couple of guys, came up a couple of hits. Two outs, bases loaded, I had a full count and I was like, All right, I gotta trick this guy.
So I acted like I was really upset. Stopping around the mound. And I leer in with my best just sort of glare. Kick the dirt a little bit and wind up and just throw the slowest pitch I could possibly throw. And it was like a Bugs Bunny.
Like he swung at it three times, grounded out the second base. And I remember thinking, like, in those moments when you're frustrated, it's like Maybe don't take yourself so seriously and maybe try to do something fun even when it's stressful. And so that's kind of been a mantra for me, and that's how I came up with the handle. I love it. Should I tell the kids Rip Sewell threw the Ephesus pitch and then Ted Williams hammered him?
But I'll save that for my podcast. Back in the day with B. Webb, I want to be more contemporary. Levi, this is a simplistic question, but that's what we do in Sports Talk Radio. What is wrong with the Yankees?
Yeah. I mean they're Curse, I think, might be okay. I don't have a good explanation, right? Like, they've got good players. And yeah, you could point to Things like Jazz Chisholm Jr.
is a very good second baseman and not a very good third baseman.
So why are they accommodating DJ Lemait you? And moving Chisholm to third by letting Lamehew play it second. Like, he's been one of the LeMayu's been one of the worst players in the league. Uh why not just sort of jettison him and let Let Chisholm go to second baseman, figure out third basement. You've only got one third.
There are a few little things. But it's I I can't say that I can point to one thing and go, well, this is a very easy thing that they could fix. Uh it just they had some injuries in the bullpen. They have But I don't know. And I know that's not a great answer for, you know, you bring in an analyst and you put it on the bottom.
But you could also say that's baseball. And look, let me be transparent. I talk too much about sports media and how we've arrived at our current dilemma of just talking all football all the time. And Levi, if I'm giving you Rip Sewell, that should tell you I love baseball. There you go, the problem with trying to analyze baseball is it's random.
It's flipping a coin 162 times.
So football's easier. We just talk about quarterbacks, but I prefer baseball because it's more of an intellectual exercise. Right, I mean the Pirates sweat the Yankees last weekend and that should not happen. And you can point to reasons of like here's what the Yankees are s sorry, the Mets. Power stuff a bit.
You can point to reasons, here's what the men did wrong, here's what the points did right. Right. play that series a hundred times. in a simulation and the pirates sweep what, maybe five times out of a hundred. It could happen.
There are things that they did wrong that you can point out, but like those things just happen in baseball. And it is there's so many different ways the ball can bounce. There's so many different ways that a throw can go wrong, or a pitch is a half an inch off of where the pitcher aimed. And you're right, it is kind of. like there's reason, but it is it feels very random and I I I love that too.
But it makes it very hard for me to tell you what's wrong with you. Sure, sure. And I was being glib too as a fill-in guy, but you know how it works. It's an overarching question, and then you have plenty of room to take it anywhere you want. Check out Levi Weaver's great work, the Wind-Up MLB newsletter.
Levi, I'll just have you on the line for a few more minutes because I appreciate you making yourself available. You mentioned the Mets. To me, if I'm just trying to be objective and put the rosters Philly versus New York, I think the Phillies are a better team. That's why they're in first place. How do you view them comparatively, Phillies versus the Mets?
Yeah, I mean the Phillies definitely have a stronger rotation on paper. The Mets have kind of shown that their philosophy is to spend money more on position players and kind of just Play it as they go with the starting rotation. As a result, I think the Mets need at least one more starting pitcher, maybe two. Um the Phillies, if they get Nola pack Zach Wheeler, you got like that rotation is one of the better rotations in baseball if they're healthy. And when it comes to in being in the playoffs.
Um the meds have Very good. set of position players. is right there with Philadelphia. But yeah, you ask me right now who I think is going to win the NL East. I I do give the Phillies the nod just by a narrow margin narrow margin.
Final question. I devoted a good portion of the last hour to trying to add context to the brilliant career of Clayton Kershaw, just the fourth left-hander to get the 3,000 strikeouts.
Now, The pushback would be, and to me this is just lazy, but yeah, but the postseason.
So how do you balance everything he's done magnificently over the course of 162 with an ERA over four and a half come playoff time?
Okay, I think it's what we were just talking about with baseball being as random as it is. Because the performance by Kershaw has not, if you go back and watch the games, like it's not been that he. all of a sudden sucked. Is that? the pitches that he was making during the regular season that would be a you know a fly out or not.
But that there are He's been Fine. And it's such a and I I get that it's a big sample size as far as you know, careers go, but just being in the playoffs period is a small sample size. You would not look at You know, upfeater after 80 games in the big leagues, and go, well, we know who exactly this guy is. But if they do eighty playoff games, you go, Wow, that's that's a huge sample size for the playoffs. Yeah, it It is a crapshoot.
There's so much randomness. And that's why you get teams like and I I always harken back to twenty twenty three when The two World Series teams were the Rangers and the Diamondbacks. And it's like they neither of those teams should have been the best. team in their league.
So you get in the playoffs, you get hot, and you go. And so for Kershaw, Sure, it's been not a great track record in the playoffs, but the consistency is in the grind of the year after year after year after year. He has absolutely been one of the best pitchers in the league.
So I think it's unfortunate for him that his playoff track record is what it is. But I'm not gonna be like You know, this guy doesn't deserve to be in the Hall of Fame because he's spit the bit a couple of times in the playoffs. I don't think that has anything to do with him not being a competitor or choking or any of that. I mean, I'll say James LeBron James until he wants some rings. Levi, we greatly appreciate you taking the time, especially on a holiday.
As we say goodbye, you mentioned the Bugs Bunny pitch, one of my favorite cartoons as a kid. Bugs Bunny playing every position. Bugs Bunny shortstop. Bugs Bunny right field. Bugs Bunny center field.
So thank you for taking me back to my childhood. Of course, yeah. He's Bugs Bunny was like the Isaiah Kiner Paleppa of the time. Thank you, Levi. Enjoy the long holiday weekend.
Alright, take care, guys. Levi Weaver of The Athletic handles the wind-up MLB newsletter. Appreciate the staff efforting to get them. I love that media word. And I am aware that the audio was less than ideal, but that's like that's baseball.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains, and We have arrived at a place understanding who I'm filling it for. He is the face of NFL Network, the original employee. I'm not anti-football. When I'm back on Monday, a lot of football comes your way. We're going to wrap up the program in less than 10 minutes talking some football.
But We get to July. Unless you just have an addiction to football, and I understand the audience is never wrong. In fact, if I was making a pure business decision, I should have just done three hours of training camp previews, and we'll get to all that next week. But The Person who loves baseball and me is still alive. I just realize from a national perspective.
It doesn't work for all the reasons we laid out. But if you are someone who has. Bet a lapse fan. And I'd I don't want to be a hypocrite because I find so much of what baseball to do. Or chooses to do to be nonsensical.
Rob Manfred for being an Ivy League trained attorney. Everything he says seems odd and contradictory. I'll skip the rant about the ground breaking. In Vegas for the A's new stadium, in which they broke no ground. And they rented earth movers.
Because that's the most A's thing ever.
So it was all a stunt. And then Manford shows up. and just talks in these bizarre non-sequiturs. Still, Here's your cliche. There's a reason why the sport survived the Great Depression and two World Wars.
And it's never been. More successful financially. I looked it up the other day just to make sure I wasn't being delusional. Baseball's revenues now more than the NBA by about a bill.
Now, part of that is the tonnage. They play 162 times. And that's 162 T V shows. or streaming possibilities.
So content is king. But the pitch clock has changed everything.
So if you are a Laps fan and you haven't watched the game for a while. It goes by fast, especially if you go to the ballpark. And it's now a challenge to have a conversation and pay attention because tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, we're on the clock. And if we're looking at, The top of the divisions. And suddenly, last time I was here, we were talking about a war between the Dodgers and the Padres.
And here come. The Pesky Pods.
Well, Dodgers flexing their muscle once more. They got a nine-game lead in that division. The Giants surprise team to start the year in the NL West. They go all in to get Raphael Devers.
Now, Devers looking like. The Devers we saw to open the year in Boston just can't make any solid contact. We hit on Philly. versus the Mets. International League East.
Houston, you can't kill him. Whether they're cheating or not. Back it's up. The AL West. The Cal Raleigh story is remarkable.
But no one's talking about that because he's tucked away in Seattle. We'll see him on a national stage when Home Run Derby rolls around. And the Tigers. Had that unlikely run a year ago. Remember, they got hammered for the salary dumps among the players that they parted ways with was Jack Flaherty, wound up on the Dodgers.
He's back in Detroit. And they're boat racing things in that division. Detroit with the best record in all of baseball. But What's the topic? If I threw it out at 844-204-7424.
Do you believe in the Tigers? Name a Tiger other than Scoobel. And you probably don't even know who he is, but if you pay a marginal amount of attention, you know the guy's a Phenops. Still. It's not me just trying to push things down your throat.
I feel an obligation to acknowledge a sport that. has the possibility of Three straight years of attendance being up. That hasn't happened in 20 years. You care about TV ratings, you shouldn't. You don't work for an executive capacity in marketing or advertising, but national TV ratings are up.
It's a good time to be a baseball fan, and I'm glad we had a chance to talk about what's happening on the diamond. I'm Brian Weber, Infra Rich. Hit me up on the X platform. BW Weber, Weber with two B's, and just to make sure I satiate your football appetite like Joey Chestnut, straight ahead, we'll get to the gridiron. I'm going to provide some NFL fireworks on this 4th of July.
Which team has the most combustible quarterback room? Details coming up. What if I told you you can take you and your family and your friends to the ballpark with such low price tickets you can invest more in buying food and drinks, merchandise, and easily, on top of all of it, get a larger group to come with you? That's where Game Time Tickets comes in. The official ticketing partner of the Rich Eisen Show.
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Brian Weber back with you. Appreciate every opportunity to fill in for rich in the guys and looking forward to a jam-packed week.
Next week after We all enjoy hopefully a safe and we do it responsibly July 4th. I'm back with you on Monday. So as we start warming up for that program. Gonna talk a lot more NFL, not out of obligation, because it's newsworthy and. I'm in for the face.
of NFL Media, mister Eisen. A reminder Because of a quirk in the calendar, we have an NFL preseason game. This month. July 31st Lions and Chargers playing in the Hall of Fame game. Yes, it is a meaningless exhibition.
But we'll watch because we're addicted to football and if we're just thinking about The timetable coming up. Less than Eleven days from now. Many NFL training camps opening up, rookies appearing before then. Looks like we made it. The hard part is behind us and If we're going to be just objective.
It is so rare to get a consequential trade late June going into July, like we got on Monday. With Joe and Ramsey. Continuing his tour around the NFL, now on to team number three, as the Steelers continue to reflect their urgency to bolster the signing of Aaron Rodgers, I was at the checkout line earlier today. Because you have to load up for July 4th. Plus People just go in now and pillage.
So, if you don't get there early, you got nothing after the show. Aaron Rodgers was staring back at me on the cover of a magazine. What was it? I'll let you know on Monday. All about forward promotion.
I want you just to be plagued by self-doubt all weekend long. What is that fill-in guy talking about?
So, we'll get to. where we slot the Steelers because now just as the Jets became America's team during Rogers' brief stay. And I know Rich is the quintessential Jet fan, so I'll tread lightly. Feels like the Steelers who always got a ton of attention. That now has been turned up to eleven when you throw in picking up Darius Slay.
And DK Metcalf. And I like the throwing of John Ew Smith and that Ramsey deal. They're going to pay TJ Watt, and they should, and they will, as the face of the franchise. But. It is now spurring a lot of AFC North conversation.
With the argument that it could be the deepest division in all of football, my simple response to that is: okay, if we're talking comprehensive, if we're talking complete, you have to include that fourth team. And last time I checked, it's the Browns.
So. Because I'm always looking for a gimmick. And it is July 4th. We were talking. Combustible quarterback rooms.
Tell me a worse quarterback situation. than Cleveland. And I'm not even going to do the old technique of naming every starting quarterback since the Browns were reborn. I don't have to. Do a dissertation on Brandon Whedon or Tim Couch.
But currently, And yes, we have to mention Diddy Watson. We have to acknowledge Cleveland's still on the hook for that entire $230 million debacle. And don't forget the number ones they sent to Houston. And according to reports, he's hanging around the facility.
Well, why not as he's rehabbing the Achilles injury? Getting paid. But Think about the options under center right now For Cleveland. And I love the old adage: if you have two quarterbacks, you don't have one.
Okay. What's it mean if you have four? And one of them is 119 years old in Joe Flacco, and I am aware. Not too long ago, Flacco came off the couch And he was the starting quarterback for Cleveland in a playoff game. I got that.
This is not an anti-Joe Flacco observation. But if it's Joe Flacco one Kenny Pickett with his diminutive hands, too.
Now I'll give you my West Coast bias. I do have more appreciation than many people do for Dylan Gabriel. I know he played, it felt like 19 years of college football and went. Central Florida. Oklahoma to Oregon, but I watched most of his meaningful games for the Ducks last year, and it's very clear.
Just based on how The NFL draft played out. The coaching staff and the player personnel. Folks, believe in Dylan Gabriel. You don't invest a third-round pick in somebody as a flyer. Which makes what they did in the fifth round all the more of a contradiction.
And back to what we kicked around in the first hour. who are the worst owners currently in all of sports. Didn't that feel like Jimmy Haslam? wandered into the war room and said, hey, Shadora Sanders is still available. I'd like him to be on my football team.
Now, it's not as bad as blowing a first-round pick on Johnny Manzel. after Haslam said that he encountered a street person who told him, take Johnny football. We know how that worked out. And I can understand the notion of value. Shadora should never have fallen all that way down to the fifth round, but we understand the realities, especially in that league.
People didn't want to deal with the baggage. I don't think a lot of them want to Deal with his old man. Because if you're a head coach on a lousy team, let's say you go one in five.
Well, the fans go, give me Shador. bring it pops too because they are a package deal.
So there's An abundance of reasons why. Jador Sanders fell to number five, but As we think about the notion of hope, and parody around the league. The more things change, the more they stay the same, and Cleveland just can't get it right under center. A lot of people to thank our guests, both from me. Athletic, James Jackson and Levi Weaver.
I want to thank Rich Eisen, Bruce Gilbert, all the great folks at Westwood One. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because you're not playing me. With rapid fire takes.
And a lot to get to, and I'm not sure you're gonna like all of it. Honestly, I don't even care if you like all of it or not. I have a job to do. Scorching debates. On any given week, you have lots to beef about.
Take advantage of it. Get up in here. He's the Spitfire of Sports Smack. Which is not my fault. We will get to all of that.
The Jim Rome Show podcast. Get up in here and we'll beef later on. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.
Yeah.
