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Now, on with the show. What is I know you're gonna dig this. This is the Rich Eisen Show. What's the one thing that's missing from your lives? Rich Eisen.
Love it. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Scotty Shetler. He's now joined the company of golf greats. I don't really know exactly what to say, but thank you so much to the fans this week for all the support.
Today's guests, Premier League Lacrosse co-founder Paul Raybull, Rams running back. Blake Coram, actor Danny Houston, plus latest news and more. And now.
Well, that's right. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show, live on the Roku Sports Channel and the Infinity Sports Network and a radio affiliate smart enough to have us. Sirius XM Channel 375 and the Odyssey app. Good to see everybody here. We start today's show by talking about my knee injury.
Wait a minute. Hold a minute. I'm told that's. That's the way Seth Rollins started the show. On the Seth Rollins show, as I saw on his mug.
Okay. That's your man over there. Thank you to Seth Rollins for sitting in this chair. Knew he'd be good. That's not going out on a very long limb.
No, excellent. Excellent. But good to have him in this chair for two days. And Andrew Ciciliano greatly appreciate those gents allowing me to pop free so I can head out east and see the kids in their summer camp for visiting day. And it was all good in those hoods.
And we're back here on the show today. Three fun guests: my guy, Blake Coram from the Los Angeles Rams. We're going to have him on this program. Paul Rabel, the yes, Balaki, the co-founder, premier lacrosse league and women's lacrosse league, as well as the very handsome and talented and popular Paul Rabel will be here in studio. And then Danny Houston, who is an actor that I'm a fan of.
Yellowstone being one. He's been in X-Men movies as well. He is the. Bad guy. In the naked gun.
That is going to be available in theaters nationwide next week. On August the 1st, next Friday.
So, Danny Houston will be here, a big fan of his from Yellowstone. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you? Good to be seeing. How are you?
Good to see you. I'm going to switch over to here to the corner for TJ Jefferson. Candles lit. Good to see you. Welcome back.
And since, thank you very much. I appreciate that very much. And then, my guy, DJ Mike E.D. isn't these nuts. Mr.
New Jersey of the Rich Island Show. Good to see you over there, sir. Good to see you, Rich Island. Your hometown in New Jersey is what again? Just so I can.
Livingston. Livingston, New Jersey. Livingston. John Livingston. That's how I remember it.
And the reason why I switched it up is we start this show today. In the uh Great hamlet of Ridgewood, New Jersey. Ridgewood, yes. Ridgewood, New Jersey. Why am I starting Ridgewood, New Jersey?
Well, uh, I mean, normally when I mention exit 16W on the New Jersey Turnpike, that would mean Jets, giants, because that's where Met Life resides, right? Exactly. But that's how you want one way you can get to Ridgewood, New Jersey. Um is is that? Uh, let me get this correct.
Exit 165 on the Garden State Parkway. That's right there. That's right there. It's right there. It lets you right off in Richwood, New Jersey.
Hometown of Scotty Scheffler. Oh. Heard of him. That's where it all started. In Ridgewood, New Jersey.
And the latest date line. Involving Scotty Scheffler would be Northern Ireland. Port Rush, Northern Ireland. Royal Port Rush. Is where Scotty Scheffler.
Showed up this week. And kind of took the world by surprise because he has the world by the proverbial. pairs right now and we're all paying rent in this man's world. And it's fascinating because this year we all thought we would be paying rent. in the world of Rory McElroy.
Certainly the way that he performed in this year's Masters, finally breaking through after a twelve-year respite, to complete his Career grand slam. He was missing the masters. He finally added it. He finally got that. Off his back and into his trophy case, and I guess onto his back, right, with a green jacket.
And we thought, okay, here we go. Because the open championship is in Northern Ireland, or as some people in Columbus might call it, the Northern Ireland. And so Yeah, I couldn't resist. Of course not. Yeah.
In the Northern Ireland. And you knew the fans would be rallying for Rory. They were. Kind of ever since then. We're paying rent.
Again, in Scotty Scheffler's world.
So he showed up this week and kind of took everyone by surprise, not by winning by four strokes. But by showing up and and sounding resigned. to a life of winning Without Enjoying it. We didn't talk about this on the show last week before I left because There was so much going on. We had so many terrific in-studio guests.
But um This is what he had to say when he showed up in Northern Ireland this week. I'm not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I'm not here to inspire somebody else to be the best player in the world because what's the point? This is not a fulfilling. Life.
It's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest. You know. places of your heart. You know, there's a lot of people that make it to What they thought was going to fulfill them in life, and then you get there, and all of a sudden you get to number one in the world, and then they're like, What's the point? And I really do believe that because what is the point?
You're like, Why do I want to win this tournament so bad? That's something that I wrestle with on a daily basis. It's like showing up at the Masters every year, it's like, why do I want to win this golf tournament so badly? Why do I want to win the Open Championship so badly? I don't know because if I win, it's going to be awesome for about two minutes.
And then we're going to get to the next week, and it's going to be like, hey, you won two majors this year. How important is it for you to win the FedEx Cup playoffs? And it's just like, we're back here again, you know?
So we really do. We work so hard for such little moments. And I'm kind of a sicko. I love putting in the work. I love being able to practice.
I love going out to live out my dreams. But at the end of the day, sometimes I just don't understand the point. Yeah, because I don't know if I'm making any sense or not, but am I not? I mean, no, because, you know. To hear that, like, hey, I'm number one in the world.
I'm number one in the world, but you know, a meteor could hit us at any point in time. And what does it really all matter?
Well, no, I understand that, you know, getting to the mountaintop can leave you alone and that there's a lot going on and behind the scenes and it's the difficult grind and you're not. Potentially A happy camper because you're so tunnel-visioned on trying to be number one and staying there. I understand that there's tons of. of pressure on all that but When he said, you know, I sometimes sit around and wonder. Why do I want it so badly?
That's the way I talk about fantasy football. You know, where I've got to look around and take stock and like, what? Why am I waking up on a Monday morning so depressed? Because I'm down by 40 points and I'm going to lose my fantasy week. I don't play.
That's. You know what I mean? Like, that makes sense. Not when the number one player in the world and maybe one of the best of all time, well, not maybe, he's one of the best of all time. Uh thinks this way.
And then you sit there and go, Well, he doesn't sound like he might be in the proper mindset here to... Take down the open championship here and add that to his trophy case for the first time. You know? This is not like a guy who's gonna go. 59 for 63 on putts 10 feet an inch.
That's by the way, He did. 59-63 from pots of 10 feet and in at Royal Port Rush for a setup in the Open Championship. Are you kidding me?
So he missed four putts like that? From 10 and in. 10 feet and in. I know. Maybe that's it.
Maybe that's why he's so miserable. Because maybe he's thinking about the 0 for 4 instead of the 59 for 59. Probably could. Right?
So Yeah. Then he just dominates.
Okay? He dominates. He wins by four strokes. And he won the PGA championship this year by five strokes. He becomes the third player all time to win multiple majors in a single year by four or more strokes.
joining Ben Hogan when he won the Masters U.S. Open and the Open in 1953 by That much. and Tiger in 2000. What he won the US Open and the Open. in that year by four or better strokes.
And then when you add in the fact. that he won the Masters in 22 by three shots. and the Masters in twenty-four by four shots. He becomes the first player ever With four major titles. His first four major titles.
To come out of the gate from Ridgewood, New Jersey, and the University of Texas and the Corn Ferry Tour to win his first four. Major championships by three or better shots. He's the first player to ever do that. Because of what he did. A Royal Port Rush.
And he walked up 18 knowing it's in the bag. There was no Vander Velde here. You know, it's in the bag. It's over. And so We just showed this picture put that up again with his 15 month old son Bennett Here he is.
He's got his passy. In his mouth. You know? And he's holding his son in his left arm. And the claret jug and it's right.
And his wife Meredith was there as well. His parents were there. And fascinatingly enough, When he started the week saying, what does it all mean? Why am I doing this? Why does it mean so much to me?
And he shocked the world with all of that. In his post-game press conference with the claret jug next to him. and his family around him. He answered his own question. Every time I'm able to win a tournament, the first person I always look for is my wife.
And where we walk off each day is usually on the right side. And I didn't see her at first, so I was like, Oh my gosh, like where's Meredith? What happened? you know, if she's not there. And as I kind of circled around the green, I I saw my dad standing there and I was like, Okay, perfect, my family must be down there.
And so I saw Meredith and um She's always the first person I want to celebrate with. She knows me better than anybody. That's my best friend. It it takes A lot of work to be able to Become good at this game, and I wouldn't be able to do it without her support. She does a tremendous job of taking care of everything for us at home and giving me the ability to.
Put in the amount of time and effort that I put into the game in golf because it's a lot. And it's not a lifestyle that's suited for everybody. You know, we live a different lifestyle, and some of our friends at home travel in the way we do, but. We're very grateful for it. It's a fun life for us, and being able to celebrate, win in tournaments like this.
I feel like my whole team, I feel like the whole team should be. Their name should be on the trophy with me because it really does. It takes a village. I have a great team around me, and it all starts with my coach Randy. Everybody's humble.
They they work together. Nobody has all the answers and I feel like we just we have a great time and we love being able to practice and work towards these things and it'll be even more fun getting home and being able to celebrate. He answered his own question. That's why you do it. It's so good.
That's why you do it. I love the tweets yesterday of like, it's nice to be able to chart, you know, Bennett Scheffler's growth in real time. You know, because every couple of weeks he's in a picture with his dad holding the trophy. And you know how sometimes we have, and I'm sure you do for Cage, right at home where you're measuring somewhere on the back of a door or in a door jam or something like that, right? Yep.
They could measure them next to the trophies. Oh, well, yeah. He was almost as tall as a Wanamaker that year.
Now he's. Two times a clara jug, you know what I mean?
Okay. Makes sense. I mean, that's the way you can measure this. Him running across the green and like falling out of space yesterday was awesome. There were so many great pictures.
I mean, that's why you do it. That's why you do it. Yeah, him being able to walk up a hill. Yeah. Next thing you know, he'll be just be sprinting up a hill.
And be like, remember when Benton couldn't even walk up? Yeah, yeah. See, I mean, other shows might be like, well, where does he compare with Tiger and all that? I mean, whatever. I mean,.
He's doing it in his own way. It's different times, different competition, different this, different that. The guy is just as dominant as they possibly can be right now in golf. I don't think anybody clearly saw him coming at the beginning of this decade, right? Like, no.
Okay. And he has turned himself into an absolute. beast, a machine. You look at the Ryder Cup standings, by the way, Keegan Bradley said Bryson DeChambo is not going to be able to add any more points to it because this is his last tournament in which he could have added points to it because he's on the live tour. Bryson's currently fifth.
If he falls out of the top six, Keegan Bradley said he's going anyway. Yeah, he's in. Oh, yes. You know, he's also in for sure. There's only one guy.
If you look at the Ryder Cup standings right now, there's a red Q next to Scotty Scheffler. And, you know, all of us, just to bring this all full circle, fantasy is like, what do you mean? He's questionable for the Ryder Cup? What happened? Do you get hurt?
No. No, no, no. No, that red Q means he's qualified mathematically because. Xander Shafley is in second place with 13,383.85 points. Don't short him on the.85.
Do you have the numbers in favor of the frequency? I do. I do. You read Scottie Scheffler's numbers.
So, like you said, you said Xander Schoffley is 13 in change. Scotty Scheffler with the Q next to his name, 32,420.33 points. Don't cheat on the.33. Don't cheat the.33. 32,000.
It's insane what he's doing. And clearly, obviously, it ain't easy to play this game, and it ain't easy to play it at such a high level and stay happy where he shows up on a Monday and going ya. I mean, sometimes. I just look at it and go. Am I doing this all for?
What am I killing myself for? But see, and then he answered his question. Me, kind of looking at it, I took it as like we always have a tendency to push the goalpost back when we talk about athletes. I kind of took it as he's like, I did all this work, I won this tournament, I should be able to celebrate. But now people are asking me, Well, what's next?
He doesn't have a chance to even like be able to take it in and be happy with his accomplishments. Come on, then I would basically say to him, Don't listen to what other people say. In the same way, I tell you, don't read your YouTube comments. What's the point? You know, it's really what he does to himself inside.
and how he can handle his business inside. One of the many phrases I was told. during my American Century Championship walk about. You know, as the toughest six inches in golf is In between your temples, right here. You know, it's the same way for a guy who goes 59 to 63 on 10 putts an in.
And as my caddy on that day, money manager of the stars, Don Weir. Texted me this morning. He texted me that stat, and I texted him back. I feel like you're trying to make a point here. Yeah, I didn't make it from 10 feet in, like, almost ever.
I get it. But it is amazing. It is amazing how hard it is, and you have to appreciate that alone, especially since the week began with the way he said it, and it ended the way he finished it and then said it. Basically, he should play that sound bite back anytime he thinks about the first.
Sound bite. It feels the same way he's thinking about the first sound bodies. The answer is within him. He answered it himself. Isn't it the game of a book, The Answer Within You?
The Answer Within. And, you know, The Inner Excellence, right? And in case he also needs reminding about. you know how to enjoy it I'm sure when he packed his belongings up, He wasn't going to the oversized baggage spot at Ryanair. Or Erlangus.
You know? That's a PJ, homie. And we're not talking pajamas. Are you saying he just drove right to the plane? I'm sure someone drove him to the plane.
Yeah. Congratulations, Scotty Scheffler. Hopefully, you can enjoy it. Uh we will take a break. Lots to talk about on the show.
Seth Rollins elicited quite a An interesting sound bite from Cam Hayward of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who opened camp. Two days from now. Your cowboys opened their camp today, TJ Jefferson, joining the The Lions and the Chargers are already open for business. The Chiefs Open for business today fully, rookies and veterans. Everybody opens tomorrow the 22nd, with the exception of Atlanta, which opens Fully rookies and veterans on Wednesday.
And the same thing for the Pittsburgh Snows. At any rate, Cam Hayward said something interesting to Seth Rollins. I want to play that back. Interesting news out of the Titans camp regarding Will Levis today. We'll talk about that.
Phone calls 844-204-RICH is the number to dial, but Let's bring Paul Rabel out here, everybody, the co-founder of Premier Lacrosse League. That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Even the safest drivers still encounter unsafe conditions, so it's important they do it in a safe vehicle. And Hyundai's offer available class executive advanced safety features to help keep you protected against the many challenges the road throws your way.
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The premier lacrosse league and women's lacrosse league, co-founded by this man, a five-year extension of Meteorites. With none other than ESPN, which includes all PLL and WLL regular season playoff and championship games. And ESPN has a little taste as well, a little piece of it. Paul Rabel is here, everybody. Congrats on everything going on with you.
Thank you. Thank you. Is this what you vision? You envision when this whole thing. When did you first say, I need to do something?
About this. My brother and I got together maybe in 2017 because the league I was playing at the time was called Major League Lacrosse, and they were on it doing a new commissioner search. Mm-hmm. And we were sort of like, all right. This is interesting to us because we believe that for whatever reason, professional lacrosse hadn't caught on like the UFC and MLS did in the 2000s, because Professional Lacrosse had started at the same time.
And those two leagues were catching on via new media and better storytelling. And both of them are different, right? Individual Sports League and then MLS's challenge today is still like competing with the Tier One leagues of the Premier League in England and La Liga in Spain and American attention to professional soccer.
So we are the tier one property in this discipline across the world, and it wasn't working.
So we approached Major League LaCross and was like, hey, You know, have we considered potentially rebuilding the way that the front office works? Because here are our ideas, and they were like, not interested and understood, like, okay, an athlete having the gall to come in and be like, hey, I got it, guys. I know, yeah, I know where this thing can go. Um, but once you get under the hood and start looking more and more. That was what sort of began the process for us to say, okay, if it doesn't change, maybe we start something new and go raise capital and convince the players to come join us.
And that's what happened in 2019.
So 2019 was the big moment? And oh, and so all that has to happen after that was a pandemic. That had to, you know, really. Put a wrinkle in things. Didn't see that one coming, did you, Paul?
No, and I'm glad our investors didn't either because we wouldn't have been able to raise capital if we were like, oh, we're going to launch this league and then next year face a global pandemic and have to figure it all out again. Right. But so 2019 was the big watershed moment? Or would you say it was this five-year deal with the SPN?
Well, I mean, you got to launch, and it's really hard to launch, especially a sports league. Because if you look at the entrepreneurs that are celebrated today in Silicon Valley, they don't have a hard start. Mm-hmm. They can prolong the launch of a product until they get it right. Yes.
But because there was competition and we had 200 players sign a deal with us, we had to start on June 1, 2019.
So, like, every day in our office, there was a ticker, like 135 days, the first game, 134 days. That was like the bear. And we had to come up with team names. Get venue deals, hire refs, hire coaches, GMs, like build marketing, legal, media. Damn, man.
Ticket sales. Did you know it was? Livingston, New Jersey's Mike Del Tufa was, I assume you were on that one, right? Yes. Okay, quick catch.
Kick saving to beauty. Appreciate it. Nice save. Yeah, good goaltending. My brother was the goaltender.
Yeah. Okay. Sorry, go on. But yeah, it was really hard. And we evolved.
Like, we outsourced some parts of the business, and ticket sales was one of them. And it's. Turns out really hard to sell tickets to a live sporting event. The way I liken it is, you know, every year around the holiday or birthday, we'll decide if we're fortunate enough to host an event at our house, me and you. And I'll pay for the booths, I'll pay for the food.
There's parking alongside the street outside my house, and you're still nervous the day of if people are going to show up because people have other plans. But in sports, you're charging an average ticket price of $50, call it. People have to pay for parking concessions, they're paying for their family, they're sitting in the summer heat at one o'clock on a Saturday with other things to do. It's really hard to sell tickets. And if you look at NBA franchises, they often have 80% capacity in season ticket holders, and they have a 40-person ticket sales team to sell 2,000 tickets twice a week.
It's just hard.
So we brought that in. The pandemic, as you mentioned, came around, so we had to switch. And that actually helped grow our league because we were still small enough and nimble to move faster than the big four. And so we were the first to announce our bubble solution. And we're the first league to go.
Back in July of 2020.
So we were capturing all this airtime at the time on NBC where people were at home going, all right, I want to watch sports.
So that actually helped us. And then to your point, yeah, now cutting this new five-year deal with ESPN and them also investing. Is I think a huge validator. Congratulations on that. Thanks.
Now comes the extra part about continuing that. Momentum, what are you doing in 2025 that you're excited about?
Well, it's been a solid start to the season. Paul Rabel calling back. I like it. We're halfway through. I hope it's better than that, Paul.
Yeah. No, I'm sorry. We have some really good storylines that have developed. And I think that's one of the notes that I get, whether it's from Doc O'Connor, who was formerly a managing partner at CAA and Mario Zaros. He's on our board.
Great storyteller. Glad to have. Great guy. Yes. And we're at this phase where we're really leaning into the plot lines for players so that people can.
I saw you guys talking about obviously Scotty Scheffler and the Open Win. And the stories behind him come natural to you and other members of the media because that's what you guys do. And so how do we get lacrosse into that zeitgeist of conversation?
Some of it is created by us, whether it's television film development department and others is just, you know. figuring out how to have these moments with Our version of Heisman Trophy winners is the Touriton winners and a Brendan O'Neill or a Pat Cavanaugh or a Jared Bernhardt, who was playing for the Atlanta Falcons. And now into the PLL. Pushing those guys front and center brings in more casuals. And it allows people to feel hooked into the live broadcast.
How about playing on a river boat in the Chicago River? Yeah. That might get a headline. That got a headline. And it's a little bit of a gamble because it's expensive to set something like that up.
One of our partners is Whirlpool, and we're like, okay, we're going to go into Chicago. Good idea. Yeah. Let's tap into maybe some of the tourism components of when people go to Chicago. They go on the Chicago River and they tour the city.
I think about Vince Vaughan and the breakup and his character. It's like, okay, let's do that and throw the lacrosse. And you have this built-in audience because it turns out people hang out around the Chicago River and watch these boats go by. And so we're throwing lacrosse balls into the crowds. And yeah, it got picked up by a lot of outlets.
And that's an example of, I mean, there's novelty to it. If we were to go back next year and do it, no one would care.
Well, the deal is, Paul, is you want to clearly, I mean, just to. get a little bit in the weeds here. You want to have something novel, right? But not degrade your product because you're doing some, like, again. The popularity of the savanna bananas, for instance, right, like is great.
This baseball at its center, but it's all about entertainment. You don't want to, you want you, you're about lacrosse here. That's right. You're about the actual, and I'm not, I'm just bringing out the Savannah Bananas only because you're going to have this discussion. It's what I'm saying.
Like, I bring that the Savannah Bananas because they're insanely popular more than some baseball teams right now. You could make an argument that they're. They're one of the greatest draws all around right now. But they're a novelty, right? You're not, but you want to do something novel like this, where, hey, Chicago.
Go to the river and watch PLL. And you're expanding into women's sports as well, obviously. And so you got that going on, just diving into something that is absolutely exploding in terms of interest and That's what you got to do, man. And we have ESPN on your side too, and LA 28 on top of it. Yeah, so we have ESPN on our side.
We have lacrosse in the Olympics for the first time in 100 years. It'll be the first time women's lacrosse is in the Olympics ever. The game is exploding at the youth level. The college level, there's now double the amount of Division I women's programs as there are men's.
So they don't have a pro league. We launched it with them. And they are extraordinary talent, especially on field and off-field.
Some of them are huge TikTok stars and all that stuff. That's helpful. It helps. That's great. But to your point, I think.
We have to find that balance, right? Like, I know TJ loves the WWE, and we talked about it last time I was on the show. And I grew up watching it and, like, sort of understanding Paul Heyman and the way that, like, you can blend sports and entertainment. But Jesse Cole's challenge with Savannah Bananas will always be like if he wants to. Build a competitive league, the whole thing changes.
Of course. And right now he's got like more of a concert series.
So you've got to stick to that scarcity in a way. But I know he's building more teams. And once you venture into what you said, our core product is the competition on the field. Yes. And these guys and girls, they commit their lives to it and the best of what they do.
And that's why people watch. And that has to be the main thing. Got Paul Rabel here on the Rich Eisen show. Any other celebrity investors or anything like that? I mean, your Rolodex is deep, brother.
So, I mean, what do you got here?
Well, our board, I'll start there, is Josiah, who owns Brooklyn Nets, and chairman of Alibaba. I mentioned Doc O'Connor, Peter Chernin, and his group. Mike Kern sits on our board.
So we have some of the best investors. Rain Group is also in sports. That's a solid board. Yeah. Kevin Durant was our first sort of like celebrity.
Hooper came in, launched a version of lacrosse with us called Street Lacrosse, which was basically saying, hey, can we create an An1 mixtape tour that's separate from the league that can lower accessibility and increase attention in markets that otherwise may have like not been interested in lacrosse? Yes. That's gone really well for us. We do have Two new celebrity investors that I haven't announced yet.
Okay. Like, are we about to do this now or you can't do it yet? I can't do it yet. No, you're not one of them, Chris. You're only a celebrity at the Kevin Rahm Charity Golf Trade.
Can we play the guessing game with you, Paul? And you just scratch your head?
Well, maybe it's there's only three other members of the Fantastic Four. Right. Right. Right. Right.
So Popo is amazing. Yeah. I haven't approached him with it. I try to steer clear of my fiancé's work and not put myself in a pickle. But I do.
But she is Tom Cruise an investor. Tom is not. Tom gave me amazing advice about. Our business because we're a touring model, and one place that we want to get to is selling teams at some point, where you have the force multiplier of owners that own venues and compete against each other and raise awareness, right? But while we're not doing that, we don't own venues.
So we basically are taking out 14 venues a year. And that's a challenge because our fans need to feel like when they especially pay for a ticket, they're going to the home game. Sure.
So, what did Tom Cruise tell you?
So, he's basically like, look, you're location searching. And when you get on site, you have to have your version of a costume director to a stage manager. And If you're at, you know, if you're in Salt Lake or in Denver, understand where the cameras are set at the venue and if there's a better location for them. And if that means building scaffolding on the other side so that you can shoot the audience that's packed where the press box is, because most venues shoot press box opposite. Yeah.
And it's like, invest in the scaffolding and understand like how the players are coming out on the field. All that stuff is producing. He's a brilliant producer. He's Joseph McHugh. He's basically giving, he's a director of photography at PLL.
So Tom Cruise. How much are you paying attention to that? And that was last year.
So we sort of like jump around and have that mindset now. I thought he was going to tell you to do your own stunt. Get back in there and play, man. You know, suit up. Come on.
He probably would say that, actually. What he said. Jump off the top of the building. And then his attention to detail is extraordinary. I really enjoy him.
Basically, he gave you a million dollars worth of game for free. That's a It's insulting. Yeah. Yeah. So let's keep going.
Pedro Pascal. Is he the master now? Pedro is, you know, not yet, but he's got great hair, doesn't he? Oh, my God. He's got great hair.
He's got it all right now. Yeah, yeah. He's pretty. I don't know. You know, Eben is a sportsman.
Joe Quinn, sportsman. Evan, I'm a huge fan of his. He's so great. And the bear. Yeah.
You know, like, he's spectacular. He's going to be good in the premiere tonight. The premieres tonight. I didn't even know that. Premieres tonight.
What's up? With that, I mean, we didn't get it. Can you plus four?
So, you're wait a minute.
So, you're, you gotta, you're on the red carpet tonight. I mean, I'm not gonna, I'm gonna hang behind. What does that mean? It's her thing. I understand that.
Yeah, no, no, it's not for me. I'm going to go and support him. Hold on a second. I'm going to go and support him. I'm going to go here.
I'm going to go here. You can't be the plus one, Paul? I thought he, I mean, no, are you the plus one? I'm definitely the plus one on you. I'm saying, I will avoid the red carpet because this is about her.
No, that makes sense. I'm talking after party plus four. Oh, after party.
Well, let's see if we can put a call in, and it's down at the Dorothy downtown tonight. He's giving us the location. I know, so you can show up. If you want. Guys, here's the weird thing.
This has to be good. It has to be really good. Paul Hauser's coming on no contest wrestling today. And you mean to tell me he's coming here, then going right to the premiere? That's all right.
I don't know. I mean, I have no idea. Is he in the Fantastic Four as well? We're talking about the Fantastic Four, sir. I know.
Okay, good. I know. I don't know maybe if I'm spoiling something. Here's my thing on celebrity investment is that a lot of leagues do it and teams do it. And my experience is it can either be a really expensive press release because you're making concessions.
I love that. Usually because they have a lot of value and the value is access to an audience.
So what you want to do is you want to find someone who genuinely cares about the product. And that means they either played before at some point, they're excited about it. I think about like Matthew McConaughey and Texas football, right? That's probably been the best one so far. He's not even an investor in Texas, but it would be so.
So authentic. To the athletic director of that department, to be like, How do we work more closely with Matthew and give him skin in the game?
Well, they call him a minister of culture. Culture of culture.
Okay, yeah, there you go. And so they gave him a title. Will Farrell, LAFC, like they're there, right? Lollett Modi, who built the Primer League in cricket over in India, he brought in celebrities to own teams that are there every game.
So, like Kevin Durant, he came in and launched a property with us. Um if I were to bring on a Celebrity in film and television, I would want them to co-produce or co-write a show with us and like have us build the next Ted Lasso. Yes. So that and then they get compensated for that. That that's how I think about Bringing in good partners.
Sounds very strategic. Did Durant ever play lacrosse? Durant never played, but he grew up in the DMV. Yeah. So, which is obviously lacrosse haven, right?
The DMZ right there in the middle. That's where you're from. You're from Maryland, right? From the Mid-Atlantic. Yeah.
Pardon me if this is ignorant.
So that's my head's up. How large does a lacrosse stick need to be if it's in Kevin Durant's hand?
Well, that's a good question.
So we had Taco Fall come to our game. Outstanding. Great.
Okay. Now, okay.
So we actually, so we run this tree lacrosse event in three of our markets a year. And we were in Chicago two weeks ago, and Lonzo Ball came, and Taco Fall came. And we were both teaching them lacrosse during the game. Did it look like a toothpick in Latin?
So Taco Falls. I'm trying to picture Taco as a long stick defenseman. Exactly. So nailed it. And you give him a six-foot pole, which is a defender's length.
It's the longest. It actually works like a short stick for him.
So I was like, this is an ultimate hack for Taco Fall. He could play defense. He had a defensive stick and play offense with it. That dude. Like we were sitting, we have this, um, it was modeled after Dana White's uh president's section, President Row.
So, I have an area of the stadium which I'd love to host you guys if you ever come to a game called President's Row. Sure, so I'm hosting Taco Fall there during the games later that night, and then like behind us is the audience, and it's probably like you know, a seven-foot barrier, and then they're like creeping over and asking for autographs and photos. And so, most of us would go over there and like sign an autograph and reach up, or they like toss a ball. There's this shot of Taco Fall, like literally his headline and these kids, and he's taking selfies with them. It was so funny.
He's an amazing dude. He's 7'6. 7'6 when he doesn't know Taco. Yeah, I asked ChatGPT how many. People in the world are seven foot six or above.
What would your guys' guess be? I would say that's less than a thousand. It has to be. Less than a dozen. Really?
Couldn't believe I was shocked by that. How about that? Yeah, I mean, you know what? Maybe a bad prompt, maybe not accurate, but I don't know. You never know.
Well, everything else you're doing is right on point. Rables places as well on ESPN. Your life is crushing it, Paul, and I appreciate you. Coming here and being on this program and the five-year extension again through the decade. Renewal of media rights with ESPN includes all PLL and Women's Lacrosse League, WLL, regular season playoff and championship games.
ESPN got a little piece as well. You wrote a book last year, Way of the Champion. And uh You're going to be red carpet worthy. What are you wearing tonight? What are you wearing tonight?
Come on, Paul. Got some Todd slacks. Oh, and then I got a Giacomo shirt.
Okay. Okay. Simple. It's simple. Small suit.
Simple. The prompt was blue tie, and I was like, hold on a second.
Well, I'm not going to be. Have you seen the movie? I haven't.
Okay, cool. No, neither has Vanessa. I am. Really? Yeah.
Okay. So it's superstitious, I think.
Okay, that's great. A trailer I saw. I saw Superman yesterday, and they had a trailer beforehand for it. It looks incredible. Cornsweat came to one of our games.
Oh, yeah? Yeah, he's a Philly boy. He was awesome. Superman was great. You saw Superman yesterday?
I haven't seen him. I did too. It was awesome. Yeah, it was amazing. Anyway, guys, I love being here, and I truly meant it.
When La Crosse makes it into the Zeitgeist, I mean like Rich Eisen show. Oh, we're coming. You guys talking about La Crosse. And that's how I think about goals when I talk to our board. We can look at what we call OKRs and stuff, but ultimately.
I want to be a celebrity investor. You got to be a celebrity first. And have the money to invest. You're a little shy, probably, in both departments. I'd like to do some sideline reporting for you, Paul.
Maybe add some flavor to it. I've got a lot of reporting, guys. Let's just say yes. Let's say yes to President's Row. The only thing for them.
Let's start small. I can mix the games because I actually do it. Let's start in New Jersey. 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.
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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 Neeson as 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 Drebbin 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. Right, right here in Beverly Hills.
How about that? John from the 90210 is on the right side. What's up, John? Hi, Rich. How are you today?
What's going on, John?
Well, I wanted to wish you and Frank Costanza a very happy thirty seventh anniversary of your guys' favorite trade when George M. Steinbrainer III listened to his baseball people and traded Jay Buener for Ken Phelps. Ken Phelps, my baseball people. Said Ken Phelps. That was 37 years ago today when the Yankees traded Jay Buener to the Seattle Mariners.
That really was, John? Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah, here's the full trade in case you're wondering. July 21st, 1988, Jay Buener traded by the Yankees with a player renamed Later, and Rick Balabon to the Seattle Mariners for Ken Phelps.
The Yankees sent Troy Evers. To the Seattle Manders to complete the trade he was to play to begin with. Thank you, John, for that anniversary right there. You got it, Mike? You got the.
What the hell did you trade J-Puna for? I mean, and let's not forget that was the moment where. George went to the Costanzas to tell them that Their son George was dead. Right. Steinbrenner was offering condolences in person as Larry David.
That's Steinbrenner. And I will remember that plain as day. Jerry Stiller playing Frank Costanza sitting there stewing on the couch and it looked like he's lamenting his son's passing. Instead, he was just seething over the JP. How did you trade JPU and the floor?
One of the greatest Seinfeld moments absolutely ever. 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 going to 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.
