REShow: Chris Mannix - Hour 2

What attracted you to Colorado Prime? Rick George, man. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

Let's kick it off! You know, coaches don't get official visits. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Look at this.

We don't get, we don't get to fly in and check it out, you know. Earlier on the show, NFL on Fox analyst Mark Sanchez. Coming up, senior writer for Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannix.

From the Showtime drama Your Honor, actor Bryan Cranston. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show live on the Roku channel.

844204 Rich is the number to dial. We are full up with in-studio guests. We just said goodbye to Mark Sanchez of Fox Sports. Bryan Cranston is making his way to the studio for our number three. His show, hit show on Showtime Your Honor season two. Debuts on streaming and on demand tomorrow night and returns on air Sunday at 9 Eastern on Showtime. He'll be here in hour number three to talk about all that.

It's going to be dynamite. Chris Brockman and Mike Del Tufo in their usual spots right there. Good to see you. TJ Jefferson in the corner. Hello, sir. And joining us to my right here in the in-studio chair is the senior writer from Sports Illustrated, our friend Chris Mannix here in Los Angeles, California. Good to see you, brother. Good to see you, Rich.

I'd like to tell you first that I've decided I'm officially a Rich Eisen game. Dan's out? Dan's out.

Dan and I have not had a less than amicable parting, but you know, we've drifted apart in recent years. I don't know. It's just I don't I get the token, you know, text from Fritzie, you know, every six months or so.

That's it? Well, you know, I'm sure it picks up during NBA season, but like, you know, it was probably like two weeks ago I had a text from Fritzie and it was almost insulting at that point because like Dan used to be loyal to me and I was loyal to him. And now he has become something of a rat. And I. Wow. Be careful because Dan, as you know, has got a long memory. I know. Dan's got a long memory. And Paul Pabst reminds him every time. Wow.

Maddox is coming hot. Because, you know, this show and Dan, this show doesn't exist without Dan. I know. And Dan, I've known for 20, good Lord, 26 years now. So you've known him a while.

Dan and I are quasi Vermont neighbors in a way up there. So your appearance here shouldn't affect your status on the Dan Patrick show. I've just decided I'm taking a break from the Dan Patrick show. OK. Like a Friends break? Like this is like you're taking a break. I'm taking a break. We're taking a break. He calls you up. It's like, what the hell? You say, I thought we were on a break and you're fine. We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. Welcome aboard.

We got to get the T-shirts made. The microphone is large enough for two shows for you, Chris Maddox, is the way I'll put it. But good to have you here. Good to see you here.

You too. So the story for the Los Angeles Lakers is we are now in the middle of January and you're going to see them tonight. Yep. Playing the Mavericks.

On crypto.com. How long do you think that's going to last? Not much longer. I don't know. You tell me. 15 years.

You tell me. Do they bring back Staples or do they bring in a new sponsor? Or do they just move their entire operation to the Bahamas? Or you know what they could do is just call it Bryant Arena. People would... Let's do it.

You would lose money, of course, but the goodwill you would gain would be worth exponentially more. I agree. Yeah. But the Lakers are kind of... The L.A. Kings might be like... But the Lakers too, as big of a franchise as it is, they do operate like a mom and pop operation sometimes. They are... They're a family-owned business.

Right. But they're a family-owned business that generates tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars every single year. They don't operate like, say, the Knicks do or the Clippers even is a much better example. They are interested in the bottom line in L.A. So I think they will...

If crypto goes away, they will get a new name and rights. So LeBron is playing out of his mind. I mean, and it's kind of funny that we're saying this as if it's a surprise, but you just don't see people at his advancing age playing...

I mean, he is awesome. There's no other way to put it. And the team can make this playoff run if they have a more... I mean, you just wrote about it this week, so you know where I'm going with this.

What do they do? Their options on the table and what happens, trade deadline and everything, because we're approaching that time right now here. Look, they'll have the option to upgrade the roster with some kind of supporting piece. I don't believe that the blockbuster trade that their front office has been looking for is out there. Bradley Beal is not going to be available at the trade deadline. Damian Lillard is not going to be available at the trade deadline.

You're not going to get that guy, at least not by February. But if you're looking at a Bojan Bogdanovic in Detroit, if perhaps you're looking at Christian Wood down in Dallas or one of the many pieces Utah is going to put on the market before mid-February, those guys are going to be available. The question is, will that Lakers front office and will ownership be willing to include one or more first round picks to get it?

That's the multimillion dollar question here. We know LeBron wants help. I mean, my friend Brian Wintour, our store at ESPN, had a great note in one of his recent podcasts where he said, LeBron in his entire 20 year career has only played with five rookie first round picks. LeBron doesn't care about first round picks. He wants what you can get for first round picks. The only consequential player of those five was Norris Cole, who helped Miami back in their heat days. So LeBron wants you to move these picks, but the Lakers got to be looking around going, if we move a 2027 first round pick for Bogdanovic, does that put us in contention? Does that make us Western Conference favorites?

Or is it better to keep our proverbial powder dry, go into next off season and hope that the guys I mentioned, Lillard, Beal, others are available when we can maybe make a play for them? When LeBron's 39? This is the problem. This is the conundrum.

This is one of those stories where if I sit down and start to talk about it or write about it, I can see both sides pretty clearly. LeBron is looking at himself going, I'm 38. If my team was good, you'd be talking about me in the MVP conversation right now.

A 38 year old. I mean, this is not Jordan. Jordan at 38 was putting up numbers, but he wasn't capable of carrying a team to a championship at that stage of his career. LeBron is. He just needs one or two more pieces to help him out. But the Lakers, you're not going to be able to convince anyone that Bogdanovic, Wood, Jordan Clarkson, Kelly Olenek, those guys are going to be available, are going to push them over the finish line. So it's one of those stories where I can clearly see both sides of it.

Yeah, I know. It's like LeBron is the Mona Lisa Vito character, like stamping the feet like the clock. You know where you know where I when I think about this, when I when I do when I when I come down to siding with LeBron because the Lakers committed to him and they said, look, you know, we want to give you this contract extension.

We want you part of the team beyond this season. They made a commitment to LeBron James. And in doing that, they have a commitment to build a team around him that can win and not worry about what's going to happen in twenty twenty seven or twenty twenty nine. I mean, do you really think Rob Palenka should be that concerned about twenty twenty seven and twenty twenty nine?

Is Rob Palenka going to be around if this team's not successful in twenty seven or twenty nine? I think the short term future has to outweigh the long term effect. I totally agree with you on that fact and worry about the future in the future. And you worry about the now, the now, I mean, like the Los Angeles Rams and the NFL are a perfect example about, you know, worry about the future when it is. But that trophy in the case looks beautiful.

That parade that happened. And by the way, they're not devoid of first round picks either. Like they just can't move these upcoming picks over the next few years. So they're going to be able to rebuild if they have to.

They just can't trade anything till twenty seven. And then the other part of this conversation, Chris Mannix here from Sports Illustrated is, you know, I'm watching Julius Randle balling out in New York. You know, I mean, Kuzma in Washington, I mean, these guys used to be here. And were the guys that were young when LeBron was here and arriving.

Right. I mean, these so and LeBron was kind of like, if I'm not mistaken, you tell me, get these guys out of here. Bring me Anthony Davis. And they won in the bubble, I understand. But doesn't LeBron kind of hold a little bit of responsibility for the current situation as well? I think he holds some responsibility when it comes to Westbrook. I think the Davis deal, you know, Laker fans hate when you say this, but they did over pay for Davis. They went out and gave up virtually all their capital for a guy that wanted to be an L anyway and wasn't really going to accept a deal anywhere else.

They were kind of bidding against themselves in that situation. The Westbrook deal didn't need to happen. Westbrook went, you know, was in Oklahoma City and it didn't work at the end. He went to Houston.

It didn't work at the end. He went to Washington. It didn't work there virtually all season long. Why LeBron and the Lakers thought that bringing him into this situation would have been effective, I'll never really understand, especially when you're dealing valuable role players. You mentioned Kuzma, who is another one of those guys the Lakers might even look at in terms of trades from Washington because he's going to be available most likely. But Contavious Caldwell Pope, like he's now in Denver making three point shots for them. Like when you look at how successful teams have built out around LeBron, they've put shooters around him and Caldwell Pope shooter Kuzma, not necessarily this lethal shooter, but he's a guy that can make shots. They went out there and brought in a non shooter. That in and of itself just never made any sense.

Chris Mannix here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's your assessment of the Warriors right now? What do you got for me? They're hard to figure out. You know, they get all their guys back and they're playing the Zombie Suns and they get their butt kicked in that game. And that was kind of wild to see. There's no real reason to believe this at this point, but all these, the fact that they're all the same guys, you got to believe if you give them time playing together, Wiggins back in the mix, Thompson back in the mix, Curry now back in the mix that come late February, early March, you're going to see this type of team go on a run. I do think they need to be one of those teams that has to find bench help. You look at at at the success they've had during their championship years, they always had one or two really solid reserves that they could count on.

In the early years, he was at Wedala when he was playing at a pretty high level last year. You had Otto Porter Jr. You had Gary Payton. You had guys that you could rely on coming off the bench. This group's got some really talented young players, but they have not proven this season that you can rely on them. Kaminga, Moody, Wiseman, these guys could be superstars in three years. But for right now, they have not proven they can be reliable role players. So that's a team to watch both in terms of the trade deadline.

And then when the buyout market kicks in, there'll be a place I think veteran players want to go. Yeah. I hear you like, hey, at some point, if we keep running it back, we're going to get there. And it just seems to me there's something missing. There is no residual effect of the Draymond punch, is there? I don't think that's it.

I don't think that's it. I mean, because you look at the early part of the season, they had like a 95 percent home record. They were winning everything.

Then they go on the road. They're like three and 16, three and 17. It's just losing games to like Orlando. These are... Now they're losing these games at home. They lost the Pistons at home. You just mentioned the Zombie Suns. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. The Suns loss was bad. No question about it. I don't think there's any hangover from the Draymond punch from training camp.

I just think for some reason, this team hasn't been able to develop chemistry and this team has not gotten the kind of contributions they got last season, years past, from the guys coming off that bench. So then who is the best... Which is the best team in the West? Is it the Nuggets?

Do we see... I mean, Jokic is out of his skull. He's going to make it real hard for MVP voters. Exactly. Because when there are the annual awards in any sport, it's just like, well, we can't give it to the same guy again. Or when Phil Jackson, we're overlooking him for coach of the year, same way that Belichick will never win another coach of the year award in the NFL again, no matter what. There's fatigue in voting for the same people.

And I understand why you think that it won't be a Belichick vote anyway, that's a Patriot fan over there. But you see what I'm saying? Yeah. Jokic is out of his skull. He is the best player in the NBA. Yeah.

I was doing a video recently with Sam Amick at the Athletic, Howard Beck, my colleague at SI. We're all MVP voters. And we were talking about the MVP vote and it was almost begrudgingly, we're like, we got to give it to Jokic right now. I mean, he's not only are his... Because there is voter fatigue at all things. It just happens sometimes. It shouldn't be, but it happens sometimes.

You look for reasons not to vote for a guy. Jokic has not given us one reason not to vote for him. He's almost averaging a triple-double this year. Well, it's also, there's not other guys that aren't worthy of it. I mean, Tatum and Giannis. Indeed. Right up there. Luka. Luka's playing. Exactly.

But... These numbers are insane. And I think what gives Jokic the edge on a lot of people's ballots, myself included, is right now the Nuggets are at the top of the conference. When you have a really competitive race for MVP, oftentimes, at least I do, you kind of default to the guy that's the most successful. Winning often trumps, or it gives you a slight edge, and right now the Nuggets, Jokic, they're winning. What about the East? The Nets have been great ever since Kyrie returned and his Twitter account has been dormant. You know, so what do you think about the East right now, Chris Mannix? A lot of it depends on the length of this Durant injury and what happens to the Nets. Do they stumble down to five, six range and have to play a couple of really competitive series before they get to a conference finals? But not only has Kyrie been playing at an all-NBA level, but they've been defending too. You look at some of their numbers in the last month and a half, they have been around a top 10 defensive team in the NBA. That may be some smoke and mirrors. Can they do it in the playoffs?

I don't know. But that's been a surprising part of their recent success. I still lean towards Boston in a seven-game series against anybody in the Eastern Conference. Did you watch Jalen Brown last night? He's ridiculous.

41 points in that game. Like he is one of, if not the best, number two guy on a team. Like Jason Tatum is number one. He's top five MVP right now. But Jalen Brown is a mortal lock for All-Star and is going to make a pretty strong case for all NBA.

And the pieces around those guys, they all work. Like Rob Williams is back into that mix. Marcus Smart has played really well and continues to develop as a point guard this year. Their bench is pretty strong.

I just think the Celtics, slightly right now, I favor them over everybody else in the East. And what happened with the Nets, just I know we're reversing here, because, you know, Yudoka was supposed to come. That was the whole hand in hand with Steve Nets. It was very, very close. Yeah.

And so what did happen there? Is it just that Jock Vaughn performed so well in his interim role in that regard? Or it was that the Heat was just too damn hot with Kyrie and Yudoka's situation that's never really been public? Yeah, more the latter.

More the latter. But from what I was told, the Nets were very, very close on a deal with Dime Yudoka. Ownership level, they had largely signed off on bring him on board. And then the Kyrie situation comes up and that's white hot.

And then you have some backlash, Dime Yudoka, and that's white hot. I think everything combined led to them walking away from that. And I don't think you can discount the fact that during that stretch, Jock Vaughn settled that team down. Jock Vaughn, you can make an argument, a pretty good one, that Jock Vaughn deserved the job over Steve Nash a couple of years ago. Remember, Jock Vaughn took over for Kenny Atkinson.

There were seven and three to close that season. They went to the bubble with none of their guys and they played pretty well during that stretch. I mean, Jock Vaughn is a really good coach. And when you have a guy that already has the respect of the locker room and then in a short period of time shows he's got coaching chops, I think Jock Vaughn played a big role in winning that job as well.

So let's just, before I let you go, Chris Maddox is Sports Illustrated here on The Rich Eisen Show. What does the trade deadline look like for teams that can add somebody and go from maybe four or five in the seedings to conference champions? What do you see in your crystal ball? It's not a buyer's market, to be sure.

It is absolutely a seller's market. And I think a lot of teams that are looking right now, be it any of the teams at the top of that Western Conference picture, Philadelphia, some others that are out there, they're going to look hard at Utah. Utah, I think, is the team to watch over these next couple of weeks.

To me, this is Christmas in Danny Angeland. He has had one of the best 10-month stretches you can possibly have. Not only does he get a king's ransom for Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, but they get that fast start to the season that energized the fan base. They get Lowry Markinen playing like an All-Star. And that's important because the All-Star game is in Salt Lake City this year.

And then over the last month or so, they're competitive in some games, but they start to lose. They're right around that 10 spot right now in the Western Conference, which gives Danny Angel license to break this thing apart, which I think is all he really wants to do. I think he wants to strip this team down for parts, get as many draft picks as possible, and give him a chance to get into the Victor Wambayama sweepstakes and get that franchise player that Utah would never have a chance of getting otherwise. So this has almost been, I think, a dream season for Danny Angeland in that front office.

You talked about how many teams are going to start speaking French. How many people, honestly. This guy's ridiculous, Rich.

There's no question. He makes Giannis on occasion look like just pedestrian. I've had more than a few GMs say he's the most talented prospect they've ever seen, and that includes LeBron James. That's how ridiculously good he is and the kind of ceiling that he has. And then, of course, everything that you hear about him is he's good people, too, right?

So you're not going to have to worry about any stupid nonsense on top of it. Not to this point. And the irony is Scoot Henderson, who is playing in the G-League right now, like any other draft transformative point guard who can play Westbrook-esque in his prime, everyone will be clamoring for Scoot Henderson. Right now, he's almost an afterthought because Victor Wambayama is a true franchise player that all these teams are going to be fighting for. But still, though, I mean, you only would have a 14 percent chance of getting them, right?

I mean, that's the best you can get. The bottom three teams have the 14 percent chance. But that's what I think the Jazz will be focusing on in the second half of the season, trying to get closer to that 14 percent chance, and at the same time, maximizing guys. Like, Kelly Olynyk's not part of their long-term future in Utah. Like Malik Beasley's not part of their long-term future in Utah. They've got some pieces there that teams that believe one more shooter or one more versatile front court player, they might be willing to give a first-round pick in exchange for one of these guys.

They could walk away at the deadline with two more first-round picks for guys that, quite frankly, were not going to be part of their future anyway. Well, the Powerball is $1.3 billion here in Southern California. So this lottery is that, right? Like this upcoming draft lottery is, in fact, like the ultimate Powerball for NBA teams.

It's probably the most consequential lottery we've had since LeBron. That goes without saying. And then Ewing before that. Yeah. Pretty much.

You've got to go back decades. Every couple of decades, you get a transformative figure that comes into the league. Ewing, LeBron, and now you have Victor Wenbyama, who could take a team like Utah or Houston or any of those other bottom-feeding teams right now and put them in the playoff mix within one or two years. And the NBA is going to be on, you know, on lookout of who's, or they can't do anything about it. I mean, the number of times, like, I mean, some players don't even play back-to-back anymore. Back-to-backs don't bother me. It's the, it's the second half shutdowns that, that bother me.

Guys that are full of healthy. What happened with the Clippers and the Nuggets the other night? Yeah, that's tough. Now that, that was injury management, I guess, but they're not tanking, I understand that. The Clippers though, you know, like all they want is to just get to mid-April and have all their guys healthy. And be at least the four seed, right?

Yeah, at least the four seed. And maybe get like 15 to 20 games in the final two months of them all playing together to get some chemistry. And they're so concerned about health in that locker room that if they can just get, fast forward the clock to April, they'll be fine.

They'd love to do that. I know they sat, they sat Kawhi and Paul George in the second half of that blowout. They didn't even send them out on the court on TNT and they didn't play them the next night either.

There's been some bad national TV games lately. I know that. I know that. So, okay. So then is there anything else that I've missed before I send you on, on your, on your, the rest of your day? What else am I missing here for the first half, if you will, of the NBA season? Something to look forward to or look for and then the second half, anything? Look, I think when you get to the second half, it's which team separates in the Western Conference. Like, you know, and this is why the trade deadline is important. Like Memphis is really good, right? Memphis has got John Morant. They've got all the pieces around him, but they've got a lot of young guys. They could be a team that packages some of these young guys, some of these draft picks and goes and gets a veteran player that can help them right now. Because if you're Memphis, you're sitting there saying, all right, well, who's going to beat us? Who am I afraid of right now in the Western Conference? They'll say that to the Warriors. I'm sure they have. They've literally said these things and then they got beat by the zombie version of the Warriors, too.

And Clay is like, you know, warning, you know, reminding everybody, you know, it's so it's so wide open at this point. This is Adam Silver's dream to have NFL level parity. That's what David Stern wanted towards the end of his tenure with the commissioner's office. Adam Silver's wanted, yes, super teams drive ratings in the finals when you have the Warriors and the Heat and whatever else of the super teams that have been out there. They do big numbers. But the NBA would sacrifice those ratings to get a competitive first round and second round in conference finals and all that.

And this is the year I think it finally comes together, because you could tell me right now that any number of 10 teams can win a championship. I'd probably believe you. OK, Chris Mannix. Well, I asked Chris if there's anything we should know from him. Is there anything that Chris should know from us about the NBA in any way, shape or form? I do have a question for him.

Does it have to do with the Rich Eisen Show fantasy basketball that I won last year? He's beating us right now in fantasy. And he's letting us know all the time, Chris.

He's getting very good. It's OK. He's not going to write about it, I don't think. It's not going to make a blurb on the... No, it's not even a blurb. Doesn't make a blurb.

What's your question? You want to get a question for Chris before he leaves? Chris, if we could just talk boxing really quick before you get out the door. Just two fights I think all boxing fans are kind of looking forward to.

Just wanted to get your thoughts on this. Tank Davis and Ryan Garcia. Do you see this finally happening and are we ever going to get the Errol Spence and Bud Crawford fight? Because that is the fight that I think everyone needs. We don't just want to see that fight. This fight has to happen. And as boxing fans, we need to see.

Charlie, I'll answer that question with percentages, right? So Ryan Garcia, Tank Davis, I'm going to say 75, 80 percent chance that happens. Both these fighters have agreed to terms on that contract, which is the biggest hurdle that you've got to overcome and the networks that represent both have agreed to a deal to have this fight move forward. But right now, there's no actual contract, a paper contract, which always gets me concerned about super fights.

But I'm confident about that. Spence versus Crawford, 25 percent right now. Spence is moving up to a new weight class. Maybe we get it at 154 pounds in a year or two. But this is the year I think Terrence Crawford turns 36. If I'm not mistaken, you get Errol Spence, I think he's around 33. At some point, these guys are getting a little bit too old.

Somebody's going to beat him and that's going to see that fight go up in smoke. Chris Mannix, Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannix, Rich Eisen show, regular, regular, regular Chris Mannix. Now I understand you because I always say to you and others of your stature, hey, if you're in Los Angeles, let me know.

I'd love to have you on. You reached out this week, say, hey, I'm in town and you came out of the gate firing at Dan Patrick. Did you have an agenda? No, I just I just a little bit. Dan has abandoned me. We have we have a decades long relationship and Dan Patrick has abandoned me. And I have to admit, I am personally and professionally stung by that and that is kind of sticking with me at the moment. Well, one year I would you know, I again, I go back with Dan to 1996, Chris.

I know. And and then I was a regular on his show for years, for years. And then the Super Bowl comes along and I don't one year in Arizona, I don't get a call to appear on his show and I'm kind of like, what gives? And then he had a local sports writer named Dan Bickley on the program instead of me at the Super Bowl.

And that has now become a verb on that show. Whenever somebody is a regular and then doesn't get the call, you've been Bickley. So I've been Bickley.

You have. I'm the original because I mean, I tune in, what it looks like. I still listen. I listen to you. I listen to Dan and I tuned in to Dan's show and I see, you know, Chris Haynes popping up there. You know, Chris, great reporter, like, excellent. You know, gives great information. I understand.

You know, sometimes you see Woge pop up there. You know, it's, you know, I hate to tell you, Chris, I get like the pity call. If I had to diagnose this. You've been Bickley. I've been Bickley. All right. It's OK. It's OK.

I've survived it. Next time Fritzie texts me, I'm going to say call Bickley. OK, very good. Rich, you think you think Chris could help me with my Dazon problem? Maybe getting. Oh, wow.

Now, now I'd rather keep the zone he keep. We're already way over here, but I've got the IT guy like on my phone. I think you should because TJ would just and even though he's a Rich Eisen show, social media grand maester, he's in charge of our social media, he would take a phone and shoot it off.

He'd shoot video off of a television set. Oh, what are you doing? He was like, honestly, like he's 10. You know, it's true. Like we have a certain standard here on this program.

We also want to get a story out. He chose the wrong broadcast to shoot off of television and Dazon popped him on Twitter and permanently suspended him. Like he's like he like he ran an insurrection. It was it was a game. Gabe Rosado fight because I'm friends with Gabe Rosado. All I did, Chris is off of a stream that was on Twitter. I just recorded his intro, not the fight, not the result. Just from Philadelphia.

His record, King Gabe Rosado posted. I tell you what. This is a show at the YouTube theater on the 28th. OK, I'll get you tickets to that show and you can come and take this up with his own brass specific. Oh, I would love that. I would love that.

I got Alexis Rocha. I got a lot of problems. And I will shoot it off of television. And then you'll be shadow banned. That would be obvious. No, he's just been banned.

Yeah. I got no Twitter, Chris. Rich Eisen show, regular Chris Mannix right here on the Rich Eisen show. Welcome to Talkville.

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Call, click grainger.com or just stop by. Boy, this show is just sped by. Good stuff. Right? Yeah. We're moving.

We're cooking right now. So are you going to literally go up to a Dazon executive and say, what up, though? What gives? F you.

You call Twitter and you know. I mean, you know, I'm not the type who just roll up and just curse it. And I know, you know, I'll break them down a little bit to be like, yeah, what's it do? What I do to you? I'm out there trying to like. There's no question whoever you're going to is going to be any higher altitude than the 20,000 feet that that some more than 5,000 feet where somebody said, get too jiggy off of Twitter. I get it rich.

But as you can see from the Mark Sanchez thing, sometimes I travel in those circles with those higher up. And they'll either get on their side and they'll have the word trickled out. Or maybe they won't. Who knows? I got you. Now, last night. How was AEW?

AEW was a good time, man. So you were there last night. I was there last night. You did it.

In the house. You went. Tony Khan was our first hour in-studio guest yesterday.

Yep. Said, come on by. He did, in fact, give you the tickets. I got the tickets.

OK. Yeah, man. You went in. It was a great show. And? It was awesome.

What do you got? I mean, do you see anybody? Anybody?

You know, it's kind of like still kind of getting used to this type of thing happening from being on the show. But I was with my buddy, Nathan Haskell, who was just on fire in the crowd yesterday. Was your plus one? Yeah, he was just he had our whole section just rolling. This guy was like he was on stage.

OK. But he went to the bathroom and I was out up top waiting for him. And there was this couple standing in front of me.

You can you know, when someone's staring at you, obviously, and I see the guy and his wife looking at me or his girlfriend, one of the two, and they whisper and then he comes up to me. He's like, hey, man. I was like, hey, bro, how are you? He goes, are you T.J.? And I was like, yeah, what's up? He goes, I love you on the Rich Eisen Show. I'm like, what? I'm like, what's up? And he goes.

And then I'm not even joking. This was kind of funny. It was cool. He got like visibly kind of a little nervous. He's like, do you mind if I take a picture with you? Yeah.

Are you kidding me? And, you know, threw the arm around him. And we did a bunch of like wrestling, like we, you know, the style to be acclaimed. We did this. We did a little too sweet.

And it was just it was just like a cool thing. And he and I, he told me his name and I apologize because I completely forgot a dime a dozen. Oh, no, no, no, definitely not that one guy. I want to say it was Robert.

I want to say it was Robert. But regardless, it was just it was cool. They all bleed together. All these people who come up and ask to take a photograph. I mean, why do you want to turn this into a negative when it was just trending towards the president?

I'm a New York Jew. This is what we do. But yeah.

OK. So shout out to Tony. Shout out to you. That's awesome. There you go.

Love it. And one of my favorite moments in the history of this show is where I'm sitting waiting for I think Suze was going running in to grab some food in some place. We ordered some pickup.

She runs in to go get it. I'm sitting in the car and some guy pulls up to me on the left and he looks at me. And I look at him and he tells me to roll my window down. And I thought, like, he's about to ask me, like, no, I'm not getting out. You know, I thought he wanted the spot again.

That might be a New York thing. I'm like, no, I don't. I'm like, all right, I'll roll out on the window, see what he says. And he goes, hey, love your show. And I'm like, thank you. And he says, love Del Tufo.

He drove off. And I'm like, what? All right. Now we're going to get we got to get you in this mix, Chris. I get recognized when I go to Vegas all the time. Vegas.

Yeah. It's always at the blackjack table or craps or something. And I get the long stare, kind of like what T.J. experience. And then it's one of those. How do I know you, man? I know you. And it's like, all right. I don't know, man. We're just trying to like hit on 16, bro. And it's like, why don't you? Recharge the show.

Got you. You're going to like that, right? Oh, it's great. It's always a little weird. Right.

You know, it's like, oh, yeah. We are watching and are into it until it's until he stays with 13 and the dealers got 18. What are you doing, dude?

Always hit on 16 people. Don't be that guy. This guy over there. Send that out to the those listening on in Vegas, on the rich as a show radio affiliate that's looking for Derek Carr's replacement. Is it Stidham?

No way. I mean, Jared Stidham looked really nice in the last two weeks of the season. But what do you come on? Also, if I'm Tom Brady, come on, I'm not going there. You want to play against Mahomes, Herbert and all due respect, Russell Wilson. Well, that was the whole conversation about when we're not when Aaron Rodgers, you know, got it out there, even though he didn't really get it out there, he had no idea who put it out there on that draft day that he's not going to go back to the Packers anymore. Right. That, you know, the idea was why would he want to go to Denver and play against Mahomes every twice a year? And the answer that came back was Aaron Rodgers is not concerned about who the hell else he's going to be taken on.

He's better. It's like they don't think about that when you're when you're at that level. Yeah. So greatness, you're not you're not ducking anybody because they're great. Yeah. But you're thinking about coming to take their ring. You're taking their my division crappy.

Am I going to have a better chance of making the playoffs each year? Yeah, that's a fact. The mother of dragons didn't say, I don't want the iron throne because, you know, there's a you know, I mean, you know, they work out. Well, for her, that's a well, I mean, what she did is she took a dragon and she blew everyone's house down. You know, like that's what that's what these guys want to do.

Yeah, those those top alpha guys care. That's what he wants to do. He wants to get on his dragon and he wants to just breathe fire cars on house on house chiefs. That's what he wants to do. I would imagine. Is your path stay where he's at Tampa if I'm Brady?

Well, I know that. But also, I think that's run its course, don't you? Don't you think? Stranger things have happened that he wants to keep playing and he's three signs in Tampa. I think that's run its course.

The question is, is does he want to just take the job with Fox or does he want to keep going on? And I'll tell you what has a large amount to do with it. What happens Monday night? Oh, God, what is what I mean, what possibly could be more on the line? This is the biggest wildcard game ever.

I don't know. I can't sit here off the top of my head and think of past wildcard games off the top of my head. But in terms of stakes, in terms of it involving Tom Brady at this stage of his career and Dak in year, what, two of his new contract three?

Well, what is it? And McCarthy getting the vote of confidence and the Cowboys winning 12 games, right? And year two of the big year, two of his big deal, the way it ended last year, it being the Dallas Cowboys, they played each other to start the season. One of them is going to finish the season off on the other. And then, you know, Tampa won the Super Bowl two years ago in this house. The year that they had, they still made it anyway. The Cowboys playing down to their level of competition.

And so everyone's overlooking them. But the stakes can cost either coach their job. You're hearing rumors that Bulls could be on the hot seat if they lose here. He could be one and done in Tampa. What does Tom do?

The direction of that franchise, are they searching for a new quarterback because of what happens? Does Tom go to Fox if he wins four in a row? I think he does. Don't you? Yes.

Right? And if he doesn't, does Tom Brady get thrown into the quarterback carousel? I think so. The guy set two NFL records this year at age 45. He broke his own completions record and has the most attempts ever. But if he goes on a run, he beats Dallas, he then goes to San Francisco, because I think the Giants beat the Vikings, I believe it. So that would send him to San Francisco and the Giants to Philadelphia. And then he beats San Francisco and then beats the Philadelphia Eagles, makes the Super Bowl and beats Kansas City or Buffalo or Joe Burrow. He goes to Fox on the spot.

I plead the fifth. Thank you. Yeah, I think that's it. I mean, that's obviously the perfect send off.

And that's on the line Monday night, too, because that doesn't happen if he's one and done. Right. Oh, my gosh. The hype train.

I don't have the patience to jack with you today. The hype train. 50 million people watching Monday night.

Leaving the station. Joe Buck, Troy Aikman. The Mannings as well.

The Mannings. Oh, boy. Oh, boy, indeed. I'm going to have to split screen both games, I'm going to watch both broadcasts. Well, you know what's great about that, right? No. I mean, you know, the varsity JV plays on the weekend.

Varsity plays on Monday. Let's go. 24 hours ago, I can't believe I have to wait.

What do they do to us? I love it. There was a caller yesterday. We didn't get to it. But we have you know, we have these screens and you can kind of see a little one liner about what they want to talk about. And some guy was calling in and he was like, it's not fair. They're making Dallas wait for Monday.

Whoever you are, call back, I want to hear, I want to hear back. Actually, it's helpful for the extra day, but doesn't hurt you on the back end. Well, in the end, just real quick, normally in previous years, the division playoff rounds with TBD is filling in the blank at the spots of the bi-week teams. Those games have been released. Those like we know, you would know, for instance, Kansas City is taking on Team X on Saturday night or Sunday night or whatever. Now back in the day, they used to do that when there were two bi-weeks, they could put them out. But now you have to wait because of Monday night football. Those teams, whoever wins Monday night will play a Sunday playoff game. I mean, you could pretty much book that. And the question is, which bi-week team gets that Sunday off too, gets the Saturday off for the Sunday too?

Oh, man. And I'll be in the host position on Westwood One on Monday night, that's for sure, for that Monday night football game. And this NFL postseason, every Westwood One NFL broadcast streams live for free, the wild card round, the divisional round, the AFC and NFC championship games, the Pro Bowl games, and yes, Super Bowl 57.

Catch all the action on the Odyssey app on westwoodonesports.com via Westwood One station streams or by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports. 844-204-rich-number. Now we'll take your phone calls. Bryan Cranston, man, our number three, one of our favorites. And that's the royal we, and us as well.

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NetSuite.com slash Rich Radio, NetSuite.com slash Rich Radio. Bryan Cranston, the Emmy award winning actor. He's on Your Honor.

It's interesting. We just showed a clip of Bryan in 2017. He used the words Your Honor. He had no idea it was coming down the pipe.

Weird. You also, you know, when I asked him, are you going to ever appear as Walter White on Better Call Saul, he kind of joked as he sipped on his coffee mug and muffled the answer. He knew. I don't know if he knew. No, I don't know. 2017? Probably not.

He did in the last episode of Better Call Saul. It came back. I was, what a scene that was. What a scene that was.

And Your Honor, very funny show. Actually, wait a minute, I'm told it's the exact opposite. It's really heavy. It's intense. It is, but it's so well done. It's intense. It is so well done.

It's the reason why at the Your Honor, season one ranks as the top debut season ever on Showtime, which as you know, has had some. Big hits. Yeah.

Yeah. Evan in Cortland, New York. Let's take your phone call. What's up, Evan? Hey, what's going on, Rich? What's up? Basketball podcast. How are we doing, boys?

Cortland. Shout out. That's another boy cracking. TJ, you've had the best 24 hours of your professional broadcasting career, getting shout outs of the Rich Eisen Show basketball podcast, people who come up to you at the AEW, want to take selfies with you and pictures with you, and it moves you so much, you forgot the guy's name. I mean, it was bound to happen. What's going on, Evan?

Yeah, what's up? And before I get into it, Brockman, you're hitting on 16, dude? Well, yeah, you always hit 16.

If the card's seven, I'm hitting on 16. You don't? Oh, my gosh. No, I do 14, dude.

14 is where I hit, but that's where I draw the line. Oh, my gosh. Oh, we can't play. We can't have that. Sorry, Evan. We can't play some blackjack.

This table we can have, Matt? Yes. Now.

Right now. Let's... Anyway, so the point I wanted to get into, and because you had Chris Mannix on, you're referencing the Wabanama sweepstakes. I'm in a dynasty fantasy league for basketball, and I'm currently tanking for Wabanama. And some of the people in my league are not very happy about that. What are you doing? You're tanking in your fantasy league? What are you doing, Evan? This is the greatest call ever.

What? You're tanking in your fantasy league? How does one tank in your... What, are you picking up players who are injured? Just not starting guys?

Are you pulling your starters? It's a very weird system. It's not traditional. It's not where, like, in your league, you set your line up during the day and, like, whatever their points accumulate. For us, you have to lock in a player's score for a week. So if a guy gets, like, 50 fantasy points, then you lock it in, and then none of his points for the rest of the week count. You just get that 150. So I guess the way it works is, like, so that way if somebody has more players playing in that week, then they don't get an advantage because of that.

Does that make sense? Well, Evan, as I now gingerly ask you to make your point, I can't play blackjack with you and I can't play fantasy with you, so you better make this good, sir. All right, so my thing is, looking at Lembunyama, I'm a little worried. He's by far the clear pick. He's by far the guy that is sensational. But what I'm worried about is, there haven't been many seven-foot-four guys that have lasted in the league. The only two that I've really seen last is Mark Eaton and maybe Boban. But if you look at, and Rich, you're a Knicks fan, we saw Chris Dobbs, we saw guys like Yao, we even saw the great Ralph Sampson.

Guys like that, it's very worrisome, and I understand, you're gonna take him, because you do see a guy like that, you do not pass up on him. But somebody, I have to wonder, because I'm wondering this too on a very smaller scale because it's the only fantasy basketball, but NBA GMs also have this thought in their mind that, boom, we've been down this road before. You understand what I'm saying? Then they'll be playing blackjack with you, brother.

They will get fired. Thanks for the call, Evan. When you're a turning stone, do you get weird looks, Evan?

Turning stone? Yes, Brockman. Call us back, Evan. Call us back, Evan. There's Evan. Three things Evan can't be, Evan can't be my general manager, he cannot be my fantasy commissioner, and he cannot be my third baseman.

It was so funny, one year we were done, we had no idea, it was so early on at NFL Network, we knew we weren't supposed to be doing this, we were waiting to get out of Green Bay on a Thursday night, we stopped by the casino and played blackjack in a private room. Deion and I was there, Chris Wertz was there too, a whole bunch of us were there, and Wertz was right there at the end and making all the right calls in third base. Deion called him Terry Pendleton. You're my third baseman, is what he said. There's nothing better than a good third baseman.

He nicknamed him Terry Pendleton. Former MVP. From the Braves, right? Absolutely. I mean, it was really Barry Bonds' MVP.

He took the helicopter, Deion took the helicopter that he had no idea who sent it for him to play with Terry Pendleton. Bryan Cranston's coming up, our number three. If you got a bad third baseman- It's the worst. It's the worst. Excuse me. Immediately, immediately remove yourself from the table. Excuse me, excuse me.

Let's just put it out there, Christopher, okay? You're sitting there in the middle of a blackjack table, you've got chips, you've got chips on the line. Chips, baby. You've doubled down. You've played it right.

I got green chips, I got black chips. You have played it right. Like, even though you see a seven or you see an eight right there for the dealer, and you've got 10, you've got 11, even nine, even nine could be dicey, but you're feeling it. You double down. I'll hit, I'll double down a nine if the dealer's got a six. You double down.

No, but if the dealer's got a seven or an eight and you've got 10 or 11, you're like, you know what? Boom. Why not? It's my day. I'm hot. I'm doubling down.

I'm hot. And then you get that 10. You get that 10, right? Then the guy in the end. Third base. Makes a move. Third base. He holds.

Third base has 15. He's like, I'm gonna stay. Holds.

I'm staying. Dude. And then dealer flips over. Four. 21.

Well, he flips over. The eight becomes a 16. And then out comes the five. Out comes the five. You could have had 20. You could have had 20, dude. And then you sit there and you see, and certainly when the first card out is a 10. Oh, my gosh.

Not like I'm Bill Fried or anybody counting cards like a Michigan man back in the day. But blackjack isn't a team sport. Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

No problem. That's your problem. Blackjack is a team game. We do not share a bank account, so therefore it is not a team sport. Get out of here. You're out.

TJ, you're out. You can't play together. You know what? I wouldn't play with you guys anyway. I don't remember your name now, like the guy you took a picture with last night.

That's fine. He knew me, though, and that's all that matters. For over 40 years, Jim Ross has been the voice of wrestling. Nobody has stories like Jim Ross, and he shares his tales with co-host Conrad Thompson on Grilling JR. Vince McMahon was the top heel in the Attitude Era. It was a fresh character. It was new. It was material that we had not seen or heard to that date. We could have created a bigger or better heel. We wanted to make more heels, and we tried to make more heels, and we did, but nothing compared to Vince. The Grilling JR podcast. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.