REShow: Scott Van Pelt - Hour 3

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Upgrade today by calling 877-ASK-DELL, that's 877-ASK-DELL, to save up to 48% on our latest technology. As a host of a show like this. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

The magic four words. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I told you so. October 19th is when I told you so. The Rich Eisen Show.

And I said the Golden State Warriors were going to win the NBA championship this year. Earlier on the show, Jets head coach Robert Sala, Raiders tight end Darren Waller. Coming up, SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt.

Plus, your phone calls and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show here on this Monday of draft week. It's NBA draft week, by the way. Jay Bilas, our friend from the worldwide leader in sports is going to join us on Wednesday to help preview the Thursday night NBA draft. And already there's a lot of rumors flying around in the NBA Twitter verse about what moves can be made in advance of the draft potentially. Or the new league year beginning with Kyrie Irving.

Could he be on the move? We had that conversation at the top of our show. If you missed that. Or if you missed Robert Sala of the New York Jets or Darren Waller of the Las Vegas Raiders, there is our YouTube stream. YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show.

We have yet to really dive into the United States Open and what went down in Brookline, Massachusetts. And as soon as that ended, I interrupted the father's day of this man and said I would like you to call him to my show. And he said okay because he is Scott Van Pelt, the magical Van Pesey back here on the Rich Eisen Show on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line. How are you, dude, Scott? I'm well. I'm well.

It didn't interrupt anything. I was just enjoying Father's Day as I trust and hope you did and all the dads out there. Always good to visit with you and here we are. I discussed it earlier in the program, Scott. And it's rife.

It's rife. It's a third rail conversation in a way. The difference between Mother's Day and Father's Day and how we try to make Mother's Day as special as possible. You know, dressing up or going out to do something particularly special for that day. It's what moms deserve. And that's, you know, not the way it goes on Father's Day.

And it's got nothing to do other than the fact that most fathers for Father's Day just want to be left alone. And I'm wondering if you agree with that assessment, Scott. Well, Rich, we're down at the beach. And I'm going to give him a pop. There's a place down in a little beach town called Bethany Beach, Delaware. It's called the Sandy Pony and they make delicious donuts. And when we came down, we got some Sandy Pony donuts. And on Father's Day when I woke up, I thought, hey, maybe some donuts.

Went up and there was a two-day-old Sandy Pony donut that was left over that one of the kids had taken half a bite out of waiting for dad. That's what I had. And it's great, right? It was great. I'm sure it was delicious and it was great, right?

No, I mean, listen, I ate it and I was happy to have it. But I mean, there was no brunch. There was no brunch. There was nobody putting on a fancy outfit and going to brunch, OK?

None of that. No, but you wouldn't have wanted that anyway, though, I imagine. Correct.

Correct. All I wanted at some point was to sit and watch Brookline, which I was afforded that time. And it was a lovely day. That's Father's Day. I mean, in a nutshell, let's watch some golf.

Daddy's got the remote. Everybody just, you know, chill. Yeah, that's it. It was actually an incredible beautiful day at the beach. Everybody was having a fun time.

No, it was it was that that is and that is and I think you're right. I think pops don't you know, nobody needs to turn up a big fuss over us. I got some lovely cards, lovely sentiments, and I got to spend it with my family. So in all in all seriousness, it was a great day. And I love to hear that, Scott. So I'm glad I wasn't interrupting too much to have you come on and offer your two cents on the U.S. Open and how it all wrapped up. I'll give you the floor on that and what we'll remember and what was significant for you.

I thought Brookline was fantastic. It's it's it's interesting in this. God, when you say it out loud, you're like, what?

What are we doing? I mean, it's twenty five years I've been covering major championship golf, which means I've been to most of them, you know, more than once in many occasions. Brookline just hasn't had any majors and I've never been there. So watching it, it's blind to me and it's not our event anymore.

It's now an NBC property again. And so it's fine and fun to watch them do the heavy lifting and watch it. But you're when you're there at an event, you have a much better sense of it, obviously, because you've been out walking the golf course. But I thought it was I thought it was a fantastic venue.

It was clearly hard as hell. You you you tend to identify. You tend to look at it a major and say, who does it identify at the end of a week?

And there were some interesting names Thursday and Friday. But come Sunday, it's all heavyweights. And even though Fitzpatrick hadn't won yet, he's top 20 in the world.

Even those Alatoras hasn't won yet. He's got like six top tens in his 10 major championship starts. And he misses by a shot. And Scottie Scheffler, who's the world's number one, who won the Masters.

He misses by a shot. And all the other guys that are right behind it are, you know, a bunch of major championship winners. And it felt like the course, as the saying in the U.S. Open goes, identified a great champion. And, you know, the shot Fitzpatrick hit on on 18, you know, from the bunker, you got to hit a big boy shot. And when the time required it, he absolutely delivered. So at the end of it, it was it was proper U.S. Open golf fun, even though it was a first time champion, certainly a worthy winner. And, you know, I thought it was a fun watch all the way around. Do you think Fitzpatrick's shot out of the bunker is going to be up there, like, say, with the Corey Paven, Shinnecock, Mashi or something like that?

Or are you going to be talking about this years from now, do you think? That's the way Alatoras framed it. I mean, and he, you know, if you've watched, he went over and eyeballed it. Because, I mean, he had a great drive and he's got a, you know, at that point, you're down one.

You want to know what are we looking at here? So he went over and took a look. And he called it a one in 20 shot that Fitzpatrick hit. He, you know, he said it was pretty ballsy and it certainly was. And I mean, I think we tend to do this a lot in sports. You and I talked about this.

Whatever. You and I talk on a Monday after what happens Sunday and it's fresh and you tend to think this will be a forever shot. I don't know if it's that, but I know that in golf circles people will remember at that moment and say, here's a guy that had never won, had a one shot lead and had to step up and hit it.

And he hit it to 15, 20 feet. So it's worthy of being discussed. I just, I don't know if history will remember it the way it does some others. Scott Van Pelt here on the Rich Eisen Show. And I know you mentioned how the course in Brookline had not had a major, but it had a Ryder Cup. I went to it. I was on SportsCenter at the time and it was a quick drive up there. Did you see Justin Leonard wearing, I guess, the zip up version of that awful shirt that those guys wore for the United States side?

Did you see that? Golfs had some poor outfits. I know. Can we just call it what it is?

I mean, there have been some poor outfits through the years. And that was, I mean, I guess it was meant to feel like the wall of a old locker room or something. I don't know what that was.

That was a truly insane day. And, you know, you were there. So as Boomer, I was there. He was there.

I was not. But I mean, you know, the shot Leonard hits, a forever shot, you know, and they'll talk. I mean, there was a great video of Justin Leonard, excuse me, of Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler dropping a ball during the practice round when Leonard was out walking around, dropping it, saying, let's do, you know, hit the shot. That's one of those spots on the green where you're like, that's where that dude hit that shot. Did then a European come out and complain about everybody trampling on their line?

Did that happen as well? They weren't wrong. That wasn't, that game wasn't over. You know, we definitely don't storm the field before the game's over. I mean, it was a putt that needed to be hit. That wasn't the, that wasn't everyone's best moment.

I understand why they lost the line, but, you know. I remember. I don't know. Was Olafalba going to make the putt? I don't know. It's been 27 years.

Probably time to move on. Oh, they were so angry about that. I just remember that.

And I guess, you know, we always in our business, Scott Van Pelt, we always try to pull on strands to make something, you know, I guess a bookend or connected in some way, shape or form. I find it interesting that this is the side of that Ryder Cup. And now we're going to have to wonder, I know the President's Cup is affected by the New World Order in golf. But who the hell knows with Ryder Cup what things are going to look like from now on with the live tour.

And now everybody, I guess, focuses on Oregon this week. How do you think the live tour has crashed the party? Scott, I haven't asked your two cents on that subject yet. What I, here's, here's what, here's where I land with it a couple of weeks in, at least my experiences with this. Because I've covered golf for a long time, whether it's you or somebody that I see out and about that, you know, oh, hey, you cover golf or whatever. What do you think of live?

Lots of people ask me about it and I immediately ask them in return, well, did you watch any of the first one? Nope. But you know that Charles Schwartz will want a pot full of money. Yeah. Okay. Well, how long is that interesting to people that so-and-so is going to win a ton of money in Oregon? I don't, I, what's the, what's the sell here?

Like what's the, I mean, cause if you're hitting me with, oh, it's 54 hole shotgun. Well, that, that doesn't hold a lot of interest to me. Okay. And then the team concept, no one can really articulate in a way that anyone knows or cares. So I think what it is, is a topic of conversation for guys like you and me and people in our, in our business. It's certainly, you know, a lot of Twitter chatter, but then are people consuming it?

Ultimately, that's the part I don't, no one said, oh yeah, I watched every second of it. So I don't know, maybe the fact that it's Stateside at a course where, speaking of, I was there, Tiger won an amateur at Pumpkin Ridge in 96. And it's, it's a cool golf course, so if people are interested, maybe they'll watch. I don't know.

I just, it feels like something to talk a lot about, but I don't know who's paying attention to the actual product. And that's at some point a problem. Well, I guess the tipping point will be if some of the events on the PGA Tour that would normally be star-studded is not as much, because they're not there because they've been suspended for, for, for playing a couple of events.

You're spot on. But, and, and the big, I think that's an issue. And if you end up with two tours that, and that's never happened with football and it never will, where, you know, there's, you know, way back in the day, like the USFL, a couple, some guys win or whatever. But if, if you end up with two tours that are sort of split down the middle and you're half and half, well then the sport is, is crushed by that because then your attention's diverted and no event has a great field. But what'll happen, what, what, the, the tipping point really will be what happens with majors.

Because these guys were all allowed to play this week. If, if there's some sort of change where the Masters or the RNA that runs the Open Championship with the PGA of America, or the USGA says, look, we're not going to have you guys because you don't have enough official World Golf ranking points, because you only earn those for events that are 72 holes, well then that'll be the issue. And maybe if you're Dustin Johnson and you got 150, you're like, I want a couple, I don't care. But I think they do care.

So that'll be, that'll be the interesting part, question that isn't answered until we get to that point. We had the author, Alan Shipnuck, on the other day, Scott Van Pelt, and I asked him about the majors and, you know, would they weigh in on this, and he said they want no part of it. They just want to run their event, stay out of it, there's no reason to call any more attention to it, and just, he doesn't think that the RNA or the green jackets are going to come to the PGA Tour's cavalry help.

I agree, Rich, because it's not their job. And the tricky thing is, there are already five Master Champs, I believe, if I count them correctly, with Reed, Sergio, Phil, Dustin Johnson, Charles Schwartzl, who play on the Live Tour. That already, Masters already has the smallest field to begin with. So, you want the Masters to step in and say, five of our past champions, all of whom still compete, can't compete, and then however many other guys that are part of that field that are, you know, that are draws, Louis Oosthuisen, who's been close to winning here on a number of occasions, among others, they don't play, when all of a sudden our field's down to like 80 guys or something? I mean, you know, that's not for them necessarily, I can't imagine them doing that. And then, do they want to be the precedent-setters, you know, that others follow?

I don't, it's a, I'm with Alan on that. I think it's going to be, everyone's looking around at somebody else saying, you be the lead blocker on this one. Well, I guess then the answer is, where does it go from here, Scott Van Pelt? And the general sense is, like, if you're the PGA Tour, do you just say, uncle, okay, let's sit down and we'll talk, and merge, and the live events are played during the football months, and like, you take, you absorb that, you absorb that, you know, the PGA Tour doesn't really want to go up against the NFL and college football anyway, so what do you think about that? Listen, there's some, if the PGA Tour were a bit more malleable about how it went about things to begin with, and were more proactive, then I don't think it would have got to this point, but they weren't, and I think they banked on loyalty just for the sake of loyalty, and at some point, you know, your loyalty is for sale, when you get to these types of numbers, and that's what, and that happens, so I can't imagine them giving up immediately, and just saying, I don't know how to hold it, but then, you know, it's a reasonable question to ask, because I believe Jim Nance did, Commissioner Monahan, so you gave a waiver to people to play in it, it's a Saudi Arabian event, so why won't, it has the same backers, why this?

I don't know, man, I just feel like there's so much conversation, and I get it, I just, I don't know who's interested in it, other than us talking about it. Well, we peeked in on it, you know what I mean, we peeked in on it, and the graphics looked like, you know, the graphics for the team graphics looked like something out of those Nickelodeon games, like I don't know what those graphics were for the teams, I wasn't interested in it at all, you know, I mean, the broadcast, I know people who were putting the broadcast on it, it looked professional quality, but the golf wasn't compelling, and I guess that might be the PGA, it's just like, wait it out, you know, who's going to be paying attention to tournament five on the live tour, right? And then the PGA tour got absolutely, I mean, it was magic for them to go out and have the Canadian Open, with a glamour group in Thomas, McElroy, and Finau all go out and play like geniuses in Canada, it was a circus, it felt like all of Canada was out there just going berserk, and they all played great, and they got McElroy basically saying, yeah, I got one more than somebody else, and it was clear, whether he chose to be or not, he's now kind of, you know, Jon Snow in Game of Thrones throwing out his sword, in this case, maybe he's got the bigger army, but nevertheless, it feels like Rory's front and center out there saying, follow me. It could do worse, the PGA tour could do far worse than an accomplished, thoughtful, articulate guy that's not afraid to talk a little crap. So does that make Norman a wildling, or the Night King?

What does that make? That I don't know, time will tell, I mean, but we found out that he had the Achilles heel, didn't he? He seemed so scary, and then all at once he shattered, didn't he? Well I mean, does that mean staring at Alan Shipnuck, by the way? I mean, like, is that what you're talking about? Yeah, that was, how about that? I mean, that whole first week was quite, you know, I mean, again, I don't know if it played out in our little media echo chamber, or if the real world was really out there, you know, at the trough feeding.

That's the part in our business that I never really, you try to be clever and figure out from a treetops view, but it's hard when you're down there in the middle of it, you know, you're just trying to find some room in the mosh pit and, you know, go with what you think people are interested in. It certainly has been, like, we've talked about it, I know you have, everybody has, so we'll see if people are watching that, ultimately that'll be the thing. So is St. Andrews next for you, or are you going? Not for me, it's such a bummer, we used to have both the Opens, and, you know, it sort of was hot potato with the rights for these events, this becomes real boring, but we don't have either of the Opens any longer, so I just watch everybody else work.

Our major championship season is done from a TV side. Well, you know what, Slummin' It in Butler Cabin is a pretty place to do that, Scott. Yeah, no one's complaining, no one's complaining, I just, I'm happy to get to do what I get to do, and what I get to do from St. Andrews this year's watch. You're awesome at it, Scott, I love watching you on SportsCenter, I feel like I'm watching old school.

By the way, I had Kilborn here for a full hour on Friday. I saw that, I saw that, he gave you the Farina story about the salmon, how about Kilby? He refuses to age, it's off-putting to me. My favorite thing is just in the middle of a conversation, he comments on how his pants look on the screen, like literally half the time he and I are locking eyes having a conversation, the other time he literally is checking himself out on the monitor.

Sure he is, but he does it, he's mastered the art of being just obnoxiously self-absorbed, but in a charming way, it's just the rarest thing in the world, I don't know how he does it. He's Kilby, he's Lord Kilby, it's leadership as he likes to say, but hey, love watching you as always, sorry I didn't run into you at the Emmys, but that was another well-deserved nod for you, sir. One of these days one of us is going to stand up there, or not, it's fine. All good. Take care of yourself, enjoy the three-day-old donut that's still left in your world.

Happy Father's Day, America! That's it, ladies and gentlemen. Scott Van Pelt, everybody, check him out on the Midnight Sports Center. Stanley Cup Final, Game 3 tonight, so I'm certain he will be on the year after that. Where the Tampa Bay Lightning once again needing a dub. I think the Avalanche just scored again. 7-0. From the other day, scored again. Carlos kicked the extra point. But that happened last round.

I went Rich Carlos, by the way. But that happened last round, the Rangers went up 2-0 in Tampa, and they went four straight, so tonight should be fun. Yes, so Scott will be on his show, no doubt, after Game 3 of tonight's Stanley Cup Final. If we had more time, I would have asked him the difference between finals and final, but a man gave me 20 minutes anyway, so it was fun to have him. All right, we have a couple phone calls, we will take them, and overreaction Monday, we haven't gotten to that yet. Hey!

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Find your Rogue ST Driver at CallawayGolf.com slash go Rogue. Randy in Twin Cities, Minnesota has been hanging on. What's up, Randy? Good afternoon, Rich. How are you, sir? What's going on? Hey, got a comment for you and I have a question for you.

Alrighty. I do believe while I am walking God's green earth and I'm 52 years old that the live tour, if they survive and make it, will never have a golf shot that was hit out of the bunker on 18 or a putt that Will Salatoris had to make the playoff. They will never have that intangible importance on any shot they hit over there for a long, long time. That stuff is years in the making, and that's the biggest difference, I believe, between, well, other than the money, I guess, between the live tour and the PGA tour.

They just don't have that intangible, those memories that last forever and ever and ever at this point. I know they're brand new. Next question, the question I have for you, Rich, if you had the opportunity to become a member of the country club, is that the kind of golf course you want to play week in and week out? Look, the setup or what? I mean, I played, God, the congressional golf club a week before the US Open years ago. I got on congressional and it was, they already had like the stands set up on fairways and around greens. Like that's how close to the open that I got out there and played it. And they had, they had yet to cut the grass for the open.

They were still letting it grow. So I played in conditions worse than the US Open. I shot, I think, a 125. How many golf balls? No, but I part, a whole box of them. I mean, because I was, I was finding golf balls stepping on them.

OK. And they weren't even mine. It was golf balls that members just said, screw it, I'm done looking for it. You know, but I part, I part 17, which I believe got turned into 18 years later. It's that one, the island green.

I think it was 17 at the time, but it's now 18. It's not, it's not an island. It's a peninsula at the end of the long fairway. I part it because I snap hooked my drive off the top row of the stands that were there. And I got a kick into the middle of the fairway.

And I played my golf ball up and down from there in three with a huge slice of green paint on the side of the golf ball, because I took the paint, the fresh paint off of the stanchion. That's I mean, so no, I wouldn't want to play in those conditions ever. But the course is beautiful. I'm not really a Gorse type guy. I'm just not. I'm not a links course type dude, you know, but but the conditions, I don't want any piece of that.

What do you, what do you, so is that what you're asking? Playing in those conditions? I mean, I was just curious what your thoughts are on that. And that course, it seems like visually on TV was, you know, there's not a whole lot of real estate there. You didn't see fairways that were lined with fans down both sides. I kind of like the tight quarters. I like the age of the golf course. And I think that it was. Oh, I do love history like that.

I love the history of that place. No doubt about it. Thanks for the call, brother. Be well. Call again.

It was a good week for the course. I mean, it played great. That's what you want. You want a U.S. Open. You don't want minus 15 winning it. Kind of like at Augusta.

I want a tight. You know where if you get and you make a double, you're out. Who is the guy who threw his putter? Did you see that? Oh, no, I missed that. Oh, yeah. I mean, he's like, hold on a minute. I mean, can't lie. Had that fried egg on near the end yesterday.

I mean, it was a it was fun to watch. Grayson Murray, triple bogey took his putter and just hopped it. Yeah.

Just threw it. I mean, and I also saw a video in the morning while waiting for my breakfast in bed for Father's Day. I saw a video of somebody had the the grounds crew for the course, like pumped up for the final day before they went out there. I guess they went through their pre U.S. Open round four meetings and they were like, it looked like 100 people in a room and they were jumping up and down and celebrating.

And somebody tweeted that out saying, I'm taking the course today. You know. But it looked beautiful. I mean, even the you know, like the grass hanging over the side of of the bunker that Fitzpatrick hit out of.

It was visually striking. You know, and I hope they get another tournament there. That would be great. Yeah. That's a lot of fun. Way too long. They should be in the U.S. Open mix. I mean, every 10 years. Let's go.

I'm sure there's tons of courses out there, too. Sure. So let's get to it. It's a Monday, so it's time for overreaction Monday right here on The Rich Eisen Show.

Hit it, please. Go. That was terrible. That was crap.

That was garbage. This place sucks. Overreaction Mondays. All right, Christopher, what's on your mind over there? Just just scanning the headlines here over the weekend for some NFL and a couple NBA here.

First up, we kind of talked about it last hour. Deshaun Watson not going to play football this year. Yeah, I don't think that's an overreaction at all. I mean, the league is telegraphing a move through The Washington Post, and I know the Players Association telegraphed their move and how they're going to handle a yearlong suspension. But, you know, what court of public opinion is going to sit out there and say, Deshaun Watson sitting out a year when Calvin Ridley's sitting out a year for what he did, that it's beyond the pale. Deshaun Watson should be playing.

Honestly. Like I said, if if Watson made a better case for himself when he opens his mouth, I'd even say the court of public opinion can be swayed even with the over. I don't even.

I mean, the overwhelming number of cases that just mount and mount and mount and stay open and reporting like Jenny Vrentis, his story from The New York Times that everybody should seek out. I honestly don't know how Deshaun Watson is going to play football this year. I just don't know. It's entirely possible that the league doesn't suspend him for the full year. You know, it might be even worse. It's just like let them have the Browns have like have to play like the last three games of the year with him and see what they do with that. See what they do with that. Have him play meaningless games or yeah.

Yeah. Make it like 13 games, you know, so maybe they're playing awesome. And then they know it's just I don't know, it might even be worse.

That might even be worse. And let him hang over them for the whole year. I mean, the Browns, I suppose.

What else you got over there? OK, TJ, you know, we love most out of our athletes a lot pettiness. Oh, yeah.

Pettiness. OK. You see what Patrick Mahone said, guys? He said that Marquez Valdes Scantlings done a great job winning the offense. This coming after he was shocked at the comments by Tyree Kill from last week. So MVS more touchdowns this year than Tyree Kill. Oh, no, he's the home's going to go out of his way to just target MVS all the time in the red zone.

I don't know about that. So he outscores Tyree. I mean, Juju's there, too, so I'll say that's an overreaction. I like what you're thinking. I like the pettiness that you say. It's not petty. I mean, it's petty. Come on.

It's not. I mean, on the scale of petty, it might be Bryce. All right. I don't know. Bryce.

Should we have different scales of pettiness? Yes. Richard is the king. Well, I feel like.

Go ahead. It goes Richard, Kyle, Bryce. Richard, Kyle, and Bryce. Tom.

It's sort of like different levels of petty. See, I think Tom is very high up there with Richard. Richard is the king. So it goes Richard, Tom, Kyle, Bryce.

I would like to throw Draymond in there. I know he's technically not a petty, but if we're going to have a petty unless you've got to throw- No, no. Lori. Lori Petty's on the list.

She's way at the bottom. This is great. I'm going to go with a petty scale. So it's Bryce, if there's petty. Because look, I mean, Mahomes knows that Tyreek's got to talk his guy up. You know? Great.

I'm going to talk my guy up and he's going to have 18 touchdowns. He didn't say that MVS has learned it faster than Tyreek picked it up, did he? Not yet. All right. I don't know.

Overreaction. Next up. All right. At least we workshopped a new petty scale system here on the Rich Eisen Show.

I'm very into the petty scale. Okay, great. I said recently one of the reasons he went to Denver, he wanted to be the winning franchise. Knew how to win. I'm going to say Russell Wilson, MVP finalist. He's never received a vote for most valuable player.

Now he's going to be in the mix. You know there's no such thing as a finalist, right? Well, they do.

The kind of they do now. Well, I mean- But awards, they have the three guys who are kind of up for it. Whoever get the most first place votes, right? Yeah. Russ is going to be one of those three guys.

Do they even... Yeah, I mean... So you're saying Russ is going to get an MVP vote this year? Sure. That's an overreaction.

Yeah, we'll put that. That's an overreaction. That's all I'm saying.

It's an overreaction. Again, I need to see what Russ... So Russ being an MVP finalist means what?

Denver wins a division or has a shot to win the division all year long, right? That they're in the mix. Yep, in the mix. In the mix all year long. All year long.

Yeah. And then- Home playoff game. And then he's got to throw what?

He's got to account for what? 35 touchdowns? Oh, no. You got to get to that 4-0 number.

Yeah, I'll pass on that one. I'll say that's an overreaction still. Denver's going to be a wild team to watch this year, man. A wild team to watch. Yeah, quite, yeah.

Very fascinating. Outside of week one, I don't really know what's going to happen. Can you put up the Denver schedule for a quick second? Let's just linger here. Let's just linger here. So you got Denver's... I mean, we know that what they're opening up against is Locke. It's whatever money you have, just put it on Denver. Are you really going to say that, huh?

Yes. Seattle's going to stink. And then home for Houston, home for San Francisco. Trey Lance, everybody.

How about this, man? He can't quit the NFC West. His first year in the AFC West, they play the NFC West. Unbelievable. Have we done the win-loss for this yet?

No. At Vegas, home for the Colts, at the Chargers, of course they have the Jets at home. My God. That was one of my worst second half viewing plays, was that AFC Championship game where Parcells and Vinny Testaverde went in. They were up at halftime and then- End of the season is crazy. Dave Meggett let the second half kick off, hit the ground, and they fumbled it and Denver came back in and won it.

Yeah, I mean- Look at the end of that. At Baltimore, KC, Arizona, at the Rams, at KC, home for- Well, I mean, it's just going to be tough. It'll be tough.

They're playing the NFC West and they have six incredibly tough games in their own division. What if Russ closes five and one? That's why I'm saying it's an overreaction that he's going to get an MVP vote for the first time in his career, but you never know with him. Let's ride, as he says famously. Matthew Stafford, guys, talking about how great Alan Robinson is picking up the offense. Oh, boy. I was going to say Rams offense, even better this year than last year.

How do you deny that? Cam Akers is going to be there healthy from- Even better. From jump? From jump?

Alan Robinson, it's going to be great when Odell shows up around Thanksgiving. Please. You still think so? I kind of don't know. Yes. I don't know.

Yes. How do they get him in? Why not? Shoot him in there. Why not?

Why not? Pay him $5 and then the rest will be a bonus. I don't know how he works, right? It's salary. It literally is a $5 salary. NFL, lowest, record lowest, $5. They're paying him one...

It's kind of like the Dukes. Here's your $5, Odell, and then suddenly the rest is paid in a signing bonus that's a $10 million sign. Didn't Odell take a lot of his money in Bitcoin last year, though?

So he did. He might not want to go that route. He might take actual cash. Yeah, he might take your hard-earned, cronky dollars this time around. It's just something he can fold. Yeah, my money don't jingle jingle.

It folds, and he might want some of that business. Oh, Taylor loves that song. You know, I thought that was Ringo Starr the whole time. It is not. But it's a British dude, right? It's a British dude, yes. Is Taylor's money folds?

It does not jiggle jiggle. What else you got over there? She loves that song. It's amazing.

I'm going the other way on this one. Lamar Jackson- You didn't think I knew that song, did you? I did not.

Thanks to my eight-year-old, I do. It's all over the reels. Yes. Lamar Jackson contract, okay? His money folds. Well, he doesn't have any right now. Oh, he's got it. It will, though. Non-issue, 40-plus touchdowns.

Knowing him, that's not an overreaction. Done. He had 43 as MVP season. Done. Done. I'll take it. I'll take it.

I have no idea. With him? You could go either way with this guy. With him?

No. With him, it'll be like all of us are freaking out about it. He's like, what are you freaking out about? I'm Lamar Jackson. What am I doing right now? Oh, I'm playing this team. I got it.

Yeah. I'll take it. I'll take that.

I'll take that every day of the week with him. Come on, man. You wouldn't? I have no idea.

TJ, would you? Right now. I have no idea what's going to happen with him this year.

Right now. Do you take this as an overreaction or overreacting? The overreaction is, in his mind, us to his contract, that he's not having. He probably thinks we're overreacting. Correct. A million percent, which is why with him, he'll just be in his own Lamar Jackson Zen zone and just- Yeah, Lamar's in a bubble of one.

Yeah, I know, right? He's not worried about whatever- Lamar's Zen zone? Lamar's Zen zone? Is that a- Lamar, be careful. That's tough to say 10 times fast. Lamar's Zen zone. Don't try it.

Just let a lead pipe-wielding professional, quarter century, handle it. Hold on. I got to write this. A couple NBA ones, guys. As I write down Lamar's Zen zone. Kyrie's coming to the Lakers, guaranteed. Guaranteed. He's coming to the Lakers. It's happening. Can't deny that. You can't say that's an overreaction, right?

If he doesn't, that means LeBron's like, yeah, pass. Take your tacos and take it somewhere else. No Taco Tuesday invite here. I don't know, man. Right? No?

You see he's working out with Kevin Love in New York. Did you see that? Yeah. Was he?

LeBron's touched a basketball. Oh, yeah. Did you see that? Was that one of those Chris Brickley videos?

Was that one of the- It was a video. I didn't actually see Kevin Love in the video. Oh, yeah.

I've seen some Kevin Love videos. But LeBron was putting in work. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

For sure. Oh, yeah. Maybe he's getting the whole gang back together.

J.R. Smith, the graduate. J.R.'s got to take a pause from his collegiate golf career. That's what I'm saying.

Yeah. I mean, if you're Kevin Love, man, you know you've got a few years left. Maybe you are trying to get out of Cleveland and maybe latch yourself on- But they're paying him so much money. Yeah, that's true. He's already got his ring. Come back here to Los Angeles. All right, last one.

Yeah, this is more my speed. Neither Kyrie, neither Durant, or LeBron ever winning another title ever again. It's over for these guys. The new league order has taken over. Let's go. NWO.

What do you think? That's going to be tough. Is Kyrie on the Lakers? It's going to be tough to say that- If these are the Lakers and Durant, Davis is helping. LeBron, Durant, and Kyrie go into Springfield one day with the same number of rings- Same number of rings.

They currently have on June 20th, 2022. Hey Rich, just remember, if you've seen it- No, no. I will take you over on that, right?

In a year or two, LeBron, one of those guys gets a ring and then your face is showing up on SportsCenter being the guy who says, Kevin Durant's never going to win again. You don't want that. And you don't think they'll have as a nuanced or old takes exposed, freezing cold takes or whatever, won't have the nuance to know that this is called an overreaction Monday segment?

No, because that's asking people to be rational and people aren't rational. As you know, I'm not afraid of old takes exposed, ever. Ever.

No. I say whatever I see here from the heart, I will never do a thing for a click, ever. That's my job. We'll handle that.

I'll say that's an overreaction, just because you just got to... In LeBron, you have to- It's LeBron, man. It's Durant.

Durant. I mean, plus- He's going to be by himself. Oh, by the way, do you know today's an anniversary? John?

No. Well, yeah, actually there's that. There's a couple anniversaries I want to hit when we come back right here on The Rich Eyes of Joe. But a good overreaction Monday, as always. I'd like to. Let's do it. Phone calls and more before we head out of Dodge, set up the rest of the week in a moment.

Back here, 844-204-RICH being the number to dial here on the program. It's great to have Mike Del Tufo here for a day. Thank you.

Mike. For a day. For a day. Well, we got you, right?

Yes. You're off the rest of this week. Because what are you doing the rest of this week? Setting up for the playoffs for the USFL this weekend. The USFL playoffs. And then the championship in two weeks.

Regular season is over. We're going to Canton, a place that we've been plenty of times. Oh, so that's where the game is? Both of them are in the Tom Benson Stadium. It's a great spot.

It's a very nice spot. Never mixed a game in there. I've mixed plenty of Hall of Fame in two weeks. Yes, you have. But it's going to be cool.

You have. Okay. We're going to Canton. We're going to Canton. Do you know who's in the playoffs?

Who's in the playoffs? Birmingham. Okay. I mean, Sammy had a think. I had a think. I got a think. No, no, you know what? Don't make him think. You can't think again. Birmingham and New Jersey.

Let him stay in his lane. I can't move. New Jersey and New Jersey's one.

Birmingham's two. Excuse me. You're locked in on what you're supposed to be doing. And all of your colleagues know that. Can you play Kevin Coogler, who's phenomenal on Westwood 1's Monday Night Football, when he sits in and does it. Kevin Coogler is a great announcer. Awesome guy. Could have been nicer to my son Coop when we stopped by and he was doing the Monday Night game in Arizona.

Rams and Cardinals. That playoff game, we watched him. Anyway, long story short is he gave you a shout out, right, on the broadcast? Yes. Yeah.

Go for it. That's a final game. Michael Del Tufo, our audio guru. Mikey D has had everything working for 10 straight weeks.

Really, if you have a secret, don't let it out on the sideline of a USFL game because Mike and his audio guys are going to pick it up. So the Blue 80 is you. Are you riding it?

Are you riding it? There's three of us that mix. There's three of us that mix. I do the main mix and there's two guys that were on site that do the player mics. And then obviously the crab dishes. But I'm the main guy.

I've got to blend it all together. And the guys that we're working with are amazing. A couple of the guys were off for the open.

So a couple of filling guys, but they're still everybody's group. I'm glad that you're giving your colleagues the credit that they deserve because that's what you're normally about except that one time when Kevin Harlan shouted out Jeff Walker of the Turner broadcast and you shook your head upon hearing his name. Fateful day on May 13th, 2019. Speaking of great Sixers moments, I heard this on the Dan Patrick show coming into work today.

The show that precedes ours on NBC Sports on Peacock and NBC Sports audio Sirius XM channel 85. Today's the one year anniversary of Ben Simmons passing up the bunny underneath against a yes. Didn't want to go to the line as Trey young was guarding him.

He could have just dunked it on him. It was one year ago today because as you remember last year, the season was pushed back. One year ago today is when the divorce began. There was one year ago today that Doc Rivers said when he was asked a question, can you win a championship with him? He said, I don't know.

I'd have been perfectly fine making it through this entire show. Not knowing that one year ago today and now he's on the Brooklyn Nets. He's on the Brooklyn Nets now and Kyrie might be departing and it could be Ben Simmons doing his thing with Kevin Durant. Here's what the Nets, here's what the Nets need to do. What do they need to trade Kyrie for Westbrook and whatever it takes. Yes.

Yeah. They need to go back to Philly for James Harden and then reunite the OKC guys and then run that back and see what happens. Should I, should I text that to Daryl Morey and see if it's possible?

Would you take Simmons back for Harden? I'm sure. He removed his finger on that chess piece the minute it was approved. What do you think? Of all the things that are impossible in this world, that ranks very, very highly on the list and there's a lot of things that are impossible. Let's see, reunion in Brooklyn? No. What do you think? All right. No. You don't think so? All right, whatever.

All right, I mean, let's see. Who else can we acquire? Let's see, Nick Collison's retired, right? He's not available. Derek Fisher's gone. Serge Ibaka, let's get him.

Oh yeah, there you go. He's third. We can get him. Reggie Jackson? Oh, well he's probably in the trade for Kyrie. No, no, no, no, no, we can get him. Unfortunately. Well if he goes to the Clippers.

Ah, you know what we could ask about this? Kendrick Perkins. Big perk. Let's get perk on. Let's get perk. Let's get perk on to see if he, if he, what do you, what do you do that? Where's Nazi Muhammad now? We can get him involved.

Great question. He was on that team. Nazi Muhammad. He's 44.

Nazi Muhammad. Get him? He's not playing anymore. Uh, oh, where's Thabo Cephalocha?

Cephalocha. Let's get the whole gang back together. Let's get the gang back together, but in Brooklyn.

But in Brooklyn. That's what I'm saying. Okay.

Yeah, it's not happening. I like your, I like your, I like your Moxie though. I don't. I like your Moxie.

I appreciate that. He doesn't like to, one year ago today, he doesn't want to turn back the clock. He doesn't want to turn back the clock and he doesn't want to turn the clock forward either.

I don't mind that. Just, I'm going to look back at the dark time. When are we going to hear about Harden's contract? When's that happening? Coming up.

It's coming up. He's opting in too. Oh, he's opting in.

End of this year. He has to. A million percent he's opting in. Yeah, I mean, why wouldn't he? He's going to get that 47.

You know, that's not, that's not the issue. It's what comes after that. $47 million. Why would he call Tom Brady and say, what about my, the TB12 system? Why, why would he? Because it's the contract after that. It's the contract after, what does he need?

Honey bomb. I mean, he doesn't need. 47 million. That's a Jon Rahm, right, that, that money the Saudis give me really won't affect the life my wife and I are leaving right now anyway. You weren't here last week when he said, when he said that, I said it was like that line that's a lot. So told, uh, Don Corleone, you know, $2 million is peanuts to you. Then to salute Don Corleone, I mean, Ram Corleone, I watched the Godfather this weekend. You did. Oh, I think after I, you know, watching the offer, got me into it. So I went back and then, and for the first time ever, start to finish, I've never watched it in one sitting before that I can remember.

Wow. So, and by the way, happy anniversary to your favorite movie was 46 years ago, 47 years ago. Jaws.

Jaws. I went this day with my father, I think. 47 years ago. Day one or day two.

I know I went one or two. And then, and then, and then it, so then it was the, uh, it's the 45th anniversary of the next time you went swimming in the ocean. Oh, please. Honestly. Yeah. That was, I think it was on our honeymoon where we don't, what Susie and I dove off the side of a boat somewhere and I'm, I'm like looking down, I'm snorkeling and she just grabbed me by the foot.

She laughed about it. Happy anniversary, sweetheart. 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 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.