REShow: Robert Lusetich - Hour 2 (7-4-2022)

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Try Dove Men Plus Care Dry Spray goes on dry clean feel all day. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Goats have home lives too. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Rich Eisen. Hello Rich Eisen. Rich Eisen. Oh that's Susie Eisen. The Rich Eisen Show. And now sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. Rolling into our number two of the program with Verbal Pyrotechnics Live on this 4th of July.

Thanks for spending part of your holiday with us. 1-844-204-RICH is the number to call. Phone calls taken selectively.

That's your caveat. 1-844-204-7424 as always. Twitter is your best avenue. Yes there's some T's in there. Twitter my favorite franchise in all of sports. The Tennessee Titans.

I just wish that Jason Witten had landed there. That's BW Weber. Weber with two B's. Rich off four this week. Back with you tomorrow.

My good friend Dan Schwartzman will be in the chair tomorrow and then I'll chat with you on Wednesday. Getting back to the NBA. It dominated the first hour of the program but hopefully you've been with me every second of the way.

I do my best to be up front. I'm not doing three hours of rank speculation as to where Kevin Durant is going to be playing this season because this is not NBA radio and because it's a holiday and because I have other interests, strong opinions about other topics. So the NBA is our primary motivation.

I am not coming in and saying you know there is a three-day cricket event I want to break down in India. We'll get back to Durant and Kyrie momentarily but for example because nobody covers football better than Rich Eisen. The original broadcaster at NFL network. I managed to watch the last 10 months.

Rich has been there since day one in 2003. Did you know there was a football champion crowned yesterday? Why do you think you're hearing all the fireworks in your neighborhood?

The party continues. Yes it's a championship for Birmingham. Not Birmingham in the UK. I'll give you some thoughts about the USFL.

I'm not breaking down the game. I watched bits and pieces yesterday. At least there was a crowd because they moved it to the hall of fame setting in Canton, Ohio. Can you imagine asking people to come out in the middle of a day in Birmingham in July? Birmingham.

Thank you. I am not your British correspondent. I do so much tennis where I have to talk about Birmingham. It's just in my head. Remember it's Nottingham not Nottingham. It would have been a billion degrees in Alabama so they moved it wisely to Canton, Ohio.

It was still hot but at least they had a decent crowd. In 20 minutes I'll just talk about the viability of spring football. Do we even need it?

Because effectively the path to the draft has filled that void. Look I'm old. I'm complaining about my sciatica.

I'm having issues just hunching over the microphone to make sure I have the proper formatics here. I loved the USFL in 1982. I will be reminiscing about the officials in shorts and your Oakland invaders in 20 minutes but since football dominates all of the conversation with apologies to the NBA which is our primary component today, do we even need a spring league anymore? Because the NFL consumes our attention year round and then coming up in 40 minutes we're going to talk golf concisely in an entertaining fashion. My good friend Robert Lucetic is a terrific golf author. He is the man who came up with the book Unplayable, the definitive biography of Tiger Woods. We'll get the latest on Tiger's comeback. Open championship. Don't call it the British Open coming up next week and the live golf tour made their American debut over the weekend.

You couldn't find it on your TV because they don't have a TV package. I was watching on YouTube live for some reason and I don't play Sundays but it is intriguing to find out the unlimited dollars that the Saudis are going to continue to devote to this sham of a tour in my opinion. I'll give you the full analysis coming up in 40 minutes just to make sure we don't pay attention to their blatant human rights violations. As I get deep as a fill-in host on a holiday back to the NBA and however you view Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and yes I'm aware of Joey Chestnut, we will talk about the thrilling drama of the Coney Island hot dog eating competition in the final hour of the program. Hang with us.

I don't want you flipping around. ESPN has Wimbledon on so if you're looking for it it's buried on ESPN news with a replay coming up later today but however you view Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving if you're a consumer of NBA content and I love the NBA as much as I love the NFL I probably shouldn't say that too loudly. I love the NBA because of the personalities because I think basketball in many ways is a superior sport just from a standpoint of aesthetics.

Man the big words are flowing on a holiday. You go to a basketball game in person now I know it's become very pricey but if you have a decent seat and you watch these dudes 6'9 getting up and down the court with grace and they're not wearing helmets they're not wearing shoulder pads you can hear them with the trash talk. NBA is a phenomenal experience plus to borrow from the great Dan Labotard and where Stu Gotz when I need him the NBA is fascinating because we focus more on the transaction than the action. The NBA is always about what's next who's going where which free agent's going to land and change the outlook of a franchise and that's all we're doing with Durant and Kyrie. But if you want to bash them and I certainly had some strong opinions about both of them and now we're number one more on the way and I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eyes and we're live on the 4th of July it's the Rich Eyes and Show 1-8-4-4-2-0-4 Rich or come up with your thoughts on Twitter B-W Weber Weber with two B's. If we weren't on Kevin Durant watch watch watch watch or now talking about Kyrie to the Lakers and planning another victory parade in downtown Los Angeles at least that's the view of delusional Laker fans what would we be talking about because as much as I was enthralled by whatever Brian Wintorse was doing the other day on ESPN it's become the greatest meme in the history of the internet I can't sit here and give you expansive thoughts about the future of the Utah Jazz or how Danny Ainge was able to fleece Minnesota he got a king's ransom that was the Herschel Walker trade for Rudy Gumbare and what about the future of Donovan Mitchell that does not appeal to me what about the moves that have already been made Jalen Brunson to the Knicks okay well I grew up a Nick fan I'll put the Bronx accent that I work so hard to lose back on I what's that mean for the Knicks tangibly they're the seven or the eight seed in the east I think it's much more significant for the Mavs because what did we say throughout the postseason Luca while he does have some liabilities he's very ball-centric there's some Russell Westbrook to him if you think when he gets his teammates involved he's not only looking to create his own shot that he can take a franchise all the way to at least the NBA Finals he certainly needed more help that was the conventional wisdom in the postseason well he's just lost his second best player you buying Spencer Dimwitty to step up if Luca is in foul trouble what else has happened so far Bradley Beal took the cash can't blame him but don't talk about wanting to win you could say he was loyal he appreciates what Washington's done and likes that fan base likes living in DC but he ain't winning anything hanging on to a franchise in disarray John Wall escaped from Houston most of you forgot John Wall was even in the NBA because we haven't seen him the Howard Hughes a professional basketball nice move to add them to the Clippers give them some depth also because you can't count on Kawhi Leonard staying healthy they could use another player in the rotation in the backcourt Pelicans paid Zion but they had to and you can run through risk reward they're already injured already dealing with weight issues but if the Pelicans didn't sign them they should shut down that franchise you have to give the remaining Pelican fans and if you know what give me a call at one a44204rich but you got to give what's left of your fan base at least a semblance of hope so you get the point I'm making here this has not exactly been a scintillating free agent cycle I have to give James Harden credit and I was here on Memorial Day when I threw out my back a month later I'm still in agony but I'm working hard for you and it's Brian Weber milking the injury playing hurt on July 4th Rich Eisen show we're live on July 4th a reminder you can take us wherever you go on the Odyssey app it is free and it is very convenient but Harden for all of his issues and maybe I should follow him and drop some pounds and my back will feel better I have to give him props because he has proven to be shrewd and team friendly by opting out to opt back in to give the Sixers more flexibility so clearly that is a reminder of the power of relationships because while Harden has been enigmatic he believes in Daryl Morey and they've worked together well in the past in Houston and now they have that bond still intact in Philadelphia and Harden was smart enough to get out of Brooklyn and in many ways foreshadow what's going on with Kevin Durant now so I realize many of you unplug throughout a holiday weekend it's not over yet and you have my official approval as the fill-in host mailing in the rest of the week in fact that's why I've always loved working holidays a I want to avoid my family b I want to be on the air as much as possible c when you come into an office during a holiday setting there's nobody here it's me and the great Art Hernandez running the board we are defending the brand of the Rich Eisen show we don't need a big three we got the big two so if you got to work the rest of the week mail it in and spend your time thinking about the future of Kevin Durant so would he really go back to the Warriors and if we're just talking about fit and trying to come up with things that work not only terms of the cap but to meet the needs of the desperate nets how'd you like to be owner Joe Psy today that's a fitting last name right Psy because he effectively gave control of his franchise to Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving remember they were going to do it their own way that was part of the motivation that led to Durant leaving a phenomenal situation with the Warriors and taking his talent to Brooklyn because in my estimation two big factors kicked in there he was tired of Draymond Green yelling at him and I do think it's fair to say that Draymond yells too much and you can say it's tough love nobody wants to be berated especially by a guy who I think is being too caught up in his own BS I think there's no way to deny the talent and the value especially on that team of Draymond Green he has transformed himself from a second round pick to a Hall of Famer doesn't mean I want to hear from him constantly and we'll skip the new media old media thing because I'm sure he could take me down in a heartbeat I'm just a fill-in host working on a holiday but Durant has shown his sensitivity by having the burner accounts and responding to not only talk show hosts but Twitter trolls out there so that was one of his motivation I think the other one was to prove I don't need Steph Curry I can do this on my own I don't need Steve Kerr I'll go out and get my own coach now I guess he looked around the league and said who else has a first name of Steve because I don't know beyond his Hall of Fame playing resume what else Steve Nash has brought Brooklyn you see a lot of tactical moves throughout that beat down applied by Boston in the playoffs Steve just stands there I think he's watching soccer on his phone because we know he loves the beautiful game so Durant is responsible for his situation and now he wants out but it's the NBA where stars get whatever they want and that's not going to change unless suddenly Joe Cy is the person who's going to change everything in the league in which superstars dictate their futures because remember Durant is under contract this four-year deal is just kicking in and the Nets could trade him wherever they want to they won't because he wouldn't show up but they can play hardball to a degree or they can make them sweat so the reason why I'm not doing three hours of Kevin Durant today comes down to a couple factors I'm back with you on Wednesday and I know this story is going to be advanced it's July 4th I want to have some fun talking about some other topics that interest me and then more to the point I don't think this is ending anytime soon because there's no need to season doesn't start until October and I know the summer league's going on and we find a reason to talk NBA year-round much more than we used to because these guys are so darn interesting but I don't think we're gonna have clarity and I don't think it's the Warriors even though their package quote-unquote makes the most sense certainly from a standpoint of the Nets because they could come to Warriors-G, Warriors-GM, Bob Myers and say okay you got Poole you got Wiggins you got Kaminga you got Wiseman you got Pix let's talk don't you think it's more than a coincidence now we're hearing reports that Brooklyn presumably is responsible for percolating that hey Dallas might have interest in Durant Philadelphia might have interest come on and that's the same thing for Kyrie you're hearing Kyrie now linked to a variety of franchises beyond the Lakers so ultimately I don't think anybody Kevin Durant included wants to see KD back on the Warriors sure Steph and Klay and Draymond would like to yell at him and again they would make it work and they would be even more ferocious I have not forgotten how amazing Durant was when he came to the San Francisco Bay Area yes the Warriors just won a title they would be even bigger favorites with Durant but don't think it's gonna happen nor do I want to see it happen so what's more likely how about Phoenix I don't know that Durant wants to compete against the Warriors if I'm talking about sensitivity that frequently in the same division plus how much you buying a CP3 I'm not calling him the point god what a ridiculous moniker Chris Paul fell apart in the postseason and he did it for the second consecutive year remember go back to the NBA Finals with a 2-0 series lead over the Bucks we're talking about if Chris Paul finally wins his first title after finally breaking through to make the NBA Finals is he a top five point guard of all time and then everything changed they didn't win another game Bucks take it in six how did Chris Paul look to you eyeball test no metrics against Dallas it looked like he was 147 years old but Durant plus Devin Booker and depending on what else is left on that roster because Brooklyn's gonna want a lot back initial report is couple all-stars and a lot of picks but bridges and other pieces and maybe eight and a sign and trade still Booker and Durant a top three team in the West how about Durant to Miami well what are you sending back to Brooklyn are you giving up Jimmy Butler I think you have to but Durant plus the defensive skills of Ben Adebayo Tyler Herro wants to be a starter Kyle Lowry was a shadow himself but maybe he just needs to rehab and get in better shape in better shape in the offseason I think that's to me the most logical and rational landing spot all right so what do we do with Durant on Miami they're better than Boston I think they're better than Philadelphia because I can't count on Embiid although Maxie's terrific and I'm starting to buy into Harden a little bit more he had a couple decent games in that postseason loss to Miami but I crushed him for the body of work last year but is that Miami roster I just detailed better than Milwaukee with Chris Middleton healthy I don't think so so Durant's portability is fascinating but tangibly I don't think if he stays in the east wherever he goes he's going to be on the best team in the east and the Warriors as presently constituted are still in my view clearly the best team in all basketball and we haven't even talked more about Kyrie that's by design we'll save it for the final hour of the program if Kyrie goes to the Lakers Lakers are going to be jubilant just to get Russell Westbrook off the books and off the roster what does that mean in a loaded western conference I'd still have the Warriors in front of them we'll talk about the other teams that I believe in far more than an aging and now injury-prone LeBron James and Anthony Davis who just can't stay healthy I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen phone calls a possibility 1-8-4-4-2-0-4 Rich open for business on Twitter BW Weber Weber with two B's in 20 minutes the fallout from live tour part two in Portland were you aware they even were playing in Oregon over the weekend and we'll talk a lot of Tiger Woods with the open championship the British open coming up next week looking forward to chatting with my pal Robert Lucetic the terrific Dolph Ryder straight ahead football and I'm in a good frame of mind I don't want to talk to Sean Watson I'm just getting to a point of Watson fatigue plus unseemly details you might have kids in the car it's a holiday so we will go old school it's gonna be good for my sciatica I'm jumping into the hot tub time machine usfl if a football champion is crowned and nobody seems to care can you really call the second version of the old school league a success talking to football on the 4th of July and having a great time with you I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen here on the Rich Eisen Show I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen always a pleasure to be in for one of the best in our industry it's the Rich Eisen Show we're live on the 4th of July one eight four four two oh four rich Twitter's always a good place to get the conversation started before or after the program that's BW Weber Weber with two B's in 15 minutes we're going to talk some golf it's going to be entertaining I have a variety of thoughts on the Saudi tour and not to be too heavy-handed as a fill-in host on a holiday just because somebody offers you a ton of money you don't have to take it especially if you're already rich now Mickelson might need the dough allegedly reportedly not the most proficient gambler but we'll talk about the end game for the live tour magically the PGA tour found more money under the cushions you notice that they bumped up the prize money moving forward we'll talk about it with a keen observer of the sport my good friend robert lucetic for years wrote for foxsports.com he's the author of unplayable a fabulous biography of tiger woods and we'll get the latest on tiger who is going to at least try to play with the open championship coming up next week the old course st andrews which is flat as opposed to just how tough it was to watch tiger trying to walk at the PGA championship in Tulsa before he tapped out I will give you an update because now it's over I don't think they're gonna have a nine hour postgame show but you never know in the age of media saturation and I'm going to talk about in the final hour of the program if you ever doubted joey chestnut was an american hero the reigning champion at the hot dog eating contest coney island new york city this time showed up on crutches that was the bombshell let me be mean gene okerlund oh what a bombshell for the press availability yesterday here comes here comes chestnut limping in to the press conference the only details he would give the media was that he was dealing with a ruptured tendon but he said it wouldn't slow him down today what did slow him down because the final tally was 63 remember it's hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes far off the new record he set last year smashing his old record every year he's building on it last year he got to 76 dogs and buns just 63 but a couple factors and we'll talk about in the final other program not breaking down the particulars we'll go frame by frame like the subruder film well if you go to your twitter machine you'll see it a protester jumped up on the stage and joey chestnut allah chuck norris an american hero effectively choked out the protester grabbed this fella threw him aside then went back to the dogs so because you can bet on everything now what happens and if you bet on the hot dog eating contest you need more of a life than i do but if you put a few bucks down on this because you can bet on it is this now no one void how are the books going to handle this because the integrity of the competition was impacted by this protester we'll talk about it in the final hour of the program this worked out nicely because i did not want to do 10 minutes of memory lane although i have it all sketched out in front of me because it's always good to write out your ad libs they sound much more off the cuff but if you've heard me before beyond hopefully my energetic delivery i'm older than i sound but you gotta try to play to a younger demographic and i love sports history growing up in the 80s so with year one of the usfl wrapping up yesterday that's why you're hearing all the fireworks in your neighborhood and i feel bad for your pets tough time of the year for cats and dogs living together your birmingham stallions defeated the philadelphia stars yesterday in canton ohio decent crowd watched it national tv and the numbers have been okay now one thing to factor in a lot of these games are on legitimate network television the old legacy networks and fox the fourth network the latest to join the big three but if you're on network television and you have the ability to reach everybody with rabbit ears you should still get a decent rating so i'm not going to hold any parades to celebrate the fact that the usfl generated what i'll call adequate ratings but here's the question and again the preface is i loved everything about the original usfl officials and shorts two-point conversion and remember this is pre-expansion nfl so there were more players available out there and this was an nfl that did not want to spend money because they were trying to control the union and an nfl that would not touch underclassmen so here comes hershey walker to the generals in new york tri-state area brian sipe and we'll talk about jim kelly landing there later jim kelly to houston steve young with that insane contract la express they wound up playing at pierce college a junior college in the san fernando valley and i think steve got about 17 of the 41 million he was guaranteed mike rose here to the pittsburgh maulers i could do this for hours how about marcus dupree the best it never was to the breakers who played in boston then went to new orleans then went to portland i think you're catching my drift here i loved the original usfl in part because of the star power i just delineated secondly the quality of football was compelling and that's the problem with this league it's a lousy product and you could tell me hey loud guy whoever you are if it's football i'll watch it that's fine not telling you what to watch or what not to watch but don't ask me to care inferior product and then secondly did you know any of the names connected to the league beyond the coaches i'll put it this way if jeff fisher mr seven and nine whatever the equivalent of that is and the usfl is the face of the league you got a problem and i watched a little bit of the usfl at the start of this experiment it's coming back because it's cheap programming they're paying these guys anything because these are refugees from the nfl folks just looking for an opportunity but pakston lynch was a name i recalled obviously because he's a bust and another example that john elway while a magnificent quarterback could never get it right at the qb position in dever other than picking up payton manning rest league largely anonymous and i think the more interesting observation about spring football now with a reminder the xfl version 3 is coming back next year and everything the rock touches turns to gold so i'm not betting against them i don't think we need a spring league anymore because the nfl consumes our attention 52 weeks a year if i wanted to i could have talked to sean watson in the middle of the last hour i could do it in the next segment and no program director in the nation would have an issue with me i'm not doing it because there's nothing to advance the conversation and i don't want to get into these horribly graphic details on a holiday i'm back wednesday i'll talk about the future of cleveland then but because we're consumed by all things football all year round i don't think we need a spring league anymore and that was the difference in the 80s look after the super bowl the nfl went away nobody cared about the nfl draft even 15 years ago when espm was desperate for programming in the early days of the network after they launched in 1979 they went to pete roselle and said we want a draft broadcast we want to put this on the air and he said why who would watch this thing i'm reading names in a hotel ballroom in new york city so the nfl has moved from we didn't care about it post super bowl until probably if i'm going to be fair the end of the world series world series used to get massive numbers most people would finish up the baseball season certainly watch your favorite football team but the nfl didn't dominate conversation until the end of october and now it crushes everything in its way so that's the problem for the usfl i think also the timing they should have started right after the super bowl and not be playing on the third of july way too late got to compress the season and you got to find a way to have a local connection i know why they played it in birmingham because it's cheap to have a central location i can't watch a football game with 17 people in the stands especially when the product is lousy and you can't tell me that the usfl had anything that really approximated real professional football on the field at the same time you gotta watch something and look i don't want to be hypocritical every other sentence ask me to tell the truth i watch the canadian football league just because i love all the weirdness of it and 17 dudes in motion and the rouge and the giant end zones but that's unique usfl to me was just crappy football i'm brian weber in for rich eisen we're getting closer to the final hour of the program we got a lot more business to attend to our three dominated by more kyrie and kd conversation we're talking villains in sports like that knucklehead who rushed the stage at the hot dog eating contest in coney island and the american hero joey chestnut wrestled him away and then got back to the dogs and won the title once more and we will also give you an overview did you know there is a year-round professional competitive eating circuit details i'm sure you will not find elsewhere because we're just that comprehensive but straight ahead a little bit of golf after its second event over the weekend in portland is live tour really a threat to the pga tour are you even paying attention plus we'll come up with realistic expectations for the return of tiger woods getting set to play the open championship next week at st andrews we'll cover it all with my good friend robert lucetich the golf writer author of the book unplayable a fabulous biography of eldrick tiger woods i'm brian weber having a great time with you we are live on the 4th of july i'm in for rich it's the rich eisen show brian weber in for rich its age july 4th edition of the rich eisen show i do have the possibility of taking a phone call or two as we approach the final hour of the program one eight four four two oh four rich the number to call one eight four four two oh four seven four two four or twitter is always your best option that's bw weber weber with two b's i talk golf selectively typically only focusing on the majors but since we have the confluence on a big word monday of the open championship coming up next week with the return of tiger woods on the horizon and all of the back and forth between the live tour the saudi tour and the pga tour going on i need to reach out to an old friend a terrific golf writer it is robert lucetich the author of unplayable outstanding biography of tiger woods robert we haven't shouted i think since the last major last year how are you my friend i'm well b web happy fourth of july to you and uh and to everyone else out there we appreciate you taking the time so i follow you on twitter as everyone should don't mention that w word you just tweeted but you summed up the view out there that let's just say golfers have been known to be mercenaries i'll clean it up over the year so let's just start with your overview we know that like every other sporting organization the pga tour has flaws but in general can you come up with a way to justify guys like mickelson dustin johnson brooks kepka leaving the pga tour to join the live tour for anything but a motivation of greed and grabbing every dollar they can yeah well i mean we're talking about the filthy lucre here and uh that's that's the motivation there is no other motivation trust me if they if they came along and said uh hey we'll give you a give you a you know instead of 100 million we'll give you a million these guys wouldn't get out of bed for that and uh the reality is that they've gone because the money is stupid it is so out there and you're talking about guys who's used by dates have have largely expired phil mickelson uh just turned 52 i mean he did obviously have the great great pga win the oldest oldest uh guy to win a major um but that's that's you know he didn't have another top 10 in that entire season so phil mickelson is no longer a competitive week-to-week golfer it's that's the reality and people aren't at that age and and the rest of them that are in their 40s you know they're looking at but they're looking to kill time before they get to the champions tour but i don't know that the champions tour is going to be available to them now that the pga tour is essentially kick them out for for joining a rebel tour that that and and remember this about the the lift tour the lift tour isn't there to complement the pga tour it's there to replace it this is a hostile takeover bit and the pga tour understands that and and and all spare in love and war but there's a lot more war than love hey we saw this in tennis decades ago when lamar hunt who also owned the kansas city chief loved tennis came up with his rival tour jimmy connor's other guys took the dough and then ultimately when it folded they went back to the traditional tennis tour we're talking golf with my good friend robert lucettage i mentioned he's a good follow on twitter follow him on twitter just by looking up his name i'll spell the last name for you l-u-s-e-t-i-c-h before we get into some of the details as to why this could be a viable watch for casual fans maybe they like the notion of three rounds or a shotgun start the pga tour has responded as you know by magically finding more money for future events so robert in any way does that validate some of the criticisms made by guys like mickelson that the tour hasn't been responsive enough to the concerns of the rank and file yeah absolutely i and and i think that ultimately what we're what we're really seeing here is the resentment of a number of big name players who feel that they haven't really gotten they haven't been able to control their their their destiny certainly their financial destiny and and i tell you look i i've been around golf for a long time players for years have been saying why is it that the you know these these suits in ponte vidra beach pay themselves these fat bonuses in the millions of dollars it when they negotiate sponsorship deals and contracts why aren't we involved in this and and and you know it would be the same it would be there's a reason for it obviously because look at the nfl or baseball or basketball if you don't have a centralized authority you're going to have mayhem you you can't get all these owners to agree it'll be it'll just be anarchy so in in one way you need the pga tour in in in the business end of it especially to just run the game but i also feel for some of these players who think you know what we are we just are told how things are going to happen we don't have any real input and and live is is being run obviously by greg norman who himself had a massive run-ins with the pga tour in the 90s remember he was the second longest guy to be world number one and and really he was the tiger before tiger and in a lot of ways the great white shark and he felt you know show me the money and uh and and he felt that he didn't have enough to say and and and he tried indeed to put together a world golf tour in the 90s with my old boss and our old boss indeed at foxport david hill who is producing the uh the the coverage for live these days and they wanted to put together a world a world tour that would uh incorporate players from all you know all over the world and and of course the pga to it at the time tim fincham shut it down and they shut norman down and then what did they do a few years later they actually borrowed his idea borrowed in quote marks and it created the world golf championship so he's been bitter for a lot of years and uh he found a way to to get his revenge here with uh with with the saudi back money that he's got and he's got a lot of it and they're uh and they're making they're really making i you can't underestimate this it is a hostile takeover bit for the world golf tour i'm brian weber in for rich eisen we are spotlighting golf i'm a good friend robert lucentich the terrific golf writer whenever i want to poke fun at golf i say who's watching the john deere classic what happened to be the john deere classic yesterday so flipping around there's the leaderboard jt poston who won it scott stallings the immortal denny mccarthy that does not do much for casual fans so robert how much should the pga tour be concerned about losing so much star power well you've got to remember that liv is is hired a lot of people that work for the tour a lot of people that worked in golf in various places and given them fat contracts too so these guys know the game they know that the that the john deere is is one of the smaller events on the pga tour and there are a number of them throughout the year when guys are getting ready to uh for instance to play in majors and especially the open in britain they're they're they're not going to be here playing the john deere or not many of them are so they scheduled they scheduled the liv events against not against the strong tour event but against the weaker ones and and it's a good business decision and you know look from what i from what i saw there was a decent crowd in portland pumpkin ridge i think is is a good track really very very nice to look at uh golf course i thought it went pretty well i mean it's a little too rah rah on the commentary for me but i do believe that they were there that liv is aiming at an audience that doesn't exist right now it doesn't exist because the the three rounds and shotguns start everything if you watch their broadcast it's it's all just boom boom boom the pacing of it is is not like your normal tour event which which there's a lot of time and throwing up grass in between shots and caddies chatting and what you know hands being wiped by towels they don't have any of that they just go action action action and uh in fact they have a segment that which is don't blink and uh and which is classic david hill because you know he's a his mind works at a very fast pace let's say short attention span tv as we know hey robert i promised tiger woods analysis and nobody handles it better than you got about a minute left realistic expectations for tiger next week at st andrews i think honestly if the weather cooperates and and and you know because he's obviously got his got his issues uh with physical issues but if it's warm and if uh and you know it's a very flat place to walk it's the easiest place he could possibly uh play given his problems with his foot i think that he's got a chance now does he you know do i think he's going to win no but i think he could do something and and and and and listen at this point in his career that's what we should be looking at the fact is we're still watching tiger woods play and look maybe he doesn't win he shouldn't be a favorite but if there's anywhere where he can do it it's there because he doesn't need the distance and he knows how to control his golf ball and frankly you know he's the best iron player who ever lived and that place will reward that so i mean i listen i'm gonna be watching i do i think he's gonna win i don't really but i think that he could do something and and and surprise us all because that's what he does he's tiger woods robert phenomenal analysis as always i appreciate our friendship thanks so much for making yourself available on a holiday really enjoyed the conversation you got it mate take care robert lucetic check out the book wherever books are available i think you know what i'm talking about but we don't have to plug any specific platform unplayable the backstory on tiger woods and now we have another chapter and think about even for casual fans because we know there are more people listening right now who root for tiger woods than care about the entire sport of golf let's just say tiger as robert described can take advantage of the flat conditions look if i'm running golf i go old school and say you know we had that debate about carts coincidentally casey martin who also a stanford grad like tiger tiger didn't graduate but he did just fine an alum a stanford product i would be up for changing the rules just to make sure tiger is relevant moving forward he's doing this now on what half a leg after he drove down a ravine here in southern california if tiger is playing and it's a major we're watching and the dilemma for the live tour and robert said it well beyond the gimmicks shotgun start the team concept and no cut so this is an exhibition golf requires you making a cut that's why it's so unique could you find the live tour he was on youtube live i watched some of it but the graphics were hideous far too distracting but i'm not the demo i'm 52 and i have a throbbing sciatica and search your own joke there but it's not slowing us down a lot of energy heading into the final hour of the program which will be dominated by more kevin durant kyrie irving conversation and a joey chestnut update yes he is a true american hero i'm brian weber having a great time with you we're live on the 4th of july and for rich here on the rich isin ship 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 you know hulk holtman was a babyface hulk and andre were able to go in and headline at the new orleans superdome at shay stadium in japan wherever they went that was an attraction something to wrestle with bruce prichard listen wherever you get your podcasts