REShow: Jeff Passan - Hour 2

And now back to The Rich Eisen Show. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles, The Rich Eisen Show.

He can't quit us, and we can't quit you either. Earlier on the show, ESPN NFL reporter Jeff Darlington, still to come. ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan, senior writer for Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannix. And now it's Rich Eisen. Can confirm we're back from the dark week and we're one hour into our first show back here in July, the day before the major league baseball all-star game. Rich Eisen sitting in the chair, that's my voice, it's the name of my show. And if you're watching the Roku channel, you're seeing me in a very nice light blue linen shirt.

And I feel so good about being tanned and rested and relaxed that normally when I wear linen it looks like I'm wearing a burlap sap, but it looks really good. You know what I'm saying? I thought you went to Canadian Tuxedo. I did not go Canadian Tuxedo today.

It's close. I'll tell you, by the way, later on this hour, how about this for a tease? Nobody's gonna care.

You'll never guess the last time I wore this on television. Okay. That's gonna be later on. That's called a tease. Well, I don't know, people are teased by it. A pretty good tease. In hour number one we spoke to Jeff Darlington of ESPN talking about football.

That's what he covers for them. We also went down a Mad Lib wormhole with Victor Wimbonyama going in a catch in the Aria casino and getting into being tapped on the shoulder by Britney Spears. There's one big Mad Lib, just take your favorite French basketball player, name a casino in Vegas, and then your favorite pop star from the 80s, 90s of the aughts. It was great. My favorite one that I had was Nick Batum walking through the Excalibur and having a run-in with Belinda Carlisle. That was really fun for me. Or did I say Tiffany? Or was that the Evan Fournier one?

All right, I'm gonna stop doing that. Hour number three, Chris Mannix will join us to tell us what the hell has going on there in the Summer League and what this NBA in-season tournament is all about. It's Major League Baseball All-Star of Week.

I just said Elie De La Cruz should be in this damn game, I don't care. It's called All-Star, right? And he's a star.

He's a star in the making. Join us talking about everything going on in Major League Baseball at Baseball's Break on the night of the home run derby on the World Wide Leader in Sports is our favorite Jeff passing back on the program. How are you, Jeff? I'm doing great, Rich. I don't know how the I don't know how the quality of the audio is coming through right now. I hope it's good because I am, uh, there's a little get-together with Julio Rodriguez this morning and I left that and now down the hall inside of a room with two ice machines and a very leaky faucet and it's just beautiful.

I love this. Okay. Never done a radio hit from an ice machine room before.

Okay. I just hope no one comes in. So are you in the bowels of the stadium in Seattle? Is that what you're saying?

Where you are right now? No, no. This is at a hotel, actually. I'm gonna, I'll send you a picture right now.

I would like it. So you can see the ridiculousness. Well, if you have reception enough, I don't want you to use your, your, any of your G's up on this. Um, so, uh, it's a one G situation in that room. Did you, hold on a minute. In all seriousness, did you say there was a death threat for one of the young stars of the game? Is that what you said?

No. Did I say? What did you say? Did I, what did you say? Did you say, did I over, did I mishear that?

What's, what's going on right now with Julio Rodriguez that you said? Oh, he's having an event. Oh God. So that's, I think, I think ice just dropped.

I think, my God, that was serious. Okay. So wait a minute.

So you're having like a breakfast get together. Oh, great. Fantastic. The luminaries of Seattle.

The luminaries of Seattle. Fantastic. Uh, I think that's, that's, that's, that's terrific. Good.

I'm so glad. Uh, if Jim Lefever shows up, let me know. Um, okay. So let's just jump into this. Uh, Jeff, um, what is the, the major story right now in baseball at this All-Star break? I'll go macro with you to start this conversation.

What do you got for me? I mean, it's, it's gotta be Shohei Ohtami, right? I mean, every, everything about Shohei Ohtami, let's, let's look at the, the three different elements that we have intersecting simultaneously. Number one, he's the best player in the world right now. There is no doubt about that. If there's an argument at this point, it's, he's the most talented player ever to play. I don't think we can say he's the best player yet, because I think when I'm talking best, at least I'm talking both talent production and longevity. I think in order to be the best, you need all three. He's got the talent.

He's got the production. We'll see about the longevity. Uh, the second element is the angels stink right now. They're under 500. Their playoff spot, you know, and playoff hopes are dwindling. Mike Trout is going to be out through the trade deadline. Do the angels trade Shohei Ohtami? And if so, where does he go? And is he going to be for the first time in the post-season?

Because remember, school has not been in the post-season in his career. And somebody just came in to get some ice. So my apologies.

I had to step out so the young gentleman there could get some ice. Okay. All right.

Somebody needs ice. Hold on a minute. I'm going to make this turn. I'm going to make this turn. I'm going to make this turn. Shohei wants to put ice on his finger, right?

So the whole point of it, you know. Do you trust hotel ice machines, Rich? Never. Are you kidding me?

Wait, really? Exactly. Exactly. No. I will say though, this is a fancy hotel and they had two water filters on the wall. So I might trust this hotel.

Okay. But the third element with Shohei Ohtami is where does he go this off-season? He's a free agent.

And that's the calculus that the angels are trying to deal with right now. For six years, they have had him. Six years of not winning. And Shohei Ohtami was at his very happiest during this World Baseball Classic in March when he led Samurai Japan to the championship.

I've never seen smiles on his face quite like the ones he had when he was playing in the WBC. So it's clear that winning matters to him. And if the angels can't win, is he going to resign there? If he doesn't resign there and they keep him for the season, then they get like a 70th pick in the draft next year, which doesn't work a whole lot. As opposed to if they trade him at the deadline this year, they would get a ton, maybe not like a Juan Soto level package, Rich, but pretty close to it.

So there are all of these storylines with Ohtami that are intersecting in a very fascinating way. Well, what are you hearing there? Because I mean, they're five out. And since you and I last spoke, we spoke about three weeks ago and they were above 500. They were about six games above 500.

Yeah, they were a playoff. They were a playoff team and then Trout breaks his hand. Ohtami gets pulled from a start with a blister. Rendon gets hurt as well. So the question I have is why, I mean, the writing's on the wall. I mean, Trout's not coming back over the next few weeks. And, you know, if they don't make, if let's just say they don't win five in a row to start the second half de facto, you know, how do they hold, how do they hold on to him? Or how about this one?

This is a better one. Is Ohtami going to like pull Damian Lillard and finally tap his wrist and say, I want out. I mean, what does he say? What is, what is he saying? He will, he will, he will, he will never do that.

Uh, no, he's going to be speaking in like an hour or so at T-Mobile park for all star media day. And that will be, I'm sure the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth question to him, some different derivation of, are you going to be traded? Do you want to be traded?

Et cetera, et cetera. And I don't think Shohei Ohtami is the sort of person and baseball is generally not the sort of sport where you request trades and where trade requests are obliged. Remember Brian Reynolds had a trade request in place with the pirates ended up signing an extension with them. Trade requests are used more contract negotiation, leverage in baseball than they are actual genuine legitimate.

I want to get out of here. And so I think it comes down to this will Artie Moreno, the angels owner actually come to terms with what the, the way he has shepherded and stewarded the franchise has led to, will he come to terms with the fact that the failures of the last six years make Ohtani re-signing that much more difficult and will he just call, will he just say uncle and say, I'm going to salvage this the best I can, or is he going to continue his tack? Which honestly the logical part of me doesn't understand, but the emotional part certainly does in that you have maybe the best player in the history of the game. Do you want to be the person who traded him and who traded him to a place where potentially he's going to see that not only can he be comfortable there too, but yeah, he can win.

The two things are not mutually exclusive. And in that case, of course he's going to want out. It's almost like you don't want to show him that the grass is actually greener on the other side, because as long as he's under this perspective or seeing through this perspective where, you know, you don't necessarily have to win to play the game, then maybe you can keep deluding him all those years. Well, he's just got to make a statement. And I say, you know, I know he's going to do it in an hour or make say something, but he's got to declare. Because the Angels aren't winning this year with Trout Out.

I mean, you know, I shouldn't say anything so absolutely, but I think you can say that safely. So the question is, is will he resign in the fall? And if the Angels put on the table something that even starts with a seven and he says no, then then that's the end of it. Then then you can basically say we tried our best.

We put something on the table that said a seven. He said he wants to test the waters. So that's it. And we've got to get somebody here. And if I'm looking out at the field and I don't see every every seat filled because Otani's pitching like it's some sort of festival, which would happen at Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Citi Field, I could go on and on and on.

If he does show up there, name it. The number of different cities in the United States that would fill up their baseball park once every five days just because he is pitching, then I'm Artie Moreno. I'm like, then that's the end of that.

I got to cut my losses, at least get something and start building like the Rays do, you know, or or the Guardians and start winning baseball games that way. That's the way I would handle it if I were him, you know. Rich, I don't disagree with you at all, but the battle between logic and emotion is one that has been waged throughout the course of history. And wars are more often fought because of emotion than logic. You know, our logical brains, we know they're right.

Our emotional brains are the ones we listen to, though. Look at you, Jeff Passan. That's the most thought-provoking thing I've ever heard from somebody sitting in an ice machine room in a hotel in my entire life, Jeff. It's a high bar, isn't it? I think that's maybe the most thought-provoking thing that's ever been said in that room, period, other than just like, you know, who's got the vodka? You know, like, you know. It might be the only thing you've said in this room, aside from, why are the buckets for the ice purple?

Or so damn small. What do I do with these tongs? Okay, Jeff Passan here on The Rich Eisen Show.

Why are there only three bags to use as liners for these dirty ice buckets? That's it. That's right. Here's a new turn for you. Eric Adams, not the only mayor in New York City now, huh? How about Sean Casey being named the new heading coach for the Yankees? What the hell's going on with that team right now, Jeff?

What's happening? They don't have Aaron Judge. And when the Yankees don't have Aaron Judge, they're a slightly above average baseball team.

And I think they have probably enough pitching to keep them in contention as long as Judge is out. But this is not a team that's better than the Baltimore Orioles. They're not better than the Tampa Bay Rays. They're not better than the Texas Rangers. They're not better than the Houston Astros. You can argue that they're not better than the Toronto Blue Jays. Like, the Yankees are a borderline playoff team right now. And Aaron Boone knows Sean Casey from their days together with Cincinnati Reds.

And Sean Casey, has he been on the show before? He's delightful. I mean, he's going to definitely make that clubhouse a lot lively, a lot more. He's going to be infectious. And I would just love that to be part of their hitting approach as well.

You know, that would be great. Yeah, I was going to say their hitting approach so far has been infected as opposed to infectious. So that's the point.

I don't know. You know, sometimes you just got to change coaches for the sake of change. Like if something's not working, then a coach is the right scapegoat.

And Dylan Lawson in this case was the scapegoat. And I, you know, I think Sean Casey is a pretty brilliant hitting mind, actually. The guy hit 300 regularly throughout his career and understand the mechanics of hitting extremely well.

But this job to me is much more of a psychology play than it is mechanical one. And Sean Casey is going to be there trying to build up guys who have been beaten down by the excellent major league fishing that's out there right now and who just haven't been able to get going because the Yankees offense in the month of June, I believe, was the worst in baseball in terms of runs scored. And seeing that from any New York Yankees team is it boggles the mind because they are the Yankees and because they do have a 275 million dollar payroll. And because they do have all these names, whether it's Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton, Glaver, Torres, D.J. LeMayhew, Josh Donaldson, you know, guys who have been extremely productive in the past. Well, there's not a whole lot of productivity coming out of them right now, but I don't deny the fact that it might still be there and they just need to find someone who can help extract it. So then, yeah, I know that that's the problem is their their lineup might be constructed better for a 2017 fantasy team. You know what I mean? Like that's that's potentially the issue.

So which team do you think might be that that second half? Screw that one. I want to talk Elie De La Cruz in my time remaining with you. I love this guy. I think I think he is I think he is a revelation. I think he should be in Seattle. I think the baseball should create like a commissioner's choice, one in each league, somebody that's just been dynamiting the month before that might not have that might have come up too late, might not have caught fire till the end and everybody's talking about and that player should be in the All-Star game. Screw it.

I mean, if this is a game where let me let me let me let me let me ask you this. Did you know that they did invite him to the home run derby? I did hear that, but he said no, correct? He did say no. Well, I mean, again, but I I put that, listen, I understand why he said no.

I wish he would have said yes, because you're right. Like baseball, baseball is better for having him here and for showcasing him. But the but the home run derby, Jeff, and this is no offense to because I used to be part of that broadcast that I will watch tonight because I'm a fan.

Okay. But that that that's just a sideshow. You know, like the game is what I used to watch all the time to see these guys play baseball against one another. And in this, this is the first time where we're not having a stupid ass shift and maybe it'll be more than just a strikeout festival. I'm serious. And that this is that guy should be in the game.

That guy should be in the game on Tuesday night. Not not some sort of, you know, here comes the money ball or here's a tie. Oh, here's a time out. You know, like that's that's not baseball. I'm excited that stars of the game are in it.

But I want to see the kid, you know, I want to see the kid play, you know, in the game. Like, let's go Tuesday. Now we've got to focus on Tuesday night as much as we are Monday night.

I get it. I'm focused more on Monday night because I just want to see him hit 500 foot home runs. I guess I think the game, the game itself, it's like the NBA All-Star game right now. I mean, there's there's competitiveness to it, but it's almost like a it's almost like a high school showcase event more than it is an actual baseball game.

You know, it's not like it's not like when we were growing up. Guys don't care who wins or loses. There's there's no great incentive to play well other than you want to be better than the best and you want to prove that there's something cool about that. But it seems like on a nightly basis already, Elie De La Cruz is proving that he is better than the best across the league. And just the you know what it is about him, man? It's that he does everything that you want to see. He hits for power. He throws the ball harder than anybody across the diamond. And on the base taps, he's an absolute terror. And it's just fun. And he's doing it with a joie de vivre.

I really appreciate that. Like, you can tell he's having fun out there. Players like him and Julio Rodriguez and Ronald Acuna and Fernando. There's just a younger generation that tends to be mostly of Latin American baseball players who have been training to do this very thing that they're doing from an extremely early age. And there are a lot of problems rich with baseball in Latin America. There's a lot of corruption down there.

But I'll say one thing. The Dominican Republic and Venezuela right now are better at turning out stars than the United States, which is a wild conceit. That is a crazy thing to say. But if you just go and look at all the most dynamic players in the world right now, like not a lot of them are from the US. Corbin Carroll is up there. But Corbin Carroll grew up in Seattle. He was not part of the youth baseball development machine that's taking place right now. So it's one of those macro 30,000 foot things that baseball should be taking a look at, especially the people in the United States who run youth development and say, where are we going wrong and where can we go right? But I love watching him, man.

The Joie de Vivre part, as you mentioned, that's the key. Just when he crossed home plate. By the way, who thinks of that, right? As soon as I get to third, I'm going home. You know, I'm about to steal home. You know, screw it.

Like, let's go. I loved it. Did you see the story I wrote on Ellie by chance?

Go for it. Did you know he has a twin brother? Get out of here.

Okay. He's a twin brother who is five foot eight. Oh my God. So he's got like an Altuve in the family. Is that what you're saying?

Is he going to be that good? He's like Schwarzenegger and DeVito. They're like twins. I was on the phone with both of them and I asked that question. Have you guys seen Twins?

And they were like, what's twins? And I'm like, Jesus, I am old. So old right now. You're covering baseball from an ice machine room, Jeff.

I mean, that's old. I'm not going to lie. Pedro de la Cruz running Pedro's boutique carwash down in the Dominican Republic while his brother does things that make rich eyes and swoon. I love it. It's awesome. I can't, I will look forward to reading that espn.com MOB insider, Jeff pass.

And a great job, Jeff. Really appreciate you, you know, dodging the ice. Is there, is there a snack machine in there too, or just ice? No, but here we're going to, we're going to do some sound effects.

Okay. That sounds cubes. That doesn't sound crushed to me. That sounds cubes. Oh yeah. It's the, it's the rectangular cubes that have like the little striations at the bottom.

Oh, is it like indention? It might be my favorite. Yeah.

It might be my favorite kind of ice actually. That's impressive. Very nice. They ain't got nice hotels here in Seattle. Wow.

Too salud, man. They didn't put me up there when I covered, this is the all star game in Seattle in 2000. Or is that 2001? I think they didn't put me up here either.

This is where the ballplayers are staying. Good to know that the ice machine isn't the only thing frozen in time. Thank you very much, Jeff. Really appreciate the time. Great chatting with you, man.

Thanks again, bud. Oh, there we go. That's Jeff Passan, everybody. The Gs ran out.

Just in time at the end there. One of our favorites, Jeff Passan. I love it. He makes me smarter. He's just, he loves the game. I love it.

I did not see his piece on the Delacruzas. I would have, I would have read that immediately. I heard it. He did an episode of ESPN Daily where they talked to him about it. And he talked about going down and visiting, it was him and Jeremy Schaap and they'd go down to Dominican and talking to his brother. And Jeff's like, yeah, we're about the same size. And I was like, how? How? Fantastic. Yeah, it's awesome.

Him and Schaap in the Dominican Republic is almost as great a mad lib as Victor Wembunyama in the Aria Hotel. That's like Clue, isn't it? Yes. Wembunyama and the Aria Hotel with the Spears.

The security guard's arm. All right. We will take a break.

There's an NBA in-season tournament, everybody. And we're going to, we're going to talk about it. 844-204-RICH number to dial your phone calls as well here on this fun Monday show. The average on farm income in the United States was a loss of $1,100. 60% of US port comes from one company wholly owned by the Chinese and farmers are more likely to commit suicide than veterans.

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I guarantee you're fixing to say, Oink Oink. I'm just so happy I got moinked. Are you currently enjoying the show on the Stitcher app? Then you need to know Stitcher is going away on August 29th. Yep, going away.

As in kaput, gone, dead. Rest in peace Stitcher. And thanks for 15 years of service to the podcast community. So switch to another podcast app and follow this show there.

Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. What was it like shooting that scene though with Ray Kinsella and his father? What I did was I went back to when I first read it. And so I become the audience when I read it.

And I, when I read it, I went, I couldn't believe that it had orchestrated itself to that thing. And I had that feeling on the couch. And so I knew if I played that straight, I didn't wink at anybody that these players did come, you know, that's my corn. You know, they kept coming after me. I wasn't going to be able to do that movie. I was going to do Revenge.

And I got into a, finally Revenge kept getting pushed, kept getting pushed. And finally I had to put my foot down and say, look if you don't get this movie together, I'm going to go to do this movie in the corn. I asked the director, why did you hold out for me so long?

Why? And he said, well, and this is one of the greatest actors we've ever seen. He goes, they wanted me to do Robin Williams. And I said, Robin Williams is perfect. He said, yeah, but when I think of Robin, I think he does hear voices in the corn. And I don't want that.

People don't believe you hear voices. That's a director that makes a save. That's a Mariano Rivera, you know, it's a save. He saved his movie because of his belief in an idea, you know, not the quality of actor because Robin Williams will never, this is a guy so special. But I was curious. I said, he's actually a bigger star than me, you know, whatever. And he goes, I need somebody that you don't think hears voices. And that would be you.

I've never heard Robin Williams was considered for that role. That's unbelievable. And then you did it. And obviously we're talking about it today. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It had gold dust on it when I read it because I did that little intake of breath. Do you want to have a catch? And of course I, I wept myself. Man, love that.

Kevin Costner, many appearances. Check them all out on our YouTube page, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, 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. All rise. Let's take Turzo and Iowa's phone call. First in first up right here on the Rich Eisen Show, 844-204-RICH.

Number to dial. How you been, Turzo? You good? Oh, been, been well, man. I'm happy you guys are back on the air.

You know, there's no bad blood that you guys went dark for a week. But I do have, I do have a little bit of a question for TJ and I hope he might actually have a blank space on his calendar. Okay. Okay. Okay.

TJ Jefferson. I think I know what's coming, but go for it, Turzo. Unleash it. No, it's not a bet. I kind of dig this. Let's see if you were, if you're up for it. Go for it, Turzo. I'm gonna do my, I'm gonna do my best here to try and convince TJ to kind of, kind of get out and go do something fun.

But TJ, my girlfriend, my awesome, lovely, beautiful girlfriend got his T-Swift tickets for the 29th of July at the great denim stadium there in Santa Clara. All right. The field of jeans, the field of jeans. Yep.

The field of jeans. She is unable to attend this event because she has to go to Europe for work, unfortunately. And I was not able to make arrangements to get my niece to go with me because they already had plans for the summer. So I'm throwing this out there to you, TJ. Great ticket. Do you want to go with me?

Yes. He, I, Alex. Stop, stop, stop. Please don't do that, TJ. So just so once again, you are inviting TJ Jefferson to join you at the home of the 49ers for a Taylor Swift concert. What date is this again?

What do we got? It would be, it would be July 29th. What day of the week is that?

That is a Saturday. My thought is I would fly in to LA Friday. I'd pick you up, TJ, and we'd drive to Santa Clara, my man. Turzo, that's a long drive, bro. Oh wow. Forget it. Okay. That's a long drive. I know, but it'd be fun.

That's a long drive. So how about this, Turzo? Let's remove that. If you don't want to hang in a car with Turzo for five hours, do you want to go to this concert? You know, Turzo, first and foremost, I got to say, man, that is really amazing that you would think of me, all these people on this planet earth that you would think of me. And I, I got to say, man, I'm humbled and I, I thank you so much. But the thing is, I, I'm just not a, a Swifty bro.

Like in as much as I appreciate the offer, that means a lot. I will never ever forget that right now. I have to, it's about the experience. I have to be like, ah, I don't know, man. Now, if, if it was like, we could, we could TikTok the whole thing. And I, I, I'd almost, I'd almost guarantee that that you guys already have a huge following on TikTok, which I didn't show. I think it might just be a little bit more fun content. You know, I'd have to give this some serious. How about this? How about this? How about this?

Just think about it. His initial reaction is two things. One, you're forcing him to do something he doesn't want to do. And that's not hang with you.

It's leaving his house. That's number one. Okay. I do not like, okay. He's, you would have to leave his house.

And then number two, he needs to wrap his mind around people seeing him and think that's a Swifty right there. You can't, these are two. Am I wrong? I mean, I feel like I've gotten to know you long enough.

You have to leave your house. It's got nothing to do with the Terzo thing. But you also don't like, you've got some sort of cred that you feel like you can't wrap your arms around going to a Taylor Swift concert, just because my nine-year-old went to one. And Aaron Rodgers, who's beaten the Cowboys multiple times in your life, went to one. What it comes from is you might view it in a negative light, because you're seeing who is in fact acting like it's the greatest thing ever. Because for many people, it is.

It is, yeah. You know, I don't associate Taylor Swift with Aaron Rodgers. I'm more associated with Selena Gomez. Okay. Well, and it's not about me thinking like I'm past the point where I want anybody to worry about if I'm cool or not. I just, I got to be honest, I never in my life, there's many things in my life that I could see myself doing. And that's not one of them. Taylor Swift concert was just never, everyone's going to that concert this year.

My God, it's truly like a once in a lifetime opportunity. All right, so Terzo, Terzo, Terzo, last thing. So give one more, like what's your last pitch here as TJ is, you are not rejecting it.

I'm not. It's under consideration. I got a marinade. But right now, right now the needle is closer to E than F, right? And your gas tank on this.

Looks like my car, which has one mile on it when I pulled in today, yes. TJ, I don't take it to heart. My man, I figured I'd shoot my shot.

I figured it'd be hilarious. But Rich, this would be my last little pitch here for you. My girlfriend would like to donate those tickets. So instead of pulling to Brockman and just trying to sell them for as much money as possible, I would like to offer and extend this out to you. And I would probably need your help with this because your name means a lot more than my name.

We'd like to probably donate those to St. Jude's. Whether or not that some kid that has an opportunity to go to this concert, if they're there with somebody else and or if we're able to raise more money to donate. OK, can I interrupt real quick? If that is your second option, I would much rather if that is what you wanted to do, because you could get a car with these tickets. But if that is what you wanted to do, I will then gladly step aside and say, no, I do not want to go simply for the fact to give. If you're serious and you just want to like do that, I would much rather, bro, you do that.

Give someone an opportunity who would really cherish and love that moment. And so I will gracefully I thank you and I will not forget that. But I'll gracefully bow out if that is your other option. You let you let TJ off the hook and make it allow it through philanthropy. I know I let him off the hook. You did. I kind of already I kind of already knew that the judgment was coming down.

OK, but it's it's not about the money, Rich. You know, you know, I know that that experience. And if I'm you know, if I'm not able to take, you know, my girlfriend or my niece or, you know, my buddy TJ, then I would much rather somebody really enjoy that. All right. Well, obviously, we know how to we know.

I would. Yeah, obviously, we know how to connect with you. We're going to make that happen. We'll do our best. I love it. All right. That was excellent. Appreciate you guys. All right.

As wonderful and philanthropic as he is, teachers just want to go on a five hour road trip with him. Well, no, no, no, that's it. That's it. That was your first thing is just like that's a long time in the car, man.

It's a long time in the car. But like I said, option B was I got to be honest. That was you want no part of the Taylor Swift concert. Option B sounded much better than me. OK, we're going to make that happen.

And they are worth cars. Great chat. Great chat. That would have been great content. I know it would have been even even when TikTok with them, which is one of the few social media outlets that haven't been for the backseat. There you go. So very good.

Instagram hasn't banned me yet. Just how does that either. How does the the Michael Rubin White Party video strike you? I wish I was there. Do you really?

Do you really? What would you do there? What would I do?

Yeah. What would you do there? Honestly, you show up.

What's my angle? It's not an angle like you show up and there's that many wildly successful and famous people. They're like, who would you talk to?

Like, what would you do? People would be like, look, if you're at this party, you're obviously somebody. So it doesn't really matter what my level of, quote unquote, fame is. I'm at this party, so it doesn't really matter. I'm not like you're I'm in the door. It's not like you're one of those.

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night, like, you know, at the weird hot model bar. You know, I mean, like I'm talking to the guy who's on the golf celebrity tournament tour. That's an actor. He's an actor.

So he's already 70. So you wouldn't Friday. You wouldn't be self-conscious, by the way.

Congrats. You wouldn't be self-conscious? No, no, no. I would be self-conscious. Do you know what I'd be self-conscious about?

Rich, one or two, one or two summer cocktails, the self-consciousness guy that goes out the door. Well, that's my, what I would be self-conscious about at that party. Spilling something on the white? A million percent. I don't like going to white parties.

A million. And I mean the clothing. I am a magnet for droplets. I am a magnet for just that one thing. That means vodka tequila. You guys, come on. Vodka tequila.

You can't, no red, no dark brown. Excuse me. Excuse me. It's not just me being a mess. I'm a magnet for that person who bumps into you. And then could you imagine you show up like, I'm going to plus, I mean, it's usually linen. I already told you this shirt that I'm wearing today had to be steamed because it looked great leaving the house. Otherwise Susie would have been like, you can't wear that. So she gave it the check mark.

I'm like, I do feel good. In the car wrinkles. Last time I wore this shirt was on The Great Escape on TNT. That's the last, yeah, I wore this in the Boneyard episode.

It's older than Taylor's. It is indeed. Wow. So I decided to wear it. And as soon as I got here, Sarah of our makeup department, I'll throw in wardrobe too, because she's just like, we got to steam it. Yeah, I know.

We're a small operation here. So did you drive the work with it tucked in and I did. I did. Like it was ready to go. Yeah. You can't do that dog.

No. So what I'm just saying is I, if it's invariably, it's like white and it's linen. And then I show up and I would be just like, okay, this is what I got. I'm showing up here. Could you imagine you walk into that party and you get ketchup on it?

Like Leo DiCaprio and Amrita, you know, and whoever else is there. And it's just like, I'd have to, I'd have to stand there like this. Like, did you hurt yourself? No, I didn't hurt myself. I'm covering up the one ketchup stain.

That's been there since seven 30. Would you just play the corner? Just stand in the corner. So you couldn't have, just find the right people, you know, and just let them come to me. Sure.

No, no. Michael Rubin knows I'd be a value add to that party, but I'd be, I'd be completely nervous about getting something on me. And I got it now. I got it.

I couldn't wait till it gets dark because then I'd feel a little more confident walking around that party. You know what I mean? Have you watched the video yet? I did. It's very impressive. I'm a fan. I'm a fan. I'm a fanatic for that party. Well done. Thank you.

I give a shout out to Don Bui who just texted me something that I said that I guess didn't sound the way I thought it was. I guess I said, I don't like going to white parties, but that's not, that's not what I meant, Don. I meant clothing because I'm thick and all white just doesn't, it's not I will wear all black to an all white party just because you can't, but you can't do things like that.

You can't come on. You don't have like a stone cold t-shirt that's white. Like you wouldn't like your golden girls t-shirt isn't white. Stone cold wouldn't wear all white. It's not all white, just a t-shirt that's white. I've gone to all white parties. What do you mean you're the only top? What are you talking about?

I've done hundreds. What do you mean only the top needs to be worse? The top part. You don't have to have white pants. Everyone's wearing white pants. Did you watch the video? Yes.

Did you watch the video? You can, but you don't have to wear white. You could wear other, as long as something's white. If you walked up to me, Mike, if you walked up to me, hold on a second, at a white party with a white shirt and black pants, I would ask you for a drink because I think you're working there. I did not say black pants. I said a light color with white pants.

I would think you're working there. I would take, I would give you my toothpick from the very carefully dipped in ketchup, pig in a blanket. Okay, the last white party I went to wear all white with red tops and white bottoms.

Ketchup, rolling the dice. I never spill anything on myself and I could be a slob. Okay, I watched the video. Nobody's wearing anything by the way. But you could wear, hypothetically, except for me because I'd be in all black. But I have a question for you. Tom Brady's wearing a t-shirt.

He looks amazing. Is there like a website that has this white party sort of rules, do's and don'ts? I'm sure it's on the internet. But what if it's like, what if Ruben's like all white? You got to dress all white.

Which apparently he did. Joe Burrow's white tank top has kind of a gray rim to it. I'm telling you, you could mix and match.

Somebody's date is wearing like a white with black polka dot dress. Okay. It's white in it. Okay. But obviously if you're saying everybody's wearing white.

That's Ellen Pompeo. Okay. White khakis with like kind of like white pants with like a white top. Leo's got way too many buttons unbuttoned. Tangle. People wearing cream here. TJ, white kangle, that's all you need.

You're good. Ben Affleck is there with his daughter who looks exactly like Jennifer Garner. They could be twins.

Yeah, it's ridiculous. But what are they wearing? That's all we can.

They're wearing white. Actually, Ben Affleck's kind of wearing a cream sport coat. Tom Brady's living his best life. That's all I got to say. Tom Brady's invited.

Let's just put it that way. Whatever party he wants to go to. All I know is I would just walk in there.

He's not dating Kim Kardashian. I would have dancing. I'd have to stay away from the red wine and the ketchup.

I would be, it would honestly. It's a vodka night. Straight vodka. Again, it's not a me thing. It's just like I'm a, I am a magnet for two things. Somebody else's food or drink.

Is it going to land on you? And ambient noise in hotel rooms. Honestly, I'm a magnet for that. Last night in the Valley, I don't know, you made a, somebody was lighting off fireworks at 11 o'clock at night and I could not get to sleep. Sorry about that. What are we doing? All right, let's take a break here. Speaking of grievances, the NBA in-season tournament. I don't think there's a lot of fans here in this room. We'll talk it up in advance of Chris Maddox.

Overreaction Monday still coming. 844204. Rich numbered it all. All right, back here on the program. We're factors, both our guests.

First up, you got, you want to, what do you want to do first? Darlington? All right, Jeff Darlington said he was going to change his Twitter bio.

And he has done so. As you could see, I'm also here to get aggregated. Well, it's only here.

He needs to change the also to only. Well, it's traveling the country to bring you the stories of sports and the people who play them. So that's really, I'm also here to get aggregated.

I think that's Lambeau Field. I mean, he's just letting you know, he's bringing you the stories and people who play them and he's traveling the country. You know, I appreciate that.

We'll take it. He said he was going to do it and he did it. He did it. That was nice. Jeff Passette said he was going to send us a photograph of where he was.

He has done it. There it is. I don't understand. I mean, that's an ice machine, but it looks like what is that is also a nuclear reactor. Is that a flux capacitor? What the hell is that? Is it my pool equipment?

Like what's going on? It does look like pool equipment. Literally. By the way, look how he's definitely the best dressed person to ever walk in there. Yeah.

And probably includes the hotel staff that services these. By the way, that's a LED readout. Yeah, it's very nice. He could be on a ship. That's yeah. That could be a lot of submersibility. So what a room.

That is very nice ice room. Letting you know how the sausage is getting made. Is Jeff ever not in a suit? He's always in his well as we only see him in a suit and he was probably working. You wake up suited. Is that mean that's his pajamas? He's got a suit. His sleeping clothes. Not a hair out of place either.

No. I mean, well, that's on brand for him. Him and Shappy traveling the world together would be look at that. I mean, yeah, I would have that same look. I'm definitely nervous.

What is going through them tubes? I didn't imagine somebody walks in the good ice and he just stands like the hudsucker proxy back here on The Rich Eisen Show. Eight four four two oh four.

Rich number dial. So the the NBA, you know, I really like what they have done with the summer league. This would be akin to the NFL two weeks after the draft, putting the players in their uniforms and having them play a game. Right. Like you'd see Bryce Young quarterbacking for the Carolina Panthers on the spot.

Right. You know, but obviously and it would be first and second year players because you're seeing some second year players, some 2021 year old guys there. Couple of third year guys.

I was a Chet Holmgren and whatever. And I mean, it's fun. I mean, the NFL could never do it, but it's great to just see these guys already play and perform.

And obviously you start conversations and then you have, you know, just kind of create a little summer buzz. Right. Pop stars, tapping players on the shoulder and getting brushed off by security. You know, the big stars from the team are there. Right. They're sitting courtside.

It is great. And so they decided to step it up a notch too. They're having something called NBA con, you know, where some former stars and old school players are showing up and it's like a convention in Vegas, just like anything else. And at NBA con, the commissioner appeared and announced what's been talked about for, as he said, 15 years in the league office.

That's kind of, it's been a long time coming and they're going to do it. And what it is is, is an in-season tournament, just like what I guess has done overseas for soccer. It's called an NBA cup and it starts on November 3rd and it ends on a Thursday and a Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada in December for the seventh and the ninth. And what's going to happen is they took all 30 NBA teams and kind of on a world cup type draw, placed them in six pools, you know, and, and the Eastern and Western conferences are in three pools a piece. And I mean, and, and, and these are regular season games that are going to now have a little extra meaning to it because they're NBA cup games. They're going to be happening. And, and then eventually they're going to come up with teams that show up in Vegas to battle it out on a semifinal night and bless the NBA, they're really rolling the dice here.

As Joe Dumars, who's in the front office said, it's going to take some time for people to get used to. The, the semifinal night on the seventh, I'm assuming it's a night in Las Vegas. It's going to take place on December 7th, a Thursday night. Also the same night, week 14 Patriots at Steelers on, on Amazon prime, which you can see right here on Roku. So we're assuming the Steelers and the Patriots going into December are going to be are going to be in the mix or who knows what's going on. Two incredibly popular franchises playing a game that has a rich recent 21st century history to it. And so, you know, we'll see how that one goes, but I don't know if the NBA really cares if they get curb stomped rating wise, certainly if, you know, obviously we'll talk about it here and I'll be watching and you you'll be watching the NBA cup.

Okay. That gets to the second screen society, what have you, because this does appear to be just as much for the international fans who are used to this type of right in season tournament. Like you pointed that out pre-show that's that's what this is. It's about for, for fans abroad, seeing what what's going on here and anything to place, you know importance, extra little bit of an level of interest on some of these regular season games as the football season is finishing up. I was curious to see if December 9th was a Saturday, December 9th, if that was like big 10 championship, SEC championship Saturday.

It is not, it is the week after that's the Heisman night. So that, so they'll have I think a a nice audience for a game that is again manufactured as something that's a championship. We'll see if people care about it, but at least they're trying. Yeah you can, I mean people, at least they're trying here, went nuts, everybody mad about it, but like let's see what happens.

Let's give it a shot. I feel bad for the Memphis Grizzlies are gonna have to do it without Morant. Well don't forget, it'll be suspended for most of those games.

Well that's true, all of my writing will get to the end of the tourney though. What if game, what if the 26, game 26 is the championship? I can't imagine, I bet you they, I bet you they looked at every, knowing the NBA, they looked at every facet of that. Yeah also in the article is that they were worried about some of these games that are NBA cup designated, be the second night of back-to-backs, that's not going to be a thing. If at all they'd be the first night of the back-to-back, so guys would be less apt to sit out.

Oh god. Obviously you want your stars playing in this new thing. They are incentivizing. They want, and they want the teams to play in it too. But it's 500k to the winning, to the winning team per player. These teams will not care. Yeah. You know how inviolate these back-to-backs are and they're not gonna. I know, but 500k to the, you know, 12th guy on the bench is a lot of money.

I know, I'm sure. And these count for your records, so kind of might care a little bit. Right. So, so people understand NBA in-season tournament stats count towards the regular season. Where's the play-in? NBA play-in games.

Do not count towards. Anywhere. Anywhere. Anywhere. They just, they're gone. They're gone. It's like it never happened.

Tatum's 50-point game does not count. But I read it and I'm like, you know what, they're trying. You know, good for them for doing something. Like realizing that just doing the same old, same old is just not gonna fly anymore and they'll give it a try. And I know people, trust me, I've been on the receiving end of you're trying to make something out of nothing, something big.

Like, hey, the NFL schedule release. And then 20 years later, you know, multiple networks are doing it. People always resist change. We know that.

So what they resist is like, you're trying to make me pay attention to something I ordinarily wouldn't pay attention to. So to hell with you on that, you know. I mean, November basketball isn't exactly, you know, exciting.

So this kind of spices it up a little bit. Well, it's exciting me because that's usually when I get a big lead in our fantasy league. Well, you're not gonna have the first pick. We don't know that, Chris.

No, I'm declaring. I gotta have Adam Silveron to talk about this. Chris Maddox in a moment to discuss all of it. He will not have the first pick, I guarantee it. Well, I don't know.

Honestly, this is absurd. Who won the league last year, by the way? I believe Adam did. Oh, didn't Bowie win? Or is it Bowie?

No, it was Don Bowie? It was Bowie did. Yeah, Bowie did. Bowie did.

Oh yeah, Adam was the bridesmaid again. I know Bowie's watching, so text me. No, Bowie did. Bowie did.

And which makes up for him not winning the year before saying he didn't know. I had no idea there were the playoffs. I had no idea the Coliseum was so old when I carved my initials into it. You hear about that one in Italy?

No. Yeah, some dude carved his initials of his initials and his girlfriend's initials in the Coliseum in Italy, and Italy went nuts. And when I say Italy went nuts, I meant the news, the newspapers, the media. Yes, the guy got, you know, arrested. And then he wrote a letter after, I guess, he got bailed out.

He wrote a letter of apology to the authorities saying he was unaware that the Coliseum was so old. Oh yeah. Ivan Dimitrov. Yeah. You didn't hear about this?

No. What an excuse. I'm sorry, officer. That F1 car I stole, I had no idea it would go so fast.

A 27-year-old fitness instructor tourist from England. What a dumb ass. He wrote a letter of apology. That's nice. I didn't know.

Yeah, he wrote a letter of apology. Has he never seen, he's never, he's never 2000-year-old Walt. He's never seen Ben Hur.

He's never seen any movie. Anything? Yeah, the Coliseum looks so new. Let me carve my initials. What? How wrestling really works and how you get the ratings. Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson explain on 83 weeks. Collision has been struggling a little bit out of the gate with these ticket sales. A little bit out of the gate. This was a major show announced on a major network with what everybody thought was this huge star, CM Punk. I said he was going to be the biggest financial flop in wrestling history and I think I'm being proven right every minute of the day. 83 weeks on YouTube or wherever you listen.