REShow: Rick Stroud/Marcus Freeman - Hour 2

The Labor Day event from Dell Technologies is here and it's time to take productivity to another level. End the summer strong by upgrading your growing business to the latest tech. This new season begins with up to 48% off top performance laptops like Bostro, taking performance to the next level with 12th Gen Intel Core processors. You'll also save big on monitors, docks, mice and more must-have accessories.

Plus, get free shipping on everything. It's the perfect time to get ahead with powerful tech designed to stay motivated throughout the year, and encourage collaboration and innovation among your team. Now, at special prices for a limited time only.

Summer might be gone, but it's just the beginning. What's next for you? Upgrade today by calling 877-ASK-DELL.

That's 877-ASK-DELL to save up to 48% on our latest technology. And his number two pencil will be calling to play this year. Earlier on the show, from NBC Sports, Mike Tirico. Still to come, Tampa Bay Times books writer Rick Stroud. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. Plus, host and comedian Andy Richter. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. If you missed hour number one, you missed Mike Tirico. The new voice of Sunday Night Football on NBC. And the voice of NBC Sports, Olympics coverage and the golf coverage as well. The PGA Tour Rocket Mortgage Classic with Mike Tirico at the mic on the Golf Channel.

Starts from Detroit, Michigan on Thursday. We talked about a ton of football and golf with Mike. If you missed it, YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show for all of that. Andy Richter's stopping by on hour number three. We'll have a good time with him. Marcus Freeman of Notre Dame Football.

Because we're fair and balanced here on the Rich Eisen Show. He's going to join us in about 20 minutes time. Chris Brockman and Mike Del Tufo in their usual spots.

TJ Jefferson and his. Good to see you. I thought we had a good first hour even though you haven't lit a candle. I still got no flame, man.

I don't know what happened to the BIC. It's gone. Oh my goodness. That's not a metaphor for anything, right? Definitely not. I'll know. I'll know what it is if suddenly you're throwing a football through a tire in the next 20 minutes in a commercial break.

Why did I do that? I don't know. That's one of those commercials. If you lost your flame, can you not light your candle?

Well, no. Wouldn't that be a bathtub in the middle of nowhere? That could be a bathtub in the middle of a forest. On top of a mountain. Butterflies flying, if you will. You and your loved one. How did we get here on the Rich Eisen Show?

Sure. By the way, it was a deep ball that Baker under-threw for the pick. Oh my goodness. Live tweet in the quarterback. A lot of competition battles in training camp.

Carolina Panthers are in that world. My ears are absolutely to the ground here on this one, Chris. My interest has peaked. Keep us posted over the next three hours.

I can't hit refresh fast enough. Sam Darnold gets out there. I'm all about these. Quarterback competition in Tampa, Florida, sir?

Nope. Joining us here on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line once again is our favorite. Certainly, he is a must-have go-to whenever the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in the news.

And they are absolutely that, with Julio Jones now in the fold and Tom Brady beginning his umpteenth training camp. One week shy of his 45th birthday, the man who covers the Bucs in the NFL for the Tampa Bay Times and the host of Sports Day Tampa Bay, a podcast available where all podcasts are acquired, certainly on Apple Podcasts. Rick Stroud back here on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line. How you doing there, Rick? I'm good, Rich. It's over.

The Bucs are going to win the NFC. Thank you. We're going to Arizona, I think, on Christmas Day.

Be back out there sometime in February. So, yeah. Okay. So, yeah. When you cover that game in Arizona in December, you're going to bring a box? Just leave there in your hotel for – so you don't have to pack for the Super Bowl in February? That's good planning. Yeah. I'll do exactly that.

I'll bring some extra clothes and store them at the hotel and then figure out where my seat's going to be and maybe walk the sideline a little bit, the way Tom will when he goes out there. So, listen. Who can't they get, right? Like, come on down. It is unbelievable the recruiter that he is. You just enter the NFL transfer portal and boom, you're in Tampa Bay.

So, you know, that's the way it works down here. So, when did Julio Jones first appear on Tampa's radar screen? We heard he said Tampa appeared on his radar screen the minute Tennessee said you can – you're free to leave if you'd like. So, what about Tampa's side of things, Rick?

You know what? I don't know him specifically. Obviously, he's a big name out there. And the big question is, you know, if he can stay healthy. He's missed some seven games each in the last two years.

But really, Rich, I mean, this started sort of last year. I mean, you think about Tom Brady and unfinished business and sort of how the season ended. And the way it ended was they didn't have any receivers. So, you know, you had Mike Evans kind of doing all the lifting. And at some point, you know, Chris Godwin tore his ACL and his MCL on December 20th. You know, Antonio Brown went crazy and started the striptease thing with the Jets and he was gone. So, he looked around and, you know, they're pulling Burchard Paramin off waivers. They're taking Serrel Grayson, who was a track star, off the practice squad. And these guys are winning games with walk-off touchdowns against Buffalo and the Jets.

But you're like, you can't make a living this way. And especially Tom Brady. I mean, Tom Brady, you know, wants to have options. And that's why Antonio was here for two years. So, I think this is, as Todd Bowles said today, you know, rather than wait for what you know is going to happen with positions and it could happen to the receiver position again, go get the guy now who's the best available instead of just taking whatever is out there, you know, at midseason when you have to kind of spackle it together.

So, I think that's what this is. It's just trying to, you know, add a little bit more to the roster and a little bit more. And let's face it, Julio's not coming in here trying to be the wide receiver one or maybe even wide receiver two or three. We'll see because we don't know Godwin's status against Dallas, but in a limited role in a red zone situation. And don't forget, they're trying to make up for the loss of production of Rob Gronkowski. And you've got to find a way to get those catches somewhere on this football team. And it might not be with Kyle Rudolph.

So, you know, this is just another part of the recipe. So, the question of who is Julio there for as insurance for may not even be, I guess, Jermaine because Godwin is not on PUP, right? So, what is his status right now? Well, he's not on the PUP, Rich, because if he was, he'd be limited to working with just the trainer.

And they feel like he's a little ahead of that. Now, having said that, you know, he wasn't really practicing today. He probably won't really practice that much tomorrow, but he can do individual drills. He can go out there and do walk-throughs and install.

You can be with your team. That's the biggest thing. It's not just him and the trainer. So, they're real pleased with his progress. You know, there was a report that he was up to running 19 miles an hour, you know, the other day. And, you know, that's straight ahead speed.

You know, there's obviously a lot of steps along the way. When you're coming off an injury like that, the mental part of it is going to be huge. You know, when will he be cleared for football in terms of, you know, being in 7 on 7 or 11 on 11?

How comfortable is he going to be with guys around his legs and his feet? And for my money, I don't think he'll play in the preseason, you know, but you would like to see him, you know, get tackled to the ground once or twice maybe before you hit Dallas if he's even ready by then. I still think they say they're hopeful.

I think they're more wishful about September 11th. But just the fact that he's not on PUP and neither is Lavonte, David, and some of the guys that didn't participate in the offseason is a good sign. Well, so Russell Gage's acquisition, in my mind, is the number one under-the-radar acquisition of 2022 offseason. What a terrific receiver he proved to become in Atlanta.

And now here he is in Tampa with Brady as his trigger man. So what is the expectation level of Julio Jones? Like, what do they envision having signed a 33-year-old future Hall of Fame receiver but with an injury history that's quite recent? What's their expectation level, Rick Stroud? Well, they paid him some money. I mean, they gave him $6 million. He can make up to eight, so he's not playing for free.

So you're going to have some job for him. I think a lot will depend on just the health of Chris Godwin, you know, and Julio Jones for that matter. I think you're going to have him on a pitch count. I mean, you know, the goal would be to get him through, you know, the entire season and playoffs. Again, big red zone target for you when you've got guys like him and, you know, Mike Evans and Cam Braid and, you know, Kyle Rudolph and those guys. So you've got a lot of guys.

You can use them that way, and it'll just depend on sort of how it plans out. But I'm with you. I mean, I think Russell Gage is an underrated player. He's an extremely good route runner. He tore these guys up enough in Atlanta, as did Julio, by the way. But, you know, the last year, the last eight games last season when Gage was sort of out there as the number one, he had 50 catches, you know.

So he was very productive, even without much around him. And that's really the key, right? Like, you want to put as many great players out there around Tom Brady as possible and let him conduct the orchestra, you know. And so, you know, maybe this week, you know, it's a, you know, the trumpet gets the solo and maybe next week it's the clarinet.

I don't know. But I think they've all got to get on the same sheet of music, and that's really what Brady is about. He's about having options, and, you know, he'll coach these guys up as much as Todd Bowles will or Byron Leftwich, and they'll figure out what they can do and what situations it gets with teams. So it's really, I would say right now that, you know, Mike Evans is clearly going to be their number one.

I think early on Gage might be their number two and maybe Julio the number three, but that could change as far as, you know, the order goes based on just the health of guys. Rick Stroud from Tampa 8 Times here on the Rich Eisen Show. I asked this question fully knowledgeable that I have not spent my entire NFL Network career somebody going low and hitting me in the knees, and I didn't miss a full month of last year's NFL schedule because nobody broke my ribs. But I asked the question, what happened with Gronk to you, sir? What happened with him? He's a sore man, Rich.

He's a beat up guy. He's also a smart guy, and I don't think he gets enough credit for that. You know, Gronk is exactly the guy you see on TV, which is great, right, because he never has a bad day.

They'll miss what he brings from an attitude standpoint as much as anything. He keeps things loose. He loves football. He loves to practice football. And, you know, when I saw that injury he had against the Rams, it was devastating. You know, they got him through 20 games or whatever it was in the Super Bowl year. He didn't miss any games, and he got himself into shape. And then last year, pretty early on in Los Angeles, he takes that hit. And, you know, it wasn't just the ribs.

All of a sudden the back was a problem. He wasn't running as fast. He still came back and was a huge factor in games against the Colts and down the stretch for them. But I think he was reminded, Rich, of why he retired the first time. You know, when he came back and Tom talked him into it, you know, I talked to his dad, Gordy, and he said the whole family looked around at each other and said, he's not going to play again. I can't fathom Rob ever playing again. And Tom got him back, and they won a Super Bowl. And he caught two tuddies in a game.

And so why not run it back? And I think he was reminded of, you know, the kind of life that he had, what he wants to get to. He's a smart businessman. He's got a lot of opportunity off the field.

Now, if you ask me, we get to December and they're four games away from clinching the first seed. And maybe, you know, they got a couple injuries and, you know, Rob can't buy that insurance for USAA and calls his mom and says, where's my football pants? I think he might show up.

But that's not something they're planning on. And I really, I think he is retired. I believe him this time. His girlfriend doesn't, so who am I to say? But it would surprise me. Why would I be surprised?

I'm in Tampa Bay where people retire and un-retire every day. Yeah. And Brady did exactly that just a few short months ago. What's the general sense walking around that building about Brady and his possibility of playing his final year? What do you think?

What are they saying? Well, one year closer, whenever that is, or one year closer to it. But I think it's his final year in Tampa.

You do. You know, I do think it's his final year here because he had an opportunity, if he wanted to, he could have said, hey, you know, let's extend this. Certainly, he's pushed money down the line in terms of, you know, salary cap reasons and things like that, voidable years, all that language that I don't understand. But I do think that, you know, he wants to be a free agent. Now, what does that mean to a 45, soon to be 46-year-old Tom Brady? I'm not sure. I do know when he enters the offseason this year, and I don't know if it's going to end up with confetti or condolences.

I really don't know. But however it ends up, you know, he's going to have somewhere to go. And what that means is $37.5 million a year waiting for him at Fox. So that's different than what he entered this offseason with, right, where it was just the big unknown. I think he looked around. He had some opportunity. I still believe that the Miami thing was viable. Somehow, Sean Payton was a consideration down there. It didn't work out. He wanted to still play. He scrambled back. He got all his guys back because he signed on the EVA or, you know, announced his return on the EVA free agency.

So he's got a Super Bowl ready team. And after this year, I don't know, because the great ones never know when to put the keys on the table. But all I know is the guys can still swing.

I was watching them today. It's unbelievable what he can do at 45. And of course, for a first practice, it was very sharp. He was sharp.

I don't know how long it goes, but it's a hell of a ride to watch. I do think, though, that this is probably his last year, and he'll want to have his options open the way he did his final year in New England. He'll like to look around. If he's going to play, he can play anywhere that will have him. And if he's not, he's got a broadcasting job. Well, what would that Miami thing have looked like?

I mean, where he goes there after saying, I'm done, without really saying the retirement word in his Instagram post. Or would that have done, would that have happened before then? And then Miami would have had to call, you know, Jason Lighten offered some form of compensation?

We talk about it a lot, but I still have never really heard how it would be mapped out. How would that have actually worked, Brady winding up in Miami with Sean Payton as his coach? How would that have worked?

Yeah, I'm not sure it could have worked, and that's probably why it didn't work, right? But I think that the Bucks had to move on. You know, at the Combine, I'm talking to Bruce Arians, he's still the coach, or at least we thought he was going to be.

And he's saying, you know, hey, we have to go on as if Tom's not going to be here. And the plan was, you know, they were going to have Blaine Gabbert and Kyle Trask battle it out. And they had nine quarterbacks on that list that they were looking at, including Deshaun Watson, who got crossed off pretty quickly by ownership, from what I understand. You know, Russell Wilson was on that list.

We all know the names, right? So they were planning on going forward, whether it was with the guys they had, and it was most likely going to be Gabbert and Trask. But in that instance, you know, how many free agents come back? Are they a five-win team?

Are they a six-win team? As far as Brady goes, you know, there's a lot of speculation in the timing of that thing. Sean Payton, I think, factors in it somehow. You know, the Dolphins were interested in interviewing him. The Saints said they could not after he, you know, was retiring, resigning, whatever.

And then, of course, you had the lawsuit on the day that Tom actually did retire, which was weird timing. So I don't know in the end how viable it was for him to play and whether or not it was ownership. I just don't know.

But he was looking at everything. And we know one of their forever houses is down there in Miami, so it makes sense. He loves Florida. At some point, he's going to live there in South Florida.

So I just don't know. And I'm not sure he knew. And he was kind of exploring all that, and then whatever might have been viable in Miami suddenly wasn't. And that's when I think, you know, he had been talking to the Bucks all along with Jason Light. You know, they had a plan if he wanted to come back, and he executed that right before the start of free agency. And they were able to get so many of their players to return.

Rick Stroud, a fascinating team. We didn't even talk about Leonard Fournette's water weight, which might be the name of my fantasy team this year. We didn't even talk about that. That's like an annual tradition, it seems. So let's get you back on right before the season. Let's do this again soon. Thanks for the time, Rick. Let's do it, Rich. Thanks for having me, buddy. I'm at NFL Stroud on Twitter. I follow him. You should as well.

That's the great Rick Stroud here on The Rich Eisen Show. Okay, let's take a break right here on the program. By the way, Gronk, I love it. Everybody's still thinking December. That's a time. You know, we'll see what happens. You think so? You think he's done? You think he's finally done?

Yeah, I think it's about it. He doesn't have anything really left to prove. Why would he go out there and risk, you know, another injury or broken rib, concussion, whatever. You'd have to see, and Chris, you might agree with this, you'd have to see that maybe he has an eye on what Pat McAfee is doing and going like, I can go this route and have similar success instead of getting beat up on the football field.

I don't know. By the way, by the way, what Pat's doing is hard work. And I'm not saying Gronk, I'm not saying Gronk wouldn't want to take on something that's hard work. I'm just saying if you're retired, I mean, what Pat is doing, he is grinding, man.

I know it's one of the greatest grinds in the history of grinds, but he is grinding. Yeah, for sure. But I'm just saying that type of bigger than life personality.

I don't know if he's actually going to do a podcast, but Gronk's going to be entertaining people. No, I know. And Pat is an entertainer, but Pat's grinding. For sure. That's a schedule. I didn't say it was going to be easy.

I just said I think, you know. All right, let's take a break here. Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman when we return on the Rich Eisen Show. Protect your skin. Try Dove Men Plus Care Dry Spray. Goes on dry.

Clean feel all day. Back here on the terrestrial radio network of the Rich Eisen Show. We just showed a promotional video that Marcus Freeman, the head coach of Notre Dame football, headlined with a couple of his players in the Goliks take off of the hangover to announce a game in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Who's playing in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 8th? Don't worry, Mike. I know you're the Notre Dame fan here. I've looked it up.

Thank you, Rich. It's Notre Dame versus BYU. So Catholics versus Mormons in Sin City. What better spot?

Am I wrong? I'm in. Okay. You'll bring the hedonism, right? I'll bring it.

You'll bring the thunder. Let's go, Mike. Joining us on the Rich Eisen Show right now on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line is the head coach of Notre Dame football. We are, if I'm not mistaken, 39 days from the time that Notre Dame will kick off the season against Marcus Freeman's alma mater, the Ohio State University, the head coach of Notre Dame football, Marcus Freeman, back here on the program. How are you, sir? I'm great, Rich.

Thanks for having me back. Are you going to now try and win an Academy Award before a national championship based on the video we saw today, coach? Oh, definitely not.

I'm more concerned with preparing this team for an unbelievable 22 seasons. Well, but it looked like a lot of fun of you shooting this video, right? It was. It was. To be able to go out to Las Vegas and our creative team here at Notre Dame is unbelievable.

To spend a day out there with your players and do that, it was a really cool way to unveil the Shamrock Series uniform. It's indeed. Yes. So let's let's jump right into it here. Do you have a quarterback competition for the season, coach?

Do you? Yeah, we have two guys with Tyler Buckner and Drew Pine, both guys that played last year, that will go into fall camp, that will battle for the starting position. And we love to find ways to create that healthy competition. And any time we can do that, we're going to. So that is, as far as you're concerned, still an open question as to who is going to be starting against the Ohio State 39 days from now. Absolutely. Absolutely.

OK. And why is that, coach? Well, I think I think we want to create a competition to we're 100 percent sure that one guy has shown us that he is the guy to to take the realms of the offense and run with it. And so we had a great battle in the spring. I think both guys showed the ability to lead our offense. And I don't foresee us having two quarterbacks as we go into Ohio State.

But the competition is something that we're always going to try to create. Wait a minute. You said Ohio State. It's not the Ohio State coach. Wait a minute.

I don't want to get you in trouble with your alma mater. I mean, they trademarked the word the. Did you see a pardon me, the. Did you see that? Did that cross your path? No, I did.

I did not see that they did. So maybe that's what you're trying to avoid. Copyright infringement right there by not saying that word. How weird will it be be for you, though, that that's the team that you are trying to take down to start the season in your first game is H.C. full regular season H.C. of the new Notre Dame football program coach. Yeah, you know, obviously I have fond memories of my time in Columbus and at Ohio State and, you know, fortunate for me, two years ago when I was at Cincinnati, we went to Ohio State and played Ohio State. So I'll be familiar where the visitor locker room is and I know what side the field to go to. But to do it at the head coach will be unique. But I'm excited to take a Notre Dame football team and to go compete and see, hey, where do we stand versus one of the best teams in the country? What would you describe, Marcus Freeman, your stamp on this program being?

What would you how would you describe that? Well, I hope that, you know, you watch a football team that's disciplined and you watch a team that's tough and that that really, really plays the game extremely hard. And those are things that I believe we can control. And we're always going to be trying to evolve schematically and put our team in a position to be successful.

But we have to be disciplined, tough and definitely play with extreme effort. Marcus Freeman, head coach of Notre Dame football here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's your relationship with name, image and likeness and everything of that? I'll place that before you, coach.

What do you think? Yeah, we we we fully support our players being able to benefit off of their name, image and likeness. And at a place like Notre Dame, our players have been able to truly maximize their opportunities. And I'm in full support of it.

Well, in terms of the full support of it, what about the recruiting wars? Has that have have you had a player that you have targeted in any way, shape or form to be a golden domer? Told you that their name, image and likeness deal might be better somewhere else and thus they're going somewhere else unless you match. Has that happened to you yet?

No, that hasn't. You know, we have many recruits want to know what is the whole name, image and likeness, you know, about. And I think there's a lot of different misconceptions about what it is. You know, it cannot be used as an enticement. And we like to just explain, hey, here's how our players are benefit off of their name, image and likeness. And, you know, again, show the positives of what it can entail here at Notre Dame. Well, the number of coaches that I've heard, coach, that have spoken at their respective conference media weeks and media days so far and leading up to that as well, have mentioned that they believe that there are too many programs in the country that are using name, image and likeness as an inducement and not in the way that you have described it. Have you found that to be an impediment for you, coach?

No, I would not say that has been an impediment for us. You know, again, I don't know what other programs are telling recruits to provide. That's not my concern.

It's more so to say, what is the pros of name, image and likeness at Notre Dame? And that's what I like to focus on with our recruits and our current players. Well, you might be the only coach that hasn't complained that there needs to be more rules for this sort of thing, to be very honest with you.

I got a lot of things to make sure I'm concerned about it. And we have people that I'm sure are working to make sure they find the right balance of how to continue to help our players truly benefit off of the NLL, but also not let it corrupt the game. And I'll let those guys that deal with those issues every day kind of figure that thing out. Okay. So you just, I guess, to put a button on it, you're fine with the way that the NLL is set up in college football right now, and you're just going about your business. I mean, the Big Ten commissioner said just yesterday or two days ago that there needs to be federal legislation. Otherwise, from your perspective, from your seat, everything is copacetic on the NLL front, Marcus? Yeah. All I can do is make sure that within the rules that are in place currently, that I do everything in my power to help our players.

And that's the thing I'm focused on. The rules are set. The commissioner set those rules.

The president set those rules. And whatever the rules are, I'm going to do my best to make sure that our players truly maximize their opportunities. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame Fighting Irish head football coach here on the Rich Eisen Show. Have you had any conversations with Jack Swarbrick or anybody else about the future of Notre Dame and where you're going to be playing your football as whether an independent or another conference? Any of those conversations cross your desk, coach? You know what?

Very brief. Between Jack Swarbrick and Father Jenkins, I know they're always going to make sure that Notre Dame's in a position to have success. And we obviously love the opportunity to be independent, and that's something that we take a lot of pride in. But I know they will never put our football program or our university in a place that we will fall behind. And so I let those two make those decisions, and again, I can't continue to focus on this team. So I guess my follow-up question is how badly do you want to join the Big Ten?

Should I cross that off my list right here? How badly do you want to join the Big Ten? Yeah, I wouldn't sit here and say that we're running to join the Big Ten or another conference.

Again, we love the opportunity to be independent, and we're going to continue to do so until I'm told otherwise. Okay, so how are you prepared? Walk me through the next 39 days between now and kickoff, how it's going to work for you, coach. Today we had our last workout before we start fall camp next Thursday. And again, our kids have done an unbelievable job this summer developing and pushing themselves. And next Thursday we'll begin our fall training camp and begin to develop this team and really focus on the things that we feel are important to prepare us for this season.

And so I look forward to getting back to football and getting around these guys and doing the things they love to do, which is practice and playing this game of football. Marcus Freeman, congrats again on your first full year as being the head coach there. Again, your journey to that spot was quite a whirlwind, and I look forward to watching you be the HC there for a long time to come. Good luck, and let's do this again. I appreciate the number of times that you've already called in. Thank you. Thanks, Rich. Thanks for having me.

Right back at you. That's the head coach of Notre Dame football, Marcus Freeman, here on the Rich Eisen Show. How many coaches have said what he said? How many have we had on the last several months because of the draft?

Asking about NIL. Every last one of them was like, we've got to have some sort of rules. Link Kiffin's like, we've got to have a salary cap. We even heard what Nick Saban said, and now he's taken a different approach of like, hey, we're one of the halves. I'm concerned about the half-nots.

Right? Like, that's his new approach. His first approach was like, hey, Birmingham, you know, somebody else is paying for their entire recruiting class. Now it's like, we're one of the halves. You know, we're good here at Alabama. Which, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, is a perfect fine-tuning of his approach of discussing NIL. Every coach says what Marcus Freeman said, which is, I'm for it.

I'm for my players to make some money off of their NIL for sure. But then it's always like, but we've got to do this. We've got to have that. Kevin Warren of the Big Ten's like, the federal government's got to come to our rescue. You know?

And so did Greg Sankey. Federal government's got to come to the rescue. There's a lot going on in the federal government these days.

Kind of busy. You know what I mean? But Marcus is like, we're not doing that here at Notre Dame. Inducing anybody.

I'm just trying to make sure it's the best possible program for these guys. Have we heard anybody else say that? Chris? TJ? I don't think so, right?

I don't think so. There you have it. Notre Dame. So let's take a break here on the Rich Eisen Show.

When we return, we haven't hit once again on the independent study. Kyler Murray has many supporters within the Arizona Cardinals organization. This should not be any surprise. Cliff Kingsbury was asked about it yesterday after we went off the air. We'll play that sound bite for you.

I'm also told, wait a minute, at some point in the rest of this program, we're halfway through, the return of Salty Tua. Oh, yeah. Happened today. Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. Okay. That's coming out of our edit bays as well, right here on the Rich Eisen Show.

844-204-RICH is your number to dial as well. This is it. The putt to win the tournament. I'm not talking about this PGA Tour weekend.

No, no, no. I'm talking about your business. If you sink it, the championship is yours. But on the takeaway, hat falls over your eyes. You don't have visibility. Is this how you're running your business? If it is, maybe you're still relying on spreadsheets and outdated finance software with poor visibility like that. You need to change.

You need to see the full picture. You need to upgrade to NetSuite by Oracle. NetSuite is the number one cloud financial system that gives you the full picture of your business with visibility and control over your financials, inventory, HR, planning, budgeting, and more. NetSuite is everything you need all in one place. You can automate your manual processes and close your books in no time, staying well ahead of your competition. It's so comprehensive, it's put Chris Brockman's HR role here out of business.

What? Over 31,000 businesses already use NetSuite. This summer, NetSuite is a special financing program for those ready to upgrade it. NetSuite.com slash Rich Radio. Head to NetSuite.com slash Rich Radio for this special one-of-a-kind financing offer on the number one financial system for growing businesses.

NetSuite.com slash Rich Radio. Man, I forgot how much I disliked the Mets until last night. I'll be very honest with you. And it's just kind of annoying, you know?

It's just annoying. The crazy thing is I was watching last night's Subway series game one. There's four of them. There's another one tonight in Citi Field, two in Yankee Stadium in August. And I'll never forget, I went to the first ever one of them. I do believe, I kind of remember, because it was 26 years ago.

Michael Kay mentioned that on the broadcast. 26 years ago when the interleague play began. Wow, I remember that.

We're in our quarter century interleague play. And by the way, I still hate it. I love it. Imagine that.

You know what, man? I like it. What do you dislike about it? Now that there's no DH, I mean there's no, it's a universal DH, what do you dislike about it? I always thought it was cool that the first time teams would play each other from other leagues would be in the World Series. That was cool. That was a fun element of Major League Baseball that other sports didn't have.

Or the fact that the, you know, Red Sox play the Braves and the Yankees play the Dodgers and the White Sox play the Cubs and the Angels play the Dodgers and the Yankees play the Mets. I kind of dig it. There's nothing special about it anymore.

It was cool when it was every once in a while. It's called progress, Chris. Chris, it's called progress. No.

Sometimes progress isn't great. Well, 26 years ago, I do believe Dave Malicki, remember him? TJ? I do.

It's always looked like you needed to buy a vowel. Very, very few last names begin with the letters ML, but Dave Malicki, I think shut out the Yankees in Yankee Stadium. I think I went to the first one. It was on a Saturday.

I don't remember what day of the week it was, Mike, but I believe I was there. I think he beat Dwight Gooden. Did the Yankees throw Dwight Gooden in the first Yankees Mets game? I think that might have happened 26 years ago.

Wait a second. You're talking about... I thought the Mets won that game. They did. Oh, I thought you said... No, Dave Malicki shut the Yankees out and the Yankees, I think, threw Dwight Gooden at him. Yeah, I think it was 6-0 that game.

I think it was. It popped up during the game yesterday. So, you know, and the Yankees did win the ultimate.

Yeah, you won like the last two. The World Series. The World Series. When they actually faced each other in the World Series.

True. Kind of in the same way that we believe North Carolina has ended the conversation with Duke. Forever.

So I have to counsel against that a little bit because there's still a conversation here. Like it's, good Lord, 22 years later in the retort of, well, yeah, we beat you in the World Series. It's kind of stale. I wanted to win that game last night in the worst way. I was so frustrated. I was so angry with the way the Yankees were playing.

Mets look good. How good is Pete Alonso? How good is Pete freaking Alonso?

Pete Alonso is my favorite baseball player. He should be. Because he's just, he's fired up.

He's screaming at the dugout. He's full of energy. I love this team, man.

He's great. I love this team. They have heart. And every game you actually feel like there's a chance they can win.

And it was before that was not the case. Buck pushed the buttons better than Aaron Boone last night. I don't know if you saw any of this last night, Christopher, but it's... Why do I care about the Mets and Yankees? Well, you don't follow baseball anymore anyway since the Red Sox were in last place in the American League East now. That should have been the headline. By the way, ever since his hashtag of the energy's about to shift, oh my goodness, the ultimate cuddler.

Yeah, joke or not, it just went right down the tubes. But at any rate, last night, Yanks have an opportunity to tie the game. And send to the plate none other than Joey Gallo against Adam Adovino. And Buck comes out and goes, OK, I'll go to my closer, one out early. And bringing in Diaz, Edwin Diaz, who is closing in on Geraldo Chapman's record for strikeout rate. He's striking out over 51% of the batters he's facing. And I think Chapman one year struck out 52% of the batters he faced. And so sending up Joey Gallo against Diaz, all I thought of was that line from the Untouchables, we're bringing a knife to a gunfight.

And sure enough... Diaz is awesome. I mean, Diaz strikes Gallo out and the Yankees had one more shot in the ninth to tie the game in a three-run lead and then couldn't. It's just intense baseball, man. When two teams and two fan bases are sitting right next to each other, one met one Yankee, it's great, man. Husbands and wives split. It is that.

You know, families. It is that. And it's great to see Buck doing so well, man. Yeah.

I love that guy. Plus, like, you know, the Mets really, because I'm pretty loyal to my team, there was probably a whole 10 years where I just... Baseball was third and I didn't really care because of my team. When your team's good, you just love baseball, man.

I know that. Like the other... Mets had a doubleheader a few days ago. I sat and watched 21 innings of baseball in one day. I love it. I love it. Buck Scholter told a great story that Michael K retold last night, is that when the Yankees, in spring training, when Buck was the manager there in the early 90s, that George Steinbrenner had must-win games against the Mets and the Red Sox in spring training.

Wow. That Buck would go up to the veterans who were like, I'm not getting on the bus all the way going to play the Mets and the Red Sox. And he's like, too bad. These are must-win games.

The boss has... When Tampa Bay came in, because George's second home was in Tampa, those became must-win games, too. And then Buck, according to Kay, pauses and goes, George never really gave me a list of anybody that we could actually lose to anyway. And I thought of that last night would have been a George Steinbrenner five alarm fire the way they played. But it's fun. I'm happy for you guys. Well, I mean, your baseball season's over.

So are the Red Sox going to be sellers next week? What do you think? Are you going to give Fivaldi to somebody? I don't even care anymore. Oh, it's so sad. Do you need a hug over there?

Do you need a hug? What's today's date? I just tuned in.

I just tuned in. July 27th. It's the 27th, actually. Happy birthday, Adam Chudwin.

Yes. Happy birthday, Adam. Oh, what up, Adam? Happy birthday.

A lot of late July birthdays. I love it. Perfect. Let's talk about fun stuff that matters.

Is that right? I thought that's what we were doing. Baseball.

Neither of you are winning the World Series. Who cares? Oh. Okay, Nostradamus.

Thank you. Do you want to take that? If you know so much, then give me that mega million number then, since you know these things. Well, nobody won that last year. No, I got this number. You guys got New York and I got the field. We good? I'll take it. I'm going to do it.

I mean, I'm always going to ride with my crew. Oh, so you're giving them two? You know what I'm saying?

New York. I'll bet with somebody. And I'll take everybody else. Because guess what? Have you gotten your Kenny Pickett money yet? No.

The draft was late April. So you can make any bet you want with this guy. Yeah, because it's not real. It's non-fungible money.

This guy. It's like an NF. Just $20. You don't have $20 on you? NFM. Yeah, Venmo.

Venmo. I don't think he has pockets in those shorts. That's like the Geico alligator reaching for his... Do you want some Brock coin?

What now? Brock coin. Speaking of salty. Speaking of salty.

I got short arms and deep pockets. You know what I'm saying? Let's talk salty. Let's talk salty. Brockman's salty. He's salty. I'm not that salty. I resign to the fact that socks sting. Let's talk salty to him. This is, for me, the difference maker for the Miami Dolphins this year. Oh, okay, Rich.

Boy, you're really telling tales out of school, saying in a quarterback-driven league it's all on the quarterback shoulders. No. What I'm saying is if Tua Tungovailoa shows up edgy, salty, I wonder if he's got a little stubble, right? I wonder if he's got a little stubble. He's not going to shave, right? He's going to start showing up like Barry on HBO, right? That would be awesome. You know what I mean?

Just show up a thousand yards there. I know he's got a smile. He's one of those perpetually lovable guys. He shows up salty. Remember that when he was, that video that came out that the Miami Dolphins actually tweeted out of him throwing a wobbly pass and hitting Tyreek Hill in the hands and Tyreek slowed down to catch it and it's just like you had a Tua bomb to Tyreek googly eye, right? Everyone had their fun with it and then Tua showed up and goes, hey, did everybody catch that video today? Everybody catch that?

He didn't get a video of that? The other, the one I threw and hit Tyreek in the hands, anybody get that? We're like, yeah, salty Tua, baby.

Look like money to me. Salty Tua. That's going to be the guy who shows up. He's going to show up and start beating you. Look at his saltiness and his cheetah and his college teammate waddle and his head coach who's taking selfies with the media today as he did. Mike McDaniel. Oh yeah, baby. Salty Tua. He was asked about the criticism he's received in the nonplaying season today.

Let's roll it. Uh, well, I don't know any of those guys. So I, I mean it say if that's what they have to say, then good for them. That's probably probably a good thing for, for them to say.

They draw people for clickbait or I don't know, whatever, whatever that is. Um, but I, to me, if, if I can't hear you, then you're not that important to me. If you're in my circle and I can hear you what you're saying, and obviously you gotta be extremely important to me.

So when I can hear it, then it's probably not important. There you go. Oh yeah.

Tua. Can I, can I give too unsolicited sense here? Oh, of course.

Thank you for that permission. Man, you have a mic. Tua, get nastier. Get nastier. You want him to curse? No. Yeah.

You don't have to curse to be nasty. You don't. It helps a little bit.

You don't. Oh, Zan played me a new Lizzo song yesterday. Oh boy.

Oh no. Wait, what was the other one again? He's like, he warned me, he goes, dad, there might be some bad language in it. And the first word is high. And the second word is M-F-ers. Oh. And I'm like, whoa, whoa.

Like I actually hit the break in the car. Tua, you don't have to curse. You don't have to go full Lizzo. But you just like, who are these people? Tell me who they are. You know what? They don't mean anything to me. The only thing that matters to me are my teammates and those around me who I know support me.

And these people don't mean anything to me. You know what means everything to me? Winning.

And I'm a winner. Chest out, Tua. And don't crop that beard so much. Just let it grow a little bit. Start staring at people after you actually give an answer like this, like this.

Who are these people? Just let it linger a little bit. Think about a camera zooming in. A little bit more of an edge. We're so close. Be yourself.

Just a little bit more edge. Because you don't need this garbage. You can use that word garbage. Crap. Use crap. Trash. Trash. Basura. Basura.

They're in Florida. That should work. I mean, I'm one of these people. Here's what I want. Here's what I want. Next time, Tua. Next time, Tua. You go up to that podium there in South Florida.

A little cafecito. Oh man. It's a wrap. You better get the dump button ready.

15 minutes later, go out there. Get me some of that. Who are these people?

That's the case. Who are these people? Who are you? Who talk about me? Outside of my inner circle. Don't talk about inner circle, outer circle. It's your circle. It's like a Mariah Carey meme where she's talking about J-Lo and she's like, I don't know her. Yeah. I don't know her. That's what he thinks.

I don't know you. Salty Tua is the best Tua. Get a little bit more salt. Put a little cracker in it. Bring it up to 11.

Spinal tap 11. That's good. I know he doesn't understand that reference. That's the face. Look at that.

Put it on a cracker. Look at that. But just a little bit more stubble.

Just a little bit more of a thousand yard stare. Then we got it. Salty Tua.

Salty Tua. You got the Mike McDaniel selfie? How about this guy, man? I mean. How about this guy? There he is.

I do like him. There he is. He's taking a selfie with the media.

You could see some of them are into it, some of them are like, yeah, I'm still gonna have to rip you. Who's that guy in the back left there? Is that like Benigno in retirement with the glasses and his hat? Is that Bobby Valentine? Is that Bobby Valentine? With the blue hat.

Yeah, with the blue. He doesn't belong there. He puts on the glasses and the blue hat. He's looking away from the camera. Who's that? He's got dark shades.

Who's in the expo's lid? I like that, though. That's a choice. That is a choice.

I'm cool with that. Bunch of white t-shirts. I guess it's not there. What do we got? Guy in the blue shirt in the back. Not playing along. He's the one who's gonna rip. Gonna have to rip you, coach. You're the first two.

Good selfies. I'm gonna have to rip you. Is he afraid his wife's gonna find out where he is? Yeah, I want my tea. Can that be? He's supposed to be at the grocery store? There you go.

Where's my milk? Something Don Shula never did. Take selfies? Yeah, but he got undefeated. With cell phones.

That's all that matters. With a big huge camera with a Polaroid? Something that he got from Marriott Hartley? A Polaroid. Yeah, he could Polaroid it, I guess. James Garner's Polaroid? Are you just trying to make up fantasy games?

Oh, that's true. There was no fantasy football when James Garner was doing Polaroid commercials. When Don Shula was winning all those games.

Just go undefeated. When I had a viewfinder at home to actually take me through the day, my God, we put our kids on iPads. My parents put me on a viewfinder. How'd they do it?

How the hell did they do it? You remember the first viewfinder had no, and then the second one had sound. I don't remember the viewfinder. The playing viewfinder.

Chris doesn't even know what we're talking about. Oh, I was a viewfinder. Why would you throw it out? You could probably make 10 bucks on eBay from it. Back at my mother's house. You could have it here in the studio.

This is where you keep all your garbage. The Sony video. The Sony, right? Who put it on the ping pong table?

No, Kodak. Where is the ping pong table? I don't know.

What are we getting at? We want the ping pong table. We could be playing ping pong right now, me and Brock. You couldn't because the ball would make noise. Yeah, another noise.

Says the sound guy. We could put a pickleball court up in here. Hey. No, now we're talking Rich's language. We might have enough room in here actually.

Why are we rich? I don't know if you noticed, I got a little Goodfellas shirt on here. You got Paul Savino. You got rest in peace. Half of this shirt is gone, fellas. That's terrible. That's just sad, dog. Awful. You know. Andy Richter's here in hour number three. You should join us as well, 844-204-RICH number to dial.

What is Arizona saying about independent study today? That's coming up next. For the real story behind some of wrestling's biggest moments, it's something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson, too. 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 Hulk Hogan was a baby face, 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.