REShow: Tom Pelissero/Grant Hill - Hour 2

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Try Dove Men Plus Care Dry Spray goes on dry clean feel all day. This is the Rich Eisen Show live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Thank goodness we're at the end of this hour that I'm not now going to turn the schedule and play the win-loss game for the Jets. The Rich Eisen Show because it'd be 17 and over. Earlier on the show from the HBO drama Barry, Emmy award-winning actor Henry Winkler. Coming up NFL Network reporter Tom Pelissero, Basketball Hall of Famer Grant Hill, plus legendary comedian Tom Treason. And now it's Rich Eisen. Oh my gosh we just had maybe one of the greatest hours in the history of this show and Henry Winkler stopped by and told amazing stories from Happy Days and have amazing stories from Barry and his entire crew Night Shift. A terrific celebrity true or false if you missed it youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show it will all be on there and I've already instructed one of the best in the business who handles our digital component of this program as well as so much that you see on the screen on NBC Sports on Peacock especially that that's terrific celebrity true or false segment he produced Sean Mitchell. I already told him remove the the the beeps from from all that Henry Winkler just dropped an f-bomb here and I'm and I'm proud to say that it was on the Rich Eisen Show and it was in reference to Jump the Shark. Oh my gosh so there's that he just hit he just hit John with the hind didn't he? We also left out the part of him talking about the art the acting coach trying to sell his art to people without a job.

That's an a-hole. So youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show great job Smitch and Hoskins and and Jordan Sherrow and our entire team here on the Rich Eisen Show that puts stuff on the screen for you on NBC Sports on Peacock. We say hello to our terrestrial radio audience in our terrestrial uh as our Sirius XM audience on channel 85 as well and those listening on Odyssey. Grant Hill's gonna join us in the middle of this hour he's got a new book there it is in my hand uh it's called Game an Autobiography so he's called Game or he's got game.

I mean I do like uh books with the titles that you can read into um and um so Grant Hill's gonna join us game four of the NBA Finals is tonight lots to talk about with the uh Basketball Hall of Famer. Uh hour number three uh another legend from uh way back in the day all the way to this day the uh legendary comedian Tom Dreesen is gonna be on this program um he's gonna be here in hour number three but joining us right now on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line let's talk a little bit of football with uh organized team activities mandatory style uh happening this week next week as well as stars of the game are appearing in front of microphones for the first time in a long time so there's lots to talk about with my colleague from the NFL media group Tom Pelissaro back here in the Rich Eisen Show. How you doing Tom? Speaking of jumping the shark that was a great lead-in to me we had the Fonz last hour he regaled us with stories from Happy Days now here's the guy who tweets about Hunter Renfro extensions but that is a really hard act well also Tom you have similar hair you have similar hair to the Fonz let's put it that way okay you're you've got that you've got it working I don't know if you're riding a motorcycle but Steve McQueen once I don't know yeah you got a leather jacket Tom you got one of those that's been brought up with my wife before and she always makes that face like yeah I just don't even try it yeah don't even try pull that off so uh Tom let's let's then figuratively stay in your lane um let's let's jump right into it here the the question I get from so many people I attempted to ask it of less need um and I'm now going to ask it to you because I know you know uh you know uh crossed t's and dotted i's and things of that nature on contracts how are the Rams able to do what they are doing by paying significantly and enriching uh with with market value contracts in other cases above market value contracts for their stars and keep it all under the cap Tom Rich I would start with the fundamentals of the salary cap are that every dollar you spend hits the cap eventually it is always a one-to-one ratio it is a matter of how you account for that money and there are certainly mechanisms and always have been to push your cash dollars now into future cap dollars in other words a very simple way to explain it if you give somebody a 20 million dollar signing bonus that doesn't count 20 million on this year's cap that counts over a five-year contract four four four four four so you're able to count those into future years so it's always possible to spend more cash than the cap space that you have at any given moment but there is no such thing as cap magic again because those dollars you spend are going to come back eventually we've seen it with teams like the Saints who people talk about well they just keep rolling it and rolling it and pulling it well this season on their cap they're counting Drew Brees for 11 and a half million they're counting Toronto Armstead for 12.8 million that's a couple of pretty good players that you could be able to sign but you can't because you devoted those cash dollars years ago and now those players are no longer on your team so the cap counts now in terms of the Rams I do find it entertaining that people are shocked that they could find a way to retain the offensive and defensive players of the year those were free and those weren't you know contracts that they just conceptualized in the past week here go back to March they traded away Robert Woods to gain cap space they did not opt to up their offer one more time for Von Miller and he leaves Ford Buffalo that's also driven by giving your cap healthy if there were no salary cap Odell Beckham Jr. would probably already have a sign for the Rams and just the other day when they re-signed Cooper Cup they cut the guy who had the interception in the NFC Championship game and those are all cap related decisions what you're trying to do always in the NFL is balance what you're trying to accomplish now with what you're trying to accomplish in the future which is why if you go into the details on the Cooper Cup contract they didn't even lower his salary as much as they could have they could have saved an extra eight million but they wanted to keep both a cup and Aaron Donald cap numbers this year relatively flat because that's how they had had it budgeted they've got a window right now they're coming off the Super Bowl win they're going to do what it takes to be able to retain their core players but they did let some other guys walk out of the building the only way that you get yourself out of that cycle of restructuring contracts pushing those cap dollars in the future at some point is to not spend cash the teams that have mountains of cap space year after year at some point just didn't spend money that's how they have it they had to tank out that's not what teams do when they're in a position to contend that's why the Saints for years pushed it the way they did and that's why the Rams are approaching their cap decisions and their contract decisions the way they are right now well when I asked this question of Les Snead the other day Tom the day after he gave Donald the contract that he gave him and again I've been at this almost 20 years with the NFL I don't remember a contract given to somebody that doesn't add years just adds dollars but again he's a unicorn and then the day before cup signed is when he was on this program so I asked him that he mentioned the player Greg Gaines who was a fourth round pick in 2019 and how significant a contribution he gives to the team and he's just like that's the types of guys that we draft we don't f all the picks you know that's how we do that so we got those guys and so we can pay the other guys but he kept on mentioning over and over again the window we have doing it in the window that we have and I asked him about the window that he has and of course he's not going to mention on the air well it's you know the credit card bill is coming due this year you might know that what is the window you think the Rams have based on the way that they are correctly and appropriately and smartly building a team to win and keep winning right now well we've got a veteran quarterback in Matthew Stafford who they also just extended right you look at Aaron Donald's contract details it sure looks like this is a okay Aaron please give us two more years that's what we need that's how they seem to be approaching is within a two-year window but again it's not as if the window then slammed shut maybe you don't have Aaron Donald anymore but you've still got really good players in Cooper Cup we've seen quarterbacks play for a long long time and you wonder if Matthew Stafford continues to improve as he did over the course of last season and played his best down the stretch and into the playoffs he may decide that he's willing to keep playing you have to consider Sean McVeigh as a part of this too there is no salary cap for coaches so ultimately he's going to end up getting paid more money than probably any coach in NFL history with the exception of possibly Bill Belichick it's a matter of how long you can keep that entire group together there's something sexy about the Rams right now too where you know you do at times get players to maybe take a little bit less I don't know what Bobby Wagner might have been offered elsewhere you know but he lands there for a reason Alan Robinson had another strong offer he had like four teams involved he ends up choosing the Rams because he saw an opportunity to go there and produce and make more money for himself in the big picture that's always kind of the product of winning you know but in terms of their window yeah they're going forward over the next couple of years here but again to go back to the way that they even structured the Cup and the Donald Beals they are striking that balance between now and in the future with regard to the draft picks you know everybody always says the reason that a lot of GMs are reluctant to trade away particularly their first round picks their high picks is because that's your young cost controlled workforce but when you opt to do what the Rams have done and trade those picks away to get a Jalen Ramsey or to get a Matthew Stafford remember that's also dollars you're not spending on those rookies that maybe you can take with hey our first round pick this year it would have been not that far off from the money we're paying Bobby Wagner we'll pay Bobby Wagner right now and let somebody else develop those players while we're trying to go and win another Super Bowl. Tom Pelissaro my colleague from the NFL network NFL media group here on the Rich Eisen show let's turn the page to next week Brown's mandatory camp so Deshaun Watson will of course be there he's he's been bestowed that record-setting enriching contract but now there's 24 civil lawsuits against him and the New York Times report could not have been any uglier in terms of what his past behavior has been and so the question is is what is the latest on the league maneuvering to potentially keep him off the field in time for next week is that a possibility what are you hearing right now Tom? From a process standpoint Rich the way that works is Lisa Freel and the investigative team do all their research their interviews the evidence gathering to the extent that they can because of course they don't believe doesn't have subpoena power they're not the courts and then turn over that information in the past it would have been to Roger Goodell now under the 2020 CBA which really has not applied in a case like this article 46 bestowed the power of personal conduct discipline upon a jointly appointed arbitrator and not on Roger Goodell for the initial disciplinary decision so now Freel will turn over that information again just from a process perspective this is for all cases to an arbitrator who would make a disciplinary decision barring some type of settlement that potentially could be reached in advance of that but that's but that's but that's for the season and I that's for the season Tom I'm talking about there's a commissioner's exempt list that that has been used on players before matters like the one that you're discussing have been solved right the exempt list there's two ways you can apply the exemplars one is if you have a felony charge or a crime of violence that you're charged with in this case the Sean Watson has not been criminally charged the second version is if the evidence leads the commissioner to believe that such an such an act or such a violation of the personal conduct policy may have occurred so it would be unwise to say the least for me to speculate on what if any evidence the league has collected that might push them to use the commissioner's exemplars onto Sean Watson let's remember that they did not use it last year despite whatever speculation occurred that was a Houston Texans decision to wait it out and to him they hoped it actually came through have the criminal cases resolved and then be able to get maximum compensation but you still have the 24 civil cases um you know that are persisting here in the past when you look at all the players who have been placed on the commissioner's exemplars whether that's Adrian Peterson, Greg Hardy, Josh Brown, Ruben Foster, DeAndre Baker, Quentin Dunbar, Cody Latimer they've all been charged the only exception in a higher profile case that jumps out at me was Kareem Hunt who of course was on video that was widely circulated punching and kicking a woman which made that a fairly again to go to the second criteria that's a fairly obvious a violation of personal conduct policy may have occurred there's not a precedent for using the exemplars with civil matters but there's also not a precedent for one of your highest profile players being accused by 24 different women in civil lawsuits plus additional women in the criminal cases that did not ultimately yield a charge as well as other women who have spoken to various media outlets there's no precedent for any of this and that's one of the difficult pieces of this when it comes to an exemplars decision or an eventual disciplinary decision we've not seen you know anything close to everyone keeps bringing up the Trevor Bauer comparison to major league baseball there's never been a two-year that type of personal conduct suspension but again this is a rare case and because the arbitrator not the commissioner is now under the CBA responsible for making that initial disciplinary decision you know people I've talked to were very familiar with the inner workings of these processes say there is an element of the unknown of exactly where that person is going to land in terms of discipline if any for Deshaun Watson. Well Baker Mayfield last one before for you before I let you go Baker Mayfield has been already excused for next week makes complete sense but again I don't understand why he's still on the roster is he still there as Watson suspension insurance could that be possible I don't think there's any way to put the Mayfield genie back in the bottle in Cleveland but I'm not in the front office with any thoughts or or have a window into their thinking I wonder if you do what do you have for me on that?

I would say until the day that Baker Mayfield is not a member of the Browns any scenario is possible but Baker Mayfield has made it abundantly clear to the Browns since before even they had made the trade for Deshaun Watson that he does not want to be in Cleveland that he felt like he was misled to say the least by members of the organization with regard to his future he does not intend to play there again and if the Browns are thinking about this realistically I would fairly tell you that they probably are not under any illusions of how easy it would be to mend that fence now if you got to the point that Deshaun Watson were suspended for a season or more there is a case to be made at least from an intellectual standpoint that Baker Mayfield best chance to revive his career and his earning power is to play one year with the Cleveland Browns as opposed to one year with the Carolina Panthers or the Seattle Seahawks or whatever team he potentially could go to because the problems are pretty talented they got a couple of really good running backs they traded for Amari Cooper they've got playmakers on the defensive side of the ball they're a team that's really built to win but you know those are I would say at this point still long shot types of possibilities it's just there's so many moving pieces right now between the Deshaun Watson situation and the Baker Mayfield situation I would Rich I would tell you this I'm not thinking of making predictions if I'm predicting right now I would certainly not anticipate Baker Mayfield is still on the roster come to start a training camp but again as long as he is still on the roster which he is as of this moment on June 10th you just can't rule anything else. Tom thanks for the time greatly appreciate it let's connect during the summer if not before the end of this month I've got lots more questions thanks for the time. You got it Rich anytime. That's Tom Pelissaro at Tom Pelissaro on Twitter you must follow you must follow I follow him you should as well let's take a break so we're remotely on time for our next guest Grant Hill calling and talk about his new autobiography called Game and the Basketball Hall of Famer on tonight's game four and what he thinks has gone on through the first three games between the Warriors and Celtics when we come back. Back here on the Rich Eisen show terrestrial radio network along with Peacock Sirius XM 85 and Odyssey thrilled to have back here on the show Basketball Hall of Famer and Hall of Fame individual and a part owner of the Atlanta Hawks as well got a good piece of a major franchise in the in the association which helped him get into the Hall of Fame along with his incredible career at Duke and I love his broadcasting along with Nance and the great Bill Raftery on the Turner family of networks and CBS for college basketball game and autobiography where all books are sold. Grant Hill back here on the Rich Eisen show how you doing Grant? Hey Rich I'm doing well thanks for having me thanks for those kind words too in your intro. These are all facts these are all facts I would have given them you know just so you could ask me to give you a testimonial on the back of your book but you you you you went up the flow chart to be very honest with you the people that you got here on the back Magic, Coach K, Adam Silver I get it I get it Grant I totally get it you know.

Hey Rich I'll tell you my next game I'm gonna see my next book more game I'll get a blurb from from you. Are you sure are you sure because you know are can you get it from a Michigan guy Grant is that possible is that a possibility? I mean we can all we can all coexist you know I think so. Okay well because you don't have a problem with Michigan as much as Michigan is a problem with Duke right Grant? No you know look Michigan and they talk about it in the book Michigan's one of the five schools that that that were on my list.

I was a big Sean Higgins fan and actually made a visit to University of Michigan the week the weekend after they won the Final Four. So you met with Steve Fisher is that who was on or in your initial I guess your initial contact might have been with Bill Frieder pretty much back in that day? Yeah it wasn't who was there was another gentleman who was recruiting me but they won. Was it the guy was it was it the guy with the cake box Grant?

No no no no no no there you go. Okay all right. Oh no but I went up there the weekend after and I was a junior in high school yes and I was when I made my visit to Duke later that year I guess right the beginning of my senior year the following weekend I was supposed to go up to Michigan and that was the weekend that Michigan played Notre Dame and Rocket Ismail had a coming out party and and so my dad you know wanted me to wait one more week before I made a decision so he could go and be on the sidelines with Bo at the Michigan game and I think I broke his heart by saying no I'm ready to commit to Duke right now.

Oh man so you know who was on the 50 yard line in the press box covering that game is his first day on the Michigan football beat for the school newspaper the Michigan Daily that would be me on that day Grant. Oh wow. Yes sir we're both old is basically what I'm saying Grant you know.

That is true that is true. But you are aging much more gracefully than I am uh congrats on this book um why do it Grant what uh what led you to putting it all between two covers for you? Great question Rich you know for me it started really with the hall of fame enshrinement back in 2018 uh the lead up to that moment you know you're naturally going to be reflective and you're going to look back look in the rear view mirror and sort of just take in the totality of your career and uh and so you know I think that ultimately led to you know kind of right before COVID um this idea okay let's go forward with this and let's do it and um and so that's what sort of lit the spark if you will and um you know it was a really interesting really exciting uh exercise of going through and kind of going back looking at your life looking at it from a different lens trying to live in certain moments and recall certain things certainly was quite quite the process. Okay Grant Hill basketball hall of famer his book game in autobiography here uh on the Rich Eisen show so um was uh getting a piece of an NBA team uh always the goal when you were going through your playing career because we're we're already hearing Lebron talk about maybe getting a team in Vegas once it's all said and done and he certainly is building the capital for such a thing right now to say the least was that always a goal for you while you were playing Grant? Yeah you know my dad tried uh unsuccessfully uh back in the mid 80s to you know he was with the group to try to buy the Patriots um went through it with the Washington Bullets then now the Wizards um and then in the late 90s when the when the uh the Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Ravens the NFL awarded a franchise and so uh he had a group that he was a part of that tried to win that and of course they lost out so I say all that to say that like the idea of ownership you know was was at least the the idea was planted the seed was planted when I was in college and and just the possibility and so when I got to Detroit um you know I I signed a big contract and you know I I looked at Mr. Davidson who was a great man was the owner of the Pistons like man this man pays me this contract you know and and so he and I became friends and really just learned a lot from him picked his brain tried to understand why he was successful and had a really really good friendship with him but you know even then I was thinking okay one day I want to I'd like to own a team and um you know thankfully the opportunity presented itself two years after I retired I retired in 2013 and then you know the Hawks came up for sale and uh I talk about in the book sort of the process and engaging with Tony Ressler and what that was like um and even going back to the Clippers I was a part of you know Tony and I along with another gentleman tried unsuccessfully to buy the Clippers in 2014 so you know get a little bit into that and and what that process was like and how crazy and wild and exciting it all was. And I played a soundbite from Troy Young the other day Grant about his response to hearing the f-word from Knicks fans during the playoffs and how he likes to shut him up and I assume you heard what Klay Thompson had to say about the Celtics fans when it was brought up to him it's not like he had an agenda when he got out there for his post game press conference after game three and what what you were like on the road and hearing of hearing it from the crowd Grant your two cents on that subject that's out there in the NBA finals conversation right now. Well you know there there's a code of conduct that is expected and required and you know look when I played in the 90s you know crowd said whatever and players said things with to the crowd you know and I'm part to blame you know at times you know I said some things that I'm not very proud of but you know I think now with with with you know technology and cell phones and you know everybody's being watched we we expect and demand that the players you know not react and respond a certain way and are fined and penalized and when they do you know look I think you can boo I think you can you know all of that but when you start you know going over the board I think that's you know we we should you know held us held hold ourselves as fans to the same um to the same standard that we demand from players and so um but you know at the end of the day it's hard to you know it's hard to penalize and hold an entire building accountable um but you know I mean look it is what it is and um you know I think you know the bottom line is the fans don't win the games it's the players and to play what they do on the court and if players are too busy and too worried about that then you know the fans have won yeah um so you gotta you gotta tune it out and go out focus and concentrate on trying to get the job done what are your thoughts prior to game four what you've seen through the first games uh of these NBA finals and how you think it's gonna play out brian hill rich uh you know it's interesting I I don't know I mean I really I think golden state has shown that they can bounce back they they have the institutional knowledge I mean they lost in the second round of memphis after losing they were on the road they lost by 50 points and still came back and not only won the next game I think won the series um so that you know clay played well he shot well steph's been really good they have to get off to a better start at times boston has struggled at home throughout the playoffs um but boston has looked really good particularly at home in game three I don't know who wins but I will say this whoever wins game four is going to win the series really so you're laying that much on the line uh on friday night yeah I think if golden state wins they tied up I think they go back and um you know they win game five and and and they're they're in old position uh and I think you know conversely if boston wins up three one uh they've done well on the road throughout the playoffs they've closed out you know some games on the road games on the road or at least had some must-win games on the road uh in these playoffs and so uh I think they'll have you know three games to win one and uh so I think this is a big game I think I think whoever wins game four kind of bold to put it out there but I think whoever wins game four wins the series grant hill uh basketball hall of famer his book game and autobiography we'll talk a little bit more about that before we send him on his friday right here on the rich eisen show what do you think's going through lebron's mind right now with the roster currently the way it is darvin ham uh former piston um and now his new head coach and uh lebron turning 38 this december what do you think's going through that the goat's mind right now grant hill well you know I think I think for him obviously it's difficult to sit at home and and not play and um you know he hasn't you know been in that situation maybe only two other times I think throughout his career where he's not in the postseason I think his first year and then I think back in I think it was 2019 um the lakers didn't make the playoffs you know I'm mindful that um the last time it happened he they went and won the championship and uh so I think first of all just getting that rest and letting his body heal up and you know particularly as he's getting older I think that'll really charge him up um you know and he'll be ready to go and tackle this season I think overall health is going to be important you know we haven't seen the best of anthony davis really since the bubble and um I didn't think he was great last you know the year before last and obviously limped into the postseason and then this last season he wasn't right at all so the extra rest um you know should should really help in his preparation and then you know I anticipate them making a few roster changes maybe some other shooters they can you know have around those guys to complement them but I like darvin ham he was an assistant coach with the with the hawks so we had him in atlanta with coach bud you know he's he's smart he's credible um he's um he's no nonsense and I think guys respect him because he played and so I'm excited to see I know I know lebron is right now um you know super motivated and um you know this this is the end is near you know and so this this could be his last you know opportunity to really go for it and contend and you know attempt to try to get that fifth ring so it should be a an exciting season I know I know lebron is doing everything possible to get himself prepared for for him hopefully a title one all right grand hill uh I'm looking through the index of your new autobiography game okay and uh it's time for story time uh and I've just seen some of the names here uh one of them is starback comma roger your dad calvin played for the cowboys you're and it is true starback was the one who suggested to your dad to name you grant right um if I'm not mistaken he has taken credit for that that is a that is a true story right it is okay it is all right um I was baby boy hill for three days clearly my parents were expecting a girl and um needless to say I was not a girl so you know my dad you know um you know I think he he you know just the excitement of everything and you know my dad doesn't you know it takes a minute to make a decision and so um the starback um suggested grant which is my paternal grandmother's maiden name and um it sounds better than baby boy hill although at the same age I might have been able to market baby boy yes you could have had a different career no question about that so what's your favorite what's your first football memory grant what do you got you know I remember you know my dad left the cowboys and went to the world football league back in the 70s and I saw that was probably I was probably around three of course the league folded because it was paying players too much um but I remember like being in the arena or excuse me in the in the in the stadium and watching the games and and watching really everything but the game I might have been like two or three years old um but when I really started to kind of like take it all in was when he came uh went to the Redskins after leaving Hawaii and you know four or five years of age um that was when you know going to the to the practice facility and you know Joe Fiseman and Charlie Taylor and guys like that and you know so I was you know kind of growing up in the locker room was always around those guys and um you know go in the locker room you know after games and just taking in the spectacle of the NFL back at that time and so I don't remember the Dallas years but certainly a little bit of Hawaii and a lot in Washington and then of course Cleveland where he finished his career off love it uh another name Jordan comma Michael what's your favorite story involving him Grant um Jordan comma Michael yes I'm reading from the index I read from left to right yeah no I'm trying I I've had a lot of interactions obviously even before I got to the NBA um I think really my first you know time really meeting Michael Jordan was when he was playing on the dream team and I was on the college select team and um the first day we played I was matched up against him and um you know he's calling me Dookie and I'm trying to deny him the ball and he's like I can get the ball whenever I want and uh and so that was uh that was a memorable experience and we beat him and uh we we the college players beat the Olympic team in the first day of scrimmages now they came back and beat us the next two or three days you couldn't get the ball over half court but to be around Michael to hang out with him he was really nice and generous to all of us and uh it was just a memorable experience and um a lot of fun he would he didn't happen to reach out to you after a certain um uh Cameron Indoor regular season finale and final four game that you uh uh you might have called Grant did he did he reach out to you in any way strict no he didn't reach out but I saw him in Cleveland at the NBA 75 years and as they were coming off and in the back in the hallway it came up to me and uh Duke we had just beat them in Carolina and blew them out and uh and you know we blew them out maybe a couple maybe a week before yes so I was talking all types of trash you were and I was in his face and I was like oh man like you know you know it's the I mean you know I'm giving it to him and he's like man you weren't talking trash when when you know when we were good I would say yes I was I was talking trash with me because when you guys were good we were good too you know and uh and so we were going back and forth in the in the hallway and so that that rivalry uh although there's a an incredible respect a mutual respect um we we definitely like to talk trash well some friendly advice I would I would try to avoid Michael in the coming days if not months if not years after the last uh several games between the two of your schools Grant you know that right yeah yeah you know I mean that was tough that was uh the home game was was one thing the last home game for Coach K but you know the final four like that was you know to lose to them like that you know I don't think I'll ever I'll ever be able to live that down and you were at the mic your professionalism was fantastic Grant big time yeah yeah I was faking it yes I was definitely doing that big time uh I was you know you know look I I've known Hubert since I've known Hubert before either one of us were in college and uh I was happy you know I was happy for him and look I'll say this in all seriousness college basketball is at its best in my opinion when Duke and North Carolina are really good oh yeah and when you replace a legend like Roy Williams there's always concern but Hubert having the season he had getting to the final championship game almost coming close to winning it you know Carolina is going to be relevant for for quite some time and now we're trying to do the same as Coach K leaves and John Shire's coming in and uh but I'm hopeful that'll happen and I love the rivalry and I love it more when we beat them which I intend to do next year well I guess uh one last one for you in the remaining time I have with you Grant Hill from your index Raftery comma Bill give me my give me your best one man give me your best Raf story please you got one you must well I mean most of the stories are around you know last call or bar or something along those lines I mean I love it I don't I can't believe that you know one that he can you know hang out and partake like he does but this next day he is like I mean he gets up in the next day he's full of energy and I'm dragging and you know I'm half his age or almost half his age and like we're getting up and we're going to practice at 8 a.m and he's just buzzing around like he had 12 hours of sleep and he's just like he just I mean and literally like he just goes and goes and goes and you drink with him and you're like you know you you're sitting there you're like you know my glass was just it was almost empty but now it's full and so you know you take a few sips and you drink and then it's full again and you're thinking yourself have I drank that much when I can't determine but he's constantly I mean he's constantly reloading and he's doing it so slick and so fly um and so but um and so but he he's so much fun and um I just have to rest up for 11 months to get ready for much well you he and answer terrific you guys are you guys are all you guys are all great together all right I got one last one for you Patrick Kama Dan when I got to sports center one of the best sports center commercials that had already been on the air was uh you in the lobby and when I first walked into the lobby of ESPN as a young 26 year old kid I'm like this is the place where Grant Hill played the piano and um what was what what's the backstory behind this one Grant you got it's an interesting backstory so um I just finished my first year in the NBA and I remember my agents were saying look you know ESPN wants you to go to Bristol to take this commercial and you gotta understand like I was a part of the very first batch of ESPN commercials yeah which you know are legendary and you you know been in them and obviously everyone's aware of them and you know it's like when they were asking like commercial like it didn't make any sense they're like yeah ESPN wants to do a commercial I'm like like you know nowadays any athlete or any individual that's asked to do it you will you know what it is and you're on it like because you know they're good they're creative they're funny uh and they'll be splattered all over the network for you know for quite some time so I I almost turned it down like I said it's commercial like it just didn't make any sense and so literally I was there I think it was Dan Patrick and Craig Kilbourne I think Kilbourne was and I might have been like we might have it might have it might have been five minutes that we recorded that I came in I had my jersey on we sat down and I didn't even play anything they just acted like I played right and and we did it we taped it maybe two times and that was it and I was back to Hartford and flew out and I mean literally it was like I might have been on campus for all of 15 minutes no kidding because it's just great because you know Dan was down bad show and then you played like you know charge you know done you just kind of got you know a little bit more peppy and then put some money in your jar brilliant just so funny and they added that later classic classic class oh my gosh I'm gonna tweet that out I just found it please go ahead it's it's brilliant hey Grant thanks for the time congrats on the book let's do it again um and uh certainly since um you know at least I'd like an index uh mention uh the next time you have a book so let's let's create some memories the two of us over the next several years let's do it I'm all for it look for my call Grant thanks again congrats on the book and you be well all right you too thank you anytime Grant Hill game and autobiography where all books are sold all right when we come back right here on the Rich Eisen Show TJ's big ass grab bag including a little reference to our first hour guest the great Henry Winkler don't go anywhere back with that in a moment all right let's get to it uh there is a hard out at the end of the hour but I know TJ Jefferson can do this because he's just as cool as the list as he's about to do and he's as cool as the other side of the pillow it's time for TJ Jefferson's what you got in that bag top five big ass grab bag hit it TJ Jefferson go for it all right kaboom guess who stepped in the room like we always do it this time fellas we had the great Henry Winkler in our own it's yeah thanks to our fellows at home I had a completely different idea for this top five but I switched it up real quick and as I dug in the big ass grab bag you know in honor of Henry Winkler I decided to pull out TJ's top five coolest TV characters now I want you guys to understand how impossible this is right there are so many cool cats on television it's really hard to narrow them down to five but I did my best and here we go coming in at number five this guy lives on a 200-acre estate in a guest house in Hawaii he's got an ill mustache he drives a Ferrari he gets all the chicks and he solves cases a good one that's magnum p.i can you be the thomas magnum right like this dude it's just you know going around Hawaii all the girls love him he's good looking and again the mustache and the Ferrari the dimples don't forget you know and it just magnum he was cool and yep yeah sure yeah a lot of thigh meat yeah he even made Higgins look cool and you know you know I'm opposed to that much thigh meat but it was the 80s and it was magnum so of course he could get away with it uh coming at number four Mike Del Tufo you'd probably say that working in radio is one of the cooler jobs they have right yes okay so you work in radio you got a great nickname and you dress real fly that puts you on my list and this guy is we're going to go to Cincinnati wkrp in cincinnati you know and i would always do like my radio voice trying to be like venus but guess what you can't be like venus we're not that cool all right i'm doing this thing that brockman hates but once i say this why i had to do it because how can you separate two guys who live in miami who dress like bosses everyone without the other drive ill cars and they solve cases i get it crockett and tubs which by the way she couldn't have been number one on this list because the whole world in the 80s was dressing like these guys look at these two philip michael thomas cars the bow johnson the epitome of cool right mike miami the soundtrack who did the don henley was he the no no no john hummer john humber okay you got your back tj that's why i go to del tube over this all right coming at number two right this guy was mad cool he was a former athlete and then once his athletic career kind of went side he decided he was going to head to uh a new vocation which would keep him around people and he wanted to make sure everybody knew his name whenever he was at his place of business that's ted dancing to sam malone from cheers man got the girls it just and cheers was the spot here is where you want it to be it's where you need to sashay to the tap and you know like he would he had like that sashay movie he had like the collinsworth slide down as he went to the top come on and i can't remember how good sam malone was at baseball i'm pretty sure he was pretty good right before like the guy who gave up the home run of alaska's last night what else you got over there what's number one coming at number one i usually like to try to put some type of drama or suspense to this there ain't no drama there ain't no suspense he was right here he had a black leather jacket he could turn on the jukebox simply by punching it he rolled with picky tuscadero in the back of a motorcycle and he had the most famous thumbs up sign of all time that's the legendary henry winker winkler as arthur the fawns fawns really he was just in the building by the way this was the coolest mf on god's green earth i'm telling you what you couldn't tell eight-year-old me watching the reruns of happy days that the fawns wasn't the man and that is tj's top five coolest tv characters maybe the best grab bag today yeah well yeah well done could be it's a high bar to clear but that i think it just cleared it thank you thank well done sir appreciate and if we missed one call us eight four four two people on youtube will definitely let me know so they will see even you brockman couldn't be upset with crockett and tubs he can't bring it up i couldn't no tom dreason the comedian coming up see i normally hate when he does well it's a top five but i got like seven people yeah that was well done he gets very although adam just immediately texted us no zack morris well here's come on zack morris we're taking off that list for zack no real smith either by the way okay there's a good point see i i guess you guys know i make a big list and i chop them down and what i did is i kind of eliminated all the high school and younger guys because i could do like zack morris theo huckstable they're on the list separate plus the 10-year ban also applies to the big ass grab bag bruce light bruce will moonlighting yeah too soon that's a hard one pretty funny bruce could you imagine if we did wait 10 years to put will smith back so yeah that's why the the younger people i mean bruce will moonlight yeah bruce was pretty cool like i mean hock i pierce from the one guy i almost had at number five but i left magnum was uh captain james t kirk captain kirk was which by the way was always my favorite killborn lead-ins whenever he used william shatner mr d from uh all these people were on it but of course i just had the five so that five was perfect though i cannot our venus fly trap was an outstanding thank you yeah it was always i mean just that name alone i wanted to be a radio dj because of that show even more when i watched that because you also thought lonnie anderson was working in the front office as well that's exactly why by the way i could have put johnny fever and venus but i know i was doing two already and i want to hear it but johnny fever is another one he could be on the top 10 on the top five list so many cool characters man it's it was hard it was hard bailey by the way was an underrated cast member of wk rp and since that's what's his name yeah jan smithers look i'm just i'm afflicted by this stuff you could have gone dr johnny fever as well that's right yeah like i just said but i didn't want to do the two again so i left crockett and tubbs shout out to fever crockett and tubbs oh way to horatio horatio king i was gonna say mcgyver another mcgyver was on the last time he was on the final ten rock for jim rockford one of the coolest of all time i also had dan tana dan tana from uh from uh vegas vegas oh my 15 yeah like i said this was a hard list to cut down that's it tarian lannister tarian uh he he he was on the internet list i couldn't i know i'm looking at i'm looking at the list right now oh you got it well done great great conversation 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 i you even going back before you know hulk holtman was a babyface hulk and andre were able to go in and headline at the new orleans superdome at shay stadium in japan wherever they went that was an attraction something to wrestle with bruce prichard listen wherever you get your podcasts