REShow: Jeff Van Gundy- 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. Earlier on the show, author Alan Shipnot, Box Sports NFL analyst Michael Vick. Still to come, ESPN NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy.

Plus, your phone calls and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Deshaun Watson spoke today, we have the sound bites, they're coming. And same with Brooks Koepka talking about why he's not joining the live tour and won't. And Jon Rahm had some interesting comments about all that as the US Open has gotten underway, or at least a week as the US Open begins on Thursday in Boston, Massachusetts.

Won't that be interesting? As the first round of the US Open goes down on the same day as game six in Boston, Massachusetts. Lots going on and joining us to kick off hour number three on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line. Matt, I love listening to Breen and Mark Jackson and this guy. It is just a great listen, it's a lot of fun, I become smarter.

And boy, do I love it when he just absolutely lays into floppers because that is the way I feel as well. On the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line, the great Jeff Van Gundy of the Worldwide Leader in Sports joining us now from the East Coast. How you doing, Jeff? Doing well, how's everything?

I'm better for talking to you. Thank you so much for joining on a busy day and obviously busy travel schedule. What do you think of game five? What's your impressions now that we're a few hours removed from it?

Jeff? Well, I think for the Warriors to win a game where Curry shot the ball so poorly and to win and win easily down the stretch is remarkable. I think the last two wins by the Warriors have been, with their roster composition, as remarkable as I remember. I'm just so impressed with how they've played and how they've figured out ways to win really hard-fought games. I thought Boston was the better, more talented team from the start and right now I look very wrong.

Well, I mean, you could still be right. It just seems that there's too many turnovers again. And we saw that again last night from Boston. How does one fix that? Obviously, Coach Yudoka knows what's up and has been very straightforward with his team.

But how does one fix such an issue? Well, if you want low turnover games, you're going to have to be intelligent in the way you attack the defense. And you're going to have to make sure that you're eliminating the home run plays and the lack of fundamental plays. Because there's going to be mistakes in the game and you're going to have some turnovers.

But you've got to try to eliminate the fundamental ones of playing in a crowd. And then the home run passing plays are really problematic because they lead to steals and then open court situations. And to me, that's where Boston has a lot of answers for the Warriors in the half court. But in the full court, in the open court, they just have such good shooting and skill.

It's going to be hard for them to get those type of stops. So right now for Boston, their best defense is a really sound offense. And they just haven't been able to limit their turnovers enough to keep themselves to win in these last two. And the two games they've won in this series, they've had 12 turnovers. And the other three, they've had high, high turnovers.

Jeff Angundi joining us here post game five on the Rich Eisen Show. And Wiggins has become a revelation. I mean, and the fact that his presence there, interestingly enough, can be traced back to the sign and trade away of Durant. And now he's providing that fourth wheel. Obviously, nobody's Durant. He's a unicorn in his in his self. But with Curry and Clay now back in the mix and Draymond, Wiggins is providing that crucial fourth wheel for this team, certainly over the last two games.

I'm wondering what you've seen from your from your seat, Jeff. Well, he's been their best wing defender and, you know, he didn't make jump shots last night. I've missed all six threes, I believe. But he is attacking the basket and he's being opportunistic offensively, playing off the skill level of the other players. And defensively, he's really done a fantastic job. And the hardest part for players like Wiggins is to find a level of consistency that you can do this night after night. So I felt like after Wiggins played terrific Game four, he may be in for a lesser performance in Game five. But he answered the the bell and he played, you know, he was the best warrior on the floor.

It wasn't even close. And in this series, he's been the second best warrior player. And that hasn't been close.

So it looks like a terrific trade. And because of Wiggins and Curry, they're primed to be in position to win a championship. So you have a front row seat to what appears to be look, it's intense and all NBA finals are this just in. But it seems to be a lot of chirping towards the officiating. And you've got a front row seat and the Celtics last night seemed to lose their focus. There's no question about it in the fourth quarter. Am I picking up something from sitting on the couch that doesn't exist? But what can you tell me?

Jeff, I would think I really do think that. The officiating. First of all, I have no problem with people scrutinizing officiating. They're out there just like the teams. They have a huge impact on who wins and who loses. They're all highly compensated.

They're the tops in their profession. So I think it's fair game to to scrutinize them. But I do believe that teams and our league as a whole have allowed far too much confrontational and aggressive conversations. I do not remember like walking onto the court and holding a conference at midcourt time after time. Like it's happening almost every time out.

And I think for the Celtics last night. I think what they have to do is really ask themselves, does our constant. Complaining discussion, however you want to term it, does it give our ourselves our best chance to play our best game? And some guys can play very well running their mouth to the officials.

Other guys can be distracted very easily. And so I think it's incumbent on the Celtics to really look at how their their behavior is impacting their performance in their eyes. Maybe it isn't at all. Or maybe in as they study it, it's had a an unnecessary negative impact on how they played. But there's no doubt that you're picking up on something that's almost impossible to avoid. The every play complaints, the histrionics of throwing your arms up on every non call. And it's I think it's a bad look for the NBA as a whole. Well, I mean, and then sometimes when you do it all the time, it takes away from the moments where you're actually right.

And well, I, Rich, I agree with that. And it's the same thing. And you mentioned flopping.

Yeah. It's why I have no sympathy when floppers actually. Don't flop and don't get the benefit of the doubt, because if I'm a referee and you're trying to trick me instead of play the game.

I am going to be very leery of any contact because I know you're a known exaggerator and you're going to you're going to not get some calls that maybe you should have gotten just because. You've tried this trickeration on an nearly every play basis, so I have no sympathy. I have no sympathy for the chronic complainers, nor the chronic floppers who don't even get the calls that maybe they should get. Now, I know I'm talking about the defensive player of the year here, though, but do you think that's what happened last night when Clay had that wide open three? It sure looked like he extended to shove Marcus Smart. He goes down on the floor, slides damn near to the paint from the three point circle. And there's no call.

And Clay jars an open shot. Did that happen last night, do you think? I did not see the replay on that. So I didn't have it was right in front of us.

So I was blocked from the view of the extension, but I've had a lot of people like yourself say it was clearly the extension of the arm. And but I was privy to the time out. Marcus Smart very respectfully and politely asked the official. You know about that play, and he said you flopped and again because this isn't a Marcus Smart issue. It's an NBA issue. I thought for a while the NBA had done a good job cleaning up the flopping. They started to fine. I haven't seen a fine of a flop in ages, and I think flopping again is making a huge comeback into the league, and I think our players are very intelligent.

If it's not rewarded and it's punished, it will be eliminated. But if they get if they can sucker officials into calls, they're going to do it. So I think it's really important that the NBA, particularly at this high level of basketball, you play basketball. You don't try to trick the officials. Well, I guess and then you can't blame Marcus Smart if he did ask that of the officials and they're like you flopped. And then he gets called for an offensive foul moments later when Jordan Poole wasn't even touched.

I wouldn't blame him for losing his cool and something like that in that situation. And then, you know, sometimes I'm just wondering when coaches use their challenges. Sometimes there's challengeable moments in the second and third quarter and they hold it in their back pocket. Right. I'm wondering what your two cents are on something like that.

Jeff. I never coached in the challenge era, but I think from what I've seen and talked to coaches about, they're going to use it on points scored that they can either get a bucket. And particularly maybe a three point, you know, play or they can take, you know, points off. But I think a lot of guys like to try to hold it in case a star player later in the game gets a bad call. Just sort of like what Steve Kerr tried to do with Draymond Green, preventing him from getting his six. I think they try to hold on to that.

And I think, again, I think everybody would agree. Foul calls that don't lead to points should be reserved for the stars or high leverage situations. But I think most would agree if it involved points even early in the game, you take it because you don't know if you're ever going to get to a late use of the challenge. You may not use it. I don't think he may used his challenge last night.

So there are varying thoughts, but I think it always involves stars and points. Jeff Van Gundy here on the Rich Eisen Show. Before I let you go, Jeff, I made a mental note saying I've got to ask Jeff about this when I have him on tomorrow. I'm watching the end of the game. You just mentioned Draymond Green fouling out. And the graphic comes across the screen that Draymond Green's fouled out in three of five final games.

Last player to have such a thing happen during the NBA finals, it was Dale Davis of the 2000 Indiana Pacers. You mentioned that stat. Turning to Mark Jackson, I don't know if you did or not, but Mark had a big problem with it. You called those Pacers a dirty team. Well, when you're coaching a team of choir boys like we were in New York at that time, you take offense when the big bad bullies of the block, the Indiana Pacers, are always pushing, shoving, grabbing, holding. And, you know, like we followed the rules and we followed the spirit of the rules. Mark Jackson's Pacer team, you know, they were nasty and, you know, we tried to be above that, but, you know, sometimes we couldn't hold our tempers. I got to tell you, Jeff, as a Nick fan, remembering those times, I was applauding from my front row seat last night when you said that. The Davis brothers were overly physical, picking on Charles Oakley, and I didn't appreciate it. I loved it. When you said it and then Mark Jackson had a problem with it, and then the fact that you doubled down by throwing Antonio Davis onto the table in the mix as well at the same time, I was just laughing my ass off.

That was great. Just great television. Well, I'm glad I gave you some moments of levity, Rich, because I do remember those Pacer teams so fondly, seriously. Like just the Davises and Reggie and McKee, they competed so hard and were coached brilliantly by Larry Brown. And so, yeah, it was good times.

Absolutely. And that, you know, because it does kind of dovetail into the conversation you hear certainly on the family of networks at The Worldwide Leader about different eras and whether the current era would get, you know, their, you know, asses handed to them by the, like, aught Pacers. And I'm wondering, what do you think of that conversation, Jeff, as to whether the players today are, it's a softer league in a way in the NBA right now?

Well, first of all, I misspoke. I said Larry Brown. That was in the 94s. That was Larry Bird. Yes, correct.

Larry Legend. But I think this, you know, I'm looking out and TNT is doing a pregame show from right in front of where we broadcast before we go on. Right. And I see Isaiah Thomas. Right.

And I did. Thomas was like my first year in the NBA and I think it was eighty nine ninety. We played the Knicks. Stu Jackson was the head coach.

We played them in the second round of the playoffs after beating the Boston Celtics in a game five deciding game at Boston Garden. And he was absolutely murder. He was so good. But the game was so physical. And remember, they had Dennis Rodman as their starting three, I believe, at that time. Right. And no shooting on the floor. And the guy still got wherever he wanted. So you took a guy like Isaiah Thomas and you put him into the nonhandcheck era and the five out era and the amazing skill that our players have now.

And you put shooting around him. I guarantee you he'd be at his prime, a top five player now. Right. So great players like Thomas or these great competitors, they could play any time. But I really don't have a lot of I don't know, an appetite for comparing and contrasting eras. I you know, to me, comparison is the thief of joy because whatever you say, someone is going to feel diminished.

And I really I don't have like that, you know, necessity. But I know this. The best teams I ever coached or I ever was an assistant coach of, I believe, could play in any era because they had versatility. They could score, they could guard and they could adapt. And if you if you can adapt to different rules and different eras like Patrick Ewing, he was dominant. Then he'd be dominant. Now you say how he's going to guard the pick and roll. I say you didn't watch him in his prime because he could guard he could he could he could contain Stockton. He could contain Isaiah to the extent that anybody could, you know, some of the greatest point guards to ever play. So I just really I think greatness can transcend errors.

But I just don't have, you know, it in me to like try to diminish some era to prop up another. Jeff, I always appreciate the time and I'd love to have you back on one time, whether you're out here or not, just on the phone, just going down memory lane, just picking your brain on Riley, Pat and and and the rest of the those next years and your Houston years and just the league in general. And I love listening to your brother, too. I don't know how the hell anybody ever got a word in edgewise around your dinner table growing up, but I just really enjoy all of the Van Gundy's. I'll tell you how that happened, Rich.

Yes. We had to raise our hand and ask permission to talk about a different era. That was a be seen, but not heard era. Believe me. I bet, man. Well, again, have a great time with Game six. And truly, I'd love to have you back on maybe when when things aren't so busy. So thanks for the call. Okay.

Thank you. That's Jeff Van Gundy right here. By the way, how about him? He's calling these games on ABC. His brother is now part of the top crew, right? It's it's him, Harlan and and Reggie Miller, right? Weren't the weren't the three of them calling the the the the Western Conference finals?

I know stands on the on the top stands. Great, too. He's great. This should be like a crossover broadcast. Let's put the Van Gundy's together and see what they do together. I would watch a Van Gundy cast. A Van Gundy cast would be phenomenal.

Like if anything, like on Food Channel and any any type of way, just the right. Just a Van Gundy cast. How about how about a Van Gundy cast of like a bachelor finale? Yep.

Having these guys break down some pop culture thing that they're just surfed right into all of it. And I'm telling you, it made me laugh out loud because you just see that stat at the bottom of the screen, Dale Davis, and all of a sudden he goes dirty team. And Jackson Marks, like, what are you talking about?

What do you mean dirty? And then he doubles down like, yes, I'll throw Antonio Davis in there, too. I would say the Knicks, they were playing they were playing by the rules. Well, the fact that manhandled people like Charles Oakley, choir boys, the fact that Jeff Van Gundy said anyone on this planet picked on Charles Oakley was I love it. That was hilarious.

All right. So lots of sound bites to play for you folks over the last 39 minutes of this program. When we come back to Sean Watson's press conference, I have not heard any of these sound bites.

I will react to them, having watched them and heard them for the first time, like perhaps you will. That's next. And then Brooks Ketka, Jon Rahm on the live tour from the US Open.

Goes on dry, clean feel all day. Back here on the terrestrial radio outfit alongside everything going on in the sports world with NBC Sports on Peacock and also NBC Sports Audio Sirius XM Channel 85. Deshaun Watson has not spoken publicly since March 25th, his introductory press conference in Cleveland, where he was bestowed the best contract in the history of the NFL, most player friendly contract in the history of the NFL. All of his money guaranteed and also the first year of his contract is designed in such a way that if he is suspended, the amount of money that would be suspendable is minimal. Just one million of the forty five others, he's one million of the forty six total is is in a certain manner in his contract that would leave it open to being garnished. The rest of it.

Lee can't touch. He gets it. So it couldn't be more friendly and that would normally make a guy beam from ear to ear, but because of what's going on in his personal life, the introductory press conference of Deshaun Watson looked like a funeral. I think that was my comment when when we were on the air live in the crazy hell going on month of March. Hasn't spoken since then. Since then, though, details of his depositions in the civil suits that have been filed against him have come out. There's a New York Times story that came out as well last week.

Two more accusers are coming. There was an HBO piece on real sports on all of this that happened on the night of the Emmy Awards. And we read about it that night and heard about it that night.

And apparently other women were at home watching it. And a twenty fourth civil suit came out. A civil suit came out based on, I guess, somebody who not even his own attorneys knew about. That was their reaction to her civil suit. The details in her civil suit, the twenty fourth that came, it was filed apparently because the woman had watched real sports and said, I've got to speak out now.

And the details in that suit I called vile because they are, if true, vile. So now comes a guy stepping to the podium today made available by the Browns, and I appreciate him answering the questions or at least facing questions. And many of the answers from what I read again, I didn't see the entire press conference. He can't talk about things because there's a process going on. However, part of that process is answering questions when you are the quarterback of a major NFL team or any NFL team. And the first question that I find interesting, and I'm eager to hear the answer, the New York Times story written by Jenny Vrentis based on all of their reporting in the Houston area and also in other spots that Deshaun frequented. 66 masseuses, 66 different masseuses contacted by Deshaun Watson over a 17 month span.

He was asked today if he thinks that number is accurate. I mean, I can say I don't think so for what me and my attorneys went through. But at the same time, you know, that's more of a legal question that I can't really get into details about. So you probably have to ask my attorneys and things like that to confirm. OK, handing that off to his attorneys. Let's move on to the next one and then we'll take them all as a whole. Again, I have not heard these.

I'm hearing these for the first time with you. He was asked, why should he be believed over his accusers? I understand that question and I definitely respect it. But I feel like with this environment coming off the football field, it's hard to answer that question without especially without talking to anybody on my legal team. But at the same time, you know, I've been honest and I've been truthful about my stance and that's, you know, I never forced anyone.

I never assaulted anyone. So that's what, you know, I've been saying it from the beginning. And I'm going to continue to do that.

And until all the facts come out on the legal side, I have to continue to just, you know, go with the process of my legal team and, you know, the court of law. All right. Third soundbite here. And again, I'm being told by our crack staff that this is all indicative of the general tenor of the conversations.

These aren't cherry picked. This is just the best indication as to what was asked of him and his answers. The third one was, did he regret anything that he said at his initial press conference, which he kind of just repeated right there, that he never assaulted anyone, he never forced anybody to do anything. And some of his accusers have absolutely refuted that. That they felt violated. And he was asked if he regretted any of those statements. I think, yeah, I think that question kind of triggered a lot of people, not just women in general, but a lot of people from this, you know, in the lead, from women to males and things like that.

And what I was saying is, yes, I never assaulted, disrespected or harassed anyone. But at the same time, I do understand that I do have regrets as far as the impact that is have on the community and people outside of just myself. You know, and that includes my family. That includes this organization. That includes my teammates in this locker room that have to answer to these questions. That includes, you know, the fan base of the Cleveland Browns. That includes males, females, everyone across the world. You know, so that's one thing I do regret is the impact that has triggered on so many people.

And yeah, it's tough to have to, you know, do it. by saying he didn't disrespect anybody. There are, there's no question he left women feeling disrespected. And again, read some of these documents and you tell me if this behavior is any way, shape or form normal.

And this behavior is any way, shape or form could be viewed as respectful. It's just so tough to believe. And again, I say this fully knowing the guy who came out of Clemson that I thought I knew or hopefully for him, I still do know. It just doesn't, I can't believe we're hearing this. He's not equipped to answer these questions clearly. 66 masseuses. That is an absurd number. That should be his answer. Absurd. That's absurd.

Absurd. 66 masseuses over 17 months. Why would I see 66 masseuses over 17 months?

Why would I contact 66 masseuses over 17 months? I'm Deshaun Watson. I'm the star quarterback of the Houston Texans. I'm an A-list elite athlete on planet Earth. Why would I need to see 66 different people to work on my body?

My body is a temple. I should only have a couple of people. 66 is an absurd number. I don't even need to contact my lawyers. That's not true. That sounds like an answer. Why should I be believed over my accusers? Well, it's an easy question to answer. What did that mean that I'm coming off of a football field right now? It's tough to answer in a football environment. The answer is I'm to be believed because what I'm saying is true.

What I'm saying is true. Ask anybody in the Houston community. Go ahead and ask anybody what I meant to that community. Go ahead and ask everybody what I was about in that community. Problem is if you ask certain people, I mean, these are answers to those questions that you would think are coming. And again, I haven't seen the full thing, so I apologize, which apparently, did I hear those words? I apologize?

I apologize if I'm incorrect, but he said he regretted the way that his comments about saying that women were not disrespected by him and how that that that gets men and women, males, women all over the world upset. Again, the numbers mount up and makes it very difficult to to comprehend and believe it just makes it just it's very tough. And I want to believe the guy.

God, do I want to believe this guy. I want to believe him on behalf of all my diehard Browns fans who can't believe that they're in this situation. I want I want to say that on behalf of the league that I've been working for for 20 years. I want to say that on behalf of Deshaun Watson and his family. And I certainly want to say it on behalf of all the women. That goes without saying, but of course, I I want to say it. But.

Man. It's just so many for us to have to sit here and believe in him saying, well, I've been honest all along. It didn't sound like he could be straight up on some of these responses today. And he has to talk because he's not suspended.

He's not on the exempt list. He is a star quarterback for a top notch. Team in this league that can win it all this year, things break right with a fan base that's one of the best in sports.

Not dog pounding everybody I've known from back in the day from all those people I met in that school up north, as they refer to down in that football loving state of Ohio. I honestly. Don't know what to make of all this, except I need more.

I need more information. And while all these lawsuits are sitting out there now, twenty five and twenty six common. At least he got out there and spoke, but I left one.

I left one more. What can he say when his when his. He's he hasn't settled them. He hasn't addressed them. If he says he's sorry, which he has to, he has to at least address that he had problems.

In Houston and problems with his the way he conducted himself. So, I mean, something's clearly up. Something was clearly up there. Question is, is what's the up?

I can't shoot you straight enough. I just don't want to give him credit for standing there and just saying a bunch of words when, you know, there's all this going on. All right. I hear you. Yeah. Let's take a break here on the rich eyes and show eight four four two or four rich number to dial when we come back.

More more. I mean, the drama in the world of golf right now, I mean, their sides are being taken. Battle lines are being drawn, to say the least. Brooks Koepke and John Rom on why they're not going to join the live tour, although Pat Perez said he would never do it. Now he is.

And now he's waving the flag big time. That's coming up next here on this Tuesday edition of the Rich Eyes and show. Back here on the Rich Eyes and show eight four four two or four rich number to dial here on the program Callaway Rogue ST driver, baby. Every golf equipment company you've heard it saying we're the longest off the tee. But this one is the one built to completely bomb it for real.

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Find your Rogue ST driver at CallawayGolf.com slash go Rogue. And by the way, on NBC Sports and NBC on Peacock and Peacock, we're going to be all over the United States Open. That does in fact tee off starting on Thursday from Boston. While Brookline, Massachusetts, to be exact, if you want to GPS it, the 122nd United States Open from the Country Club in Brookline, Mass.

Thursday 2 Eastern on NBC and Peacock. So let's get into it here. You got yourself Brooks Koepka and his biceps and his big game. Just got married. Hey, great. So I had no idea. I had no idea.

That's why I didn't play over the last couple of days. I think the Saudis wanted to get him something off the registry. They took his brother. Oh, got it. So Brooks Koepka asked about the live tour today, and here was his. And Fuego, to use our phrase on NBC Sports on Peacock, response. I'm here. I'm here at the U.S. Open. I'm ready to play the U.S. Open.

And I think it kind of sucks, too. You all are throwing this black cloud over the U.S. Open. I mean, it's one of my favorite events, and I don't know why you guys keep doing that. But the more legs you give it, the more you keep talking about it. I don't understand. I'm trying to focus on the U.S. Open, man.

I legitimately don't get it. I'm tired of the conversations. I'm tired of all this stuff. Like I said, you all are throwing a black cloud on the U.S. Open. I think that sucks.

I actually do feel bad for him for once. I mean, it's a s*** situation. We're here to play, and you're talking about some event that happened last week.

Well, there's events going to be going on now for the next foreseeable future. I know, but you can't drive a car looking in the rearview mirror, can you? Wouldn't have thought so. He says he feels bad for the USGA for once. I guess, and then when he steps out there and he can't see his shoes standing in the rough, then he'll feel differently about the USGA? Probably. He'll be cursing that out.

When he turns his ankle, stepping on the golf ball he's looking for? But Koepka's brother does play on the live tour. He has joined, and as Brooks pointed out, he's a two-time winner in this event. But he also hasn't said that he won't be joining in the future. So I kind of understand him getting some questions about it. Hey, man, they're all going to get him. They're all going to get it. And he just didn't want to talk about it.

He wants to talk about the US Open and the event and stuff like that. That's just not real. Can you drive a car looking in the rearview mirror sometimes, though? Right?

Some cars now have, like, instead of the mirror, it's a camera. I can't have that. So maybe you can? Yeah, I mean, now we're parsing if that's the only sound bites we're getting right here. Well, that might be the ostrich way of looking at it, right?

Bury your head in the sand. We'll talk about it next time. Do you think it's a black cloud, though, just by asking these guys questions? Yes, because the tour, it is the crossroads for this tour. It is coming down the pike.

It has arrived. As Alan Shipnuck said in hour number one, it is here to stay. It is totally going to change golf. The PGA is probably going to try and wait this thing out just to see it flame out.

That there's only eight of these. It's not going to be every week. And last week, what, Phil shot 10 over for his $200 million. Some of the golf isn't that great. The graphics look weird.

We have no idea about the team concept. Greg Norman is a total a-hole staring at Alan Shipnuck. And he's the face front of this guy, of this whole thing. And battle lines are drawn. So, yeah, he doesn't want it like he just wants to talk about the U.S. Open. But golf is changing. It is here.

It has arrived. But these reporters are just doing their jobs, as Alan pointed out. And his way of he just wants to avoid maybe some of the questions. And he's just like, I'm here to play golf. I'm the two time winner of this event. Let's talk. Jon Rahm, let's talk. Let's hear what he has to say.

The Spaniard. I do see the appeal that other people see towards the live golf. I do see some of the, how do I put this delicately, points or arguments they can make towards why they prefer it. To be honest, part of the format is not really appealing to me. Shotgun, three days. To me, it's not a golf tournament. No cut. It's that simple. I want to play against the best in the world in a format that's been going on for hundreds of years. Right?

So that's what I want to see. And, yeah, money is great. But when Kelly and I, this first thing happened, we started talking about it. We were like, will our lifestyle change if I got $400 million? No.

It will not change one bit. Truth be told, I could retire right now with what I've made, and I've lived a very happy life and not played golf again. So I've never really played the game of golf for monetary reasons.

I play for the love of the game, and I want to play against the best in the world. I've always been interested in history and legacy, and right now the PGA Tour has that. There's a meaning when you win the Memorial Championship. There's a meaning when you win Arnold Palmer's event at Bay Hill. There's a meaning when you win L.A., Torrey, some of these historic venues. And that, to me, matters a lot. I have, after winning this past U.S. Open, only me and Tiger have won at Torrey Pines, and we're both the golf course that we like, making putts on the 18th hole.

That's a memory I'm going to have forever that not many people can say. So my heart is with the PGA Tour. That's all I can say.

It's not my business or my character to judge anybody who thinks otherwise. And for a lot of people, I'm not going to lie, those next three, four years are worth basically their retirement plan they're giving them. It's a very nice compensation to then retire and sail off to the sunset, and if that's what you want, that's fine. So, two things. First thing, in The Godfather, one of the best scenes when The Godfather is being offered by Sollozzo in The Godfather, a million dollars for part of his business. And Don Corleone tells him that the million dollars is peanuts to him. And I believe Sollozzo says, if a million dollars is peanuts to you, then to Salud. I say that to Jon Rahm. Right?

Like, what? Well, I think what he's saying is he's got enough money to live the way that he lives, and he doesn't need another $400 million to up. Like, there's no part of his lifestyle that needs to be upgraded. It wouldn't change.

So, I think that's what he's saying. I get it, but to say that $400 million wouldn't change your life? He's just saying how he lives. It would change the lifestyle of everyone in this room, I think we can agree, and potentially everybody hearing this and watching it.

Everyone that I know. Okay. But I'm just going to explain what he probably means by that, as he said he could retire and live the way he wants to live, he and his family. An extra $400 million will not change all that, although I'm sure there's a phenomenal villa on Lake Como he could potentially get on top of everything else that he has.

I'm just throwing that out. He could buy Lake Como. Potentially.

That's what it sounds like. It's a very expensive place, though. All right, long story short. That was an interesting aspect there. How about the competition part of this thing? It's not real golf.

Shotguns start, three rounds, no cut. And that's what Jay Monahan told Jim Nance over the weekend. It's exhibitions. It's not real golf. Exhibitions against the same competitors. Same people.

All over and over again. Well, that can change. Because in case everyone's wondering what the next steps are, you heard Alan Shipnuck say they're going to go for the younger players and basically tell them, right here, right now, you sign with us, right here, right now, you will make more on the dotted line than you would make in the entire career of you sticking on the PGA Tour.

Right now, Mr. 24-year-old, 25-year-old, 26-year-old. And then suddenly it's just like, wow, I thought it was only 48 players. You know what? We're going to have a larger experience. And the shotgun starts now.

You're now 16b. OK? We'll have a whole bunch of players on the course.

It might take a little bit longer. But guess what? That's what happens at your charity events.

And those events get very long. And that might not be real golf. And I totally salute Jon Rahm for saying that. That's real golf the way it's been.

I thought that was a pretty good answer from Rahm. Is that what he said? For hundreds of years? Is that what he said?

Yeah, I mean, they've been playing golf for a couple hundred years. I know that. But did Braveheart miss the cut once? Is that what you're saying? I think Longshanks made the cut. Definitely. I mean, you get cut if Longshanks didn't make the cut.

He got cut also. So I'm just saying. All right. But this ain't changing.

And because if you're thinking like they're going to they'll go for the next kid, they're going to go for the next kid, the next kid, because there isn't an amount of money. That I'm sure. Is there somebody involved on the Saudi side of things saying that's a little too rich for my blood? No.

At all. That guy that much? You want to shave a million here, a million there? We could tell them. Yeah.

We could tell MBS we kind of saved a little money on that guy. So I'm saying they got to figure some accommodation because there's no way around it. Yeah. It's bad lines are drawn and Brooks Koepke could sit there all he wants and said, I want to talk about it today. Well, because there's going to be a tomorrow and there'll be a Monday after the U.S. Open and this thing's still going to be there. That'll wrap it up for this edition of The Rich Eisen Show. We will be back on Peacock in a moment to wrap up the show. Otherwise, we'll just see all Wednesday. And we'll see you next time.