Hour 2

This is the Rich Eisen Show.

Goats have home lives too. Live from the Rich Eisen Show Studio in Los Angeles. Rich Eisen. Hello Rich Eisen. Rich Eisen. Oh, that's Susie Eisen's husband. The Rich Eisen Show. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Dan Schwartzman. Comment, get on the line, 844204rich.

That's 8442047424. I'll tell ya, you know, the Major League Baseball offseason rolls along, and free agency always kind of takes a long time, right? They do that ridiculous thing where guys now don't sign until the eve of spring training, or sometimes they don't want to do much spring training, so they sign during spring training.

And then you got other guys who just kind of sit there on the fence for a while because they aren't getting the offers, and people think it's collusion amongst owners. Well, the big name out there amongst other big names is Aaron Judge, and somebody will be backing up a Brinks truck for Aaron Judge. It's going to be the Yankees.

It's going to be the San Francisco Giants. People think the Cubs might make an offer. Who knows with the Mets, they have the richest owner in baseball, and Steve Cohen.

Would he stick it to the Yankees? Reports, though, say he and Hal Steinbrenner have a good relationship where he probably wouldn't do that. Baseball even looked into it to wonder, was there an aspect of collusion going on there?

They said there wasn't. The Dodgers apparently had made an offer to Judge that was for $214 million. We don't know how many years, but as for $214 million, Judge rejected that. Remember, the Yankees had offered him, what, $213 million over seven years. So I wonder if the contract from the Dodgers was six years, $214 million. Now, the average annual value of that is massive, if it's six years. I'm going to say it's six years because why would the Dodgers offer $1 million more than what the Yankees offered him in a deal, seven years, $213 million, when everybody knows Judge is going to break $300 million? So if they went six years, $214 million, they can say, well, look, the average annual value of that deal is going to be significantly more, right? Like that's what they can, I guess, that's what they would use.

And that does make sense. That's a lot of money, okay? So $214 million over six compared to seven years, well, do the math on that.

I mean, I wish we had all these problems, right? That's not a bad problem to have, but you're talking that's $35.5 million a year, $35.66 million a year. But for Judge at 30 years old, there's no point signing a six-year contract. And the reason is this, chances are past 36, he's not going to offer you that much, right? His body could be breaking down. He's a big guy. He's already had some injury concerns in the past. So if you're an Aaron Judge, like, do you want to hit free agency again at 36, 37, and then try to make up the money, the $100 million you're probably leaving on the table in a longer term deal? No.

So look, from all indications, the Judge has turned it down. That makes a lot of sense. I wonder if the Dodgers just made that offer because they have a ton of money. They have the highest payroll. They want to show their fans that they're willing to spend whatever it takes.

And they just kind of threw out an offer there because they wanted to show that they're competitive in making an offer to the top free agent in baseball. And they're shedding a lot of payroll this offseason as well. $100 million.

$100 million. But we know that they've been unwilling to really want to go too long distance on contracts, right? They're willing to give you more dollars.

Well, excuse me, let me change it. They're willing to give you lots of dollars for less years rather than longer deals for less average yearly wages. So they kind of don't believe Aaron Judge at age 37, 38 is going to be productive. So they'd rather not tie themselves into a contract for $320 million over eight years where they're paying out 40 and then 40 for two years where Judge may be injured or just not very good.

I get that. But here's the thing. They'd rather keep paying an aging Kershaw. That's the thing I don't get.

And this reminds me of something that happened. So remember when Kobe Bryant signed that two year deal with the Lakers for like, was it like $50 million? Like the last contract he had? Remember that was like two years, $50 million or $46 million, right? And Jurgen Klinsmann, who was then the head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, who's German, said that in America, we are paying people for past performance, not what we expect them to do for the length of that contract.

And that's the first time anybody ever said that where I was like, you know, that's a great point. Kobe Bryant was going to be like 36 years old at that point, right? He's been playing since he's 17.

At some point he's going to break down. And are you paying Kobe because you think he's really worth like $24 million a year the next two years? And by the way, at that point, $24 million was a heck of a lot of money in the NBA.

Now it's not. But still, you get my drift. Are you paying Kobe because you think he's going to be productive the next two years and earn that money? Or are you paying Kobe as kind of a thank you for what he's done the first like, you know, 17, 18 years of his career at the Lakers? And in the end, it wasn't a good contract because he broke down.

And I get that. So the Dodgers don't want to be in that position where it's like, okay, we're paying a guy a lot of money in the last couple of years of his contract because we want, you know, just because we wanted to lock him in. And I think for the Yankees, they're the team that's between a rock and a hard place.

And here's why. They can't let Aaron Judge go, right? Hal Steinbrenner gets booed by Yankee fans because he's not his father. When George Steinbrenner ran the Yankees, Steinbrenner ran them as a passion.

Money wasn't an issue. He spent what he thought it would take to win. And if a GM came and said, we need to get this guy, it's going to cost us that, George signed the check. Hal, on the other hand, runs it as a business. So when somebody says, well, we want to sign this guy and this is what it cost, Hal runs the numbers and says, well, our profit margin decreases if we do that. And I understand that. You want to run it as a business?

It is a business. But when Yankee fans have been spoiled by your father who ran it as a passion, it's a big kick in the groin for a fan. When it seems the team is kind of counting pennies when you never felt they did before. To be fair, the Yankees had a high payroll last year of what, 260 million dollars, whatever it was.

It was a very high payroll. It wasn't as if they were truly skimping. But when it came time to go get a big shortstop last offseason, they didn't do it. You know, when you look back, they didn't make a run of Bryce Harper. They didn't make a run of guys like that.

And it's probably kicked them in the rear. So if you're Hal Steinbrenner and you lose Aaron Judge because of money, never show your face in the Bronx again. In fact, never fly up to New York City again.

Stay down in Tampa and run the horse farm. Because the Yankee fans will not be kind if they see you. And if you're the San Francisco Giants who, by the way, have like no money on the books, have you seen that art that I think that for 2024 they have 18 million dollars on the books?

Something ridiculously low like that? It's incredible. They've really freed up moves, you know, with moves to throw the, you know, a plain load of money at Aaron Judge. He's a hometown kid from that Fresno area, right? I mean, he went to Fresno State as well. In fact, he got drafted by the Oakland A's out of high school.

It's like a 30th round pick. Didn't sign. Worked out well for him.

But this is what I know and this is what I understand. From all indications and from what Aaron Judge has said and from private whispers around Aaron Judge, he enjoys New York. Really loves New York. If the money's there, he's going to be a Yankee.

I don't think, look, there is nerves here as a Yankee fan. Does he leave and go back home? Because he is in San Francisco now. Remember, they caught him like walking into that hotel, whatever it was, like, what are you doing here? And he's like, yeah, just come to see family and friends.

And he had that wink. And then we find out he's, of course, meeting with the Giants. The way you look at that is, is he meeting with the Giants as a sentimental thing?

It's his, you know, boyhood team growing up. He was a big Giants fan. Is he meeting with the Giants because he's doing his due diligence?

And that's a guy, by the way, keeps it close to the vest. Is he doing his due diligence to see maybe the Giants are going to throw so much money at me? Like 400 million over 10 years that I know the Yankees aren't going to match that.

So, hey, I'm going to San Fran. Is it because he's trying to get the Yankees who have made a formal offer? We don't know what the terms are.

That has not become public. Is he trying to scare the Yankees into bidding against themselves saying, all right, we offered you say eight, you know, eight years, 320 million. And we, you know, okay, we'll throw it to 340 just because they're now nervous that Aaron Judge is leaving.

Okay. Because he's in San Fran talking to the Giants. Is that what it is, a smokescreen? Or is it because his family, you know, his wife's family's out there, his family's out there and he just wants to like, you know, at least show friends and family that I'm looking at the opportunity, right? Like he doesn't want to be hated by giant fans when he comes back and then visits his parents and stuff. He doesn't want to be like, oh, you're a bum. You're a traitor. Why didn't you want to come home? So he has to at least show that he's considering it.

Again, he keeps things tight to the vest. So you don't know. We don't really know. Very few people actually know what Aaron Judge is thinking here. But my gut says, unless the money is that much more from the Giants, I honestly can't see him leaving.

I really can't. Because does he want to be Robinson Cano, who seemed to be in that trajectory of a lifelong Yankee, signed out of the Dominican Republic, through the minor league system, becomes a star in the Bronx? Looks like, you know, his jersey number would be retired alongside the other greats. And then he leaves for a lot of money. Was it $240 million over 10 years from the Seattle Mariners, right? OK, I can't blame him.

The Yankees apparently weren't even in that ballpark. So he leaves. And then he becomes kind of irrelevant because Seattle isn't, you know, Seattle is not a baseball heaven.

So he got the money. But legacy wise, well, forget the steroids that came out later. But legacy wise, he kind of disappeared. Or he could be Derek Jeter, right? Drafted top number six overall by the Yankees, works your way through the minor league, show up in the Bronx. Now, he did grow up a Yankee fan, obviously, when he originally grew up in New Jersey before this family moved to Michigan.

And then you stay your entire career. There's something to be said about guys who stay their entire time with one team in terms of legacy. Like Kobe Bryant was a Laker and only a Laker. Only uniform he ever wore.

Derek Jeter only wore the Yankee pinstripes. That's it. Steve Eiserman in hockey. Yeah. See Mario Lemieux in hockey, right? Guys like that. They only wore their sweater of one team. It's kind of weird to think LeBron James has jumped around to all the teams he's jumped around, right?

Great player like that. It's kind of weird that Tom Brady wears a Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform. It's weird. It looks strange.

I will never get used to it. Because it kind of takes away. And here's what I mean by that, okay?

Well, it cost him the marriage, actually. One day the truth will come out about that, my friend. Absolutely, yeah. And people wonder, you know, what's this jiu-jitsu trainer's involvement in all this?

Yeah, exactly. I don't know. Listen, I don't peddle in trash. And is Tom going to go postal? Is he going to go postal? You know, I don't peddle in trash, but boy, I can't wait for the page six on this one. Like, did he find something out and decide, you know what, screw it, I'm going to come back and play football?

Or was it, screw it, I'm going to come back and play football because I don't want to be home? And that drove Giselle off the edge? I don't know, right? I wonder if we will one day find out because we love trash.

We do. That's a three-hour show, my friend. That means trashy stories, right? That's another three-hour show. Like trashy tabloids. That is a reality show.

So it's going to be interesting to find out, but it's still weird, right? Like if you think of Brady, he's a patriot. Jerry Rice in a Raiders helmet, in a Seahawks helmet, and everywhere else he played just looked strange.

People tend to try to forget Emmitt Smith in an Arizona Cardinals uniform. So if you're Aaron Judge, do you want to be the guy who is a lifelong Yankee with a monument to Monument Park and your number 99 jersey retired in the Bronx? Or do you want to be a guy that took the money, went out west to the Giants and finished out your career? His choice, right? Again, if the money is relatively similar, then he's got to decide with the heart.

It's not a business decision at that point. I would be stunned again if there is a press conference where Aaron Judge announces he has left the Yankees. I would be. Art, would you be stunned if he did? If he went to the Giants, yes. I just don't see anywhere else that he would go, right? It's a giant to the Yankees at this point. I mean, why would you go to the Cubs? They're not anywhere remotely close to winning anything. I want him in L.A. Well, L.A. doesn't want to pay him 300 and some odd million, my friend, so you can forget that one.

Yeah. Okay, so that's not happening. He's not going to the Red Sox. I think he understands Yankees Red Sox.

You just don't do that. I don't think the Mets are going to make an offer because I think there is that friendship of sorts between Steinbrenner and Cohen. And Cohen's got to sign a bunch of his own guys anyway, right? DeGrom. He's got to think about what am I doing with DeGrom. Brandon Nemo. What am I doing with Brandon Nemo? We locked up Edwin Diaz to a ridiculously high contract for a reliever. Our first reliever to break 20 mil a year, first reliever to break 100 mil full contract.

So I don't think he's going to back up that Brinks truck because I don't think he's got the money to do so, because at some point everybody has to figure out, okay, I can't go crazy spending. But Aaron Judge is the conversation when it comes to baseball and what it all means moving forward. Where does he end up?

Because talk about the balance of power shift. He goes to the Giants. They automatically elevate back to that 107 win team from two years ago, not the 81 win team from this year.

You would expect them to make a significant improvement. The Yankees lose Aaron Judge, boy oh boy. What do they do? Where do they throw that money? And how what is the identity of that team next year without Aaron Judge, who clearly is the face of that franchise, who probably, if he stays, would be named captain of the Yankees.

Which not everybody gets, right? Jeter was the last captain of the Yankees. He's been retired enough to where he's already in the Hall of Fame. They haven't filled that slot yet, and that's going to be reserved for Judge. If Judge signs the day they have the press conference welcoming him back to the Bronx, they probably put that big C on him. He becomes a captain of the Yankees for the remainder of his tenure, if it's an eight-year contract.

Eight years, 320, that should get it done, I would think. The NFL season rolling along, a lot to talk about coming up here. Week 12, Sunday just around the corner. We'll get into that next. It is Black Friday, Dan Schwartzman.

Always love it. Filling in here for our buddy Rich Eisen. Your thoughts and comments, 844204rich.

That's 8442047424. We'll be back right here on the Rich Eisen Show. 2000, 2008, 2022. When it comes to the economy, those are some scary years.

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NetSuite.com slash RichPod. The World Tournament of Soccer happening in Qatar is finally here. And with all the weird kickoff times and all the other sports happening simultaneously, it can be kind of hard to keep up. So to make sure you're up to speed, be sure to listen to Qatar Kickaround for the daily wrap up of all the action from the tournament. From the group stage all the way to the final, Andy, Lars, and Peter are here for you with recaps and opinions of what happened that day in Qatar.

Everything can be found at the kickaround.com, the Cumulus Podcast channel on YouTube, or wherever you listen. Three months into the NFL season. Think about that. Three months into the NFL season already. Wow. Time flies.

And here's the craziest thing, okay? Thursday, Thanksgiving football, there were three games. Two of them featured both teams with 500 or better records. Giants, Cowboys, Vikings hosting the Patriots. All four of those teams with records better than 500 going into the game. Sunday, week 12 Sunday of the season coming up here in a couple of days. You have one game on the schedule that features both teams with 500 or better records.

How crazy is that? The only game is the Tennessee Titans at 7-3 hosting the 6-4 Cincinnati Bengals. That's it. Every other game features at least one team that's under 500. Buccaneers, Browns. Browns under 500. Dolphins hosting the Texans.

You know who stinks. Bears, Jets. Falcons, Commanders. That's close. Falcons are 5-6.

Commanders are 6-5. Panthers, Broncos, terrible matchup. Ravens at the Jags. Chargers, Cardinals. Raiders, Seahawks. Rams, Chiefs. Who thought the Rams would be this bad? The 3-7 as Super Bowl defending champions. 49ers hosting the Saints. And the Packers at the Eagles. And the Packers are crap. So, there you have it. Literally one game on the schedule this Sunday features both teams with 500 or better records.

That's crazy. But that kind of just highlights the underlying problem this year in the NFL. And that is pretty much most of the divisions in football stink. Okay?

Stink. Start out in the AFC. Clearly, the AFC East is far and away the best division in the AFC. Every single one of the four teams has a record above 500. Every single one of the four teams has a point differential that's positive. There's no other division in football that can say that.

That's pretty good, by the way. Bills, Dolphins, Jets, Patriots. Okay? And before the season, we were talking about the AFC West. With all the, you know, the Chiefs and the improved charge chumpers. I won't call them the Chargers.

I want chumpers. And the Broncos with Russell Wilson. And then the Raiders who made the playoffs last year.

They were supposed to be improved. And all of them suck. Except for the Chiefs.

Right. They got themselves a number one receiver. One of the best in football. Maybe the best in Devontae Adams.

And they stink. AFC North, you know, the Ravens and the Bengals. But the Browns are supposed to be good. The Steelers are supposed to at least be half decent.

That hasn't worked out. The South is utter trash. You have the Titans and past the Titans.

What? Colts stink. Jaguars stink.

The Texans are vying for the first overall pick in the draft. And by the way, that Lovey Smith press conference was golden. Okay?

Absolutely golden. When people are asking about like, well, nothing's working. Why aren't you making adjustments? And he's like, well, I'm not making them right now.

And I'm just making them to make them. Lovey Smith is like a great defensive mind. He's never been a very good head coach. Yes, he led the Bears to a Super Bowl. I understand. But besides that one year, he had just been really good.

It was terrible in college, right? I mean, I didn't think that was a great hire. And it's kind of coming out that it wasn't. The West, as you mentioned, literally just one team over 500. That's the Chiefs. If you're a Charger fan, you start to wonder, are you going to win anything with Brandon Staley as a head coach?

Or do you have to go in a different direction? Because there's no reason why that team's five and five and they just, you know, can't put together winning streaks. Justin Herbert's legit. You wonder, is it the coach? And I will go with the coach. Broncos are a mess. There's no worse coach in the NFL than Nathaniel Hackett. Should have been fired already.

Right? At some point, if you're the Walton family, you spent $4.65 billion to buy that team. What's another like $20 million to pay him to go away? At some point, you have to just say, look, we made a mistake. It was a dumb hire.

It didn't work. And it's not even worth going the entire year to realize it was a bad hire. Like, just go away.

Go in a different direction. And the Raiders are mind boggling because I don't know. Is it Josh McDaniels? Is he the reason why? Because I drank the Kool-Aid for Josh McDaniels. Yes, he was young when he went to Denver. He was arrogant.

It didn't work out. But other coaches have had redemption stories after their first job not working out, right? Belichick has kind of turned it around from his Cleveland Browns stint. Although, if you look back now, and our hindsight is 20-20, he actually was pretty good with the Browns. He led them to the playoffs, and then there was like a 25-year drought of them going nowhere, right? So, like, Belichick probably wasn't the problem there. They probably should have kept him around.

So, I don't know. Is it Josh McDaniels? And, you know, is this the second stint where you just realize, yeah, he's just nothing more than a guy that can do well with Belichick?

Well, unfortunately, the Raiders cannot get rid of him because they can't keep paying for ex-coaches. How many are on the payroll right now? It's, I think, three.

I don't know. Are they still paying Art Schell? Like, how many guys are they paying to not coach?

Well, that's the thing. I mean, they're paying Gruden still, right? What, $10 million a year or something? Yep, $10 million a year. But how are they responsible for that entire amount with how that ended?

I don't understand that. Can't they, like, claw back any of that money? No, it's all guaranteed.

Yeah, but isn't there, like, a morality clause in these contracts? Yeah, exactly. I'm just wondering, like, and Gruden had a 10-year deal at how many years did he coach?

At three? Yeah. So, are they paying Gruden $10 million a year for the next seven years, including this year to not coach? Good question.

So, let's say they are. So, that's $10 million. Who was there before, well, oh, well, they're not paying, what's his name, Masaccio? They're not paying him. No, he moved on. He moved on.

Right? He was just interim. He's on Green Bay staff now.

Right. So, who are they paying still besides, well, maybe just Gruden, I guess. That's a lot of money. Yeah, Gruden, yeah. And then McDaniels didn't come cheap because he didn't have to leave that job, so they probably had to overpay for him. And Mayock, too. Isn't Mayock on the payroll still on the payroll?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But GMs aren't making as much. But still, I mean, Mark Davis is the poorest owner in football.

Although, I just don't get it. He's the poorest owner, but charges the most for tickets. It's unbelievable.

I know you're a huge Raiders fan. Have you been to a game in Vegas? I have not.

No, I have not. How much are your tickets? Well, we can Google the average price for tickets.

Really expensive. Well, I guess new stadium, right? New stadium, and they know the casinos are going to pay to get blocks of tickets because they want to give the high rollers tickets. Hey, here's comp tickets to the Raiders game, right?

Okay. I guess that's probably what it is. Ticket IQ says, for the second year in a row with an average list price on the secondary marker of $691.

What? The Raiders are once again the most expensive team for the 22 season. $691 is the average price on the secondary market for the Raiders? That's what it says.

Well, Art, you would know this. I'm not paying them $691. Couldn't you buy a ticket for $6.91 to go to the Oakland Coliseum to watch them back in the day? Absolutely. I think I've done that. You want to sit up near the nosebleeds, right? I think I've done that. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, honestly, I'm not joking. I mean, you probably could have bought a ticket for like 20 bucks. I don't understand.

How is it? It's the casinos buying these tickets. It has to be.

Who's going to pay $691 to watch the Raiders or get a stadium experience? That's a heck of a lot of money. That's awful. Yeah, that's ridiculous.

And the product stinks. Yeah, three and eight. Yeah. So there's the AFC, right? And our quarterback cries in press conferences. That's right.

And gives you cliche after cliche after cliche. So outside the AFC East, you literally have three teams in the rest of the AFC that are over 500. Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Kansas City. And by the way, the NFC is no better, right? Again, the East is the creme de la creme. All four teams, by the way, over 500. The Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, and Commanders.

Past that, the North is garbage. The Vikings are nine and two, and I don't know if they're any good. Their point differential, by the way, is plus five.

That's it, okay? When you're beating up on the Lions, the Packers, and the Bears, I just don't know how good you are. That's six games right there that should be wins. Well, we saw it against Dallas. I mean, Dallas just came into Minnesota and just blew them out.

Forty to three, and we don't think the Cowboys are that great. Then they beat the Patriots. Okay, it's a nice win, I guess, but they're playing, you know, Matt Jones, not Tom Brady. So the Vikings have benefited from having, obviously, an easy schedule, playing in a very, very easy division as well. And the whole division's not good. By the way, the NFC South is complete trash, right? The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have struggled mightily. They've been terrible, right?

Up and down, sure, they've won their last two, but they were three and five at one point. To where people are questioning, should Tom Brady have even come back for this nonsense? Well, outside the Buccaneers, the Falcons are five and six, and they're a half game out of the division lead. The Saints don't know who's their quarterback, and they sit, what, a game out?

A game and a half out? Panthers don't even know who's, I mean, is it Baker? Is it Darnold?

I don't know. I will never, ever, ever pick up Baker Mayfield on fantasy again. Ever. I think most NFL GMs are saying, I will never, ever, ever pick up Baker Mayfield for my real team ever again.

I think that might be the case there. I don't know what happened. And I have to admit, though, I actually thought that the change of scenery would work out well for Baker. I am that idiot. I am that idiot that thought Baker Mayfield was going to flourish outside of Cleveland.

And I do have to admit, because I am capable of eating some humble pie, that I was completely wrong. That Baker Mayfield has more chance in two years of not being in the league than being a starting quarterback somewhere. That's how bad it is. I picked him up for a spot start and got a minus four. Isn't that incredible? You could have played nobody a quarterback, and you would have actually had a better week.

Absolutely. Yeah, that's crazy. Baker Mayfield on the season.

This is incredible, by the way. Seven games, six touchdowns, six interceptions. He's been sacked 19 times. He is awful. Like, he's that bad. And now you have Sam Darnold that's going to get the start. He has yet to play this year. And we all know who Sam Darnold is, right? I'm a Jet fan. I know Sam Darnold.

Yeah, really nice guy. Really bad quarterback. Like, Sam Darnold is not a good quarterback. And everybody thought, well, take him out of New York, put him in a better situation. Let Matt Rule kind of, you know, let Matt Rule, you know, work with him, and it's going to be a different situation.

Well, it's not. You know, he's a career 54 touchdown, 52 interception guy. It's not as if he's going to just change. He's just not a good player. He was overdrafted as the third overall pick. I have to admit, as a Jet fan, I thought it was great.

I was excited. You know, remember the whole suck for Sam. But the turnovers he had in college were alarming, and, you know, people tried to poo-poo it. They tried to make excuses that it was the situation he was in, and frankly, it wasn't.

It was him. It's Sam Darnold. He makes bad decisions. He's actually got a chance this Sunday.

Yeah, but what does that mean? They're playing the Broncos. Yeah, but they have a good defense, so don't forget. Broncos defense is really good. The Raiders beat them in overtime. It's like on a wide open Devante Adams play.

Yes, that was obviously a coverage issue right there. Somebody didn't do their job there, Ard, but overall, the Broncos have been a very good defense this year in the NFL. But it's just terrible how bad, you know, the NFC South is. And by the way, the West was supposed to be great, right? 49ers, Seahawks, Rams, Cardinals.

Well, guess what? Super Bowl hangover for the Rams. They're terrible. They were 3-3. They've lost 4 in a row. They're done. Matt Stafford's going to miss the game.

He's got a concussion issue. Seahawks have overachieved, right? They're 6-4.

No one saw that coming. Arizona, until they finally get themselves a serious head coach, which they don't seem to want to do, they're not going anywhere. And by the way, I'm not a Kyler Murray fan. And if their quarterback can stop playing video games. Well, that's another thing, but also, I just don't think Kyler Murray's any good. I'm like, okay, he's okay. But can we stop thinking of Kyler Murray as being this franchise quarterback?

Please, let's not do this. I don't understand the love for Kyler Murray. I think he's good. I don't think he's elite. I don't think he's remotely close to being elite. In fact, I think he's closer to being bad than he is to being elite. Yeah, he can run.

Okay, awesome. But guess what? When you're 5 foot nothing, and you are, you know, 200 pounds as an NFL quarterback, and you're going to run around on that field, and yes, even as slippery and elusive as you might be, it takes one pretty big hit, because you're out there opening yourself up to getting hit, to kind of knock you out for a season or be, you know, God forbid, career ending. And he's not good enough of a passer to become a pocket guy. So, I've never been enamored by Kyler Murray, and I don't think he should have been the number one overall pick in a draft. I wouldn't pay him a boatload of money, which Arizona did. They're stuck with the guy, and I just think he's okay.

He's slightly better than being just a guy, but not by much. Not only that, he's yelling at the head coach, he's yelling at DeAndre Hopkins on the field. On the field, yeah. You're supposed to be the leader. You're supposed to be the leader of this team, right? It's what you do. You're the franchise quarterback.

Act like it. So, Arizona doesn't impress me, and then, look, if you told me Jimmy Garoppolo would lead the 49ers to win that division, I would have told you how to bridge to sell you, but guess what? It looks like Jimmy Garoppolo's going to lead that team to the division. And that defense is just real. Well, Bosa's a stud. I mean, he is. He's unbelievable. He really is.

Oh, you're right. That defense is unreal. And by the way, give Jimmy G some credit, right? Let's not sit here and disparage the job he has done. Yeah, he's not Baker Mayfield. No, he's been really good. If Garoppolo, who threw for four touchdowns and dominated Arizona last Monday, if he plays like that in a playoff game, this team can go far. On the season, he's thrown 15 touchdowns and four interceptions, and by the way, he's going to make himself some money, right? This is a guy that the 49ers wanted to throw off the scrap heap, right? They wanted to get rid of him, play Trey Lance, which is idiotic. What has he shown, right? And they wanted to get rid of Garoppolo.

They couldn't find a home or a taker. There's going to be a market for Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason. At Westwood One, we do all the primetime games. The Monday night game when it was in Mexico City, I heard a stat that every winner from the Mexico game has gone to the Super Bowl.

Really? Yeah, yeah. So, San Francisco won. San Francisco won, so we'll see. That could be.

That could be. Speaking, by the way, of Westwood One, you can listen to the NFL in the NFL app on westwoodonesports.com via the Westwood One station streams, or by asking Alexa to, quote, open Westwood One Sports. If it's the NFL, it's on Westwood One, unquote. There you have it. That's how you do it.

It is literally that simple. But Jimmy Garoppolo has done a nice job. He has led that team to a 6-4 record. He's got a quarterback rating over 104. He's completing over 67% of his passes. Playing good football. They're bringing Christian McCaffrey. That move has worked out well for them. He's been great.

So, look, I'll tell you what. It's a bad division. It's a bad league right now. Outside the AFC East and the NFC East, Art, it is a bad league right now. Bad league. Three teams over 500 in the AFC outside the East, three teams in the NFC over 500 outside of the East. That is crazy. You have four teams over 500 in just the divisions, and then three in the remaining three divisions combined. That is the status right now of what we are seeing in the NFL.

That is utter madness if you think about it. Soccer. Do we actually care? Well, I don't watch the MLS. I am a European soccer snob, I do admit. I am a fraud Barcelona fan. I visited the city, took a stadium tour, and I fell in love.

So I am a fraud Barcelona fan. But the U.S. in action against England, you could call that an international rivalry. That kicks off in a little over 20 minutes. I want to get into the World Cup video because it is exciting.

That is next. I am Dan Schwartzman on Black Friday in for Rich right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Influencer.

It's a word that gets tossed around a lot these days. There is a woman who went the distance, who broke ground as the first true influencer by living a remarkable life. Her name, Elizabeth Taylor. I am Katy Perry. This is the story of the original influencer. This is Elizabeth the First. Elizabeth the First, the podcast wherever you listen. Back on the Rich Eisen Show on Black Friday, Dan Schwartzman in for Rich.

844204 Rich, that's 8442047424. I have not done any shopping today proudly. Hopefully the wife hasn't gone crazy.

I don't think she has. There comes a point where you just say, do you really need anything else? We have this soon to be 11 month old in the house and a 12 year old. The 12 year old obviously is pretty self-sufficient and has way too much clothing anyway. So that's kind of done.

How much more stuff does the 11 month old need? I don't know. There is always something coming in Amazon. I get to the building and the guy is like, hey, you got some packages. I'm like, why? I didn't order anything. So the game now is, is it my name on the package or is it wifey's name on the package?

And I will tell you, Art, 98% of the time, guess whose name it's not for? It's not for you. Darn right. Darn right, it's not for me. Because I don't buy anything.

I honestly don't. I don't need to update my clothing. I'm married.

What do I have to update? I'm not out there impressing anybody. You should impress the wife.

No, I'm impressed anyway. I don't need to buy new clothing. I'm always buying boots. I mean, I've got like six pairs of boots. Like cowboy boots? Two pairs of tactical and three pairs. Oh, like work boots. Three pairs of hiking boots.

Yeah. Why do you need three pairs of hiking boots? What's wrong with the other thing? What's wrong with two pair or one pair?

How many do you need? Do you color match what you're wearing? Yeah, I kind of do. The black ones look great on this hike. Yeah, the black ones for today. I feel black today.

I feel blue tomorrow. I didn't know Art Martinez, the Marine, has a shoe fetish. Oh, tactical boots, yeah. Boots, dude. You have a boot fetish? Oh, absolutely. You have one pair of sneakers and 30 pairs of boots.

Exactly. What a closet that must be. Next time I'm in L.A., I want to see the Martinez closet. The boot collection. Boot collection. Do you wipe them down every time you get home? Do you display them? Oh, yeah. I'm cleaning them. I'm spit-shining them.

Absolutely. Do you have a little label on it? What these are?

What the usage for? Exactly. These boots I purchased in 2013 at Red Wing. They were fantastic. The leather is second to none.

That'd be hilarious. You can curate your boots. I had no idea. I learn something new about you all the time. There you go.

Absolutely. You have a boot fetish. That's not one you probably want to tell people. Oh, I got another one for you, too.

Fetish or what? Remember when Blake Martinez signed with the Raiders? You mean the Pokemon guy? Yes. Yeah.

Yeah, and he only lasted four games. Did you buy a Blake Martinez jersey? I did. Wait, wait, wait, wait.

You bought a jersey for a guy that had no guarantee that he would last anywhere more because he's a journeyman type of linebacker, right? Yeah. But it's my name. It is my name, though. Okay, so that's okay.

That's true, Art. I will give you that. That's fine. Did you buy it because you like Blake Martinez? Or did you buy it because it's kind of cool that a Raider had your last name so you could get a jersey that actually had your last name?

That one, yes. Okay. See, that's not bad, though, and I'll tell you why. There's nothing worse than people that will take an existing number that a player has. Like, you take Derek Carr's four jersey and you put Martinez on that, right? Like, that's ridiculous. Yeah, I wouldn't do that. Right. So because your last name is Martinez and they have a guy on the team named Martinez.

Who only lasted four games. But still, that's kind of clever. You didn't put your name on Khalil Mack's jersey number, right?

It was like 52 in there. So the whole point for me is, that's fine. Like, you could actually, you know, the explanation makes it okay. Now, there's never been and probably never will be a guy named Schwartzman playing in the NFL, so I don't think I'm going to be buying a jersey any time soon. Yeah, yeah. That one's kind of hard. My name is Smith. I have the pick of the litter, right?

Do I go Devante? It's a good question. Who's got the most? Whose last name has the most? How many guys are in the NFL with the same last name? Gotta be Smith. Has to be, right?

Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, if you look at every roster, Wilson maybe, right? The Jets have Garrett, they have Zach, Miami's got Jeff Wilson, right?

Former 49er. I'm sure there's other Wilsons out there. Of course, Russell Wilson, yeah. Russell Wilson, exactly. Russell Wilson, yeah, yeah. Now, we just named four off the top of our heads and we haven't even delved into the bowels of a 53-man roster, right?

Exactly. There's got to be other guys named Wilson. Smith, you got Harrison Smith, Devante Smith. Who am I missing? Oh, Roquan Smith.

Oh, yeah. Can't forget him. What's the guy on the Ravens, the guy on the 9-1-2 sacks who came from Green Bay? That's a Smith, right? I think Green Bay's got Zadarius Smith, right?

Something like that. I mean, there's got to be Smiths all over the place as well. Has to be. I'm going Smith or Wilson. If I was a betting man, I'm betting Smith or Wilson is going to be.

Yeah, absolutely. The most common name. How many Martinez's are there? Blake retired, right? He's selling Pokemon cards like 650,000. I think he was probably the only one.

Yeah, he's probably the only one. 28 years old, retiring and selling Pokemon cards. Well, did you see how much he sold that Pokemon? 650, right?

650 grand? Yeah. That's insane. Isn't that like, shouldn't that be for kids, Pokemon cards? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, geez. Kids can't afford that. I guess he had it. He's had it for a while.

Here's what I don't get. That piece of cardboard cost triple the average home price in America, right? Not in California. Well, no, not in California, but I'm just saying like, you know, the rest of the country. The rest of the country.

Like everywhere else besides like New York and California, like 200 grand, you can buy a decent home, right? Yeah, yeah. Right.

So this, this, this, you buy it and you get the closing costs put in three times over for a Pokemon card that you can sit in your house. Incredible. I want to get real quick to this art. The World Cup, the US plays England. That kicks off in about 10 minutes or so. England is a better team. Let's not kid ourselves. Oh, there we go.

Soccer hooligans left and right. But England is a better team. You know, the US is getting better. I've said this. I think that four years from now when it's the US, Mexico and Canada hosting the World Cup, I think America could be a problem for people.

I really do. The level of talent that we are producing now in this country is getting better and better. You know, you have young people now gravitating more towards soccer than the other sports.

When it used to be, you know, you couldn't play football, you couldn't play basketball, you couldn't play baseball. Only you went to play soccer. Or you came from an immigrant family where soccer was what your dad loved. But now I think people are choosing soccer and America has so many great athletes that, you know, it's only a matter of time where we produce our own Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo or Harry Kane or Robert Lewandowski or, you know, players of that caliber. Or Pele. Or exactly. Or Neymar.

Let's go, you know, we don't have to go back to the 50s here. Or Neymar from Brazil, right? Or you look at France, Kylian Mbappe or Erlin Horlant.

Guys like that. I mean, look, I look at France's roster. I watch them play in the blues and they are unbelievable.

They're so deep. We don't have that here. And I also think coaching is a problem for America. I watch these other teams play and they attack, right? They are attacking.

They are in the offensive zone. They are making goalies, you know, goalkeepers nervous. Meanwhile, America puts one shot on goal against Wales who, by the way, lost to Iran today 2-0. Okay? That makes us look worse that we couldn't beat Wales and Iran beats Wales. Okay? I'm just saying, can we get a coach who's more offense minded that is, you know, not happy with your team getting one shot on goal the entire match?

They played 98 or so minutes and they had exactly one shot on goal against Wales and, by the way, that shot went in. I don't get it. I don't understand it.

Like, where's the problem here? You know, Christian Pulisic, his star has dimmed. Giovanni Reyna, who's going to be the best player America has produced in recent memory, he doesn't even play. You know, Berhalter, the coach says, ah, he was hurt, right? I was like, nah, I was alright. Well, guess what? Suck it up. Go out there and beat England. I don't want to see another scoreless draw or a 1-1 draw and America's like, we're happy with that outcome. No, we're not happy with that outcome. We want to see some wins. Come on, man. Like, ridiculous. Let's go out there to win a game, not just to play to a tie. I mean, it's that simple, honestly. It really is. So that gets underway coming up next hour. We got a lot to get into hour three coming up next. We're going to talk a little Jets, their quarterback situation as well. Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen here on Black Friday on The Rich Eisen Show. Tells you how to save, but nobody teaches you how to spend it, something you should know wherever you listen.