REShow: Luke Donald - Hour 2

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844-204-RICH. Steve Weisman, sitting in the past couple days. Thank you so much to Rich and the team for having me on.

It's been a blast. We have a lot more still to come. There's one story that I feel like has not gotten as much attention as it potentially should have deserved, and that's Lionel Messi, arguably the goat of soccer, reportedly turning down a three-year, $1.6 billion contract from a team in Saudi Arabia. Three-year, $1.6 billion. You can't even say it with a straight face.

I can't. It's $533 million a year. So, I did all the math here. $1.46 million a day. Like, nearly $1.5 million a day. That's nearly $61,000 an hour.

More than $1,000 a minute, and nearly $17 a second is what Leo Messi was reportedly offered for a three-year deal to play soccer in Saudi Arabia. So, somebody says to Leo, hey, how'd you sleep last night? If Messi, and by the way, with that much money, he should get a full eight hours, right? He should be sleeping pretty well. On a sleep number bit. Made half a mil.

Just, you know, overnight on the bed. Now, he's not going poor in Miami. Signed with Inter Miami, David Beckham's squad there. Reportedly $125 to $150 million over two to three years.

He'll also get equity in the team, profit sharing agreements with both Apple and Adidas. But turning down $1.6 billion is just wild to me. Like, I've never been faced with a ten-figure decision. So, no judgment here.

No, of course not. And I hope one day a ten-figure decision is presented to me that I could potentially turn down. But I wonder what his number would have been. Because I think everybody has a price.

For anything in life. The million dollar man would agree. Was it $3 billion? Was it $5 billion? If they had offered him $10 billion over three years, does he say, okay, $1.6 billion, nah, I'm good. But $10 billion, sure. Now I'm one of the richest people in the world. Ain't nobody turning down $10 billion.

I don't know. Because when you're turning down this type of money, it's shocking to me. And I understand also, from what I've heard, that Saudi Arabia is looking to make a bid for a future World Cup. And Argentina is as well. And if he took this contract, took this money, it may have some stipulations in terms of that. And this is a guy, you know, wants to go back home. He's beloved in Argentina.

And maybe if he took this, he would never be able to go home again. That said, I still think there's a price for that. I don't know if it was $5 billion or $10 billion. But $1.6 billion was not the number for Leo Messi.

You could have floored to fly everybody from home to your current location, if that was the case. The whole country. I guess it just comes down to happiness, right? This is a guy with a reported net worth of $600 million.

You wouldn't even notice if someone missing, you know? So what's $1.6 billion when you have $600 million? It's all the same, right? It's monopoly money.

Three times? I guess, but you wouldn't ever notice. Like if you have $5 and you give me $15, yeah, I notice the difference.

But when you have $600 and it's $1.6 billion, you don't really notice that. So for him, I guess it's just being happy. Miami seems like a fun place, TJ.

You spend a lot of time there in your heyday. So yeah, and you're talking about the equity. He can become part owner of this team at a certain point. He's getting fractions of sales from Apple subscriptions to the MLS package and jersey sales and cleat sales. Seems like a pretty good deal to come over and hang out in Miami for a few years.

It's a great deal. Don't get me wrong. He's making plenty of money.

Nobody's going poor here. I just don't think it's about money. I know the money is kind of the sexy, you know, New York Post style headline that the tension grabs, but it feels like it's not about that with him. No, I don't think he's that type of guy either.

Lives a pretty simple life. And once again, you know, with the $5 to $15 comparison, I don't know what it's like to have $600 million. But I feel like once you're at that level, yes, you want to triple that just like you would if you had five. I don't think the mindset changes.

I don't know. I would love to have that. It's a good problem to have.

Great, great problem to have. But when you look at the richest people in the world, they're not trying to lose money. There's a reason why they're the richest people in the world. And it's about keeping that, you know, wealth and making it even more. You get $10 billion, you're looking to get $40 billion. Yeah, he's already one of the most high profile athletes and people I got.

He's probably one of the most recognizable people on the planet. Now, is it in terms of, you know, where are we growing the game if I go to Saudi Arabia? Do I do I care about them potentially getting a World Cup at some point and all the other stuff that obviously goes along with Saudi Arabia that we're seeing in the golf world right now? And Formula One and the Premier League and all that stuff. But MLS is like growing. It's fat, you know, it's up and coming. They've been at it for a long time, but it's more popular now than it's ever been. You know, how many people tuned into that crazy USA Mexico match last night?

That was insane. So I feel like him coming to America and being a part about that, you know, we are the kind of the drivers for pop culture around the world. And so, you know, it doesn't hurt to be here and especially at a place like Miami.

That's such a great point, Brockman. And also the fact that I think now is a really inflection point for soccer in this country. Whereas when David Beckham came over, I don't know that we were quite there yet. It doesn't feel like it. Now or then?

No, then. It didn't feel like it then. And he was, he still is such a rock star. But Messi is on another level. You take a look at the prices for the tickets to his debut in July went up a thousand percent. Yeah, that was wild. And they don't even know if he's going to play this year.

Like there was a lot of speculation that he may not start playing until the 24 season. So you're just spending 100x to 10x hoping that maybe he shows up and is sitting in the crowd? I mean, the cheap seats went wild.

I'm not going to lie. I looked at Miami coming to LAFC and I was, hey, maybe it's worth a speculative buy here. And they were outrageous already.

Then they've already done their job. Like if you're looking at that, then they've already done their job because it is going to help every other team. I mean, tickets for other teams, you know, away home games when Miami comes have gone up a thousand percent as well. The Instagram account for Inter Miami went from a million followers to 8.1 million followers.

Yeah, I brought that up last week. So that's more than any U.S. team from the NFL, Major League Baseball or NHL. More Instagram followers. Inter Miami has more Instagram followers than any NFL team.

That's wild to me. I mean, the casual sports fan probably didn't know what Inter Miami was. Like Inter, are we entering Miami?

What is happening? Is this like a new terminal at LAFC? The Cowboys have 4.5 million. So your squad's got 4.5 million. Is that the most NFL? The most, yeah. Of course. Of course.

We should have known. America's team, right? But only half of what Inter Miami has, the Lakers, by the way, they have 23 million Instagram followers.

So the Lakers are on another level. They're a worldwide brand. Messi himself has 471 million followers on Instagram. 471 million. Only Cristiano Ronaldo has more, and he's got 590. He took the money, by the way, in Saudi Arabia.

It wasn't 1.6 billion, but he took like 300 million a year to go to Saudi Arabia. Those are the top two Instagram followings in the world. I'm curious, Brockman, if you could guess who's next on the list of most followers. Most people would follow on Instagram? Yeah, Instagram. I know this.

So goes Ronaldo Messi. Then who do you have? I know this because I happened to look up her number last week. Oh, you said her. Is it Kim Kardashian? No. It's definitely her for three. Is it Kim Kardashian? Is it Rihanna?

No. She's an actress slash singer. So am I.

On the Food Network sometimes as well. It's Selena Gomez. Oh, Selena Gomez.

Selena's got 420. Geez. Nice.

Wow. Who's after Selena? Have you seen the whole list?

Have you seen the list? Like I said, randomly I looked it up. So I know like. All right. Do I get a hint?

I'm not going to. This is another woman. It's in the ballpark of the first woman that she named. Kardashian is one of the Jenners? Yeah. Is it Kylie? It's Kylie. Wow.

Yeah. Kylie's got 393. Now at five, not a woman, not a reality star.

So this is somebody who has earned their 383 million Instagram followers. Who do you think this is? Here's a hint, Chris.

He may be in this studio right now. Oh, that's a great hint, actually. Is it The Rock? I don't know. Yes.

Just so everybody knows what we're. Yeah, TJ's got a cardboard cutout. Look at that. Look at Dwayne The Rock Johnson over there. I don't understand why The Rock is wearing Saps jersey, because doesn't sap hate him or do they squash that beef?

I don't think it was ever hate. That's an old school rock photo, by the way. Well, that's the famous. It was a turtle net fanny pack rock from.

Rock, one of the nicest superstars I've ever come across when he did the car wash at Sports Center. Oh, you were there that day? Yes.

Nice. And, you know, interviewed him on Sports Center. He's one of those guys, kind of like a Tim Tebow, that remembers your name the minute he shakes your hand and always addresses you after that and looks you in the eye. And it seems to be into your life.

That's like a Tom Cruise thing, too. Yeah. Did he crush your hand when he shook it? No.

He's not Adrian Peterson. I mean, you know, nice solid handshake. Actually, I think there was a hug involved. Wow. Yeah. You got a rock bro hug.

A rock bro hug. So jealous. I think I'm so jealous.

That's incredible. And I would. I don't know. Like, I have no idea if he came in the studio today, if he would remember me or not. He'd pretend he did.

But I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. Oh, and he would make you feel like he remembered. It's like we talked to him. Steve. Hey, Michael. Steve, great to see you.

Bring it in. We talked about athletes who might know you or who at least like be like, oh, yeah, you're so and so. So he'd probably, you're right, might not know your name, but would definitely know your face. I'm sure, right? Right. The name check would be huge.

We got a name check from The Rock. By the way, so he's he's only he's only five on this list. Who do we have for for six through 10 Instagram?

Most followers. T.J., again, you know the list, J. Feli, help me out here. Are we get another Selena type? Another Selena type? Jennifer Lopez? No. That's a pretty good guess, actually.

She's not in top 10. Another. But it is a good guess.

Yeah, I'm 42 with a toddler man at the risk of going full rich there, TJ. So we talked about the Kansas City Chiefs ring, OK, earlier in the show. This Beyonce? No, but that's later. Later.

You're getting there. Taylor Swift? No, but has a song. Seven Rings, Ariana Grande. Yeah.

Oh, that's confidence when he's built that out. Ariana Grande. I want it. I like it. I get it. Let me tell you one Ariana Grande song. That was a banger.

I like that one a lot. After Ariana Grande, we've got another member of a certain family. Well, it's Kendall, probably.

No, it's the O.G. Kim? Kim.

The O.G., Kim. Kim K's got 359. She's got to be so jealous that not only does her sister have more, but all these other other other women are probably ahead of her. She's got to be so jealous that Kylie, you know, has more money to I mean, from her is a cosmetics line, right?

Billionaire. Yeah, she's yes. I don't know if she's turning down one point six, Billy, like Leo, but she's she's got her own. Then we got Beyonce. Then we have Khloe Kardashian to round out the top 10. Brockman. Who do we have? Male, female, male hint. He is an international superstar, married, famous relationship. Famous relationship.

Wife is friends with people on this list. Never going to get it back. No, I don't think that was a very good description. I'm not trying to give it away like your hints totally gave it away. It's going to drag.

He's not going to get this without you got to really give. One more. A better hint. Come on. We're playing from the Great North. He was found in Canada. Yeah.

That's from the North. The Biebs. The Biebs. Justin Bieber. Two hundred ninety one million Instagram followers. But that's like half of what Messi has. Messi is the man. And he's got a great story.

You know, that the camp thing, the undersized hormone treatment when he was a young, young boy, like all that stuff. And then Barcelona is awesome. It's a really cool story. So I'm excited to go see him play. Hopefully I can afford tickets to LFC enter Miami game next year. It's for the cheap seats.

It'll probably be like five hundred bucks easily. Yeah. I would. I mean, I'd be happy to just go to the tailgate outside.

I'm going to hit on my guy, Max Bredos, who's the voice of LFC and maybe Taylor Swellman can come back. We get a press pass for that. I mean, we could. But now you want to you won't be able to have fun.

Yeah. I want to get into the stadium. I want to sit in the stadium. I want to get a little rowdy.

Enjoy the environment. You think I'm really going to write a story about it? Like, no, I'm getting into the stadium. By the way, we could do a.

They're going to come here and sit and be like, it was great. Now that you mentioned it, TJ, we probably should go do a man on the street for. Come on. What are we doing here? There you go.

Man on the street, outside interviewing people. Yes. We're three time sport Emmy. That's true.

This could push us over the top. Come on. That's all I'm saying.

All right. By the way, speaking of billionaires, Michael Jordan sold sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets today. And he's related to Messi because he made money from every jersey that Messi sold at PSG Paris Saint Germain. He's making money everywhere. We're trying to figure out how much we've personally given Michael Jordan over the years.

Between me, Steve and TJ. It's a lot. Thousands of dollars. A lot. Thousands of dollars. I'd be willing to push.

Probably we're at five figures. Probably given Michael Jordan. He could he should let us play at the Grove. Yes, absolutely. You should let us play for the Hornets.

They stink. Our next guest has totally played at the Grove. We've got Luke Donald coming up on the show, the European Ryder Cup captain. He's got some decisions to make. Coming up, Rome, Italy. The Ryder Cup. Cannot wait for that.

Luke is coming up next. So Steve Weissman filling in today. This episode is brought to you by La Quinta by Wyndham. Wherever your work takes you, you know it's going to be a good time because you're staying at La Quinta by Wyndham. They have free breakfast, fully equipped gyms and free high speed Wi-Fi to help you take care of any last minute business or help keep you in the know on all things sports.

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Download the Zillow app today. Kevin Hart, why didn't security let you onto the Philadelphia Eagles podium after they won the Super Bowl? Listen, listen, listen, Rich. First of all, they're haters, Rich, that's the thing, they're haters and they couldn't see me, if they would've saw me, then they would've known who I was and I would've been right up there with the Philadelphia Eagles bringing in the good times and year because you know, it's a celebration time and I say the next time, I need you all to know who I am because I'm the biggest star on the freaking planet, like it's me and The Rock, that's it. It's me and The Rock, Rich, that's it, it's nobody else.

Incredible. I'm about to sell out the solar system, bam, that's what I'm gonna do and The Rock says, I'm just playing good. So go, did you do The Rock? The Rock says, Jabroni, you see, Rich, Rich Eisen, The Rock, The Brahma Bull sitting here, you're talking about Kevin Hart, why did he get, why did he get escorted away from the Philadelphia Eagles? That's because he was drunk, Rich. He was drunk, Rich. The Rock doesn't drink, The Rock, you know what The Rock does? The Rock has a juice, The Rock has a cleanse because every day at 2 p.m., I said 2 p.m., The Rock drops a juice, that's what he does. Another good one for you. I'd like to ask Jason Statham, what do you think about the NFL's new targeting rules to make the game safer? Let's see here, in the game of football, you have to be really, really rough and if you're rough, that's when you get a good show, now if you're not rough, then it's gonna be a little pansy, so I think they shouldn't do it because I don't like pansies, I hate pansies.

You know pansies, people I beat up in my films, I beat them up all the time and you know what I do after I'm finished with them, I sit on top of their bodies and I have sex with me, girl. Again, that took a turn, that took a turn. Back hour two of the Rich Eisen Show radio network, Steve Weisman sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry, Grainger has the right product for you, call clickrainger.com or just stop by, stream for free on the Odyssey app or odyssey.com. So excited for our next guest here on the Rich Eisen Show, we've got Luke Donald, the European Ryder Cup captain, former number one golfer in the world, my fellow Northwestern Wildcat and Sigma Chi fraternity brother, Luke how you doing buddy? Hey Steve, it's good to hear from you.

It is always great to hear from you, things are great. US Open going on in LA right now, LACC, guys are going low Luke, what did you think of that first round? Yeah, I watched quite a bit of it last night, unfortunately I'm on the couch, not being there myself but yeah, pretty unheard of, you know, I saw a stat that there haven't been two 62s, the only other time was a tournament in Bermuda which is a smaller event on the PGA Tour where we've had two 62s by guys. So unusual, I'm sure the USGA would have taken note, I'm sure the greens are firming up as we speak, I'll just have a quick look at the scores and they're already a little bit tougher out there I think today and as the afternoon goes on I think it will get more and more firm and harder to shoot those scores so the USGA won't want those scores to continue that's for sure. Yeah I mean historically the US Open is very tough for scoring and back in 1985 Andy North had 9 birdies for the entire week when he won and Ricky Fowler had 10 birdies just yesterday.

What's your preferred difficulty level for a major? Well the USGA and the US Open they've always tried to make it a real test of golf, you've got to hit fairways, hit at greens, you know I think they've started to go to some different styles of courses, LACC, you know, renovated by Gill Hands, it's a little bit of a different golf course that you'd usually see and the US Open has more width in the fairways, more about angles, more about golf architecture and that's cool but you know I think ultimately the US Open try and make it a tough test. The Masters you know again they kind of go along that way, they want to see the best players perform the best on a difficult golf course.

The Open Championship, the British Open, they let weather and course conditions kind of pick score so every major is sort of different but usually the US Open is the tougher one. I'm watching some scores today, Wyndham Clark 3-under, he's now in the lead at 9-under Par Hoffman 4-under for the day through 12. Now that you're the European Ryder Cup captain on a week that you're not playing, how closely are you watching the tournament and seeing how your potential players are doing? Yeah I've been playing quite a lot this year just to be around the players and understand the golf courses they're playing and seeing how good they are and obviously it helps with communication but certainly on a week off I'm checking leaderboards, I'm watching the TV coverage more than I would if I wasn't the captain and just keeping an eye on everyone.

I think that's my job, I want to find you know who's playing well, who's playing well in the big events, who's showing consistency, who's trending, who's not trending so all stuff I'm kind of keeping an eye on. Luke, we're here with Luke Donald, former number one golfer in the world, rich eyes and show Steve Weisman filling in, you're a Ryder Cup legend, I mean you played four times, you won all four times, contributed in massive ways for the European team, what was your reaction when you found out that you were going to be named European Ryder Cup captain? Well of course obviously, a huge privilege, huge honor, some unusual circumstances obviously gone around it but this is a great opportunity for me and I was never going to turn down this opportunity. I've had so many amazing experiences on golf courses but most of them to be honest have been in Ryder Cups so there's something about playing for a team, playing for something more than just yourself, we don't play for money, we don't play for points, FedEx points, DP World Tour points, any of that, it's all about pride and it just has such a rich history that the Ryder Cup and to be obviously the captain this year is a big honor. Well a huge congratulations to you, you've definitely earned that honor, I'm curious what your greatest Ryder Cup memory was as a player? Well, as you said, being lucky to be on four winning teams, I've been a vice captain a couple times, I've been a par 5 out of 6 winning teams and they've all been very special but I think my biggest honor probably going out number one against Bubba Watson in the singles at 2012 Medina just because of what that represented, we were behind and it was the miracle at Medina coming back from 10-6 down and obviously leading off the team and winning a point and getting some blue on the board early and kind of what that meant. I think Ryder Cup, the one I was a part of that we weren't successful just doesn't have the same meaning, you want to go there and win and obviously to play a big part like I did leading off the singles for 2012 at Medina was pretty special in Chicago. That's right, right down the street from Evanston, Northwestern, you mentioned you've been a vice captain before, what kind of captain do you want to be, how do you see this role? Well I think I've learned a lot over the six Ryder Cups I've been a part of, I've taken notes throughout and you pick up things that you like from previous captains and vice captains and players and for me it's all about being myself, being sincere, being authentic, showing trust and showing that I care about the players and the job and I want to do my best and understanding the history behind the Ryder Cup and what that means, what it means to wear the shirt and represent your continent so I'll be bringing all that kind of stuff to the team and some of the motivational stuff that we try and get the guys fired up about.

Luke Donald with us here, Rich Eyes and Show Steve Weisman filling in, Luke you've got a whole handful of captains picks, how do you go about making those picks? Yeah it's a little bit different, it's the first time we've ever had six picks for the European team so obviously there will be six guys that qualify automatically and I'll be looking at those and then trying to pair the other six with possible partnerships, I'll look at recent form, I think having six picks really gives me an opportunity to see how players are really performing leading up to the Ryder Cup but it also, I think you can look at it all kinds of different ways, how they match up with the course, how they're going to match up with the six players and what they bring to the team so it gives me a lot of flexibility but also a lot of pressure to make sure I pick those right. You've been to the course, what's it like there in Rome?

Well it's a beautiful place setting right on the outskirts of Rome, there's some beautiful views of downtown Rome from some of the holes, you can see Peter's Basilica and the Vatican and some hilly, kind of a hilly golf course with lots of slopes and undulations but it's going to be spectacular, it's going to be a great place for fans to see a lot of good golf and as always it's going to be one of the most memorable sporting events of the year. So Luke, you and the U.S. captain Zach Johnson, first captains having to factor Live Golf into the mix here at a Ryder Cup, what was your reaction when the PGA Tour and Live Golf announced they were going to merge recently? Yeah I think it's obviously interesting how you say PGA and Live, it really wasn't the PGA Tour and Live, it was the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the PIF, you know the Live is just an asset of the PIF but sometimes an important consideration to make. I think this is just more about a commercial merger between the three Tours in an attempt to kind of unify the sport and kind of bring all their commercial might to the three organisations to benefit golf as a global sport and yeah I think we were all a little bit surprised at how quickly it happened, I think we all knew that the sport was very fractured and that something needed to be done but the fact that it happened without really anyone knowing about it, only a few select people, that was the surprising part so obviously lots of things to be worked out and to figure out but yeah it's interesting times in golf for sure.

It certainly is and obviously there's a show on, what did you think of Full Swing on Netflix? Well I enjoyed it, obviously being around golf and the golfers I knew a lot of the storylines already but for someone who's just getting into the game or doesn't know much about it I thought it showed some great sides of some of the players and there is going to be a season two, I may or may not be a part of that, I think Ryder Cup might have a little bit of a presence in season two and how the players are trying to make that team and I think it's good for golf, we've seen how much benefit Netflix has done for certain other sports, I certainly love watching the Formula 1, I've watched the Tennis 1 and just to understand a little bit more the inside track is fun for an athlete or a sportsman or a fan just to see that stuff so I think golf has really benefited from it. Now I look forward to Luke Donald on season two of Full Swing, the Ryder Cup version, our fellow Northwestern Wildcat Luke, Matt Fitzpatrick, probably should be on your Ryder Cup team defending U.S. Open champion, what's it been like having another N.U.

guy from England out on the tour? Well I've enjoyed watching Matt grow as a player, I mean to watch him win the U.S. Open last year was special for me, I think we always rally around the people we support and have consistencies with and having that Northwestern connection I think is important. Matt lives pretty close to me or spends a lot of time down near me in South Florida here and gets to see him quite a lot so it's just been great to see his journey and how he's grown as a player and I fully expect him to have a big role in the Ryder Cup in September. It's massive, we've got two Wildcats that have been top ten golfers, you at one, I think Matt's at eight in the world right now, U.S. Open champion and there's been some other universities, colleges Luke, that have been producing some golf talent and you, the Purple Pride is on the way.

Absolutely, we have David Lipsky, David Woo, he's out on tour right now, David Niffield just turned pro and making his debut this week at the U.S. Open and Scott Harrington plays on tour and for someone, a northern academic college, university, we've done extremely well and that's props to David Ingles and Pat Goss on the men's team that really do a good job with the coaching and getting these guys ready for possibly professional life. One of my favorite memories from college Luke back in the day was driving with some of our fraternity brothers to Ohio to watch you play in the first Memorial, you were the Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year so you got the invite to the Memorial, I think we all stayed at the same house, you also got to have a relationship with Jack over the years, you played in his last round on tour, I'm curious, what are the biggest lessons that you've learned from Jack over the years? Well, it's always interesting being around the greats, the people that were just so much better than the others and I think they just have a different mindset, they just see everything one dimensionally that this is how they're going to succeed and there's no bumps in the road and I just think it's a little bit different to how most people find their careers, I once asked Jack about how he practiced his short game and his pitching and his putting and he said, well, you know Luke, I really never practiced it that much, I just figured I was good enough to hit it, chip it to 10 feet and from there I just figured I'd make most of those 10-footers so I didn't need to practice, I practiced more my long game and it's just a different theory, some of these greats, I think they just see the game in a completely different way but I've been very fortunate to obviously have Jack, someone that I could bounce ideas off, I actually was with him last week just riding around the golf course where we live and he's redoing it and just chewing off his ear about what he's seeing in the golf course and how he sees the game and all that kind of stuff and it's pretty special to be able to have that relationship.

Yeah, any time you can hang out with one of the goats, that's pretty cool and have that sort of relationship. What was that last round like, I know it was quite a while back but to know that you were going to be in that group when he was playing his last round? 2005, yeah, paired with Jack but also Tom Watson who's no slouch himself, I mean, when it comes to Open Championships, I mean, it was unbelievable, St Andrews, the home of golf, I don't know if you've ever been there but anyone who knows St Andrews, you have the Roadhouse Hotel on 17, every window is full and then you go down 18, we spent about 20 minutes on the Swilcombe Bridge taking pictures and everyone down the right-hand side of 18 and behind all the buildings, every single window is full, every time we got onto a green, we were getting clapped and the admiration, appreciation for what Jack and of course Tom and what they've done for the game of golf was pretty amazing to be a part of and I actually made my first cut at an Open Championship in 2005 playing with those two legends, so that was an added bonus. You're learning lessons on the course, off the course, you know, all positive things for you, Luke Donald joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show, Steve Weisman filling in for Rich today, for those who don't know, Luke wears the coolest shoes on the golf course and Luke, everyone in this studio absolutely loves Jordans. We're all wearing them, in fact, right now, we're all rocking Js.

How did you start wearing them when you play? Well, you know, I've been very lucky to have a relationship with MJ himself. I got to play with him quite early on in my career, you know, the Chicago connection, we had some mutual friends, he loves playing with good players and we just struck up a friendship, you know, probably back starting around 2003 or 2004, excuse my dog, the dog's always welcome, yeah, there must be someone at the door, but yeah, we just struck up a friendship and, you know, obviously for a long time I wore Foot Joy shoes, but starting in I think 2016, you know, my contract was coming to an end and MJ was kind of getting into the golf space, he just, it's a real passion of his and he wanted to start with some shoes obviously and go down and maybe expand into clothing and all sorts of stuff and, you know, I just said, you know, let me know if I can help promote them, not that he needs my help, he puts a shoe out and it sells pretty immediately, so yeah, I've been wearing the shoes now for, I don't know, five, six, seven years and, you know, low ones with a golf sole, it doesn't get much better than that, does it? No, that's pretty sweet, Luke, I know you get boxes and boxes of Js, I've seen you share that on social media, what are your favorite Js? My favorites are the ones, I just love, I love the low ones and the high tops, the highs as well, but yeah, I don't know, I think it's hard to beat the classic ones. The classic one, now do you get any custom Jordans, just like one of ones for Luke Donald? I've had a couple, you know, he sent ones one Christmas, whether I think it was one of 30, but definitely not one of one, but I got a couple, couple special ones that I've been very fortunate to get, but yeah, I'm actually, I've got a little room in my house, I'm about to put some shelving up just to display a bunch of the ones and I'm just looking forward to the process of doing that and sorting through them and, you know, they need to be displayed and it's only appropriate. It makes sense, Luke, that the ones are your favorite because Luke Donald was the first player to win both money lists on the PGA and European tours in the same year, 56 weeks at number one in the world, so the ones make sense and also, Luke, for those that don't know, we spent a lot of time in art studios together, are you still keeping up with your painting? Man, I'm not really, you know, since I've, you know, I have three daughters at home and since they came on the scene, it's kind of taken a back room, but I keep threatening that I'm going to pick up the paints and get the easel out again because it is very relaxing, you can really lose yourself, you know, and I think as busy as life is these days, sometimes it's nice to take a little step and a little breather away from it and do something you enjoy.

You know, I haven't done it in a number of years, but I'm never going to say never. All right, there's still potential there. So awesome to catch up, Luke, we really appreciate you taking the time to join us on the show today. We wish you the best of luck in Rome to bring home the Ryder Cup for Team Europe, even though it's always tough because, you know, U.S. guy, but I'm a Luke Donald guy, so whatever Luke does, I will support that and I also hope to see you at Wimbledon this year. I appreciate Steve, yeah, definitely planning on being there one day in the first week, so hopefully we can catch up and talk and you. Awesome, awesome. Thanks for your time, and we will see you soon.

Luke Donald joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show, obviously former number one golfer in the world, the European Ryder Cup captain, stories for days on Jack Nicklaus, and TJ, a big Jordan guy. I mean, I'd love to see the full collection. At what size? You see, you didn't do it right. You didn't get his size.

Thank you, Chris. I mean, I'd love to see the size and just see if we could have chimed in case in case we, you know, feel the rain on that side of me and Luke Donald rocking the ones, baby. There you go. You know, he could have got the red one. So one's guy. I'm a very good guy. Oh, OK.

He's got a pair of bread. Go on there. We're going red.

We're looking at the souls right there, baby. That's it on the 11th. There you go.

There you go. So weird. TJ always.

OK, what do you got to do? I got the threes on to my money, a Jordan threes. You know, these are I don't know.

These are just amazing. One of the best shoes I've ever had. They can't go wrong. And we've spent thousands of dollars to be the first show sponsored by John Mann. Yes. Maybe the greatest.

That's been my goal since the Jump Street was for that. Well, Rich is a Michigan guy and Michigan is a Jordan school, right? Yeah. But Rich is a Birkin. Now we're connected. I'm just saying, like they've got the camera showing his feet and Birkenstocks.

What are we doing? Rich would rock J's if they sponsored the show. I think that's a match made. That's a collab. Jordan X. Rich Eisen Show. Can we make that happen?

That would be a dream of mine. Who do we know? OK. You know what? I'm one. I'm one connection away from MJ, TJ. I'm going to make this happen. I think I think we have a new sponsor for the show.

We love our sponsors now, though, and we love being here. Steve Weissman filling in for Rich today. It is the Rich Eisen show. Hour two.

Much more still to come. Call us. 844-204-RICH. Get an inside look at Hollywood with Michael Rosenbaum, actress Kristin Ritter. Your parents let you travel by yourself. It was a different time. They just put you on a train as a 15-year-old girl. You went to New York. I went on a bus. And I did get picked up at Port Authority. They thought I was a runaway. What would they do?

They detain you and get people on the phone and then they finally let you go to your modeling job. How many times did it happen? Once or twice. It just seems like it wouldn't happen. It happens.

Yeah. Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum, wherever you listen. 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 parts to get there. Are you going to sue the Rolling Stones for making a samba out of sympathy for the devil? Are you going to sue Elvis Presley for writing Bar Sonova?

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. When was the first time you met Jordan? When was the first time you met him, shook his hand, covered him or something like that? The first time I met him was at that Midsummer Night's Dream game out there in L.A. And we just had, you know, that was the time where guys would play in these All-Star games during the summer. And it was a real game. You know, it wasn't like they were out there like Globetrotters or something.

They actually really were playing with egos involved. So that was the first time I had met him then. And we just sort of met after the game, talked and exchanged phone numbers and saw the rest in terms of how our relationship developed. It developed from that. Well, I mean, if there's one thing that anybody learned from this documentary is that anything that Jordan ever played in wasn't just a regular game. Right. I mean, that was a real, you know, that's one thing that I'm sure if anybody needed to be introduced to Jordan and there's a whole there's a whole generation that did.

They just learned that. Did you learn anything from the last dance Ahmad Rashad? No, I didn't. I didn't because I think, you know, just like you said, when you introduced me, I had a catbird seat to all of it. And it was one of those different sort of I've never sort of been in a situation where I had sort of free access to the locker room, you know, to the training room, to their buses, to I was just there.

So I got a chance to see a lot of those things. I was glad that people got a chance to see the human side of Michael. And you see how much how competitive he was and how demanding he was. And I think what I what I take from that is if you think Larry Bird wasn't like that and if you think Magic Johnson wasn't like that, then you're not really thinking the right way. So it wasn't just Michael. That was just, you know, win at all costs, put your foot on the guy's neck kind of thing. All these guys were able to do that.

But Michael, what separated him was his athletic ability was way above anybody's at that point. How great of a job does Mike do producing this show? I mean, there's comedians coming on.

We got a comedian clip, but we talk about Jordan, we talk about Jordan in a previous clip. I have to wonder, like, because sometimes he'll pop something up so quick and it's like, I want to like text them or something, hey, what about and they'll already be up and like, how do you have like how do you have a hundred buttons, Hoskins, ready to just like. That's so good. The anticipation is uncanny, man. I got to say that Mike probably preps the night before we go off the rails so much.

I understand a lot of this stuff. I'm sure he can prep. Oh, yeah. Sometimes we just we just go like, you know, I'm guessing Mike knew that Luke Donald, we were going to talk about Jordan. And so he had that locked and loaded.

But oftentimes he is just the recall is kind of amazing. It's oh, man. He just said that it's like he's got extra arms back there and he's able to like he's like one computer on one side and he's got the two other arms on the other computer secretly in the hospital. It's really impressive that Hoskins is an octopus.

That's that's what it is. But anyway, nickname the octopus. Give us a call. 844-204 Rich, we've got Lee in Santa Barbara on the line right now.

Steve Weissman filling in for Rich Eisen on the Rich Eisen Show. Lee, what's going on, man? What up, Lee? Hey, man, how are you doing? Good. First of all, I want to say that you're pretty cool.

I don't really know much about you doing a really good job. And I want to say that my favorite actor is your wingman today. You know what I mean?

Ball brothers, right? You're all my man. I totally want to hang out with you. So bad.

Let's do it, friend. Yeah. I just think you're the coolest, most Rico, awesomest dude ever. You know, Rico, like a suave, like the government Rico or swabby swabbe smooth. You sound like a type of cat.

I want to kick it. Whitley. Oh, man. Hey, hey, can you give me a Rich Eisen mug for all that? For all those compliments?

Absolutely. No control over the rich guys in shock that we got your number, Lee. I'm sure if we get your number, we'll try to get you a mug. This is Positivity Friday. I wanted to bring up something that I think the world is just overlooking, like what's messy going on and the Joker being a great basketball player.

Why doesn't Otani not get any love like this dude is on fire right now? A month ago, I went to an Angels game in Anaheim and I got there early. I met Reggie Jackson, just like you guys did, and I got to get a ball signed by it. You know what I mean? It was so cool.

When I saw that clip of you guys with Reggie Jackson the other day, I cried when I met him. You know? Anyway, I got there early to see a batting practice, right, and just to see Otani launching these home runs. You know what I mean? And the game started and I was like, well, maybe people in Anaheim are running really late, like are they on L.A. time or something, you know?

And about halfway into the game, there was less than half the people there. Granted, it was a Monday night, but why don't people, what's going on? Don't you think this dude deserves more hype or something?

Lee, that is a great question. I asked, I believe, Rockman earlier before the show about it, because I said, this guy, by the way, last night, had his 22nd homer, leads the majors in homers, pitched six innings. What can't he do? Shohei Otani is arguably one of the greatest baseball players in history, what he's able to do.

Ever, ever. And I don't think he's getting like, everybody's talking about Wimba Yamba and Messi and all these people. Nobody is talking about him, you know what I mean? So Rockman, what did you tell me?

I would say, I don't remember what I told you, to be honest. I got to say, Otani is incredible. He might be the most talented baseball player of all time, and I don't even think that's a hyperbole or stretch to say that, what he's doing right now. Nobody's seeing him because he's in Anaheim, and the fans down there don't go to the games. If you go to any team- Do you think somebody's going to pay him $600 million, do you think that?

Probably. I mean, if he goes to Saudi Arabia, he could get $2 billion. He could get $1.6 billion, huh?

He's worth it. If he played for the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Braves, the Dodgers- The Mets. The Mets, the Cubs, the Cardinals- The Mets.

He'd be the biggest star in sports. Because he plays for Anaheim, 50% of the crowd is the visiting team. When the Red Sox are in town, it's 75%. And so- The Astros, and there was like half the crowd was the Astros, and the other half wasn't even there.

You know what I mean? Lee- I believe it. I appreciate you bringing that up, because it needed to be discussed during the show today. Shohei Ohtani, 22 homers, just an absolute superstar.

Appreciate your call, and thanks for all the positivity as well. I mean, just comes on and gasses us up. And if you haven't seen Ohtani play, and we're kind of like Messi, if this is a guy and he's visiting your team that's local to you, and he happens to be pitching, you have to spend whatever the money is and get a ticket and go. Even if he's not on the mound, you're going to see something special, potentially, every single night. The guy's hitting 450-foot oppo home runs, and then he doesn't even have- he's so casual and cool, TJ, he doesn't even have the energy to bat flip. He's just like, I did it again.

And now he's like, this guy's amazing. I mean, I realize we're not that close to Anaheim, we're not that far in consideration, but like what you just said, that just really made me go, bro, like, how have you not done it? I haven't seen this man yet. And that's something I mean, whether he comes to the Dodgers or I got to drive me a feller, let's hop in the Mazzini. They play Tuesday.

Take in an Angels game. That was Feller with the Maserati? I come in today, I'm the first one in the line. And then a Maserati pulls in after me, and I was like, I thought Rich was in Israel. I thought I was hosting the show today. I actually waited outside the door because I was like, and then Feller, you never came in the door I came in, came in another way.

So I was like, all right, he's got the VIP entrance, whoever this is, didn't see Brockman or TJ. That car is like, wait a minute, what fellas, the first guy I see didn't put two and two together until this moment in my life. And I love it for you, Feller. I love that Maserati for you. I know that you love it, but you're kind of secretly embarrassed that we keep talking about it a little bit, but I know deep down you like it.

I'm going to go home and record this. Yes. How long have you had it?

Like two, two and a half years. Okay. He's a small business owner. He told me about that. Right.

Come into, I had never met Feller before. Right. He's like, I only do Fridays because I make 1.6 Billy on the side fellas sitting here taking 1 billion.

That's chump change. I don't want to say anything, but, and I think he owns the South. I was like, where do you, he's like, oh, I live in Hermosa too. Oh, you live in that big house on, on 19. I spent all of my time like texting Feller with business ideas so I can get down.

Like how about we do such and such? And then he leaves me on red. Get us on the strand, fella, get us on the strand, rich eyes and so Steve Weissman filling in today. Yeah. That house on the street. That's always under construction. That's fellas.

It's just getting bigger and bigger. That was great. No, I've never been just like, I've never been to the condo. I've never been on the boat and I've never been to Feller's house on the strand. You know where I had been Redondo and Hermosa and yet I've never been invited to it. That's fine. That's fine. I mean, I don't feel like I've deserved to be invited on either one, but I would, I would certainly not turn down that invitation to the boat and the strand before we were more local than we are. Well, yeah, I'm right there.

If I didn't get the invite, it would be offensive at this point. You are invited. Wow. That's your house on the strand now I'm learning all these new things. And then I thought, what else is going on in this building? Like who else works here?

All these thoughts are going through my mind. What was the time, Steve, about let's kick it back to, let's say like four years, June of 2019, where there will be about 700 people walking outside the thoroughfare than all the big dogs of AT&T were up in the top. Yeah, you saw the parking lot littered with all types of cars, Maserati type. You pull in and there's only certain spots for the Rich Eisen show, right? You feel kind of like a big deal. You're like, all right, this is only Rich Eisen show. I'm the only one in.

And then the Maserati comes in. Fellers winning life right now. Right?

Yeah, he is. Rich Eisen show. Steve Weissman filling in for Rich. One more hour to go. We've got Cynthia Freeland in the house coming up next.

Don't go anywhere. Conspiracy theories, paranormal UFOs, science teacher Andrew Greenwood stated that a child ran into his classroom and was hysterically screaming and talking about the flying saucer outside. Hundreds of children ran out of their classrooms to go outside and see this unidentified flying object that was just above the school. Just imagine a bunch of kids running out of school, most of them probably just ran home. Police of the third kind on YouTube or wherever you listen.