REShow: Albert Breer/Kevin Van Valkenburg - Hour 2 (6-8-2022)

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That's 877-ASK-DELL to save up to 48% on our latest technology. There is ways to be creative. The Rich Eisen Show. You're on the show. ESPN NBA insider Brian Wintorse.

Still to come. Senior writer for the MMQV, Albert Breer. Plus, actor Mike Colter. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number two, The Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

844-204-RICH is the number to dial. We've got Kevin Van Valkenburg of ESPN joining us in a moment to talk about the Live Golf Tour, where Phil Mickelson was introduced as the latest member of such golf tour yesterday. Today, it appears Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau have now joined this tour, as more name players are running the risk of no longer appearing on the PGA Tour. Basically, they're saying, we'll take this money and play in this new tour and show up for the majors, which will still allow us to show up. And that's going to be their new careers.

And I have no idea what this means for the world of golf right now. And it's getting bigger and bigger. And the names are getting huger and huger. And the money is getting bigger and bigger.

And in many people's minds, the hypocrisy getting larger and larger. And so, he's joining us in about 20 minutes time. Mike Coulter of the show Evil on Paramount Plus will be joining us in a matter of an hour plus as well.

You at 844-204-RICH, number to dial Chris Brockman and Mike Del Tufo in their spots. And so is TJ Jefferson, who later on this hour wants to get something off his chest about our third hour guest from yesterday, Michael Chiklis. I don't know why you've got something against such a very talented and sweet man. I got beef with Chiklis. Okay, very good.

Well, beef with Chiklis is, by the way, you can write that down as the latest fantasy team name. But it's also the latest book by Mitch Albom. It's coming soon. It's coming out on Thursdays. Thursdays. Thursdays.

Okay. Joining us on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line is our friend from Sports Illustrated. He writes the MMPB every single week. He dropped?

What happened? Did he hang up? He's going to go buy that new Mitch Albom book.

Is that what it is? He's breaking some news right now. I saw it. He was on. He was on, then he's off. He was. Adam was talking. I was in the back when Adam was talking. And he's gone? Alright, he's calling back.

Like Kaiser Soze? Adam hung up accidentally on him. It's clear. Or maybe he's, you know... Did Rusty Harden pull the plug on it? Look, man, I don't come to work saying I want to go off on a start. You don't? No, I don't. You should. I don't, man. I don't. Otherwise I'd spend the next ten minutes on Jack Del Rio.

Man. You know, I don't even... I wish you would, to be honest. I kind of do want to have a conversation with Jack. I mean, we could spend the entire show talking about sports through the prism of what's going on in the real world.

And I know people tune into shows like this to maybe escape the real world. And every now and then I kind of bring it in. But, you know, it's just every day with Deshaun Watson something gets worse. I know. You know?

And so I don't intend to do it. But it just seems to get worse and worse and worse with what's going on with Deshaun. So that's why we ended the first hour with that. And, again, as I mentioned, Mike Colter's joining us.

And at the top of the next hour, the story that we'll be talking about is what we're going to hit about with Albert when we can get him back on the phone line. The San Francisco 49ers have got Deebo Samuel in camp. D.K. Metcalf is not there. Aaron Rodgers is, in fact, there in Green Bay. He says he's not going away for quite some time.

So there's all of that. You sure you didn't hit a button, Mike, or anything like that sort of thing? I did not hit a button.

I'd admit it. He's calling back. No, he's calling back. He's calling back. Okay, here he is back here on the line. I put him on the old.

You put him on the Pano mindless? No. Okay, very good. So Albert Brier is here on the Rich Eisen Show. How are you doing, Albert? I'm good. I'm good, Rich. How are you doing? I'm good. I just thought, like, what happened? You were ready to join us. I have bad phone right now. I say that's what happened. Okay, so we're going to cross our fingers at the next ten minutes on the Mercedes-Benz phone line goes just fine with you. So let's get right down to it.

Is D.K. Metcalf holding out on the Seahawks, best you can tell? Yeah, I mean, I think, like, this is sort of indicative of the way this is going across the league and has gone across the league. And if you notice, Rich, a lot more players are grousing about their contracts in the spring than we used to see. And the reason why is because it's very, very difficult now to stage a holdout in the summer.

And so in a lot of cases, if you wait till the end of July, it's too late because the rules of the new CBA are so restrictive and so punitive. I mean, if you don't show up for the first day of training camp, like, you lose the year towards free agency. So if D.K. Metcalf held a one-day holdout in training camp, then he would not be an unrestricted free agent next year.

And so, you know, for a lot of these guys, you know, it's sort of the spring is the time to make your point. And, you know, in the case of a player like D.K. Metcalf, given what's happened with the receiver market, you know, you can certainly see where maybe, you know, making a $100,000 investment, which is what it would be to miss all three days of minicamp, in making a statement about what you want and what you're looking for for the team when, you know, other receivers across the league are getting paid $23, $24, $25 million a year.

You can see where that might be worth it, you know, if you're kind of doing the calculus in your head. So then why wouldn't Seattle pay him? What's the, you know what I mean? I know it's easy for us to say, pay the man. You got Debo Samuel up there in San Francisco. These things take time, I understand, but I'm kind of mystified.

Because with Debo, it's kind of straight up, right? Where he is such an important part of this team that can win the Super Bowl right now. And that's why a lot of people think Trey Lance shouldn't be the quarterback because he's not quote unquote ready for that. But at least you understand that this is a team that's not being retooled, remade. They didn't just trade away their Super Bowl winning franchise quarterback of the last decade who was a pillar of the franchise. DK could be an indication of where Seattle's going with their roster and their plans and long-term plans and things like that.

So what is the crux of all of it? Well, they want to keep him. And look, Rich, I think if they had wanted to move him. If they had said, okay, we are really tearing this thing down to the studs and we're going to start over, they would have traded him by now. It doesn't mean that they can't still turn around and decide to do that in a month or two. But if that was the plan from the start, the time to do it would have been when teams had their draft picks, when all the cap space across the league was available to extend them, if other teams wanted to bring them in and extend them. So the Seahawks plan from the start had been like, let's blow this thing up and start over and we can't afford to pay a receiver $24, $25 million a year.

Well, the time to do that would have been in March. Josh Schneider has been doing this for long enough, knows better than you and I, that it wouldn't have been worth it to wait on a number of different fronts. I think it's just a matter of the receiver market changing and what the Seahawks probably had budgeted for him and now those numbers changing. And I think we've seen at different positions, of course, how things have changed and how thresholds have been broken. You see the quarterback before this offseason, I think there were three quarterbacks making over $40 million a year, that number is now six.

The same sort of things happened at receiver and on multiple different levels too. You've got Devante Adams and Tyreek Hill at the top of the market. And then you look at the next level, well, Christian Kirk got $18 million. So, there's no excuse not to pay a player like this well over $20 million a year. So, I think part of it is sort of recalibrating where you're at and recalibrating for where the market is. And I would assume DK's people and Seattle are going to try to work to get something done before the start of training camp. But you could definitely see where, when you look at the numbers, the amount of money that's going to be that's on the line here, why somebody like DK Metcalfe would say it's worth $100,000 investment to make a statement here, make my point and let the team know where I stand.

So, I don't have to do it when it could be really damaging to me in the summer. Albert Breer here on the Rich Eisen Show. So, what is the scoop up in San Francisco with Debo and Lance?

I keep saying over and over again. Week one, it's Lance's team. Jimmy G was told, you know, don't even show your excuse from showing. I mean, and it's not like his presence there would be, you know, so acrimonious if he showed. But there's a reason why they tell him not to show is because it's Lance's gig, right? It's Lance's gig. You tell me otherwise and I'll start backing off this thing. No, no, no, no, no.

It is. And look, like, my understanding is, like, Jimmy Garoppolo's people, like, if there's a trade suitor out there for him, like, I think the green light's there for Jimmy Garoppolo's people to negotiate the financials on it. You know, because obviously with $24.5 million due to him, you know, that could be an issue. So, I mean, everything the Niners have done both behind the scenes and then publicly over the last three or four months has indicated, yeah, like, we're moving on from Jimmy Garoppolo and, you know, I think that's been signaled to Jimmy in several different ways as well. Now, when it comes to the question whether or not Lance is right, that's a different question, you know.

And I think it's going to be interesting to watch where this goes. I would say there was a fair amount of retooling that had to happen mechanically with Lance because he's not the most natural thrower of the football. So, the Niners had to work with him on a bunch of different stuff and sort of rebuild some stuff in his game. And as a result, there were some ups and downs last year.

It wasn't like a straight ascension, you know. Like, he came in and had a great first ten days of training camp. Then he dipped a little bit. You know, then he kind of slumped. Then he came back and bounced back after, you know, he had a really, I would say, mediocre performance in his first start. I think that was in week five.

You know, and so there's been ups and downs, no question about it. But, you know, I think that there's optimism that they can build an offense for him. The question is whether or not it's the Kyle Shanahan offense that we've seen the last few years. And my sense is, where they are right now, when we get to week one, I don't think it's going to be the full Kyle Shanahan offense. I think it's going to be some hybrid offense that's built to get Trey Lance going a little bit.

And, you know, that's fine. I think that's sort of kind of where he is developmentally. We knew he was raw coming out of North Dakota State. And, of course, Kyle's been down this road before. I mean, it's sort of what he had to do in Washington for Robert Griffin about a decade ago.

Yeah, I mean, can you imagine if Lance gets the throws down? Because you could basically say that, from all due respect, they were running a limited Shanahan offense with Garoppolo, too. You know, I mean, like, there were throws that I'm sure Shanahan would love to have in his offense that Garoppolo couldn't make. And Garoppolo had so many problems throwing over the middle and between the hashes.

My goodness gracious. And he freelanced more than Kyle was like, too. I mean, I can tell you that for a fact. You know, like, I mean, Jimmy did a lot of great things. But, you know, they definitely, I mean, there's part of this, you know, part of the reason why, you know, part of the reason why they traded up and they, you know, went and got Trey Lance is because they wanted to raise the ceiling at the position. And look, like, you know, Kyle's had quarterbacks that are pretty good, not great before. And he's been beaten on the biggest stage by great quarterbacks.

I mean, think about his own experience. And I know that this really has affected their decision-making at that position. You know, in the Super Bowl, as the offensive coordinator of the Falcons, Kyle coached his ass off for two and a half quarters and Tom Brady made it not matter. A few years later, you know, he's the head coach of the Niners. They're in the Super Bowl. And the Niners outplay, outcoach, out everything the Chiefs for three and a half quarters. And Patrick Mahomes makes it not matter.

So, you know, a big piece of this was raising the ceiling at the position. And sometimes to raise the ceiling at the position, you maybe have to take on somebody who has a little ways to go, which is sort of the logic that they used in taking Trey Lance where they did a third overall. Albert Breer here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Let's spend a couple of minutes here on the defending world champs. I had Les Snead on yesterday. So rare to see a contract given to a player that doesn't add any years at all. It just adds money, right? But Aaron Donald, Aaron Donald's a unicorn, so that makes sense.

Check that box. Had Les on here and he mentioned multiple times the phrase about the window that we have. Is what he said. And then when I asked him about the specifics on that, he said Matthew Stafford is the key to the window anyway. When you have somebody like Matthew Stafford, you can't put a time frame on a window. But you have receipts that I'm sure Les didn't really want to mention on the air. What do you think that window is for the Rams based on the cap and all of what they've built with the very expensive players worth the money though?

What do you got? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, like they're sort of built the way the Indianapolis Colts were built.

If you remember. And there's a reason why like those Colts teams with Peyton Manning fell apart the way that they did at the end when Manning got hurt. You had all these guys that they were deeply invested in that they just sort of all hit a wall at once. You know what I mean?

Like, so they're built in that fashion. And, you know, I think that there's certainly the potential out there that a bunch of these guys get old at once. And, oh, my God, what are the Rams going to do?

And they have to eat it for a year or two. But I'm with Les on this. It's worth it. You know, if you have won Lombardi already, it's already been worth it.

And you probably have a chance to compete with this Corps for another couple of years. And Stafford's the main piece of it. And he's signed for the next, you know, four years now. He's had his injury issues.

So there's no question that, you know, to some degree you're monitoring that. Maybe he's not a guy that plays into his 40s the way Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady have. But he's the number one piece. You also got to think about the fact that Aaron Donald's 31. Cooper Cupp's getting older. Jalen Ramsey's not going to be young forever. And so what I mean when I'm comparing it to the Colts is like when you're, you know, really reliant and over-leveraged with a smaller group of players.

And you're relying on yourself to, you're relying on your ability to find talent to, you know, kind of fill roles around them. The picture looks a lot different when that Corps starts to age and decline. And so like I think it's not just Matthew. It's a number of different players there that they're built, that they've really built the team around. And, you know, I mean, one example is Andrew Whitworth, you know, like that's already taken a big piece out of the out of the puzzle. So, yeah, I mean, that exists, no question about it.

But, you know, I think everybody in that building would tell you that party they were able to throw in February made it all worth it. And anything they get from here, as far as the plan goes, is icing on the cake. Albert Breer here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's jump into Deshaun Watson. What's going on in that Browns building right now? I mean, they have to be shaken by the 24th lawsuit that led to his own, Watson's own attorney saying, we got to look into this, as opposed to like never could have happened in a million years with a behavior like that sort of thing.

Jenny Vrentis' story I mentioned earlier that the behavior that is laid out there can be termed as predatory. There's just no other way to put it when you read that sort of thing. He has every right to defend himself in this country. And there's a court of public opinion.

He is losing in that court right now, getting routed. And he's got to show up for work next week. What is happening, Albert, right now?

So I think I'm going to give you one of the keys and I don't have the answer to this question. How transparent has Deshaun Watson been with the Browns? How transparent has Deshaun Watson been with the NFL? That's, I think, an operative question here.

I think it's a really, really important question. And we've seen the NFL come down harder on players in the past that weren't transparent with them. And they've always felt like they have to do that in large part because they don't have subpoena power. Right. So they have to sort of set the example that if you don't cooperate with us, it's going to be worse on you.

It helps them investigate future cases. So, you know, like looking forward at this. And we all I mean, look, look, the accusations are awful. And I think that goes without saying. And I don't want to trivialize any of that.

But just you're talking about this from a functional standpoint. What was in Jenny's report in the Times yesterday and then what was in the 24th lawsuit? Like how transparent was Deshaun Watson with the Browns, with the NFL about what was coming?

Because I think that could affect where this goes. I don't think we're going to get word on a punishment like tomorrow. I know the NFL's feeling was maybe the best course of action was to wait until the period for pretrial discovery ends.

And that ends on June 30th. So their feeling was important to let any information that's going to come out, come out before we make a final decision. And it doesn't really matter whether or not we make a decision before June 30th. It won't materially affect anything anyway.

But I mean, I don't know. Rich, do you think that maybe the league feels the heat now? They have to they have to do something.

I think that they're there. I think the feeling with the people in the Browns in the league up until now has been that they were going to get a decision on discipline right before training camp. But, you know, like the public pressure that's on the league and the Browns now. And then, you know, I think however transparent Deshaun Watson was with the Browns and with the league could certainly affect the timeline and how this goes over the next few weeks. I mean, is he not available for questioning next week, you don't think? I mean, it's mandatory minicamp. Every quarterback speaks.

We've got Aaron Rodgers in front of his locker that we're going to be playing on. I mean, that's that's part and parcel when you are the starting quarterback and certainly one of the most well-paid quarterbacks in the history of the league. I mean, honestly, like and and you could keep saying, you know, you're going to respect the process. The Texans also in this story popped up a couple of times like that. That now opens up a completely different avenue of questioning right now. Albert, I know you don't have the answers and I know the league doesn't appear to have them either, that they want more answers before acting. But isn't that what the commissioners exempt list is there for?

That we play someone aside, they're still paid, and we're just going to, you know, we're going to remove this player from the public forum and the ability to play a craft while we figure out what's what. Right. And Rich, they've used the commissioners exemplars in that way in the past. I mean, they used it, I believe, in 2000. Was it 14 with Rice and Hardy and Peterson, right?

They used it. And, you know, like there was a shift in the way that they've handled discipline the last few years. And that was really a result of the Ezekiel Elliott case. And Jerry Jones basically convincing other owners, like we don't want to be judge, jury and executioner anymore.

We should let the legal process sort of lead us by the hand. And so, you know, as a result of that, like, you know, the league stance on this has been, well, so long as there aren't criminal charges, we aren't putting him on the exemplars. And I would say this, too, I think the Texans really sort of bailed the league out last year in that sense. Right.

Right. Like because the Texans just said, OK, we're not going to put him on the field. And Deshaun Watson was OK with going on paid leave or in effect paid leave. It wasn't paid leave, but it was in effect paid leave. And so, you know, both Watson and the Texans sort of bailed the league out. But that was also at a time where we didn't know the details of what was going on. We just assumed it's because Watson insisted he would never play for them again.

And why would they have that player out there on the field and run the risk of him getting hurt? Yeah, that was the that was the backdrop of what we thought at the time was all of that. Rich, at the doorstep of training camp, you'll remember last year there was that question, are they going to put the league and put them on the exemplars? And the narrative coming out of 345 Park was pretty consistently unless there are criminal charges, we won't do that. And then the commissioner actually came out and flat out said that in March. And so what I know about the commissioners exemplars is Roger has great describe a high level of discretion on this.

Right. Like so like the narrative about the criminal charges, that's not really required. Like he can put Deshaun Watson on the on the commissioners exemplars as he sees fit. And I'm with you like if they don't feel ready to suspend them, like I sort of feel like this is what the commissioners exemplars is there for, at least in the form that they've started to use it, really going back to that September with when the Ray Rice and Greg Hardy and Adrian Peterson cases happened all at once. It's you know, to take a guy to take a guy off the field when it reflects poorly on the league what's going on. And so, I mean, yeah, I think next week's going to be interesting whether or not the Browns put it put Deshaun Watson out there is going to be interesting. You know, in front of the media and like at this point, you know, like after, you know, not making him available for the entire offseason and sort of making Kevin Stefanski answer all the questions for everybody on this. I think it's I think I think it's very fair to question the Browns if they don't put Deshaun Watson out there.

And I don't remember what the PFWA rules are about that, but I don't think they have to make them available. But, you know, I think it's sort of I think the optics are really horrible if they're hiding Deshaun Watson, even if all they can do is put them out there and he just has to answer every question. I can't answer that because of the legal situation going on.

You know, I think the optics of not putting them out there and having him, you know, face the music are not good for the organization. Albert, thanks for the time. Appreciate it, man. All right. Thanks, Rich. I appreciate it. I apologize for the phone call.

It's all good. That's Albert Breer here. We got to take a break to get ready for Kevin Van Valkenburg. But just real quick, Stefanski, they put him out there. What's the coach going to say?

It's the owners who said we were comfortable having him on the team that should be speaking. Correct. Right. I mean, what's Stefanski going to say? That's what he keeps saying. I'm going to respect the process.

The only question is, what was the process above the flowchart from you that was going on? You know, Stefanski is just hired to come up with the schemes and win and lose. More, you know, win. I shouldn't say win and lose. Win. Winner, Ty. We'll take a break.

Kevin Van Valkenburg next talking about the live tour, everybody, when we come back. Does your antiperspirant keep you dry all day? Dove Men PlusCare Dry Spray goes on instantly dry for a cleaner feel and offers 48 hours sweat and odor protection.

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Clean feel all day. The Rich Eisen Show here on Terrestrial Radio audience. Kevin Van Valkenburg of ESPN joining us here on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line. Kevin, you mentioned $200 million fee for Phil, and you also said for Dustin Johnson. I mean, is this equity firm that is funded by the Saudis giving out, you know, a quarter of a billion dollars almost to every single player that says yes to playing on this tour?

Is that what's happening? Not every single player is getting that, certainly. Some of the big names, the big fish, in particular, you know, Phil was kind of one of their big targets because not only was he willing to come do it, but he was willing to recruit other players and try to set up, you know, the model for how the league could be run. And so, you know, no one knows exactly like how many millions some people are getting. But, you know, you hear, you know, 30 million for guys who have won PGA Tour win, who are young. And, you know, a million dollars here for guys who were a few years ago the U.S. amateur champion or the NCAA champion.

So it's a mixture of kind of old and young. And, you know, I think the complicated thing is that the Saudis have decided that it's in their best interest to kind of show the world that they're a country that can be invested in and taken seriously. And that they want businesses in particular to sort of look at stuff like their investments in Formula 1s, their investments in this tour, you know, their purchase of Premier League teams and say, you know what, I think I'm comfortable investing in Saudi Arabia. The public backlash isn't that significant. We don't have to always talk about Jamal Khashoggi and some of the executions that they've carried out on LGBT2 people.

So I think that it's not really a tour. You have to think of this, Rich, like this is none of this is intended to ever make back this money. They're not giving Dustin Johnson or Phil Mickelson this money because they think we'll turn a profit in a few years on the Gulf. They're fully comfortable, it seems like losing all that money because the sort of larger goals are they want to build cities in Saudi Arabia. They want European and Asian and American money to feel comfortable coming into their country.

And, you know, it's a complicated moral issue. And but I think that their bet is looking like it could sort of be the right one because they have a lot of money to throw around. And for every time that people talk about, hey, that wasn't that neat when Bryson won that tournament in Portland or Bedminster or Jetta or, you know, wherever they end up playing Trump Doral. That was a great opportunity for them to sort of a little bit launder their reputation a little bit after some kind of pretty controversial thing.

Kevin Van Valkenburg of ESPN right here on The Rich Eisen Show. So when this is this this kimono gets lifted in the manner in which you've described in a question and answer period with these players in these introductory press conferences, what are what are their responses to it? Well, it's clear that they've all been coached to sort of sell this as no, no, this isn't about the money. This is about growing the game and reinventing golf. And, you know, we want to bring a younger crowd to golf and, you know, it just doesn't really feel like any of them believe any of that deep in their hearts. Like they wouldn't be here if it was sort of just about growing the game of golf.

And in some ways, like you almost wish they could just say, like, you know what, a lot of money. And I decided to take it because I want to make a lot of money and I want to work a lot less. I don't really care about the implications to the PGA Tour, which is set up as a nonprofit.

I don't care what that means for the future of those other people who stay. I want to make a lot of money. And, you know, I just it's kind of funny to sit there and hear guys talk about, yeah, the reason that I'm coming to play this tour is because it has a shotgun start, not, you know, because I'm getting one hundred million dollars. I really like the idea of a shotgun search so that everyone has a fair draw. And if he's almost kind of chuckle sitting there because some of them trying to sell it with a straight face, some of them are better at selling it than others. And, you know, in that respect, nobody's been better at selling products than Phil Mickelson since Arnold Palmer, really. So what is happening in the front offices of the PGA Tour right now, Kevin? I think I mean, I think that there's a little bit of a panic probably going on.

There's certainly some, you know, worry that they're going to lose more people. I think you have to understand, Rich, like the PGA Tour benefited a long, long time from being set up as a nonprofit. It essentially allowed them to pay like to duck out on essentially 200 million dollars in taxes. ESPN, Paul Levine did a story about this.

You know, it's almost 10 years old, so it probably would work out to be like 400 million now. But that setting up as a nonprofit means that they cannot like give money directly to the players just for sort of showing up. And it is sort of like come home to roost and then it hamstrings them a little bit because a lot of athletes in every single sport, they want guaranteed money.

And who can blame them? Like injury or performance? Like if you play poorly one year in golf, you know, you're not going to get paid a lot of money. And so the PGA Tour just simply cannot by legal rules hand over money to people.

You have to sort of invent reasons like, oh, this is for the, you know, the player performance thing is what drives fan interest referred to as a PIP. So they gave Phil eight million dollars last year for driving fan interest and Tiger 10 million dollars for, you know, being one of the most Google recognizable athletes, even though he didn't hit a single shot on the PGA Tour. All of those things still pale in comparison to the 200 million dollars that, you know, the public investment fund that live golf people can give someone like Phil or Dustin or Bryson. And so I don't know exactly what the answer is going to be for the PGA Tour. They can't, I think, forever rely on sort of the loyalty or the morality of people like Justin Thomas or Roy McElroy, who both come out strongly against joining live because that's not going to last forever. Like money sort of always talks in every professional sport and oil money dominates the world. And I think that what we're seeing is that it makes sense it would eventually kind of come for sports like it. People were kind of aghast when it came for Premier League Soccer and F1 and now it's coming for golf. Well, I mean, the concept of the tour card, Kevin, Dustin Johnson flat out said, I'm resigning. I'm out. Phil said, why would I give it up? I spent so much time in my entire career to get what I got.

I'm not giving it up. I'll play in the majors. And then there's the issue of whether he's serving out a PGA Tour suspension.

He demurred on that, saying I'm not talking about tour issues and then directly responded to a question about whether he's given up his card or not. So is the tour potentially going to just play this out, hope that there are some young stars that everybody's going to want to see to supplement the guys who they're not going to allow to come on? Will they eventually allow them to play in some of these events if they're past winners, top 10 winners?

I mean, like what wiggle room might they have here, do you think? Yeah, it's a it's a really tough question in part because, like, if you're Dustin Johnson, let's say Dustin Johnson hadn't resigned his PGA Tour card and he wanted to play in the Valspar or the Arnold Palmer or some tournament. If you're the tournament, if you're the chairman committee chairman of the Valspar or the Arnold Palmer and Dustin Johnson wants to play in your tournament, how do you sort of be OK with the PGA Tour saying, no, no, like that? We know that might help your gate, it might help your sort of the amount of money that you can donate charity, but we're going to hold firm on this and he's not going to be allowed to go.

It's going to be a tough position for them. I mean, I think they have to kind of stand with what they sort of said their punishments were going to be because they've made a big talk and several times spoke to all the players and said, if you do this, you'll be subject to discipline. You've got to be suspended. I think it would be kind of ridiculous to think that Phil hasn't been suspended on some level. Like, why would you not say like, oh, yeah, no, I haven't been suspended.

I have or I haven't had that conversation. But it's pretty clear that setting up trying to set up a rival tour, giving them documents, allowing your lawyers to draft some of that legal language is kind of grounds for suspension, even as an independent contractor of a particular tour. So I think that there's a very good chance that this becomes a legal issue. There goes the court that we have a court case that could go to the Supreme Court, Mickelson versus the PGA Tour. And I think in part, Phil probably would not mind that kind of fight. He doesn't, I think, like have outright animosity towards the PGA Tour. He feels on some level like it has allowed him to live a pretty amazing life and that he's but he's also kind of quick to sort of say, I've given a lot to the tour.

I've kind of helped give it a lot of value over the years. And he's right. Like nobody besides him, besides Tiger has won almost 50 years. I think he's run forty seven times.

That's an amazing number for a professional golfer. And I think that we are going to sort of if he says, you know, basically, hey, I'm going to fight this. I'm not going to be like Justin Johnson and just say, I'm good with it.

I want my place back on tour. I earned that. It's going to get interesting and it will get interesting because I think we've seen in a lot of court cases that, you know, there are legal issues. Sure. But like it often kind of can come down to what political appointees are sort of certain judges.

Right. Like there's a lot of politics that are messing with this. Like Jared Kushner is a close friend of the people who are running this tour.

Ari Fleischer is out there working as the emcee of this, these press conferences. Like there's a lot of, you know, politics swimming about in this. And so if you've got political appointee judges who don't love the PGA Tour because, you know, they've been sort of steered down that road by certain people, then that's going to get really interesting and complicated, isn't it? Well, I mean, Kevin Van Valkenburg here on The Rich Eisen Show, you just mentioned how there's politics involved in this in this live tour and who's behind it and who's friendly with it. I mean, is Newsmax now going to get into the sports rights holder front?

And I say that with a little bit of tongue firmly planted in cheek. But it is look, anybody who tells a story about how the merger happened in the NFL and the in the AFL was television contracts. And if TV starts showing it and people start watching it, then that gives the that that upstart league, if you will, a little bit more power and a little bit more buzz around it. And so if if the PGA Tour events have fewer stars on it, will the television partners of the PGA Tour start to look around and and and ring up the number of the live tour and see what's going on? Like, what is the TV? Last one for you is what's the TV aspect of it? Because right now, the only way you can see this is online. And that's not a problem. That's how people are watching the show right now.

But what do you think, Kevin? Well, certainly a TV contract somewhere would help us further establish the tour and would make it sort of available to a golf interested audience that isn't quite embracing streaming like, you know, a younger generation is. So to the medium age of golf fans is probably fifty five and up. But, you know, I think we're also kind of have to sort of grasp that if if they got some sort of streaming distribution where they were getting money for it. And, you know, that was where broadcast rights were trending. And I think if you look at like the NFL being broadcast on Amazon and Apple and places like that, that there is evidence that that other sports are trending towards specifically just streaming.

Maybe golf could sort of survive. And maybe that would be just a different way to look about it. I know that they've tried to get some sort of, you know, broadcast a partnership and they've essentially been kind of turned down or chuckled at.

But for every sort of larger star that kind of drifts over there, it makes it a little bit more appealing. Right. How did Fox TV, Fox Sports become a huge NFL NFL is they get the NFL in whatever year that was 1990s. And now, you know, it's a huge media empire. And so, like, what if a small, smaller place decided to take a shot and say, hey, golf is my kind of thing. And that's what we're going to stake our flag in.

And, you know, who knows how it's going to look like in 10 years. Kevin, thanks for the time. Are you going to the event this weekend?

You can do it? Yeah. I don't think I'll be writing about any of the golf stuff, but I'll be sort of writing about the scene and trying to kind of make sense of it all. And there's apparently like kind of rock concerts every night after the golf. It's really unclear to me whether any of this is useful or it's like kind of out of touch old people trying to feel useful. So I'm going to kind of dig into that and see what I think.

If they have actual fans here or people who've been paid to sort of dance with DJ Fat Tony, who apparently is one of the people who's appearing. Oh, absolutely. Kid Rock is like John Voight, the course reporter. I mean, like, you know, what do we got?

You know, like what what do we got? Do we know? Kid Rock did appear.

He did the perform at Justin Johnson's wedding. So I feel like he's obviously in the Rolodex. See, you know what?

And everybody thought I was just trying to be funny. Oh, my gosh. Thanks for the call, Kevin. Appreciate it. We'll chat soon. You bet.

It's Kevin Van Valkenburg, everybody. All right. Let's take a break. We will be back with more.

There's the famed new Mitch Alben book, Beef with Chickless, as as based on a true story of T.J. Jefferson with yesterday's third hour guest. That's coming up next. Back here on The Rich Eyes and show 844204 Rich number two dial. Hey, Chris, you went to the Angels Red Sox game. I did. Great game last night. You showed up and Trout Homer. Boom.

How about that? And then he left with an injury. And then the Angels still lose anyway. They fired Joe Maddon. I mean, just two weeks ago, the Angels were on their way to the playoffs and Joe Maddon had solved that Angels Rubik's Cube. It might have been as simple as, hey, Trout, no tonic or healthy. And then a 12 game losing streak happens in the middle of which we learned that Trout is the worst fantasy football commissioner of all time. And and Maddon gets fired.

Phil Nevin is now the interim manager there. Trout Homer's first inning. Nothing really. Toni double off the wall and then Trout Homer Kike just missed it, robbing it. Right. And and then from there it was back and forth.

A lot of action, a lot of hits. Sox won an extra. Did you stay all the way? Did. Wow. Very impressive. Thank you. Very impressive.

I mean, a rare night out. So, yeah, very good. Very, very good.

Most of it. While that happened, the Yankees won handily. And despite the six game win streak for the Red Sox, they're still eleven and a half games behind.

The Yankees have won seven in a row. And it's now what's the date? I mean, you're like the cuckoo clock on this program with a calendar. What do we June 8th? It's not like yesterday. It was June 7th. So it's not miraculously August. OK, so it's June 8th.

It's June 8th. Got it. Understand.

Yesterday, Michael Chiklis, Red Sox fan, was here, brought this all up to him. And he thought I was writing checks that I couldn't cash. And I said that there's a canyon and there's heroes. And then he brought up. What did he bring up, T.J. Jefferson? What did he say in response to that?

What are you saying? And he said it kind of very slyly and didn't like put a lot of emphasis on it. He goes, you just never know what might happen. He goes, you never know what might come in and hit Aaron Judge in the pink.

That's what he said. Something like that is his point of like there's anything can happen. Anything can happen.

You know, he he was just giving you a scenario, but he was really wishing it. I don't think there's any malice in that man's heart when it comes to sports. He turns into the thing. You know what I mean? From back in his film.

Ben Grimm was a Yankees fan. Oh, OK. So then what do you what's your problem with that? Oh, why, why got beef with Chiklis?

Yeah. What's your problem with him? Because, man, he put that out there yesterday. He kind of put the.

About Judge. He put. Well, what he did was he. And Judge Homer in his first at bat, by the way. He put the voodoo out there.

And it wasn't he couldn't have been robbed. It went it went over. It disappeared into the into the ivy that they have there in Target Field. Yeah. So it was way gone off the bat. Sorry, I digress.

Go ahead. Well, you know, he put it out there. You know, he wanted to put a little hex on on the Yankees.

And he said, you never know. Aaron Judge might get hit with a pitch. So what he did was he put the hex on the New York power hitter and it missed Judge. And it went right to Pete Alonso in the form of a you Darvish fastball that hits Pete on the hand. And he has to leave the game.

I think it was like the first of the third inning. Like you're blaming him. I'm blaming Chiclets for that serious. He wouldn't have said that. Do you think Pete would have got hit?

I don't think so. So how is Alonso now? Is he OK? He's OK. Nothing broke. OK, so what are you complaining about?

A night of sleeplessness. OK, I was I was scared. I was nervous because then Sterling Marte goes out with a bad will. And I'm like, oh, it started. It's oh, my God. It is starting out coming. Yeah, it's happening. It's a long June the 7th. It's starting. But now it's a long season.

Anything can happen. Now it's a long judge. Judge it is 22nd home run last night. That leads the majors.

And guess what? Marte is fine. Alonso is fine.

So you're fine. It hasn't started yet. It's OK. You're just a Met fan looking for the trap door. I'm a Yankee fan who's just ready for Canyon of Heroes. That's the difference between a Met fan and a Yankee fan. Right.

There's a third of the way over. Now you're being cocky now. And I might I'm not cocky right now.

That was a very good statement. The Yankees are extremely. Excuse me. No, I'm not being cocky.

I'm just dispensing facts. The Yankees are 40 and 15. Yeah, the Mets are 30. The Yankees are 40. The Yankees are 40 and 15. Last time they won 40 out of their first 55. They won the World Series and finishing one hundred and twenty.

And fifty hundred twenty five and fifty. That was the last time I happened. Nineteen ninety eight. Mike, don't hide your hands.

I saw that team win. I don't want to talk about it now. Love it. Soak it in. I'm not soaking it in.

Love it. Till twenty eight is in their hands. I'm not soaking it in. Forty and fifteen is what they are right now.

You are what you are. And what they are right now is on June 8th. That's all I'm saying. And you're like it's so early. Of course it's early. Anything can happen.

I totally understand that. And you're and you're and you're you're sitting there saying, oh God, it's going to happen. It's going to happen. I'm saying, yeah, it's happening.

Difference between you and me. OK. That's the Yankees. That's it. And you're and you're saying that's not arrogant. It's it's called it's arrogant. No, it's hashtag spitting facts. It's it's cocky.

But here's the deal. It's like you're not his team. His team is like, hey, we're we're we're on the upswing. We won six in a row. We're finally two games above five hundred. Two above average.

Two. The Sox were ten and nineteen. I know.

I'm so glad you joined the Major League Baseball. The Mets were never that bad this year, so I can't relate to that. Out in the loss. They won six in a row.

They're still twelve out in the loss. It's amazing. It's wonderful. Soak it in, Mike. Enjoy it. I can't. I am. We're in the wildcard.

What are you guys talking about? Mike Colter joining us in our three in studio. Season ends today. We're in the playoffs. Great. It'll be great. Who are you starting?

By the way, Simmons had a great Simmons had a great tweet last night. He is right. Because I have Garrett Whitlock and I have Whitlock in in in fantasy. Why are the Red Sox trying to turn him into a starter? He could be the guy that comes in every other day.

Don't know. And show it shows up in innings seven and eight and just locks down whatever lead your pitchers handed. Seven, eight. Right. He could do that.

But they don't have a closer. Let him close. Let him come in eight and nine. I don't know. Yeah. Then let him be that guy.

I'm an answer. Why are they doing that? I don't know. But like Simmons said, hey, at least we locked up Raffi Devers and Bogart. That hasn't happened. Wait a second. I know.

I know. Hey, enjoy tonight. You're in the finals tonight.

It's great. Not not going tonight. Made a decision.

Yeah. Got to watch NBA Finals tonight. The games three time zones away. The games on the East Coast, by the way, TJ. I got to watch NBA Finals tonight. Going tomorrow. Pavetta tomorrow. Oh, that's who we start. Oh, so going tonight. I thought you said you're not going to the NBA Finals tonight.

No, no, no. Staying home, watching the finals tonight, going back to Anaheim tomorrow. For Pavetta, who I also have. Coop picked him up the other day.

Great name. On fire the last month. Coop picked him up the other day for our team, which has won seven of the last seven of the first eight fantasy contests this year. We're like the Yankees. It's still early. Anything can happen. But you know what?

We're we're we're winning more than not. Stop it, Mike. Enjoy it. I can't. Why?

Because I can't. Virtually every other team in baseball is like, hey, we won six in a row or two games above 500. This is great. Hey, we're looking good the last 10 days. How about the last eight weeks? 2004.

First eight weeks. This is great. Thank God the lockout ended.

Could you imagine if this didn't happen because of the lockout? I love it, but I can't even think about it. Judge on a pace for 65 home runs. It's great.

It's great. May he be. They're showing him stats again. I love how you blame a blame Peter Lonzo getting hit on chick list saying anything can happen.

And he used that thing. He just threw it out there about Judge getting hit with a pitch. Yankees are gonna have to print because he put it out there. That's all I'm saying. You know what? Judge any pitch that comes close to Judge to hit that would hit him.

He'll just turn on and turn around, put it over the fence. OK. Not like Alonzo. Don't have 14. Oh, Alonzo leads the league and runs batted in. Mets look great, dude. I know you should be. You should be like me. Nah. You should be cutting up paper.

I'm like T.J. I should be cutting up paper to throw out the window in downtown Manhattan. Watch them win, too. I'm just going to enjoy it game by game, every game on June the 8th. That's our update on baseball.

June the 8th. Hour three coming up. For the real story behind some of wrestling's biggest moments, it's something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson, too. All-time Hogan opponents. Macho Man's got to be in the conversation. Where's Andre for you? I've always said Andre was number one. Wow. Because even going back before Hulk Hogan was a babyface, 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.