REShow: JB Long - Hour 1

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That's 877-ASK-DELL to save up to 48% on our latest technology. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Dude elevates people. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Ben Lyons. This dude is a winner. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

But I do have a little substitute teacher vibes. But the idea that you guys are on it, you're focused, you're dialed in. Today's guest, Rams play-by-play announcer J.B. Long from Turner Sports, Ro Parrish. Plus, former NBA veteran and Fab Five member Jimmy King. And now, here's Ben Lyons. Welcome everyone to another day here on the Rich Eisen Show. My name is Ben Lyons, honored, privileged, humbled to be filling in for Rich Eisen. You can hit us up, be a part of the show.

844-204-RICH. We have a big, big show planned today. Super Bowl champion voice J.B. Long, that's what we call him, the Super Bowl champion voice. Yeah, J.B. Long gonna call in. Because yesterday we established that the LA Rams are not getting enough respect around the NFL as the standing Super Bowl champion. So we're gonna kick off today's show with the voice of the Super Bowl champions, J.B. Long.

I thought that was apropos. But I love coming in here and seeing you guys. CJ, how are you, my friend? You getting organized over there, lighting candles? I mean, I'm doing well, man. Doing well? I'm doing well.

How could I not be doing well? Getting ready for that home run derby next week? Oh, it's Pete Alonso. I know the guys were comparing your body to Pete Alonso's body earlier. Yeah, I mean, Pete Alonso and I, we're not, our bodies aren't made in the gym, okay? Our bodies are made functionally and we're big dudes, but we're not, you know, all, you know, six-packy guys. You're big sluggers in your own way. I like guys built like Dusty Rhodes and Kevin Owens and Pete Alonso and John Kruk and Greg the Bull was in ski. Like the big barrel-chested Steve Balboni was a guy like that.

Thick boys. And then over here we've got Chris, I love spas, Brockman. I heard that come out of his mouth this morning. Good morning, Chris. How are you?

Here's the thing. Good morning, Ben. Great to see you.

TJ. What up, Chris? Mike, welcome back.

Hey, Mike. I gotta just come in and just not talk in the morning, I think. Because anything you say off air will be used against you on air.

Can and will be used against you. When Ben Lyons is hosting the show. Well, now you said work alongside Artie Lang on the short-lived Artie Lang Show. Artie would come into the studio three minutes before reading the New York Post and that was the show's prep. I like to come in about an hour and 20 minutes before and listen to you guys talk about Drake winning $11 million on roulette. Oh, you heard that.

Casper Van Dean following me now on Instagram and why would the Houston Texans want Jimmy G? So lots to cover, but I do have to get into Mike Del Tufo's return to the show. It's great to see you. Good to see you, Ben.

Mikey, Chris, and TJ. I'm loving the Twitter, Del Tufo. I'm loving the hot takes.

I'm loving the 100. I try. Loving the tweets, loving the hashtags. All in on the Mike Del Tufo.

Thank you, Ben. Twitter, are you big on truth yet? Are you a big truth guy? No, just Twitter. No, just Twitter. I don't mind on truth.

All right. I've enjoyed truth yet. And what I love seeing, I haven't seen Del Tufo in a while. And what I love seeing this morning is the first thing I checked for. What do you think the first thing I checked for when I saw Mike Del Tufo? The shoes. I was like, is he still rocking those Kawhi sandals? Yes.

And of course the answer is yes. And why I love Mike Del Tufo, his eyes lit up and he said, I bought five more pairs. They were out of stock.

I'm like factual. So I went to Brockman and TJ's favorite site StockX and ordered another four pairs. That's so amazing for our audience watching on Peacock. There was a photo last year at Summer League when Kawhi and the Clippers, sort of the State of the Union photo that every team now does at Summer League. I'm a little bummed that Del Tufo got in tight with my Clipper fellas. Like, how'd you get that seat, Mike?

It's like, come on. I know people. TJ, as a sneakerhead, you just got to rock those sandals and then you can sit right there. I guess so.

I don't know. I don't know if Socks and Sandals is in the arsenal over there. You know, I got the Jordan 5s on today, so I'm not going to trade those in. Yeah, well, Del Tufo's got five of the Kawhi's, so it's great to see you, Mike.

They're a little small. And, you know, coming here on the drive this morning, I was thinking about something that's been a point of conversation around the world of sports media, and it's the conversation around media. New media versus old media. Now more than ever, we have players who are active in their sports, who are out there creating content at a very high and consistent level, whether it's Draymond Green and podcasting through the NBA Finals. You have former players like Matt Barnes and Steven Jackson building a franchise with all the smoke and Showtime, and Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles and Knucklehead. Shout out to those guys doing their thing over at the Players' Tribune. So you have so many athletes now, I Am Athlete, that whole movement, Brandon Marshall and the guys, who are representative of new media.

These are platforms that maybe didn't exist a few years ago, which gives players an opportunity, past and present, to go out there and tell their stories. Asia Wilson had a great podcast during the bubble, The Tea, where she talked about all things life in Orlando and playing in the W. So now we have this new media generation, and then there's the old media generation, legacy media that's been around for generations, and we value their opinion. I enjoy when Bob Ryan pops up on Around the Horn, and he can go at it with some of the older writers who've been around for 20, 30 years, who have perspective.

I love listening to Frank Isola complain about the snacks in whatever media press room that he's covering a game at, but their perspective is very valuable to the conversation around sports. Personally, I don't know where I sit in if I'm new media or old media. I kind of feel like I'm in the middle.

I don't feel like I belong in either group, to be honest, which I'm okay with. But then I look at this Kevin Durant saga that's playing out in Brooklyn this summer, and it's the lead story in the NBA offseason that has the entire league frozen, except for your Boston Celtics, who have made some nice moves. Congratulations on Danilo Galanadi. A very exciting Marcus Brogman. But the idea that the new media understands why KD wants to change teams, wants to switch it up, wants to find new running mates. I feel like the new media supports player empowerment, supports a player of Kevin Durant's stature, defining his own destiny. The old media seems stuck in the, you shouldn't have left Oklahoma, you shouldn't have left Golden State, you shouldn't have left Brooklyn.

You know, when you saw J.J. Reddick and Mad Dog get on First Take and go at it, and J.J. point blank was like, you are old, we don't care what you have to say, is essentially what it came out as, that really represented this divide in the way that we analyze and discuss and celebrate the game, because it's something I say to players all the time. Without dudes like me, either new media or old media, who's also a fan who's buying tickets, you don't get paid millions of dollars to play sports. That's how the ecosystem works. Without shows like this talking about the games and without fans going to the games and watching them, these world-class athletes can continue to play their sports, they're just doing it in the park for free. They're not making millions of dollars. So there's a everybody-eats kind of ecosystem in play here, and we obviously eat as media members when players go out there and compete.

It gives us something to talk about, and we're able to do shows like this. So this whole world of new media and old media is kind of coming to a head, and now it's playing out with Kevin Durant. He's of a generation and a type of basketball where every year you're on a new team, you're on multiple teams at one time. If you're a top young player playing basketball today, you're out there on your high school team, your AAU team, maybe you have a rec team that you play with just for fun. Maybe you also play in the park and play pickup, or you go play in the gym and go run at LA Fitness or UCLA or something. So you're on teams all the time.

It's no longer this four or five years of making your bed and sleeping in it. So for Kevin Durant, also in any other profession in the world, Brockman, if Lebethard and Friends called, someone tells me you're getting on the first flight to Miami. They got to hear what they got to say, right? You might connect through Houston. You might connect through Dallas. I don't know what the direct situation is.

You might take a red-eye overnight and just deal with the bulkhead seat. But something tells me you're down there in South Beach. Del Tufo, you mix all the time for all different jobs.

Everything. I try. Yeah, you do so much work elsewhere. Do you even work here? Do you need me to sign you in? No, Jason.

I call this Jason's console now. I'm a felon. Fast 10 over there. I'm a felon. And you know, TJ, I think about how many odd jobs you've had over the years and different experiences, and you've been able to challenge yourself in different ways and take on new sides of yourself and want to work with different people over the years. Facts, facts. So Kevin Durant's just doing that, and he's just doing it on the highest stage of pro sports for $50 million a year when talking basketball.

But for old media that's sort of stuck on this, he's got to stay in Brooklyn and figure it out. Would it have been better two years ago if Damian Lillard had gone down to Miami and we would have seen him in games that actually mattered? Yes, absolutely. That's better, right?

Better. Better for fans, better for media, probably better for Dame. Well, now he's got $120 million to stay in Portland for two years, and that's fine. But there's something about the way that player mobility is dissected and analyzed in the conversations in sports today, and I think the way in which you talk about it as a member of new media or old media actually blurs your view on player mobility and movement.

As a fan, Brockman, and a member of, I would say, new media, the show is ever evolving. Where do you want to see Kevin Durant play basketball next year? I want to see him play in the West. In Golden State or anywhere else but Golden State?

I would say anywhere else but Golden State. As a fan who cares about, you know, we talk legacy and all that stuff all the time. I was having a debate with some of my college friends about Kevin Durant's legacy. I was convinced that if he switches teams again, it tarnishes his legacy. And I go, well, if he goes to a different team and wins finals MVP, that only enhances his legacy because he's the best player on the team that won the title. So doesn't that make him great? His legacy is great basketball player. It doesn't matter really where he plays. I think in the beginning I was a little caught up too in the, oh, he joined the team that beat them.

Why would you do that? He went to that team and was the best player on that team. So Kevin Durant's legacy is great basketball player who wins. So I don't really care where he goes. I would like him out of the East as a Celtics fan.

But we swept them this year so it really doesn't matter. If he goes to Phoenix, I think that's a really cool and fun situation with Chris Paul there at the end of his career trying to win a championship. And Devin Booker, that's a really fun big three that they have that can compete now with Golden State who is back at the top of their superpowers.

So I think that's really fun. And if Kyrie Irving does go to the Lakers, suddenly look at those three teams. And we're not even talking about Denver and Utah's retooling and now Dallas with Luca's emergence as an absolute superstar. So I think Kevin Durant in Phoenix is probably the coolest situation for me, especially as a fan and as a fan of a specific team. I want him away from Brooklyn and Miami.

Ben Lyons filling in for Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show. And Brockman answered that like a real hooper. Because real hoopers know to be the best player on the best team, that's what you want to do. You want to do that in a summer league tournament, it hoops in the sun in the Bronx. You want to do that at the Drew League. You want to do that at basketball camp for a week. You want to do that playing pickup in Venice. You want to be the best player on the best team. That's the way it goes.

It's king of the mountain. And if he can do that. And look, Brooklyn has done some things that I don't necessarily think that Kevin Durant wants to be a part of long term. Like committing to Ben Simmons when this dude is the opposite of a hooper, I don't think is what I want to see as a fan, as a basketball fan for the next act of Kevin Durant's career. How about you TJ, as a big basketball fan, where do you want to see KD hoop next year? Well, a lot of thoughts about Kevin, but like obviously I'd ultimately like to see him on this on the Sixers, right? Because I know Embiid has been kind of pounding the table for that. I kind of see what that big three could do with he and Harden now. I don't know how the third time he's going to play with James Harden in his career.

Apparently, though, those two do have a good relationship. So, I mean, that's just me as a sixer fan, a pipe dream, obviously. As far as Chris, though, getting him out of the East, I kind of agree. Like if he's not on my team, I don't want to have to deal with Kevin Durant. But I'm also, Chris, you brought up something very valid about all the noise because there's always noise around Kevin Durant and everything he does.

You know, is he, you know, a little too sensitive? Does he pay too much attention to what people say about him? A lot of the noise is this team hopping thing and people talking about his legacy. To me, Kevin Durant's legacy is that dude's one of the greatest bucket getters I've ever seen in my entire life and one of the greatest bucket getters the world has ever seen.

So to me, that's his legacy. He went to a team, like you said, Chris, everything you said I agree with. He went to a team. He was the best player on those teams, no matter what anyone tries to tell you. KD was the difference. If KD doesn't play for Golden State, there's a question for you guys.

Do they win those titles, do you think? Who knows? We'll never know, right? It's the ultimate sliding doors of NBA history. What do you think, though?

No, I don't think they do. Honestly, I don't. I think what KD did took them to a level of basketball nirvana that we probably haven't seen and we might not see again with him and Klay and Steph and those guys. I guess to fully answer it, I'm not really sure where I'd like to see him go. Maybe just in order to stop the Kevin Durant noise, maybe stay in Brooklyn and try to figure that out. But like you said, he and Ben Simmons, man, you talk about two polar opposites on the basketball spectrum.

I just don't know if that's going to work. It's so fascinating to me, and I'm with you guys. I want to see him be the best player on the best team. That's his legacy, being the ultimate hooper, touching every court on earth.

This man is at the Rucker, he's at Dykeman. He loves basketball, man. He's played the Olympics I think four times, four gold medals. You know, the guy loves basketball, and you want to see him play at the highest level with people around him who love it as well, like Chris Paul and guys like that.

So I hope it works out. And by the way, wouldn't that silence all the like Brockman and his college buddies' legacy debates, which I'm sure Kevin Durant loses sleep over? Wouldn't this totally... He would respond on Twitter though, I feel like. He would respond.

He actually would. But wouldn't this like silence that debate or just silence all that noise if he comes out and dethrones the Warriors? If he says, OK, you guys clown me for coming to Golden State. Now I'm going to go somewhere else in the West, I'm going to beat Golden State. It would be awesome.

I think it would be amazing. A Western Conference Finals, Golden State, and whatever team Kevin Durant's on, this is incredible television next spring. So there's part of me that thinks he's not going to move and that Rich and Them did this as a flex to get Brooklyn to shake things up just because. But then there's also part of me as a basketball fan that really wants to see him get out of there.

The Nick fan in me does too. But also just a basketball fan to see him continue to write his legacy at a high level. I don't want to see him as a seven seed and getting swept in the first round the next couple years.

That's not how it goes. How about you, Del Tufo? You just want to see him rocking some Kawhi sandals and that's never going to happen. I want him on a team that can beat TJ or Brockman's team. There you go. There you go. There he is. He's back.

You can follow him on Twitter at Mike Del Tufo. Hey, we got JB Long, the voice of the world champion Los Angeles Rams coming up next. Excited to catch up with JB. Got a big show, talk some more NBA with Roe Parrish a little bit later on. And Jimmy King, remember the Fab Five? We're going to see him next month at Jalen's Golf Tournament.

Jimmy King going to check in later in the show. We got TJ's NBA Goats. We have our list of top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL. We didn't need ESPN's list. We're going to get into the Tiger Liv comments. We're going to have a big, big show today.

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Ben Lyons filling in for Rich on the Rich Eisen Show. 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. Let me repeat that, 48 hours of sweat and odor protection.

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Goes on dry, clean feel all day. Yeah, the Rich Eisen Show here in Los Angeles. Ben Lyons filling in for Rich. It's great to be here with you. How are you guys feeling today? Everybody's good? Everybody's great.

Positive energy? Yeah, I need some kombucha. You need some Tom Brady juice? What's going on? I may need to get some green tea.

There you go. You can zen it out a little bit. I need a zen situation. What's your meditation routine looking like, Chris? Let's get to JB Long, shall we? We've got the voice of the world champion LA Rams joining the show right now. How you doing, JB?

What's going on? Joining us right now on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line. Ben, I'm doing great.

Thank you for the invitation. I know it's been a couple of years since we've connected in person, but I've continued to enjoy following your career and especially your golf game. I appreciate that.

You wouldn't have enjoyed that the other day when I four-putted the fifth south on Mountain Gate, but we digress. Let's talk about the Super Bowl champs, shall we? How has your offseason been now basking in the glow of being the voice of the Super Bowl champions?

How has that changed your summer? You know, it's been an absolute dream, and probably not to the extent that Coach McDrain and several of our players have enjoyed, but the opportunities to reconnect with people from my past and those who are interested in the Rams' story has just been tremendous. I could not be more thrilled for so many high-ranking members of the organization who really cast this vision from the return to Los Angeles all the way through, you know, hosting the best Super Bowl that's ever been and ideally playing in it and, as it turned out, winning in it. So there have been a lot of good things as we turn our attention to training camp and the season ahead.

I imagine the lens on those type of opportunities will become more of a distraction than opportunity, and they'll have to kind of fight that Super Hangover narrative, I'm sure, going down to Irvine next month. Yeah, I was going to ask you how much of that narrative is already starting to creep into the expectations for this season, and is there anything that you think the team can do to sort of avoid those challenges that have sometimes taken other teams? Yeah, it's much different than a handful of years ago when they lost the Super Bowl in Atlanta to the Patriots, and a lot of the same questions were percolating. You know, when big-time media members like you come right out and predict a repeat, which hasn't been done in nearly two decades, in the middle of the summer, I'm sure that puts the weight of the world on their shoulders as they get set to play, I think the most challenging schedule in the National Football League. But, you know, I think if there's a reason to believe to the prediction you made yesterday, I think there's a chance that the Rams will maybe a year ahead of schedule, actually, in their achievement last year. A lot of that has to do with the quarterback, Matthew Stafford, and just how much I think he can grow and improve in his second year teaming with Sean McVay in this offense. Appreciate somebody watching and listening who doesn't share their last name as me, so we thank you for that, J.B. J.B. Lahun joining the show, now voice of the world champion, Los Angeles Rams. And I was joking with the guys yesterday when I came in here that I didn't get the respect of being a fan of a Super Bowl champion team, right?

It's like, I've suffered these last six, seven years. I mean, driving down the 405, there's so much traffic, J.B. I know you go early, but for us fans, like, it's a lot, right? So I feel like I've earned this, and the guys didn't give me any respect.

Do you feel like the Rams are getting the respect around the NFL for being the defending champions? Well, a couple things that I loved about that. One was your lucky whitehead Dallas Cowboys opening kick return at the Coliseum upon the Rams' preseason return. And as luck would have it, no pun intended, that was the first NFL play call that I ever announced, and believe me, I was caught just as off guard as you were.

Wow, that's amazing. And then the other thing that I just had to chuckle at was your substitute teacher vibes stepping in for Rich this week, which I think makes me like the VCR cart that you roll in to play a movie on, right? Like, if Rich was hosting, you'd probably bring in M.J.B. to have this conversation, but I'm glad to be paired with you. In terms of respect, I actually think it has more to do with the external respect for the opponents the Rams are going to place. A year ago we would have been talking about the NFC West being the best division in football. Now it seems the conversation has shifted rightly, I think, to the AFC West and the fact that the Rams' first-place schedule, which already includes the likes of the Cowboys and the Buccaneers and the Packers, also overlaps with that AFC West, which means you're going to run the gauntlet. And if I heard correctly, you're going to tease, you're going to talk about your quarterback rankings, and I would just invite you as you go through those later today to think of how many of those quarterbacks are going to appear on the Rams' opposing schedule. It starts with Allen Mahomes is there, Brady Rogers, Wilson, Herbert, Dak, Carr, Tyler, you name it. It's a who's who list, and the Rams and their secondary, led by Jill and Ramsey and Aaron Donald up front, they're going to have to navigate all that.

J.B. Long joining the show, Ben Lyons phoning in for Rich on the Rich Eisen show. You're talking quarterbacks, and now Matthew Stafford with a year under his belt, a Super Bowl champion, he's starting to see him pop up in commercials. He's getting a little Hollywood on us, or you think he still has that edge to go out there and try and get another one? I think if there's anything I learned from the first 12 months of watching him work is that he's completely unflappable, and that was the reputation that preceded him. And now that it's kind of on the other end of the spectrum with some of the accolades and the credit that he's finally getting after not just winning his first playoff game, but also a championship along the way, I don't think he'll be changed. I think he actually has the chance to have his best year yet for some of the reasons described previously, but whether or not OBJ comes back to help him along the way, Allen Robinson's acquisition I think was a huge one. And he gives Stanford something that I think he's had in his prior years in Detroit, but that the Sean McVeigh Rams have not had in their handful of seasons, and that is a big-bodied receiver that can really help out in the red zone. And so I'm curious to see what that looks like teaming with Cooper Cup and the options that give Stafford and McVeigh in the passing game. I think the biggest untold story of the offense at the end of last season was just how much McVeigh and Stafford learned about each other and came to call plays and execute plays in lockstep.

And while Stafford was at his absolute finest in the postseason and no surprise in the fourth quarter of those playoff games, I can't wait to see how they carry that momentum through to next regular season. In addition to your work covering the Rams and calling their games and obviously now immersing yourself in Los Angeles culture, I see you're doing Pac-12 games. The Olympics are coming, and there's a big story that the NFL is talking about a five-on-five flag football in the Olympics movement.

Is that something you're supportive of? Have you heard any rumblings about this? And are you going to be calling flag football in the Olympics? I've got my hand raised. I think that would be awesome.

I'm reading the story that you are. I don't know where that stands, but I think everything to grow the game is tremendous, including my friend MJD's trip to Africa most recently and playing the game abroad and other Rams have been instrumental in that effort and along the Pacific Rim and in Mexico and some other places where they've really expanded their brand and that of the National Football League. So I'm a big proponent of the Olympics and of all forms of football, so I hope that comes to fruition. JB, we were talking earlier on the show about the state of sports media and the conversation around new media and old media. You are a young guy who's got a traditional job, an older job, and calling games on the radio, but now you have a presence on Twitter, now you have a presence on Instagram. It's a whole different day than generations before. Where do you stand sort of on old media and new media in terms of sports, and where do you think you fit in?

Getting older, feeling older. Media by the day, I appreciate you still lumping me in with the prior group, but I don't think that applies any longer. But yeah, I think in addition to my work in the National Football League, we're seeing that very much in the transition at the college level, the latest wave of realignment, including the teams here in Los Angeles, UCLA, and USC. They moved to the Big Ten. What that means for the Pac-12 and for the college structure at large, especially with upcoming TV deals for those conferences. I think the expansion of the platform has served all of us really well as viewers.

I think live sporting events continue to drive that industry, and they are the most consumable and desirable products. For the sake of our business and for our careers, I hope that's always going to be the case, because being as close to the game and calling it live has always been my goal, no matter how our audience is consuming that. And especially from the radio standpoint, there's never been, I don't think, a better radio market than Los Angeles, and that's why I feel so privileged to be here, because whether it's traffic or other reasons, we do spend a lot of time in our cars listening to you and to Rich and hopefully to games on Sunday. J.B. Long joining the show, voice of the world champion Los Angeles Rams, Ben Lyons filling in for Rich on the Rich Eisen Show. You talked about that lucky whitehead return for a touchdown, which I affectionately refer to as rock bottom for being a Rams fan.

It was the first play here in Los Angeles and 20 years after the team had left for St. Louis. This was your first play as an announcer. If you could go back to that hot August day several years back and tell yourself everything you know now, having called two Super Bowls and a number of playoff games, what advice would you give to that rookie Rams reporter? That there's a big difference between being in the moment and getting caught up in it, right?

I was very much basking in it and trying to make a permanent image in my mind that would live with me forever, and I remember there being flash bulbs even though those don't exist anymore and it was the middle of the afternoon, right? I don't think I really had an accurate view of it, and even in the most recent Super Bowl, I still battle some of those emotions and have to remind myself to be there playing and playing out, because you never know which one is going to define the game, and I think that is one shining example, the opening kickoff, and then another would be that you never know when Aaron Donald is going to break through the opponent's offensive line and get hands on Joe Burrow or Jimmy Garoppolo and author the two most defining plays in his career or in Rams history. So you often think that it's going to be the game-winning buzzer beater or the walk-off home run. But who knows if it might be the game-winning pressure from arguably the greatest defensive player of all time that you have to anticipate and be ready for and be ready to bring to your audience.

So that's the great thing about doing live sports, and the Rams have had so many thrilling examples of it over the time back in here in the Southland. I'm excited for the season, J.B. You got me ready to run through a wall. You know I'm predicting it's Super Bowl or bust, but we've earned it, and I'm ready to listen to you call the games. You do a wonderful job. I appreciate you taking some time during the offseason and enjoy the season, man. I hope to check in with you soon.

Yeah, here's to no more four putts this summer, and no kick returns allowed for touchdowns this year for the Rams. I love it. I love it. Thanks so much, man.

Let's get on the golf course soon, huh? All right, Ben and crew, have a good rest of your show, and I hope by the end of the week you've achieved that goal of the audience coming along with you to realizing that you're not too bad, that you're a nice guy, and that you're worth having along for the ride. Glad to see the check cleared, J.B. Glad to see the check cleared. Nice, J.B. Yeah, P1 over here.

Yeah, really. Let's get him like a Nielsen box or whatever you do to monitor ratings around here. Yeah, thanks a lot, J.B. Take care. J.B. Long, voice of the Rams.

Appreciate you listening to the show. And yeah, I'm glad that my prediction for the Rams to win the Super Bowl is now locker room motivation for McVeigh and the guys. That's what he said, right? It's reaching the highest levels of the Rams hierarchy. I love it. You know, Les Snead is sitting around being like, well, Lions predicted it, so here we go. Let's go make it happen. Well, we know Kara probably saw this, and then she probably showed it to Les and, you know. There we go. Now we eat Super Bowl or bus. Eventually Aaron Donald's going to hear about it.

Yeah, so you made a smart move. You don't want to upset Aaron Donald. Well, listen, it was really interesting to hear him talk about from an announcer's perspective when you're calling a big game, you think it's the Hail Mary pass or the breakaway run, but it could be pressure.

It could be a sack from up the middle or wherever it comes from. You got to be ready for the moment. What an amazing opportunity for a young broadcaster getting to grow with the Rams from that rock bottom moment all the way to two Super Bowls. And now I'm so happy they lost the first one.

I really am. I know it's weird as a fan, but I thought it was too soon. I thought it was too L.A. just to show up and be great. I mean, 75 and sunny in January.

We already got it great out here. You got to suffer. You got to have that drive home after losing a Super Bowl.

I like how the genius of Rocky one is that he loses the fight. Exactly. And it makes you emotionally invested in the character as you continue on. I think a lot of fans in L.A. got felt a stronger emotional connection to McVeigh, to the team, for Aaron Donald, for going through that Super Bowl loss. I'm happy, happy to the Super Bowl champs. I'm happy for you as a longtime diehard Rams fan. Life long, lifelong Rams fans. So many years struggle others as young pictures of you. And so many years waiting for that Uber signal over at Big Deen's in Santa Monica.

Hoping to make Jell-O. Waiting for that Lyft ride. What?

Surge pricing? It's OK. I got to be there anyway. I remember that picture that you posted on Throwback Thursday. You and Jackie Slater.

Like it was when he gave you his jersey. That was impressive. Whoever those guys are. Ben Lyons filling in for Rich on the Rich Eisen Show. We've got Rowe Parrish calling in, my buddy from NBA TV.

We'll talk some more summer league. I like Rowe Parrish. Rowe's amazing.

I mean I don't know him. Rowe's a great dude. Works with Deion Sanders as well. So we'll talk a little bit about what Deion's been up to. Also we'll have Rowe Parrish calling in the show. And I want to get into this Tiger lives stuff. I know Rich is fired up about it.

Tiger took to the podium at the Open Championship and spoke very candidly about his thoughts on what's happening around the world of professional golf. We'll get into that next Ben Lyons filling in for Rich on the Rich Eisen Show. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show.

Ben Lyons here for Rich. I love getting to hang out here with you guys. And when you go through the archives of the old interviews and you see all the great people have stopped by the show and sat on the couch and talked sports.

You've got some really cool folks here. Kevin Bacon was just playing the Kevin Bacon interview. Such a Nick fan. Such a real Nick fan. Genuinely so. A lot of respect. Kevin Bacon at the Garden in March.

The 20 games under 500. Still there. That's a fan baby. Interviewed him a lot over the years. One of my more embarrassing moments though doing what I do was with Kevin Bacon. Oh no? Yes.

You confuse him with Ethan Hawke? So the worst place on earth to get a score in a Dodger game, everybody knows, is Comic-Con. So Comic-Con in San Diego. Four days. Comic book convention.

They roll out all the movies. And when I was working at XRE I'd go down there for four days of a comic book convention and all I care about is what did Kershaw do last night, right? So I think it was interview number 60 of the weekend and I was on stage and I was talking to Kevin Bacon about how he played Magneto in this X-Men reboot. He did. There was no, he did not.

Chris Brockman, no, he did not. Oh, you're right. There was starting to be a little bit of a murmur in the audience and then he looked at me and said, Ben, I played some other character who like invented Magneto.

Magneto was Fassbender. Right. So the booze that came down from Comic-Con because I was outed. They found a sports fan who had Trojan horse their event and I was just cast off into the depths of La Jolla and yeah, I was just, I left the stage so mortified. He was a good sport about it, but yeah. I mean, sorry guys. Sorry Comic-Con nerds. Well, they even got on Johnny Drama when he went to Comic-Con.

He got one of his own questions wrong. There is a smell that if you put it in a bottle and sold it as like La Comic-Con, I would know what that fragrance is. It has a certain musk.

It's got a musk that's palpable. La Comic-Con. Oh, are you wearing La Comic-Con?

Yeah, you smell like Comic-Con. Let's talk a little golf, Chris. You and I are the biggest golfers here. We have a tee time on Thursday. I hope you come. Two o'clock, maybe? I'm working.

Okay, working on it. But you and I are often out playing golf, so we don't watch professional golf. I think you watch more professional golf than I do. You probably gamble on golf more than I do.

You gamble on everything more than I do. Correct. But I am very interested in these comments made by Tiger Woods and what impact they will have on the future of the sport. Tiger, by all sense and purposes, is the sport of golf. Tiger Woods saved the sport of golf.

Modern golf. He's the face of modern golf still. And what's so interesting about where he is in his career is that he's still competing in these majors. He's still playing in these tournaments. He's there. He's there. What, two years away from winning a Masters?

Three, yeah, 2019. He's still part of it. It's not like he's retired and commenting on something that he used to be a part of.

He's still in the mix. So it's an interesting time, but we all know that day's coming. So you can kind of feel Father Time creeping into the back nine of his career. But this whole live golf and guaranteed money and the prestige of the PGA and all this stuff, it kind of ties back in a little bit to what we were talking about yesterday with Adnan.

Adnan really struggles watching Tom Cruise on screen because of his feelings towards Scientology and what Tom's role is in the church. And so where we, as consumers, as fans, draw the line in our artists and our athletes and morality and what we can tolerate and what we can't, it's an interesting and nuanced conversation in 2022 culture. And I think this golf stuff is right at the center of it. Taking this money from the live golf tournament is saying that you are complicit to the actions of the Saudis or what have you.

Some are making that accusation of these players. Other players are saying, look, the PGA Tour is far too long, taking advantage of us and not giving us guaranteed money and use our name and likeness to go out there and corporate sponsorship that we're not a part of and all the things. So let's listen to what Tiger had to say when they asked him at the Open Championship press conference, which is happening right now over at St. Andrew's, St. Andrew's, the birthplace of golf, hollowed ground. And Tiger Woods had some really interesting thoughts about the state of the game. Let's take a listen.

I disagree with it. I think that what they've done is they've turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position. Some players have never got a chance to even experience it. They've gone right from the amateur ranks right into that organization and never really got a chance to play out here and what it feels like to play a tour schedule or to play in some big events. And who knows what's going to happen in the near future with world ranking points, the criteria for entering major championships. The governing body is going to have to figure that out. And some of these players may not ever get a chance to play major championships, and that is a possibility. We don't know that for sure yet. We're going to have to go to all the major championship bodies to make that determination. But that is a possibility that some players will never, ever get a chance to play in a major championship, never get a chance to experience this right here, walk down the fairways at Augusta National.

I mean, that to me, I just don't understand it. If you're a young player and you hear that from Tiger Woods, how can you go play live golf? How can you possibly go and play live golf when you hear Tiger Woods say you'll never get to experience this, you'll never get to experience walking down the fairways of Augusta? That's Tiger Woods saying that. We're so lucky as sports fans that still in this time that we live in that we have Brady and Lebron and Tiger and these guys who have been around, and Sue Bird, who have been around for 20 years, Diana, and who can share some insight about the state of the sport.

They've done it at a global level at heights of which have never been seen before. And so when he's coming up and saying, I don't understand this, I don't think it's right for the game, you have to listen to him. You do, or you don't. And $50 million, you care about that more than what it feels like to hit it out of the pine straw on 13.

You know what I mean? A guy who's already got that amount of wealth can say that, but when you don't, it's hard to turn that down. Yeah, and he's talking about, so Live Golf did pluck a lot of these guys kind of right from the college ranks. And it's been reported that they were getting a good amount of money anywhere from like $15 to $25 million. So when you're 22 years old and you're about to embark on your PGA Tour career, or you're going to start out on the lower tours, maybe you're playing in Canada, corn ferry, what have you, you're going to go overseas and play in the DP, and it's like, hey, look, this other tour, you know, it's less of a grind schedule-wise.

There's no cuts. Guaranteed money. I'm guaranteed at least $125K for coming in last, and they're going to post $25 million up front for me to just go. And you saw the pictures and the videos of that private jet, that 767 or whatever it was that these guys were all partying on.

Looks really fun, you know? And so, sure, I'll take that. I can understand while you're at that age when you've accomplished nothing, someone's going to give you all of this money out of the gate. But he's speaking like the wise old oracle in that that is ultimately going to kill the longevity of the sport.

Yes, it will be good for this generation of young college kids who are coming into it and getting to fly in the big plane, which is killing the environment, and they're going to go out there and make all the money. I get it. But then eventually that's going to not stand for anything other than money. There will be no emotional connection to the players, to the game itself.

And I think at that point you're lost. Well, there's no history, there's no tradition. Like, are you a big, I don't even know the names of their teams, the fireball, really, what is the connection to that? What do the trophies mean? What does the tournaments mean? Nothing. It literally means nothing. Nothing. Money. And money comes and goes.

It's just for money, and it's for the Saudis to get everyone to forget about all the bad things they've done. It's not a great television product. Are you telling me that?

It's on YouTube. They don't even have a TV partner. Liv golf, sitting on the couch on a Saturday and watching Bryson DeChambeau come down the stretch to win, you know, $20 million. You tell me that that's a better television product to connect to the young golf fan than Sunday at Augusta? It's not going to elicit any type of emotion from any fan.

Like, when Tiger won in 2019, I was literally on my couch crying because that's how much it meant to me as a fan. And so Liv will never do that ever for anyone except, you know, it literally exists to make money for these guys. And so if that's the path you want to choose, go right ahead.

You know, I'll judge you in the way that I'm going to judge you, but I would prefer it didn't exist at all. There was another part of that soundbite from that press conference where Tiger talked about guaranteed money and getting it in the dirt, which I thought was a great phrase for someone of his stature. And the idea that you go out there and you earn it in that sport, it's not guaranteed for you. That's what keeps you sharp. That's what keeps you dialed in and keeps you getting better and pushing your game forward.

I think there's something to be said for guaranteed money, obviously. However, it's not a team sport. You're out there by yourself.

Go out there and get it. And I think there's something very empowering about that. And I think Tiger's perspective on it is incredibly valuable as for whether you're one of the older established stars, like a Brooks Koepke or one of these guys who just said, okay, I'll go and do it. Or you're one of these college kids who hasn't made their name and hasn't made their legacy. And imagine if there was an offshoot of a bunch of guys in one of these other sports who wanted to just go start some upstart league because they were upset with whatever was happening in the NFL or the NBA, and you had LeBron James sitting down and saying, this isn't right.

I don't understand this. I don't think this is good for our game. I wonder how that would land with Paulo Banchero.

I wonder how that would land with Chet Holmgren and these guys. And it's a really interesting moment for Tiger, who's been through so much and worn it all on his sleeve. And you know my feelings about Tiger aren't necessarily the same as everyone else's. But I do admire, respect, and appreciate him because he's the reason why I fell in love with the game of golf.

Absolutely. I have an old EP who put me on TV for the first time. I will run through a wall for that dude for the rest of my life because he was crazy enough to think I should be on television. So I think that when Tiger said, this is what made you in the first place. This is what gave you the opportunity to go and do that.

That's really profound stuff. And I think it should have an impact on these players. And TJ, to your point about, yes, Tiger has all the money. He's a billionaire now. So it's easy for him to sit in this position and talk about how guys shouldn't take this big lump sum to go do this. Tiger also reportedly turned down $900 million to join the Live Tour.

So he's walking like he's talking. Hold on, 900 million? Wait, as Chris Brockman would say, what are we doing here?

What are we doing here? 900 million. And Roy McElroy has also been kind of the prince.

Well, he's been great in terms of stepping up. He was also offered $400 million, which is more than these guys could ever possibly dream of. And it goes back to the quote we were talking about with Jon Rahm, who was also reportedly offered a lot of money as well in the hundreds of millions. Like, his life isn't going to change much.

So what he cares about is the tradition and the majors and competing and the grinding. And I think that's super admirable and respectable and, you know, good for those guys for standing up and speaking out. Absolutely. You know whose life is going to change with 400 million, though? Mine. And guess what? Also yours.

If I have 400 million, you guys, your life's going to change. I've seen you putt, TJ. Yeah, the PGA Tour is obviously not perfect. You know, the U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the tour's handling of its players and whether it is engaged in anti-competitive behavior during its ongoing battle with Liv. So this story is continuing to unfold, obviously.

But I think the idea of these young players hearing from Tiger himself speak out on the issues surrounding this change in the game, I don't know, I would like, maybe I'm altruistic, I don't know, I would like to think that that would have some type of weight and some type of impact. All right, we've got Rowe Parish coming up in about 20 minutes, but TJ's Goats, the greatest players in the history of every NBA franchise, we're getting to that. Next, what division are we doing? We're going to do the Southwest Division. Southwest Division. Yeah, so the Mavs, the Rockets. Western Conference.

Western Conference, yes. All right, we'll find out who 12A is. You know what 12A is? It's the best seat on Southwest. What are you talking about? Headroom, right in front of you.

Ben Lyons on the Rich Eisen Show, don't go anywhere. Okay, you were talking about... You know that about 12A? I did not know that. Walk in, come in on the left, 12A, there's no seat in front of it. I gotta say, I'm not a frequent Southwest... 737. Yeah, I don't like when the staff on the plane theme dresses. Right?

I don't mind theme dressing. Fly the plane. Fly the plane. You talked about what would happen if other sports, there was like a live situation for football or basketball. Who in the NBA would be the first to sign up for a live tour? LeBron. No, there wouldn't be LeBron.

No, no, no. I was thinking James Harden, to be honest. James Harden would be on the live tour. Yeah, okay, sure. You know what I mean? Who else is on the live tour?

On Sundays is a fun game to play. We could do this for music, we could do this for everything. Miles Turner is on the NBA. Yeah, yeah, I mean, Miles Turner is on the live tour.

I don't know. Like... Oh, Kyle Kuzma is definitely joining the live tour. Kuzma is going on the live tour.

Is Alan Crabb still on the NBA? I feel like Alan Crabb is on the live tour. Oh, my guy Luke Cornett in the NBA Finals, he's on the live tour. By the way, hey, you know who's going on the live tour? LaMelo Ball is the guy who signed with the basketball live tour. Kevin Porter Jr. And he's bringing LeAngelo, like Jello is joining the live tour. Jello is joining the live tour. LaMelo is going to be the first one to come forward. Big Ball Bang went up.

Who's an old head? Does UD join the live tour? Right, Gilbert Arenas is on the live tour. Gilbert Arenas is for sure on the live tour. Jimmer, Jimmer is the live tour all-star. Jimmer for dead.

Light up the live tour basketball league. It's a shame I'm hearing that the Big 3 is having some financial trouble. Oh, really? I watched the Big 3 for about three hours on Saturday. You watched Big 3 on Saturday?

It was Saturday or Sunday. It's fun. I love it. I think it's a lot of fun.

I've gotten to go to it live. It's a really cool concept. It's a cool concept. It's cool for guys who never made it. It's cool for these guys who did and still have something left to prove. Like Joe Johnson, like still out there. Yeah, a guy back into the league off the Big 3. Yeah, I hope those guys figure it out. I'll get O'Shea more in the mix. He's a friend of the show, right?

We've got to get him more in the mix there. We were talking yesterday too, TJ, the idea that the work you do internationally puts you in the Basketball Hall of Fame. So why doesn't that apply for the Americans?

Like why isn't Jim Rifordette in the Basketball Hall of Fame for what he did in China? I don't think that's how that works. No, that's not how it works?

No, I don't think that's how that works. Like Stephon Marbury has a statue in China. He should definitely be in the Hall of Fame. From Mama Cole to El Segundo. TJ's GOAT's coming up next. Ben Lyon's in for Rich.

This is the Rich Eisen Show. 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. Because even going back before 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.