REShow: Scott Van Pelt - Hour 1 (4-5-2023)

This is the Rich Eisen Show. Why has the Kyrie Lucca marriage put the Mavs in a position to miss this playoffs entirely? Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

This is a team building crisis because the Mavericks were in the conference finals last year. Today's guest ESPN Sports Center host Scott Van Pelt, Fox Sports college football analyst Bruce Feldman, former sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro. And now it's Rich Eisen. Well, hey, everybody, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show.

844204 Rich is the number to dial right here to have a conversation with us over the next three hours. We've got a lot of fun guests for you all over the sports map and sports entertainment map. We've got our first guest Scott Van Pelt calling in from Augusta National, home of the Masters and the par three tournament that kicks everything off today.

The champions dinner was last night. Scott Van Pelt will be calling in from the Valhalla known as Augusta National in about 20 minutes time. Bruce Feldman's going to stroll in the door. Our friend from Fox Sports and the Athletic has put together his own mock draft based on all the executives and all the scouts and all the college sources that he has putting it all together. He's come up with a mock draft.

We are as of tomorrow, three weeks from the actual National Football League draft going down in Kansas City. Bruce going to join us in person in our number two. And then once he leaves, Sonny Vaccaro is going to stop in here on the Rich Eisen Show. Matt Damon plays Sonny Vaccaro, and that's good news for Sonny. And it's in the new movie Air. We talked to Matt Damon on Monday. On Tuesday's show featured our conversation with Ben Affleck, the director of Air, the movie about Michael Jordan being signed by Nike and Sonny Vaccaro. The actual genuine article joins us in this studio in our number three.

And you can join us throughout here on the Roku channel in this Sirius XM and Odyssey feed on our satellite streams and our streaming audio outfit along with this Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio network 844204rich being that number to dial. Back in his chair after a little bit of a walkabout with his family and playing a little bit of golf. Chris Brockman, how are you, Christopher? Hey guys, what's happening? Good to see you. Good to see you. How was your golf yesterday? What's up, Gene? Not bad, not bad.

A couple of blow up holes, but, you know, 85 will take it. Oh, look at you. Look at you.

That's a nice little headline, 85, right there in the middle of the 80s. Good to see you, DJ Mikey D's and D's Nuts. Good morning, Rich. You've got different, you've got all sorts of headsets on today? Yeah, I've tested some stuff.

Are those my ears that you've got in there? Yes. Okay. Good to know. Thank you. Just let me know when you're done with it.

I'll wipe it down. Thank you. Good to see you, TJ Jefferson. Good to see you, sir. Hello, Richard. Seth, it's great to be seen. Joel Embiid had 50 last night, Sonny Vicaros coming in today to talk about Michael Jordan. Maybe my lifelong dreams will come true and I'll get some J's.

Who knows? Well, here's the deal. Not to correct you, but Joel Embiid had 52 last night. You round it down. I got to tell you, man- I want to stay humble, Rich. I want to stay humble.

We are a week away, final week of the National Basketball Association's 2022-2023 season. And as you know, I'm a Yokich guy. He was the one who got me 16 regular season wins in the fantasy league that I lost because he stopped playing.

Such a shame. I know that. I'm a big Giannis fan, as you know. Worst take I've ever had in the history of this show is that the Heat shouldn't trade everybody for Giannis. Man, they'd probably- Because they finished runner up to the Lakers in the bubble.

They'd probably have 65 wins right now. You think? I got to tell you. I think I'm landing on Joel Embiid deserves to be the MVP of the NBA this year. Last night, Doc Rivers declared it over. Quote, unquote, it's over, is what he had to say after the Sixers beat the Boston Celtics last night, a two point victory for them, 52 points.

He shot 20 to 25 from the field. He did whatever he wanted to do. And honestly, he did whatever dunked on some guy he wanted to do.

I know that. Real impressive. Hey, Brotman, insert any player ever on that play. They're getting dunked. He did whatever he wanted to do last night. Hey, look, the Sixers didn't play a clean game. And even even Rivers said it afterwards. He said, we did so many things wrong, but what we did right was Joel Embiid. That's what he said. I think he is right.

He is right. And a 20 of 25 shooting is absurd. And Harden and Embiid in a two man game is very difficult to stop. And your Celtics might eventually, you know, win the conference anyway.

I'm not worried about anything from what happened last night. David Brown didn't play and we basically almost beat them. If maybe P.J. Tucker and Embiid would have got officiated the way Grant Williams gets officiated, then maybe the Celtics would have won that game.

P.J. Tucker made three huge threes down the stretch. Man, is he a Daryl Morey staple or what?

Yeah, that's that's the guy. And he's just he's a load on both ends of the court. And if he makes those wide open threes, they're going to be difficult to stop. But I'll put my marker on Embiid. I just like to point out something that Embiid, by the way, he did not play in Denver. And I know a lot of you Nuggets fans out there who also listen to us every single day on terrestrial radio out in the great state of Colorado might be like, well, I mean, he tapped out of that second opportunity to go head to head with Jokic and he won the one in Philadelphia. I mean, that was quite a performance that he had in Philadelphia against Jokic head to head.

Oh, yeah. And I'll say this, too, and it may be unfair. I mean, Jokic has won the last two and Giannis, you might have MVP fatigue with him as well. Maybe it's Embiid's turn. I would be one of those voters that would that would give my vote to Embiid. I don't have one, but I would do that.

I would do that. And I would give him that vote, that obviously without Jokic, Denver would be a different team and without Giannis, the Bucks would be a different team. I just think Embiid has just been so dominant start to finish.

He's thank God he's been healthy for you guys and for himself. I dig it. Also Chris mentioned the way they were being officiated, both teams shot 16 foul shots and actually the Sixers were called for four more fouls in the Celtics that game. I'm talking about the technical fouls, but it's all good. I can't wait.

This would be an outstanding. An outstanding second round matchup. I mean, I disagree. I don't think it's a close matchup at all. OK. You guys know Jalen Brown didn't play last night, right? He's a top 15 player this year.

He's going to be all NBA and he was on the bench. I get it. And it was a two point game. I get it.

And your guy didn't miss. I get it. You need somebody else to show up for Philadelphia. That's been the issue all year. Well Harden had 20 and 10 and there's a two man game and I know that Jalen Brown would have to be a huge different maker. That's only 72 points. I get it.

Not enough to win games. You know what? I would love to see it. I think it would be an outstanding second round matchup. Gentlemen sweep.

This guy just says stuff just to say it. That's OK. I hope to see it. Because what's been Philly's playoff success against Boston in the last four years?

I get it. There hasn't been any. You know, I'd love to see the Lakers not play in. I'd love to see that. And we may see that.

I'll go back to what Darvin Ham had to say about a month ago. Sixth seed. We got it.

And that was a tall order. As we're sitting here right now, tonight's Lakers-Clippers game is for the sixth seed. And you know, let's go. I can't wait to sit down and watch that game tonight. In the downtown hoops dojo, Clippers have won 10 in a row. And here come the Lakers. They could play out of the play in tonight. 10 in a row against the Lakers, right? Correct. It's not one of those 10 wins are going to mean anything.

I know that. If we lose this game tonight. I'm going to tell you that right now. I'm big on that 10-0.

I've been doing this count for years, but if we lose this game tonight, all that other can someone bleep me don't mean, hey, it just doesn't mean anything. Are you going? Are you going tonight?

I don't know. I've been downtown too much this week. I think I just want to stay home and, well, I don't know. I could wind up going.

Who knows? I might have to because it's going to be, even though it's a Clipper home game, purple and gold clowns are going to come and take over the whole arena. So I'll just say this to all the sit down back to backs, not playing Paul George, not playing Kawhi, just like just forking up win opportunities, whatever. We'll take a 30 point L tonight on the road because we're sitting our two stars because this is what the load management has to say. We're saving him for the playoffs. Oh, OK. Paul George right now. He's hurt. He's hurt. But he didn't get hurt because he played on the back end of a back to back. He just got hurt. And within the general scheme of things, hey, man, I'm just going to say this.

All of those. We don't care. We'll try and win with our our bench players tonight on the road. All those times we saw it in November and December and January and February and finally trying to play one of these guys on a back to back night coming home to roost. Now you got to win an 11th row in a row against the Lakers team that as we had yesterday with Brian Windhorst pointing out, they're not at five hundred team that's just barely above average. What do you say, 14 and seven since the trade of Russell Westbrook, 14 and seven.

Now they're 15 and seven. That's the team that's taking the floor tonight. LeBron looking spry again.

And as I pointed out to Brian West, Brian Windhorst yesterday. Have they finally turned the corner on a roster that was supposedly unworkable for LeBron and trying to win? Have they turned that corner?

Have they made the appropriate changes? And he wouldn't go as far as they turned the corner. He said, well, they're right in the middle and they're right in the middle of a Western Conference standings where, you know, seven games above five hundred would give you a home playoff spot in the first round. And now they're eight games above five hundred since making that switch with Russell going and getting the flexibility and bringing in the rest of these guys, DeAngelo Russell and Malik Beasley.

Jared Vanderbilt putting them all around LeBron and seeing how it goes. And I'll tell you what, tonight's game is huge. And I know the Warriors won again last night. And Andrew Wiggins says he should be back shortly. I'd want to be six.

That's what I want to be. And I know I'm asking to take on the Kings and this Young Turk team up there in Sacramento. Nobody has any faith in them. I get it. Who would you rather play?

The Sacramento Kings in their first foray of these young kids not knowing what they don't know, or the Suns with Durant. Yeah. No. You want a piece of them? Nope.

Not particularly. And Booker and Chris Paul and DeAndre Ayton and Monte Williams dialing it up and they're finally getting their seed legs. I'd rather take my shot with the Kings. They've won six in a row.

They're the hottest team in the league. I'd rather take my shot with the Kings. And maybe that's what the Clipper plan is. Is that the Clipper plan? Let's get into the playoff. Let's get in the playing tournament.

All we got to do is win, you know, two games in a row and then we wind up going to Memphis. I might know, but I ain't telling. Okay.

I don't know. I think the Kings are a bad matchup for the Lakers because the Lakers don't play any defense. Kings might be a bad matchup for anybody, by the way. That is true. You got to put some respect on them.

I don't know, man. Let's go 121 points a game, number one in the league. That's insane. I saw the Clippers score 174 points in a game and lose to them with my own two eyes. Exactly.

With my own two eyes. Well, you know, that's because we had new parts and we're trying to, you know, integrate them and move things around, you know, just get this guy here like Tom Cruise and just, I mean, Anthony Davis played 40, Anthony Davis played 42 minutes last night. He's ready. He ready. He's ready. LeBron is ready. The Lakers are ready. Kawhi's ready.

Chris, you, you were saying like Darvin Ham, six seed, see you later. They could be the six seed by the end of tonight, right? And the team that's in the crapper on the outside looking in was the team that was the six seed in the Mavericks. They're a half game out. We got what, three, four games left, three games left.

Yup. They said they're not shutting down Luca and those guys. So we'll see.

I'm sure. I mean, not shocking that. So who's your MVP? If it's not MB, Oh, I, I know going into the season, we thought it would be Tatum. Oh, I think it's the honest, he's the best player in the league and it's, they have the best record on the way. I just, I think it's the honest. And you choose MB obviously, but I'd take your Sixers fandom out of it.

Who do you, who do you choose? Okay. If I'm not a Sixers fan and I think, you know, some of that being over Yo Kitchen, Ron is watching Joel and be played basketball is he was dominant. He's dominant, rich.

I just don't know. And again, you're honest. How do you stop him too? But MB now he's cut down and taken so many threes and working on that mid range game that file line extended jumper is there for him at will.

He just can't be stopped and he does it on the defensive side. Unlike joker. That's why I think I have to give him the nod eight four four two oh four rich number to dial. You want to chime in on this subject or any of them feel free right here on the Roku channel. This terrestrial radio affiliate Sirius XM Odyssey, our podcast, our YouTube page, youtube.com slash rich eyes and show hit us with a follow there. We always appreciate it. Love hearing that people watch us on YouTube at night or our video on demand page at night on the Roku channel. We appreciate all of your viewership and listenership. Again eight four four two oh four rich is the number to dial.

Sonny Vicaro in studio hour number three. We stroll down memory lane with him. I'm going to ask him a very dangerous question. I don't know the answer to my, tell me your favorite Jerry Tarkanian story four four two oh four rich number to dial there. Also on this program, Bruce Feldman coming in and talking mock draft three weeks from tomorrow night is the NFL draft. But let's take a break. Joining us from Augusta national, a tradition unlike any other is Scott van Pelt calling in on the par three day of the rich eyes and to the rich eyes and show from Augusta national. My buddy from way back in the day to give us his thoughts on how the masters is going to play out this week.

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That's mintmobile.com slash switch. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network along with the live Roku channel stream. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Granger with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Granger is the right product for you. Call clickgranger.com or just stop by and once again joining us. It's kind of like a tradition unlike any other. He calls in, it's been the last few years he's done this consistently. One of my favorites on the planet, my longtime friend and colleague from back in the day, the host of the Masters coverage on the worldwide leader in sports as well as the Midnight Sports Center with his name on it. Scott Van Pelt back here calling in from Augusta National. How are you Scott? Best week of the year Rich. It's my favorite day of Masters week, Wednesday. So I'm quite good although I'm wearing a suit and it's going to be 90.

So I'm going to be a little schvitzy a little later. Well you hopefully are going to take a page from the Chris Berman book where I don't know, I've told you this story. I did the home run derby in Atlanta.

I believe it was 2000, the year 2000. And Chris did the, he was in the center field stands. I did the sports center before and after or baseball tonight, whatever.

And Chris did the home run derby and he had extra shirts with him and he had the people at Turner Field at the time keep the extra shirts in the meat locker freezer in center field for him to change into a frozen shirt to make sure it cooled him down when he changed into a shirt. How about that? Scott? Well that's next level. That's why he's the boom schwa.

It's a couple of things. It's not midsummer in Atlanta. It's a little warm and also no one schvitz is like boom. That's true. That's true.

The man has glands on top of glands. I agree. No, I'm not going to, we're going to be fine. I'm going to keep it together. But I don't want to get you in trouble. Is there a freezer guy at Augusta National that you could know throughout the years that you could give a shirt to and it would be fine that there's.

Here's what I'd say about Augusta National. Yes sir. There's a guy. And before we just jump into the seriousness of it, what's with the new profile pic? What is that on your Twitter handle Scott? So many years ago, many years ago, Adam Scott and Beau Van Pelt, PGA touring professional Beau Van Pelt paired together at Augusta National. So they had the very famous boards with the names of the competitors and it just so happened that the way it was put on the board was Scott Van Pelt. So it isn't me, it was Adam and Beau, but there's my name on the board and we took that picture years ago and I save it in the phone and then every year for the week we bust it out and we make that the avatar for Twitter.

And what's crazy is that if you go back and search, I forget what year it was, might've been, I mean, God, it's one of those things where it feels like in my brain it was five years, it was probably 15 years ago. On the same Sunday, Adam and Beau each aced the 16th hole and so the headline that day like on ESPN.com was Scott, Van Pelt, Aced 16 in Masters, which again, I didn't do that, but there was my name in the bright lights, so to speak, Scott Van Pelt, Aced 16. So it's just a small little piece of Masters lore that would mean nothing to anyone but me. No, it means a lot to, I think that's funny, I could never pull that off, there's no, I guess if the actor from back in the day, the child actor, Adam Rich, Buddy Rich, good drummer, Buddy Rich and the celebrity program with, I guess, I don't know, like Norm Eisen, the creator of 2000 Flushes, if you remember that commercial back in the day, I don't think he would ever get in at some sort of a celebrity event, but that would be about it.

It's a hell of a reach, but we've got you on the board though. See you won't have these interviews with anybody else from the Masters. I look forward to it all the time, a tradition unlike any other. I love it, and you're so cool to do this again on the par three day, which is so much fun. Let's just jump into it, turning to the weather, is there an issue, do we have an issue for the weekend? Yes, unfortunately it would appear so, and I mean, any time you're this far out and there's sort of uniform agreement, oh, Saturday's going to be bad, and it would appear Saturday's going to be bad, and we're joking about it being hot, here it is today, it's like 50 and pouring on Saturday, so the question becomes, can they play? Everyone knows that it's coming, it's a small field to begin with, but the hope would be that you're able to finish your play on Thursday or Friday, get your cut together, and then just sort of see what Saturday brings with it, but it seems all but certain that Saturday's weather will be bad, will it allow play to go on? That part I don't know, if it does, it's just going to be a miserable round for these players because it's mid-50s and pouring on an incredibly hilly and difficult golf course, have at it, but it seems that absolutely weather will eventually be part of the story here.

On Sunday as well, or it's just Saturday, we're talking? Maybe better for Sunday, but when we used to go to the US Open, we would not speak the P word during the week because we didn't want to speak it into existence, that of course is playoff, because playoff at the US Open used to mean a Monday finish, so you just wouldn't say it out loud because you're afraid it would happen, and around here, no one brings up Monday much, simply because Monday hasn't happened since 1983, I don't believe, but I mean, look, I got nowhere to go, I mean, if we stick around another day here in Augusta National, no one will be complaining, but that's way down the road, that may not even be necessary, but it might be, so we'll deal with that when we get there. So then what else is the conversation around Augusta National prior to the Masters, Scott Van Pelt? Thankfully, it's mostly golf, you know, I've gone on with buddies of mine that have shows that did PTI yesterday with Tony and Michael, and they're saying, like, the Liv and the PGNS, and honestly, these guys are, the guys that get along get along, and the guys that weren't buddies before this happened, that's not the conversation, the conversation is, here comes Scottie Scheffler, here comes Jon Rahm, here comes Rory McIlroy, you know, they ping-ponged back and forth on who's number one in the world, they all arrived playing really good golf, you know, Tigers here and healthy enough where it's not, like, can he finish, but it is still a question about his ability to get up and down around the golf course, but in terms of storylines and really good players playing well, there's not much more you could have asked for on your wish list, so the anticipation about the first round of the Masters is always as high as any round of the year, but this year the list of players that you're like, man, what if this guy, what if that guy, it's long, and it's, all of them seem reasonable. And in terms of Tiger, him talking on Tuesday, Scott, about that he was asked the question if he's out there thinking could this be his last, and he said he didn't know how many he had left in him, nobody knows that answer, I wouldn't even ask you, how many do you think he has left in him, what would a post Tiger playing in the Masters week look like, Tiger would clearly be there, right, Champions Dinner, I don't see him as a ceremonial first tee guy at age 51, right, I mean, I'm just kind of throwing that out there, what does it look like to you? No, I think, you know, look, he's, you know the funny thing, Rich, about this game, you know, Nicklaus famously was talked about at the Champions Tour, like, I'm not doing that, and then he's out there, you know, he's 70-some years old, I mean, he's still out there playing, and, you know, Tiger alluded to it, one of his dear friends in the game is his buddy Fred Couples, and he said, you know, I'm only a few years away from being able to use a buggy like my, you know, my buddy Fred Couples, you know, talking about playing on the Champions Tour, like, I, the guy loves to, he loves to compete, and I, there was a time in my life where if you told me you'd ever play Champions Tour events, I'd have laughed heartily in your face, hey, Tiger Woods, not doing that, and now I'm thinking, oh yeah, he'll do that, I think he'll do that, and so I don't believe that he's done, close to done, well, closer than we'd like him to be, but I think he'll still be able to compete here for several years, if not more, but the thing I don't think you'll see him do is playing here when he truly believes I got no shot, like, I don't think that will happen, but I do, you know, both he and Rory, who he played practice rounds with, said, look, he's got the shot, got every shot, you know, nobody's got the ability to hit him better, or has hit them better around here than that guy, it's simply a matter, Rich, of can you get up and down these hills, because for the viewers and listeners that aren't familiar, there is no hillier golf course that they play yearly than Augusta National. Scott Van Pelt joining me here on the Rich Eisen Show from Augusta National, it is Masters Week, so give me the name of some guys that are the up-and-comers that could come to the fore here this week, the next guard, if you will, that's beginning to form, Scott. If you're talking, if you're talking players, like, I mean, I, my pick, if I could jump ahead, I mean, who do you like, I mean, it's just, you know, only 88 guys, but still, if you can pick the guy out of the 88, to me, that's kind of a, sound like a rat in San Diego State, or, you know, UConn, if it's not one of two, it's one of the field, I like Xander to win, he's not an up-and-coming name, though, I mean, he's obviously a well-established player, in terms of a young guy like Cameron Young, aptly named, he hasn't won yet on tour, but he's certainly shown that he's got the goods, and obviously, he's seen as being worthy of being alongside Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas, that's who plays together, again, Patrick Cantlay's not an up-and-comer, he's a highly black player, hasn't won a major championship yet, wouldn't surprise anybody if he were able to, you know, break through at a place like this, he's been in contention here a number of different times, so those would be a couple of names that I'd say that are sort of off the, you know, first page of people that you might list, but the thing, Rich, about Augusta National, it's so hard to look past all of the guys who have won here, and who have been close here, and that would include a live-tour guy in Brooks Koepka, who, I brought him up in any interview I've done, simply because I, you know, weird feeling he's in the mix this week, simply because he won his last live-tour event, he's won four majors, and he's healthy, and when he's been right, I mean, very few people have been any better in majors, he's got four of them, not many, only four guys in this field have won four or more majors, and Koepka's one of them, so obviously he's not on the list of who you're asking about, I just think he's not the betting favorite, and he's somebody worth taking a swing at if that's something you're interested in doing. Well, I mean, and if he wins, the entire live-tour that's there is gonna greet him at the 18th green, right?

Isn't that what I heard? Well, Greg Norman said that, but I mean, he's, I don't, that seems a bit ambitious, I don't know that everyone would be here doing that, but it would be undoubtedly a monstrous storyline for that tour if they were to get a, you know, one of their tour players to win this event, whether everyone who's here was there to celebrate with him, that seems a bit ambitious, I think those that missed the cut will have gone home by then, but you never know. Well, I guess, you know, and again, I know you said that the guys get along, that's not my, what I'm talking about, I am talking about this tour getting more eyeballs on it, and clearly if a player who's on the live-tour wins the Masters, we in the media would talk about it, would it get more people tuning into what, the CW to watch their, you know, watch their matches with teams and names and uniforms and music and the lack of history?

That's still a tall order. I still don't think that would happen, to be very honest with you, Scott. I don't either, I mean, I think obviously it would help, but I mean, would it make Brooks Koepka more, would people be like, wait, what's his name? I mean, Brooks Koepka is already, he's won four majors. You know what it feels like to me, and there's a lot of layers to this, I mean, because the PGA Tour benefited massively players, the PGA Tour players benefited massively from what the live-tour players did, because the tour looked under a couch cushion and found a pile of money, which all these guys are now getting to play for, so, you know, what a fun little co-winky-dink for them, but it feels a lot like the other leagues that want to play football, and now they don't go head to head with the NFL, but it's just really hard to get people to do something new and find a new place to consume something, even if it's people who they want to consume. You know, there is a place you can watch it now, and it just hasn't, it hasn't, it's early in this, you know, the incarnation of this tour, but I'm with you, I just, it doesn't, I don't know that people are going to suddenly say, hey, let's watch this event, you know, if they want to, they probably already would have, I don't know, it's not that it doesn't interest me, what interests me is that these guys are all competing head to head this week, that's what I'm excited about, because it's better when they do, there's no denying that, I don't think, it's better to have these guys here in the mix, better to have Cam Smith here and Koepka and Dustin Johnson and on down the line, and whether one of them were to win and people were to watch, I have no earthly idea.

Me too. So to put a button on this, why Xander Shoffley, why do you choose him out of the 88? Because this week, more than any other major, I care about how you played here more than I care how you played lately, and he's been close on several occasions, he, I don't get uber golfy, I worry, he hasn't driven the ball great this year, but this is a second shot golf course, you'll hear that said all the time, why? Because it's about your irons into the greens, and it's about being in the right places on these greens, you really need to know how to play this golf course, and I think he does, and there's a certain level of inevitability, I think, with players like him, who, they put themselves in contention, top five, top 10 in major time after time, there's a certain inevitability to a player that good, that comfortable, without much belief in his ability, it's just his time to have his best moment when his best moment's required, and so it's a guess, obviously, on a Wednesday, but I like his chances, but I don't look too far down beyond the chalk, you know, if you say, well who else, I'd say speech, you know, that's hardly a, that's not like a long shot pick, I like speech chances here as well, but I do really think Koepka's gonna compete, and I could be dead wrong, but I'd love to see him healthy enough to be at his best version of who he is on this stage, because I know how much these stages, you know, get his full attention and bring out the best of Koepka, but that's really what it is, and he likes Schauffele and Spieth as well, all those guys I'm talking about have played well here, Spieth's the only one in that trio who's won, but they've all been there, and know what it feels like to be there on Sunday. Last thing for you, Scott, I saw the photo of the Champions Dinner, and it's kind of like, it's kind of like the coach's photo at the NFL owners meeting, right, you know, where you're just like looking at who's standing where, and who, you know, who's sitting where, and all that stuff, but is this like Fight Club, or do you hear stories about, hey, this happened last night, that happened last night, anything like that, did you get anything like that from the Champions Dinner at all? Fight Club's a great, great analogy, because I believe that that group understands what it is to be in that group, and when they speak of the night, it's typically in vague, oh, you know, it's great, so-and-so's telling them great stories, you know what I mean, like you don't get the details, you know, like the old line about like what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, that's a lie, because every great Vegas story, you tell your buddies in very specific delirious details, right, you give chapters and verses, here's what happened, and then this happened, and then that happened, it doesn't stay in Vegas, but what happens in the Champions Dinner, that mostly remains in that room, and honestly, I feel like it ought to, you know, they've earned the right to sit in the company of fellow champions, and you know, what's really cool, jokes aside, is that I've heard, what I have heard is that every now and again, one of the older champions who maybe doesn't often have the floor has a chance to sit and remember that week when he was the best version of himself, and imagine what it would be like to have the attention of that whole room as you remember who you were in the best week of your life, and that's, honestly, that's a really, really cool thought.

Now it is, the only equivalent I have for that is the Pro Football Hall of Fame, when they welcome in the new class, they have a luncheon, it's called the Nitschke Luncheon, because Ray Nitschke would hold it for all the returning Hall of Famers to welcome in the new class, and they would basically haze them, they would roast them, they would haze them, they would say, this is the last time you're a rookie in your entire life, now you're immortal like us, and then once Ray Nitschke passed away, it was Deacon Jones who ran the room, I believe it's now Willie Lanier who does it, he's much more statesmanlike, but they would stand up and all the new class of Hall of Famers would stand up and speak, and so would the returning class of Hall of Famers speak, and I just don't know if there's a moment like that at this champions dinner, I saw that photograph, I thought, I'm wondering if that's something like that, where they get up. As I said, I just respect that the stories belong to them mostly, but like I said, I've heard the moments where an older gentleman has the floor and that just makes me smile to think about, because that's really what this week is about for those guys, a chance to come back and flip on that jacket and as my colleague Ray Thompson said, remember who he was when he was a younger man. Take care of yourself, Scott Van Pelt, you're the best, thanks for the time on a very busy week, enjoy the par 3, and let's chat down the line. I always appreciate the time, you're a great friend as you know, and I root for you from afar always.

Right back at you, same to you, at NotTheFakeSVP with his new avatar, or rehashed avatar, great avatar right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Could you imagine we're on the air Monday live here on the Roku channel, this Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate, Sirius XM, Odyssey, and more, and we're watching and letting you know what's going down in the final round of a Masters. I mean I won't be paying attention to anything you're saying, but yes, I believe it's gonna happen. What?

Excuse me? We're rehearsing for that. It's gonna happen. You think so?

I don't know. Just look at the forecast, 90% chance of rain, thunderstorms, you heard Scott say it's gonna be in the 50s on Saturday, Sunday might be the same, it's possible, worst case scenario, we get a Monday-Tuesday Masters finish. Oh gosh. Wow. I think we need to gear up for something crazy like that to happen this weekend. Wow. That would be unbelievable. Not ideal, obviously. No, of course not, because what the hell else were we gonna do over the weekend?

Spend time with our families over Easter? What is that? You just did it yesterday. Oh my goodness. They're still here.

Are they really? And I'm happy about it. You should, because you're on camera now. No, it's great. But yeah. I don't believe that for a second. No, it is, it's great. Okay. But Easter this weekend? But did you notice he didn't go higher register right there? I didn't go higher register. Because he means it.

No, no, it's great. He means it. Because that means it, he gives it away.

You know, if he didn't mean it, he would have. One of my friends is driving today to go to visit his wife's family in Tennessee. Yeah.

Throughout the whole weekend, he said, it's the grandmother's 100th birthday. Okay, great. He said, no TVs, no one likes golf. I was like, so you're not going to be watching?

He goes, no. iPad. Yeah, of course. Do they have the internet at a 100 year old grandma's house? Probably. I'm like, I'll text you updates.

He goes, thank you. Oh, I'd have an iPad. Texting updates.

Get out of here. There's an app. Honestly, the master's app is very well done. Yeah. Very well done. It's amazing.

Your guy's good. I'm just saying. If there's a Monday. No TVs.

If you finish, nobody's going to be sad about it. Hold on a second. It's the dark room. Well, you have the weirdest friends, man.

Easter's early this. He's got the weirdest friends. I have the weirdest friends. Yes, you do. You do.

You're going to do. Let's sit around. Let's go travel. Let's go fly all over the country to not go to a city, but don't see the city. Let's sit in a hotel room or whatever and draft a fantasy league that takes 12 hours because there's no time limits on the draft. Let's do that.

Okay. We're going to be hanging out for somebody's birthday at a hamburger restaurant where you can't really order what you want because we're going to have a fantasy draft on burgers. First off, disrespectful.

You know it's my birthday. That's true. That we do it for. That's true. And you've been invited and you don't come. Purposefully. I like it.

And you haven't done it in a couple of years anyway because now you're a father. And the restaurants are all kind of closed. Understood. Okay.

But that said, that said, who's going someplace where there's no televisions? I'm not in charge of what he does with his family and his wife's family. But by proxy, by connection to him, you're weird. You understand what I'm saying? And don't say this to me, like you don't take vacations with your friends where you sit in a room and do things.

Oh, I know. I go to Hawaii. So what are we doing? But I go out and about though. But you go to Hawaii to sit in a room and play cards. But we open windows.

It's a beautiful breeze. That just means there's a pot and there's a kettle and it's black and we're doing a lot of speaking. Understood. It's weird. Brilliant. All right.

How do we get onto this subject matter for the Masters? Oh, because your friend is going someplace. I got it.

He's going to be blacked out. Yeah. Weirdo. All right. Let's take a break here on the program. 844-204-RICH. Bruce Feldman is going to join us top of the next hour.

He has spoken to a ton of people and come up with a fascinating mock draft that has Will Levis dropping all the way down to this. And now it's not just WrestleMania being a day. It's a week. I don't know if there's anything quite like it in the form of entertainment. There's not. Get into the WrestleMania spirit with the podcast Heat Network. Wherever you listen. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Okay, let's do it. We talked about it with Scott Van Pelt. The jacket dinner. The champions dinner.

At the Masters at Augusta National. Scotty Scheffler serving up cheeseburger sliders and tortilla soup. Steak. Look at that. Or blackened redfish.

And then the pièce de résistance. The warm chocolate chip skillet cookie. I mean. Did you see the size? How big were they? It was big. I mean. Firecracker shrimp. Can't forget that.

Okay. I went down Tuesday night. That went down last night. And then the photograph. Kind of like the NFL owners meeting coaches photograph. And right there in the middle there's Scotty Scheffler. Right there. Right in the middle. Right?

And then I just love to see who's everywhere else. And Fred Ridley, who is the Augusta National chairman. And I will choose my words carefully because he is the one who can ban me for life. He could. As if he so chose. But he does look like if you had to come up with a photograph of what does the Augusta National chairman look like?

It would be Fred Ridley. That's true. Look at that part in that hair. Yep. Didn't you say he was the 75 US Amchamp? Yeah. Yeah. So he's a stick. He's a stick. I mean.

Can you imagine you're not a stick. You shoot a hundred and you're this chairman of Augusta National. I don't know. What was Hootie Johnson's best round?

I don't know. And then to the right of Scotty is Ben Crenshaw. Look at Jack on the end. There's Gary Player.

Now I'd love to know like where, how do we decide where everyone is? First of all, I'm kind of surprised that Fuzzy is that close to Tiger. And then there's Ian Woosnam just jammed in. Look at Craig Stadler. That's a fine wine, bro. And still rocking the Fu Manchu stash. Look at that.

I love it. And then now I don't know, do we have, you know, like an apple box that they put in there for the back? Right. Cause Phil's not 6'5.

Cause Phil, like Phil, like if this was the usual suspects and it was like a lineup, lineup. Is he as tall, is Nick Faldo as tall as Dustin Johnson? Nick Faldo, I do think is one of those guys you're like, Oh, Nick Faldo is like 6'4. Cause you know, Vijay Singh is definitely tall. Yep.

We know DJ's tall. Is that Jose Maria Olaf, right there in the middle with the beard? Yes.

Okay. The bearded one? The back row looks like it's on, they're up on something. They might be up on something because look, Nick Faldo isn't a whole head taller than Tiger Woods. And Bubba Watson looks like he is, you know, the Schwarzenegger to Sergio Garcia's DeVito.

Just like growing up. Can we move him to the right next time, please? Just he looks like he's growing out of, like it's a Russian nest doll. Nice. And by the way, Marco Mera is like so far in that right corner. Is that who that is jammed in the back? Yeah. Yeah. Right behind Ray Floyd and next to Bubba.

Ray Floyd. He is. Yeah.

I mean, Marco Mera, nobody puts O'Meara in a corner. Right? I mean. Okay. Look at Spief.

Bernard Longer with the red power tie. I like it. Photo breakdowns are great, Rich. I do. I mean, and this is the one. It's amazing. I love it.

This is the one. You got to bring your jacket. Jackets required. Yes. Jackets on site.

Can you imagine? Does the whole fame do a photo every year? Sure, they do. Well, they also sign a, I don't know if they do one at the, at the, at the Nitski Luncheon. They should do one. I'm sure they must, they all sign footballs and stuff like that. Yeah. They do a photo at the, at the luncheon.

Could you imagine just opening, opening a closet and taking out your green jacket. Oh. Now.

You know, that's you, by the way, hold on a second. That you've won. Yeah. You've won it. You haven't gotten it because this is your membership.

Obviously that's incredibly special as well. You won it. You won it. Does Tiger have five jackets in there? Can he choose which one? Yeah. Or is like, do you only get one? Yeah, I'm going to win number two.

I'm in a number three mood. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, of course it's got to be a different jacket. They don't give you the same one.

What do you see, a tailor and you get taken out, presumably? I don't know. Maybe.

Rumor has it on the last day, my friends all work, they all work it. This is tremendous. Mike, whatever you're about to say is going to be amazing. Rumor has it that when they get close to the end, they've got all these sizes ready to roll. What do you mean the end? Oh, okay.

For the farm. On Sunday you mean? Yeah. So they're ready to roll for that jacket to fit you almost perfectly.

It's tailored perfectly. Or do they go to like a member who's like, you know, you're 54. No. Can we borrow real quick? Yeah.

Can we just borrow that real quick? Yeah. Because I think you- Taylor Gooch is a 52. I don't think he's invited in here. He's there. He is?

Yeah. He's in. He's in. I hope he's in because- Did you take Gooch? Did you take him? I did. I took Taylor Gooch. Did Gooch take him live, guys? He's gone.

Absolutely. I took- Boo. Oh, I got to do that.

I took Cam Smith to win it. Boo. You did? Yeah.

I got to do that right now. Boo. Why? Why do I care?

What do I care? Just because I think they're going to win it doesn't mean I support their- Listen, one- Eh, Ted Judgeway, you are kind of small. Did you say Taylor Gooch? Yeah.

Isn't that the kid that used to beat up Arnold Drummond on different strokes? Goodwin. The Gooch. Goodwin. We got the Gooch.

You know? All right. No Rory love?

I do love Rory, but I mean, and I'd love to see him win it. You put me into your Barranco, whatever it's called, and I chose him, and I took Brooks Koepka too. Yeah.

I think Brooks is going to play well. I took him. I took a bunch of live guys. Boo. What do you mean, boo? What does that mean? What does that mean? You're taking a stand now.

There's a line in the sand, and you're like, man, I'm cool with it. I don't know. You know what I'm doing?

What they're doing? I'm trying to get the money. Get the green jacket.

I should get a green jacket. By the way, this guy, this guy in the pool, this guy's like, you know, you get your money back, you're 20 bucks back if you finish third, and you get this, and you get that. What if there's more in the prize pool? Does that go to the Cage Brockman College Fund? First place gets the line here.

Last place gets their money back too. Bruce Feldman's going to join us coming up. It's WrestleMania season, and the Podcast Heat Network has you covered. Podcast Heat has shows featuring many of your favorite wrestlers and personalities leading up to the Showcase of the Immortals, and talking about the results afterwards. And now it's not just WrestleMania being a day, it's a week. I don't know if there's anything quite like it in the form of entertainment. There's not. Listen to the WrestleMania spirit with the Podcast Heat Network wherever you listen.