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Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Live from Canton, Ohio, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Earlier on the show, Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Hutchinson. Coming up.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Marshall Falk. ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman. Pro Football Hall of Famer Rod Woodson. Pro Football Hall of Famer Willie Rove. Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Luke Kikley.
And now, Rich Eisen. Hour number two, the Rich Hisen Show is on the air, and I'm so psyched to be here live from the Pro Football Hall of Fame Museum in Canton, Ohio. Tonight's the Jacket. Dinner, tomorrow's the enshrinement. Saturday, we just had the Hall of Fame game.
Last night, Steve Hutchinson in hour number one, and we kick off hour number two with one of my favorite human beings. He's known as Uncle Marshall in my household by my three children. He is a Pro Football Hall of Famer from the Canton class of 2011, an MVP, a Super Bowl, and he's an MVP, a three-time offensive player of the year, a three-time All-Pro, a seven-time Pro Bowler. He's not just one button. True.
Rings of honor, ladies and gentlemen, head coach of Southern University Jaguars football, Marshall Falk. Good to see you, sir. How are you? What's up, Rich Heisen? They're clapping back in Los Angeles.
We're clapping for you, Marshall. Let's go, baby. He can hear you. He's got ears in. Marshall's got ears in.
Marshall. Brock, yeah, I got to see you, dude. You got Del Tufo? Yeah. Del Tufo's there, too.
Because you got to acknowledge him. He'll be upset if you don't see him. I know. I know. I love Tuito, man.
Okay. How are you doing? Doing good, Rich. Doing good. Uh living that a head coach life, you know?
What is what no I don't know that head coach. That's why I say you don't. You know, Rich, it's like having your own show. You know, like. Yeah.
There's a lot of fires you got to put out. A lot of things happen in a lot of meetings. Right. You like it, though? Yeah, it's fun.
It's fun. It's fun. Learning the back end of things and how all of the operational stuff of being the head coach works. It's been. It's been fun.
I've really enjoyed that part of it. The part of of just working with the kids and coaching, just being around football. Mm-hmm. Love that. That's the easy part.
You know, like and and Part of the reason, and I'm glad I like when I made the decision, I made it. And I remember because Coach March was just, he was just down at Southern. He spent like four or five days with us and just was looking at operations, giving me some insight, working on the different things you work on as you're getting ready for the season. And he he was he was telling me about um when I was getting ready to retire, that I'll one day coach, but probably not soon. Because I didn't want to, I wasn't going to want to do all the back office stuff.
And now I see what he was talking about.
Now there's more back office stuff than ever. And when he was telling you that, there was no NIL portal, you know, needing a general manager, things like that. There was none of that. But the back office stuff now is real business. You know, it's not just the stuff that it was back in the day when you had a college head coach.
It's so much different now. And we're talking straight business. Like, it's all business. The kids, they look at you and then be like, I want money.
Well, you're used to that in real life. Right. You know what I'm saying? That's like that's literally what they do. And I just believe that.
The state of the game right now, it's not as best in college football, but it's continuously getting better. I think every year, some new things will pop up. And we'll create some rules and fix it and put a patch on it. But I am going to say paying the players has really, really. Helped the game.
It has. It has. I'll give you the floor on that. In a sense, we now get to see, we called it amateur sports, but it really isn't. Correct.
It never has been. And I keep trying to figure this out, Rich. Where Was Michigan and Ohio State? And where were they putting all this money? Where was this money going when they weren't paying it to the players?
I just can't figure out where it was going. But now you can figure it out. Like, I I know you were you're I I'm picking up what you're putting down. Where was it going? I'm just trying to figure it out.
Facilities? Yeah. They're still building facilities. But any but anyways, Rich, literally allowing these kids to to partake in the monies that's being made. Right.
When you look at the playoffs and the money that's being made and that, it's just it's unbelievable. The T V deals in con and and in college football right now through the roof. How do you keep up with the money game though at Southern University? How do you how do you do that? Oh, well, I'm not trying to keep up.
I'm just trying to get my kids to the money game. The money game is in the FBS. You got to be in the power at a power three, four, or five to really make the kind of money. I mean, So you tell this to the kids when they show up? Yes.
Yes, Rich. I mean I remember Trying to get to the NFL as fast as possible. And now you got guys 29 years old trying to get a year of eligibility in college just because he doesn't want to take a pay cut, go into the league. Carson Beckett's making less money. Beckett's making less money at Arizona than he did when he was at Miami.
Yeah. Right. And probably taking as many of the same class number of classes. Exactly. Didn't he say that the week leading up to the national championship game, he hadn't been in a classroom in over a year?
He hadn't been in the class over a year. That's what he said. But I mean, that that's what it is. I mean, when when guys are partitioning to go back to college. You don't like school.
But That's what it's all about. I think it'll all get fixed, Rich. I believe so. I don't know. I don't think it's the government that's going to fix it despite this bill that's apparently going to get voted on before the Senate breaks.
Our government? I know that. They're going to fix football? I know that. Our government.
I know that. So when it comes down to it, though, it And again, though, you're Rich, can I ask you a question? People are going to think I'm taking shots. Go ahead. And Sabin's a part of the the group that's helping them, right?
Yes. He forgot he helped create this. This is Alabama. This is. Everybody wanted to play.
And I mean like He might be the perfect guy. 'Cause, you know, he uh he understand the landscape. I'm just wondering. Can we fix it to the point where the players get what they deserve? That the players who are told what they're getting get what they're supposed to be getting.
Um and that everybody plays by the same rules. And that there is some form of a contract that would also. make sure that a player stays in a certain spot for a certain amount of time. that they get what they're supposed to be getting, that they get market value for what they deliver on the field, Basically, can we professionalize this thing? And then, how do you do that?
Who's in charge? And who's and who's in the boat? You know what I mean? in this new version of college football. Who's involved?
What schools are? That's the question. But from your perspective of coaching, you enjoy the chatter with the players. Oh, it's fun.
Okay. It's fun. And what type of coach are. Like whose demeanor Do you have? I know I Ah.
I don't think you're a screamer. You're not screaming. Not at all. No. You're you're one of those guys like Dungy, like don't if you give somebody a look.
Like that, you don't want to be on the business end of a Coach Falk look. That's the way. I consider myself a teacher. Like, I'm an educator when it comes to the game because I can get upset, and I do. And when I do, I walk away, I deal with that.
But It's the education portion of it. How do I get this kid to understand what we want him to do? That's the whole idea of it. And some coaches believe that screaming and yelling is how you get it done. Um some coaches think that you you cuss the player out.
To me it's just like The question is. How do I get him better? How do I get him to understand? And, and, All I know is through teaching. Like You got to teach them.
They need to be taught. Let's talk a little bit of football heaven since we're sitting in it and this has been now. Right. My God, that line of yours is now 15 years old. Right?
That fifteen I was literally smart. I got asked the other day, Hey man, how long you been coming back? I was like, 15 years. 15 years, Marshall. 15 years.
You've been coming back as a Hall of Famer longer than you played. There you go. There you go. By now, three years, and it's pretty amazing. Man, you went in with Dion, you went in with Shannon, just to name two other ones.
Richard Dent, Ed Sable was going in as well. And. You know, the neat part about everything now, like you got again, your presenter. Uh, we got a picture of Rocky Arseno, your longtime agent. Yeah, you know, Mr.
Boat Game himself, he's in the Hall of Fame for the boat game, as we all know. Um, but he If you had if the rules were different now, The rules were different then, as they are currently, which is you choose a returning Hall of Famer to put the jacket on you. Were you chosen Jim Brown? Is that who you would have chosen? Um.
It would have been very tough because Jim, I love Jim. Right. Tony Drosset was just my guy, man. I was like, I wore 33 in high school because I hated the Cowboys, but loved Tony. Just loved how he ran the football.
Walter Payton is just Walter Payton. But I don't know if he was a lot. I know he wasn't. He wasn't. I'm just saying, like, Kyle Kim.
And then the guy who was responsible for me getting to the Rams was Eric Dickerson.
Somebody that uh when I was in college, Eric came and watched me play at San Diego State. And kind of mentored me in a sense, and just would always talk about the NFL. I've known Eric for.
so long. And then our careers kind of went the opposite. Like he went from the Rams to the Colts, and I went from the Colts to the Rams. Yeah. So he was responsible how was he responsible to getting you to the Rams?
The year that things were not going well in Indiana, we were at the Pro Bowl. It was his Hall of Fame year. And you remember they used to go to the Pro Bowl after and the Rams threw him a party. And I went to his party. And he introduced me to John Shaw.
And then afterwards, John was like, oh, that Marshall Falk, he made some comment. And then Eric said, Eric told him because we were just having a conversation. Eric said, Yeah, I feel bad for Marshall. He's, you know, things aren't going well.
Sometimes it's difficult to deal with. Deal with the COTS, especially because the dad had passed away.
So it like things kind of changed once the dad passed away. And Eric was like, it was easier dealing with the dad. And now I don't know who's dealing with it. And that right there, John took that information back, and they were like, Because we practiced against each other the year before. In training camp.
We had a joint training camp practice, and that's when they made the trade. And then you become a Ram, and obviously, now here we are, 15 years removed from your enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I did not know that story. I thought I knew everything about your career and how you got to the story. It was Eric Dickerson who mentioned.
To the brass of the Rams, which was John Shaw and Jay Zygmunt at the time, hey, You know, Marshall Falk, he might be available because I was looking for a new contract. I didn't like w the way the organization was going. And I mean, listen, we were becoming past-centric. I mean, we just got paid Manning. I mean, come on, like, that's what we were doing.
And I was like, man, the writing is on the wall. I don't know if. We're going to win. While I'm here. With a young quarterback.
And I was, Rich, I was actually right. I left, won the Super Bowl. The year that I retired, we worked the Super Bowl when the Colts won. That's right. You know what I mean?
Literally. And now, Edge, who basically took your spot, he's in the same bus gallery as you. There you go. Worked out for everybody. It did.
Worked out for everybody. Including Bill Pollion, who's in the bus gallery. He's even in here. Dude. What?
Why'd you say he's even in here? What? What? Did I say that? My bad.
My bad. My bad. Thank you, Marshall. No two for it. It's not that funny.
My bad. I didn't mean that like that. Oh my God. What do you think of the money that Bijan and Gibbs and Jonathan Taylor just in the past 24, 48 hours are signing up? You know, Rich, here's what, and they get pissed off when I do this kind of stuff, but the reality is.
If you're good enough, they'll pay you. These backs that were not getting paid, they weren't good enough. They were not good enough. It's not like, oh, the resurgence of the running back. Nothing happened in the last two Super Bowls.
to wear nothing, not one thing. Like Saquon had a season, it was awesome, but Does that make that does that get Jameer Gibbs paid? No. Jonathan T no. If you are good enough and the team feels as if, hey, we can build around you.
Mm-hmm. And then your best, and when your best ability is availability. That's when this happens. But Saquon getting paid off of that season raised a bar for the market that now it keeps getting reset. They don't care about the market when it comes to running backs.
They they do not. In the same sense. Seattle wins the Super Bowl and what do they do to their star running back? Mm-hmm. They just let him go.
Go somewhere else. You won the MVP of the Super Bowl. I'm just saying, Rich, it's just a state of the position when teams feel like they can build around you. and win with you in that manner That's the case. And I feel bad for Kennedy Walker because he had a heck of a year.
He's a guy that I feel like you can build around. But they felt like he was just a part of, just a piece, not a build-around. He wasn't a centerpiece. He was just a piece. And that's why they moved on.
You don't get rid of centerpieces. Do you think Kenneth Walker is going to have a thousand-yard season? Yes, easy. You think the Chiefs will get the Chiefs haven't had a thousand-yard rusher since Kareem Hunt's rookie season. Just hear me out, okay?
I'll share this with you. In this whole fantasy world for you fantasy players, if you draft them running backs. On your team, and they don't have a quarterback because you think, oh, they don't have a quarterback, they'll run it more, he's not going to have a great year. If Sam Darnold doesn't have the year that he had, Kenneth Walker doesn't have that year. With Charbonnet, too.
It just goes hand in hand. Most of the times, the guys who put up the better numbers, you've got to have a quarterback. That's going to take some of the pressure off you when they stack the box. And Bahomas is that guy. Are you?
There's no way. There's no way they're going to drop a safety down into the box to stop the run against Kansas City. No way.
So you think he's poised to have a what's more likely. Chris, you want to ask the what's more likely question we had me put. Have you put a pin in? You want to ask that of Marshall? Yeah, Marshall, which of the running backs that got paid this week is more likely to finish top three MVP voting this year?
Yeah. Gibbs? Is it Yeah, Bajon Gibbs and we can throw Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan Taylor. Wh which one?
I I'm I'm going with I'm going with the guy who has the better quarterback, Gibbs. It just factors in. When you play Atlanta, who you gearing up for? What quarterback you worried about?
Okay, there's Tua, there's Penix. And there's Goff, who's what you're talking about in this equation. There you go. And Daniel Jones. There you go.
They're going to be forced. They'll drop a safety down. They'll force the quarterback. Both teams, Atlanta and the Coats, they're going to have to throw the ball. And prove that they can consistently win throwing a football.
Okay, so let's remove the quarterbacks from the equation and just pure talent. the best running back in the National Football League. At present. I'd go Saquon. You still go Saquon?
I'd go Saquon. What about Derrick Henry? I like him. He's going to be in that bus gallery with you once again. But yeah, yeah.
If you asked Eric Dickerson, he'd probably say Derrick Henry, but you're asking me. And for me, I need guys who play, and I know he started to. You play all three downs. You can run inside and out. You can catch the ball.
You can block. How about the guy that when he came out of college And everybody said He's not going to be able to run between the tackles. You told me at the combine. over and over again while watching him in Stamford, saying, This guy is gonna do it. It's Christian McCaffrey.
You were telling me about him. all throughout his run into Heisman. At the Kanban, you're like, this business that he's not going to be able to run the tackles? That's nonsense. And then you see, and then he ran the best route tree at the combine of anybody, receiver or running back.
He's turning 30 this year. I know. What do you think about him? He's. still one of their top backs.
The thing with Christian right now is availability starting to get to that point. And because you've lacked the talent at quarterback in San Francisco, so you rely on your running game Yeah. Um you think Purdy is not as talented? No, no, I said they I'm talking about yeah. Even as Purdy was coming through, they were a running the ball first and second type of team and throw third.
So that took a lot on him. That banging, it took a lot.
Now I look at him and they're going to be smart the way they use him. This is just me. This is thinking, hoping that they spot play him at times, get him to the postseason, and then let him run wild. That's what you do. That's what everybody does.
It's all about the quarterback until you get to the playoffs. As soon as you talk playoffs, you go, you don't say whose quarterback could get the most first downs or most completions. You always say who plays defense and who can run the ball. Guys, Lynn Kiffen isn't the only coach in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I like that one, Rachel.
That's a good one. Use it. I use it. Use it. I do.
I cannot wait for the opener at Alabama State on August 29th, and then your home opener. At home in A.W. Mumford Stadium. A.W. Mumford Stadium.
Against Kentucky State on the 5th of September. I will have my eyes peeled. As you know, I should be in charge of any replay system that you've got going on. We got you.
Okay? I'm happy. Use me as a resource, officer. There's one more thing I put you in charge of the coat rack. Yeah.
This guy, man. Those coat racks were not put together properly, and they fell on me, and you loved watching me. Suffer. Go all rich out. On these Thursday nights.
Go all rich out. They're sitting there in these tight trailers. You know? We don't know. We're sitting there in these tight trailers.
You know, Rich, I don't know how you felt, but when I saw NFL Network self with its whole forward, I was thinking about it. They couldn't afford a coat rack. That little bitty desk in Kansas City. Our first Thursday night football. Oh, God.
On a Thanksgiving night. Yeah, Del Tufo's oh, God, and because you had to set that damn thing up. Yes, it was. The desk was so small, I had to lean to the right to get out of Rich. Listen, my favorite thing, my favorite thing, or your favorite thing that you used to do all the damn time is the couch would be like this one.
I'd be sitting right there on the edge, and instead of you taking the space all the way at the end of the couch, you just pushed up against me. Right next to you, Rich. While I'm writing my notes and everything like that, and then the coat rack's falling apart, and you just. You just, you just brothers. We still are.
That's Marshall Falk, everybody, right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Everybody root for some Southern University football, everybody. That's Marshall. Chris Berman has just settled into our set. He's going to be joining us next.
And Rod Woodson, right here on The Rich Eisen Show, live from Canton, Ohio. Rich Eisen here. Running a small business means every hire matters. A bad hire costs time and money, but the right one helps your business grow. The challenge?
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Just returned Chris Berman here on the Rich Eisen Show, the master of ceremonies of tomorrow's events in the Tom Benson Football Stadium. Exactly. But you were just mentioning on the radio TV side of things, now the radio audience is back, that the enshrinement ceremony used to be for years on the steps of the Hall of Fame. And I just took a look at the actual lawn space in between the steps and I-77. And by the way, the steps haven't changed.
That's a fixed point. I-77, don't know when it was built. That wasn't moved. I can't believe they used to fit. the appropriate amount of people In that space for a Hall of Fame inductions.
No, if you see some and they have a couple of the of the uh tapes here. I mean, you not the weekend, you're gonna wander with everybody, all the fans here, but you can see some of them.
So There were two that I remember. One was Joe Montana's, and I guess Ronnie. And I mean, I think they all. And I was at a couple of Pittsburgh ones. Yes.
They were hanging. Pittsburgh is what, two hours, whatever it is. Yep. Hanging off the interstate. I mean, I don't mean hanging, but I mean, sitting with the trucks going by at 70 miles an hour.
Oh my god. Because all of Pittsburgh was here for a Bradshaw I covered. I wasn't the MC yet, but like, oh my all those Steelers. I mean, every year you had at least one Steeler. Right.
And what sh and the person who changed it, as you know, and I'll just say here, i it was Jim Kelly. Correct. 'Cause you can draw a line from Buffalo, New York. To Pittsburgh, PA, where he's from. All the way down, I can't know how you can.
It's almost like a geographical straight line. Obviously, you're zigzagging a little bit. And they just decided. Stadium, let's try it. Let's try it.
Because they couldn't fit these people in that space. 2002. Yeah. And I went out to do this to the mic, you know, like 30 minutes before just to test it. Right.
And I'm kind of, I'm not Jim Kelly, I'm not Andre Reid, I'm not Thermot Thomas, I'm not Bruce Smith. We could go on and on and on. Yes. But I'm Buffalo, as you know. Yes, sir.
And so just me doing this. The crowd erupted because they had driven more the campers the night before, whatever. And. And I went. Within one minute, Rich, I went, oh my God, this is a Buffalo home game.
I never looked at it, okay we got stadium, w what will malfunction, how is it gonna be? Yes. And they were already there, like in bills and there were a good ten, twelve, fourteen, fifteen. It was first stadium one. All I was doing was doing this.
They were ready for the mic. They were ready. Oh my God. So that was. But I will tell you this one story, and Joe Horgan, you can talk to him about it another time.
The first reunion they had. was maybe So the Ted Williams All-Star game, baseball had everybody back in 99 in Fenway. There's the reason I'm going here, which was unbelievable. And they all went out to their positions. And that's not the there's Willie May standing in the outfield, but there's Frank Robinson, but there's Stan Busiel.
But I mean, we could go on and on and on. But that was unbelievable. Football, ooh. We haven't had one of those and they tried to get everybody back and I want to say it was 2,000. And it was a noon, but they would come off the buses like...
There was no order of when I was introducing. They had never had this many people come back. I don't think they'd ever had like, and remember they were less Hall of Famers 25 years ago, obviously. But only open in 63.
So. One by one, they, but I'm at the mic. I don't know who's next, there's no order. It's when they got off the bus. and I don't know them all by sight.
And Joe Horgan would try to run and hand me a card. I mean, I know who Joe Namath is. I know who Gail Cyrus is, but did you. Otto Graham, you know, and the place would go nuts. And each one would come out and give a, and that was on the steps.
And I think they knew right then and there, we're outgrowing this. We're outgrowing it. And so I've done everyone in the stadium, except the one you did when I was not fortunate enough to present Mr. Wilson. Ralph Wilson Jr., that was 2009.
Ron Woodson's our next guest here after our chat with you, Chris Berman. And he was in that class. And I'll never forget that day because you presented Ralph Wilson Jr. And this was back in the day when the presenters were speaking, giving a speech.
Now they're sitting down and giving a better video.
Well, I just remember that night again, because you present Ralph Wilson Jr. and one by one, the presenters would then come up and speak on behalf.
So when you're speaking, you couldn't speak and MC as well.
So I got the call to the bullpen. And you were so, you were awesome to me, man. Like the night before, you pulled me over. You're like, you know, when you do this tomorrow, I'm sure you remember this. You're like, I just got one thing to tell you.
And you said, don't F it up. And you didn't.
So, in other words, you're coachable. Exactly. And so, but I do recall, though, that at one point. I'll tell this story. Why not?
Why not, right?
So. Bullet Bob Hayes and Derek Thomas were also in the class, and they were getting in posthumously, both were had passed. And the hall said, just to keep everything running on time. Those who are presenting the posthumous Hall of Famers, please keep your remarks to five minutes. Bullet Bob Hayes was introduced by Roger Stauback, good Navy man.
He went five minutes. on the dot. Walked off. I remember. Carl Peterson spoke for Derek Thomas for 23 and a half minutes.
to the point where midway through, I got up. And I went offstage to find Joe Horrigan, who you rem you mentioning, he's Basically, Keeper of the Flame here runs the shop. He wouldn't like being called that way because he's such a sweet. Humble man, but I went and found him, and I'm like, what do I do? You know?
And he basically said you can't do anything. Um and I turn around And as I go back to my spot, Roger Starback is standing right in front of me. And he says, Rich. I was told to go just five minutes. I'd have spoken longer if I could.
And I'm sitting there thinking to myself, oh my God. Roger Stahlbach is upset with me. What do I do? I'm like, where's Berman? The one year that I could.
Well, you know, like, I'm in the middle of this right now. What the heck?
Well, here's the thing: there were no presenter speeches after that year. I know that was the problem. I figured I was the problem. But when I went about Ralph, Ralph was at that point 90 and quite sharp still. I went about 10 or 12.
I mean, I can go long on anything, but once you remind people that he served in both theaters of World War II, whoa, whoa, I'm not shortening that. Right. Okay. Yeah. Atlantic, then later in the Pacific.
Oh, by the way, he owned the Buffalo Bills from day one to day six, you know, to year 60 or whatever.
So. Yeah, that was the last year of that, the presenter's. Yeah, because Ted Cottrell went after. Carl and spoke longer than Bruce Smith did. And so that and that was the end of it.
That's what we call the coup de grace of all of that. But in your tenure, did you ever have a moment? Like, because again, part of me was like, oh my God, Roger Saubach is upset with me. And the other part of me just remembers growing up in my basement in Staten Island, New York, watching the Tom Landry. Cowboys in that offensive line that would get up and then get and then reset.
Oh, God, dude. And I'm thinking. Part of me was also, oh my god, this is Roger Staubach. This is the coolest thing ever. Have you had that moment?
As a MP? Not here, but here's what came to my mind when you were telling me that story. Have I ever? Because you can't get up and pull a Hall of Famer off. It's not up to me anyway.
I mean, we just work here, Rich. Would you like it? Would you like me to supersize your french fries? You know, in the number two meal, like apple pie on the house. I can do that.
Okay. Right. Kind of like I am at ESPN.
Now, would you like an apple pie? I can add one.
So I'm kidding, of course. But. I had a moment, different thing, but a Hall of Famer.
Okay. So it was at the Ivy League football dinner, which we have every couple of years, and each of the eight schools has someone who, whether they were a pro football player or not, something had to do with football, and there are eight of them, and I'm an MC for half of it, and Jack Ford is MC for the other half. Chuck Medneric Penn. This is a while ago. Sure.
You know, and Chuck Concrete Charlie, the toughest player Well, there are many in his category, but no above him. Correct. And even though he's much later in years and he was battling some things. And he told the same story, not back to back to back, but. For the third time.
And we're about 15 minutes in, and I knew he hadn't really gotten. He'd gotten somewhere, but he hadn't gotten anywhere. This is Chuck Beneric. He might turn around and slug me, even though he knows me, but you know. I kind of walked up gingerly.
He didn't really see me yet, but then you make a little shuffle, and you notice something was going. And I put my arm around him and and we got through it. Like he And he didn't know right away why, but they finished like two more sentences, and then, and thank you very much for this honor. Yes. You know, and.
That breath of relief. You can still hear it. I bet, man. I thought I was in trouble. Bet.
That is not a. I mean.
So, not here, but similar. Got it. But you've never had one of those moments like this, a hall of like Jim Brown. Jim Brown. I mean, you know.
Whoa. You got that. I'm friends with all of them. I know that. I know.
It's their moment, you know. Got it. It's You know, it was flustered by the shorten, which had been shortened more ever since. Right. You know, well, not ever since, but as we move on, Peyton.
Because, you know, Peyton, within two minutes, he goes, Oh my God, I can't believe I only have six minutes to go. Like, I have so much to say.
Well, I mean, Peyton Manning also, his speech was produced where they had photographs that matched everything that he was talking about. I mean, that was one of the most beautifully produced speeches I've ever seen. No, it's Peyton Manning, yeah, right? The King of Omaha had it all scripted out with the photographs to match when he was talking. It really was beautiful.
So, last one for you here: speaking of no one circles the wagons, the opener for the new Bill Stadium is a Thursday night. I know. Does that work for your schedule? Yeah. I don't want to review anything or whatever.
I committed to something long before somewhere totally else. We'll see.
Okay. That'd be a big thing, obviously. That's a big deal. Could you imagine if the Bills finally do it in a year where they open their new stadium? In a house that Josh would never want me to say this.
I know. In the house that Josh helped build a great way. Obviously, he didn't. Hey, listen. Why wouldn't they?
The fact that Lucas Oil happens after Peyton Manning's been there for a couple of years, you know, I mean, these obviously. It would be, it would, and they could. I mean, they have to. They could every year. Right.
I mean he Josh Allen's still quarterback. He sure is.
So Who's There's no clear-cut Seattle Rams in the AFC as we sit here in early August to start analyzing. It would be an unbelievable thing, right? It would be. I may get up there before that in late August to do some interviews, and they already said, Well, we got to take you in. That stadium is built on time.
When's the last construction project, highway, your driveway, or stadium that you know, bathroom addition? That's right. When's the last construction project that you know was done on time? We're ahead of time. Sure.
I That's going to be quite a scene. Um, yeah, I gotta try to Before the schedule comes out, I mean, I had committed to something. I understood. Yeah. I just took a stab to see that.
No, no, I. It's funny, I get the canton. I do this, we write our stuff, you have the dinner, I write my stuff for tomorrow, I visit with people.
Sometimes I'll change a few things. Um, Saturday morning for Saturday, because I heard a story from a teammate that that's better than if I say this, you know, that type of stuff. Those could come tonight, post-jacket day. Yeah, no, that's exactly when a lot of them come. Two beers in.
That's right. So. And then I kind of look at my, okay.
Now what do we got? Not who's playing in September, but Okay, do this like Pete Roselle, the late Pete Roselle, I know you got other guests, but Pete Roselle used to say, 'Cause I would do the draft and when I first year I hosted it hosted, I don't mean was on it, but hosted, he was still the commissioner, and then you'd clear the deck and you'd have just me and the commissioners. I'm sitting here with P. Roselle. But he would always say, you know, the draft is our time to look forward.
And he goes, and then the Hall of Fame, which is before any game is played, a game usually played a day or two after the ceremony. It's time to look Back. And then we have the season. And I never forgot that. It's so simple.
It's like Chauncey Gardner, right? Like it's so simple. But it's So, this is we look back, and there's like 115, 120 Hall of Famers. The list is longer than usual. That's right.
You're going to have to. It's a hell of a class. You're going to have a long roll call tomorrow, that's for sure.
Well, it's a hell of a class, which you've talked about, but. When you get the second leading pastor, And you get the leading scorer. And you get the second leading receiver, and you get the second youngest guy, Lou Keekly, younger than Jim Brown, to go in the Hall of Fame. Yep. When I read that, I was like, what?
I know. I mean, only Gail Sayers was younger. I mean, by a couple months, but... Uh Luke is younger than Jim and Barry Sanders, but Hello. And then you have Roger Craig, who there's only three well you just said the last one, Marshall Falk, well, one of them.
Only three guys ever to do the thousand thousand in one year, like This is pretty good stuff. Mm-hmm. Here's a stat for you here tomorrow, which you could do the math, but I always liked doing this stuff when I was doing NFL countdown and stuff like this at prime time.
So, Drew is thrown for 80,000 and whatever yards, right? 80,000 yards. forty-six miles. Hmm. As I'm going to say tomorrow, I'm giving it away.
That's over halfway from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.
Okay, I looked it up. You did? You looked it up? It's like 80% of your miles. Yeah, I'm a geography guy.
Almost 46 miles of throwing. I love it. Doesn't your shoulder hurt when you hit it?
So, listen, you're going to have a blast, and you do such a good job with this. Right back at you. And you, and you do the Michigan-Ohio State thing every year. All I got to do is get up to the mic on Saturday and give them one back, back, back, and then I can move ahead. Right.
Nobody's going to be. They don't get upset with me. They get upset with you. No, I know because, well, I mean, there's no natural-born rival of Brown here in Ohio. Not that I've heard of.
All right, one little Drew Bree story. Sure, okay. Go for it. And Drew will turn around when I say this, when I do it. We recruited him at Brown.
And You wonder how good he could have been. If he didn't go to Purdue, I am going to say that right at the end. I'm going to go, Drew, you know I'm not leaving this podium until I tell you, because we laugh about it. He was recruited. I mean, not that many.
We weren't division when we. whatever division we were then. But what I want to remind him is We went to a Rose Bowl before Purdue ever did Powell. And if he had done that, he'd have gotten from Midway to Baton Rouge all the way to Baton Rouge. He might have been lost somewhere.
He would have ended up in Shreeport. But I wonder 80,000, maybe he could have thrown for 100,000 yards if he had just gone to Brown instead of Purdue and played in the Rose Bowl. Chris Berman is here. It's great to see you, man. Thank you so much.
Listen, what you do for the hall speaks for itself. It's great to be with you. Thanks again for that show that we did at September. This was Sports Center. It was outstanding.
Great to see you. Chris Berman, everybody, right here on the Rich Rising Show. We are back to Rod Woodson. Don't blank it up. Rod Woodson coming up next.
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The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast. Mentors like Eugene Parker and Roosevelt Barnes, my coaching staff when I first got to Pittsburgh, coaching staff at Purdue to lead me in the right direction.
So at that point, it was about giving thanks to them, my wife, who put up with me for now 35 years. I know I wasn't easy to put up with for 35 years, but her being there for our kids, because I was always working, I was always trying to train, always trying to get better. Rod Woodson here on the Rich Eisen Show. Our radio audience has returned. We've got about only a few minutes left before the end of the hour, so I want to make sure we get in the fact that you're teaming up with NFL Alumni Health and the One Pill Can Kill campaign.
Which is about what?
So it's really the partnership with the NFL Alumni Health, with the DEA for the third straight year. Drug-related deaths from the ages 14 is the highest ages 18 to 44 years old in the United States of America. And the biggest Thing we want to get across to the young people is that the social media platform, you can't buy prescription drugs. And if you go and take, Cocaine, it'll take quite a bit for you to overdose. If you take painkills, it'll take quite a bit.
But if you, once you put, say, fentanyl, There's only two or three grains of salt. that can kill you. and it can be mixed into anything, it can be mixed into a weight loss pill. Energy pill, it can be mixed into all types of things, painkillers. And if you take that, it does not discriminate.
It doesn't care what you look like, it doesn't care what you're from, it doesn't care how much money you have in your pocket, it can kill you, it can destroy families.
So, our biggest thing is you can't buy from social media, go to your healthcare provider. If you need something, if you need help, go through them. Don't go to social media. Dea.gov/slash one pill to learn more. You just got out of the luncheon.
What was it like? Every year When you do the Radnitschki luncheon, it is so fun to watch and This one. This one was a tearjerker. Tearjerker. Yeah.
I mean, it was like fighting. You cannot talk about what goes on in there. But it was a lot of great. We have some great speakers. We have some great stories.
Is there, again, again, it's Hall of Famer only. Yep, there's only people. And the only non-Hall of Famers. in the room are the ones who will become Hall of Famers tomorrow. Yeah, because they're not Hall of Famers yet because they don't have their jackets.
They don't have the go jackets, so they're not Hall of Famers. And the only other people are the people who are serving. That's it. That's the only people that can be in the room. And so what.
Can you at least allow why was there a tear jerker? Like, what's the thing? I mean, just, I mean, some emotional things, a couple guys' health issues was a scare. But they're doing fine.
So that leading up, but then you have individual people talking, and the first speaker. Was kind of put everything in perspective as what life is all about. And then, you know, we have our own families, we have our own niches, but to be a Hall of Famer, that's your Last family. in the football world. and to use that platform.
So it was really, really, really good. It was the best one I've been a part of. And I did everything I could not to cry in front of the guys, yeah, because it was a tear jerk. Because I know that's what's not that's not your default system. Yeah, yeah, I tried not to hold it together, but it was one of those that a couple little tears.
Kind of dropped out. Oh, wow. It was.
So it was, I mean, if people could just see it. It is You got all these guys who are so excellent in football, all manly of men of men of men. and they're all breaking down. Unbelievable. Rod Woodson here to wrap up our second hour on radio.
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