REShow: Alan Shipnuck - Hour 1

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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. That should just be taped. Today's guests, author Alan Shipnock, Fox Sports NFL analyst Michael Vick, ESPN NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy.

Plus, your phone calls and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Yes it is, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show, live on a Tuesday right in the middle of the month of June in 2022, back here in the chair of the Rich Eisen Show. Took off yesterday, tapped out to be at my two youngest's step-up ceremony in their grade school.

Watched them step up from third to fourth grade, and from fifth to sixth grade. Big day yesterday, glad I was able to tap out, and I appreciate John Salley for sitting in this chair and expertly navigating three hours of this program with my gents who are back here on NBC Sports on Peacock and Sirius XM Channel 85. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. Good to see you, sir. Hey Rich, what's up? Jason Feller, good to see you fella here today.

TJ Jefferson has lit the candle, or he's attempting to right now, on Odyssey in this terrestrial radio station, having the Rich Eisen Show coast to coast. Have I tapped dance long enough for you to successfully light that candle, sir? Well, when you said step up, I thought this was a sequel to the Channing Tatum movie, so I didn't know what you were doing yesterday.

No, no. I guess it's a 21st century phrase. Gotcha.

I was like, why couldn't we be in the movie? When you go from one grade school grade to another, you step up. Step up. That's what's up.

That's what's up. Nothing to do with Channing Tatum. That's right, Chance the Rapper was not there yesterday. Wait, you didn't know that was a thing?

You didn't know that's what they called it? You know what, let's discuss this a little bit later. Because game five went down last night. Did it? Game five went down last night in the Bay Area. What a big time basketball game that was last night. No, it was terrible.

I really enjoyed the act. That third quarter last night was dynamite, certainly when the Celtics turned the tables on the Golden State Warriors in the third quarter. I was concerned for you last night, Chris, after the Celtics fell down early and then dug themselves back into this game. And halftime, I'm like, uh-oh, here come the Warriors with their usual third quarter and the script was totally turned upside down and the Celtics were the ones who came out of that locker room and hit the Warriors directly in the mouth. And that third quarter last night from start to the last second when Jordan Poole let loose and the ball had just left his fingertips with one-tenth of a second left on the clock and Jason Tatum rising and firing and Marcus Smart doing his thing and the Celtics bench doing their thing and the defense was buzzing and the Golden State Warriors were on the ropes. And then the fourth quarter hit and Andrew Wiggins did his thing. Second consecutive game with a monster double-double for this former first overall drafted player out of Kansas and Andrew Wiggins stepping up on a night where this is, now this is the proverbial phrase you always say, kind of fill in the blank.

It's kind of like a mad lib, you just change the name of the proper noun of the goat player that we're talking about and the statistics that you know are poor. You could just kind of fill them in. If I had told you, that's the way the sentence begins. What if I told you?

Yeah, what if I told you? What if I told you that Curry, fresh off his 40-point Game 4 performance, that is one of those that you'll be talking about when he goes into the Hall of Fame, fresh off of that performance, that he would come up empty from the three-point line. He would go 0 for 9 from the three-point line in this game and it would be the first time in forever, to use a frozen phrase from Step Up, it would be the first time in forever, let me get you a better date for that, it would be the first time in 133 postseason games, ending the NBA record of streaks, of streaks. 132 straight postseason games with at least a 3 made and when you throw in regular season 2.

Steph Curry had a streak of 233 consecutive games in which he made a three-point shot and last night those streaks were broken. If I had told you, Chris Brockman, that your team was going to pull that off, you'd think we're in great shape. Win pretty easily. But those bugaboo turnovers came up again. 16 appears to be the over-under line, the Mason-Dixon line, the fail-safe point. If the Celtics turn it over more than 16 times, they lose.

If they turn it over fewer than that, they win. And they had 18 last night, one too many. And the officiating wasn't going their way. There was an absolute flop by my Michigan Wolverine Jordan Poole called an offensive foul on Mark Kismot.

Right in front of Tony Brothers, shocking. Who calls it the other way. And, you know, once again, I just think you should use your challenge there.

You hold on to it to the end. I guess the possessions become so tight at the end of the game, you never know when you can actually turn the tide with a challenge. I know the Warriors attempted to do it earlier on in the second half to try and prevent Draymond Green from picking up another foul. There was also one earlier in the game where it was an auto porter just literally tripped over his own feet and they called a foul just because he threw it up and it looked bad. Right, and it looked bad.

But neither here nor there. Look, I get on the officiating a lot, but that was no excuse yesterday. We're just a dumb basketball team. We're dumb. We're young. The inexperience is really showing the last couple of nights and we just do dumb things. I can't say it enough. Like last year, they were talking about how the Bucks were a dumb team.

Well, we blow that out of the water. Just the turnovers and the bad shots and the just not smart play. Tatum needs to really learn how to be aggressive. I think his youth and kind of immaturity on a big stage like this is really coming out. He's not aggressive.

He's fading away. He continually winds at the officiating. It drives me insane. I think it drives the coach, Shane, too.

You could see it drives the coach a little bit insane, too. It's just so frustrating to think and like I said it yesterday and John Salley tried to talk me off the ledge, but it really feels like blowing game four as they did at home controlling that whole game and having a ten point lead most of the time and then just absolutely pooping the bet in the last five minutes. It felt like they gave away the championship. And I feel that right now. And I feel like look, I feel like on Thursday in Boston, there's going to be a celebration and it's going to be for the Golden State Warriors.

I don't know. You know, we have a couple of days to chew on whether there's going to be a game seven or not. Just last night. Hey, look, last night, Tatum, I thought in the second half in that third quarter, he was terrific. He was sublime. He was making his shots. He was drawing defenders. He was making he had an incredible skip pass from one side of the arc all the way to the opposite corner. That led to I think Grant Williams found somebody underneath for a hoop, too. He was making all the right plays. And if he could put together four quarters like that, that's the thing. Can't I mean, he had one shot in the first quarter.

So what are we doing? So and then unfortunately for you, the good Draymond Green showed up last night, the really, really good Draymond Green. The loose ball diving, fan high fiving, lane driving, dishing.

Sounds like Rick Flair. Draymond Green. That's what we saw last night in the first quarter when Steph began having his 0 for night. And then Andrew Wiggins, man.

He's been awesome. Andrew Wiggins has been nothing short of terrific. And he is rising and firing from two point range. He's getting the mid range jumper going down. He's getting to the basket. I mean, the one aspect of this Warriors team that is pleasantly surprising outside of Jordan Poole's ascendancy and obviously the playoffs as these playoffs have matriculated, Poole has found it more and more difficult to stay on the floor because of his defense.

And he hasn't gotten into the flow. He had some big games early on in the playoffs. And I think, you know, some big boy pants are arriving in the form of the Celtics defense in there. And the offense is finding him every single time he's on the floor defensively.

He appears to be a liability. But outside of Jordan Poole's remarkable season, the pleasant surprise has been Andrew Wiggins playing to the first overall selection level of play that the Timberwolves were hoping for all that time. And on top of it, the one aspect of Wiggins that nobody saw coming this year and certainly in these finals, in these playoffs, is Andrew Wiggins, the posterizer. I mean, he did it to the Mavs, as you know. And he did it last night to the Celtics, just jamming it down when the crowd needs to just get off their feet. Again, Suess took Cooper to Game 5 last night. He's a diehard Celtic fan. He was wearing his Celtic zip up during the step up yesterday because he needed to wear it before he went to the airport. She took him to the game last night. And part of me was, even though I knew he was disappointed in the final result, I was disappointed for him, too, is that he, in the building for a big time Warriors game, didn't see one Steph Curry three point shot go in.

Because, as you know, a way of building can be electrified by a certain player when a certain player does a certain thing. It's so rare in sports. You're seeing it right now with the Yankees when Aaron Judge goes yard. You saw it all those years ago when Marshawn Lynch scored a touchdown in front of the 12s. JJ Watt coming up with a big sack turnover of any sort in NRG Stadium in Houston.

That's the sort of stuff where you get a player plugged in like the Matrix with a coaxial cable to the fan base and their performance electrifies the entire arena. That's what Steph does for that place. And in lieu of that last night, a Klay Thompson three will suffice. But nothing like a Steph three. Wiggins going down the lane and jamming it down. That's the sort of juice that he's bringing to this team as well. That play and then Draymond Green diving into the crowd in the first quarter, landing on a patron, an unsuspecting lady. Took her out. Took her out and then he makes sure she's OK and the whole arena is embracing him because he's checking to see if a fan is OK and he's high-fiving fans. That's the sort of juice that the Warriors got from Game 5 last night and put the Celtics right there at their backs against the wall.

And the Warriors are now one game away from winning it all. We'll talk about it with Jeff Van Gundy. Took a red-eye to Boston last night. He'll join us. And one of the things I definitely want to talk to him about is not just the game, but I don't know if you did you stick all the way around at the end last night?

I did not. About four minutes left. Draymond Green fouled out. And he's now fouled out in three of five Finals games. Last player to do that was Dale Davis for the 2,000 pacers. Wow. And that stat comes up on the screen. And this is like with two and a half to go, three to go. And Van Gundy turns to Mark Jackson and says those 2,000 pacers were a dirty team. Oh, gosh. And Jackson had an issue with that.

What do you mean by dirty? And Van Gundy even said, let's throw Antonio Davis in there too. And as a Knicks fan of the 2000s and the aughts in the 90s, I greatly appreciated Van Gundy caping.

That's funny. He said you were a terrific team, but Mark Jackson truly took umbrage with that. And I made a note saying, I got to ask Van Gundy about that today and dive into it a little bit more. Because, you know, that is part of these playoffs that you're hearing so much, certainly on the worldwide leader when J.J. Redick's throwing his game around so considerably on the morning shows, that the certain era of basketball currently wouldn't really survive. And the sharp elbow throwing era of the Davises, if you will, from back in that day. That was, man, the 2000s, that was a good team. They lost in the finals to the Lakers. It's kind of understandable how you would foul out when you had that era shot. As we were talking about yesterday. There was literally nothing you could do with 2000 Shaquille O'Neal.

Nothing. He was the most unstoppable player I've ever seen. Yeah, just had to throw a dirty team at them.

And that didn't even do it. And again, as an Eastern Conference basketball fan, as you know, James Dolan has beaten the Knicks fandom out of me. Although I shouldn't use that phrase when it involves Madison Square Garden fans these days. From my hometown of Staten Island, apparently.

Staten Island? Yeah. I know. I missed that. What happened? Don't worry about it. Not good.

Just Google it. Ranger game. Oh, yeah. So Jeff Anghandi, top of hour three. Right in the middle of the show, Michael Vick. In 15 minutes time, Deshaun Watson is slated to appear at the Browns mandatory minicamp. And I'm told he's going to speak to the press. And I have no earthly idea what that press conference is going to sound like or go like. And it all I can say, it can't be good.

Apparently, two more lawsuits are coming that would bring it to twenty six. And by all accounts, Watson looks terrific in camp. He's an awesome player. FYI. So mandatory minicamp final weeks, final week of that this week. Michael Vick will be joining us in the middle of hour number two to just talk some ball, talk some football. But coming up next on this program, we're talking a little bit of golf. It's the United States Open week. And we're fresh off of the first live golf tournament week.

The RBC Canadian Open wrapped up with. Is he your favorite player right now, Rory McIlwain? You know, if we're going to put Tiger on the side just because he's kind of going through his own things. Yeah, for sure.

I think so. I love Rory. And he came up with the dub. And he was spectacular.

And he threw a little bit of shade. And and so we're going to talk about all this with Alan Shipknuck, the reporter of the Fire Pit Collective and the author of that unauthorized biography of Phil. He's the one who also got removed from a live tournament press conference last week with Greg Norman staring it all down and then denying that he even knew that it took place.

Alan Shipknuck will join us from the country club in Brookline, Mass, where, by the way, the ninety nine Ryder Cup went down all those years ago. I was at one of those days. Yeah, yeah. Oh, man, that's awesome. I was just a hop, skip and a jump from Bristol then. And I was trying to date Suzy Schuster, who had the ticket.

You know, those are always our favorite stories. Yes. Nailed it. Because I'll have questions. So there's all of that. Why do I why am I too I'm too damn honest in this chair?

I share too much. Chris, the other day I said, how quickly did he ask her out again after she turned him down? And he was like, immediately, no, you didn't ask me that.

You like eight ball. You asked me that assuming it took a very long time. You were going to use that information against me when I was asking the Magic eight ball a question.

It said, ask again, try again later. And I went right away. And you're like, hold on a minute. How long did it take to ask Suzy out again after she first rejected you? And you had no idea.

My answer was actually it was just as fast as me asking the eight ball another question. I was cracking up at home from that. At any rate, Alan Shippman is going to join us. Eight four four two oh four, Rich is the number to dial. Don't you dare move. There's lots going on in the world of the National Football League.

The Cowboys want to run the football with their quarterback. Oh, my gosh. It's going to be an overreaction Tuesday because it was out yesterday. Thanks again to at the John Salley for sitting in this spider here. Chair was fun. Checking all that out on our YouTube page, YouTube dot com slash Rich Eisen Show. We are back with if case you missed how Rory handled his win in Canada and Phil's appearance in front of the media at the U.S. Open yesterday, causing me a little bit of concern.

We'll hit on all that with Alan Shipnuck of the Fire Pit Collective and best selling author and a man who knows what it looks like to see a man in London without a neck telling him to get out of a press conference. Does your antiperspirant keep you dry all day? Dove Men Plus Care Dry Spray goes on instantly dry for a cleaner feel and offers 48 hours sweat and odor protection. Let me repeat that. Forty eight hours of sweat and odor protection. Use it and don't even think about it. Also, Dove Men Dry Spray contains Dove's unique one quarter moisturizing cream that helps protect your skin.

Try Dove Men Plus Care Dry Spray goes on dry, clean feel all day. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, 844204 Rich number to dial before Alan Shipnuck from the Fire Pit Collective joins us. Chris Brockman is a favorite player currently active on the tours. Tigers on the shelf till the open championship. Rory McIlroy.

I mean, you want to talk. I mean, the PGA tours got to just give him the biggest hugs and throw the biggest rose petals at his feet. Because on the first weekend where the live tour exists, he goes to Canada and just shoots the lights out and is one of the most famous players, maybe the most famous player outside of Tiger Woods that didn't take the money from the Saudis. OK, a guy from Ireland is now defending the PGA tours credibility and faith and credit. And he goes out there, he wins it and then throws shade at Greg Norman, who has 20 career tour wins.

Just wanted to give you that information before throwing to the sound bite. Yeah, this is the day I'll remember for a long, long time. Twenty first PGA Tour win, one more than someone else.

That gave me a little bit of extra incentive today and I'm happy to get it done. OK, that's some shade thrown from Canada all the way to Australia with London and the Atlantic Ocean in between. And it's a big deal, Rich, because this is the first time this event's been taking place since 2019. So Rory was defending champion, but they last played in 2019, obviously the pandemic.

Canada has a little stricter regulation, so they took the last two years off. Huge headlines. And so the most famous player and world known player on the live tour, Phil Mickelson, faced the music, if you will, before the American press and international press writ large at the United States Open yesterday. And there's no other way to put it.

He just looks and sounds like a shell of his former self. This is him reacting to how he has been received back here in the States and at this event and how he feels he might be received on the PGA Tour. I have the utmost respect for the players on PGA Tour. There have been a lot of friendships that have gone on for decades with Amy and myself. There have been a lot of memories that we shared, experiences that we shared. And many of the players on PGA Tour are people that I look up to and respect the most. I think that I respect if they disagree.

But at this time, this is the right decision. Joining us now on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line from Boston, Massachusetts, a man who knows Phil very well and knows the security guards at the live tournament probably a little bit better than he thought he would based on him getting ejected from Phil's post-match press conference in London last week from the Fire Pit Collective and the best-selling author of Phil, none other than Alan Shipnuck here on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line on the Rich Isaac Show. How are you doing, Alan? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, Rick.

So I just have to give you an idea since you're on the phone. Don't be alarmed, but Greg Norman is standing behind me staring at you right now, Alan. It's very odd.

That's an eerily familiar feeling, actually. It's very, very, very, very strange. So I just want to jump into that real quick before we get to the here and now with you at the side of the United States Open. Have you spoken to Greg Norman last I heard about all this is the text exchange that you had with him after a live golf security guard was trying to remove you from Phil Mickelson's post-match press conference last week, Alan? Yeah, Greg never responded to my text. And then actually the next day I was walking into the tournament and he was coming in my direction with his public relations flack. And she said, hi, Alan. I was like, oh, hi, Jane.

Hi, Greg. And he never looked at me. He just kept marching forward. It was kind of awkward. And then he didn't come in after, you know, it could have been one of the crowning moments of his life. He actually launched this live thing and setting aside all the geopolitical questions.

I mean, it's pretty impressive what they built from scratch. And, you know, he did it. He pulled it off and I thought he was coming to the press room to crow about it. But he was ducking reporters again. So I haven't had any chance to chat things over with Greg and haven't even really made eye contact with him.

So, you know, I guess it's on brand. He just kind of, he just didn't want to deal with me or the repercussions of what he had done. So he is standing behind you as you are being removed from this press conference. You text him about it. He says essentially, oh, thanks for letting me know I had no idea. You then text him the photograph showing how he knew exactly what was happening. He knew it had a complete idea. He totally knew. And then he doesn't even respond to that.

He just lets, he just, he just ghosts you after that. Is that what you're saying? That's a good verb.

Yeah. It's an interesting twist in the days afterwards, doing some investigative reporting, which is actually not really, that's too strong a term. But it turns out that it wasn't Greg, this is what I'm told, you know, you have to get all the grain out. It wasn't Greg who actually called the goons on me. It was actually Phil's people. And Greg could have had some plausible deniability if he wasn't standing right there watching.

I mean, it's his show. He could have certainly stepped in and said, Jen, how can I help you? He was certainly in a position to intervene. He just let it happen. So it's kind of, you can spread the culpability. I mean, it's actually, to me, it's more troubling really. And again, I don't even know if Phil knew what was going on.

He was up there talking and I was kind of at the back row of the scrum. But, you know, he had this overzealous kind of manager and his swim coach was standing there. And they may have just unilaterally decided to make it happen. But it's almost more troubling if it's the player who's ejecting a reporter. Like, they just don't have that authority. And if it's a turbine organizer, they could fall back on some mealy-mouthed credentialing issue or something like that.

Because they do control that access. But for a player to be in charge of booting out of reporters is even worse in my mind. The whole thing is messy and weird and just a monumental overreaction. Well, I mean, so then let me just ask you what, you know, some others who, when I tweeted about it and spoke about it last week, responded with. And I'll place it before you since you're telling me you believe Phil's people were the ones who remove you from the press conference. And then we can move on since I know that reporters don't want to be part of the story. But what about the idea that what else would you, Alan, expect from appearing at a Phil Mickelson press event at the Live Golf Tournament since it was you who put the quote out there and you're doing your job. But what about that narrative, Alan? How do you respond to that? Yeah, I mean, Phil doesn't have to answer my questions.

He could blow it off or he could come back at me. But it's pretty weak to just not even allow reporters to stand there and do their job. And, you know, same with the term and organizers. They credentialed me. Like, if they're going to give me a credential, it makes no sense then, you know, be happily approved at the ejection. Like, just if they didn't want me there, they should have credentialed me.

And once I'm there, you know, I'm just going to do my job. If we go down this road where players get to vet and approve every question that's asked of them by the press, then, you know, we're lapsed into really weird territory. You know, Phil's a pro. He's a master manipulator of the media. You saw that in his press conference at the U.S. Open yesterday. So he can handle himself.

He took a lot of tough questions and I thought he dealt with them pretty well yesterday. So, you know, I was never going to – it was never designed for me to ask myself a gotcha question or put them on the spot. I might just want to ask them some boring golf stuff, but I don't know. I don't think we want to live in a world where athletes have approval of every question they're going to get asked. I mean, that – what's the point of even having reporters? And it doesn't serve the fans. I mean, we're the fan surrogates.

Like, we get to ask the players the questions that they would like to have answered. And so you're really hurting the fans because then they're just going to get, you know, bland, sterilized, boring reporting. It just – it doesn't suit anybody. I mean, it's an entertainment product, the whole thing. I mean, we're not curing cancer here. It's just golf. It's not a big deal.

So for them to try and, you know, strong arm the whole situation was just weird and unnecessary. Alan Shipnuck here on The Rich Eisen Show. So now that we're at the U.S. Open, a live tournament is in the books. Rory McIlroy, of all people, wins the first PGA Tour event that's running concurrent with the first ever live tour. And he shoots a 62. He wins. He talks about how he's not got one career win more than Greg Norman or someone else, right? He mentions.

And so where do things stand going into the U.S. Open week between these two tours, Alan? It's not quite civil war, but it's heading in that direction. I mean, I personally love the bitchiness and people throwing shade. Like, it's just funny. It's supposed to be such a genteel sport, but it's not shaping up that way. I mean, it's entertaining.

But it's also very personal. I think Rory's comments made that clear because, you know, he doesn't want to go to Saudi Arabia. He doesn't want to take their money. But if they poach a lot of the top players, he devalues his whole career, like he can go and win Jack Nicklaus's Memorial. But if all the best players aren't there, it's just not that much fun for Rory. So I think he recognizes this is going to have a direct impact on his on his tour career and and all that stuff. So and, you know, Rory's kind of established himself as the conscience of the sport.

And so it comes from it comes from a very healthy place. But there's also, you know, he's he's made a business in which he's going to line himself with a PGA Tour and its sponsors. And so he's he's fighting hard for what he believes is right. And but he also, you know, this is this is his career. And so he sees that the tour is in a precarious place.

If they lose their players, the whole thing could become AAA baseball very quickly. So it's a very fraught moment in golf and it's very chaotic and it's very interesting. So I don't know if you were flying home or where you might have been when Jay Monahan appeared in the booth with Jim Nantz over the weekend. How do you feel?

I guess what's the general sense as well there at the open amongst you and your colleagues and the players you're talking to? How Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, is handling everything? Yeah, I did.

I was like over Greenland at that point, but I I did watch it after the fact. And, you know, Jay is taking this very personally. You know, he was course feeding with indignation and he's trying to make this into a moral argument. And, you know, saying no one ever had to apologize for being a PGA Tour member and that sort of stuff.

And it's a losing argument. The players have already voted with their feet and their pocketbook. They've been playing in Saudi Arabia for years. They play in China where there's actual concentration camps. They play in Qatar.

They play in United Arab Emirates. Like they go where the money is. The players have made that very clear.

So Jay's trying to shame them and guilt trip them. It's just not going to work. But he doesn't seem to understand that. And he's been outmaneuvered and sort of outfoxed in every turn. Now, he's also he doesn't have the artillery. I mean, if this is becoming a bidding war, which it is, he can't compete with the Saudis. But, you know, I've been saying this for a while and I think last week made it very evident. The tour is already lost. The sooner they admit that and concede defeat and swallow their pride, the better they are going to be. Because Monahan is saying he won't even take a call from Norman or any of the Saudi folks.

That's just prideful. And that's bad business because this is going to this the live tour is happening and it's going to it's going to succeed. And the tour can either be relegated to second tier status or the smart thing to do is just forge some kind of strategic alliance.

That's their favorite term. They did it with the European tour already. Absorb the live events. Put them all in the fall when there's not very many good PGA Tour events anyway. And then they could allow the players to maintain their tour membership. They can also cherry pick the live events.

And then it's the best of both worlds for the players. They get to go back to Pebble Beach at the Riviera and all their favorite places. They get to cash in at these big money live events. But the PGA Tour, it's a win. They strengthen their schedule. They get to keep their stars now.

And it's for the Saudis. It's a huge win because they're legitimized by the PGA Tour, which is obviously a very proud, respected organization. So everybody wins.

Golf fans get maybe more good tournaments. But that requires the tour to admit that they've already lost. And they're very low to do that because they've drawn this line in the sand that we're the good guys. They're the bad guys.

That's a hard negotiating position to be in when you villainize the other people. So I think Monahan is going to have to figure this out. Here at the Country Club in Boston, there's a lot of talk about who's going to jump next to the Saudis. There's a lot of great young players who are now in that conversation. The first wave were these old-timers on the downside of their career who decided to go to a live tour. And the tour could spin that like, well, they're just riding off into the sunset. But Bryson DeChambeau is still a young guy.

He's not even in his prime. And if you lose a Colin Morikawa and a Xander Schauffele and some of these other young talent, the PGA Tour has a huge problem. So this is, again, this is a very important crossroads that Monahan is at.

And he's going to have to take a different tack because what he's doing is not working. Well, you're at a USGA event this week. And they immediately said when there was this live tour, I guess, breakout. And they said everyone could play the U.S. Open. What about the Royal and Ancient?

And what about Augusta? And I understand… It's not their fight. I mean, it's just not their fight. Like, those organizations put on one tournament a year.

Right. And they care about having the best players, the best field, the best championship. It's not in their interest to get involved in a turf war between rival tours.

Like, on some level, they don't care. They just want, they want their past champions. They want the best players. They want the deepest field. They want the best show for their fans and their TV ratings. So I think it's a fantastical notion that any of these organizations, including Augusta Nationals, is going to ban a bunch of the most popular players in the game, a bunch of Hall of Famers, major championship winners. Like, it doesn't serve their interests.

So I'm sure they're pushing very hard for a compromise behind the scenes because they just don't want to get involved. I mean, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson are two of the most popular Masters champs of recent years. Why would Augusta not want them there? You know, Bryson DeChambeau is a U.S. Open champion.

You're going down the list. It does not serve the Masters or Augusta National to ban a bunch of players over someone that's really not their concern. So, and if you want to get really, you know, deep about this, how many Augusta National members have made a fortune with Saudi Arabia directly or indirectly?

A bunch of them. And do these CEOs want that scrutiny? Like, oh, well, your bank does business in Saudi Arabia, but the players can't go over there and take their money, too?

Like, the inconsistencies become very problematic. And that's just not – I guess the National does not want that smoke. I mean, that's the reason why there's women members there now. It's not that all of a sudden they grew a conscience. It's because these CEOs were getting killed for it publicly, saying, really, is this what you support? And they went to the club and said, you've got to change this, man. My shareholders are killing me. I'm getting filleted in the press. Like, they don't want to go down that road again. So – and, you know, now the RNA, they can just look to the USGA and their fellow governing body and say, well, USGA said it was okay, so we're going to do the same thing. Like, the majors are not going to save the PGA Tour.

It's just not going to happen. And lastly, for you, Alan, Alan Shipnuck here on The Rich Eisen Show, a very simple question, as Phil is far more subdued than I've ever seen him. And he looks like Barry, you know, I don't know if you see the show from HBO. I mean, it's just – he's kind of like the dark side bizarro Phil Mickelson walking around now.

And I guess I'll just ask this question straight up. Is he all right? What do you think, Alan? Well, he's – you know, his mom told the USA Today a few weeks ago she's never seen him happier and that he's sort of unencumbered.

I mean, I'm paraphrasing. And I think there's something to that. That was a tough day for Phil. I mean, he finally had to face the music. And this new reality set in where he's no longer this beloved elder statesman. He's burned up a lot of goodwill.

Now, the financial incentive for doing so is amazing, you know, $200 million. But I think, you know, a lot of these friendly faces that he's jousted with and joking in the media all of a sudden, you know, there was an edge in their questions. And he's hearing a little bit from – on the grounds from the fans and there's some frosty looks in the locker room. And I think this was all theoretical.

Now it's real. And there may be some buyer's remorse there. Or at the very least, he's realizing that these cameos of the majors are not going to be as simple as he had hoped. You know, he can't leave all that baggage at London Heathrow when he flies back from the live event like it. So I think there was a little bit of a reckoning for Phil. I don't know if he was thinking, you know, what have I done? But he certainly felt the emotional impact of this decision.

And I agree. I mean, he looked a little defeated. But Phil's proven to be incredibly resilient throughout his whole life and his career. And he's bounced back from many controversies and many heartbreaks. And he'll settle in this week.

And, you know, I'm not sure the casual fan is super tuned into this stuff. I think if you're a Boston golf fan, you're just happy that Phil's there. You can watch him play. He'll take a little shrapnel, but I think in general the reception will be, people are going to be happy to watch him play golf. And I think he'll feel some love. And that may lift his spirit.

Yeah, he looked a little droopy for sure. Because, you know, we were talking last week and, you know, we'll talk a little bit more throughout the week, the reception that Phil might receive. You know, fans are generally forgiving people. I understand one of the planes that hit one of the towers left Logan Airport, Alan.

Oh yeah, no. I mean, that's part of the collective memory of Boston for sure. But on another level, if you're a Celtics or a Red Sox fan, you're used to your favorite player leaving for more money. I mean, that's just free agency in sports, right? Like, your favorite player leaves all the time. And on some level, that's all Phil's done, you know. He exercises free agency, right?

I was about to say, I don't know. Did you see Johnny Damon return to Fenway Park once upon a time, Alan? I mean, that was dicey. Even Wade Boggs. They're not as emotionally invested as Phil in that way. But now, obviously, the X factor in this is that the team that Phil is playing for, a lot of people find quite repugnant on, you know, where the money comes from. And, you know, we all know the Saudis are bad actors on the world stage.

So, that's clearly the complicating factor. If the live tour was floated by a European bank or, you know, some Australian mogul or whatever it might be, it wouldn't be nearly the same blowback. But there still would be people who felt betrayed.

You know, Phil was turning his back on the tour that made him. But there's a whole other element to this where it just feels a little dirty. But, I don't know.

It can be fascinating. I mean, I'll be out there on Thursday and take the temperature of the whole thing. And we shall see.

I mean, it's going to be an interesting sociological moment for sure. And then the next live tournament is when and where, Alan? Two weeks in Oregon at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Course. And so, you know, a lot of players didn't want to fly over to London the week before the U.S. Open. But it'll be really interesting to see who turns up at Portland. We already know Patrick Reed and Bison DeChambeur are going to be there.

And Pat Perez, their recent acquisitions of the live tour. I think some players who may be considering jumping didn't want to announce it the week of the U.S. Open because it just adds a whole other layer of complication. But I think there'll be more names next week. And anyone who gets announced will be in Portland.

So I think that field's going to be a lot deeper and more interesting than the first one. And then they'll be suspended by the PGA Tour. That's the way it would work.

The minute they announce, they get suspended. That's the way it goes now? Yeah, correct. But that's written in pencil. You know, not in blood. I mean, it's all subject to negotiation. And, you know, they're suspended for now.

But we'll see how long that lasts and how it all shakes out. What a time. Alan, thanks for the time. Greatly appreciate it.

You know, keep your head on a swivel. You be well. Always like talking to you. Right back at you.

At Alan Shipnuck on Twitter and Instagram right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Let's take a break. We'll be back. Phone calls and something seen on a road here in California that needs explanation. And I think you guys have to help me with this one. OK?

That's called a tease. Michael Vick next hour. Jeff Van Gundy hour three on this Tuesday program. Back here in The Rich Eisen Show, 844-204-rich.

Number to dial. Deshaun Watson is taking questions right now with the Cleveland media he has not faced and the national media that might be there. He has not faced questions or reporters since March 25th. So he's taking those questions right now and we will turn them around.

Bear's going, pardon me, Bill's going through mandatory minicamp right now. A colleague of ours, friend of ours. I don't know if he wants to be mentioned on the air, but Ethan, this is you. He sent me this photograph. Captured it on the roadway in Encinitas, California. Where's that?

Is that somewhere south here? I think so. OK. I need your help. He sent this to me.

He's like, did somebody lose a bet? I don't know. Maybe you have to tell me. Put it up on the screen. It's a photograph of a vehicle. You see a couple of Bill's logos on it, right? There's a Bill's sticker on the back windshield. OK. And then it looks like a Bill's, like one of those custom made silver, like small Bill's logo looks like it's a logo of the car. Like if Buffalo, if the Bill's made a vehicle, it looks like that that would be the vehicle logo. But the license plate says wide RT on it.

Oh, no. That's funny. Was there like a Bill's license plate holder as well? And the car is Bill's blue? If you're a Bill's fan, why would you do that? Wide RT. I don't know.

Is this maybe a former Bill's player who is a right tackle, who's a wide body? I'm like trying to I'm trying to come up with anything that computes. There's only would you take the low, would you take would you take what am I going to get a picture? So I have a Patriot sticker license plate holder and a big decal on the back. And then my vanity plate is 18 dash one. What am I doing? Honestly, I thought I thought I'm I'm a jet fan. I'm driving around. I've got a jet logo and I've got a jet logo.

And I've got a jet license plate holder. What would it be? But fumble. Bt Bt Fumble FMBLE. If you're an Atlanta Falcons fan. Oh, that's too easy. What about you?

I mean, we have a great our history is rich. Not a catch. What is it? That would be the low point. It would be Des caught it. And that would be Des. Des caught it. Yeah. No, but you're you're now.

But that's not the same as this. This is truly a Michigan guy. No timeouts. Honestly, no Tio botched punt botched PNT. I mean, well, Appalachian State.

Yeah, I'd have to register my car in North Carolina and have a North Carolina plate. Had had to have been a loss bet. Had to. Yeah, right. It's like you where you drive around wearing your last bet. That's what I mean. Like this guy has to keep this as long as he owns the car to register it with with a state government. So he's paying whatever the what are the taxes to pay extra for a vanity plate? Yeah. Hoskins, is this you? I think he's I sent this to him over the weekend and he's just like, what the hell? Diehard Bill's fan.

This is on the five going down to San Diego. Whatever. OK. But would you wear would you make your vanity plate the worst moment in the history of your favorite sports team? I'm going to have Red Sox everything in my license plate is Buckner.

Yeah, I would be Bucky Dan. Depending on how old you are. Yeah, yeah.

Depending on depending your age. Like I don't get it. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry to out the fellow and his Nissan, but. I'm sure there's a logical explanation. I don't know what it is. I mean, I don't know what it is, but I'm sure. Michael Vick, our number two to Sean Watson, still talking.

I mean, just just the Hoskins voice. They're telling us he's I know he's he's not happy, not happy at all. He's not happy.

Well, Watson is in like minute 10 of speaking, so he's taken all the I have him in my ear and I heard some stuff. One of his answers in this pretty standard issue is just that it's still an ongoing process. I can't talk about the process. I have to respect the process. What was going on? He said, I met with the NFL. I spent many hours answering their questions.

All I can do is be honest. And then he went on to say, I realized that they have to do what it feels right for the league. And that was an answer. Someone asked him about maybe pursuing a civil suit. And he kind of gave an answer about that.

Like, that's not really where his mindset is. It's just about him clearing his name. That's clear your name.

Kind of where he's at right now. You got to clear your name by by having everyone recant. Or scratch check to everyone. I mean, settling obviously still doesn't get this out of the mind's eye of the of the public. True. Gets it to go away, I guess. But while there's 26 women who want some sort of. Resolution.

This thing is still out there. I mean, and he's showing up like he's the leader of this team. And he can maybe not play for an entire year. This is just weird, man. It's not good for anybody. It's not good for him. It's not.

I mean, OK, let's just reserve. Let's hear what he's got to say. Yeah. Ben Volan tweeted out a video of Phil on the first tee for his practice round.

He said nothing but cheers and support for Phil. OK. It's kind of surprising to me. I don't know.

I mean, fans kind of don't care that he's. I guess not. And that's the whole part of this. I mean, everybody's trying to wait each other out. You know, PGA Tour is going to try and wait to live out and the lives going to try and wait to see how many PGA Tour players they could block off. But there's only 48 spots per tourney, so. Yeah, they can make their own rules, right? Yeah. Suddenly, oh, wait a minute. There's a live tour exemption. It's now 60.

54. Well, I mean, seriously, they could figure it out. What did you know? They're going to go.

All those live tour traditionalists would get upset. Live on. Wait a minute. You know, you change your rules just one weekend. Yeah.

So what? We got a gajillion dollars. This one's done.

Hour two 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. 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.