REShow: Goldberg - Hour 2 (7-1-2022)

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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. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

This fascinates me. I love it. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Oh my God, it is coming. The Super League of College Athletics is coming.

And you better get on board. Earlier on the show, Fox Sports college football reporter, Bruce Feldman. Still to come, WWE Hall of Famer, Bill Goldberg.

Plus, your phone calls, what's more likely, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Wrestling legend Goldberg will be joining us in 20 minutes time. We're going to tap out of this wild NBA free agency, USC, UCLA free agency talk. A lot of opt-outs going on. The Pac-12 and the NBA.

And there's some opt-ins as well, and some other things to talk about over the next couple hours here on our program. But Goldberg's going to be joining us in 20 minutes time. Former Georgia Bulldog.

Indeed. You know who his teammate was? John Casey, I know. John Casey, yes the kicker, but I'm going to go with another one with a little bit more germane role in the NFL's history. Someone important to Chris Brockman. Someone very near and dear to you, Chris Brockman.

In your heart, and the heart of many other Patriots fans. Mo Lewis was a teammate of Goldberg. Mo Lewis. I say this, I say this. We love Drew Bledsoe, he's completely healthy and fine. Before you say what you're going to say, and any Patriot fans who have constantly said what you're about to say, need to preface it with the all due respect and the direction of Walla Walla Washington or wherever Mr. Bledsoe is making wine right now. Love his product right now. Very much so.

However, however, here comes the, here's the move, here we go, here's the move. Mo Lewis should be in the Hall of Fame, right? Mo Lewis did single handedly change the entire trajectory of football. Of the NFL? Yes. Of the whole league. You can't tell the story of the NFL.

It's just like. Ready, here we go. You ready?

You ready? Mo Lewis deserves to be in over Frank Gore. So stupid, so stupid, so stupid and dumb. Who's more important to the history of the NFL? So stupid and dumb.

Frank Gore is 3.8 yards per carry or Mo Lewis changing the entire trajectory of about, I don't know, a dozen teams? Put it on the poll. Here's.

Put it on the poll. Or my response to that. Here's my response to that. I'm kidding, obviously everyone. Here's my response to that. Who's dumber than this guy?

Please don't send me tweets, I don't want to. Nobody to go all Harbaugh on him. I don't know about the Frank Gore thing, Rich, but he has a Mo Lewis very, very valid point. Mo Lewis is, I don't want to say he's the Michael Jordan of the NBA, because that would be Tom Brady, but he did something to change the careers of hundreds of men. Hundreds.

Coaches, players, franchises. And that's not, this is like, it's funny, but you're not lying bro. I'm kind of doing the thing, but. But no, no, no.

You are, you're being, you're telling the truth. Mo Lewis doesn't hit Drew, Tom doesn't come in, the Pats don't go on that run. Football history is complete.

Maybe Brady gets traded and goes to another team. To call umpire Bill Holler in that famed Earl Weaver YouTube video that's out there now, when he was mic'd up in a classic argument. In the first inning. That Earl Weaver sparked over apparently a balk call in the first inning of that game, I don't know when it was, but everybody just Google Earl Weaver and Bill Holler. H-A-L-L-E-R and do yourself a favor.

Make sure the kids are in bed before you listen to this video. We can't play this on there. To paraphrase Bill Holler, what was Mo Lewis going to the world's, to the Hall of Fame for? For effing up Drew Bledsoe? Is that what it's going to Hall of Fame for? For effing up Drew Bledsoe, is that it?

Three-time Pro Bowler, a 52 career sack. Maybe the greatest Jed of all time. Goldberg's coming on this program. It's basically what I'm trying to say, and we've gone off into a tangent here. Goldberg will be on this program.

I do want to hit on, boy do I have got so much to talk about today. Let's just, you know, because we just talked so much about college football, and I do have some thoughts about the ramifications of USC and UCLA moving to the Big Ten and what that means for those two programs alone. But I do want to just linger a little bit here about Kevin Durant. And, you know, general managers in the NBA now, okay, they have two jobs, two jobs, and they kind of are intertwined. And I think those who are at the top of the flow chart in membership, ownership, the governors, I guess, the Board of Governors or whatever, those who are governors of their teams, they need to do this too. And of course you've got to choose the right coach to take part of this part. But a general manager has two things to do. Build a championship roster, obviously.

And two, bend over completely backwards. Do whatever you have to do to keep your number one star player happy. And that's where the coach and that person at the top of the flow chart is part of it too. Keep that player happy because in the NBA, in 2022 now, and it's been this way for a while, in the NBA, any player who has a significant role on the team or is the star player, pretty much the star player, can say, that contract that I have signed means nothing. I want out. And you, as a general manager, must comply on the spot.

That's a fact. The Joker, Chris, right? He just signed a max deal. Max deal. Did he ever, right?

In Denver, right? Big time paid. He just got piz aid.

Yeah, five-year 250 or 260. Devin Booker, reportedly. He just did the same thing. Max deal in Phoenix. Yep.

Also, apparently Zion. Max deal coming for him. Rookie Max deal in New Orleans. Sorry, Nick fans.

Unless he turns around, as Booker can, and the Joker can, and anybody can just turn around and tell the general manager, you know what? I'm not feeling here anymore. You know what?

This was a disaster last year. You know what? Don't want to play with that guy anymore. You know what? Doesn't matter the you know what.

It could be somebody in the NBA can actually opt out using a famed playground line or a line that I've heard one of my children use in an argument against another one of my children. Just cuz. Why?

Just cuz. That's good. Good argument. That's it. That's good. I like that. Hey, Kevin.

Why do you want to like it? Sean Marks. Hello. Hey, it's Rich Kleinman. Hey, Rich.

How you doing? Did you go to summer camp with Rich Eisen? No, it's just another guy. But outside of that. Hey, Kevin wants out. Really? Oh, man. Thought this might be coming. Really?

Is there anything I could do? No, I mean, I talked to Kevin. Katie is really he's really dug in. Why? Can you just tell me what he told me?

Just cuz. I'm imagining that's not the way the conversation took place, probably, but it sure can. That's it, man. So you remember, I think we did, we asked Daryl Morey when he was here last time in person, I asked him, is that a problem? Is this essential dynamic that seems to be unfolding? And his answer was, if I'm not mistaken, it's my job to make sure that doesn't happen. That's part of my job. I've got to talk to my star players.

I'm checking in with them all the time. I got to make sure I never get that call. And if I get that call, it's on me. That was his answer. I'm almost sure that's what he said. August of 2019. Pop that video out, would you please?

Three years ago, right? He said that. It's just like, hey, man, it's my job to make sure I never get that phone call.

Question is, is what? What did Sean Marks do or not do or couldn't pull off to prevent that and had that off at the pass? What is going on behind the scenes in Brooklyn? Why would Durant say, OK, Kyrie's back in the fold and Ben Simmons can come back and play and Seth Curry and so on and so forth? New York City, Brooklyn, New York. Kind of enjoy the trappings and trimmings of New York life without the true like crazy ass 24-7, 365 sports talk pressure if there is such a thing for him.

Because the Knicks are the number one team in the focus of so many people in that town. What caused him to do that? And what is the NBA going to do? About it, I don't think you can do anything about it unless you get everybody together in the room. And I would think that that would is that is that collusion? Can you collude? Can you be accused of collusion when you are as a group colluding to basically swear to each other in the room, we're going to make sure everybody is held to their contract? How could that be collusion when it's a contract? They signed it. Is there a clause in these contracts? The fine print saying that is it is there a just cause clause?

That would be great. The famed Durant just cause clause? No, I don't know. There's a Larry Bird rule. Could there be a Durant just cause clause? I don't know. That is essentially what is happening now in the NBA. And this cannot be a good feeling for those who are in the mahogany roomed offices, if there's such a thing anymore.

I just finished the offer. So, you know, honestly, like I don't know where this goes, because every single time I saw a tweet today about the max contracts, Jalen Brunson is coming to the Knicks, apparently. What's Bradley Beal going to do? Harden is going to talk to Maury over the weekend to figure out what contract can be hammered out so he does stay as he wishes and they can build a roster as Maury and the rest of the team. And UTJ Jefferson and Sixers Nation wishes. Harden is going to do the right thing, Rich.

You know, what happens here in Los Angeles? We're all focusing. Kawhi's coming back. What if Kawhi just wakes up on the wrong side of the bed one day and, you know, wants to go take his bag of apples somewhere else? Don't even put that in the universe. Don't put that evil on us, Ricky Bobby.

You know, I don't know. You want to write down Kawhi's bag of apples? That might be my fantasy team name next year. Or I'm going to rename my team Don't Trade for Durant. Of course you do.

Unless you're afraid of him saying one day to you I want out. But it looks like in the day and age of the NBA, you know, a contract is a contract for just 95% of the league? 96? 97% of the league? The top 3%?

Top 2%? Don't matter. Say I want out. And not only does a general manager say, OK, but the rest of the league is monitoring your situation to see if there is any, you know, white smoke coming out of the chimney of your basketball church. Your basketball conclave to see is, you know.

It's just like Instagram, right? You're sitting there, you're looking at a girl, you know, she's got a boyfriend. And then the second like she posts two or three pictures without them, then you kind of slide in the D. Is everything OK?

I'll just check it in. Well, that would be tampering in the NBA, right? The sliding into a DM.

That is tampering. And by the way, what are you doing in your spare time? Come on. We all know this goes on. Hang on a minute.

Come on. That's exactly what you just described. In the NBA, it's just now any star player can get out any time he wants. And not only does the general manager know, I've got to do it, but the rest of the league is monitoring your situation to see if there's any breakup coming because, you know, your entire team could be changed if that happens. It's like the Seinfeld when Jerry and Elaine forced the breakup and they're just there for them.

Yeah. Hey, I'm just I'm here for you. I'm here for you. If you need to talk or just lend an ear, I got some advice. Yeah, I'm here for you. Monty Williams, I'm just here for you. James Jones, I'm just here for you. Right.

Rob Prolinka. Hey, boy, am I here for you. Yeah.

Could you be there for for us, too? Yeah, please. And that's the whole thing what's going on in Portland.

Right. Lillard could just change his long time stance of I want to make it here. I want to build it here. I love being here.

My family loves being here. He could just wake up one day and just say, you know what, I kind of want to pull a Matt Stafford. And walk into the front office and say, I've tried, man.

Boy, did I try, but I'm getting older and I'm out. And the Blazers got to say, OK. And every single team that's making plans for the next season will be like, well, OK, then we're in. That's that's what's happening right now in the NBA. Let's take a break. Goldberg will be joining us on this program on this busy Friday. Don't go anywhere. A great chat upcoming with a fellow member of the tribe. And that's pretty much where we part ways. That's next.

Spray goes on dry, clean feel all day. For those listening on terrestrial radio, you missed a very important segment on this program. On YouTube dot com slash Rich Eisen Show, you should you must go. What do you think? Maybe the best ever had to address a very difficult question posed by Aaron Jones. The Packers is cereal soup. Spoiler context of that short answer.

No, no, it is not. No, he just tweeted that out randomly. Next time he's on, we'll have to ask him what cereal caused him to wonder if it was, in fact, soup. Great question. Just saying, because I'm thinking there has to be so much more to it than just that random.

There's a back story. Yeah, I would hope. I don't know. He probably was looking down. He saw a bowl of liquid and wonder, could this be considered soup?

I don't know. We should ask Boban, who is the foremost. He is the top of the soup flowchart.

Top of the food chain. Just saying. Looking at Wikipedia, you can still make an argument. Don't look at the Internet for help, man. It's just one of those things, man. I'll just say it's screwed. It's like porn. You know it when you see it. You see, you're looking at cereal.

You're not saying that soup. Let's just end it. I have no response to that. Stop it. Honestly. Thank you.

OK. Let's pull it all back in, because we've got royalty on the phone, right? Right, T.J. Jefferson? In the professional wrestling world. Yes, he is. Biography WWE Legends, season two of this program, premiering Sunday, July 10th at 8 p.m. Eastern on A&E. An award-winning biography banner, two-hour episodes telling the intimate personal stories behind the success of WWE's most memorable legends and events.

And this man certainly qualifies as a legend on the Mercedes-Benz phone line. None other than Goldberg here on the show. How are you doing, Goldberg? I've been doing great, my friend, and yourself. I'm doing just fine. So have you seen the biography on you yet?

Or are you waiting? No, Rich, I'll be honest with you, man. I don't really like to watch anything that I've, quote-unquote, performed in. But I have seen excerpts, and barring myself tearing up a little bit, I was quite entertained before I had to turn it off. You know, like I said, I don't like to watch anything that I'm in, actually. I'm always quite critical of myself.

Whether it's a documentary or whether it's a live performance, you know, I'm just that meathead that always likes perfection. Well, how did you get started on your wrestling career, Goldberg? How did that start for you? It's a really long story. I guess, initially, one of my brothers was Rick Flair's housemate in college.

So I guess that's the first tie to it. Kevin Green was one of my roommates at the Rams. He gave a glorious Hulk Hogan impression and always said that I should be a professional wrestler. When I was at the University of Georgia, quite obviously we spent a lot of time in Atlanta during those days, and I'd rub shoulders with a lot of the current wrestlers, and there were a number of good guys. And I never really desired to be one, nor did I assume that I would ever be one, but fate have it.

I unfortunately didn't succeed at my first love, which was being a ten-year veteran in the NFL, though I did play a couple of days, seemingly. But, you know, I kind of fell into wrestling. I had worked on my physique, my physical stature for so long in prep and playing in the NFL that it was, you know, I won't say that I'm a man of theater, but I thought it was a fairly natural progression.

At least I thought so at the time, and my accountant did also. So, you know, you're posed with ultimatums, Crest dreams, you know, it's all part of growing up. And it was an option that I chose. I was lucky. I trained quite hard. I kind of applied the work ethic that I had in the NFL in playing football throughout my life to wrestling. And, you know, with an open mind and mixed martial arts making a huge presence to be known in entertainment at the time, I kind of had an idea and I followed a dream. That dream was to succeed and try to be somebody that kids could look up to and set a good example for them and, you know, make a decent living.

So I was a combination of being in the right time at the right place with the right work ethic and a lot of luck. Goldberg here on The Rich Eisen Show. I'm one of the few in this business who can ask this question the way I'm going to ask it.

Goldberg is football and wrestling. My Jewish mother would never have allowed that in a million years. My dad. Hey, bro, listen, I called my dad and he hung up on me the first time I told him. I mean, how did you pull off this trick?

A nice Jewish boy from Oklahoma getting into football and wrestling. How did that happen? Yeah, my dad, the OBGYN and my mom, the concert violinist in the Chicago Philharmonic. I was far from the prototypical person to segue into the business. But like I said, I had some good friends that were in the business.

I had a good in. And, you know, Jim Ross had a lot to do with my first meeting in the wrestling business. And Jim covered me in high school football, for God's sakes.

And, you know, it's just all about being in the right place at the right time and trying to be forward taking and apply what I had learned and what I had centered my life on for my entire life, which was football, and try to apply it to something else, because truthfully, that's the only thing I was pretty good at. Well, I mean, I remember taking my mother, Eveline, a schoolteacher. Your mom, Ethel, was a classic violinist.

My mom, Eveline, was a kindergarten and second grade and first grade teacher. I remember taking her to her first ever football game at the Big House at Michigan when I went there. I'm a student sitting in the stands and there's a roughing the kicker penalty. And she asked what the flag was for. I told her it was roughing the kicker. And she goes, the kicker is not allowed to be touched. And I'm like, no. She goes, oh, I would have allowed you to kick. That's what she said to me.

That's what she said. Sounds like Happy Gilmore. Yeah.

One of Sadler's great movies. Yeah, it sounds like Waterboy. Sounds like Waterboy. Yeah, Waterboy. Pretty much.

Yeah. You know, but I was just I was I was I was more the newspaper boy. That's what I was.

I got into the writing aspect of things. So, you know, Goldberg here on the Rich Ads Show, you mentioned moments ago about Kevin Green. He was your roommate. That's who you were with the Rams. One of my short stands at the Rams. You know, I had been through two training camps.

I remember we we were roommates for I think it was the second one. And yeah, what a what an absolutely wonderful human being he was. You know, just horrible.

What happened? Right. He was he was a huge influence on me. I mean, a huge influence. And let me you know, let's go into it.

Sure. I I go into the NFL very I was very lucky to even get an opportunity. I get lucky enough to be coached by, you know, like a Jack Youngblood and then have a roommate like a Kevin Green.

And then then years later, after I fail at the one thing that I had dreamed that I would succeed at. Kevin Green becomes my tag team partner while I was on top of the world in the wrestling business at World Championship Wrestling. And, you know, like the Hogan story, what was the coolest moment of my wrestling career? Well, it was the night I beat Hogan at the Georgia Dome, but it wasn't because I beat Hogan. It was because my teammates were there from the Falcons. So what it meant to me to have Kevin Green as a tag team partner in professional wrestling and see the enthusiasm that this man had for it and for life and for, you know, for football, for God's sakes. It was kind of a full circle moment that the wrestling business has been able to provide me. Nothing on the planet would have been able to provide me that I didn't acquire on the football field. Let's dive in a little bit more, Goldberg, into that night in the Georgia Dome.

So let's set it up. I mean, you went to you played football at University of Georgia. You have three years with the Falcons right in the NFL. And here you are now at the top of your wrestling craft with Kevin Green as a tag team partner. You said there are Falcons teammates in the building while you beat Hulk Hogan that night. That happened? Well, Kevin was my tag team partner at another event.

It was years prior. But the night that I wrestled Scott Hall and then early in the night, and then I wrestled Hogan, you know, later in the night for the World Heavyweight Championship. The Falcons, I mean, they were there. Obviously, in the wrestling business, you do a lot of cross-promotion, and these guys are as smart as possible as far as getting the product out there. So I quite obviously picked up the phone and called every one of my teammates and said, listen, dudes, anybody who wants to come down, let's do it and let's, you know, have a blast. And we concocted a way in, and after I beat Hulk Hogan in front of 45,000 people in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome where I played football, when we went off the air, Hogan and his minions beat me down and handcuffed me to the ring and spray-painted me.

And who, lo and behold, comes out to save me is, I'd say, I don't know, 20 guys from the Falcons, whether it's Jesse Tuggle or Jamal Anderson or Chuck Smith or Cornelius Bennett or Shane Dronay. I mean, for me, I'm just laying in the corner just laughing and going, man, these guys have no idea how cool this is to me. And equally, it was cooler to them because, I don't know, for some reason, I get it. You know, professional athletes like to live vicariously through us because we're theater at the same time. And so we can quite obviously get away with things that they could never get away with. And so that's part of the allure as to participating. But for me, it was just the coolest night of my life. So what you're saying, essentially, even though you're not saying it, I'll say it for you, is Deion Sanders is not the only two-sports star to toil inside the Georgia Dome. It's Goldberg as well. Well, yeah, well, I wasn't going to go there. But the second one isn't necessarily based upon quantifiable athletic talent.

So, you know, it's more objective. And those are the dirty bird Falcons years that you're talking about. Those are some good Falcons teams. Cornelius Bennett's, I kind of forgot he spent some time there. And Jamal and Jesse Tuggle's a great name from back in the day, too. I haven't heard that in quite some time. I'll tell you what, I mean, and the guys that I learned from, Jumpy Gathers. Nice. I mean, you have to remember Jumpy.

Yes, you do. Obviously, he's got 15 of his family members in the NFL. And Pierce Holt, you know, Pierce now is a neighbor of mine in a neighboring county in Texas. We see each other quite often. And Pierce, you know, was my idol playing in the league. And we were like locker mates.

And, I mean, now we spend time together. So, I mean, it's funny how that team was such a successful team. But, I mean, there were so many characters on that team. You know, Ironhead, you had Scott Case. You had, man, it was, you could just go on and on and on about all of those guys. And, I mean, you had Mike Kent who was 21 years in the league.

And then, what was his name, the linebacker who was 21 years in the league, Clay Matthews. Of course. Unbelievable, man. What a journey. It was an unbelievable time.

What a journey. And I just remember my tag team partner from SportsCenter, Stewart Scott, loved you, Goldberg. Loved you.

Absolutely loved you. Stewart was the man, dude. I mean, I loved Stewart from the, I mean, from the first time I met him and all the charitable stuff that we did together. I mean, you guys, hey, you remember Larry Burnett, right?

Of course. He's my brother-in-law. So, I mean, I got to tie with you guys from, oh, that's my brother-in-law. I had no idea.

Literally, I had no idea. All I know is that, you know, obviously, Stewart loved you, talked about you all the time. On occasion, may or may not have humble bragged a little bit about knowing you and hanging out with you. And, you know, I always try to bring his name up. He's been gone for way longer than I could even have imagined. So, I kind of like bringing him up every now and then when I know somebody has a tie to him and a significant one, just like you. Well, I'll tell you what, Stewart, I mean, not only what an unbelievable human being and everything that he stood for, he's one of those guys that you just bring up his name and you just can't but smile. No matter what the situation, no matter, I mean, quite obviously, I would absolutely do anything on this plan to have him here with us. But, the fact that he's not and that you've mentioned his name and the first thing that comes to my mind is just a big smile. He made such a big impact on every person that he met.

True. And I just can't say enough good things about him. Hey, man. Congratulations on biography, WWE Legends, The Undertaker, and also Kurt Angle are just a couple of the other subjects for season two biography, WWE Legends, premiering Sunday, July 10th, 8 p.m. Eastern on A&E. Belated congrats on the Hall of Fame induction in 2018 or, you know, screw it, mazel tov to you, Goldberg. Mazel tov on everything going on. Well, I can't thank you enough. It's an honor and a privilege, number one, to be considered for one of these biographies.

Number two, to be in the presence of all the people that I'm debuting with with this series for the second season and, you know, to be on your show and to talk to you again, my friend. Thanks, brother. It's an honor and privilege.

It's been too long. Drive safe wherever you're going, Goldberg. You be well. Thanks again for coming on The Rich Eisen Show. Greatly appreciate it. Honor and a privilege.

Take care, my friend. That's Goldberg, everybody. I had no idea Larry Burnett was Goldberg's brother-in-law, so that means Larry Burnett was yet another non-Jewish Sports Center anchor that I would have to have battled to get a high holiday off.

Who else? Have I never told you the story? What story? I think I've heard this. I don't know if TJ's heard this one. Okay.

So, I'll tell him. When I arrived at Sports Center, 1996. That was a good year, man. That was a good year. Was that 26 years ago?

Just quick math, Rich. More than 26 years ago. 26 years ago. A little over 26 years ago. February of 96, I arrived at ESPN. And even though they took me from, you know, Redding, California, the Redding Chico Market where young Aaron Rodgers might have been watching me at 5 and 11 o'clock Pacific.

Possible. I had already paid for a vacation in May of that year, because I had no idea I was going to be hired by ESPN. A vacation to France and Monaco, didn't run into you though. I wasn't that fancy yet. But, you know, I had paid for it. It was already paid for.

Flights and hotels and everything. You weren't balling at that point, I'm sure. Not at all. I was making hardly anything. So, I couldn't cancel it. So, the first thing I did when I got hired by ESPN when I was being taken in by human resources was tell them, I need a week off. Which was, I was freaking out about it. Freaking out about it.

Like, well, which days? And they were cool about it. They gave it, like, literally a 26-year-old from Redding Chico Market showing up and saying I need a week off within the first three months was a provocative ask, but they were cool about it. So, basically told them I was making $6.50 an hour.

I can't cancel it. But I'll work my ass off after that. And I remember the human resources individual said, for scheduling purposes as well, you know, are you Jewish? And I'm like, yeah. And they're like, well, you might need to get your high holidays off now. Like, do you want the high holidays off? And I'm like, sure.

And I'm like, yeah, I do. And they opened up, I remember they opened up the book to look to see, you know, if it was available to be taken off because the rule was at the time, there was no ESPN news. There wasn't a million people there. It was still a very, you know, small-ish group of on-air individuals who were doing SportsCenter. There was a rule that three people, only three SportsCenter anchors a day could take a day off.

They could only grant a day off on a specific, any single day to just three SportsCenter anchors. And she told me that Yom Kippur was already spoken for, for the three people. And I'm thinking in my head, who are they?

And I'm going through my head, you know, Charlie, whatever. I just didn't know. I mean, just, Berman doesn't do SportsCenters?

I don't know. So I said, really, who are the three? And she told me, Linda Cohen, Steve Levy, and Jack Edwards.

I'm like, Jack Edwards? He's Jewish? And they told me, no, he married a member of the Jewish faith and he was taking the day off.

So this is, I had just asked for a week off, but I had to push back even more. I still found the reserve to say what I said and I'm like, okay, I understand he's more tenured than me as a SportsCenter anchor, but I'm more tenured than him as a Jew. Does that count? Shouldn't that count?

And I was told, no, it does not count. Look, Rich. As head of this company's HR, I would never have done that to you. That was my next question. How would Brockman have handled this?

I would not have done that to you. So when I mentioned that, I guess Larry, I think Larry was still there in 96. Part of the Goldberg family, Larry. Who knew? Jack Edwards, like Sandy Kofe. Jack Edwards, like Sandy Kofe would not perform on the high holiday. Did you approach Jack about this? I did not. Jack, I'll never forget. I did a, I'll screw it. What do I care, man? Let me grab my team real quick.

Yeah, let's go. Although I do know his wife and she does work with NFL network now as well. This is just the stuff that you remember in your career. You just remember it. And so I was covering the Holofield-Moorer fight, Holofield-Moorer 2. It was a good fight. Okay, because when Charlie Starner stopped doing boxing, they asked me, did I want to take the SportsCenter boxing beat?

Because Charlie wanted, he'd done it for years and I think he was focusing on baseball and other things. So they offered it to me. And I'm like, hell yeah. Do I get to go to Vegas every now and then?

Sure. And my next question was, do I get to wear a tuxedo? Because I wanted to wear a tuxedo on SportsCenter. You're old school.

You know? And they said, no, that's not required of you. I'm like, damn it. I wanted to wear a tuxedo.

And they're like, well, you can, but we're not going to pay for it. If you have a tuxedo, you want to wear it. If you have one. Because I always found it fascinating that boxing, the sweet science that people dressed up like a formal wear to watch two guys beat the crap out of each other in submission. Like you could potentially, if you have the wrong seat, get blood on your tux. Absolutely. On your cummerbund.

Good question. Which I'd probably last worn at the prom. My prom.

But I digress. So I went out and I did a piece. And that's where I first met Al Bernstein, sweetheart. And John Saracino, who was on, remember here? Yeah, USA Today. Yeah.

He was burned out. It was John Saracino, Bernstein and Charlie for all those years. But now it's me. Now it's me. And so I decided I'm going to add my own little spice. And I did a feature to be run on the Sunday morning sports center or the Saturday. Yeah, I think it was a Sunday morning sports center in advance of the fight. And my piece was going around Vegas in a red convertible, okay.

Looking for, I forget what I was looking for. I was just looking for Vegas, just like the best seat in the house or whatever. And so I arranged to see various Vegas acts. I even knocked on the door of like Siegfried and Roy and see if I could get Wayne Newton involved.

And I got a couple of people, the Blue Man Group, my first ever meeting with the Blue Man Group. And also David Cassidy was out there at the time performing. And I told that to Linda Cone, I was going to see David Cassidy.

She goes, oh my God, he's my favorite. Will you get an autograph? And instead I said, how about this? How about you give me an autograph picture of you for David Cassidy and I'll give that to him and I'll put it up on his mirror in his dressing room to make it look like he's such a huge fan of yours and we'll include it in the piece, which we did. It was a fun piece, like I ran into Al Bernstein, ran into Bernstein and Saraceno at the pool side. So it was a fun Vegas sort of... Eysenpalooza.

Yes. Just a taste of the town piece. And so I was live on the air on Sports Center.

I think it might've been that Saturday morning Sports Center that Jack was hosting. And I was so excited for it. I put all my heart and soul and it was a very creative piece and it was different. I wanted to bring my different take to this stuff.

Like, okay, I could be so locked in on Moore or Holofield II or have some fun with it. Decided to have some fun with it. Al Bernstein loved it. John Saraceno loved it.

They're like, go have fun. Fine, great. I did it. So I wrap around it live, woke up at the crack of dawn live, did it live. I led into it. And then coming out of the piece, I just gave a little bit of information about the fight that night. And Jack Edwards goes, I heard it in my earpiece, he goes, thanks, Rich.

We look forward to the fight. Like you could tell he was frowning upon my use of this time in such a frivolous manner. That was definitely the last time I ever spoke to him.

And I'm like a 27, 28 year old kid and it's just like, you know what, the number of times in my career I have not approved of whatever management approved for me, you know, I would never do that on the air to somebody. I feel better getting that off my chest. I want you to remember that.

This is straight truth. I've got to take a break because we're up against it, Radio Edge. Thank you. We'll take a break.

We'll hit more on this in a minute if you want. I'm sharing today, man. I'm out of the door.

This is great. Back here on the Rich Eisen show, just showed a little bit of Elsie, the great Linda Cone. We got to get her back in here.

I'll reach out to her at the end of the show. Hey Chris Brockman. Hey Rich Eisen. Hey bro. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something.

Fired up. Do you know the copycat league, if you were a copycat league, just like every successful team would be in a copycat league in the NBA, one thing I would want to copy is the way that the Golden State Warriors do it, which is identify your stars. Keep your stars, draft smartly, get the coach that knows how to put it all together.

And if you're so lucky, have owners, members, governors who say, screw it, get who you need and we'll spend the money. We'll go over whatever tax that might be. Looks like your Celtics are doing that brother.

We're doing it. Brad has the authority to spend and make moves. What just happened?

What just happened today? Malcolm Brogdon going to the Celtics for Daniel Tice, Aaron Neesmith and a 23 first rounder. How many times have the Celtics gotten rid of Daniel Tice? He'll be back soon.

He's like, Daniel Tice is the Brian Hoyer of the Celtics. They can't quit him. He'll be back. He'll be back. He'll be back.

That's pretty funny. Brogdon's three years left on his contract, according to our friend Bobby Marks from the Wal-Mart leader. I'll call him a friend.

I don't think I've ever met him, but that's a very Hollywood thing to do. Yeah, about 22 mil each year, three years left. That's not, that's a chunk of change, man.

That's quote unquote, not bad when you're seeing what the top of them, but that's some serious money you have to spend. But for a guy, you know, who can fill it up, he can get you 20 a game, he can get eight. Problem is he's been injured, missed 46 games last year, missed 26 a year before. So you know, in Indiana, it didn't go as, as hope, but he was really good for Milwaukee. Pal, to take a team that's two wins shy of winning it all and add Gollinari and this kid.

And didn't really have to give up any rotational guys. And everyone else is just going to be better. The fact that Tatum's not playing Olympic basketball, he won't run out of gas, hopefully for you. Jalen Brown's going to get better. I'm telling you, time Lord. I'm excited. Robert Williams. He's going to be so good. Our friends at FanDuel who took TJ's idea the other day, they now have Boston as the favorite to win the title next year.

Whoa. I don't know if I can really listen to them. We haven't seen what the Sixers are doing yet. Not yet. They haven't done anything. No, no, no. That's because they got to take care of the hardened piece first and we'll see what happens after that.

You can't say we haven't done anything. The hardened piece and then we'll see what happens after that. Oh boy. I like that signing, Pal. Hour three coming up next. It's for you.

844-204 Rich. Yeah, it's a nice move. Number to dial. So we'll just, you know, might as well just say it. Look, Dan Patrick calls it sampling, right?

Sampling. We all do it. You see somebody else does an idea, you take it, whatever. But TJ, have you heard anybody do a twist on the Mount Rushmore stuff like you just did?

Like instead of naming the four Mount Rushmore of every team in the NFL, you're like, we're just going to name one. Make it hard. And you say, I will do it. I will take the heat.

I will take the slings and the arrows. I will do it. And you did it. I did it. And it was great.

I took it. And we did it by division. So we stretched it out. Over a week. We stretched it out for over eight different shows. Yeah. Thank you. Good for us. Good for us.

And then- Russ, great gig. You go on Twitter. You go on Twitter. You saw FanDuel did it themselves.

Each NFL team's GOAT. And I was like, hmm. Interesting idea. That's a great idea. It was a great idea. What would you change here? And you know, I think that's a rhetorical question. They would like to have engagement. The answer from us and the Rich Eisen Show would be, what would you have changed here?

Your own ideas would be nice. A little hat tip Rich Eisen Show. H slash T. I'm working hard over here.

Is that tough? H slash T. Not hard. It's literally like- A hat tip. A hat tip. It's so easy to do a hat tip.

14 characters. Because that was too- A hat tip. You'd see professional players on the PGA Tour or the Live Tour.

Any tour. Whenever you- Golf clap. The hat tip. You know what they do sometimes? They don't even tip.

They just touch the brim. Yeah. That's it. You know, yesterday, guys, I told you that I wasn't interested because sometimes we do sample from other- Do you sample? But now that the more I think about it, this was too specific. This was too on the nose. You weren't doing GOAT. It's okay.

Then I do GOATs and all of a sudden, now you do a GOAT. They bet my style. It's okay. They bet. I have somebody who's insanely popular in this talk space. Oh, wait a minute.

They do. He's very popular. That's all right. Where's our backpacks, TJ? I bet.

Chris and I look to Rich all the time. You can get a backpack. You can get a backpack. You know what you can get a backpack? Target.

Or charity golf events. Chris, just think if Rich knew anything about- You got a backpack? I got a new one. What was in it though? What was in it? What was in it? Money for me. Not even like a full sleeve of golf balls. It was two golf balls.

You got nothing in like it. Hour three coming up. 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 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.