REShow: Joe Buscaglia - Hour 3 (1-4-2023)

This is The Rich Eisen Show. I am getting texts like crazy from my fellow Michigan Wolverines saying is Jim Harbaugh leaving us? Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. There's one person who knows and that person is named Jim Harbaugh. The Rich Eisen Show.

Stop texting me because I don't know. Earlier on the show, host of Peacock's Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio. Fox Sports College football analyst, Bruce Feldman.

Still to come, your phone calls, latest news and more. And now it's Rich Eisen. Our number three of The Rich Eisen Show is on the air. If you missed the first two hours of this program, we chatted in studio college football and Jim Harbaugh potentially leaving Michigan to go into, to go into the world of professional football with Bruce Feldman. We talked college football with him. We talked college football also and Jim Harbaugh with Mike Florio and our number one. Also, if you missed either of those first two hours, not only do we re-air on the Roku channel right here, but we post some of the show on Twitter as well as, as our YouTube page, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show at Rich Eisen Show on Twitter. Also, if you missed it, Mike Del Tufo has accepted the nomination of Speaker of the House. I still haven't.

You just, you just can't come up with an agenda, which by the way, does sound, does sound like what the real world is right now. So for the moment, you're still here. And he's wearing pants for the second day in a row. I don't know what's going on.

Kermit the Frog. That's what's funny. Like yeah, prior to the show yesterday, like you couldn't, TJ, you could not have, don't drink, don't drink because you'll spit take, Matt. Because you came out, you had pants on, you're always wearing cargo shorts. You know, what's, what's that, two, three years ago? We retired. We retired one of your cargo shorts in the rafters, right? Because you wore the same cargo shorts day in, day out. And it ripped so badly that you couldn't wear them anymore.

So we hung them in the, we hung them in the rafters here. Like it was a retired, like a retired cargo short. Like no one will ever, it was a long time ago, but it was a very moving ceremony. Yes, it was. I was moved.

I watched from LABC and shed a tear. Yeah, that's right. Right. Yeah. The shorts of honor, the shorts of honor here.

What you said yesterday. But he wore pants and then he walked out and they're these dark pants and they're, they're, you know, his legs are skinnier than the top part. And we're not used to seeing the full body. I said it looked like that moment when we saw Kermit the Frog full body for the first time. And it did look like that. You know, like when you saw the Muppet movie for the first time. They're like, Whoa, he can walk.

The only thing that compares to that is when Bob Barker showed up all gray one time. Whoa, stop. Kermit the Frog here.

TJ literally could not breathe. There you are. You're wearing your pants again today.

Very proud of you. Hey, you know what they say, Rich? New year, new me. He's taking that leg to heart. It really is a new him. I'll be wearing shorts in about two days.

They're good. Joe Bascaglia of The Athletic, who covers the Buffalo Bills, is going to be joining us in about 17 minutes time there. Brockman, you've got a news update. Is Zach Taylor part of that? Or do you want me to handle that separately? Zach Taylor is, but we can do it right now if you want. You know what?

Let's just do that first up and then we'll get the rest of the news from you. So Zach Taylor is talking today. The Bengals head coach having a media availability today.

The Bills have not spoken and there is no media availability for him today. And of course, so much is being talked about is about what happened on the field and the ready for play, get ready to play, and how the NFL has been cast as being heartless corporate raiders to say, get out there in five minutes. And then, of course, Troy Vincent, the senior VP, the executive VP of football ops, saying later on that it was ridiculous that they told him to get five minutes to get ready. Although ESPN, Joe Buck was saying what they were being told, that the players had been told to get five minutes ready.

And to me, it had always seemed as if the ready for play returned for ready to play. They were following a protocol until it dawned on everybody that there is no protocol for what the hell just happened. And the right decision eventually was landed on, which was to send everyone back to the locker room and then eventually postpone the game.

But this is the first time we are hearing from one of the coaches involved in the famous conversation with the officials on the field. This is what Zach Taylor had to say today. You know, it came together with Sean McDermott and the officials kind of led the way there and it was determined, you know, just to take a few moments as teams to just process what happened and separate and go to our sidelines and just take a few moments to process because no one had had that chance. You know, I look at Sean and those players, all they were doing is looking at their teammate and their brother and hoping for the best there.

That's the only thing going through their minds. I didn't say a word to anybody the entire time, except for TB, who knew DeMar and I could tell that he was going through it. So I could just see the expressions on Jordan Poyer's face and Josh Allen's face and TB's face. And so you're processing just, you know, how awful the situation was. We separated as teams. The officials, again, did a great job of coming over to me and saying, hey, you know, they're still trying to process this moment here, Coach McDermott and their team. And so instead of playing telephone on separate sidelines, the decision was made just to go over there and make sure we're all, you know, talking together.

And I won't disclose any of the private conversations Sean and I had except for this. When I got over there, the first thing he said was I need to be at the hospital with DeMar and I shouldn't be coaching this game. And so that to me provides all the clarity because there was no unprecedented is the word that gets thrown out a lot about this situation because that's what it is. But in that moment, he really showed who he was, that all his focus was just on DeMar and being there for him, being there for his family at the hospital.

And at that point, I think everybody, everything trended in the direction they needed to trend and the right decisions were made there. Wow. Got to be with DeMar.

Beautiful. Yeah. TB, I believe we have sussed out as Tyler Boyd who played. Tyler Boyd went to Pitt too, so played at Pitt. Sure they have a connection.

It's like DeMar Hamlin. I'm telling you guys. There could be some, it could come out that somebody from the league was told them, five minutes ready for play. Told that to Joe Buck in the booth. We told him they're going to come back in five minutes because that's the protocol. Then everybody realized what was going on. Coach is saying I got to be with the player at the hospital. I got to get out of here. Got it. Then they eventually got around to it.

Say we're not playing tonight. So Rich, don't you think knowing that, that this kind of just makes this a non-story? It was like, yeah, you're going by protocol.

Then you realize, oh, wait a minute. This is bigger than this. The reason why it's not a non-story or it became a story that might be a non-story is because in all honesty, everybody thinks the NFL's got a reputation.

And I told you, I have met many people whose job when they wake up and they go to sleep is about player safety and making sure that everything is right on the sidelines if something like this happens and for whom this is the ultimate nightmare. Yeah. Okay, and there may have been somebody who knows an operation saying, okay, what do you do now? Just I guess we're going back.

Next man up. That's the way it's always been. In the same way that again, if Skip Bayless said, you know what, I didn't mean that by my tweet. Well, his, he's got a reputation. Yeah.

And that's being brought to bear in the moment. So, you know, the NFL has that reputation and there's a public relations, you know, issue that the league 1 million percent has and I'm, you know, but I have met the people whose job it is to make sure this never happens again. And clearly we'll have protocols in place if it does happen again about return to play. Troy Vincent had another conference call just moments ago and reiterated that nobody said five minutes. You have to get out there in five minutes. Clearly nobody got out there in five minutes. And if it was up, if it did finally come from the coaches and the players saying we're not doing this. Well, the NFL clearly relented, didn't they? Yeah. Immediately. Like there was no demand that you must go out there.

You must perform for us. But, you know, there's enough people who think that the NFL is heartless, cold, corporate, and that's a reputation that that is something for them to deal with. And, you know, and if Skip is sitting around going, why do people take that from my tweet?

It's just like, hey, bro, look in the mirror. Look at all your tweets about LeBron and everything else. Okay.

You know, 844204 Rich is the number to dial here on the program. Let's get a news update from the rest of the National Football League radio. We haven't done this in a while. We haven't done this in a while. It's been a while. And even at the point where Tom Brokaw's like, really?

You want me to, do you want me to do this again? There's a fifth vote going on right now, but I got to take time out of my day. That's right. The Speaker of the House stuff, the NBC News emeritus is like, really? Yeah. Hit it. And now with a report of the day's news from the world of sports and entertainment, someone who is not a journalist or newsman by any definition of the word whatsoever.

It's Chris Brockman. Are you able to conduct this news update while also keeping an eye on the fifth vote for Speaker of the House of Representatives to see if Mike Del Tufo did in fact get a single vote after being nominated for this role? Mike, a good suggestion from one of our tweeters. Your first platform could be statehood for DC.

DC statehood. I like that. I'm in.

I'll do it. You know, because they don't get taxed. Oh, is that what it is?

That's on their license plate. Taxation without representation. See, the problem for my, you know, I say this with the ultimate love and respect. And Mike, be, you know, undercut your bona fides to be Speaker of the House. Your first platform would be statehood for New Jersey, even though they already have statehood. You know what I mean?

You want to make meatballs like the official food of the United States? All right, what do you got over there? What's actual news? Mike, our follow-up buddy at NFL Network tweeted out a few minutes ago that EVP of the League, Jeff Miller, says conversations about the status of Bill Spangles are ongoing. Decision coming in the next few days.

So probably hopefully this week. Troy Vincent says the focus has been on Damar Hamlin, obviously, and they've just begun speaking about possible scenarios. Okay.

Look, we're getting going. Truly, I think everybody, and it makes sense, would love to get some resolution on Damar Hamlin's short and long-term prognosis before making a decision about when to replay this game. Honestly. And so there's been a respect level and an understanding of the readiness of these teams to reconvene, maybe in the same spot, as well as the rest of the league needing to talk it out. So, makes sense.

What else you got over there? Rich Jets dolphins on Sunday week 18. It's going to be Mike White.

All of his 48 ribs have healed. He's going to be out there for the Jets against Miami. And Robert Sala is very much looking forward to playing spoiler on Sunday. It's the same thing, another championship game. I know, I know it's technically not, but you got to keep your mindset in that. And if anytime you have a chance to put a step on the field, you've got to step on the gas and do the absolute best you can. And would it be nice to have McDaniel hanging out with me poolside in a couple of weeks?

You damn right it would. But really it's more about us and making sure that we're focused on finishing the season strong and being our absolute best and whatever happens happens. They obviously know each other from the 49er staff. Yeah, man. Hey, lost amongst all this is when I was a kid, Dolphins-Jets rivalry was nasty.

Nasty. The Jets had one of the best rushing attacks of all time with Freeman McNeil in an AFC Championship game. By the way, that was the same season of the snowplow game that just had its 40 year anniversary between the Dolphins and the Patriots. Jets and the Dolphins played in the 1983 AFC Championship game down in the Orange Bowl. And for some reason they didn't put the tarp on the field despite it raining the night before with Freeman McNeil and the Jets coming to town. So Richard Todd had to throw it around and he threw it to AJ Dewey about 90 million times. I mean the fake spike, the number of that Monday night game that was in the off night of the Subway series between the Mets and the Yankees. The off night on that Monday night was Dolphins-Jets. This is, oh yeah, baby. I mean, this is good. And the Jets, it would be great to have Mike White perform well going into the non-playing season in which they're going to be shopping around for Derek Carr.

And others. New quarterback in Washington this week, their third starter of the year. It's going to be Sam Howell, fifth round pick from North Carolina. He is going to start. So it's not Taylor Heinecke. Not Heinecke.

That was first reported out this morning. Yeah, it's going to be Sam Howell. Okay, let's see what we got in him. Let's see what they got.

A lot of pub on him heading into the year. You know what, by the way, it'll be interesting because, you know, rumor had it that Sam Howell was so far from starting last week, it was possible he was the one in the Major Tuttie costume. And so I don't think anybody's ever seen Sam and Major Tuttie in the same space. So can I say the words Major Tuttie more? Major Tuttie.

By the way, contest. Just apropos of nothing poll question. Okay, who you got? Who you got? Major Tuttie, Steely McBeam. Steely McBeam. Who you got? Steely McBeam had no business being created.

No business. It was Bill Cowher. It was Bill Cowher as a mascot.

The big chin, like he was taking a Polaroid and jamming it in like Ben Drith's. Is it is it T-U-D-D-Y or I-E? It's T-U-D-D-Y because I believe it's Tuttie because that's what's a reference for a touchdown. Like a Tuttie.

I would love to have had a GoPro in that meeting. Like what are we going to call this hog? Tuttie. It's a commander. So it's got to be a it's got to have a ranking like a military rank.

We go Major. Did they strike Colonel Tuttie? Sergeant Tuttie? Sergeant Tuttie would have been great.

I mean of all of all the rankings they went Major. Captain Commander. Corporal.

Major's down on the list. General Tuttie would have actually been General Tuttie. General's at the top. I mean Colonel Jessup. Colonel Tuttie.

He was in line. Sergeant Tuttie. Lieutenant Colonel Tuttie. They couldn't have called this mascot Weinberg because it's a pig. You know, it's not kosher.

They should have called it Private Tuttie. You Lieutenant Weinberg. By the way, Kevin Pollock when he was on the show telling that story. Whoa, what was that? Where'd that come from? You really related to Weinberg. Didn't expect Nicholson to do that piece of acting. That's great.

That's on our YouTube page. Colonel Jessup. But honestly, like I've been Tuttie. Like we went with Tuttie. I don't hate Tuttie.

Okay. I like saying Tuttie for touchdowns. Until he celebrates and went over the Cowboys this weekend.

I don't hate the word Tuttie, not the mascot Tuttie. It's Major Tuttie and Sam Howells coming for the Dallas Cowboys this weekend, baby. Cowboys wide receiver news, T.J. T.Y. Hilton's playing so well. The team released James Washington. Yeah, how about that?

Yeah, I could see that. T.Y. has come up big, man. I told you. That catch against the Eagles. Come on.

Was amazing. And then he had a big one last week too. Yeah he did. T.Y.

is already paying dividends. I told you when we signed him and you kind of mocked it. I'm like, this guy can ball. I didn't mock it. The only thing I mocked, excuse me. I have memories. I have memories.

And we have video. I didn't mock it. I didn't mock it. I just said it's typical of the Cowboys to do it one week, too late because they had just taken on the Houston Texans, who he owns like Aaron Rodgers owns the Chicago Bears. He wasn't ready that week. T.Y. Hilton's lifetime numbers against the Houston Texans and they are Derrick Henry versus the Houston Texans.

None of those catches that he added more than the one he made on third and third. Can we just agree it's a very nice signing? Didn't I say at the top of the show that we should just all watch our words these days? Can I get through a news update? Sorry. My bad, bro.

Bro calls like, what did I do? I left the Speaker of the House votes for this? I mean, spoiler alert, they're probably going to be a sixth vote. Is that right? I don't know.

He's already got the Golden Sombrero right now, right? He's 0 for 4? Yeah, McCarthy's 0 for 4. Okay. The Dolph, 2 is not going to practice today. Maybe not this week. Yes. After the concussion protocol again.

Okay. Ian Rapport saying Teddy Bridgewater had a dislocated finger last week. And the team signed Mike Glennon to the practice squad. Let me tell you about Mike Glennon.

Skylar Thompson's not getting it done. Maybe we see McLennan out there again. By the way, he just used the word that Warren Sapp used on NFL Game Day Morning one year, referring to Mike Glennon as a McLennan. Like he was McLennan's whole name. He referred to him as McLennan.

And all of us, Marshall, me, Mooch, Irv, we were useless for the rest of the segment. We could not talk the rest of the segment when you're referring to Mike Glennon as McLennan. McLennan. Because I think McLennan was the starter for the Bucks at the time and threw such a terrible pass.

It was like a pick six in the first week. In like week two, he referred to him as McLennan. So McLennan's back, man. McLennan's back, guys.

Boy, I'll just say this with all due respect to Mike Glennon. If he's got any, if he does have any run, then McDaniel will be the ones ordering the Mai Tais poolside with Coach Sala. You're probably right. If that is their beverage of choice. It is mine in Hawaii. I'll tell you that. I'm known in my family as Mr. Mai Tai, did you know that? Mr. Mai Tai.

Ask any of my children. What's Jad's nickname in Hawaii? And their answer will be immediately Mr. Mai Tai.

Correct. I love Hawaii. You got another, you got one more? I have a couple more, but we got to go to break. Okay, let's go to break.

And then you know what? We'll tell Bro Call come out before the sixth vote. We'll do it again. What else we got? All right, let's take a break. Let's find out what is going on in Western New York.

Joe Boscaglia of The Athletic is going to join us next. And it's a Mercedes-Benz van we're talking about here. So expect innovative safety features like crosswind assist and blind spot assist. Expect amazing performance and reliability with an MBUX voice command system, a five-star dealer network and an available gas engine. It runs like, well, a dream. So what do you say? Head to the Mercedes-Benz van dealership and get that sprinter.

Tell them your dream sent you. On our terrestrial radio stations along with Sirius XM and more back here on the Rich Eisen Show. The Rich Eisen Show radio network powered by Grainger.

With supplies and solutions for every industry, Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Joining us here on the Mercedes-Benz van's phone line is a man who covers the Buffalo Bills for The Athletic here on the Rich Eisen Show. Joe Boscaglia here on his first spot on our program. How you doing, Joe? I'm doing great, Rich.

Long time fan of you. I just wish we could talk for the first time under different circumstances. Well, you know what? You're covering a team that has a chance to win the Super Bowl and has a terrific team and a terrific organization.

I have a feeling you and I are going to have better circumstances under which to have conversations in future days. For the moment, what is going on with the Bills right now? Can you give me a snapshot of where things stand right around almost 3 Eastern time on the Wednesday after the Monday nighter? Yeah, it's a lot of it is a bit of a holding pattern for now. The the team is obviously heartbroken. I mean, you know, even though the they did get some good news, the team released a statement that said that there were some improvements both overnight and in the morning. So that is good.

The exact details of that. No one is sharing those and I, you know, quite frankly, I don't know why they would share those, especially when things are just so fluid as it stands right now. But when but the team in itself, I guess they're trying to get themselves prepped and ready for a game this Sunday. But so they they scheduled a walkthrough for today. They have a what I think will be a practice tomorrow unless things change rapidly here.

They have no media availability today. And I think a lot of the focus is just still totally on tomorrow Hamlet. I mean, just watching that all unfold firsthand. I mean, you know, it's one thing to see it on TV. Even one thing to watch from binoculars from a press box like I did throughout that whole 15 minute span that just felt like time lasted forever. But it's another thing to be on the field and watching all of that happening to one of their best friends and their teammate.

I mean, it's just so I feel I feel for everybody over there. They I don't know that that there's any right answer of what to do. And and I don't know how they're going to be able to focus on a game this Sunday, but I do know their their hearts are hurting right now.

Well, one way one one way to help focus would be to get some terrific news from the University of Cincinnati Hospital that, you know, Damar is awake and alert and getting better. But it just seems that, you know, as you mentioned to this fluid situation that that that may not occur. Is it possible that situation is so fluid that the Bills might call the league or have the Pegulas call the league or whomever call the league and say Sunday's not not not not happening or we're not ready to do this? Is that possible from what I mean?

I think anything is possible at this point. I mean, I just getting a sense and just watching how those players were reacting to this situation real time. The thing that has been rolling through my head over the last day or so is how are they going to ask these guys to play on Sunday?

I mean, it's it's not even like it's a Sunday to Sunday. It was a Monday night to a Sunday 1 p.m. And you know, just a few moments ago the NFL just conducted a conference call and one of one of the people that were on it was Troy Vincent and you know, they they said they hadn't really had any discussions about moving that Bills Patriots game, which is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. But that they're going to you know, speak with the Bills and and you know, they want to do what's right by them. So I would say that anything is possible if if Sean McDermott who is still obviously trying to go through it himself or his team expresses that hey, I just don't know how we're going to be ready. I think the NFL would be receptive to I hope the NFL would be receptive to that based on this unprecedented situation where where you know, they nearly lost one of their teammates on the field in real time.

So so yeah, I think I think it's definitely within the realm of possibilities by the end of the week. Joe Biscaglia, the athletic covering the Buffalo Bills here on the Rich Eisen Show, a few minutes with with him in Western New York. And Zach Taylor did have a media availability earlier today and said that the conversation with the officials on the field that we saw on the ESPN broadcast between the two of them between McDermott and Zach Taylor that McDermott said I need to be at the hospital with DeMar.

I need to be at the hospital with my player is what he had to say. And I just want to leave that in front of you to comment on it. Whatever your reporting might be or your thoughts knowing the teams you do. No, it's powerful and getting to know Sean since he walked in the door in 2017. You could definitely tell that he has a he has a deep care for the people on their team and even the people who are on the team that that leave and go elsewhere. There's a deep respect there. He's also learned a lot about how to handle those relationships over the last five plus years going into six now. And this it's I don't think it's a coincidence that that he had such an emotionally and personal personality driven reaction to to that sort of impact him.

And if you know, Sean McDermott, you know, that basically every single cell in his body is football football football football. Like he's constantly thinking about it. He's constantly reading and trying to figure out how to improve himself.

And logging a lot of hours to do so. And in that moment, just separating. Life from this game, which he invests almost all his life into. I think it really it really goes to show what is important to him and certainly from there. So I think he's going to listen to his locker room. I think there he's going to be receptive with whatever they have to say. I mean, there's no I mean, I don't know how any coach would react to a situation like this, but I do know that if if he is going to continue down the path that I think he will. I think he will let the team kind of dictate what they want to do and then and then go from there. So when I had seen that seen Zach Taylor say that I you know, I thought to myself yet that that checks out with Sean McDermott. I mean, he has his faults.

We all do. But he is certainly someone who is driven to have his players Excel both on the field and off and, you know, put them in the best situation possible in the few minutes. We have left Joe you covering the team. Tell me about Damar.

What do I what should I know about the Mar Hamlin? Yeah, I mean he he was drafted late round guy and you know, they had hoped they could find a solid depth piece in him. And then once Micah Hyde went down with what was thought to be a season-ending neck injury at the time, then he was given the shot to step in and you know, from that point forward the media attention on him was starting to increase but it wasn't like he was one of the stars of the team or anything. I had a few conversations with with him throughout the year and every single time it just a respectful.

You can tell how how the how the players around him just by seeing him interact with everybody. You can tell how much he's loved within that locker room and certainly how happy people were for him when he when he got that opportunity to be a starter in his second season, you know under not really under like the best terms in terms of Micah Hyde having to suffer a neck injury to do it, but you know being able to get that opportunity all the same. But in this next man up league Joe that we were talking about and and and has received some criticism because of the return to play conversation and how everybody's first thought when this happened was all right, just like everything else next man up. Let's go.

Let's get out there. Let's get ready for play until everyone realized. No, we're not going to get ready for play here and he was the next man up and has has been terrific in that role. You know, he's been great and and they have certainly gravitated toward him throughout the locker room. And I thought one of the coolest stories about about his rise and and his close friend from younger years and his college teammate at Pitt Dane Jackson, who's a cornerback on the team and has started almost all the games for them this year. I mean seeing those two just kind of riff off each other even in the locker room. It's been it was a it was a treat to watch but but now Dane and and you could tell he was he was hurting right away.

He couldn't even look when the whole thing was happening. So it was yeah, it was a it was a heart-wrenching thing to see happen in front of your eyes and in those 15 minutes before I let you go then so suss out for me again. I know you don't know it's very rare for me to answer ask a question of somebody when I know your answer is going to be I don't know. But what's your what's your best guess here next 24 48 72 for the Buffalo Bills Joe? What do you think my best guess is Sean McGermott continues to listen and that's all he really can do and you know, this is you have a lot of guys who are going through trauma and there's no easy way to say it other than that and you have to allow them to process things and take the time that they need to and and because of that. I think McDermott will have a vast awareness for how his players are feeling and asking lots of questions doing lots of listening and then from there if it's all went well at the walkthrough today and they're feeling like, you know, they're they got, you know, a slight bit of good news about tomorrow improving, you know, however much they want to take go with that and maybe even practice tomorrow.

But if they get any sense that these guys are just not in it for a game on Sunday, then I would expect that the Bills would ask of the NFL to see if they could at least postpone it just just a day or two, just something just to give them a little bit more breathing room than, you know, five, four or five days. Joe, thanks for the call. Greatly appreciate it.

Let us do this another time when as you pointed out the circumstances are not so dire. Thanks for the time. That sounds that sounds wonderful. Thanks so much for having me.

You bet. That's Joe Bascaglia of the Athletic covering the Buffalo Bills here in the Rich Eisen Show. Look, it's twofold. It's twofold. And again, obviously, you know, I didn't play or is the name of the title of one of my favorite books as a kid because I was a big Howard Cosell fan. Yeah, I read his book. I never played the game. I never played the game was the name of his book because he was pointing out the the jockocracy that was happening in sports broadcasting. Remember that about all the players who were just coming off of the sideline and and doing his job, basically, but at any rate, I never played the game, but I've been around the game and I've talked to a bunch of players for 20 some odd years.

So if I could suss this out, it's twofold. One is they're not going to they can't turn the page. And do the next game up until they know their guy is OK, or at least on the verge of being OK or on the path to being OK. They can't just go on without him. While he's in the ICU.

Easily or readily or at all, I don't know, either those are the different grades of of how ready they can be. They understand, you know, it's a sport. This is the league. This is the league that they've been dominating in many ways. On many Sundays and Mondays and Thursdays that they've been in, and this is their championship season two and they they they need to hit the pause button on it.

Because for them to just say, OK, we're just going to turn the page and just keep doing it while Damar is on life support. That's half of it, if you will. The other half is being ready to take that next snap. When they just saw that next snap has put their comrade in the ICU. That's why Ryan Clark tweeted out that the next snap of football is going to be really scary. And I get it.

And I get it. That again, that veil, that wall that these players have built up in their head and they place behind that wall and the recesses of their minds, just how violent this sport is and how the next snap could be the last. And what are you going to do if that happens?

And what, you know, what do you do if you have to find a different career? Or heaven forbid, you are so significantly hurt that it affects the way you live your life. And what's going to happen 30 years from now if I have effects from playing?

And those thoughts are never at the forefront of anybody's mind when you're playing the sport. And you saw in real time on Monday night, what happens when that wall is destroyed or that veil or that curtain is lifted in real time right in front of them on the field of play in the middle of a game that they've worked themselves up to place this monstrosity and nightmare behind that wall. The wall just got destroyed right in front of them.

And I mean, what reserve is going to take for them to build that wall up again? And go out and play a game. It's a serious business. I understand again that a lot of folks out there are like, well, they're paid millions of dollars to do it and it's a dream and all that and that's true. But as we've been talking about the theme of this week has been they're human beings. Just wanted to throw that out there. Millions of dollars won't affect your emotional state.

I mean, it doesn't matter how much money that you have once you see something like that. It's it's the this is I just kind of wanted to lay out for what for everyone. What what needs to be surmounted, resurrected, you know, absorbed and then eventually executed. It's it's a lot.

We'll be right back on The Rich Eisen Show to wrap up this Wednesday show in a moment. Back here on The Rich Eisen Show, when you open up a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, you're opening up more than just doors. You're unlocking potential, the potential to do your own thing and be your own boss, do your own success and blaze your own trail. Each and every Sprinter van is built, designed and equipped to let you hit the open road and take on any goal that you set to help you follow your own passions and reawaken the spirit of adventure and check all the big, bold, fun and exciting experiences right off your bucket list. 16 body types. You can choose a gas or diesel engine. There's thousands of ways to customize now available in an all-wheel drive. Take it on a vacation, start a business with it because a Sprinter van is capable and versatile enough to help you drive your ambitions wherever you want to take them. So now's the time to discover what it is that moves you most. Don't wait.

Unlock your potential inside a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. 844-204 Rich number to dial. Hunter in La Crosse, Wisconsin has been hanging on for a bit. What's up, Hunter?

Hi, Rich. I was wondering regarding the DeMar-Hamlin tragedy and obviously the controversy about whether or not they postponed the game, replay it or how they handled a pretty set in stone playoff schedule. Do you think the NFL schedule makers are going to take this into account in the future? Like you said, the Super Bowl is pretty set in stone.

It is. You cannot move it. Hotel reservations are gotten and, you know, you can't move it.

You cannot move a Super Bowl. It's that simple. It's there's too much, too many logistics involved in getting a building ready and having it ready for the game and having people come into town. But I mean, I don't know how you plan for it. This is, you can't plan for it. And as Mike Florio mentioned in the first hour back in 2001 and obviously 9-11 doesn't equate to what we've just seen, but what it does equate in is a moment or an event that does affect the schedule. And that happened in week two, week three, and you had a whole season in order to come up with an idea to make up for it. And for everyone to plan for it right now, Hunter, in thanks to the call, there's nothing to do.

There's no wiggle room. The schedule ends this weekend. The series, the season ends this weekend. And there's still so much on the line and so much at stake and you have two teams that had to postpone their game. That affects, like I said, it affects their standings. It affects the Chiefs. It affects the Ravens. It affects the Patriots because the Bills are taking on the Patriots. And because it affects the team that has a win-in scenario for week seven, it affects anybody else that wants that. I mean, win-in scenario for the seventh seed in week 18. It affects anybody else who wants that seventh seed, which is Miami and Pittsburgh.

So what? Pittsburgh, Miami, New England, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and the Ravens. That's seven. And technically, because the Ravens, if they lose, the Chargers could get a five seed instead of a six seed, meaning visiting Jacksonville or Tennessee, as opposed to either one of Cincinnati, Kansas City, or Buffalo, you got to include the Chargers in there, too, right? It's pretty much every team in the AFC, one, two, three, currently, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

The only ones not affected are the Titans and the Jaguars who are playing Saturday night, no matter what. Right? Did I get that right? That's it. That's eight teams who are waiting to hear where they're going and how they're going and when they're going and when they're playing and what they're doing.

And everybody else is just remaining patient because that's the humane thing to do right now. Period. So there's all of that. Lost amongst, well, a lot's been lost amongst this, is a rash of insane basketball stat lines in recent days. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, we haven't been paying much attention, but it's... Well, I mean, we've been paying attention, it just hasn't been appropriate, I guess, to talk about it. You know, 71 from Donovan Mitchell. While I was on, while we were all on walkabout, 60 from Luca. A 60-20 triple-double. Right, 60-20 triple-double. Clay had 54 the other night in a double overtime game.

Yeah. LeBron has been out of his court. How great has he been? LeBron's last 10 days have been pretty special. It's like he's just out of high school again.

Yeah. He looks amazing. He looks amazing, and the Lakers are winning, too. It's not like, well, LeBron's, but I guess they're wasting LeBron's season, can be, it's already been a story, and it might be one later on. And then you got Giannis last night, right? 55 piece from Giannis last night. They also have Embiid's just been, for some reason, not getting any attention, but he's been dominating. Just some crazy scoring numbers. The Nets are hot 12 straight, 12 in a row. Now, they're the two seed in the East. That's right, isn't it? Boston got absolutely punked last night by Oklahoma.

I don't know. Some weird stuff has been going on with that team the last couple weeks. Some losses that they just shouldn't have had. Their interim head coach needing to have, like he heard his eye in a pickup game or something like that? Yeah, and like 10 minutes before was was out. Damon Stoudemire was coaching. Did you know Damon Stoudemire was even on the staff?

I did, actually, but a lot of weird stuff has been kind of going on with them the last couple weeks. The Nets are on fire. Nets are on fire, man.

Little worried. Well, certainly if they're playing like that, and Kyrie isn't tweeting anything out anymore. He's doing his thing. He's doing his thing, all right. He's been looking tremendous. Durant, too, is just... Play this Giannis soundbite, because in this day and age, anything that will give you a smile will take it. Because you can't say this guy's name without a smile.

This is what he had to say about his 55 piece last night. For my team, for myself, obviously, the game that we play, it's all about winning. We are judging and winning. For me, I want to have fun. I want to enjoy the game.

I want to create art as much as I can. And I want to get in a position that my game, which I think I've got it, my game is boring. I just do what I do and people don't talk about it because it becomes boring. I do it every single night.

And that's what I want to do. I want other people to feel like my game is boring. But I don't get bored. The greats, the best players never get bored to go out there. They always give the best every given night who doesn't matter who they play and try to win the game. That's great to me.

I don't speak Greek. Do they have a different definition of boring? I think what he's talking about is the fact that like he puts up these stat lines, right? And he'll go 35 and 14 and three blocks and we're at the point now where we're just like, cool. Yeah, he's to the point where we expect this to happen. So I think that's what he means by boring. It's just like, oh, okay, Giannis put up 36 and 17.

Great. Can I also just point out that maybe if he says he's boring that a team shouldn't break themselves up to acquire? Giannis' last three games, 45, 22, and 7. That was last week against the Bulls. 43, 20, and 5 against the T-Wolves. You're boring me.

And then 55, 10, and 7 last night. You're boring me. You're tiring me. You know, it's not boring.

It's not boring. Donovan Mitchell's 71 piece. You know why? Because it was a big-time combination that night between him and Robin Lopez that Robin tweeted out. I'm going to get it out of the way and point out that Donovan Mitchell and Robin Lopez combined for 72 tonight.

Hashtag historic game. That's what Robin Lopez tweeted out, winning Twitter for the week. Was that something like Will Perdue did when Jordan had 55? I think it was Bill Wenington. I knew it was one of those Bulls centers.

Chris Jordan and his 55 piece in the garden passed to St. John's great Bill Wenington to wrap it for the winter. Okay, and they combined for 57 that night. Yes, that I remember. That'll wrap it up for this Wednesday show.

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