REShow: Jeff Passan/Pete Weber - Hour 2

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Find tech that's right for you by calling a Dell Technologies Advisor today at 877-ASK-DELL. This is the time of the deep dives. Cannonball! This is The Rich Eisen Show. Live from The Rich Eisen Show Studio in Los Angeles. This office that Russell Wilson was allowed to have in Denver.

They put the office on the second floor where all the executives were. Let's run. Earlier on the show, ESPN® NFL Draft Analyst Todd McShea. Still to come, ESPN® MLB Insider Jeff Passan. PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber. Senior writer for the MMQB Albert Breer. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

Yes, that's right. Pete Weber is going to join us in about 20 minutes time because yesterday was the 11th anniversary of Who Do You Think You Are? I Am. One of the most bizarre clapbacks in celebration I've ever heard of. And so I'm like, you know, it's that time of year, late February, combine weeks kicking off. Major League Baseball spring training, NBA final throws before the eighth and final playoff spots are hammered out and things of that nature. Let's get him on the horn. Albert Breer is going to be calling in from the combine. And our number three, we just chatted with Todd McShea of the worldwide leader in sports. So let's go back to that ESPN bucket, if you will. One of our favorites, one of my favorites. Love talking to him about baseball because he's one of the best.

He knows everything about Major League Baseball. And joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show with spring training in full bloom and pitch clocks and shift rule changes. In effect, our friend Jeff Passan kicking off our number two here on the Rich Eisen Show. How you doing, Jeff? Living the dream, Rich. How are you?

I am doing fine. Just the ground rules for this conversation. If you are not ready to answer my questions at the eight second mark, we're going to have a problem. OK, this is going to be an issue in this conversation. There's a question clock or an answer clock in this conference to keep the pace of the interview going.

That makes any sense. Here's the thing. I was I was going to actually have an eight second pause on air there. Thankfully, you filibustered long enough for me to get ready to answer everything and anything you've got.

So fire away, Capitan. OK, brother, I'm I'm a pace to play guy. I understand. I'm also a guy that loves baseball games to take as long as they take.

I know I'm a 53 year old guy, so I'm out of the demo, but I don't think there's a soul on the planet. I tweeted this out over the week. I don't think there's a soul on the planet who wants to see a baseball game and with a walk off pitch clock violation, not a soul. And we saw it in college and we saw it in the first few days of spring training. I give you the floor on baseball's thought process and how you see this playing out for the first couple of weeks, months of the season coming up. They're going to be two thousand four hundred thirty games played in Major League Baseball this season. OK. And if one of them happens to end on a pitch clock violation, which I honestly I don't think that could be the case, but if one of them happens to end on that and that is what needs to happen in service of everyone following the rules and really buying into this idea that the pitch clock is good for baseball, I'm willing to make that sacrifice for one game to end like that or two or three or whatever it is.

I think the net positive that is going to come from the pitch clock long term, especially in a sport that has been if we're being honest about where baseball is in the landscape right now. It is not the NFL. It is not the NBA. And there's a good argument. It's not college football, certainly.

And there's an argument to be made that college basketball is, if not on the plane with it, then right there alongside it. And baseball needed needed to do something to address the fact that the reputation that the game has earned, not been given, but earned over the last twenty five years, is that it's just too damn slow. And I don't know that that manifests itself necessarily rich in time of game. I think time of game is sort of illustrative of that.

But to me, it's as much the pace as it is the time itself. And baseball had turned into a really plodding game without a ton of action in it. And I think this the pitch clock in particular, but also the other rules that have been put in place alongside it are going to go a long way to solving the problem, both of time of game as well as the pace. Now, and and and I was talking earlier on my program, Jeff, that, you know, in the NFL, there's always a hue and cry during the preseason where rules are enforced strictly to try and set a standard. And players adjust.

I totally get it. But just give me one game. Heaven forbid, that one game Sunday night, your network, Yankees, Red Sox, game over. I mean, seriously. And then and then that one game matters as to who wins wins the division or not. All it does take is one game for this thing to be so. So, you know, I I don't know, man, it just seems ridiculous. Listen, I get your perspective, but I also think that there's a shortsightedness to it because baseball had to do something.

And look, they tried in the past. Remember when they were trying when umpires were told he batters in the batter's box and let's quicken the game up that way? Remember how long that last?

Yeah, you don't remember because it didn't last long at all. Guys just straight up ignored it and stopped caring about it. Major League Baseball kind of shrugged its shoulder and like, well, I guess there's nothing we can do about it now because players aren't on board.

You need buy in from everyone. I think when it comes to the pitch clock, there is going to be enough buy in where hopefully it is front of mind for the players in those key seminal high leverage moments so that they don't make the mistake because everybody knows the rules. The players particularly know the rules and will have spent time in both spring training and early in the regular season adjusting themselves and contorting themselves to follow them.

And eventually it's just going to be muscle memory. You know, you're going to have that internal clock in your head that tells you if you're a batter, it's time for me to get in the box and look up. You're going to have that internal clock if you're a catcher, knowing you have to be there when the clock hits nine inside of the painted lines. And if you're a pitcher, you're going to have that internal clock through hundreds and hundreds of reps, thousands once the season gets going of, OK, this is how I need to go out and execute my pitches. And so just so we can educate everybody, including myself, it is what the rule is, player must be in the batter's box ready for the pitch by the eight second mark of a clock that's 15 seconds long.

Is that how is that how this works here, Jeff? That's correct. And ready is essentially in your stance and head up facing the pitcher. So, you know, Max Scherzer talked about it yesterday after his start. Like he was ready before the hitter sometimes. And when the hitter would look up, he would go into his delivery and he sees the pitch clock, which, by the way, Max Scherzer was not a fan of at first, but he sees it as something that he can use to his advantage and he can mess with hitters timing that way.

And you know what? That's great. Like the fact that there is a potential strategic element to this, I think really aligns with what baseball is about. Baseball is that mental game. Baseball is that game where strategy comes into play so often. And the fact that players are already trying to leverage that, I think it's fantastic because it lends some gravitas to the rules, right?

Sometimes these rules get implemented and it just looks like the Wizard of Oz speaking from behind the curtain. And saying, you will follow the pitch clock. No, it's you will follow the pitch clock, but hey, use it to your advantage too, because it's something that can be advantaged. Well, then what about runners-on? Can't runners use this to their advantage, knowing how many times a pitcher can throw over or anything like that? I mean, what about runners-on?

A hundred percent. I mean, so another new rule is there are only two disengagements from the rougher. And the disengagement is either a pick off attempt or a step off. If a pitcher has used his two disengagements, and he's the sort of guy who tends to hold on to the ball toward the end of the clock, you know that runners are going to be timing it and that they're going to feel like even if they don't want to take an enormous lead, they may take an extra step and they may get an early jump on it. And then the pitcher has a decision because if he throws over to first base a third time to try and pick the guy off and doesn't do it, that's a balk. So the runner or if there's a runner on third base, you know, the runners get to advance the base automatically.

And that's just part of the part of how things are going now. You know, the Major League Baseball, when it was implementing these rules, was really trying to get back to what baseball looked like in terms of pace in the 70s and 80s. And the 70s and 80s, remember, were the time when Ricky Henderson was stealing more than a thousand bases and Vince Coleman was putting up a hundred plus stolen bases a year. There was there was a level of athleticism in the game that exists in the athletes themselves, but is frowned upon by teams with the stolen base because you have to be successful 75 or more percent of the time to even make stealing bases worth it. I think that calculus is definitely going to change between the lack of disengagement, as well as the smaller distance between the bases, four and a half inches shorter, which it doesn't seem like a lot.

It's not a lot. But man, when it's a bang bang play, it could feel like a mile. Well, look, and again, I'm not against the idea here, Jeff, because, you know, it will get exciting for fans in the stands when they see a clock winding down or they think that that the clock ran out, you know, and the pitch should have should have been delivered or the clock is running out and the guy didn't have his head up and there'll be lots of action in the stands looking at a clock. I understand that and I understand, you know, wanting to speed things up, but I will hate it if a game ends on a walk off pitch count violation or a guy is out, you know, with nobody on. I mean nobody out, two on, and then somebody's out.

So in the ninth, and again, I know the games doesn't matter first, ninth inning. What about turning the clock off in the ninth inning? What about that idea?

What about doing that? I asked about that yesterday and was sold by someone at Major League Baseball that is a complete non-starter and they're not even considering the possibility. Just wait, just wait, just wait, it's going to happen.

You know, Rich, it's one of those things where we'll see, right? Like if there are enough violations and people are up in arms and players start complaining about it and say, hey, we need it off in the ninth inning, Major League Baseball needs to at least be open-minded about this because considering the level of change that they have in place, what's the likelihood that they get everything right the first time around? It's not great. And that's not to suggest that Major League Baseball is consistently fumbling things. It's just like the reality of the world.

When you make a bunch of changes in your life, how often do all of them turn out the way that you were anticipating? The answer is they don't. That's just not the way things work. So I think as long as Major League Baseball is open-minded about the possibility of adjusting things, then we're going to be okay. But if they're stubborn and are not listening to widespread fan feedback, and I don't know that the fan feedback necessarily aligns with you entirely, Rich.

I think, you know, as far as I can tell from social media and everyone knows that, you know, social media is a perfect reflection of the world. They're pretty split on this. You know what the most interesting part of it has been to me?

What's that? People who have been complaining about the pitch clock have not been the ones that I would have anticipated. I would have thought that the complaints would have come from longtime fans who think that this is a bastardization of the game that they know, who say baseball is the only game without a clock, it should stay that way. And there's some element to that. But more than that, there's been this cognitive dissonance among like 15 to 25 year olds.

And I was, you know, I was like, in my mind, they were going to be open-minded because they're younger and because they're more open to change. But it occurred to me when I saw this, oh my God, they've never seen what a real baseball game looks like. They've never seen baseball where guys aren't messing around on the mound or on velcroing their batting gloves.

They haven't seen that baseball from the 70s and 80s. That's crisp. That's clean. That's quick. That's action packed. And so this is a shock to the people for them.

It's like, oh my God, what happened to this sport that I fell in love with? What are they trying to do with it? And that's a fascinating part of this that I had not anticipated. Another fascinating part of it is how we're going to take the game in, because I saw your tweet as well, that the pitch clock is not going to be visible right behind home plate like it is in some spring training facilities. And, you know, there's going to be, I guess, a box on the screen. Another aspect of watching a game where it's a graphic of someone. We're going to see a clock, like a shot clock the entire game. Yeah, I mean, I just assumed that it was going to be on the score bug, like the shot clock or like the play clock at football. Okay.

That to me seems to make the most sense. Our first game of the year on ESPN, we're broadcasting today, 1 o'clock Eastern Cardinals Mets. I'm excited to see how we handle that.

Okay. And Jeff Passan here on the Rich Eyes and show a couple more minutes left with the MLB Insider. Just real quick, some quick hitters. I saw some games this weekend and I saw a left-handed hitter hit a liner into right field and it hit the ground. And I'm like, shouldn't there be a third baseman standing there to just catch it on it? I mean, like, am I seeing the shift actually lead to hits? Did I see that over the weekend, Jeff?

Did I see it? You know, I've never been a huge opponent of the shift. Like, I've always thought that it was just going to bring singles back and, you know, people aren't coming to the ballpark for singles. But at the same time, when a ball gets hit on the screws and because of defensive positioning, a guy just happens to be there. Like, I looked at that as much as, hey, good for the defense, good for the scouting, good for the numbers, like allowing you to put yourself, put your guys in positions where they can execute a play. But the other side of the coin, I completely understand why a left-handed pole hitter singling to right field is music to many people's ears. But Jeff, let's put everything that we've just discussed together.

Yes, you're not coming for singles, but you're seeing a runner-on and a pitch clock going down, and now that guy's going to be taking a lead, and now with the bases being larger, maybe that guy steals a base, and then maybe somebody actually hits one in the gap, and we see action and it's not strikeout walk home run, you know, and a game that moves along. Because the shift will open it all up. How about that, right? Yeah, there is no good counter to that, Rich. You're 100% right. Like, it aligns with everything that they're trying to do.

I, you know, as somebody who has a deep appreciation for incredible defensive plays, maybe I'm just being a little sensitive to the defenders and their ability to put out up on the board. But yeah, what you say right there, listen, more guys on bases, more action, more action is good for the game. So it's why when it comes to the shift, I wasn't against banning it.

I wasn't for banning it, but I can see the benefits certainly on both sides. Okay, and lastly, where did the, Jeff Passan here on the Rich Eisen Show, lastly for you, where did all the money from San Diego come from? What is happening with the Padres, who now have extended Manny Machado, and does everyone on, I know I'm asking multiple questions, does everyone on San Diego have a 10 plus year, 300 plus million dollar contract? I mean, it's just, what's happening?

Yes, it's incredible how they were able to do that. I think what's happening is twofold here. Number one, it's really amazing, Rich, what happens when an owner prioritizes winning.

Really incredible to see Peter Seidler coming out and saying, you know what? I'm in a small media market. My television revenue is, you know, a fraction of what the Dodgers 90 miles up the coast are. And I don't give a damn because I want to win the first World Series in franchise history, and I'm going to bring in and keep around the best players who give me the best chance of doing so.

Such a novel concept, trying to win and not trying to make a profit. And the Padres certainly on a year-over-year basis are going to lose money. There's just not enough revenue coming in, even with the sellout, even with a season ticket list that had to be cut off because there was too much demand, even with only one major professional sport in the city, they're still going to lose money because the payroll is obscenely high. But what the Padres have done, Rich, is very simple. They've taken some of the equity from their growth and from the growth of professional sports teams across the landscape, where you see, you know, a portion of the Milwaukee Bucks selling for three and a half billion dollar valuation today, when less than a decade ago, they were bought for 550 million dollars. Well, that appreciation happened with the Padres too, who bought for 800 million in 2012, would easily sell for over 2 billion dollars today. And the Padres said, you know what, we're going to take a chunk of that and we're going to bring in a strategic partner who's going to give us cash and we're going to reinvent that cash in the actual product, which is on-field players. And that reinvestment, we hope, is going to help build our brand, continue to build our awareness, and more than anything, build a championship caliber ball club. And if we do happen to win the World Series, then the returns on that investment are going to be absolutely incredible, long-term and short-term. And then, of course, Otani will top that list by a large margin.

Before I let you go, walk me through... The Padres are going to be in on him too, Rich. Oh my gosh. And then Soto, they're going to have to pay Soto too. So, you know, walk me through the timeline in your mind. Is the trade deadline a trigger? Is opening day a trigger? What's the Otani timeline for you for a new contract or trade this year in 2023?

Well, my personal Otani timeline is that every day is a Shohei Otani day. But in terms of a contention, I don't see the Angels getting anything done. Frankly, I think he's too close to free agency and there's too much out there in order for him to stick around with the team and that he doesn't know if it's going to be very good. And here's the truth, if the Angels think or even if they're just sort of mid this year, I could see him moving at the trade deadline because if he's going to leave there and I think, you know, the odds are probably more in favor of Shohei Otani ending up somewhere else next year than being back with the Los Angeles Angels. You better get as much for him as you possibly can because I'm sorry, but one draft pick for Shohei, one compensatory draft pick for Shohei Otani leaving, that ain't a good deal. So do the Mets give up Axe Capital for him? Is that what it is? Is that what they have to do? Jeff, I mean, what a bonanza that would be.

I mean, Rich, if Otani stays healthy and performs anywhere close to the way he's done over the last two years, Yes. The number is going to start. Start at 500. I can't wait. Jeff Passant have a great rest of February because I'm calling you in March, which is just the other day. So I look forward to that. Look for more of my phone calls.

Can't wait. Thanks for the time here, sir. Appreciate it. All right. Glad you got it in on Pittsburgh. We did. We did. We got it in. It's safe and we can now complete the rest of the interview, which is right now. Thanks for the call, Jeff.

And he has just stepped out of the batter's box at Jeff Pass and follow him. OK. The man from whose brain? Who do you think you are? I am.

The 11 year anniversary of it was yesterday. Pete Weber, baby. He's coming up next right here on the Rich Eisen Show. I've had lots of questions for this man.

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Seriously, though, see terms and check it out for yourself at Discover dot com slash match. So it was 11 years ago this weekend. It was the 69th U.S. Open tournament. And Pete Webber, one of the all time great bowlers, needed a strike to win his fifth U.S. Open championship and become past his father Dick Webber's record to become the only human being on the planet with five U.S. Open bowling championships.

Yeah, man. And it was on ESPN. The great Gary Thorne with the call.

This was 11 years ago Sunday. Strike to claim it. Strike to claim it. There it is. Number five. That's number five.

I did it. So I guess the only way to introduce this man, this Hall of Famer is, wait a minute, I think I got this right. Who does he think he is?

He does. Pete Webber on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Pete Webber?

Not a whole lot, Rich. I've been listening. That was pretty cool.

I enjoyed every minute of it. How about that? Did you hear Stefan Diggs in our Super Bowl show say that when he called himself him virally, that he was really inspired by your statement and question and answer? Pete Webber? Yeah, yeah, I heard it. I was kind of confused, too. What was that? And then when he said the bowler, Pete Webber, I was like, oh, I know what he meant now.

But, you know, it's kind of flattering. It's still going on 11 years later. I mean, so walk me through what happened 11 years ago Sunday.

Pete, walk me through that, please. Well, I was bowling Michael Fagan for the title. And there was a couple of kids in the stands to my left that were Michael Fagan fans. You know, and they kind of rooted a little too loud for me against me, just loud enough for me to hear. Was it was it curse words? Were they cursing at you, Pete? Is that what it was? No, they weren't cursing at me.

They were just rooting out loud against me. Okay. So, you know, I said something then. And after I struck to win, it was it was like, who do you think you are? This is what I meant to say. Who do you think you are in my house?

This is my tournament. Yeah. And with my adrenaline going, it just came out. Who do you think you are?

I am. And actually became a famous quote. So, you know, it's kind of it's kind of cool. When did it dawn on you? You said that and then caused you to say, what the hell was I talking about? Pete, when did that happen for you? Pretty much right after I said it. I was standing there like, what was that?

You know, like I said, with adrenaline flow and it just it just came out that way. And so if I'm not mistaken, Pete, on that day 11 years ago, by the way, T.J. Jefferson, one of my colleagues here on the show, diehard wrestling fan, T.J., did you know this man would play Triple H's theme song during his? I did not know that. Is that correct, Pete? Is that correct? Oh, yeah.

It's time to play the game. During the pro-ams and introductions, Triple H's theme song was on. And if I'm not mistaken, you made some hand gestures in that respect as well, Pete. Correct? Well, I did the DX chop.

Break it down. Yeah, you know, you know, I brought excitement to the game and you know, people enjoyed it. Some people did, some people didn't, but they watched anyway. Yes, they did. Did you ever hear from Triple H? You ever hear from him?

No, I haven't. Well, we've got to put this together, Pete. Don't you think? Don't we have to do this? I think so.

Put it together? Well, I'm a diehard WWE fan. I faithfully watch Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown. Every pay-per-view that's on, I get and watch.

Whether it's at home or on the road, it doesn't matter. Bowling Hall of Famer Pete Weber here on The Rich Eisen Show, a day after his 11th anniversary of a phrase that rolls on. And even if I'm not mistaken, Patrick Mahomes, after making the Super Bowl this year, beating the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship game, he tweeted out basically your video as his statement to make the Super Bowl this year. Pete, did I see that?

Yes, you did. In fact, not to brag any, but that was probably the first thing he did was put that on his Twitter. And to me, that's like, that's a big honor for like the younger generation of sports figures to actually know that thing and use it in their Twitter. What an honor that was.

I mean, I responded to it and I tried to reach out to them. I haven't heard back from them, but you know, I'm a diehard Kansas City fan too. And so, you know, I was about to ask you because you're from St. Louis, right Pete? I mean, so does that make you now a Chiefs fan with the Rams having moved out of town? As soon as the Rams moved, I became a Chiefs fan and haven't stopped being a Chiefs fan since. And so to see Mahomes do that, it's kind of amazing. I think it gets a new life every passing day, Pete.

It really does, you know, your phrase. Every once in a while, you know, it just pops up out of nowhere, you know, even at WrestleMania last year in 2022. The announcer said, who do you think you are?

I am, made the 7-10 split. You know, so that was kind of cool too. Did you ever see the movie Kingpin, Pete? You ever see that movie? Oh, yeah. Okay.

Oh, yeah. What'd you think of it? It's a comedy.

It really doesn't do justice for bowling. No, I know that it's a good comedy movie. Yeah. Okay, but you never heard of anybody who lost their arm inside the ball Retriever, right? Pete, you never heard of that.

Anyone, any Munson? No. No, lost her hand. No, I haven't heard of that. Big sign right there.

Do not stick your hand in it. When was the last time you bowled 300? When's the last time that happened? Oh, man.

Well, it hasn't been this year yet. Okay. I have to say maybe last August, maybe. Okay.

Wow. When was the first time? Yeah, it's been a while. Do you remember the first time you rolled 300, Pete? I was 12 years old, bowling, and my dad's bowling center on a Sunday morning adult junior league. I was bowling with my Saturday coach, and I shot 300, and he shot 279 the same game. So, yes, I do remember. Did you say something to him then, too, as a 12-year-old? Was that when similar phraseology was born to your coach? Yeah, I was like, wow, man, if he would have struck out and shot 300, we could have shot 600. What was going on?

I probably used a few different words, but, you know, it was like, why didn't you strike out? You know, but I let him know about it. Well, I mean, and obviously we're talking right now to Pete Weber, the 11-year anniversary of the 2012 US Open victory. Who do you think you are?

I am. What happened in 1991 when the trophy broke on you, Pete? What happened there? Well, anybody that knows bowling, probably Nelson Burton Jr. moved the trophy for the camera. And it was double stick tape, and he didn't put it back on the double stick tape very well. So when Chief Wipinski handed me the trophy, I actually asked him, I said, is this solid on there? He said, oh, yeah, it's screwed and bolted down. So I didn't think anything about holding it above my head. And then, you know, as soon as I held it above my head, that went. So, you know, it was, and the eagle has landed, another famous Pete Weber moment, made every show's Hall of Shame.

You know, so it hasn't been like I haven't done some good stuff. No, no, no, no. I know that, Pete. I know that.

Trust me. I mean, your Hall of Famer for a reason and and part of the reason again, you did bring attention and you brought good attention. And it was a lot of fun to to see that video yesterday and it went viral again. And I just figured, you know what, let me get Pete on the show and actually find out the story behind it and let you know about Staphon Diggs.

I mean, honestly, the one of the most viral moments in the NFL this season is an homage to that. So I just figured I'd get you get you on the phone and have a chit chat. Well, thank you very much. You know, I didn't even realize it was 11 years yesterday until somebody told me.

Well, it went. I was born in a tournament. Somebody walked by and said, happy 11th anniversary.

For what? Who do you think you are? I am close. It was like, oh, all right. Well, thank you, Pete. Thank you for calling in. Let's let's do this every year. Happy to do it if you're up for it. Thank you very much.

Right back up to that would last a lot of fun. That's Pete Weber Hall of Famer, not just as a bowler, but just a viral superstar phenomenon right here on the rich ass. Who do you think you are?

I am. Fantastic. And by the way, shout out to Gary Thorne laying out for laying out. That's a television term, folks, that it's a TV term for shutting up because he could have been like, and that's the big moment. He passes his dad.

And then all of a sudden, we don't hear him say that. He got it. Let the crowd go crazy. And also shout out to those two kids who were sharpened. Pete Weber. What do you call them? Alley birds? Is that what you call them? Just chirping at Pete Weber and he screams it.

Well, I guess it's good that it came out that way because it seems like he wanted to curse at them. Absolutely. You're in my blankety blank house and great stuff.

All right. When we come back, the NFL Competition Committee is meeting in Indianapolis. Without me again. And I'm telling you, you need me in the room. I'll explain why. You need me in that room. You want me in that room. We're going to have this conversation because they're talking about roughing the passer, what happened last year, what they're willing to do about it moving forward. That's coming up next. Albert Breer joins us from Indianapolis at the Combine.

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Grainger is the right product for you. Call clickrainger.com or just stop by. Dennis in Long Beach, California. Let's take your phone call here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Dennis? Hey, Merry Monday, Rich.

Same to you. With all the conversation talk with Chicago, what they should do, I'm not sure if you're aware there's a economist at the University of Chicago, Richard Thaler, who's won the Nobel Prize. And he had a study that draft, first round draft picks are probably overvalued, especially the very top picks. And he has an economic theory that teams that can trade down for more picks would generally better off in the long run. And there's also this overconfidence or everybody overvalues when like the steam, the ship starts rolling towards one player that everybody wants it, which makes that pick even more valuable.

Yes. So you might want to get Thaler on and have him talk about this. He has a lot of theories about the draft.

The most economic pick ever was Brady. By the way, I don't need a PhD in, you know, and look, man, I get it. But it's just, you know, I, you know, I've got a doctorate in the Eberflus and I, you know, and I think the Bears should stick with fields like you saw what he looks like. You know what he looks like. He's also pretty damn sturdy. I mean, I proffer to say Bryce Young stands behind that line over the last two years. You'd be picking him up with a straw.

You know what I mean? So anybody, you know, I think they trade the first for the second. They trade the second to go further down. They trade the first. They can pick up six, seven picks with this and get offensive line.

The problem and they may want to restart the clock. You know, I mean, but by starting with him and and the clock starts again, that you don't have to pay this guy generational wealth, you know, for another three years and fields. If he has a great year here, he might get paid in the same way that we're seeing Daniel Jones get paid, you know, and thanks to be worth it. If they get the line and he's as good as they say they are, would he be worth it?

Because now he's a proven commodity. Correct. Exactly.

You can pick up other picks. Okay. What's the name of this this professor again? What's his name? His name is Richard Thaler. Okay.

At the University of Chicago. Okay, great. Thanks for your Chicago Bears fan. Okay, let's write you writing him down there Brockman.

Thank you for the guest. I do. There you go.

We'll take it under consideration. Headline to start this opinion. I should be on the competition committee in the National Football League. Give me a chair. Give me a chair.

I believe that you believe that. Problem is I wouldn't be in this chair. I'd be in these meetings in Indianapolis.

I'd be in Indianapolis. We'd have to do the show. So I don't know. Maybe, you know, I don't know in retirement.

I have no idea. But I could zoom. I'll zoom. Who's zooming? Me.

I'm on the square. Because they need to hear from me. They need to hear. They need to hear.

Why would you say that? Because they're meeting in Indianapolis and they're coming up with ideas that they'll then, you know, ruminate on and either agree to as a committee forward to the membership, which is what we call the owners in the NFL for their meeting in March. And then they vote and then there's a rule change or not.

Judy Batista, my colleague from the NFL media group, all over this on Twitter yesterday. She said that the competition committee wrapped up the first day of meetings of the combine. One team has proposed making roughing the passer reviewable by replay. Committee will discuss tomorrow. That's today. Early indication is little appetite in the room for making it reviewable.

Now then. I totally understand why there's little appetite for making it reviewable. Because if you make it reviewable, meaning challenge flag comes out from coach, do you then allow the coach to challenge when one is not called? I thought that was helmet to helmet. I thought that was a rough.

Here we go. Out comes the challenge flag. And now suddenly it's just like the pass interference review because now, because it's open to interpretation.

Okay, open to interpretation. So I've said, I don't want to make it reviewable by the coach. The sky judge, the replay assist, video assist, whatever you want to call it. You take a look at it when one is called.

When a flag is thrown for roughing the passer. Let's take a look at it. Let's take a look at it in between snaps. Let's go. Flag comes out.

They all huddle up and have a discussion. The discussion is really, let's wait for replay assist to chime in. Was this really a rough? Come up with what a rough is. I think you can pretty much see it in the same way what it catches, but you can codify it. You can codify it. And let's go and pick the flag up. There is no penalty for roughing the passer play on. That's what I want because what we saw last year was off the charts.

In terms of being, what's the word for it? Really wrong. Now then, Judy Patista then tweets out exactly why I should be in the room. Committee looked at 80 plays of roughing the passer and found only three questionable. Three. Come on.

Three. Now here's why it can be codified. The big conversation is a sling versus a slam. A slam is problematic when the defender picks up the quarterback in the air and slams him on the ground.

Slinging is more considered the natural progression. Like, say, the roughing the passer penalty in SoFi. Remember in SoFi? Who was it? Phillips of Miami who slung Justin Herbert down to the ground.

Miami versus Los Angeles. Roughing penalty comes out. And the whole country's like, what the hell was that?

He just threw him down. Now is that one of the three? I don't know. I'd love to know what the three are. I was going to say, are we going to find that out?

Well, one of them's got to be Chris Jones. I mean, it better be. Putting the ball out from Derek Carr with one of the most incredibly athletic plays. And thus, if his body weight came down on him, it's because one of his arms that would prevent him from having the body weight placed on him, had the football. And the other one actually was him putting his hand on the ground. And if you use replay assist to see it, you're picking a flag up. Is that two?

Is that two of the three? Really? They look at 80 plays and say only last year, only three are questionable. Please put me in the room.

Please. I mean, but that's, that's, you know, brought to you by officiating's never been better. Like, of course, they're only going to say three out of 80. No, but this isn't a room. This is where coaches get together and, you know, whoever's on the competition committee, I don't know because I don't look because it just pisses me off that I'm not in there. But these are well-intentioned, die-hard, died-in-the-wool football individuals who have been around the sport forever.

Okay, but they, and they look at it and say only three last year. Do you want to know? I can tell you who's on it.

Sure, go ahead. Rich McKay is the president. Yes, I know that. John Mara. Katie Blackburn. Yep. John Mara, Chris Greer, Dolphins GM, Steven Jones, Ozzy Newsome, Frank Reich, Ron Rivera, Mike Tomlin, Mike Vrabel.

And Rich Eisen. Can you imagine me in that room? Hey, hey everybody. Let me just say. Well, you trying to take over.

How many, how many, how many? Like one angry man, right? Yeah, exactly.

In the jury room. But hold on a second. Really? Really?

Really? We're saying three out of 80. Do you want to hear what I hear from the fan base? Because I'm willing to give it to you.

Because the fan base thinks we all in this room have no clue what's going on. So. Just because I'm not so, I'm not so hard-hearted. It's not all about dollars and cents, by the way. That's a Louis B. Waltz line from The Godfather.

Just because it's not all negative. Judy tweeted this one out. That the quarterback push sneak at length. Troy Vincent said the committee discussed it.

They'll review the topic next month at their meeting. Again, some argued it should be allowed and anticipate more offensive play springing from it. I like it.

You can get a fumble ruski out of a setup like that. I don't know. Or it's just like a fake and then all of a sudden you can flip it. Yeah. Well, pitch backwards.

Guy leaks out. Touchdown. Because some teams can't do it. The Eagles. A lot of teams can't do it. The Eagles can do it.

Yeah, they're the best at it right now. I kind of like that. I don't mind the rugby scrum push.

I don't either. Stop it. Right? Stop it.

Don't you think? Let's go. And everybody puts everything in and then all of a sudden you run it like somebody's pushing. Then all of a sudden you hand it back like a Statue of Liberty and then like boop. Out goes somebody out the gate.

AJ Brown. See ya. Or you go in there and then you you you go back and you throw it in the air.

Like a Tebow fake pass. I like it. I like it. So we're going to bring rugby in the football now though?

Why not? We already have. Yeah, let's do it.

Let's go. I like it. See?

I don't hate it. I don't want to stop me just coming in the room guys and ladies and saying you don't know what you're talking about. I do. Who do you think you are?

I am. Somebody needs to go into the competition committee and pull a full Pete Weber without the Triple H, you know. In front of Mike Grable and Mike Tomlin. It's like hey.

What if Tomlin's the one going and saying it though? Yeah, sure. Why not?

Thank you. You need me in that room. You want me in that room? They don't know that. You need me in that room. They clearly don't.

Or you want to do it for free though. That's the course. Of course. It's for the love of football, sir.

I mean first class accommodations. Well, that goes without saying. I mean, please.

Can everything be on the arm? So. Sky judge this thing for roughing the passer. Three. Three of the 80. Come on. Yeah, right. What are we doing? Come on. But I mean, they're in this room and they're coming out. I don't know what they're going to do with the sky judge. Didn't see anything on that front. I like what the XFL has been doing with it.

Which is, which is everything. It's just like right there, like Minority Report Tom Cruise. And as soon as something happens, boom, he's in the ear of the official. He's red balling it. I like it.

XFL's got some good ideas. Yeah, is that right? But you just went higher register. I tried to tell him. He was completely anti. I was watching him this weekend.

I was like, bro, just give it a shot. The thing they do with extra points. Have you seen this? No. One point from the one yard line, two points from, oh sorry, one point from the two yard line. Talking about conversion. Yeah, after the touchdown. You can get a two pointer from the five yard line, but you can get three points if you convert from the 10.

Didn't Larry David say this? Take the uprights down and do this. And then they also do the onside kick, a fourth and 15 from the 25.

But didn't LD say this? Yeah. Take out the uprights. All kickers gone, which is, that's aggressive. But take down the uprights and, and that's, are they pulling? Are they doing? The first week a team was down 15. They converted, got the two, made the fourth and 15 play.

It's great. By the way, you'll know that the XFL is listening to Larry David. If they flag someone for a cut and chat. Cut and chat. A chat and cut.

Albert Brier coming up. You loved Lala Kent on Vanderpump Rules. Now get to know her on Give Them Lala.

With her assistant Jess. LA, it can become suffocating. Did something happen where you felt like I have to get out of here? Or do you just think it just happens sometimes? I think it just happens, but also just everything going on in my personal life. Like I want to get on this mic and be like, this is what I've been dealing with for 14 months. Give Them Lala wherever you listen.