REShow: Omari Hardwick - Hour 3

We are very excited to be broadcasting to you live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. There are two guys who are afraid to watch Game 5. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Back out the 2L and B shooting the 3. It's good. Like your team has no shot?

What do you mean my team has no shot? The Rich Eisen Show. Big 4 belongs to the Heat. Earlier on the show, Yahoo! sports columnist Dan Wetzel, Saints head coach Dennis Allen, still to come from Netflix's The Mother, actor Omari Hardwick. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Yes, hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. 844204 Rich, number to dial.

We'll take a phone call or two in a couple seconds. And then I've got a power ranking of the games that I can't wait to see revealed. We've already had five international series games and three holiday games revealed. So that's a total of eight.

We always do the math for you if we can here on the Rich Eisen Show. Omari Hardwick, the star of Power from back in the day and now of the film The Mother on Netflix, available on Roku, which we are. Isn't that interesting?

We're on Roku. Yeah. Oh, that's right. And so is, you know, everything that you want to say. Everything, yeah. You know, and we're thrilled to include ourselves in that at the very least.

So we got that working for us here in this hour. Also in this hour, the new offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens has spoken, Todd Monken. That's an interesting question for me is how that offense is going to look. Nobody knows. Big mystery. Huge mystery. Although not one of my top five mysteries coming out of the draft. Oh.

That was a different one. Can Robert Stack solve that mystery? Although, let's take a phone call here on the Rich Eisen Show. Hour number three. Dave in Nashville, Tennessee. What's up, Dave? Hey, Rich. Hi, Rich. How are you? What's going on?

Got my Rich Eisen mug and I'm enjoying the show here. Yeah. And I'm thinking when, you know, being a Ravens fan, I seem to remember when they won the Super Bowl, they didn't get the first game of the year that year. Is that thing kind of set in stone now?

It is set in stone. And the reason why the Ravens didn't get the first home game of the first game, they did get the first game of the year. The reason why it wasn't at home is because if I'm not mistaken, the Orioles had a game that day and they couldn't move it for wouldn't move it for various reasons. So the Ravens celebrated their banner raising, if you will, by not raising one. And in fact, going and getting their collective derriere is handed to them by Peyton Manning in the Denver Broncos.

Nice. So I'm sorry that that happened for your team, but that's why. But yes, every team that wins a Super Bowl gets a home game to kick off the season and the Chiefs will be next in line for that, obviously.

Well, that blows my idea. I think the Jets and the Bills would be a great opener. Well, again, the league just wants to, and thanks for the call, Dave, greatly appreciate that. You could tell even though he's from Nashville, he's definitely a Baltimore guy, as he said the word opener, if I'm not mistaken, did I hear that? That, look, I think the last time it was the Jets at Washington was the opener of the season right before NFL Network came on there. Will you look that up for me in 2003 or 2004? It was when I was doing the U.S. Open late night show, either before NFL Network launched or while I was still working for the network and still allowed to do the U.S. Open.

As I remember, I did that for a couple of years after NFL Network was on the air. 03? It was at 03? I'm asking, that was the year you said? Yes. Washington the Jets.

Yeah, yeah. That was the last time I believe they did not have the Super Bowl winner host the opener, if I'm not mistaken. At any rate, we'll see how it works out from now on, but I think the league just loves banner raising, starts the season and a trophy handout ends the season. That's why they want the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl.

They thought it was completely anticlimactic to have the big finish and then, oh yeah, there's one more game that doesn't count. So stay tuned and watch guys not hit each other, you know? That was a memo no one gave the late great Sean Taylor.

Yes, correct. Joseph in Kansas City, you're here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Joseph?

Hey there, Rich. Thanks for taking my call. You got it.

Thanks for making it. What's on your mind? Yeah, so I moved up here to Kansas City a couple years ago and have been a fan of the Chiefs for a long time, but my true team is the Dallas Cowboys. We're talking about a couple of big games coming up here.

Definitely have some interest. I think you're onto something with the Broncos possibly coming in for that opening day game, but I think that the Raiders would be that biggest, bigger rivalry game there. It's a bigger rivalry game, I understand, but they were so patently disappointing. I know I'm saying the Broncos instead, but the difference between the Broncos last year and this year is Sean Payton and the difference between the Raiders last year and this year, just, you know, obviously leaping off point is Jimmy Garoppolo. And I just don't think the country sitting down and seeing what does Jimmy Garoppolo look like with the Raiders and how do the Raiders look like with Garoppolo is more of a draw than the Broncos, to be very honest with you. And that's not against the Raider nation.

We're on in Las Vegas every single day. I know that is a passionate fan base. And I understand that rivalry is significant from way back in the day. But I think and thanks to the call, Joseph, I definitely think the Broncos out of any AFC West opponent that might be of interest to NBC to put on the air and the league to put front and center Sean Payton's first game with Russ and see what that looks like is the biggest mystery in question. The other mystery, again, for the Chargers, like how how does Herbert look with Kellen Moore dialing up the plays is a different vibe than Sean Payton's back in the league. He's in orange, he's on the field, he's in Kansas City. Can he and Russ come out of the box, look great and show everybody that they mean business and how different things are by actually spoiling the party in Kansas City?

Now, of course, the big party that could be spoiled is Kansas City just spanking Denver because Denver looks the same way that they did last year. Right. I think Sean Payton will have a better understanding of when to go for a field goal or not to go for a field goal. You think?

Yeah, maybe. Don't make fun of my offensive coordinator. No disrespect. How dare you? How dare you? I just don't know who's going to make the playoffs in the AFC.

Well, I mean, that is, again. Allen, Tua, Rogers. Lamar, Burrow, DeSean.

But hold on a second. That's six. Mahomes, Herbert, Russ. That's nine.

Trevor Lawrence makes ten. And I know who I've left out and I understand who I've left out. All I'm saying is that three of those guys I just mentioned will not make the playoffs. You pretty much can only rule out two teams.

You can't rule anybody out. The Steelers can win that division a million percent. I love their draft. I'm saying Texans Colts with rookie quarterbacks are basically not going to make it. Well, you could say that, but but if the Steelers, Colts or Texans with the rookie quarterbacks or Jimmy Garoppolo with the Raiders makes it, then four of the names I just mentioned. Or Matt Jones and Bill make it. It's 14 teams for seven spots. And then the NFC is totally a bear cupboard compared. And I know that it's not the cupboard bear. I understand.

It's also also kind of a little more wide open. You might see a little more chaos. I need a couple of things. I need you, Mike, to get ready. OK. With NFL Films music. Hang on a minute. Get ready.

He's getting ready, Hoskins. Very good. All right. I need that.

OK. But I also need you to track Mike Hoskins because it's time for my power rankings. I was going to have a top five list of the top five games. I was looking forward to be revealed the most, but there's too many five wasn't enough. So I had to go full 10 NFL schedule release power rankings. And I'm not going to interrupt you. Here we go.

Number 10 on this list. It was a playoff game last year. But as we all know, Snoop Huntley went high instead of going low, led to the fumble in the jungle. And Lamar Jackson said he had just come back from the bathroom, I guess, in his house.

And he almost threw something at the television set. So Ravens at Bengals. When is this game going to be? Lamar's back. He's coming into Cincinnati. As you all know, he missed the final regular season game that led to the Ravens returning to Cincinnati. Snoop out Lamar and Odell in Ravens at Bengals. I look forward to when that gets scheduled.

Number nine on this list. Hey, the biggest back to school since Thornton Mellon. Hey, oh, how about this for a triple Lindy? How about the first NFL matchup between Tua and Hertz? How about dolphins at Eagles? How about the guy who once upon a time famously came into a game in front of the whole country, leading to the benching of the guy who has the big fat contract and the NFC championship banner in his back pocket? Tua versus Hertz.

Let's go. I kind of dig that match up. High flying, offense everywhere, defense coming, history between the two. History coming, history between the two. Tua versus Hertz.

Number eight on my power rankings list. Frank Reich going back to Indianapolis and he brings his rookie quarterback and maybe Indianapolis is starting their rookie quarterback. It'll be Young versus Richardson. Frank Reich back in the building that he famously got bounced from.

Oh my goodness gracious. How will the Panthers look? What will the Colts be doing? I kind of dig when quarterbacks who just get drafted in the top four of a draft face each other that coming season and then you got the coach who gets bounced by one spot coming back with the top overall pick in the draft. I kind of dig Panthers at Colts. Number seven on my power rankings list of the NFL schedule release power rankings. They play twice.

We play twice. I'm choosing the one in New England. I'm choosing Rogers going into Gillette.

Rogers v. Hoodie in Gillette. Jets Patriots. When the hell is this game getting played and how are we going to watch it?

Popcorn ready. That has to be a nationally televised game. That's a night game. Smells like a Thursday night.

I don't know about that. I need full compliment arrest. I need a Monday.

I need a Monday night. Old school. Rogers in. I didn't choose New England at Rogers.

I chose the other way around cold. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go, let's go. And I cannot wait to see how Rogers performs and zappy goes point for point with him.

Six on the list. Now this one is going to be it'll be a tough one to watch because bills at Bengals. We all know what happened the last time this happened and it will be obviously a big game when you involve Allen versus Burrow. But bills back in Cincinnati and there will be a huge request for DeMar Hamlin's time leading to that game. I am wondering if the league will turn down putting that in a nationally televised spot just for obvious reasons.

Maybe have it late window or even as an early window game. I don't know how they're going to handle that. I'm curious to see how they do. But you've got Bills versus Burrow and number five on the list is Bills at Chiefs.

These three guys man Allen, Burrow and Mahomes. They finished in the final four two years in a row. We're expecting to happen again this year. The reason why Bengals and Chiefs is not on this list is exactly why Dolphins and Chiefs is not on this list because we already know where they are. This is an NFL schedule release power rankings number four is now we're in the we're in the rarefied air here now. Chiefs of Jets when are we going to see? I know you got Kelsey versus Sauce up there. I don't think they'll be on each other. I'm talking about obviously Mahomes and Rodgers.

When is that going to go take place? Number three on my power rankings for the schedule release. There's a lot of smack talk going on here. One guy said they lost this game because they didn't have 11 guys on the field. Sorry, Josh Johnson, but that's what Deebo said about the Eagles.

You know what Deebo said about Brad, you know, Bradbury and Slay and all that stuff. You know, Eagles hosting the Niners. I cannot wait for the NFC Championship game rematch. And I know what I'm saying when I say Burrow versus Mahomes is, you know, you can't even call it a piece of filet mignon.

It's a very special meal. But if I had to choose which championship game rematch, I would want to see the most and can't wait to see scheduled. It's this one. It's this one and I would love to see Purdy started and I'd love to see Purdy finish it. And I'm wondering if they're going to put it deeper into the season just to make sure if Purdy is the guy to see what it looks like so you could say, hey, this is the matchup we were hoping for. Number two on this list, we know it's not Thanksgiving because the Jets are hosting a Black Friday game at home against the Dolphins the day after Thanksgiving. But Rodgers at Dallas is going to be amazing. When is that going to be?

Chris, I think you're hitting it spot on. I think this is the first Sunday night game of the year. I would be stunned if NBC's crew doesn't go from Kansas City to Dallas and open up the Sunday night schedule. It was Brady at Dallas last year. This year's 12 is now wearing eight for the Jets for the first time back in Dallas, where he has a history, to say the least. Well, she got to kick off the season with the varsity, right? Yeah, the Jets, the Jets are the varsity this year. That's for sure.

Number one is, I think, obvious. It's the Super Bowl rematch. Eagles at Chiefs.

Let's go. When do we get that? When do we get that? I know everybody's pointing about what the Kelseys are going to be doing that night. Will it be week two?

That seems a little bit early for me, but when do we get it? Eagles at Chiefs. That's my NFL schedule release power rankings right here on the old Rich Eisen show.

Good job, man. I need that game like week seven, week eight. I need both those teams.

I need those teams at five, six, and oh, and then we get a big time major league showdown. There's a remember they put Brady in New England week four, right? Yeah, like I think we kind of need to get a little bit. We need some momentum on the season. I think week two is too early. Week two is too early because the first four weeks are kind of a de facto preseason anyway. So again, week seven, week eight. I think that's perfect. Middle of the season. Super Bowl rematch.

Let's go. Yeah. There were a couple other ones that I just couldn't crack the top 10 on that one. You know, and I also don't want to I don't want to I just don't want to see it too, you know, too deep into the Jets and the Chiefs.

You know what I'm saying? Just didn't want to get too deep into that because I could have, you know, the Chiefs were on this list two more times and they're already on it three times. I actually thought you were going to have all 10 Jets games. Nice. That's something I would have done. Happy to take your calls.

844-204 Rich number to dial. Omari Hardwick has hit traffic. Oh no. That's that's the hard in Hardwick right now. So when we come back, the Ravens offense front and center right here. It's a fascinating subject as far as I'm concerned.

Hopefully it will be for you. What does the offensive coordinator say? That's next.

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Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Hey, there's news in the association that has nothing to do with tonight's playoff games in which the Lakers can help us all crown a new champion by knocking out the defending champion warriors hanging on to try and force a game six and obviously the Knicks trying to force a game six in Miami on the Heat who can close out New York. The NBA is a new special advisor to basketball operations. You see this?

No. His name is Mike Krzyzewski. Coach K. Oh yeah?

The retired Coach K, everybody, is the new, let me get you for it, special advisor to basketball operations. You may ask, what does that mean? Yeah, Rich, what does that mean? Ah.

Rich, what does that mean? He will provide counsel to the league office, NBA team executives, and other leaders across the league on a host of issues related to the game. So he's just there. I don't know.

Was it? I'm confused. He said, this is a tremendous opportunity to deepen my connection to the NBA and participate in conversations about further strengthening the league and the game. I got a good one for you.

Maybe he can help figure out what's going on with Jason Tatum. Just in time for you. Join the league. First quarter, first quarter. What's going on in the first quarter? Wick, is that who runs it? Wick Grossbeck. Okay, Wick, hey, Wick Grossbeck, get Coach K on the phone, he'll come up with Missoula. Okay, and basically say, hey. Hey.

Number zero's unfortunately got the zero in the first quarter. Can we figure this out? Or, while we're at it. Keep going.

No, keep going. Just wind me up. Well, what's up with the Duke players in the NBA? Oh, come on now. Help out Zion.

How old is this rook of the year? Help out with Zion. Kyrie, let's keep going, right?

B.I. Yeah, all Duke versus all Kentucky who wins. End of story. I mean, after what I just showed you, you had graphics created for your point today.

You asked for production value and you received it. And these guys know I don't like Kentucky, so this was hard for me. Anthony Davis, Julius Randall, Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, Bam Adebayo, Jared Vanderbilt, Tyler Hero, IQ, and Tyrese Maxey. All ballin'. Come on. Wait. Tatum. Yes. Kyrie. Yes. Zion. Kyrie. Hello. Excuse me.

And Brandon Ingram? I mean, it's a good game. It's a good five.

It's a pretty good five. Right now, right now, right now, one guy can't play. Again. Well, Zion can play. They just chose not to play him.

Oh, is that what it is? Well, we don't know. He was doing 360 dunks.

We don't. He has to feel like Zion, right? The other guy, the other guy, you know, he crushed it. His first night in Dallas, he's hanging. He's a man of the people. He's going out.

He's hanging out with fans. This is great. I'm not in Brooklyn anymore. I forced my way out.

You know, everybody look at me now. I'm in Dallas. I got Luca. How'd that work out? I mean.

How'd that work out? They're tanking. It was a work in progress, Rich. They're tanking to make sure the Knicks don't get a first round pick, which, by the way, if the ping pong balls drop, when is that, next week?

Next week. It could be, yeah. Oh.

The Webayama lottery. Man. All right, let's.

Bonjour. Come on, man. You would really take the Duke guys over the Kentucky guys?

It's not like crazy. Seth Curry, Wendell Carter, R.J. Barrett. Please.

Real good team. I should have done the Duke just to satisfy myself. I want to see 25 out of R.J. Barrett tonight. That's the third guy. I want a Tyrese Maxey game out of R.J. Barrett. That's what I want. So there's Ben Lyons.

Because guess what? We get a Tyrese Maxey game out of R.J. Barrett. We're going to Miami for game six. There's a lot of good Duke guys. All the Plumleys, Austin Rivers. This is a really good Duke team. Well, you know, there's like four Plumleys.

Can you put that board up one more time? Get out of here. You know, I'm making talkies. Really good Duke team. Dude, get out of here. Just I know this may be recency bias. The only guy who can't play is Tyler Herro right now.

But get out of here. Jared Vanderbilt is guarding Seth Curry. And Devin Booker does not miss a jumper. Triple-double last game. Dude, come on.

OK. Zion guards A.D. Who guards Tatum on there? This is my Michigan bias. Maxey? Maybe it's my Michigan bias. Maybe it's my Michigan bias. There's no Michigan team. All Michigan team, Rich. Sorry.

No. My Michigan bias. Oh, you hate Duke? I don't like Duke. Like I said, now I can touch him.

Do you want me to draw a picture for you? Huh? All right. So that's our NBA coverage. I thought that was pretty good. Let's take this phone call right here. Geordie here in Los Angeles, California. What's up, Geordie? Hey, Rich. Hey, everyone. What's up, Geordie?

What's up, brother? Hey, Geordie. So I just want to give a quick shout out to the man who could, in his prime, be LT in a 40, DJ Mikey D. Thank you, Geordie.

I could have. In a 40 what, Geordie? That's what Mike said one time. I remember one time he mentioned that he could be prime. In his prime, he could be LT. I forgot about that. Facts. Lawrence Taylor, not LT. LaDania Tomlinson.

No, no, he's faster than me. Geordie, that was so ridiculous. I just forgot about it. What's on your mind? Yeah, I just wanted to call it because I got a what's more likely since we're looking at the game five tonight with the Lakers and Warriors. Okay.

So if the Warriors lose today, who's more likely to be a Laker next season, Draymond Green or Dylan Brooks? Oh, he watches the show. I watch the show, man.

Howdy, boy. You're speaking my language. Yeah, it's both. It's not both. They're both likely to be like next. Geordie, we got just slandered on social media when we came up with that idea. Come on, both.

It's not both. Oh, man, one of them is going to be a heat for sure. Well, that'll be Dylan Brooks is a good heat. Dylan Brooks is a good heat player. Yeah, Draymond on the Lakers. They win a championship.

Name it. Over. And by the way, Dylan Brooks is like Draymond without the rings and the Hall of Fame resume, but has all the attitude.

So you're saying he's Draymond from Wish? Thanks for the call, Geordie. Appreciate it. Call back, Geordie.

I like your style, kid. Come on, man. Really? Dylan Brooks and Draymond in the same breath. Come on.

One of them is playing for the Lakers next year. We know that somebody Draymond Draymond comes here. You know, he does his podcast from here.

He does all his work from here. Maybe. Oh, come on. They win a championship. Remember I told you Draymond wins one more somewhere else. Before going into the Hall of Fame.

Call that. Right here. We can't have the Lakers win anymore. Lakers. Lakers.

Still out. We can't have that. So Todd Munkin is the new offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens.

Munkin. Hey, man. This is, we're all assuming the Ravens are just going to run the same offense. A fullback, 15 tight ends, and Lamar doing nothing but running and then struggling to find someone in an end zone who plays wide receiver. OK, like that's literally what people are assuming right now. And if anybody's followed his career and saw what was going on with Georgia. That ain't what they did in Georgia.

So what is this, you know, offensive look like? And all the Ravens fans that are bitches like get Greg Roman out of here. Like thank you for taking us out of the Flacco era and putting us in the L.J. era in the middle of a season. Thank you for that. Thank you for his MVP season.

Thank you for that. But the last couple of years have just been paint drying type stuff. And that's a massive generalization, because let's not forget how that Ravens Dolphins game looked until the very end of that game, right? Yeah. At any rate, what's this offense going to look like? Well, we already know he's not given anything away, but the install is happening right now. And one thing that he's pointing out is to the players that have been brought in, Odell being one, Zay Flowers being another, as an indication of what this might look like.

How do I say this? Again, I think it goes back to the players that you have. I think the more talented you are around your quarterback, the less he has to burden, take on that burden, shoulder the load, because you're excited about getting others the football. Where they can utilize their skill set.

So I think that kind of answers itself. I think that as you get further into your career, as Lamar gets older, as everybody does, you want to take some of that off of the player as best as you can, but he has a unique trait, a unique skill set. You can't take that completely out of his toolbox, because that's a huge weapon for him and for us. He's using his feet. I don't think he runs as much next year.

I think he runs when he might be out of options on his routes that are being run, I imagine. Not the same player, obviously, but Ton Monken did coach Stetson Bennett last year. Stetson Bennett had 4,100 yards and 27 touchdowns. Do you think Lamar reaches those numbers? Yes. I mean 6,000 yards?

No. 4,100 yards. 27 touchdown passes. Lamar has only tossed that one time in his MVP year.

I don't think there's a... But in that MVP year, he only had 3,100 passing yards. Dude, if the running game...

I'm telling you, JK Dobbins can help take some of the running off the plate. But they've got receivers though now. I told you what he told us on that week 15.

I keep going back to those meetings that we had prior to Ravens and Browns, because a lot of that was them telling us how they expected Lamar to come back, and then he never did. Dobbins is like, I've never had 15 touches in a game, meaning ball in his belly 15 times a game. He's never had it.

He's like, it's time. And he's saying that his conditioning wasn't maybe up to snuff. And sure enough, in that game in Cleveland, he burst through the line.

He got caught from behind. All I'm saying is he can take some of the load off, and then you got Mark Andrews. He's going to be focused on... Like, good.

You try and take him out, and you got Odell there and Zay Flowers and Rashad Bateman. It's going to be different. It's going to be different. They still got Gus Edwards too, right? Yep. So... Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

And Roquan. I told you what Kaleis Campbell told me. Quan, Rich, as he told you. That's our buddy. That's Quan.

He told me that Roquan or Quan had been calling out the opponent's plays, you know, because of the study and his knowledge and whatever pre-snap, and he was wrong at that point in time. Only once. So... I'm high on it. It's just, it's got to... It's Lamar's world. He's now been paid. He's got to be active. He's got to be healthy.

He's got to be available. Let's go. Let's go.

But that's another big mystery is what that team's going to look like and all of that good stuff. Okay. Let's take a break. Omari Hardwick, I believe, has made his way through the traffic.

In the building. All right. Fantastic. We put him through the lot. We put him through a lot, and he's finally here.

He's coming up. The boys of summer are playing on the Believe Podcast. The product of baseball is much more watchable. Get your baseball fix from podcasts like Wake and Rake, Farm to Show, and Ring the Bell.

He's not really hitting ball through the screws. Plus local podcasts like Believe in Astros and Believe in the Bronx. You're going to have to get some more innings out of the rotation. Just search BLEAV Podcast wherever you listen. And we just saw that incredible scene. Our radio audience just returned. Omari Hardwick is here fresh off the 405. The mother played by Jennifer Lopez, and it's only on Netflix coming out on May the 12th.

This coming Friday, Omari Hardwick is here on the Rich Eisen Show. My mother was just a kindergarten teacher. You know what mine was too? She was a paraprofessional for kindergarten through maybe third grade. She was a paraprofessional.

Came from the same world. My mom taught kindergarten, first and second grade, and some of my childhood memories was helping her set up her classroom in the public school system in New York City. And now you're setting up this classroom. This is what we got.

Yes, and I am trying to make sure that these children, you know, to make sure that they don't act like, you know, like I'm a substitute teacher up front. It says best dad ever. And it's Mother's Day, and you got best dad ever.

Rich. Well, this is this is from Father's Day a few years ago. And I'm just trying to, you know, keep the crown, you know, keep the title. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Just trying to stay out of trouble.

I'm trying to stay out of trouble. And again, that brings us back to the mother on Netflix. What did you like about this film and being part of it and making it? To your point about helping your mom decorate, I think the fact that Hollywood is taking a turn for the better and allowing women at chronological age that in yesteryear of Hollywood, they wouldn't have been playing this kind of role. It was really a great opportunity for me to be next to a gen who, again, the better parts of 30 years old prior, she would have had to be to play this kind of role. And yes, yes, she's post 50 years old or something ish. Yes. Looking 33 years old. Careful.

Looking 33. Yes, indeed. And rocking and rolling and, you know, kicking butt and taking names while doing it. And it's just three movies in one. So our director, Nikki Caro, just did a phenomenal job of casting. And obviously, Jim was the perfect person for it. But I love just having this quiet sort of I was a wolf just trying to research, trying to stay loyal, not only to the cause of protecting her daughter, of course, but also to protect the mother.

And I think that afforded me something I haven't played prior and a real big ass, sexy film on Netflix, big ass, sexy film. Well, there you are without your shirt on. So oh, come on. Hey, listen, we only use the photographs at Netflix. What the heck?

Rich. I don't have to tell you it's better than better than any of anybody else on this set having a shirtless photograph. Smash cut to some shirts being taken off.

I saw hands being raised. It's a hell of a cast, too. Yes. So Paul Racy.

You know him, Rich. Of course. Sound of Metal got nominated recently, right?

Last four or five years. So Paul Racy, Joseph Fiennes, Gael Garcia, but now Lucy Pius, this young starlet who everybody will now know. The Jennifer Lopez, Jenny from the block. She is from the block still, isn't she? She's truly from the block, my bro. Where are you from originally? I'm from Decatur, which is still the block, 15 minutes southeast of Atlanta.

OK. I say the block, Rich, because and you know, Atlanta, it is not gentrified in that one little area, not even an attempt to gentrify it. So we definitely were raised by a mom and a pop who put us in a safe enough environment. But we were definitely hood adjacent.

So I am it's not the four or five leading to certain parts of California. It is different. And she's from the Bronx. She's from the BX. She's from the BX. I'm from Staten Island. That's different, too, bro. Well, Rich.

Yes, Staten Island is. I mean, is you in? Method, man. Is RZA?

Is Method? Is just are you Wu Tang member? I am.

Are you the ninth member or maybe the 11th member of the Wu Tang clan? I don't know how deep the death chart goes, but you might be kind of there. Yeah, you're up there. Don't say down there. OK, I'm up there.

Yes, I'm on that list. We had Method man here. Holler at your boy. That's what he said. That's what he said.

How quick was that? That's my man right there. I don't know about taking shirts off, but you guys, y'all taking some things off. We got it all.

It's happening up in this piece. We got it all. You see, I doubled up the shirt effort today.

I'm like, I'm not even coming close it. I like what you got on. Thank you. Thank you. My brother. You have come correct today.

Look at you, you player. Next time, Rich, we're going to put two best dads of a coolest dad ever. How old are your kids?

Amari? Ten and eight. Ten and eight. So you're in it. Boy, girl. What do you got? That a girl is ten and a boy is eight.

OK, I'm in it. So you know the girl is taking care of you. That's the one who's taking care of you.

So my uncle called immediately and that uncle said you just extended your shelf life. I said, what do you mean? He said you had a daughter. And then when the son was born, he said, you just took that. He said, why? What is your issue? Amari, why would you do that?

I said, I got to look down and say, I don't know why he did that. I know. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Yeah, because the boys, I adore my boys. They, you know, they are like, you know, poop throwing monkeys compared to this girl who is sharp as a tack.

I know. I shouldn't I shouldn't say that into a microphone because they're there. They all both suspect like we're, you know, we love your sons.

You know, all of your sons. We love it. Right.

It's not true. I love them all the same. But you got three. I do. So that's difficult because you're left to say you probably have a favorite. Well, no, I don't. Well, you only have one girl. No, I don't have a favorite. I don't have a favorite. I don't.

I love all my children just the same. The the the the third, though, means you've got to play zone defense. That's the issue different right now. You're you're playing you're playing man to man.

Yeah, you're you're locked up. Yeah. You got one thing. I can play the passing lane. You can.

Shout out to Allen Iverson or even Steph Curry. They're passing lane defenders, right? They're like, oh, they can. They can. Sometimes sometimes they may, you know, get thrown off by a hard pick or something like that.

That's right. Right now we're we're we're playing zone. A little match up zone.

Little shout out to your Syracuse orange. Well, yeah, a little match up zone. But which kid is most like Rich? Which kid is most like Pop?

Which one is most like? I don't know. Is that the middle kid? Is that number two? Is that middle?

No, because he had a grand slam in Little League and I talk about this for a purpose because I could never do that. So that's not me. I don't know. My oldest likes a microphone. That's a microphone.

So does my youngest. I don't know. They're all good. Wow. You really threw me. I'm just the best dad ever.

You are the best dad ever. I want to hold it up. There you go. You can hold it up. You can.

I don't want to bump the mic. You're fine. There you go. You are too.

Guys, this is not related to me. So are you are you. This is rich. And there's a reason. Eyes on Rich Eisen.

Ladies and gentlemen, Omari Hardwick. That's a very by the way. Is that a very good best dad ever. I have now back. Okay. I had that.

I had that title taken from me by about 15 seconds. Omari, is that Rich's woo name? Eyes on. Oh, that would be dope. Yeah.

I think RZA would love that. Eyes on. You got mess.

RZA, Ghostface, Killer. Out of everybody. Inspect the deck. Yeah, I did take my eyes on. I said you got eyes on.

I did take my son to SZA. Did you take this is different. Yes, she is. She is different.

Yes, she is. My son's like, you'll love her music, dad. And I'm like, okay.

Okay. And then, you know, I listened to some of it. My father turned over in his grave. Did you feel it? And then we felt it.

I did feel it. And he wasn't dancing, was he? He was like, you're not pop. You're not really doing the gritty. Like pop. That's not the gritty. I'm like, did she really say that?

No, it's different. She's incredibly talented. Very talented.

But the access now that they have to everything rich just exacerbates their moment of saying some stuff that makes you go, would I do that? I hope my son has that takeaway. He loves SZA.

My God, he can't get it out. SZA's gifted. Shout out to SZA and your son.

She is exactly that. Thank you. I appreciate that.

I got Omari Hardwick here on the Rich Eisen Show. How much power do you get when you're walking around? How much of that do you get from people? Yeah, I get it still. You know, what happened, Rich, was that there was not. It's one thing in basketball, football, baseball, the world sport, soccer, tennis, whatever. Everybody is still playing themselves. So I said to somebody to a fan the other day, she said, Omari, you can never be offended. The fans are saying that you just that role. And I'm like, I try to bring that to every performance.

It would be as if one performance from one of the greats in any respective sport that someone relegates them to only that singular performance for that singular game. Right. You know, I mean, it's like almost going, forget you, Kareem. You got hurt.

We know the story. Magic went in. Forty five points. Rookie year. Playing center. Garden five people. You're out.

Kareem goes, wait, I got like thirty thousand more games to play. Now you're out. So it's it's an interesting thing to have the love conjoined with cool.

The mother. I get it, though. But when you coming back for power.

Yeah, I see you were promoting some. But what are we what's happening with because it goes come back right. And it's hard. It's not hard in terms of it not being obviously a blessing. It's a quality dilemma to have one fan in life. Rich is crazy to have two fans is a lot, of course. So to have, as you know, the number of fans that you and I get to walk down the street and have people stop and go, Rich, Amari.

That melts me with humility, but it is interesting where Amari wears characters and they get sold out into that versus the guy playing the character. Well, they just obviously love your performance in it and they loved what you were able to do with your performance. And they connected with you because of that. And they adore you because I'm the best dad ever. You are that and they'll follow you. But even as ghosts, even putting bullets in people's head and selling illegal narcotics throughout the greater parts. Well, they know it's not you.

It's not you. That's why it's called an antihero. You know what I mean? I loved it. And so I love playing him and I still forever miss the opportunity. This is what I miss. I never got to say this.

OK. But Rich Eisenshow makes this. But this is eyes on guys. Eyes on. This is some Wu-Tang. This is a shout out to Meth Man. Oh, he's trying to get the drop, Mike.

He's trying to get the drop. They didn't do it, Rich. No, he didn't. He's got it. Holler at your boy. OK, I'm going to holler at you. So what this opportunity is affording me, Rich, is the moment of saying what I miss most when people go, yo, you miss it?

Yeah. I go, this is what I haven't been able to say. I miss most the opportunity to take the story to where I thought it could be taken in terms of the ending. Rest in peace, Jimmy Gandolfini, when you think about the fact that like a beautiful collective of art that you and I go to the Getty to look at and you come out with one thought, Rich, and I come out with another thought. And then we go and we have a couple of brews together and we go, what would you think about that Jackson Pollock?

And I go, what do you think about that one? For me, it's the fact that we left a beautiful audience that I need everybody who's looking at this interview on the Rich Eisen Show to hear me say I can never be more humble than what Curtis, Courtney, Mark Canton, Chris Albrecht, Carmie Zlotnick stars as a network, my castmates, my crew, all the C's, all befitting. What everyone afforded me an opportunity for my life to change. But most importantly, giving the fans what I thought they deserve, which was the right and more appropriate ending. Not that the spinoffs couldn't happen.

That's dope. But the right and appropriate ending. I wish and miss perhaps that opportunity. And I've never been able to say that. And this is the first time I've said, well, there it is. It's that.

That's what I miss. I want to give absolutely the fans what they're saying. So come back.

I want to come back for that specific reality. But sometimes you can't rewrite that which has already been written. Understood. Nas said it.

I appreciate you. Do we have a drop where Nas goes, it was written? We don't. We can do that.

Do you have anything close to that? SZA. Did she get anything about it was written? I don't know if SZA, anything that she could say could be broadcast on to this, based on what I heard that night at the forum. But shout outs to the 405 traffic. That's right, 405 traffic. The forum. That's I mean.

Everybody should watch The Mother on Netflix available on Roku once you can check it out on May the 12th. And I got about 90 seconds left. Do you have any thoughts on the NBA playoffs? Who do you think is going to win it all? Yeah, I mean, I guess, you know, Philly's looking interesting because I really was thinking that I was hoping that we saw a repeat. I like the repeats in the sense of Miami and the Celtics again.

Sure. So Philly's kind of like surprised me a bit in terms of the steadfastness. But I love Doc Rivers.

And as you know, Rich, I was raised with him being the point guard for my Dominique. And the Hawks are always that. They're always my Hawks and my Dominique and my Doc Rivers. So I can't not root for them. But I'm rooting for a very, very cool turn at the end where we see some game seven in that final man.

Whoever ends up in it. Shout outs to the Lakers. LeBron's sustenance.

Looking like freaking Serena, how she did with tennis. He's looking like he's doing that with basketball. Yeah. You know, not just because he was my boss. And now I can say we work together, which is crazy that he's got that part of him, too. Absolutely.

But the fact that he's still getting it in like that. Twenty seven and six and nine per every night. Yeah.

That's pretty special, man. So it'll be interesting to see what the Lakers do while people navigate that four or five crap to watch them rock and roll. Well, I don't think it's the 10 with them, right? The 10 free ones?

Yeah, I guess so. 10 goes east. Not to go all traffic and weather together on you at the end of this interview. Thank you for coming on. Thank you for having me, man.

I appreciate it. Let's do this more often. We need to go. We haven't done it in about three years. We'll do it again. Omari Hardwick, the mother on Netflix.

It releases globally on Friday, May 12th. You love Lala Kent on Vanderpump Rules. Now get to know her on Give Them Lala. With her assistant Jess. What you did not see is when Raquel arrives and she wants to talk to me, I made her sit in a corner. Explain. Sat in a corner booth all by herself in the dark. Waiting for to talk to you. Waiting for me to finish dancing to 50 Cent. It's my birthday. Sit in a corner. Give Them Lala wherever you listen.