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.
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 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 Rich, here's Brian Weber. It is the final hour of the program, always a blast to sit in for Rich and the guys.
Think about the pressure I'm under. Rich, the face of NFL Network, and he's got plenty of support from the crew. I'm a lonely man clutching this microphone.
So, if you want to provide assistance on social media, BW Weber, Weber with 2Bs, last call for phone calls. Probably file the number away for tomorrow. It's a better opportunity at that point. 844-204-7424. We've gone wall-to-wall football.
Other than a brief NBA conversation that was insightful, as always, in the previous hour of the program, Kurt Heelen was our guest from NBCSports.com. If you missed that, be sure to check out the show at your leisure. On demand, whenever you want. The podcast will be posted shortly after the conclusion of the show, but we still have 60 minutes in front of us together. In 20 minutes, we return to college football.
We have talked a lot about how things could develop on campus this fall because Big 12 media days got underway today in Texas.
Some strong comments from the Commissioner Brett Yormark about the future of the college football playoff with expansion. Feeling like it's a done deal for next year to go to 16 teams, we'll relay what the commission had to say and put it in context when we're joined by an old friend. Pete Futak of CollegeFootballNews.com. In 45 minutes, a little bit of NBA. I went heavy on the NBA yesterday, justifiably because of the news cycle.
We are now weaning off of it. I'm going to use the continuation of summer league play in San Francisco and Salt Lake City leading up to the Vegas Summer League with Cooper Flag, the headliner, making his debut on Thursday. All of those events. As a pivot point to think about how the regular season could play out, why have we not heard anything from Giannis if Milwaukee, and they did, Came up with a very creative accounting procedure. It had never happened before to that extent.
To pay a future Hall of Famer in Damian Lillard over $100 million to go away and absorb all of the salary cap pain that came with it. Because if you add up. The hit they're taking financially against the cap to what they're paying Miles Turner coming up. Miles Turner becomes a $50 million player. My observation is: okay.
But What? What's it mean on the floor? Even in the wide open east, I still think Milwaukee is no better than a play-in team. And maybe that's why the silence from Team Giannis continues to echo throughout the NBA because you can say nothing and have the ramifications still land with the party you're looking for as we get cryptic to start the final out of the program. Organic radio is the best radio.
Now, I do prepare. Not to be self-promotional, but my process is I like to have everything mapped out mentally. And then it should be clear by now I do not have writers. There is no teleprompter. This is free form conversation.
And it's authentic when you stumble across something that wasn't planned.
So, when I was talking about Cal Raleigh and the big dumper and what he's doing in Seattle. The goal of that segment was not to meander into what happened to sports nicknames as a subject. It happened on the fly. I appreciate some thoughts on the X platform, BW Weber, Weber with 2Bs. The best one from WMY Water Cooler.
Simply two words. Big hurt. Good call. Although I think you're making my point for me. It's been a minute since Frank Thomas played.
In the bigs. In fact, if we're doing word association, you say Frank Thomas, now, what do I think about? a commercial for male enhancement, which tells you He's not in his prime. I'll just leave it there. Back to the NFL.
We open the show with a monologue about The evolution of Aaron Rodgers' personality, opinions, and how he chooses to express himself. And then we made the transition to what it's going to mean on the field for Pittsburgh. And I'm not trying to be a cynic by trade, I just need to see it. When the games start? Week one against the Jets because so much of professional sport is about fit.
How's it going to look with Aaron Rodgers playing for Arthur Smith, who is demanding? Taskmaster. Both as a play caller and the former head coach of the Falcons, if you care at all. You know why Arthur doesn't play around? His father, who recently passed away, founded FedEx.
You talk about the concept of I'll choose my words carefully here. Goodbye, money. You can wave goodbye. I'm walking out the door. There are other letters you could use there.
Arthur's got it. It could work. But Arthur's got a strong personality. And so does Aaron, especially in his remaining days in the NFL. Aaron, critical of the Jets' ground game.
Made those remarks to Mark Schlerith that Mark articulated on his podcast.
Okay, well. Pittsburgh didn't want to pay Najee Harris, so he joined the Chargers. Another reason why I think the bolts will be improved year two this season under Jim Harbaugh. I understand you can get it done by committee. I just want to see it.
So I am not intentionally bashing Aaron Rodgers because I have found him to be more distasteful as he's. moved along in his career. You're entitled to your opinion. I don't have to like it. Plus, I find it odd that the man who told Pat McAfee that when he retires, he effectively, and these are my words, not his, is going to be a Kaiser Sosé.
He's got.
Okay. If that's the goal, why do you show up on national TV every week in season? If you want to be left alone, Don't go on the show.
So you can't have it both ways, but that's the predicament with Aaron, because while he is bright by my assessment from a distance, feels like he has the need to be the smartest guy in every room he walks into. And let's just tell it like it is. He has declined. Clearly, this is not breaking news. We saw it at the end of his tenure in Green Bay.
The Jets Season and four snaps is hard to evaluate because of the Achilles rupture that occurred in his debut.
So let's find out what he has to offer. And I am not convinced in any way he is better than the combination of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. And that is not saying much. But let's use that now as a way to move forward. Quarterbacks landing in new situations.
I'm Brian Weber and for Rich, College Football Talk 15 minutes away when we're joined by Pete Futak of CollegeFootballNews.com. I keep leaning into the West Coast bias, so let's keep that going. And apparently now I'm the voice of reason defending Seattle. I love Seattle. Spent a lot of time calling games at the University of Washington before the Pac twelve got murdered by T V executives.
Sam Darnold has something to prove. I think he's got to prove it to himself. Because unfortunately, as we talked about the redemption story of Jared Goff, the implosion of Sam Darnold in his final two games for the Vikings cost him millions of dollars and a chance to stay with that team. And you can talk about The quality of opponents, and yes, even with all of the attrition defensively for Detroit because of the injuries, still a good team. With a good scheme run by Aaron Glenn, who's now become the head coach of the New York Jets.
So I am not overlooking. the caliber of opponent of Detroit, followed by the Rams But it felt like Sam Darnold Had a moment of clarity and realized, I'm Sam Darnold. What am I doing being this efficient? And just was god-awful.
So? If you're thinking about How the Dominoes have fallen around the league. Sam Other than being younger and cheaper to a degree, depending on how you align the money for cap reasons, I don't think he's an upgrade over Geno Smith, but he's. He is younger. And at least he created.
The notion of hope and And every coach feels like, okay, I've seen enough positive tape. He did it for. 95% of last season, he can do it again here. My pushback would be he doesn't have Justin Jefferson to throw the ball to, and he's not going to be coached by Kevin O'Connell.
So I don't know that that's a net positive, but we'll find out. How about Gino to Vegas? Yes. As I said about the Cincinnati defense, whether they pay Trey Hendrickson or not, statistically, they cannot be worse than last year. That's how abysmal they were, and points out.
How superhuman Joe Burrow was to have that team even in playoff contention down the stretch.
So, whatever your perception of Geno is. This is again not breaking news. The Raider quarterback room was so. GRISLY And so underachieving. If you have a functioning, serviceable quarterback in Geno Smith, you got a chance, Cam Ward.
What a wonderful story. And I realize now With highlights available on the supercomputer that's in your hand, and nobody uses the phone anymore. We don't think about. The athletes Odyssey, and as much as we used to.
So, for example, I'm 55. I should not be throwing out my age because ageism is real and I will not be invited back on Labor Day. But when I was getting my sports fandom developed, Sports Illustrated still was the premier magazine, and you read about guys' journey and how they made it to the NFL. Cam Ward. Was so lightly recruited.
The only school that offered him a scholarship coming out of high school, Incarnate Word in Texas.
Now some of it came down to the fact of the system he was playing. On the high school level, and also he was a late bloomer. He grew into his body. He went from that tiny school to Washington State, balled out. Parlayed that into a ton of NIL money, and you saw what he did at the U.
Instant impact certainly on the way for Tennessee. But the question is, how many more wins based on the lack of talent around him? And Will Levis can say whatever he wants to about quote unquote, it's sucking that he has to compete for that job, but. Will Levis has no business even being mentioned as a full-time starting QB anymore. We have seen enough.
I use the word grizzly to describe. the Raiders quarterback room prior to Geno getting at it this year. What's the right adjective to sum up what's going on in Indy? If you're thinking about Daniel Jones versus Anthony Richardson coming back from injury, not exactly Steve Young and Joe Montana competing for the job.
Now, maybe. Danny Dimes. Which I did not count it as a sports nickname just because it was so. Inaccurate. If you're going for the better moniker, it's Danny giveaways.
The guy just had no ball security, but I should have thought of that on the fly. Maybe, based on the brief amount of time he spent in Minnesota, he got some of the positive rub from Kevin O'Connell to get the stench of his absolute implosion with the New York Football Giants off of him. Still, I can't defend Anthony Richardson, who's proven to be the quintessential workout warrior and never should have been taken that high by the Colts. And if you track college football, you know he only made something like 13 starts for the Gators.
So he had a big question mark surrounding him coming out of the performance in which he broke the internet. And unfortunately, He's been unable to stay healthy. If I'm using negative words like grizzly for some quarterback situations, how should we sum up what's going on in New Orleans? I would do Jim Ross, and we're all happy, those of us who support professional wrestling, that he is cancer-free as of now. I want to pace myself.
I've been doing a lot of radio as of late. But the term that would come to mind for New Orleans would be rock bottom, rock bottom. And I'm not screaming like Stone Cold is on the receiving end of Dwayne DeRock Johnson pulling off the best maneuver in recent memory. They are a muddled mess.
Now we'll find out how good of a coach Kellen Moore is, but you can only do so much when you have nothing to work with. And we'll find out about Terror Carr. I don't know if he is necessarily done. We know he's emotional. Maybe he was just spent and dealing with the injury and feeling unwanted.
And he's young enough to come back, but that's not really that relevant heading into the season. As we continue to bop around the NFL, the Giants are always interesting because they're so poorly run. And if you think about someone lucky to have a job, it's GM Joshane. After And he just followed conventional wisdom. Remember, running backs are interchangeable.
Running backs don't deserve. getting paid. But you can give Daniel Jones all that guaranteed money. And to see Saquon Barkley, lead big blue, stay into division and play a leading role on that team winning the Super Bowl was just another kick in the junk for suffering Giants fans who have to endure at least one more year of the current regime. I think Brian Dayball is a good coach so long as he has something to work with.
Because remember, the primary reason why he got that job was what he did with Josh Allen. The dilemma was he couldn't bring Josh with him from Buffalo, although he coached up Daniel Jones to an extent. Giants had that one positive year with the turnaround and then fell apart last year. To me, Russell Wilson is just a guy. He is just a placeholder.
You could argue it would have been cheaper and far more entertaining to go with Jameis Winston as the QB1, bridging to get to Jackson Dart. Here is the challenge for Dayball. He's got to win. He's going to win now.
Now, the positive is the Giants were so putrid last year. When you bottom out to three wins, if you go to six or seven, you can go back to the Marrow family and say, well, we've doubled our output. Can't fire me now, boss. How are you going to get to even. Five or six wins if you look at the Giants' schedule.
I'm not going to go game by game, but context matters. It's why I'm so high on the 49ers, in addition to at least being healthy to start the year. I can't, nor can any of us have a guarantee that Christian McCaffrey, based on all of the wear and tear, going back to his run in Carolina and how he's used by Kyle Shanahan, will play all 17 games. But we saw by his absence, along with other injuries that bogged down the Niners, what he meant last year.
Well, the Niners have on paper. A series of winnable games. The schedule broke that way because they were the last-placed team in the FC West, and you're rewarded for your mediocrity in a league built on parody by having. a much more manageable schedule. Flip that with the Giants, even though they were terrible and should have the benefit of a straightforward schedule based on the rotation of what divisions the NFC East is playing.
It is going to be. Let's just say a stretch of logic to think New York is doing anything that is significant this year. And if that's the case, how long does it take for Jackson Dart to take over? The conundrum on a big word Tuesday for Daybow is he's got to at least trot out Wilson for a handful of games to appease the veterans who are always cognizant that they're auditioning for their next job, but they see in practice who the real Talented players are. And I don't think it's going to take them long to realize that Russ is just hanging around.
Because his identity is caught up in being a starting quarterback, and beyond being the QB one of the future. The future is now when it comes to Jackson Dart. I think if we're just going to set the under-over, I think the Giants will be mathematically eliminated by week seven, week eight, somewhere towards the middle of the season, and the DART era will get underway. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich. My era is comprised of the rest of this program tomorrow and Thursday.
Dan Schwartzmann and Friday. Then Rich and the fellows back with you on Monday.
So hang with us. Let's keep the conversation going on the X platform. B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. Up next, we return.
to college football. Spicy rhetoric coming out of today's first day of the Big 12 media days underway in Texas. And we will focus on matters on the field. What is the Arch Manning era going to look like in Texas? We'll cover it all when we're joined by Pete Futak of CollegeFootballNews.com.
I'm Brian Weber, always having a good time with you whenever I'm in for Rich here on the Rich Eisen Show.
So you know we love talking movies around here. You know we love talking comedy around here. We also love talking about classics around here.
So You know what I'm all about. That said, all of that said. You know how I must have felt when I was sitting in the movie theater like I was the other day watching the previews and up came a preview. for the naked gun. with Liam Neese and his Frank Greben, junior.
That Preview had me at hello. I loved police squad back in the day. I loved the naked gun back in the day. And here comes the naked gun once again with yes, Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. Come on now.
Son of the celebrated police squad, Lieutenant Frank Drebbin from the original movie. Paul Walter Hauser's in this movie. Also, Pamela Anderson. Guess who also makes an appearance? WWE superstar.
Cody Rhodes and the producer of the movie is Seth McFarlane, the creator of The Family Guy. Come on now.
This is going to be so much fun. I'm excited to see The Naked Gun in theaters on August 1st.
So. What do you do on August 1st? Of course, you're going to a theater near you and you're seeing the naked gun. I might even be there. This episode brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Shifting a little money here, a little there. hoping it all works out.
Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can get a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too. You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance and they'll help find you options within your budget. Try it today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law.
Not available in all states. Getting the zone, AutoZone. 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. Like always, free battery testing, charging, and recycling at every store. Celebrate free at AutoZone now through July 28th. Get into zone! I don't song.
Restrictions apply. Let's get back to the college football conversation with a good friend. Pete Futak. Check out his outstanding work at collegefootballnews.com. Pete, Did you schlep your way in person to Big 12 Media Days at the Star in Frisco, Texas?
Or are we speaking from your castle in the Midwest? You are speaking as I wander around the Midwest, and I'm just going to be honest. If if your media days aren't in Las Vegas, don't bother not don't don't even ask. There's no point. There is no reason for anyone's media days or really any event to be in anywhere but oh, like, you know, Southern California or Las Vegas at this point, like the big ten as p in media days are.
But uh but I digress. No, I am not there. But plus you know what? Why go? 'Cause they whisted out.
Last year they biffed the their preseason, you know, rankings and polls so badly that they're not even doing it. Yeah, Arizona State last year is in last. And they're like, oh no, well, we can't have that again.
So they're just not doing it.
So if you're not even going to try Big 12, then what's the point?
Now People are trying to turn that into consequential takeaways like The selection committee has such a degree of distrust from the powers that be that conferences don't want to have a preseason media poll. Do you think that's all nonsense? Yeah, whatever. Win the Big 12 title and you win the college football playoff, and you're all good.
So, like, we're a little bit done with that. But, look, I mean, like, last year at this time. You were nuts if you tried to say anybody but Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma State, and all three of them face planet, you know.
So, like, and what do we get? We got Arizona State, which. I didn't think they were going to do that, but they were certainly gettable because that was a team that was a young coach, young team, lots of talent. They fought their way through a bad season. You could tell that there was a fight there.
I didn't think, again, I didn't think they were going to do that. And now the Big 12, though, is it's not the Big Ten. It's not the SEC. They don't have the talent there. They don't have the top end teams.
But that's the most interesting conference in college football because every team is better or good, except for BYU, who loses its quarterback. But Houston's a lot better. Why? The transfer portal. Cincinnati's a lot better.
They've been building it all the way up. Texas Tech, and you can say this now, bought itself a team. Oh, yeah. Bought every sport. Hey, Pete, that's how they wound up in the Women's College World Series.
Hey, welcome. You know, this is, you know, hate the game and the players if you want, but like, that's the game now, and Texas Tech. bought itself a good and this is a football program. They've never won anything. I think the last uh outright conference title was like in the Border Conference in 1948-ish.
I mean, they never won even got to a uh Big Twelve title game under Mike Leach. You know, this is this is a program that you think, oh, they're really good. No, they're not. It's a it's a it's it's a completely mediocre program, which now might bust through. But again, every team, Iowa State's awesome, Kansas State's awesome, Kansas is gonna be better.
Every single team in this conference is good enough to beat anyone else. It's going to make for a fantastic season, I hope. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen, spotlighting the college game with my pal Pete Futak from College FootballNews.com. By now you have read the money quote from Big Twelve Commissioner Brett Yormuck in his address to the media. Quote, We continue to believe the 5 plus 11 model, that's five automatic qualifiers, is the right playoff format.
We want to earn it on the field. We do not need a professional model. We are not the NFL, close quote. I like the substance. Is that going to matter at all when we get to the expanded playoff field?
It's kind of a silly thing. Like you like you said, expanded now from 12 when they go from 12 to 16. But it's a silly debate. This whole thing like, you know, if the big ten in SEC are crying, oh, you know, if we want four teams, then we don't have to, well, you're gonna have that no matter what in a sixteen team field. I mean, you almost had it last year.
I mean, you got three teams in everyone without a problem, you know, before. You're going to have 12 teams. You're going to have your four teams. Repeat, let me jump in. Then why is Tony Petiti, who runs the Big Ten, demanding this proposal get jammed through?
I don't know. I think it's because they want the absolute guarantee. I think they want to be locked in. Because you do need to take the thing out of the hands of the panel, the judges as much as possible. Because they blow it every year, like, no, I don't like this any better than you do.
SMU should not have been in. Alabama deserved to be in the college football playoff last year. I can go through why, but I'm right. Florida State, you know, they got that right two years ago. But you don't want you want to be able to win your way in.
And as long as you have a a way to do that, it's just fine.
So it's kind of barrier like, oh, great, let's throw this fourth big ten team a cookie and get it in there if it doesn't deserve it. But again, you're always going to have I mean, the Big Ten has more money than everybody else. Then there's about one hundred foot drop, then there's the SEC, then there's about a ninety thousand foot drop and then there's everything everyone else.
So you're always going to have the Big Ten is going to make its money and be just fine in this little thing. And don't forget the newly reconfigured Pac-12 with Texas State. And I don't want to talk about that because I'm still grieving. I'm Brian Infer Rich, heading around the nation with Pete View Tech of CollegeFootball News.com. Pete, some people are not as enthralled with realignment and college football playoff expansion talk as I am.
So let me focus on a colossal matchup, week one, Texas and Ohio State. Before we talk about the game itself, what are your expectations for Arch Manning this year after what we saw last year in the small sample size? I have yet to find anybody who has a negative word about him. There is no, I mean, you always have something, you know, or else you have the people who say stuff. And then behind the scenes, they're like, Yeah, this guy's kind of a jerk, or this guy.
Everybody loves this kid. He is talent-wise. He's gotten way more mobility than Peyton or Eli ever had, which isn't saying much. But he can run. He's been coached up since birth in the Manning world.
He has got all the tools. But he's humble. He's kind of one of those guys who just Everybody loves. He's just again, I have yet to find a negative anything, even you know, off the record or anything about him. He's the guy that everyone's gonna wanna root for for a program that's kinda hard to root for because it's the you know that's got everything, it's got more money than everyone we've ever met combined, but like Uh it's Texas is good, but it's Steve Sarkeesian.
Just you know, he's he's blew it the last two years. They should have beaten Washington with ease against that bad pass defense. And they finally figured out way too late. Oh, maybe we should throw the ball with like five minutes to go. Last year they ran the worst play call, probably second worst in sports history next to not giving it to Marshawn Lynch against Ohio State.
Uh so they always like it's like it's almost like they can't have nice things. But they are so close. They've got all the talent. They got the quarterback. They've taken their lumps.
And this seems like this might be one of those next teams, next team up. But it's the SEC. They got to go to Georgia. They got to go to Ohio State. They could lose both of those.
You drop one other game and you're not in the college football playoff because what did we learn in the 12-team era so far? You got to get to 10 wins. You don't do that, they're not going to get in this thing. Pete, I realize it's only July, but you do your research and we have people who are sports investors hanging on every word. Early thoughts about Texas and Ohio State on the field.
How do you see the game itself? Ohio State just because it's at home, but Texas is really that good. But this is a different Ohio State team. This is an assumption that they're just going to come back loaded because it's Ohio State and they lost a ton. I mean, last year's team was, I mean, I'm not that bright.
You can tell from last February that Ohio State was going to win the national title. And you asked me this question last year. I said, Ohio State bucket. There's no need to watch the season. And I was right.
Yeah, you did say that. This year, there isn't that. There there isn't that team and that isn't Ohio State, but it's Ohio State. But here's the here's the big storyline when it comes to that and everything else week one. Name everyone's starting quarterback.
Like last year, everyone kinda knew who if you're a college football fan, you kinda knew who Will Howard was coming from Kansas State. Everyone kinda knew, if again, if you're a college football fan who Riley Leonard was going to Notre Dame, you knew Carson Beck, you knew Jalen Milro. Look at the top 10. I mean, remember, Archer Manning wasn't a starter last year. He only played, he only beat UTSA in like 10 years.
I will give you Lenoris Sellers for the win. Lenoris is my guy. Yeah. Yeah, but that's a that's one of those teams.
South Carolina, when it does something good, then let's talk. But hey, they should have made the playoff. You and I had a very heated debate about that.
South Carolina came that close. They did. They should have. They were in the mix. Again, that's where Alabama beat South Carolina, and that knocks that out of the way.
I know, I know. It was a compelling argument. But. But, you know, again, who you just name the average fan. If I were to say to, you know, Joe, you know, works fan on the street, who are the best teams in college football?
Oh, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame.
Okay, name one of those starting quarterbacks.
Well, I know, plus the portal has changed everything, Pete, and that's why it is challenging to be a fan of this sport as much as we love what happens on the field. Or you can make the flip and say For and I'm with you. The difference being now, everyone has a starting quarterback. Everyone, and now every team has a guy who can at least complete 65% of his passes.
So, you know, 10 years ago, you always had the, okay, well, they have a quarterback, and this guy can't throw at all.
Well, now everyone's got one, if not two.
So, and that's kind of the storyline: these big teams didn't go portal. You know, you had last year, again, you know, Riley Leonard was a transfer. You know, you had the, you know, Will Howard was a transfer. You had all these big transfers going around. You know, Cam Ward doing what he did was great and everything.
But you, of course, are back in Miami. And no, no. Yeah, and so there's one and so but like everyone else all the big boys, again, Michigan, Oregon, uh you know, you're talking like everybody's got a new guy who hasn't isn't really proven yet.
So it it's gonna be interesting to see which one of these teams, because one of them's gonna flop. One of the one team is going to be a powerhouse team that's not going to get it done because their quarterback is not as good as, say, oh, I don't know, John Matier of Oklahoma or someone that they could have gotten through the portal. In our remaining moments, you always do an excellent job of moving beyond the usual sex suspects.
So give me a team that would not immediately come to mind that has a shot at winning the national championship. Oof, winning national championship is different than, you know, just getting in the playoffs. Because this is the thing to remember, I don't mean to dodge your question here, but I'm going to, this isn't the NCA basketball tournament. You can't just get hot from three. We're not going to get, like, Boydson State's never, ever going to win a national championship.
You can't win two or three games unless you are the superpowerist of superpower level programs. And that's the history of college football. You just don't have, you know, unless you have some weird outlier like a Georgia Tech or BYU where you didn't play anybody. You just don't have, you know, other than powerhouse teams.
So I don't want to say it's an outlier team that could get there. LSU, if that's, I know it's not a crazy off-the-wall team, but again, if you're talking who's got the talent and who's got the potential to actually get to the tournament and win a couple games and maybe find themselves in it, I mean, last year would have been the Notre Dame call, so who would be this year in Notre Dame? It's like, oh, yeah, they're close, and they just had everything break right. I would say LSU might be that team. Fair, I just cannot have any rooting interest in Brian Kelly, but that's my personal bias.
And you shouldn't. Thank you. You shouldn't. It's okay. You can join my family, as he said when he got to Baton Rouge.
Pete, you're the best. I'm going to put you down for Labor Day, okay? Remember, it's early in September. I'm back in for rich, and we will be knee-deep in college football by then, my friend. Oh, I'll be fully submerged underwater at that point, but absolutely, cut me in.
Thank you, Pete. You're the best.
Sounded like Pete was calling us from a submarine, too.
Now, I'm not going to do my time-honored landline rants because nobody has a landline. In fact, even I, because I'm cheap, dropped the landline. But my goodness, absolutely. As a radio consumer, along with a consumer of too many pizzas, when you hear somebody on a nice old-fashioned phone, maybe it's a rotary phone, kids, we used to have to put our finger and actually manipulate the dial. Hoodjiga, hoodjiga, hudjiga.
I do realize though, and again, this is the difference when I'm here, it's not the simulcast.
So, when Rich is talking to someone via Zoom, very clear audio. I like talking to people on the phone. How come no one answers their phone anymore?
Now, I understand it's all about telemarketers, but it says incoming spam risk nine times out of ten. I guess the other thing, as I find out, as I try to canodle with younger people, if you leave a voice message for someone, it's like you've given them a plague. Like someone said, hey, why aren't you leaving me a voicemail while I'm trying to articulate something to you? Why didn't you text me? Because I didn't want to write a 19-page text.
You kids, man. I weep. For our youth. I'm Brian Weber, desperately hanging on to my middle age for rich, 844-204-7424. Excellent conversation with Pete.
Just as the hoops dialogue with Kurt Halen was outstanding, more college football tomorrow. We'll be joined by Tim Murray of Veeson. I mentioned I know some sports investors out there want to get an early lean as to how things are going to play out once the games start. Tim. Handles college football for the Veeson podcast and is also a regular in their daily lineup.
So we'll talk more college pigskin with him. But as we prepare to close up shop, we have more business to get to.
So it's been a week since the Bucs took a big swing to get Miles Turner. That deal became official yesterday. Why have we not heard a single peep from the Greek freak? 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 Eizen show. Browse through that Game Time app, and automatically you'll see features that become your favorites: last-minute tickets, zone deals. You see views from all seats in the venue, lowest price guarantee, event cancellation protection. And the best part about it is you see your entire total upfront, so no surprise fees hit you at checkout. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets right now with GameTime.
Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use my code of Eizen for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Visit GameTime.co for restrictions. Again, create an account. Redeem our code EISEN for $20 off.
Download the Game Time app today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Let's talk O'Reilly Auto Parts, people. They're in the business of keeping your car on the road. OOOORILY Auto Parts offers friendly, helpful service and the parts knowledge you need for all your maintenance and repairs.
They've got thousands of parts and accessories in stock either in store or online, so you never have to worry if you're in a jam. The team at O'Reilly Auto Parts can also test your battery for free in or out of your car. If it needs to be replaced, they'll help you find just the right battery for your vehicle. Need your windshield wipers replaced, a brake-like fixed, or a quick service?
Well, they'll help you find the right part or point you to the nearest local repair shop for help. I know because it's happened to me. The professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts are your one-stop shop for all things auto-do-it-yourself. And you can find what you need in store or online. Stop by O'Reilly Auto Parts today or visit us at O'ReillyAuto.com/slash Eisen.
That's O'ReillyAuto.com/slash Eisen. Brian Weber back with you. Final segment, which means we're winding down today. That also translates into We are warming up for tomorrow. Bad with you tomorrow.
I mentioned one of our scheduled guests. Because I love college football even more than the NFL. Yeah, I said it. Tim Murray from Beason will join us. More NBA.
In small digestible portions, when we check in with Brian Kalbrosky of USA Today, I want to thank our guests today. Both were outstanding. Hopefully, it's clear. I do not overwhelm you with outside voices. I maximize your chances to pass along your thoughts on social media.
I'm now caught in some weird ex-beef with people going back and forth based on an aside I threw out yesterday about whatever happened to that merger between the PGA Tour and Live Golf. But passion fuels everything in our business. Thanks to Kurt Healen for providing his NBA analysis from NBCSports.com. And it's always juicy when Pete Futak from CollegeFootballNews.com is our guest. Let's wrap it up with some MBA.
Draymond Green is spouting his typical nonsensical opinions. I'll save that for to morrow. He's not wrong in his take that The dreaded second apron has killed NBA free agency.
Well, he's factually wrong. Free agency still occurs, but I'll give you why I think he's off base tomorrow. And again, I try to be upfront with my disagreements with people. Yeah, I took a shot at Brian Kelly. I don't think Brian Kelly's a good person.
And I say that based on things that happened at Notre Dame. Knowing people on that campus and how he's handled his business at LSU. You make $9 million a year. Do not blame your players. And I understand how How coaching works, and I'm not a snowflake, and I'm old.
I come from a generation in which our parents smacked us around, and then we went to Catholic school and got hit there, too. I get it. I'm not endorsing that, but. Brian Kelly to me too often. Refuses to take accountability, basically shifts all of the responsibility towards his players.
And I don't like a grown man embarrassing a 19-year-old kid on the sideline. What you do in the locker room is different. Yes. How many locker rooms have we been in with that sign on the wall? What happens here?
What we say here, what we see here, stays here. Kelly just wants to pass the buck. And when you are the highest paid employee of the public ranks in the state of Louisiana, part of that money is to be accountable, to go to the podium and say, that's on me. And it's just a dance. All you have to do is go through the motions, but I think he's a small person.
And his ego gets in the way, and he blames his quote-unquote kids. I'm not cool with it. And there's your commentary on a Tuesday.
Well, I'll never be working for SEC Network. I think my days of calling college sports are over, largely by choice. Secondly, I'm not going to be doing this when I'm 60, and that's within five years. I want to create opportunities for young people.
So, I'm getting more candid about the college space than I was in the past, and hopefully, that's more compelling content for you. Let's wrap it up with a couple NBA thoughts. It's been a week. And if you say nothing happens now in NBA free agency, well, Miles Turner going to Milwaukee was something. I'm not saying it's tantamount to LeBron's decision that was expressed 15 years ago.
But if we're going through legitimate big men in the NBA, and yes, they still met her, I know it's all three-point shots all the time. But you saw the impact Turner had on the Pacers' run to the NBA finals.
Somebody's got to get the rebounds.
Somebody's got to play defense in the paint in the midst of that barrage from the perimeter. But. Since that move had basketball sense to it to give Giannis another post player to run with, a much more defined option than Lopez in the lane, And also had a psychological intention: appease Giannis, make him happy, because this team has done it repeatedly with mixed results. Go back to picking up Drew Holiday, who was instrumental in winning the title in 2021. They took.
A calculated risk in Damian Lillard based on his age. Unfortunately, they got burned with Dame going down with the Achilles tear in the postseason, obviously beyond anyone's control.
So they decided, knowing that Lillard is not available next season unless he has a miraculous comeback. Just prior to playoff time and could play for a contender, knowing he's out of the mix and. The report that was floated through Shamshiradia that Giannis, I'm paraphrasing here, would be open to exploring different options, meaning, hey, Milwaukee, do something to make me happy or I'm gone. The Bucs did the best they could. And I'll steal from Brian Windhorse, who I think is the best NBA insider going.
He said that when he talked to executives, they were stunned to two things: that someone would do that to Damian Lillard with his Hall of Fame potential and how respected he is around the league, and that the Bucs came up with the mechanism. It's always been out there. No one sat down, ran the numbers and said, We're willing to eat over $100 million, $113 to be specific. We're going to take a massive cap hit in the name of coming up with the way to get Miles Turner to make Giannis happy.
So it's been a full week. The deal became official yesterday. How come we've not heard one thing from Giannis? I think the answer is it's by design. Because the moment he weighs in one way or the other, then we get all of the blowback from.
Bucks fans, I know it's a small fan base, but I got a lot of friends in Wisconsin. My college roommate from Janesville, Wisconsin, the guy down the hall from La Crosse. I'm all in on the greatness of the dairy products from that state. Still, if you're a Buck fan, it's got to be tedious that all we do when we talk about your franchise is speculate where Giannis is going.
So I think he's calculated. He's not going to say anything until he has to, and that moment won't be until training camp opens in September because he wants to hang on to the only leverage he has, and that is to. Try to push the bucks to be even more aggressive on the margins. Get me something, anything. But as much as I respect Miles, the addition means very little, even in the Eastern Conference.
Looks like a play-in team to me. Want to thank a lot of people, starting with Rich Eisen, Jerry Sobowitz, Bruce Gilbert, all of my friends at Westwood One, David Murnak, the good people at Infinity Sports Network, our technical producer, don't call him Arsenic, Art Martinez. My name is Brian Weber. We'll do it again tomorrow on The Rich Eisen Show. 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. Uh
