This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance, fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it.
So your dollar goes a long way. Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.
On WhatsApp, no one can see or hear your personal messages, whether it's a voice call, message, or sending a password. To WhatsApp, it's all just this.
So whether you're sharing the streaming password in the family chat, We're trading those late night voice messages that could basically become a podcast. Your personal messages stay between you, your friends, and your family. No one else, not even us. What's up? Message privately with everyone.
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 shoes to film. 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 Rich, here's Brian Weber. It's another hour of the program.
An absolute blast, as always, to Sit In for Rich. If you enjoy the approach, here is a positive development. I'm back with you tomorrow. If you don't like the approach, here's a negative development. I'm here through Thursday.
But. Even if you think it's a tough listen, and I can appreciate that sentiment. My late great mother used to say, Brian, you're not for everyone. And when your mom says that, that is certainly a moment of clarity. I do my best to be comprehensive and I hit you with a variety of topics.
So. While I've had a heavy NBA lien going back to Friday, now that's justified because the NBA drove the news cycle last week. There was an NBA trade that was finalized today, and it's not something I'm going to spend more than 30 seconds on here, but the goal is to keep you constantly updated. That's why Rich invests in you, the listener, to have me here with the team live when who would have more of an opportunity to play a best of than Rich Eisen. Think of all of the interviews he could repurpose.
I don't want to give anyone any ideas. Still, the reason I'm here is to react to things in real time, to put out the possibility of a phone call at 8442-047424, to remind you you can interact on the X platform, BW Weber, Weber with 2Bs, and. Have conversations with insightful guests. First hour was wide open. A reminder: if you miss any portion of any program, you listen anytime on demand.
The podcast will be up shortly at the end of the program. 20 minutes from now, because I understand millions of you cannot be wrong, although it's not. Compelling on a platform nationally. Too often, we talk baseball selectively, but we are getting ready for the all-star break on Sunday. All-star game next Tuesday.
There are many. Interesting topics with big names attached to them. And I always enjoyed checking in with Andy McCullough, senior writer for the Athletic, who also happens to be the author of The Last of His Kind, a biography of Clayton Kershaw.
Now, if you want to bash Clayton, Commissioner Rob Manfred gave you more material by naming him to the All-Star team. It's a lifetime achievement, folks. And however you view Clayton, and I try to be measured and balanced, he just got the 3,000 strikeouts. He has the best winning percentage in the regular season since 1947, the best career ERA in the live ball era. when Red Barber and I were calling games off the Ticker in 1920.
I realize he has underachieved repeatedly in the postseason, but I have no issues in a meaningless exhibition with someone being celebrated in the twilight of his career. I understand it costs somebody a robster spot. Sports is bottom line driven. It's a tough world out there, and I'm not going to freak out about that, nor all-star stubs because I'm not doing satellite radio in 2002 in the middle of the night. No MBA.
Did I say that clearly? No MBA in this hour of the program, other than letting you know the deal that came together earlier today. Just so you're current, if you're actually working and want to talk at the water cooler, if they still exist, three-team deal. Clips. Jazz and the Miami Heat finally did something.
Remember every trade not too long ago? Every scenario, every possibility had somebody going to Miami.
Now Pat Riley just does not want to deal with anybody, it seems like. Norman Powell, I said these were not Hall of Famers. From the Clippers to the Heat. John Collins goes to LA. Kevin Love has a Hall of Fame resume.
Remember, it's the basketball Hall of Fame, not the NBA Hall of Fame. Think about Kevin's dynamic run at UCLA. You throw him, Kyle Anderson, and a future second-round pick from LA to the Jazz. You're fully caught up. I would not be surprised if, when I rejoin you tomorrow, we have an update on Bradley Beal.
I've already bashed him enough, but. It's a name that could help a contending team because when healthy, the guy can score with regularity. And whoever signs him will be getting him at a radical discount because, according to reports, Phoenix is going to follow the Damian Lillard playbook that Milwaukee authored and pay Beal roughly $100 million if he accepts a little bit less. And this is really boring from a CBA standpoint, but let's just call it $100 million that will be stretched out over five years for cap reasons. Beal hits the market.
And could help a playoff contending team, although clearly he should never be one of your cornerstones, as the Suns have discovered. With Rich getting set to play in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in beautiful South Lake Tahoe, Nevada on Friday. Coming up in 40 minutes, just a little bit of golf, mostly so I can feel better about watching the John Deere Classic yesterday.
Now, you might counter. Hey, fill and hack, you're supposed to watch this stuff. You get paid for it. I fully agree. But as a casual fan now of golf, like most of you, When I turn on an event, and I do it mostly just as background as I'm getting ready to put together my preparation for today's show, I want to know who some of these players are.
Every time I turn on a quote unquote regular PGA Tour event, it is filled with anonymous and generic dudes because all the big names are still making an outrageous sum of money from the Live Tour other than Scotty Scheffler and Rory McElroy, and I know I'm being reductionist, I'm being guilty of sweeping generalizations, but I want to talk about whatever happened to that. Because, however, you view the Saudi component. You cannot debate that the sport Desperately needs its stars back. When those guys left, they took most of the tour with them. And that's why we only think about golf when we get around to the four majors.
If you care about the British Open, have, pardon me, the Open Championship to watch something in the middle of the night. I love college football. I said it, and I'm in the right chair because Rich. Talks college. I think more than most national shows, as a proud Michigan man.
And a good time to be a Michigan man in recent years.
So I feel like I have now the endorsement to make the move to college. You might be thinking, hang on. little bit early, right?
Well, There are no rules in Sports Talk Radio. As long as it's interesting, you can take it wherever you want to go. I have a news item I'll get to. And. As much as I view The Big 12 conference as gimmicky.
And just Frankenstein going from Arizona to West Virginia, but they had to survive. And I still have a lot of bitterness about the. Death of the Pac-12, and let me say it more pointedly: the murder of the Pac-12. That conference got killed, it did not die. Due to natural causes, primarily due to incompetence internally, and a TV network and the Big Ten conference that are partners, so I can't use the word collude, but they got together to kill the Pac-12 because they wanted to pluck USC.
They took UCLA as part of the package and then went after Oregon and Washington. But I'll skip the rant today. I love college football. Big 12 media days kicking off tomorrow. That makes me feel like it is back on the table as something that's relevant.
And I saw this over the weekend. First, an observation. And this is not that much of a stretch. How much money. is swimming around And just being available at Texas Tech, how much cash is flowing through that alumni base?
Now, let me stop there. First. I want to express, obviously, our condolences, and every one of us should be thinking about all of the victims of those horrible floods in Texas. Just a. Atrocious calamity.
and it very difficult to watch that news over the weekend. But in terms of what we do with sports, Texas Tech has had their peak moments. I mentioned Patrick Mahomes earlier, although remember, he didn't win anything on the college level. And if you think about someone who's failed upward throughout his career, how about Cliff Kingsbury? But he's got a great head of hair.
And he'll wait for his next head coaching opportunity as he remains the play caller in our nation's capital and now has another star in the making in Jaden Daniels to coach up. Texas Tech has capitalized on the brave new world of college sports as well as anybody. And I understand all the money that is flowing around the Lone Star State and all of the deep-pocketed alums and boosters that the university can tap into.
So Texas Tech, if you think about the NIL space, and this is semi-boring, I'll do it quickly, but. College softball is big. College softball gets better ratings than college baseball does. the College World Series, women's college World Series in Oklahoma featured Texas Tech in the championship game. Why?
They went out and purchased Stanford's best player and threw over a million dollars at her in NIL money. And even though that's my alma mater, I have no issue with that. This is capitalism in its rawest form. And for over a century, those responsible for the revenue, the players, didn't participate in it. I understand the economic value of a degree, Room and board, and all that comes with a scholarship.
I'm talking about, as the philosopher Randy Moss once said, straight cash homie. And yes, Players have been getting compensated under the table for decades. How's Reggie Bush doing with the apology for his mother and stepfather getting a house allegedly from a sports marketing executive? I live in the real world. I know the money's been flowing, and I keep going back to that notion.
I think I'm trying to conjure up the image of Scrooge McDuck jumping into that pool full of money. That's how much money is flowing through Texas Tech. I'm Brian Weber. Another contemporary reference, 844-204. 7-4-2-4s.
What was the show back in the day? DuckTales. My mind is still active. Hit me up on the X platform, BW Weber, Weber 2Bs. 10 Minutes, we talk baseball with Andy McCullough, senior writer of the athletic.
So it's no surprise. That now that we've reached July and the settlement of the house case, I will not go into all of the details, but the biggest takeaway, which has major ramifications, was that once we got to July, the revenue-sharing era in college football officially started. Meaning, in addition to NIO, Which technically was separate from the university, although clearly there was coordination between schools and the boosters. But we've all heard these collectives, and the notion was: I throw in 20 bucks, I call my rich buddy, he throws in a million, and let's go get that softball player and let's go to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.
Well Now there's another revenue stream. Roughly 20 million bucks. For schools that opted Into the settlement to participate, and it's all the big schools you know. They have that pool of money now to divvy up any way they want to, and clearly, where's the money going? The vast majority of it to college football.
A little bit to men's basketball, a little bit to women's hoops, and maybe if you care about gymnastics, and I'll give you another sport I've loved to call over the years, they draw at schools like LSU across the SEC 15,000 people. To show up, and not only because of Livy Dutt, or if you go to Utah. Salt Lake City, 14,000. To watch the Red Rocks, they'll get some money too, and they deserve every dollar of it. And the reason I'm talking about it today.
Along with Big Twelve Media Days starting tomorrow is we had this historic development over the weekend, a five star offensive tackle, Felix Oho, committing to Texas Tech, His agent claims a fully guaranteed deal, three years, $5.1 million. That's straight from the school.
Now Because Everyday, college football. Gets closer to the NFL. We have the same challenge that we do in pro football about these valuations of contracts when they're leaked by agents. And then we find out with the great reporting of people like Mike Florio from ProFootballTalk.com, friend of the program. Yeah, the agent gave us an inflated figure so the agent could feel better about the deal they got their client.
The athletic reports, It's worth $2.3 million. The specifics are not important. Just think about that. Let that wash over you. This is a commit.
This is somebody who's never played a down yet. Getting Let's call it at least a couple. Maybe close to 5 million, and it tells us where we have arrived in big-time college sports.
Now, the consequence of this development has not been, I think, Thought through enough, at least from a standpoint of Sports Talk Radio, because most of you just care about what you see on the field on Saturdays and sometimes a Thursday and a Friday as well. And I understand. You're not accountants. You're not responsible for keeping the books, but Since many of us, I think the majority of Americans now go to college, and that's a separate argument. Should they?
Probably not, especially when you walk out the door over 100 grand in debt. But since you can relate to the college experience, here's what's happening in the wake of this historic. Settlement that has now made it permissible to have direct payment from the schools. First thing that's happening, Layoffs at athletic departments. And look, I work in sports media.
You want to pick a profession with no job security, pick this one. I should have known that 35 years ago, but I wasn't as bright as I thought about. When I was going through all the career decisions out there and possibilities, I have empathy for anybody losing their job. I will point out. Having worked in the college space until last year with the death of the Pac-12 for over 30 years, in my lifetime, The growth of staff in a Athletic department settings has been ridiculous.
These used to be relatively small. For lack of a better term, mom and pop operations.
Now they feel like you're walking into a corporation, and justifiably so. Because think about the billions of dollars now connected to big-time college sports. I saw this the other day. LSU, I'm not picking on them. We know about them because of all of their national championships.
And if even I enjoy the brilliance of Paul Skeens and know that he went to LSU, it tells you about their brand equity.
Well, they want to monetize that. LSU wants to sell jersey patches on their uniforms. like Ricky Bobby in NASCAR. Why? They need more money.
To pay the players and to keep up with the arms race in facilities and recruiting and everything else. And where's the money going to come from? Cutting bodies in the athletic department. Again, I feel badly for anybody losing their job. Also, that's a very specific skill set.
Where are you going if you're the assistant AD in charge of compliance? I don't think you can go work for a software company. And. Sports are going to be cut, and it's already happening. And I know the vast majority of you do not care about tennis or water polo or even volleyball, even though volleyball has got a lot more mainstream.
I feel badly for the student athletes. But This is the world in which we live. And we've always known college sports was big business. We chose not to think about it, or we looked the other way because we love college football Saturday so much. Look, I come to you from Are Regal Studios in Southern California.
I can start watching college football at 9 a.m. and I can ride it all night long. And yes, they're recreating Pac-12 after dark. I'm not even talking about the zombie Pac-12 that has been reconfigured. To me, that is a sports joke.
And just Horrendous to think about. When the conference was killed, the brand should have got away. And I have a lot of respect for the good people in Oregon State and Washington State. If you care about my life, I lived in Pullman for six months. I covered the Cougars on a daily basis.
Do not tell me Texas State. Represents the Pac-12, but I know why they're doing it just to stay alive.
So here we are. In a world in which we're already thinking about playoff expansion, in fact, it's going to happen. It's not even an abstract. The bickering is how many guaranteed teams Can the Big Ten carve out? because they and the SEC run the sport.
And as we wind down, my only negative response to all this is so much of the heritage and the history and all the unique quirks that make college Football special have gone away, and I don't want it to be a carbon copy of the NFL. But when I see universities now are selling jersey patches just like professionals, and yes. When you pay someone, they become a professional. There's got to be, I would hope, a balancing act between a century worth of tradition and rivalries which continue to be marginalized with the ability to make all the money you can. Two things could be equally true, but unfortunately, the people that run college football just focus on grabbing every dollar they can and don't think about the impact.
Especially for those of us who feel passionately about it in terms of loving the sport. I'm Ryan Weber on my soapbox, 844-204-7424. Hit me up on the X platform. That is BW Weber, Weberwood2B. No MBA in this hour, just to prove that I am receptive to your input coming up.
We'll hit the Diamond. Yankees snapped their six-game losing streak yesterday. Still, they lost the Subway Series with the Mets. What is going to jumpstart the Bronx Bombers? We'll find out when we say hello to Andy McCullough, senior rider for the Athletic.
I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance, fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it.
So your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.
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Credit and collateral subject to approval. Navy Federal is insured by NCUA. Look, I'm a blowhard. I use a lot of big words. Occasionally I raise my voice, but I'm a soft touch.
This is all of an act. You have to deal with a marine. And he's an Angry Raider fan.
So when I give out the phone number, isn't that redundant? Angry Raider fan? When I give out the phone number, and I can say that because I covered the Raiders while they still played at the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum. If you follow me on the X platform, BW Weber, Weber with two B's, that's from the Avatar 2001. That's from a Fox Network broadcast in Oakland.
I believe I am holding Tony Dungy. Hostage, you can't see it because I cropped it up just for my lovely head of hair. Tony Dungy, very kind man. I had to hold him because I'll take you behind the scenes. Television runs everything.
TV's commercial went long. They're ready to kick off. We can't go until the guy with the bright orange gloves waves thumbs up. Tony stands next to me for 30 seconds. He goes, We ever gonna do this?
And finally, I get the count of my ear 3-2. Long-winded way of saying I'm not taking shots at the silver and black. Although, ah, it's story time with Uncle B. Webb here. And coming up, we'll.
What happened to that PGA Tour live golf merger? Reason I can bring it up is because Rich is going to play in beautiful South Lake Tahoe, Nevada, the American Century Golf Championship with all the celebs coming together coming up on Friday. And since I mentioned the X platform BW Weber Weber 2Bs, I appreciate the interaction, picking up followers along the way. And a snarky good observation from Jeff M. I mentioned Bradley Beal could be available on the buyout market as soon as later today.
Bradley Beal is as marketable as a stake'em. Hamburger helper didn't want to play, but even I remember the days of steak'ems because I grew up in a frugal household and my parents would say, No, no, it's steak. Mmm. Get it?
So the picture, if you go to my X platform. Profile taken in Oakland because I was working for Fox, quote unquote, I was just a sideline reporter and I lived in San Francisco.
So the reason I was on the air was I was local and cheap. But I had appeared on a couple 49er games.
Now, I covered the Raiders on Fox Sports Net Bay Area as their beat reporter. I was in that facility three days a week for a couple years, but a few people in the parking lot saw me on the 49er game and said, hey, Niner guy. And it was getting a little contentious. And I had to remind them. I've been in this parking lot since 1993 before you moved back because I used to be the Oakland A's guy as well.
And it's amazing when you say things loudly and with conviction, people get out of your way. Which gets us to baseball and the Grand Dole game. As I mentioned, I'm not going through all-star snubs. It's an exhibition. But the fact that people are still passionate about who's in and who's out tells us that baseball, to a degree, is back.
Now, I would love it to go back to the way it used to be, and that's another one of my podcasts. The way things used to be with BWEB, available wherever you get your podcast, I like the sports calendar to be diverse. I just opened this hour talking college football. I'm going to squeeze in golf to bash the PGA tour coming up in 15 minutes before we get back to the NBA. And I feel good because we have a relationship with our next scheduled guest, Jonathan Von Tobel of VeSim, will join us in the next hour of the program talking about.
Where LeBron could be going, what is the impact of moves made by the Nuggets and the Rockets? Will it matter? Can anybody bring down the young and talented Thunder? But as we think about where we are in a sporting culture, most shows, and I watched what was on today, and with Wimbledon taking over, no get up. I missed the get-up just to get a sense of what they think are topics.
Something on Fox Sports 1 called Breakfast Ball. All they talked about was football, the entire program.
Now, it helps when Mark Schlerith is the host, but I understand. The business value of that. The consultants will tell you, just talk football, talk more football, and the audience is never wrong. But when I got into this industry decades ago, we had a more diverse calendar and baseball was king. I know it's never going to be the way it used to be.
And because I don't follow the sport as closely as I used to, I don't want to get that granular anymore. I used to cut out box scores. You know how the term kids cut and paste is available on your phone? I did it with scissors and a glue stick because I had no life. And you had to if you took your job seriously because I needed to look up what happened the last time the Expos came to town.
Yes, there was a team in Montreal. Again, I'm killing the demographic.
So in terms of where we stand now, getting ready for the All-Star break coming up on Sunday with the game itself in Atlanta on Tuesday, home run derby should be wildly entertaining. I'm the guy who keeps hammering away about why are we not talking more about Cal Raleigh, who is having, in terms of power, the greatest. season for a catcher, not a catcher slash DH that we have seen since Johnny Bench in the early 1970s. Why is he not being discussed more?
Well, it's baseball and he plays in Seattle. Wrong zip code because unfortunately, we gravitate from a national perspective to the bright, shiny objects, and that's the Mets, the Yankees, the Cubs always going to be relevant, especially where they're at the top of their division and Pete Crow Armstrong is blossoming into a superstar. And then the Dodgers, justifiably so, even with the setback against the Astros, in fine position to run it back and go back-to-back potentially as defending champs. Although the Dodgers are going to have to, I think, and Andrew Friedman follows a similar formula on a yearly basis. Be active prior to the deadline again to get more arms.
I don't know what's going on, but every year we talk about the Dodgers having 100 dudes available in the rotation on the bullpen because they stock up in the offseason, and then half of them get hurt.
So, LA, if there is a concern, it is injuries related to the mound. That said, they have unlimited resources because the Guggenheim group will spend whatever it takes, and they have the luxury of players like Shohei Otani giving them flexibility when it comes to the luxury tax and revenue sharing by taking deferred money. But Once the pitch clock was instituted a couple of years ago, it changed everything. The game is vastly more watchable. If you actually go to a game And baseball is still, depending on where you live, relatively affordable if you're choosing and use the secondary market.
I understand, and I live alone for a reason. If you have a family of four, you're not getting out of there without spending hundreds of dollars. I get it. Compare it though to the NBA or the NFL. It's still relatively affordable.
Attendance is up. If things remain on the pace they are, attendance will be up for the third straight year. That hasn't happened in 20 years. National ratings are up.
So all the metrics are trending up. Why? Because baseball organically has stars we care about. And the sport has always done itself a disservice by not marketing its stars.
Well, they don't have to market Otati. Because he's Babe Ruth. You don't have to market Aaron Judge because he's Paul Bunyan and he plays for the Yankees. I mentioned Crow Armstrong. It helps that he plays in Chicago and go through the entire list of luminaries that the Dodgers can lean on.
I haven't even talked about Detroit because I'm trying to keep a national audience engaged. Think about what they did last year. As they had the salary dump heading into the trade deadline, well, Jack Flaherty is back on that staff. And now it's all about Scoobel. You could already call the American League Central a 13.5 game lead over the Twins, best record in all of baseball.
Houston, you just can't kill him.
Now, I'm not convinced.
Now, this is me speculating that things are. Cope ascetic in Houston. I'm always going to have that doubt because baseball did not punish the players. I understand who the fall guys were, and it was organizational, but when you do not. Go out and actually have real discipline for the players involved.
Cynics like me are going to say, well, Maybe they're still. Pushing the envelope. I'll put it that way. But they have a seven-game lead in the AO West. The game has never been healthier from a standpoint of revenue.
Fact, now baseball makes more money than the NBA. A lot of that is intuitive. They play 162 times. That's 162 content blocks.
Now the challenge is I'm going to tread lightly because I do work in the streaming world. I get it if you're a baseball fan and you grumble on Friday nights when that exclusive streaming package kicks in, you can't watch your local team. To me, That is a sports crime. But the reason Apple's paying that much is for the exclusive nature of the content. If baseball was run better, they'd have a carve-out for the local broadcast.
Even the NFL does that with the Thursday night games on Amazon. And that's really the issue for baseball. The sport succeeds in spite of itself. And hopefully, one of these years, Rob Manfred makes good on his pledge to walk away, but he's making, what, $25 million a year? What's his incentive to go?
And it'll be one of those, no, I'm going to retire. No, you want me to stay?
Okay. And the owners are happy to have him because he is a perfect piñata for guys like me on the radio to take shots at him because he gives us so much to work with. Like the Astros cheating scandal, like calling the championship trophy, the commissioner's trophy, a hunk of metal. Remember that? Ah, people are upset about a hunk of metal.
You talk about out of touch. And for all the money baseball has, how come they can't hire him a PR? Or image makeover consultant. Maybe he's just so obtuse, he doesn't realize how ineffectual and clownish he comes across whenever he speaks. I'm not even going to get ramped up about the A's today going to Las Vegas because they're irrelevant.
But when you flip around on MLB Network, whose ratings are up as well. And you watch a team. That is 19 games out of first place, playing in a minor league park in West Sacramento, in Northern California, in front of 8,000 people, and it's 107 degrees at 7 p.m. when the first pitch is scheduled for. We got a problem.
Still, because the sport itself is indestructible, the game goes on. And just as a more casual fan these days, I love MLB Network. I enjoy their coverage, their production. I like their broadcasters as well. It's a good night to throw it on, see where they take me.
And you're going to stumble across something that is entertaining. Because stars, while I've just. Pointed to the ones in the big markets are actually relatively well distributed. At the same time, as the game has never been healthier. I hate to remind you what could be happening as soon as next year.
Another labor war. Because it's baseball and they can't get out of their own way. And the owners this time are dead set on getting a salary cap.
Now, I will have the cap. conversation so long as there a floor is involved as well. Because I mentioned the Pirates and the A's. Rockies are different. They actually spent some money not too long ago.
They're just. completely inept and abysmally run, but When you have teams like the Buccos who were cash flow positive because of revenue sharing, who once Once we were a proud team, and I don't want to see history repeat itself. History doesn't necessarily repeat itself, but it rhymes. I don't want Paul Skeens to follow the Barry Bonds model, 1993 leave Pittsburgh because they wouldn't pay him, and he got the big deal from the Giants. But if he does, I couldn't blame him.
Because they simply will not spend the money to support him. When you have a generational talent like Skeens and I won't get into all of the metrics about wins and losses because it's boring, but he just does not have the run support because he's playing with a triple A lineup. And Andrew McCutcheon, who's 117 years old.
So, if you want to talk about where the game is going, give me a salary floor, meaning. We actually have Real money being spent on these teams. I'll have a conversation about a soft cap, but. If you're a Laps fan, I know I covered a lot of ground, but that's my approach. If you've not checked out the game for a while, What else are you going to watch right now?
You can't see Joey Chestnut unless you go over to MajorLeagueEating.com. We will not see him on national television for another year. There's your baseball update. It is fantastic. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich.
I appreciate the positive feedback on the X platform. We can interact coming up. It's B.W. Weber Weber with 2B. Straight ahead, Rich, as mentioned, will be playing in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship starting on Friday in beautiful South Lake Tyler, Nevada.
I'm going to focus on the links briefly. Whatever happened to that merger between the PGA Tour and Live Golf? Where are the stars of golf? Why can't I watch them anymore? Because I'm not going to be watching that terrible product with the Saudi backing.
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That is because Not a big fan of taking calls at the top of the hour. Yeah, I'm 5,000 years old, but the top of the hour is sacred.
So we're going to get back to the NBA coming up in a dozen minutes. Then we'll follow that up with our first and only guest today because I'm just that fascinating. We will find out if my analysis is on point when we continue the Hoops conversation with Jonathan Von Tobel of Veeson. And then got to get some more football. an hour from now.
Steelers, led by a first ballot Hall of Famer and Aaron Rodgers. Plus, think about the other moves. Bolstering the secondary with veterans like Darius Slay, the big deal for Jalen Ramsey last week. The throw in was John U. Smith, who's still a playmaking tight end.
DK Metcalf. Amongst the players I just mentioned, the only one not deep into his 30s, stretched the field as a playmaker. For all of that, How many games are the Steelers favored in for the upcoming season? I think the answer will surprise you, those details coming up. I mentioned I am using the opportunity.
of Rich Eisen. Hanging out with the stars.
Now, for Rich, that is not a departure. I can take you behind the curtain. We're based in Southern California as I come to you from our Regal studios in beautiful downtown Culver City. I want to thank our friends at Westwood One for the hospitality. Always appreciate them accommodating me.
Rich hobnobs with the biggest names in sports and entertainment. That's how they show up on the show. While there's a great team of talented bookers as well, this is a relationship-driven industry. I mentioned when I talked about my version of the Spite Store and doing a program, three hours, no guests, no phone calls from you, no interaction on social media because I wanted to prove a program director wrong.
Well, that's straight out of Larry David, and Larry, of course, is a friend of the program.
So it's only fitting. Rich coming up on Friday, and this gets national play. You can check it out on Golf Channel Peacock weekend coverage on NBC. Rich playing in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship. In Tahoe, and I had the great opportunity of covering that in person on two occasions, and everybody is in a good mood, they stop by.
We were situated over by the driving range and got everybody from Charles Barkley to Larry the Cable Guy. I'm mentioning the folks who wind up at the bottom of the list. leaderboard, I assume Rich is going to be. Right there. With the guys who can really swing for the stick, like John Smoltz who's never won it.
Steph Curry is a brilliant golfer. Marty Fish. Check it out.
So I use Rich's latest, tremendous development. To allow me to talk golf for four minutes because that's all it deserves. This is not your open championship preview. I will not be here. When we return across the pond as golf fans, I like to watch sports TV.
I'm like Peter Sellers and being there. I like to watch. I have stuff on in the background while I'm prepping for a show. And I just like the optics of golf, especially in high def. Very soothing.
When they go to the drone camp, it used to be helicopter back in the day. You could see the shadow of the copter. Herb Alpert music as I take you back to Ken Venturi in the 18th Tower with Pat Sommeroe.
So I had the John Deere classic on yesterday.
Now, in fairness, what else should I be watching? And you tell me, oh, watch another meaningless regular season baseball game.
Well, it's Sunday.
Somebody's going to win a golf championship. I understand. I'm talking about the freaking John Deere Classic, and now everything's changed with these elevated events. And the massive disparity in the winner's purse is the motivation for guys like Scotty Scheffler not to play every week because he shows up at the big events, cleans up, and then waits for the majors. But this sport has never been more driven.
and focusing on just four events a year than it is now. Because I was watching yesterday. Look, when Nance is not there, it should tell me I should not watch. Andrew Cataline, I think is his name, and seems like a nice young guy. But if Nance doesn't show up, I shouldn't be watching.
But when they put the leaderboard up, and it was high drama. Went to the playoff. Whoever Brian Campbell is. Apparently, he won for the second time this year. Good for him.
But the rest of the leaderboard. was not exactly murderer's row. Kevin Roy? David Lipsky? Jacob Bridgman.
Now, if it's Junior Bridgman, I could name the rest of the Milwaukee Bucks circa 1984. Golf is in a crisis. And it was supposed to be solved by now. Because we're, what, eighteen months into the proposed merger? Which is not technically what it was going to be.
It was really going to be the Saudis buying the PGA Tour and them. Because one of their higher-ups likes the notion of team golf. And look, live golf is a joke. How about this? If you don't have a cut.
It's not a professional event. I don't care that they're wearing shorts. I don't care about the team format. I don't care about the wacky graphics if you can find the broadcast anywhere. But if it's no cut, It ain't competitive golf.
But I'm just looking for big names. and they're still all relegated to the witness relocation program, that is LiveGolf. Can I have a couple guys that I know and care about back on tour? Where's Bryson De Chambeau? And while he was gone, he's transformed himself now into a fan favorite.
Up is down, black is white, the world has come on glue, but I have nobody that I know playing on a regular basis. And thank you for feeling my pain. I'm Brian Weber. NBA takeaways to tip off the final hour of the program. Straight ahead on The Rich Eisen Show.
Jin 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.
