REShow: T.J. Newman - Hour 2 (6-9-2023)

This is the Rich Eisen Show with guest host Mike Hill.

I don't understand the devaluation of the running back position. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The Vikings in my mind are not a better team the minute they release Dalvin Cook. And in the NFC North, guess who's up? Hey Detroit Lions. Earlier on the show, senior writer for the athletic Joe Vardon. Coming up, author TJ Newman, box sports NVA analyst Jim Jackson, actor and comedian Guy Torrey. And now sitting in for Rich, it's Mike Hill.

That's right. Hanging in for Rich Eisen on the Rich Eisen Show on this Friday. Mike Hill hanging out back again for the first time in a long time. Hope to come back again soon.

One hour in the books, two more hours ago. Once again, TJ Newman coming up on the show. My friend Jim Jackson and Guy Torrey, who are both coming up in the 11 o'clock Pacific hour as well. We was talking about Nikola Jokic right before the break and saying about his play not being memorable in 20, 30 years, maybe even though he's going to be a top five center of all time. People won't be throwing his name out there as one of the top players of all time only because you can see what he does on the basketball court, but because his personality isn't memorable or it's a little bit boring, people will just kind of forget you a little bit. So shout out to the people that are listening.

I love it when I get tweets. Mile High Greco, he hit me a tweet, said, no way you would say Jokic is boring if you played in LA or Boston. It's just because he plays in Denver. The Denver fans are sensitive, Mike, I will say. Be careful.

It's the thing. I care about you. Hold on. Denver fans are sensitive. LA fans are sensitive. Laker fans are really, most fans are sensitive. I get it.

I understand that. Cowboy fans are sensitive. It's your team.

You can't talk smack about somebody else's team. It's almost like if you know you got a bad ass kid, if you got a bad kid, you can say what you want to about your kid. About your own kid. But nobody else better say anything about your kid.

You know what I mean? Don't talk about my kid. I know my kid is bad. I know my kid gets in trouble all the time, but that's my kid.

You can't talk about my kid. So when it comes to their team, yeah, they can be critical of their team. And a shout out to, you know, Denver getting into the NBA Finals. What I was saying was, and it's true to be honest with you, because if he did play in LA, say Jokic played alongside LeBron James. Oh, that wouldn't be fair. Think about that. We don't need that, TJ.

He would probably be a household name. You think Powell Gasol was a household name before he played for the Lakers and Kobe Bryant? Powell Gasol in Memphis?

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You know what I mean? And I love Powell Gasol. Powell Gasol, the Hall of Famer.

You know what I mean? And he won championships with the Lakers. But it's like, okay, was he a memorable guy?

Was he that guy that people was going to, oh, I don't know Powell. No, when you're with the Lakers, with the Celtics, when you're with the Knicks, obviously, if you're there and you're a star, you're going to be known. People are always going to remember. But once again, we're talking about transcending and not just NBA fans. We're talking about becoming like, once again, a household name. Steph Curry is known. LeBron James is known worldwide.

Giannis, maybe just because he's the Greek freak and people know him by the Greek freak. He's known. People know who that is. Jason Tatum's getting there, but maybe still not known. Needs a breakthrough. Needs that breakthrough. Needs to win a title.

Yeah. But these people are known. These are like people who transcend sports and cross over and become these household names. And I think as great as Jokic is, and he's phenomenal.

He is phenomenal. Once again, you think about it, man, people like top 10 all time. Top 10, blah, blah, blah. Jordan, LeBron, Magic, Kobe, you know, Wilt, maybe cream, blah, blah, blah. People forget about Tim Duncan. They do. And they shouldn't forget about Tim Duncan.

Absolutely. But they forget about Tim Duncan only because he played with the Spurs, which a lot of people are comparing the Denver Nuggets to the Spurs teams that won the championships with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. They're even comparing Tim Duncan and Tony Parker to Jamal Murray and Jokic right now.

In a sense, they play great basketball and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm just saying it's a shame in a sense that part of being memorable is that swagger, man. Part of being memorable is having that personality.

Magic Johnson, personality. Sure. Yeah.

Love them. Personality. Personality. Plus big smile. Great.

Do all that. Magic. You know, it's a showtime, man.

Showtime, baby. Personality. LeBron James is seeing it because he's just so great, so tremendous. And we've been talking about LeBron James since he was in high school and he's got a personality and he's outspoken. He'll speak up on things. Kevin Durant is, you know, surly. But still, it's part of a personality. You know what I mean? It's still, it's the, Joker's like, yeah, I'm, nothing wrong with that.

If that's what you want to do. Just a cool stat. John Stockton, no personality. Zero. People don't remember that. You know what I mean? And once again, I know sports fans are going to jump on.

It's like, well, we remember them and that's what matters. But I'm talking about like to cross over, transcend, be that person that my mom knows about. If I'm talking about Jokic right now. Hey mom, you know who the Joker is? You mean Batman's archenemy. Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger, which one are you talking about? Yeah. Has no idea who I'm talking about. You know what I'm saying?

So that's what I'm talking about. Joker and some commercials. We need a bit of movie, right? Like train wreck two with the Joker. This, this is, I don't even know if that's what he's interested in doing, probably, but we, people know who, uh, Boban is commercials.

John wick. Come on saying this in the color. Jokic is a two time MVP.

It should name one national commercial. You, you've seen Jokic. I don't know. Have you seen him? Have you seen him endorse anything?

No, I don't think so. Two time MVP could have been a third, five time, all NBA, six time, all NBA, six time all star. Never seen him in the commercial. Once again, maybe he just wants to play basketball and I get that. And I understand that, but I'm just talking about, man, it's going to be a shame that in 15 years when he's retired and then 20 years, we'll replay his highlights. When he goes to the hall of fame, he'll be on the all 100 team. All 100 team.

Yeah. All 100 team. Uh, they'll replay the NBA finals. When Denver goes back in 10 years or whatever. Hey, you remember this?

And they'll see the highlights. Oh man, remember? Oh my God, how great he was, whatever. And heaven forbid any kind of injuries, because that will make you really fall off. Yeah.

You could be great one month. Steve Nash, two time MVP. How many times people bring him up as one of the greatest point guards of all time. Yeah. Unfortunate.

Unfortunate. Now I love Steve. Steve Nash got a little swagger to him.

A little personality. Yeah. Steve Nash was a dude in a weird way, like a Bill Walton type, like the way they play Bill Walton, a little more post player, obviously, but we know Bill Walton got personality. We know Bill Walton is the announcer, crazy, boisterous, says whatever. Yeah. Says whatever, says whatever he wants to.

That's what I'm saying is all of that plays. Hey man, Bill Walton. I remember the first time I met Bill Walton, Bill Walton came on the set of ESPN and I had a list of five questions for a seven minute interview with Bill Walton. You know how many questions I got through? Half.

I don't even think I got the question out. Hey Bill, how's it going? It was like the great Bill Walton and Bill Walton started talking and I'm like, Hey, thanks Bill. Mike, we're here. You're there.

I love life. You know what I think Joker needs, right? He needs a little penny type doll. He was a little Joker, just a little doll that he can, you know, you'd have him do the commercial. He can do, we find some comedian who's funny and have them like a little Joker.

And then that little doll, much like little penny could be the personality. And that's how we get Joker over. TJ is a genius. TJ is a genius. It's almost like, you remember that skit on key and peel with Obama with the handshakes and the handshakes.

Yeah. It was not the handshakes, but the one where he was like, he had the, the, the, the, the, the guy was acting like what Obama wanted to say, the interpreter, the interpreter of what Obama wanted to say. Maybe, maybe if they got like a little Joker dolls, like little yokels dolls, whatever, let Chris rock do the voice. Like little penny, you know, little Joker.

There were nuggets, TJ, right now. I mean like whoever's marketing right now for no, no, I don't know who's marketing for them, but that's a genius idea. And then he could talk all the trash that the Joker won't talk, you know, and, and say it in his native language.

So they wouldn't even know what he's talking about. Have him ride one of those Rob Dyrdek mini horses. Oh man. Shout out, big Rob. Yeah, man. Shout out. That's awesome. Little Joker.

Yeah. Uh, TJ Newman's coming up, uh, author drowning the rescue of flight 1421. It's an, uh, interview that rich actually did before he left. So you're going to see rich Becky. He's where is he on vacation? Vacation. Rich is going to Europe. That's what's up, man.

Oh yeah. I've never been to Europe. I think, did you see, do you watch Ted Lasso, Mike? I have not. Not in your realm yet.

I have not. I posted a picture outside of the famous restaurant in there. The, the taste of Athens is actually an Italian restaurant. Rich posted that this morning. Is that where that was? He's already there. He's in London first. Yeah. He left yesterday after the show. First thing's smoking. Wow. Yesterday afternoon.

I mean, because you got to go to the East coast before you get over there. I don't remember. He was on the show yesterday. Three o'clock flight. London. See ya.

Wow. So he was like the airport's like right around the corner. So he was like left here and went right to the airport. See you guys.

Like Shaq. Peace. I got to go. It's time to go. Now a summit.

And make sure it's broke. Um, a little bit later, I want to talk a little NFL because, uh, unlike TJ, I got one college football team. Oh, here you go, Mike Hill. I'm an Alabama Crimson. Mac Jones is your quarterback in New England. Jones, Jalen hurts getting this money in Philadelphia.

Uh, Syria, Syria came out today. He says the most coachable player he's ever had. It's awesome. I think he's going to be, have another great season. Bryce Young though, taking QB one reps. Bryce Young with Carolina. Elevated the QB one for Carolina. Watch out for this kid.

I'm gonna tell you right now, man. I like Bryce Young. You think he's gonna be the truth? I love, I wish Bryce Young was my fan. I wish he was my son. I wish, I wish, no, not only do I wish Bryce Jones, my, I wish Bryce Young would marry my daughters.

Both of them. Well, then you have to move to Utah. I don't care. I'll make it legal. I'm like, Hey, Bryce is Bryce. Y'all need to share him. He's good. I love Bryce and not man. I love smart players, man. Yeah.

Right. I just, Bryce Young is smart and I, I'm not surprised by that move with Frank Wright to elevate him to QB one. I mean, he's going to be, as long as he's, this is big, stays healthy. Obviously we saw that with Tua. How about the Alabama quarterbacks lately, man? Having a little run. Having a run if Tua can stay healthy. But Bryce Young, I'm telling you out of all those quarterbacks, man, Bryce Young is going to be the truth because he knows what to do with the football, when to do it with the football. He knows when to run. He's not a running quarterback, but he can run. He's always looking down the field.

He's just smart. It was rare in the two years that Bryce Jones was the starting quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide that I saw Bryce and like, what are you doing? I, I don't, I may have said that maybe once in the two full seasons that he played there, of course, winning the Heisman Trophy two years ago. And I actually had a Heisman ballot this year and I picked him third this year, even though he missed in games because he's just that good.

He means that much to that team. And so I got in trouble because I said something on Twitter, like he didn't, he didn't have any wide receivers like he had, you know, in years past, you know, he had no wide receivers. The wide receivers weren't stepping up. He had a pretty good tight here. Obviously had Jameer Gibbs in the backfield and Jameer Gibbs is a weapon. But man, if you really looked at it, Jameer Gibbs didn't even really play a lot of times on third down, even though he's a third down back to because of pass protection and he had issues in that.

But Bryce, man, despite the leaky line, despite not having wide receivers to throw to, Bryce made all the right plays. And that's what I want to see out of my quarterback. When you have a quarterback, whoever your whoever your team is, how many teams you got, TJ?

No matter how many quarterbacks, how many teams you got, you want your quarterback. One NFL one. Well, we were talking about college. Yeah.

Like six. What are you talking about? I mean, I don't understand how you can be a Penn State and Pittsburgh fan, too. And then Florida State, you know, I was with you for a second, bro. I was like, because you explained it all like I was born here and then we went to games here, you know what I mean? And then I saw Florida State and I saw Deion Sanders with his Jerry curl.

It was wet, but it's really dry, you know, on Sports Illustrated. And I became prime time. And they did it. That was it. Just those three. I still don't get it, man. That that that makes anyway.

Back to my point. You want a quarterback on your team that's going to make the right decisions. I don't care how great like Josh, who's a Bills fan here? Anybody a Bills fan? Actually, Mike Hoskins in the back.

Yeah, our producer, Mike Hoskins, he's a he's a big Bills fan. And, you know, he's going to be on the cover of Madden this year. Led the league in interceptions last year, trying to do too much. And there's nothing wrong with trying to do too much. Like I like gunslingers.

Don't get me wrong. I like a wrong like Brett Favre and guys like that. I don't mind every now and then throwing an interception if you're trying to make something happen. Big Ben, who used to hold on to the ball too long, trying to make something happen. Josh trying to make some things happen.

I like that. But at the same time, there have been so many times where I've seen you, especially in the red zone in critical situations, man, make the right play. Bryce Young makes the right play. He's going to be a superstar in the NFL, and he's going to be a multiple time pro bowler in an all pro. I guarantee it. Lock it in.

T.J. Newman, author coming up next with Rich right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Men, do you get distracted during the day thinking about your underarm, sweating, itching or emitting an odor? Do those thoughts keep you from showing care when it counts? New and improved Dove Men Plus Care Antiperspirant with 72 hours sweat and odor protection and one quarter moisturizing cream helps you forget about your underarm so you can be present for the moments that matter. Don't let underarm insecurities keep you at arm's distance from the ones you care about.

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Yeah. Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum wherever you listen. T.J. Newman here on the Rich Eisen Show, and we are back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger is the right product for you.

Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by. The New York Times best selling author of Falling is out with a new book of where you can get all your books right now drowning. The Rescue of Flight 1421. The author right here in the flesh right here in studio T.J. Newman. Good to see you again. I just chatted with you for the Roku audience. I couldn't be happier for your success.

It is pretty amazing. Your story. Let's talk about your story a little bit here. So you've always wanted to write books. Is that the way it's been since you were a little girl growing up in Arizona?

Absolutely. I was a lifelong reader, a lifelong writer. My first sort of creative pursuit that I went after was theater. I studied theater in college and then I moved to New York and did the whole, you know, starving artists. Try to make it go to auditions at 5 a.m. And then your, you know, your restaurant job that night.

Yes. And after a few years of not doing anything, not getting anything, I left and I moved back home to Phoenix and I moved back in with my parents and did the whole, you know, mid 20s living in your childhood bedroom. What do I do with my life now that I have a degree in musical theater and the theater community just told me I wasn't good enough. And that's when I got a job at the local ending bookstore up the street. And that is when my dream of being a professional writer really became a concrete goal.

And so how did you work towards that? I started writing at night in secret in my bedroom. I didn't tell anybody I was doing it because I just come off of this, you know, embarrassing failure of not getting my dreams.

So I started writing in secret and didn't tell anybody. And then I left the store to go become a flight attendant. My my mom was a flight attendant. My sister was a flight attendant.

We call it the family business. OK. And it was there that I had the idea for my first book. And that's when kind of all the threads started coming together. OK, so let's talk about this. You are a flight attendant and you come up with an idea for a book on the plane, like during your job. Yeah. That's where you came up with the idea for falling. Yep.

Essentially for both books. But my first book came to me on a red eye. I loved working red eyes and I was flying L.A. to JFK and I was standing at the front of the cabin, sort of looking out into the plane. It's dark and it's quiet and it's cold. It's a red eye.

Everyone's asleep. And I have this thought, you know, that their lives and my life and all of our lives are in the hands of the pilots. Yes, I've had that thought many times.

It's fairly obvious. It's not really exactly groundbreaking. But it is it is a significant amount of responsibility placed on the shoulders of the actual pilots.

Exactly right. And it was the first time that I had sort of the flip side of that thought, which is that with that much power and responsibility, how vulnerable does that make the pilots? And I couldn't shake the thought. And so a few days later, I was working a different trip with a different set of pilots. And I just threw out one day to the captain that I was flying with. I was like, hey, question, what would you do if your family was taken and you were told that if you didn't crash the plane, they would be killed?

What would you do? And the look on his face terrified me because I knew that he didn't have an answer. And I could tell that that terrified him.

And that was the moment that I knew I had the makings of my first novel. OK. Are you sure he wasn't terrified that one of his flight attendants was thinking this way on the flight? You sure this was a this wasn't a him problem.

It was a you problem. I'm sure there was somewhere in there, but, you know, we made it through the rest of the trip without incident. That's very good. So that's where the idea of falling comes from. And I saw this photograph recently in preparation for our conversation. Is this you coming up with some of the ideas for falling on a Virgin America cocktail napkin that you would normally be serving whatever beverages have been requested by the passengers?

That's exactly what that is. I had the idea for the book and I got to work and I worked a lot of red eyes and I put the passengers to sleep and then I would write and I would write by hand in the forward galley. And I would write, you know, on the back of the passenger manifest or a catering bill or sometimes I'd grab a cocktail napkin and just scribble down a note or an idea before I lost it, before somebody, you know, came around the corner and asked for a Diet Coke.

And I lost that good idea. And that's how I cobbled together my first book, just flight after flight after flight. And then you would go once you were done with your flight to a hotel room or back to your home and actually get those thoughts out into prose. Exactly right. And I always think back, it's like they're that first draft of that book is in trash cans at hotels all over this country, as I would, you know, take those those original notes and then put them on my computer, then throw the rest of it away. Right.

Yeah. OK, so then you finally put the book together. Then what happens? Then I didn't know what was next because I don't know anybody in publishing. I don't know how to get, you know, this book published. So I literally bought a book called The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published and I read it and I followed the directions. And step one is get a literary agent. So then I discovered what you have to do to that.

You send off your information, you know, sample pages, a query letter, you call it, which is basically like a pitch saying, this is my book, this is me, this is something you should want to represent. And so I have high hopes and I send out this book that I believe deeply in and 41 agents in a row reject me. Wow. Forty one. Yeah. Who was 42 then?

Forty two was my one and only yes. His name is Shane Salerno of the Story Factory. And I sent it off and he's a he's a pretty big fish. He's a he's a big agent. He's a writer himself. He's a screenwriter.

And and he was a a big catch. That's why I waited till 42 to write to him, because I was like, there's no way this guy would ever look at my stuff. So when I when I sent my information to him, I scribbled down like a handwritten note that I put in with my pitch and the note was like, I don't know what the specifics were, but it was like. Have I got a story for you? Let me you know, help me help you, because you're going to want to represent this, which could not have been further from how I felt. I'm on rejection 42.

You know, I didn't feel like this at all, but you throw Hail Marys at that point, you got nothing to lose. So I send this off and the rest is on the stars. Well, when I first tried to get on television, I was in Redding, California, in the local ABC affiliate, Northern California, the Redding Chico Market. And I wanted to be on SportsCenter. I wanted to be on ESPN. So I was doing everything that I could in my on air style to mimic what I wanted to do on SportsCenter. And I just sent a tape to a headhunter under the same, you know, construct as you, which is like it's first class postage. What do I care?

You know what I mean? Like, but I got to keep knocking on the doors and I got a phone call at work one day from an agent saying they heard from a headhunter. You got to reach out to this sportscaster. And I had no idea this was going on behind the scenes.

None. It was like literally getting a call saying you've won the lottery, you know, like or a lightning strike. Where were you when you got a call from the agent? Like, do you do you remember where you were when you got that moment where you knew you had you caught that big fish?

I do. But it was actually the third time around my phone. I remember being at my parents' house. I went to my parents' house for dinner and my phone rings and it was like an unidentified L.A. number, which I assumed was like a robocall. Right.

So I declined it, sent it to voicemail. And then something in the back of my mind goes, didn't I get an L.A. number a few days ago? That's weird.

There's not many like L.A. number robocalls. That's strange. Right.

Then I put two and two together and I look back at the numbers. Oh, it's him. He's been trying. I've got several voicemails that I haven't seen from that agent.

The only agent who has shown any interest, basically. I've now declined and sent to voicemail. He's on the Pay No Mind list. What the hell? Exactly. So I'm freaking out. Of course, I call back. I get his voicemail. So I leave a message, you know, where I don't get him. And I think you've blown it right at this point in time.

One hundred percent. This is my only shot. And I've blown it. So I call him. I had I was going on a backpacking trip in northern Arizona and I was going to be out of cell service for an entire week in the woods.

Exactly. And I can't get a hold of him. So I leave him a voicemail and I say, hey, it's TJ, you know, just trying to get a hold of you. Just want to let you know I'm going on this trip. If I we don't connect, I'll circle back in a week when I'm when I'm out of the woods. So that night my phone rings as I'm driving from the restaurant back to the hotel before we leave the next morning. And I'm with a friend of mine who's a fellow flight attendant as well, who has no idea that I've written a book, no idea that this is a dream that you're spending your time and galleys doing this knows nothing.

OK. So my phone rings and I pull the car over to the shoulder of the road and we're in the woods like right. It's dark.

It's pitch black. And I'm pulling the car over. My friend's looking around like, what is happening? And I throw it in park and I say, OK, this is going to be really weird, but I promise I'll explain everything. But I got to take this call.

Right. She's like, OK, so I take the call. Call goes amazing. And my friend, I hang up the phone and my friend just looks at me like.

What was that? And I turned to my friend and I go, I don't know for sure, but I think there's a very good chance that my entire life just changed. Wow. And I have. And currently you are one of the best, best selling authors on planet Earth, TJ Newman. That is a fact.

I'm not overstating what I just said. That is amazing. Do you ever sit around going, what the hell?

I pinch myself every day. I still can't believe any of this has happened. I can't believe I'm sitting here talking to you and I'm on the New York Times bestseller list like that's on my resume now. Like that's that's insane.

That's it's I'm I'm having the time of my life and it's it's really a blessing. And bidding war is now happening, drowning the rescue of Flight 1421, where where books can be acquired right now about a plane that goes down six minutes after takeoff into the Pacific Ocean. And then what happens that you can just hook people in a little bit here if they don't already know or haven't already bought it and read it as of right now? It's it's it's the story of the rescue of Flight 1421, a flight from Honolulu to San Francisco that, as you said, crashes into the ocean six minutes after takeoff. The passengers immediately evacuate until an explosion forces those who didn't get out in time to close the doors. But it's too late. Plane floods and sinks with 12 people trapped inside, including a father and his 11 year old daughter.

So now their only hope is survival lies with an elite rescue team on the surface led by her mother and his soon to be ex wife. And that's the way you're hooked into it. Wow. And this is this is another idea you had in the middle of a red eye when you were a flight attendant.

That's exactly right. I was working a flight from Hawaii back to the mainland, back to L.A. It's a red eye. Everybody's asleep. And I'm standing in the forward galley where I wrote most of the first book. And I'm looking out, you know, the the small porthole window in the door. I'm looking out the window and I'm looking out at nothing. Right.

Yeah. I mean, there's nothing out there, miles and hours in any direction. There's no city lights. There's no civilization.

There's nothing but pitch black void of water. And so the way my brain works, I start thinking, well, what if something goes wrong? What if we go down? Who's going to find us? How are they going to find us? How are they going to save us?

How are we going to save ourselves? And that was sort of the launching point in which I started to discover this story. Now, when you're writing this, do you think of.

Who would play these parts in a in a made for movie version of it? Do you think about that sort of stuff? I really don't, because first of all, film deal is just such a huge privilege and such a big thing that I would never think like, well, this will someday be understood. Yeah. So that just feels sort of weird to begin with.

But also, too, if I'm I always think I need to figure out who these characters are first. Right. Because an actor plays a character, not the other way around.

So if I'm thinking about Harrison Ford, then I'm going to write Harrison Ford when really that's when there's a president on the plane, though. Right. Right. Exactly. Yeah. He's done the whole thing. He's done it. Maybe that's why he comes to mind, because sure, he's yeah, you picture him there.

So that's why I don't really envision anybody. All right. So and falling has you has been already struck. You struck a deal for falling to be made into a movie. I have.

Falling is with Universal and working title and then drowning is with Warner Brothers. OK, so you've made book deals and movie deals off the book deals. I know.

Unbelievable. Do we know who's attached to either of these? I'm not sure I'm allowed to say anything that will come in. You know, I've signed a bunch of stuff. OK, but people have been attached. Well, I'm not even sure I'm allowed to say that.

How about that? I don't want to get you in trouble, T.J. Newman, you're in the rich as a joke. As a matter of fact, you know, I like leaving guests who are kind enough to come in here in a better spot. And you've been you're clearly in a great spot in your life, but I'm trying to make it a little better.

I have an idea for you for another, I guess, aviation related book, if that's something that you were interested in. Clearly, you are. The idea is you're on a flight, somebody's on a plane and the person near them takes their shoes off. And it is bad because the shoes are taken off, that's the idea, and then you can go from there, just the shoes are off and that is a disaster in itself. Would you agree with that notion or no?

I would. And that is a disaster. But I do have to say I write thrillers and that's horror. And so I'm not I'm not I'm I'm going to I'll leave that to be the story you write. Bless you for that, because I'm bringing you to that point. Because I'm bringing up much to no doubt your dismay and chagrin. And I apologize for roping you in, Chris.

This is ridiculous. Well, what? Because you he takes his shoes off on planes. What would you say to that, TJ?

It's a five hour flight. Why why why why should I keep my shoes on? What do you think about that? I will say this. Do you walk around without your shoes on?

It's literally just in my seat. What do you think? I'm not a psycho. I'm not going to the bathroom with no shoes. People do that, don't they?

Oh, do they ever. Now, how would you counsel for these people? I to each their own and I'm not on a plane to mother anyone, but as a flight attendant who knows what happens in those bathrooms. And I would advise keeping your shoes on at all points in time. OK, so that's the horror.

That's not a thriller. OK, so then here's another one. I'm going to keep trying here. You're sitting on a plane and the person next to you does not stop talking. I mean, does not stop talking.

And do you know anybody over there who is that person? Mike, do you want to you want to you want to step up? I've changed.

I do not talk like I used to tell you something. I love that man over there. He's my audio executive. That's what he wants to be referred to as. He doesn't stop talking on a plane.

What's your two cents on that subject matter? As somebody who used to work in the aviation industry, headphones will get you everywhere. They don't have to be on.

You don't have to be listening to anything, but it's like a light way to send the message of, OK, I'm in my me time now. OK, so but neither of these are book ideas is what you're saying. I'll work it into the next one. I'll figure out a way to work it in there. So you're saying there's a chance. Saying there's a chance. Very good.

Fantastic. Which one is worse, the shoes off or the people who don't stop talking? Well, here's my question. You've thrown both of them under the bus, under the plane. With all due respect, what about when someone who you think is your close personal friend and working partner that you've been with for over a decade? Right. And they just so happen because of their socioeconomic status, further in front of the plane.

Right. What if that person then takes out their cell phone and records you and tries to seat shame you, even though you're sitting literally on the other side of the curtain? How would you judge that person?

Don't involve T.J. and any of your, you know, acts grinding. Do you think it's about you? You're a very guilty conscience. Yeah, this is just a hypothetical hypothetical situation.

Can we work that in? Would you judge that person? I think there's a lot of blame to go around everywhere. I think everyone here has has a fair share of the blame. I thought you were going to go in the fact that I have to be the first on a plane. I've got to be first. I've got to be the first on a plane because, you know, the overhead bin. That is that's a premium real estate.

That is exactly right. So I guess, you know, one last. I guess striking a blow for those you used to work with, the hardworking men and women who are flight attendants every single day. What do you tell passengers about what the hell to do when they're on a plane?

I mean, what do you what do you do in terms of what would you counsel them to do to not do because it would drive a flight attendant totally nuts? What do you got for me on that front? Let's strike a blow for the people you used to work with. The thing I mean, I feel like I could write another book, another 300 page book with that kind of information. But but a tiny little one that I can say is the headphones that I was just talking about. When we come around with the beverage cart. Yeah. Just take the headphones out. Just take.

It's the smallest thing. When we approach you to ask you your drink, just take the headphones out and address the flight attendant. That will get you everywhere.

Is that right? It is because when you go every single row on every single flight and you say, can I get you something to drink? And the person just looks up at you and then they wait. Like, can I get you something to drink?

And then they take them out and go, what? It's like, anybody else guilty of that here? You want to raise your hand?

No, not at all. You know, I'm very polite. I am flight attendant friendly. OK, rich. Me too. Yeah. By the way, that's TJ as well.

The Rich Eisen Show, TJ. Most of the time, I'm trying to like hit on my flight attendant. So I'm very. I'm just being honest with right through the front door, you know, just being honest.

He does hate people who recline in front of them. How tall are you? I'm six three.

I can understand that. But I've got like a five to lady in front of me wants to test the boundaries of how far back her seat button is there for a reason. No, come on there to be pushed. But to me, yes. But also to your point, yes.

And to me, the answer is as a courteous passenger. That's what I would also say to people. Remember, we're all in this together. We're all in this together. So by the way, the author of Falling and Drowning. We have gathered from your work that everyone's in it together through this.

No matter how good or bad this goes, we're all in this together. So I always look behind me and see, like, is there a kid behind me? Then I'm going to recline. If it's a six foot two man, three three. TJ, don't don't sell me short, please.

Sell them tall. OK, so then so that's what I got to look behind me before I recline. It's all about courtesy, right?

It's all about courtesy and respect. I'm going to go I'm going to go here one more time here. Yeah, I'm going to go one more. What about the armrest in a middle seat? Who's who have you ever by the way? Have you ever been involved in adjudicating a fight over over an armrest or an armrest? No. OK. But to me, I mean, that's you know, that's the short stick. If you've drawn the short straw, if you're sitting in the middle seat.

So you deserve you deserve both armrests and the back position in the back position. Right. Exactly.

Because then your hunch forward if. Yeah. Oh, so we found common ground. I think we have.

But didn't we talk about that on the show? First serve on the armrest. And it was it was I mean. See, see, there's no consensus. First, don't don't get in the middle seat.

Sorry. Oh, see, and this is why I write these books on planes, because there is never a flight that is not without conflict. Everyone has a different opinion, but we're all in this together.

And these conflicting opinions are going to go head to head. And now you got a new book idea. TJ, our last flight to New York, I got some cashews and some walnuts in a bag.

Right. And that's the only thing I had to eat. And as I was about to dig it out, I got the message that someone had a peanut allergy one hundred, two hundred feet behind me. Could I have really killed that person with my cashews and my walnuts? Excuse me.

We're in this together. Didn't you hear what you had to say? I didn't open them. I'm just saying could I have killed them had I decided to munch on the cashews and the walnuts?

That's all. TJ, I just want to say that if I'm having the courtesy of being uncomfortable in my flight so that I don't put my seat in your chairs, could you be courteous enough to not send a child into anaphylactic shock? I did not eat them. I did not eat them. But I'm just wondering. TJ, if you're six foot three, right? I didn't short you.

You're six three. And you don't want me reclining. Don't put my kid into anaphylactic shock. And I just want to make sure that's something they were telling me so that I couldn't enjoy my cashews.

No, that's all. It's not a you problem. It's a nut allergy problem of the child you clearly don't care about. Well, Rich, I didn't eat them. So clearly I do.

I did eat the Reese's Pieces, though, but I did not eat the cashews in the walnut. You're never coming back here, are you, TJ? I'd love to come back here. This is this is a hoot.

I'll referee this any day. Drowning the rescue of flight 1421 is the latest bestseller from TJ Newman. Your story is awesome. Thank you. It is awesome.

And it is inspirational because any anybody with a dream should follow it and never take no for an answer because you never know. 42 could be the number of times you got to take your swings. 0 for 41.

It does not matter because you can go one for one on the next at bat. So and I have to feel that way now having lost eight Emmy nominations in a row. So I made it about myself. I was being giving.

And now I'm making it about myself because I seat shame people who then seat shame those in a middle seat by taking the armrests because you got on first. Thanks to your friend who flies first class to get you on there. See how we're working it all together. But your story is nonetheless very inspiring. And I'm very pleased to see your success. And I hope you do come back. Thank you so much.

It really was a pleasure being here. Thank you. TJ Newman.

Check her out. TJ underscore author. That's your Instagram. That is what somebody took. TJ Newman.

So what happened? I think there's a lot of TJ Newman's out there. You should come on. I know you should take it like the arm. Take it like the armrests.

TJ Newman here on the Rich Eisen Show. Everybody go by drowning. It's available and you probably see it in an airport.

Just hope the flight goes better than drowning. For decades, Rolling Stone has set the bar for entertainment publications. Today, Rolling Stone music now takes over in podcast form. Songwriter and producer Jamie Hartman reacts to the Ed Sheeran verdict. You need to create something new.

And of course, you're going to use traditional paths to get there. Are you going to sue the Rolling Stones for making a samba out of sympathy for the devil? You can sue Elvis Presley for writing Bart Zunova.

It's like saying you're not allowed to use a pencil to create a piece of art. Rolling Stone music now, wherever you listen. What's the most pissed off you made Nick Saban ever? Oh, when I took the sack second at 26. In a national championship. You mean the one that you immediately made up for with an amazing play that put you on the map?

That sack? Okay, so walk me through what he said to you, if you can, in a certain way on a live radio TV broadcast. I mean, I could only see it on camera, you know, how mad he was. That was probably the most pissed off, though, I think he's ever been.

I mean, you're squeezing his headset so hard. And then, you know, like, it was hard because the emotion was, like, so mad to so happy, you know, so fast for him. And, you know, we got into the locker room when everything settled down. I mean, he was still the same coach, you know, put me to the side.

Like, what were you thinking? You know, after you won the game and you've picking confetti out of your hair, he still took a moment in that moment to revisit that being who he is. I mean, you know, he put me to the side. He said, you know, why did you take the set?

Right. You know, and I thought it was a good time to joke with him, you know? I mean, we won the national championship, so I told him, I told him, well, you know, we needed more room to throw the ball, coach. You know, and, like, he looked at me and, like, I was laughing. He's like, that's not funny. So, I mean, I didn't know what else to do in that situation. I was like, okay, I'm sorry, coach.

So I shook his hand and he just moved on. I was like, oh, man. That's amazing. I love that story.

That made my favorite story the whole week. So you just figured, yeah, hey. I was like, oh, maybe. Yeah. I thought it was a good time to joke, but it wasn't. No, no.

It's never a good time, I guess, in that respect. Back on the Rich Eisen Show. Mike Hill filling in for Rich Eisen on this Friday. Hanging out, talking a little NFL.

We're in the next hour. We're going to talk more NBA finals. Jim Jackson is going to join us on the show, as well as my good friend Guy Torrey, actor and comedian.

He's got a great documentary out, Fat Tuesdays, that we're going to talk about a little bit as well. He's a huge Lakers and Rams fan. He's from St. Louis.

So that's where the Rams process comes, of course. L.A. now out here. We were talking about the etiquette, you guys, when we was talking about T.J. Newman was on about the etiquette on the plane or whatever. And T.J., I have a problem with T.J. 6'3".

I thought we was cool, but all day you had a problem with me, apparently. This T.J., not T.J. Newman. No, no, not T.J. Newman.

This T.J., the big black dude over there. I got a problem with this big black 6'3 guy telling me if I pay thousands of dollars for a seat or whatever, because that's how much it costs these days. Hey, no thousands of dollars to fly coach B.

Come on. Ain't nobody flying coach. Well, that's the problem. Now you're trying to shame me because my bank account is set up in a certain way. Not trying to shame you for your bank account, but what I'm saying is like, how come I can't leave my seat back if my seat goes back? Your beef is not with me. Your beef is with the airline. Your beef is with you buying that ticket behind me. If you go to first class. Now you're going to shame me because we ain't in the same tax bracket. No, no, no. Bruh, this man got a new pair of Jordans on every day, right?

Every day. A new pair of Jordans. I think you in a nice tax bracket right here. I'm not feeling any bad. I'm not feeling bad at all for your bank account. I'm not feeling bad at all for your bank account, man.

Yeah, bruh. Don't get mad at me if I'm in your lap. If I had hair, just braid my hair.

That's what you should do. Just go ahead and just get me a cigarette. I don't know.

I'll sell you for a carton of cigarettes, man. NFL, man. You know mandatory camps going on.

OTA is going on. We talked to Bryce Young. Darwin Cook officially released. I know you guys were talking about that yesterday. Did he? He said he put a video out. Man, his latest Instagram story post was like him scoring a touchdown and celebrating in Miami. In Miami. This man wants to go to the Dolphins so badly. Well, hey, you'll see if they get him now. I mean, he's out there.

He's out there. You know, they couldn't work out a trade, so he's free to go wherever he wants to. You know, the thing is, so if he wants to go to Miami, I wonder if he'd go there for the, you know, like maybe Miami doesn't get. So I think it's foolish when you're a free agent to say where you want to go. And if you want to be traded, that's one thing. But when you're a free agent and you say, I want to be in a certain place.

If I'm Miami, I'm like, well, we're not going to pay you what Chiefs are going to pay you or the Bills are going to pay you or somebody else. You know, hey, you want to be down here. You want to work with Tyreek. You want to work with Tua. You want to work with this offense and McDaniels.

You want to be down here. So in this great sunshine and you don't have to pay state taxes. So we can give you a discount.

So it's not good business, but maybe it's not about the business for him. Maybe it's just about the chance to win a championship. We might see Dalvin courtside tonight.

You know what I'm saying? We might see him front and center in the NBA finals tonight. Or the chance we see Messi courtside tonight. Tonight. Is he in town? Is he there yet? I don't know. Is he there yet? I don't know. It would be smart if he's in town.

It would be smart for him to show up and get the love. Yeah, Miami is the capital right now. The capital of the sports world.

Wow. Florida Panthers won game three of the Stanley Cup last night. Obviously the Heat trying to tie things up against the Denver Nuggets night and Messi just signed it. I didn't even know they had a soccer team. I mean, I'm like not big in MLS.

I'm sorry. David Beckham is the kind of the owner of that team. And the deal that Messi signed reportedly gave up one and a half billion dollars to sign with one of the Saudi teams. And he is getting I think it's the deals of this contract.

Messi going to enter Miami. He gets a portion of the revenues from Apple. He gets a portion of the revenues from kit sales from Adidas. He's also getting a possibility of ownership with the club. Messi's getting his pay. That's me and his money. That's a lot of money, man. That's good.

So you need to be howling at him for some first class season. There you go. Ticket prices have gone up a thousand percent since he showed up on the secondary market. Yeah.

Oh, like if you want to. Somebody was telling me that like for a Galaxy game, like one of the cheapest tickets for any other game is like forty nine dollars. But when Messi comes to town, it's like four hundred dollars. Man. And this is the tail end of his career. Oh, he's he's thirty five. So he's going to come over here and easily have another four or five years of playing at a high level in terms of the competition in the MLS.

And so he's going to be a huge draw. Wow. Every city. The MLS is doing it, man.

Yeah, I will say that. LFC is the defending champions and their crowds are huge. You like if you're a soccer fan, you're going to the MLS games.

That's one thing about it. I know Fox has a deal with them on on cable as well. I think ESPN has a deal with them, too.

So, you know, they're making some money. Apple Plus in Miami also picked up two million Instagram followers in like twelve, twelve to twenty four hours after he signed with them. He's got like four hundred million Instagram followers.

We'll be back with Guy Torrey on the other side on the radio side. Yeah, to that point, I think I saw they picked up almost five million like overnight. Yeah, they're up to they had one million before he signed the six point eight, which is more than any other team in the NFL.

I think any team in sports. So I think but Messi has like four hundred million Instagram followers. Right. So like if you sign when you the great thing about being associated with somebody with a lot of Instagram followers, four hundred seventy four hundred and seventy million Instagram followers. So like if you're all of us, if he retweets that team, if he says I'm on this team, he puts that tag on it, all of a sudden they're going to get millions of followers. I benefited. I think that's what I got out of my marriage. I got a lot of Instagram followers.

At least I didn't have to pay any money this time. When you when you when you marry a celebrity, all of a sudden, like, oh, my Instagram followers went up, man. I'm over two hundred thousand Instagram followers and she had four million. So that's cool. Mike got two hundred twenty eight on Instagram.

So maybe he can hook us up. So I think I'm at twenty eight. It was crazy. I got nine thousand after the divorce. Usually I'm losing stuff after the divorce. When you lose, I win. When you lose, I'm winning. Jim Jackson talking NBA Finals and Guy Torre, actor, comedian coming up in the final hour of the Rich Eyes Show.

Mike Hill filling in for Rich Eyes and having a great time here on this Friday. We'll be right back right after this. was just above the school. Just imagine a bunch of kids running out of school. Most of them just ran home. Theories of the third kind on YouTube or wherever you listen.