REShow: Mike Florio - Hour 1 (8-3-2022)

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Upgrade today by calling 877-ASK-DELL, that's 877-ASK-DELL, to save up to 48% on our latest technology. It's time for Dodger Baseball. This is the Rich Eisen Show. I've needed you far more than you needed me. Ben Scully joining me here on the Rich Eisen Show.

My achievements have really been the achievements of others. Montana throwing in the end zone, and she is gone! Today's guest, host of Peacock's Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio. United States President's Cup captain, Davis Love III. Legendary broadcaster, Bob Costas. Colts defensive tackle, DeForest Buckner. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

Yes, it is. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show here in Los Angeles, California. I am your humble host sitting here on the set here of the Rich Eisen Show on NBC Sports on Peacock and NBC Sports Audio Sirius XM Channel 85. Pleased to be here with you on this Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate or the Odyssey app or YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show for anything that you're going to miss over the next three hours or our podcast version.

We always appreciate anybody taking in this show whenever they darn well please, which you can do with our podcast available thanks to those at the Cumulus Podcast Network. Good to see you over there, Christopher Brockman. How are you, sir? Hey, Rich. I'm great. How are you?

Mike Del Tufo is in his chair. Good to see you, Rich. Good to see you too as well, DJ Mikey D. And light the candle, sir. Good to see you, TJ Jefferson. Good to see you. Uh-oh, you got to do it. It's lit and it's good to be seen.

Rich, it takes a bit of time. To realize when you've got control of your own microphone. Well, you know, I turned it off real quick because you could always hear me clicking the bic here. It's okay. I don't mind it.

Oh, okay. I thought he annoyed you, so that's why I wouldn't have turned it off. It's called setting an ambiance. Yeah. What you're doing, you're setting an ambiance. I just wasn't trying to annoy you with it.

I appreciate that. So joining us here in about 18 minutes time is Mike Florio. He's going to take a little victory lap because he's the one who was telling us all about, hey, Tom Brady retired from football without saying retirement, because he had an interest in maybe joining the Miami Dolphins front office and potentially playing quarterback for them for Sean Payton to be his head coach. And everybody's like, what, what? Ben Volen, I believe, of the Boston Globe was talking about that as well.

And everybody's like, what, what? Well, the commissioner upon hearing that said, what, what? And they looked into it and the Dolphins got smacked down pretty hard, as did the owner of the Dolphins yesterday by the NFL, who are also waiting to hear from on the Deshaun Watson front, are they going to appeal themselves, I guess? They're going to try and keep the suspension ball up in the air for Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns. Mike Florio will join us shortly. DeForest Buckner of the Indianapolis Colts will be joining us on this program, one of our favorites to talk to, the Oregon Duck, by way of also San Francisco, now in Indianapolis, where Matt Ryan plies his craft.

He will join us. Davis Love III is going to join us because he's got something to say about the Live Tour and about his love of the PGA Tour. And we have some questions about the PGA Tour jacking up their prize money to be more than the Live Tour. And isn't that why the Live Tour said they started, is to try and get the PGA Tour's attention?

The question is, though, if you join the Live Tour, you can't go back to the PGA Tour. No backsies. No backsies.

Yeah, you took your finger off that piece, huh? No backsies. So Davis Love III will join us, and Bob Costas will join us in the final hour to talk about what we're about to lead this show with. Start this show by remembering an all-time great, Vin Scully, passing away last night at the age of 94. What a life in full this man led, and so much of it in our living rooms. And providing the words to the pictures we saw on television or for so many here in Los Angeles, California, painting the word picture for you as the radio voice and then simulcast voice of Los Angeles Dodgers baseball, the great Vin Scully, who I first heard about from my parents, who I can maybe count on one hand the number of times I talked sports with my dad as a kid. He really wasn't into it that much.

And the same thing with my mom. It was my brother who got me into sports. But my parents, being from Brooklyn, New York, told me all about Vin Scully.

And that's part of Vin's incredible story. 1950 is when he began calling games for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Brooklyn Dodgers, Dodgers organization. It's when he started calling games to the Dodgers and calling games for people. Vin Scully broadcast for 67 years. He could tell you stories about Jackie Robinson because he was there when Jackie Robinson was there.

He tells stories that you could see all over Twitter and all over social media and YouTube, skating on ice skates in a race with Jackie Robinson. He called a perfect game for Sandy Koufax and a no hitter for Clayton Kershaw. He called so many great moments nationally because NBC Sports and CBS Sports found out about the guy who was calling all those games.

For the Dodgers and like, let's get Vin in front of a national audience. And that's when I first got to know him. Being a man of 53 years old now, that's when I first got to know Vin Scully in the 80s when he was calling games every single week for NBC. When he was calling games in the World Series.

When he was calling some of the greatest moments of all time. Like Kirk Gibson's home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. And look who's coming up. And with two out, you talk about a roll of the dice. This is it.

In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened. Yep. I have goosebumps. How about you? Yeah, geez.

Head to toe. And that was two years after we thought he had made the greatest call of his entire professional career calling baseball games nationally coast to coast. Sorry Chris, but this is it. The Buckner play. Game 6 of the 1986 World Series when it looked like the Red Sox were going to break the curse and they had the Mets dead to rights. Until the Mets started to come back and Mookie Wilson stepped to the plate. So the winning run is at second base with two out, three and two to Mookie Wilson. Little roller up along first.

Behind the bag, it gets through Buckner. Here comes Knight and the Mets win it. Here comes Knight and the Mets win it and bets by Buckner behind the bag.

I've got goosebumps again. And, you know, if we had played that a little bit longer and had the time to do it, because we will have so much to talk about then here. You'll hear one thing after another with his calls is the sense of meeting the moment with his voice. And then shutting up and letting you see the moment and feel the moment and hear the crowd and then come back in with something else to say like he said at the end of the Gibson home run. And also for the catch, yes, Vin Scully called one of the most seminal moments in the history of the National Football League as well, calling football games for CBS Sports. He was in the booth in Candlestick Park on January 10th, 1982. The NFC Championship game of the 81 season 49ers and Cowboys. Yes, kids, when we talk about the 49ers and Cowboys having a long standing rivalry, this is the day it essentially was born when the 49ers finally hit back on the Dallas Cowboys with Tom Landry and the Cowboys up and Joe Montana taking the snap on third and three from the six yard line. Six yards away from Pontiac, third and three. We'll see a pick up sometime on the right side, possibly. Montana looking, looking, throwing in the end zone. It's a madhouse at Candlestick with 51 seconds left.

White Clark is 6'4, he stands about 10 feet tall in this crowd's estimation. Meeting the moment, being quiet, enhancing the moment. It's so simple sounding, right? Not everyone can do it. And certainly nobody ever did it like Vin Scully or does it now. Even Al Michaels calls him the greatest to ever do it. Called Masters moments, he called so many moments and nobody, nobody, and I think everyone else who calls games in baseball for a living, nobody could perfectly broadcast the game and the pace of the game and spin a yarn in between pitches like Vin Scully. The stories he would tell while calling games. It's what you love about baseball when you sit there with your friend or your mom or your dad or your grandparent and you're just in between pitches and you turn and you tell a story.

You know what happened to me today, you know, or you know what happened to that guy. I remember I saw that guy play baseball, you know, five years ago in this game and you tell stories and Vin would tell you stories and you'd be completely enwrapped by them. Nobody will ever do this again because I found this out when I first moved here to Los Angeles. And you move here to L.A. and you talk about sports. Certainly when I moved here in L.A. back in 2003 and Suzy was here years before that and my brother was here years before that.

So I've been coming to Los Angeles for, you know, living here and also coming to Los Angeles for almost 30 plus years now. And everyone, the first person when you start talking about sports would say, oh, you got to listen to Vin call a game. I'm like, well, no, I listened to I mean, the Buckner moment, the Gibson moment and all these moments.

No, no, no. You got to listen inning one through nine. You got to get the whole thing.

And there's nobody like it. You're driving around in traffic and you're just staring at the taillights and you're just saying, what the hell's the matter with this 405? What's the hell's the matter? You turn on the game and Vin just, OK, I don't have to I don't have to be where I think I need to be.

You're stuck and you're happy, stuck in traffic listening to that guy. And nobody will ever do this again. And anybody who watched Dodger baseball knows this. The Dodgers would come back from commercial break in the middle of the game with the fourth or the fifth inning a minute, 90 seconds early.

In other words, foregoing advertising revenue just so Vin can turn his back to the field and his face to the camera and tell a story for 60, 90 seconds and then turn around and then here we go. Let's go. Top of the fifth, bottom of the fifth, whatever. You won't see that anymore. Ever again. Ever again. I don't even know if I'm doing this man justice.

But I'm trying my best. Because I will tell my kids about him. They you know, they kind of heard that he retired in 2016.

I'll tell my kids about him, just like my parents told me about him. And yeah, people might be fortunate to do it for 67 years. Wow.

Somebody might match that. But the 67 years, you know, starting in the Jackie Robinson era, you know, and finishing up in the late teens of the 21st century and spanning that era. Oh, by the way, he called Henry Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's record. He was there because the Dodgers were the team that Hank Aaron did it against. And he met that moment, too. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A black man is getting a standing ovation in the deep south for breaking a record of an all time baseball idol. And it is a great moment for all of us and particularly for Henry Aaron. Vince Scully, may you rest in peace and thank you for doing what you did in the manner in which you did it. In meeting all those moments for us in the way we needed it. And years later and forever more, cherish it. A guy who many of us wanted to meet.

And fortunate, I got a couple chances to do it. He called into the show. And many wanted to meet.

And for those who never did, you knew him. Rest in peace, Vince Scully. We'll talk about it with Bob Costas in hour number three of this program. You can call in as well. You want to tell stories? Let's do it.

That's what this is about. 844-204-RICH. Please call.

Let's talk stories. That's what he did for us. Let's do it for him and his memory.

844-204-RICH if you'd like to do it. Deebo Samuel spoke yesterday. Bill Belichick spoke today. He was asked about the Dolphins tampering with Tom Brady while he was still with the Patriots. His answer is indeed today's moment in Bill Belichick press conference.

History, if you will. He will be, you don't want to miss that. Mike Florio, though, when we come back, let's stalk some ball with Mike Florio.

844-204-RICH number two dollar belief. Mike's already in Canton, Ohio. So I'll be seeing him shortly. The host of Peacock's PFT Live.

And the author of Playmakers, Mike Florio, when we come back. Does your antiperspirant keep you dry all day? Dove Men PlusCare Dry Spray goes on instantly dry for a cleaner feel and offers 48 hours sweat and odor protection.

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844-204-rich is the number to dial here on the program. Chris Brockman, is there any poll question you might have in mind today? I know I'm kind of throwing your curveball on this sort of thing, but what do you what do you what are you thinking over there? Anything on that front?

No, I'm just trying to want to do. Should we do Vin's best moment of the ones we played? Yeah, I think that's a good one. I think that's a really good one. All right. So we had hold on.

Which ones do we we had the catch. We had Gibson's home run. Buckner moment and then Buckner and then the Hank Aaron home run.

There you go. If you do that and how about that, by the way, the the home run that Aaron hit that. Scully called the left fielder.

The ball went over was Bill Buckner because he played for the Dodgers at the beginning of his career. And 12 years, that's kind of like the baseball gods kind of winking at you right there, right? So. You want to do that?

Yeah, I'm putting it up right now. So what's your favorite event? Scully's legendary calls. We catch Gibson's home run. Buckner 86 series or Aaron's record. Rich, we were talking about how great these guys were solo in the booth.

And then doing what he did. Yeah, you don't hear that too much anymore, right? No, even in radio, a lot of the guys we were saying because I I love Brockman's crew from from New England. They're amazing. Like I listen to them on the radio on NFL, you know, when I'm driving. It's like some guys like they all have another guy in them with them. They all have a color commentator with them. Play by play in the color in the booth.

It's amazing to know that Vin how great he was. It's like you just one of the many right solo. Plus, we know baseball games can take four hours, you know, and it's a blow out. You're just trying to kill time.

So, you know, to fill that the air with the stories, that's that's what, you know, a unique skill. OK, let's let's head to the phone lines. Mike Florio is going to be calling in in a moment. Nick in Irvine, California.

Go for it, Nick. You're on The Rich Eisen Show. Hey, well, listen, I'm 55. And so I grew up with Enberg and Drysdale and Scully and Hearn. And people don't realize Lakers Dodgers in the 70s when I was practicing basketball eight hours a day, shooting hoops with my little radio next to the court that that they only had 40, 50 games a year on TV.

OK, so every other game you had to listen to on the radio. And that that meant Vin. So Vin was my summers. Vin was my childhood. And then, you know, I ended up being a professional writer.

And I think a lot of it was that imagination when I'm like seven, eight, nine years old, just rolling up thousands of jumpers a day, practicing, practicing, listening to the pregame, listening to the postgame. Vin was all over it with his. He was just a poet laureate, like he would have done what he did as a Dodger. He would have done it if he was in Greece back in the day. He would have done it with the Balladeers of the 15th century. He was just that superb at what he did.

And then to combine his reputation, which was of the nicest guy. So this is he was he was Dodger fans, Dodger number one. If you take a poll, put up a poll, who's the greatest Dodger of all time? It was Vin Scully. He never took an at bat.

He never threw a pitch. Greatest Dodger ever. Thank you, Vin. Thank you for the call.

Then thank you for the recollection. Greatly appreciate it here on the Rich Eisen Show. Eight four four two of four rich number to dial. Darryl and Raleigh, North Carolina, calling in about Vin. What's up, Darryl? Hey, Rich, appreciate you give me an opportunity to share some memory. I grew up in upstate New York and grew up as a Mets fan. My grandparents lived in southern Pennsylvania during the summertime and in the wintertime would winter in Vero Beach, Florida, which is where the Dodgers had their their their spring camp.

So they were huge Dodgers fans. And I remember visiting my grandparents during the summer. We used to sit in their screened in porch and they'd watch Dodger games every day.

And I remember sitting there watching and watching those with them. And now, up until this today, any time I hear Vin Scully's voice, it throws me back there to be a little kid in the late 70s, early 80s. And being a being a Mets fan, I was a namesake. Love Darryl Strawberry. One year they came back from Florida, gave me a sign poster from Darryl Strawberry and they bring balls and things. But just want to share that always, always here in Vin Scully's voice. You kind of mentioned it earlier.

You're driving on the highway. It's just it was so, so calming and comfortable that he would just make you feel part of the game. And it was always even if he was calling a current game, that almost felt like memories. Darryl, thanks for the call, man. Appreciate it. That's Darryl in North Carolina.

We all have these memories. And please call eight four four two oh four. Rich number to dial.

We'll take him as you as you're willing to give them. And Bob Costas will join us in our number three to talk about Vin Scully. Joining us now on the Mercedes Benz Van's phone line from Canton, Ohio, where the Pro Football Hall of Fame game is tomorrow night on NBC and the Hall of Fame ceremony. You can catch it on NFL Network at noon Eastern Time. I'll be sitting there on the set hosting it in Canton, Ohio, on Saturday. Joining us on that Mercedes Benz Van's phone line, Pro Football Talk and our friend Mike Florio back here on the show.

How you doing, Mike? Rich, my deepest apologies. I have been a loyal Sprint customer since 2006 and became the first primary sponsor of PFT. And I have been too loyal because they are now no longer Sprint. And I need to put a new SIM card in my cell phone for it to work.

So I can't take or receive phone calls. I had to go old school, hotel. I'm surprised we still have phones in hotel rooms. I'm glad they do.

They do and they work. Although this looks like the original phone that was installed when they built this hotel, whenever that may have been. Anyway, first world problems. It's all good, man.

It's a cell phone that does not take or receive phone calls. Sprint is now called Marathon. Who knew? Okay, very good. Mike Florio here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Well, all right. It's time for a victory lap, Michael. Congratulations on a story that you've been telling us about for months.

And Roger Goodell, I guess. Have you ever heard the commissioner confirm one of your stories, Mike? Has that ever happened before? No, this is absolutely a first. Although everybody I thought knew about it.

I don't know why the major networks were staying away from it. But Sims and I, or Chris Sims, who co-hosts PFT Live with me four days a week. He and I were both hearing things throughout the month of February. And I got to a point on a Friday night late in the month where he and I were texting. It's like, you know, I want to really try to position this for something we can use on the show Monday morning. And I actually did responsible reporting, seeking out the teams for comment and, you know, that kind of thing. And you know, we got something here.

We got something here. And then as time went by, because we were very careful how we couched it at first, that just basically the Dolphins were interested in trying to get Peyton and Brady. As time went by, it became clear to me that it was a done deal. That Brady, who retired on Tuesday, February 1, the following week was going to be named a minority owner of the Dolphins. At some point after that, Sean Payton was going to be named the head coach of the Dolphins. At some point after that, in the spring, Tom Brady was going to become the quarterback of the Dolphins. It was all set up.

It was all going to happen. And before they could flick the first domino, on the same day Tom Brady retired, Brian Flores filed his lawsuit and blows it all up. But the question I have on all that is if, I guess not if, the commissioner in the league says this happened, when they reached out to Brady in 2019 and then again in 2021 to talk about all of this or try and lay the groundwork for it. And when they called Sean Payton's agent, Don Yee, who is also associated with Brady, to start this conversation, how did they think it would be received with them just saying, look who the new quarterback and part owner of the Dolphins is.

Look who the new coach is. Wouldn't the Saints and Bucks say, hold on a second? At what point did the brazenness have a cover story in their minds, Mike? Well, and this may be the reason why, Rich, people have asked me why didn't the Patriots, the Saints, or the Buccaneers get any compensation as part of this tampering violation.

Because in the past, in some instances, the victims get something. They get flip flop of draft pick order, whatever the case may be, they get something. I think in this case, and I know, for this to have all been set up and be done, at the highest levels of the organizations, Dolphins and Saints, there was a deal for Payton. Highest levels of the Dolphins and Bucks, there was a deal for Brady.

It's just a matter of it playing out. So, yes it was brazen, yes it was blatant, but they also had everything set up and ready to go. That's when Sean Payton was going to be coach of the Cowboys in early 2019.

It was all set up and ready to go, and just before they started the process, it blew up. You start the process by the Cowboys creating a vacancy. Now, the Dolphins already had a head coaching vacancy, and Payton had already resigned from the Saints. And I wonder, Rich, would either of those things have happened if they'd known they weren't going to get Payton? Would Payton have stayed with the Saints for another year if he didn't think he was going to land in Miami? And would the Dolphins have kept Flores if they knew that they weren't going to get Sean Payton?

Mike Florio here on the Rich Eisen Show. The thing that I'm kind of surprised about, and I use the word surprised, I do, is that Brady's receiving blowback in certain parts for this. I mean, what's he supposed to do? Say, call the NFL police that he's being reached out to, that he's being tampered with? Certainly when, obviously, if you remember in 2019, it was the summer where Brady was essentially told the contract that he was looking for or the money he was looking for that would keep him in New England wasn't coming. What's he supposed to do? Hang the phone up and not listen? I mean, I don't understand that.

Right? Well, and it's a great point, and look, he's completely beyond the bubble of any potential discipline here because it would be a union issue and there's no policy in place for being the one who is tampered with. And there's no rule that says you can't be somebody that a team impermissibly talks to. But I think from a PR standpoint, and look at the timeline, as late as early December, or what was it, I can't remember how they worded it, but it would happen in December of 2021 while they're making the push toward the end of the regular season with the Bucks, and he's supposedly all in with the Bucks, and he's talking to the Dolphins then. That's the kind of thing that Buccaneers fans should probably say, are you focused on trying to win with us?

What are you doing here? Why are you trying to set up your next gig where we're trying to finish this year with another Super Bowl win? And to be talking to the Dolphins in 2019 and 2020 while he's still doing business with the Patriots, I just think it's a bad look. Sims made the point today, you know, how will he be received in the locker room? Will he get the side-eye from any of his teammates? And I think because he's Tom Brady, he won't. But I think it is fair to say, how well in are you with your current effort to try to cap the season with a Super Bowl win if you're allowing yourself to be distracted by who you're going to be playing for next year? I don't know if he's distracted, though, Mike.

I'll bite on that. I think he can compartmentalize and win and want to win because he just, you know, winning is everything. That he can still, you know, focus on the task at hand while his agent is handling what could come next. Certainly if it's ownership, right?

I mean, does that, I mean, I don't know. Now you've got to do the math. The money that Fox is going to pay him to broadcast, is that more than what he could make as an owner of a team? You have to feel that's the case.

I'm wondering, like, what does he really want to do with his career when he's done? It all depends on how big the percentage is, frankly. And also, he was coming to Miami to ultimately play, not just to be a minority owner. And here's the other side of it, too. Let's not be naive. This isn't the only time this happens. This happens all the time.

I was going to ask that. With all sorts of players. You think Russell Wilson and his agent, Mark Rogers, had no conversation with the Broncos during the 2021 season? Do you think that didn't happen?

Right? I mean, and I think that's one of the reasons why the punishment of the Dolphins wasn't as much as it should have been. When you look at the words of the commissioner, the severity and scope, unprecedented, owner directly involved, I've never encountered that in all my years in the NFL. Well, why is it just what it is then?

Why isn't it more? Because it happens all the time. It happens casually.

It happens nonchalantly. The Bucs did it with Brady, Bruce Arians, at a press conference, talking to reporters at the Combine in 2020, while Brady is still under contract with the Patriots. Arians says they're interested in Brady. Textbook, blatant violation of the tampering rules, but the NFL doesn't care. The NFL ignores 99.999% of the tampering violations, and then every once in a while, oh, we're going to enforce the rules. And going forward, are people going to be scared straight by this?

Probably not. Because I think people understand, in this case, I don't think they believe they could punish Stephen Ross for tanking because of the implications of doing so. So we had to get him for something.

So we'll get him for this. Well, I mean, I guess tampering will be hammered down on if it's put in a lawsuit that you did it. You know, I guess that you can't ignore it if that is what you're saying, that the league, it was put right there in Brian Flores' lawsuit. What happens with Flores' lawsuit right now? Now that we know that part of it, what he alleged on a boat, even without naming Tom Brady, flat out happened. So what happens now with that lawsuit, Mike Florio?

What do you think? That lawsuit continues to be bogged down, Rich, on the preliminary question of whether or not it's going to play out in court, or whether it's going to be diverted to the NFL's in-house arbitration system, where the commissioner makes the final decision. And it all happens in secrecy. And obviously, the scales of justice are supposed to be perfectly even or tilted in favor of the NFL because the commissioner is the one who's making the decision. And as of right now, there's a pending effort by Flores' lawyers to be able to take discovery, get information, question the commissioner about his true bias, how much money he's making, how the NFL owners have viewed him, that kind of thing. So they can then argue he can't be impartial in any way, shape, or form in controversies involving the teams that have hired him to be the commissioner. It's amazing because this issue has been hiding in plain sight for as long as I've been covering the NFL, the commissioner serving as arbitrator for certain claims made against teams. Of course the commissioner can't be fair. The commissioner has, as one party, the people who employ him, and as the other party, people who don't.

It's an inherent bias that no one should be expected to even try to shake. So I think it's going to be caught up in that issue for months to come, and it's going to take months slash years for this case to ever get resolved. Mike Florio here on the Rich Eisen Show. Before I let you go on with your Canton day, sir, what's happening with the league's decision to appeal Sue Robinson's six-game suspension for Watson or leave it the way it is? Rich, I expect an appeal to be filed before the deadline. Whenever the specific deadline is, I think they're going to file it, and I think what they're going to do, because Judge Robinson made findings of fact, and those are the only things that she does that are binding on the commissioner. Those findings of fact are, he did it, and that gives the commissioner everything he could want or need to say, I appreciate your decision to suspend him six games, I disagree with it, I'm going to suspend him for the whole season, or whatever he chooses to do.

I think he's given him the blueprint, the roadmap, and the green light to do whatever he wants to do on appeal. I expect the appeal to happen, and I expect the suspension to be increased, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a full season because that's what they asked for. That's what the people who worked for Roger Goodell went into the hearing before Judge Robinson and requested why would they change their minds a month later.

People need to get ready for this, because at a minimum it's going up, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's a full season. And if it is, the Players Association's next move would be to do what? File a lawsuit in federal court, then it becomes a race to the courthouse, and we've seen this before. Ezekiel Elliott filed his lawsuit a little bit too early, and initially won in Texas, but then lost because he filed it too early. See, the NFL's got a great system set up here because they won the Tom Brady case, they won the Ezekiel Elliott case. All the NFL has to do is file its own lawsuit in federal court in New York City before Deshaun Watson would file his lawsuit wherever, in Ohio or wherever he would file it. And when you know when the decision is going to become final from the Commissioner, I mean they control the starter's pistol in the race to the courthouse.

So you send the kid down to the courthouse, he's ready to file the paperwork, you text him that the Commissioner finalized his decision, boom, you file the lawsuit, you win the race to the courthouse, you're in a favorable form, I won't bore anyone with the details as to why it's favorable, but it is, and then the NFL wins. And Rich, at the end of the day, judges don't like to get involved when labor and management have come up with a procedure for resolving complaints like this, and the union agreed that the Commissioner has final say. What can you do?

What can you do? The union agreed to it. So even though he's not the guy who's judge and jury, he still is the appeals court, and the appeals court's always the most powerful of any of the people in the overall process. But you can get a temporary restraining order to put Deshaun Watson on the field week one, right, while this whole thing plays out. That is the rub there. And I don't think that happens, Rich, because they're not fighting the six-game suspension. I think this is a week seven question. An excellent point, great instincts, and I've poked around on this.

I've been around. I think if they would go to court, they've already conceded the first six games. This is week seven at Baltimore. Because that's what Brady did, didn't he do that?

Or who did that? Somebody- He's facing four games from week one. Brady delayed it a whole year because he initially won in court, but he lost at the appeals level. And the precedent from that case is what gets used against Watson if the NFL wins a race to the courthouse. But because Judge Robinson already has found a six-game suspension, and unless the NFLPA appeals that, and they've already said they won't, I don't think any of this becomes relevant until week seven.

Even if they fight in court. What if Goodell just doubles it, goes to 12, would the Players Association sue on that? What I'm saying is what increase of penalty would you think the Players Association accept?

None? I think the reporting from Charles Robinson a few weeks ago was if it's full season, they'll go to court. It's a great question, though. If it's 14, if it's 12, if it's 10, will they exercise their prerogative to go to court?

That's a great question. I don't know the answer to that, but I would assume there's a number short of 17 that would cause them to say, let's not reinforce the bad precedent that we already have in New York and in the appeals court that controls New York that makes it harder for us to win if and when we ever have to take these cases to court. Maybe they just step aside and take it.

But you're right, there's a number between 6 and 17 where they quite possibly would say, we just want this to be over and we're not going to spend the time because at the end of the day they're probably going to lose anyway. Mike Florio, greatly appreciated. Hope to see you in Canton. I think housekeeping was trying to get in during this conversation. I'm surprised they didn't come in. It's called Do Not Disturb, man. They got a phone from the Kennedy administration, but not a Do Not Disturb sign for you to hang on the door.

No, there is no Do Not Disturb sign either. I don't want to shame publicly. No, no, no, don't. You're already in trouble with your phone carrier. Don't do that. Thanks, Mike. I hope to see you shortly. I don't want a Sprint sponsorship anymore.

They're dead. Thanks, man. That's Mike Florio right here. I love talking to him, man.

All right, we'll take a break. 844-204-RICH, number to dial. Davis Love III is going to join us in about 15 minutes time. You don't want to miss that conversation.

I'll be coming up. 844-204-RICH, number to dial here on the show. For those listening on Terrestrial Radio, we just played a segment of Kevin Costner here in 2018. By the way, to promote the upcoming series, Yellowstone, that he was starring. Remember that? We're like, he's doing television? Yeah, right. Oh, yes.

Not just television, but a show that has lit up television, including right here on Peacock, which is where Susie and I are catching up on the series right now. And telling the story about Vin Scully calling the action of Billy Chapel in Love of the Game, for Love of the Game, which was the movie that Costner made, essentially. I mean, wrote and starred in, called for Love of the Game. And had, he called the big finish of the movie and they wrote things out for Vin to do. And Vin says, can I just see what you got? Just play the film for me. And they played six minutes, the final six minutes, and he just off the top of his head, called the action.

Like, you play what you've got. I will do what I do for a living, which was look at the action and describe it. And it was perfect, according to Costner.

And the director then does what directors do, which is we have one for safety. Can we try it again? And Scully says, do we have to?

All right. And Costner said he, the way he describes the story, he's just like, oh, God, I can't even look at Vin like he's telling the directors, asking the all time great to try one more shot. And he apparently did a little bit better at it. Hey, give me one more, Vin. And then Costner was one of the people that spoke at Scully's farewell on 2016, Dodger Stadium.

Some of the many. Do we have, put up the statement we got, or we're going to get that later on? Because we reached out to Costner, he's on the set of Yellowstone now.

Oh, wow. And we reached out to Bryan Cranston, who gave us, he's shooting all day, he gave us a statement. So we'll play that, we'll show that later, because Cranston knows Scully and is a diehard Dodger fan. Let's go to Jimmy in San Antonio, one of our favorites. What's up, Jimmy? Come on us today. We're doing well. How are you doing?

Oh, just bummed like everybody else. I started my broadcasting career in 96 and I was a producer for Bryan Anderson, the current commentator for San Antonio missions, who was owned back then by the O'Malley. So the Dodger connection, of course, was running rampant. And it's like, what's the old quote about Vin? He uses words and his words he can paint like Picasso, other broadcasters are just painting by the numbers. That's a good one.

I like that one. I can't remember who said it, but he's a legend to everybody. You didn't have to be in sports broadcasting to be a fan and know of Vin Scully's accolades. It's just a bummer, but he had a tremendous life. I mean, you were talking about 67 years. No one's going to go through the historical moments that that man has done. Exactly.

And then meet the moment every time, too. Thanks for the call, Jimmy. Greatly appreciate it. Bob Costas is going to join us in hour number three on this very subject matter. And then, of course, the way that the trade deadline finished up, Philly's made quite a burst of activity yesterday towards the end. So today is the first full day of baseball in which we're going to see the fruits of everybody's trade deadline labor.

And we'll see how that all plays out. Bob Costas will join us in hour number three. DeForest Buckner is going to join us in hour number two, our next hour, from the Indianapolis Colts. But first up is Davis Love III, who wrote, I believe on Golf.com, quite a tome about defending the PGA Tour with the Live Tour storm in the gates. And he will be joining us in the next hour of this program to give us his two considerable cents on that. And maybe I'll bring up my glory at wing foot as well to him.

What glory is that? I almost broke one hundred there. A little different than what he did. Yeah.

Well, he won the PGA Championship there. Right. And I almost broke one hundred. I mean, keyword almost. Ninety nine. Oh, no, no, no, no. One oh five. No, no, no. Maybe. One ten. No, not at all.

Not at all. Back here. Still here on Peacock. What's the poll question results towards the end of hour number one here?

OK. I'll hit that again. So your favorite of Vince Scully's famous legendary calls to catch Gibson's home run. Buckner from the 86 series or Hank Aaron's record breaker. Forty five percent.

Kirk Gibson's home run. OK. Seventeen. Sorry. Twenty two percent.

Hank Aaron. Seventeen percent. The catch in 16 percent. OK. I got to hit that again.

Right. Let me hit it here. Hit that right now. OK. You put it up there. There it is. OK. I will hit that, I guess. I mean, how do you not.

How do you not choose Aaron's record breaker? Yeah, if you're of a certain age, I think you were around for it. I mean, I guess it's kind of what you were. Although these are all pretty Gibson's home runs.

These are all pretty days. I mean, the catch. Eighty nine. The crazy thing about the catch is the radio call was called by Jack Buck.

Yeah. Jack Buck was on the radio call and Vince Scully was on the television call. And the the thing about the the catch Mooch told me this Eddie DiBartolo, the owner of the 49ers at the time, a long time owner of the 49ers, has the goalpost from Candlestick on his property, I believe in Montana. In a field.

And. At the exact distance from the goalpost, the actual goalpost. They marked it off between the goalpost and where. Dwight Clark made the catch. Dwight Clark is interred there. He is buried on the spot in the exact distance from the same goalpost. And that's that's how seminal a moment this was in the history of the 49ers.

And then, of course, you can't tell the story of football without this rivalry, without Montana and without the catch. Called on the radio by Jack Buck. Wow.

And on television by Vince Scully. I found some pictures on Twitter of what. Yeah, I think Mooch Mooch told me that.

I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. But that is the case. Yeah, you can. That is where Dwight Clark is buried. Yep. That is where he is buried.

Eight four four two oh four rich number to dial here on the program. Davis love the third when we come back with you. For the real story behind some of wrestling's biggest moments, it's something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson to all time hogan opponents. Macho Man's got to be in the conversation. Where's Andre for you? I've always said Andre was number one.

Wow. Because even going back before, you know, Hulk Hogan was a babyface. Hulk and Andre were able to go in and headline at the New Orleans Superdome at Shea Stadium in Japan. Wherever they went, that was an attraction, something to wrestle with. Bruce Prichard. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.