REShow: Pedro Martinez - Hour 3

Turn it up. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

Let's go! Julio, how did you do that? Swinging. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. What did we tell you about this kid, Elie Dela Cruz?

It's so hard! It looks like he was created by artificial intelligence. Yes. 99 speed, 99 power, 6 foot 5.

All of it. Earlier on the show, Yahoo! sports columnist Dan Wetzel, Reds play-by-play announcer John Sadak. Coming up, Baseball Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

Yes it is. Hour number 3 of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Later this hour, we're going to do our best to cover, if you will, whatever the hell happened on Capitol Hill today when the U.S. Senate was looking into the PGA Tour live deal.

And so we learned a little bit today, a little bit more, and then we had a lot more confirmed that our politics are a poop show. So that's coming up later on in this hour. If you missed our first couple of hours in which we had a great chat in hour number 2 with John Sadak, the Cincinnati Reds announcer, about the sensational Elie Dela Cruz and what's going on in Cincinnati. And also, we also had a first hour chat with Dan Wetzel about what's going on in Northwestern football. In advance of tonight's all-star game, we had some terrific memory lane conversations.

If you missed any of those, then guess what? We re-air at the end of this hour. But we lead off hour number 3 thrilled to have on. We've done this a handful of times and I'm honored every single time this happens. Because when I was covering baseball at the worldwide leader in sports for seven years, that's when this guy was as great as they come. And he's one of the all-time greats, period. Baseball Hall of Famer, three-time Cy Young Award winner, eight-time MLB All-Star World Series champion from Turner Sports and MLB Network, kind enough to join us on an all-star Tuesday once again is the great Pedro Martinez. How are you, Pedro? I'm great. Thank you for having me. Man, I'll tell you.

I didn't just say that because you were on hold maybe listening to my introduction. I am honored every single time. I will never forget I went down that memory lane again in advance of you coming on. The 1999 all-star game in which you met the moment when everybody in Boston, in Fenway Park, Red Sox fans were hoping to see what you could do against that National League lineup. And you striking out four of the first six that you faced was incredible. And I'm wondering, what was going through your mind when you took that mound that night, Pedro?

Well, Rich, as you know, I always want to kind of leap to the moment. And at the same time, I was always aware of the responsibility that came with being in Boston, representing Ted Williams. Because that was the all-star game that was dedicated to him. I had the all-century team. All of the players that I grew up idolizing were around the field. And I was extremely honored to be chosen to start that game because I don't think anybody would have taken it with as much responsibility as I did. I was fully aware that it was probably the most important all-star game that was going to be played in my lifetime.

Because I don't think I'm going to live again to see the all-century team around the field again. And I was really honored to actually live up to the moment, do what I was supposed to do, and what probably would be the most important all-star game that we all saw. And yesterday, when I saw Julio Rodriguez competing for the home run derby, it brought back some memories. And when they started chanting, Julio, Julio, Julio, it brought back some memories of my moments in Boston, my moments while I was having success in Boston. Yeah, I mean him hitting 41 home runs in an at-bat in front of his home fans that wanted to see him do that was truly something else. And then, of course, him getting bested by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., whose dad was in the dugout of the National League that night in 1999, Pedro. It's kind of wild how things kind of come full circle, in a way. It is.

It is amazing. I'm the godfather for Vladimir Jr. I chose him to win it because not only did he always dream about becoming a home run derby champion, he did it in the first time. I thought he should have been the champion with as many homers as he did here.

But the format for the home run derby did not allow him to win. But it was always a dream for him to do that. I know him since he was a baby and since he was born. And he always expressed that he wants to do everything his dad did, and if God allows him to do even more. So I'm extremely happy he got one of those achievements that his dad happened to have. And at the same time, how beautiful is it to see a father and a son, both of them, win a home run derby, become stars, both of them.

Now it's yet for him to get an MVP and get a championship. I mean, I wish him all the best, all of them. I think Julio put up a show yesterday. I think everybody represented so well.

I was really impressed with the group of guys that were participating now. What we have to wait is to see who stands up in the game, in the actual game today. Yeah, that goes down tonight. Pedro Martinez here on the Rich Eisen Show. And speaking of home run derbies, again going back to 1999, I was out there on the field along with Stuart Scott that night covering that home run derby for ESPN.

And I remember at the time it was split up between national and American leagues in terms of teams going and competing against each other. If I'm not mistaken, in the middle of a Maguire at-bat when he, I think, hits 13 or 14 home runs in an at-bat. And did you go up and try and steal the bat from him in the middle of like a timeout of his? Did you run up to him and take it? Or try to, Pedro? Yeah, I took his bat. I said, hey, boy, you're intimidating us.

We need you to stop doing that now. He didn't listen. He continued to hit bombs to the mass pike. And I think he kept on to the bat even though it was broken. I think that bat was broken that you tried to take out of his hands, Pedro.

Did you know that? Well, at the time I took it, it was pretty good. But it didn't matter. With Maguire, it didn't matter.

Maguire could take a little stick and he falls out. I mean, it was just impressive. And I remember he told me, hey, little man, give me my bat back. And I gave him the bat back. And then I was holding on to one of his arms and I was hanging from his arm, from his right arm.

I mean, I know I wasn't really heavy, but I was hanging from one arm. It was unbelievable. That was a heck of a night. And then Ted Williams obviously being there at the center of the diamond with the All Century team. Who did you interact with that night with the All Century team, Pedro? You know, Rich, I had the honor and privilege to actually have Hank Cannon come over and shake my hand. I had the honor of having Ted Williams come into his suite and say some beautiful things that he said to me after the game.

You know, and honor me. And to me, my highlight of all night was to see Hank Cannon walking by and moving through the people to say, I want to shake Pedro Martinez's hand. He's a true pitcher.

He's a true big leaguer. And that's what I wanted. That's why I told you earlier that I was really responsible with the way I showed up to the game. Because I was aware that the cream of baseball was watching me. I wanted to look like a true baseball player like they were. And I did not want my generation to fall short in front of the All Century team.

So I wanted to show the generation before that we also, some of us, believe in the big leagues and we belong. And that's exactly what I had, exactly from Ted Williams and from Hank Cannon. And I remember as soon as I stretched his hands, I remember how thick his hands were. And that never escaped my mind. And I was honored enough to actually have the opportunity to exchange with him in the Hall of Fame after I got inducted.

And our relationship never broke. And I'm actually, I'm going to express this, I'm missing him big time in Cooperstown. And I'm missing Joe Morgan, you know, walking encyclopedias for me. And I always enjoyed my time in Cooperstown, basically just talking and going through history with them about so many things. Not just baseball, but about so many things that they had to go through in their careers.

So I'm missing them big, big time. And, you know, Joe Morgan was there that night as well in 1999. Again, Pedro Martinez here, he's on MLB Networks. MLB Tonight at 3 p.m. Pacific, live from Seattle in advance of this All-Star game. The conversation at the All-Star game surrounding Shohei Ohitani considerably right now. Pedro, what advice would you give him as he sits there on a team that's one game under.500? Mike Trout's not in this game tonight, as we all know, because of a broken hand that's going to keep him out of the Angels lineup for the foreseeable future. Free agency is impending.

He's never hit free agency. And the Angels look like a team, again, that might fall short. And I understand there's still a lot of runway left in the season. What advice would you give Shohei Ohitani, Pedro Martinez? I would just say to Shohei, you know, I don't think he needs too much advice. I think he does everything great and is showing. But if I was to give him one advice as my brother, as my son that he could be, I would just say, take care of the things that you need to take care and worry about the things that you can't control and the ones that you can't.

Then forget about it, have fun, have a lot of fun, and try to stay healthy. The future, I think, is going to take care of it by itself. And Shohei does not have to do anything else but what he's doing. I know he knows how to take care of himself. I had the opportunity to interact with him and exchange. He has unbelievable discipline, a really unique way of training himself for both things that he does, which is hitting and pitching.

And one of the smartest people I can ever think of and his education level is, I mean, off the charts. And I'm not worried about Shohei. I'm more worried about the Angels not signing him because whoever signs Shohei Ohitani is going to take all of Asia with them, all the merchandise with them. They're going to take all of the fans that were going to see Shohei Ohitani to the city that he lands. So if I was the Angels, as much as this is going to cost, I would pay it for Shohei Ohitani because what he's going to bring in merchandise, in fans, in publicity and all that, I think it's worth every single penny and not counting how much he can do as an athlete, as a baseball player.

So for business, if I was going to invest in the stock market of Shohei Ohitani, I would go probably bankrupt if I don't do it. Now, I understand that. You just said two things, Pedro Martinez, that I want to hit. The first one is your interactions with him. What do you talk with him about? I'd love to be the fly on the wall of Pedro Martinez and Shohei Ohitani talking. What does that talk about? Shohei expressed to me that I was his idol as a pitcher, someone he looked up to, and I had the opportunity to do a voiceover, a documentary that he's actually doing. And I got to learn so much. I got to learn how much he cares. I got to know how he trains himself away from everybody. He has his own program.

I got to know something nobody probably ever imagined. Shohei Ohitani wrote as a 14-year-old how he wanted to be a two-way player and be one of the best players that ever played. At 14 years old, he wrote that document, and his dad was able to pick it up and show it to us. And I was extremely impressed about how he wrote, about his way of training, the way of picking up his meals and everything he needed to do in order for him to maintain his body doing both things in the big leagues. That's why I'm saying this kid is from another planet, because for you to draw at 14 years old your future and then come over and develop your future and your present, I mean, it's unbelievable. Who does that? Who says, I'm going to be 6'5", I'm going to be the good-looking guy, I'm going to be the good athlete to play both sides of the game.

And at the same time, stay healthy. His training program, his meals, everything describes his future literally in a piece of paper. That is the most remarkable thing I've ever seen. To have Shohei Ohitani to be me and other Pujols at once, it's just unreal. I said it yesterday in the program, I said, you know, what you're watching from Shohei Ohitani is me and other Pujols together with an IQ off the charts. And that intelligence that you're talking about and the drive and the vision that you clearly are revealing about him as a 14-year-old. And the other thing that you said moments ago is that control only what you can control, but he can control his future. I mean, we're seeing it in the NBA with Damian Lillard telling the Blazers, I want out and I want to be traded, I want to be gone. We see that so many different times with athletes and he can do that right now to tell the Angels I want out. And the question is, what is he thinking on that front? I mean, because to me, all of this talent and all of this planning and all of this nonstop, as you just pointed out, work, it's a 24-7, 365 commitment here.

He's not winning and it looks like he's not going to win again. So he can control what he would do if he goes to the Angels and says, let's go. I want out and I'll direct where I want to go.

Right? I know in Shohei Ohtani and his education level, he's not that type of guy that's going to say I want out. Shohei is the nicest ever player and I don't want him to be nice with any team. I want him to get all the money he can get. I want him to get all the facilities he can get because baseball is only so long.

And you have an opportunity here to do what no one else has been able to do. Yes, he's going to pick and choose where he goes. If he is in the situation where he has to choose, I'm pretty sure he's going to probably pick and make the right choice. But Shohei Ohtani will never express that he wants out. Shohei Ohtani's education level is meant to understand and get along with anybody in baseball, with any team, with any organization, and he's going to be fine. His discipline level doesn't allow him to be outspoken about wanting to be anywhere. Now, the business part of it is dirty.

You know it. Baseball has a dark side and that's the business part of it. It's money involved.

There's no caring about me and there's no caring about you when it comes to negotiation. So Shohei Ohtani, I'm pretty sure, is going to make the best decisions he can make because, remember, this is the guy that described his future at 14 years old. And every step he has taken in Japan, anywhere he's been, has been the right one. So I'm expecting him to make the right choices here and I'm sorry for the Angels if they don't have somewhere around $600 million for this guy because someone else is going to pay it. And I know that Shohei Ohtani might be the only player that's worth all that money right now.

And not only that, the marketing, what it brings with its presence to the market is unreal. So if I'm the Angel, I'm making an effort, and believe it or not, the Angels don't look all that far from probably getting a spot to the postseason. And when you have to face Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, and the rest of the players, Ren Don, if healthy, it's a scary team. I think they can do anything, but they have to get to the postseason.

Yeah, if healthy being the key words. In the two minutes I have left here, then Pedro, let's just put a fine point on it, knowing Ohtani is as much as you do. And your career, we all know what happened in Boston and what a different environment and how you performed in it, what a different plane it puts you on for your career.

And obviously anything else that you want to do in your life, you've got your foundation, which you would have had no matter what, I'm sure. But you understand what I'm saying by being in Boston and being in that environment and succeeding there. Do you think Ohtani wants that or he likes where he is in relative sort of quiet and casting the die where it may on the winning and losing in Southern California with the Angels? Or you know what it would be like if he goes to New York or Boston or keep naming towns like that, or even up the road for the Dodgers. Pedro, do you think he wants that?

I think he does. Ohtani is a great competitor. Ohtani is a great athlete.

Believe me, he just has to let his abilities take over anywhere he goes. And believe me, when it comes to media attention, when it comes to being the center of everything, Ohtani has been there since he was 14 years old. Ohtani has been followed by more media than Hideo Nomo back in his days.

I don't know if you remember that. Hideo Nomo, I mean, brought over all of Asia when it comes to media, plus the media here that wanted to see Hideo Nomo. And Ohtani has been dealing with that since he was a kid. So whatever attention there is, it's not anything that's going to impress Ohtani anymore. Ohtani is used to doing that on a daily basis. And also, Ohtani is used to dealing with success. Ohtani knows what to do to actually be successful in any sport. And he does it like nobody else has done it. For the next 100 years, we're going to be talking about a guy that did two things, tip and pitch, as good as anybody that has ever played the game. And I mean, going to New York, going to Toronto, going to San Diego, going to the Dodgers, going to the Mets, going to the Yankees, it's not going to affect the stage of mind that this kid is in. I mean, this kid is an amazing kid, very unique, and just like everything he does, he's very unique.

And I'm pretty sure that whoever lands Ohtani is going to have a complete package when it comes to education, concentration, abilities, everything you can ask for, Ohtani has it. You're the best, Pedro. Thanks again.

Look forward to seeing you on MLB Networks, MLB Tonight at 6 Eastern, 3 Pacific in Seattle, live from the All-Star Game. You're one of my favorites, and I always appreciate you saying yes when I knock on your door. Thanks again, Pedro. Thank you so much, Rich.

It's an honor to be with you. Thank you for saying that. That's Pedro Martinez, Hall of Famer.

Period. End of story. Ohtani is Pedro and Pujols combined, says Pedro. I just tweeted that out like that kind of made me go over. He's me as a pitcher and Pujols as a hitter. Got it. With an off the charts IQ, as he said.

And on top of it, the ability to focus and meet the moment unfazable. That's maybe the most unicorn thing of all, because if he does go to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, the Amtrak corridor. If he does do that, go to the Dodgers, San Francisco. If he goes there, he won't be like, oh, God, look at all these cameras he's been dealing with it since he put on a piece of paper, I want to be a two way baseball player pitching and hitting.

Good God. Angels should put a contract with a seven in front of him and say, let's do it. How about him saying he would never say I want out? So the Angels will not have. That as a fig leaf for trading him, he wanted it. We had to do it, Angels fans.

He won't give them that out, according to Pedro Martinez, who knows him. We actually found somebody who's spoken to him. How many times have we hunted and pecked for that individual? We found him and Pedro Martinez, we're back here on the Rich Eisen Show, 844-204 Rich, number to dial. 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. Why is he there?

That might actually happen. And then what do you have? A robot, I guess. There's a value to charm, my friend. There's a value to it that we sometimes ignore. So replay's gone. Replay's gone. I do kind of like replay, but it bothers me. Designated hitter is gone.

So why? Because that's not baseball. One of the essential, one of the great principles of baseball is democracy of talent and physique. This is what makes baseball very special, democracy of talent and physique. Everybody plays it, everybody. No shortstop, the slugging, left fielder, they're all, everyone's welcome.

It's democracy. What do you think of just the intentional walk, like just you go to first now? No, don't like that either. Why?

It's fine. How much time are you saving? About 10 seconds. I mean, it's 10 seconds we can all save. Yeah, it's like when someone texts you the letter K instead of OK. What are you doing with that time? Or thanks. Are you going to add that up so you can watch an 11-minute YouTube video of a skateboarder bouncing his nuts off a railing?

Is that what we're doing? Someone's texting me T-Y instead of thank you. T-Y.

I'd like to bounce your nuts off a railing. Oh, gosh. The great Jerry Seinfeld and his appearance on The Rich Eisen Show back here on The Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. I'm sitting at The Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by.

Well, you know, just stop by the United States Senate today. A couple members of the PGA Tour. I guess. Flowchart, not Jay Monahan. He's returning Friday, by the way. Yeah, he's back from his health scare. Not his excellency.

No, definitely not. Nope, nobody from PIF. Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

You got these quotes here, Chris? What just happened here today? Because this subcommittee that is investigating this on Capitol Hill, as part of their discovery, got a lot of emails that went back and forth between the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and the Live Tour and on the PGA Tour.

Right? Yeah, it was kind of a fascinating day. And so a lot of the back and forth that went down between those two parties as they were coming to an agreement that was announced, held on CNBC, a conversation on CNBC, announced there was a lot of asks that we never heard were asked.

And there's a lot of shooting of shots. A lot of YOLO went down as both sides agreed to drop lawsuits against one another. And as Jimmy Dunn, right? Yeah, Jimmy Dunn. What's his exact title again?

So he is on the PGA Tour policy board. Yeah, he said it's not an agreement and it's not a merger, it's an agreement to eventually come to an agreement. So there's no, there's no, you know, it reminds me, remember of Life of Brian, in Monty Python's Life of Brian, I think they were making fun of the Hebrews where they were talking about how, you know, we people of Jewish faith have difficulties making decisions.

John Cleese was playing one of the chief Hebrews saying, all right, this calls for immediate discussion. That's basically what they came to an agreement to eventually come to an agreement. And you're seeing a lot of the things that they did not agree to. And a lot of both sides were attempting to get a lot of stuff that they didn't get.

Now, what do you got for me over there, Chris? This is the one that's going to really jump out. You know, this is from April of this year. The PIF and the people who run Live proposed to the PGA Tour in this proposed merger, agreement, whatever you want to call it, that Live wanted Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods to own teams in the Live and play 10 Live events a year. Tiger Woods, who can't even get through majors right now because of his health, they wanted him to appear 10 times in the Live events worldwide. That's their best of both worlds presentation given to the PGA Tour leaders. And, you know, I guess Tiger would love to play in 10 golf events period these days.

He would probably love that if he was physically able to do so. But come on, Live events? The guy turned out a billion dollars to not join you. And how about Yasser Al-Rumiyan saying, look, while we're dropping lawsuits and we're coming to an agreement to have an agreement, you know, I'd like to, I'd like to, you know, become a director of the International Golf Federation and get a membership at Augusta and the Royal and Ancient. And the Royal and Ancient.

You know, I'd like to, I'd like to get around at, you know, at Augusta National and, you know, wherever the R&A can find me a tee time. They wanted two of the elevated events on the PGA Tour to be branded under Aramco or PIF flags with one to be held in Saudi Arabia. But one thing that apparently did happen, that there's a side agreement, there's this double secret probation here.

Double secret probation. So one of the big things that came out when we heard about this, which was called the merger at the time, it's not really a merger. It's not really a merger. Was that Greg Norman found out five minutes before Jay Monahan and Yasser Al-Rumiyan appeared on CNBC. Well, apparently there's a side agreement that Greg Norman is out, fired, just completely gone.

Would terminate Greg Norman's involvement in the partnership. I'm sure this is news to Greg today. Or it's not.

You know what I mean? Maybe. I'd be shocked if he, if he was privy to that information. Unreal. Unreal.

I mean, he's so. There's so much to unpack with all these emails back and forth. How much of the YOLO, I'm taking my shot at this stuff that was either rejected or might be in a side agreement.

Like how much do we not know? There was a three hour hearing today and typical of our political environment. There were a couple of senators who are wondering why we were talking about this and not the fact that China is involved in the PGA Tour. And thus, honestly, there were a couple of senators who brought up Hunter Biden's laptop in this hearing. Hey, look, folks up on Capitol Hill, we're talking about golf and we're talking about the PGA Tour doing something with foreign investments. And you could sit here and say the subcommittee on Homeland Security has no business looking into it.

And I guess you might think it is as much folly as a laptop or something. But this is a serious business here. Involving the PGA Tour and what is going on in the PGA Tour and what is legal and what is not and what are they up to and what don't we know? Billions and billions of dollars.

But good Lord. Yeah, there's there's leaks of emails back and forth between between Jimmy Dunn and Jay Monahan and this guy, Ron Price and Michael Klein about what Jay's role would be. He's essentially going to be in charge.

And it looks like, again, he will decide what's going on with the live tour that the. You know, everything that I've read, everybody, it's going to be objective. They're going to actually look at it. Is this an entity that will make money? If it's going to continue.

No, they won't. How can they make money? How can they make money if they are paying the guys on the tour?

Or they have paid all that, I guess, maybe it's a one time payment to these guys. But nobody's watching it. All those guys that were at Valderrama at Wilmer's house, right?

I saw him there. Saying, you know, we're making capes now and I can't wait to see kids and capes running around here in twenty five and twenty six. It's just like, hey, the paperwork we're seeing here, it doesn't look good, but I don't know how. But they haven't made an agreement like there's no actual man. And I also feel for the CNBC reporter who was mentioned in one of these emails saying, hey, let's let's let's talk to this CNBC reporter real fast to announce it, because it'll be a softball interview. That is like a nightmare for anybody in the interviewing business. To be viewed as a softball interview and being referred to as such in documents that has been revealed by the United States Senate in a business deal that a lot of people are rightfully poking their nose into. Yeah, rightfully.

Becky Quick ended up not doing the interview, obviously. Oh, my gosh. Kind of a mess today.

It's almost like we knew it would be, but it's almost like a scene on Vipa, a sketch on SNL. We've got to get, again, Kevin Van Valkenburg back tomorrow, some one of our one of our experts on this subject matter. So is there a deal or is there not? And what does the deal say? And when is it going to start? You know, Liv is preparing. Greg Norman was telling people that Liv was preparing for a full 2024 schedule, you know, in the days after the initial announcement.

Is that still on? I mean, again, line here, Jimmy Dunn of the PGA Tour policy board, I believe he's the one who went on a couple of podcasts and went on Golf Channel and said, hey, we didn't give away any store. We're the ones still in charge of golf. You know, this is just a new company of investments that coming in from so we didn't sell our soul to the Saudis.

We didn't. And then he says today, there is no merger. There is no deal. There is simply an agreement to try to get to an agreement.

What does that mean? So you you are in charge, you are not in charge, or this is just something you did. By the way, if you can't put Humpty Dumpty back together on the lawsuits, then you got to win. Both sides get a win. All I just want to say is this.

When it's all said and done, best of all worlds. I want to get a green jacket. I want to get a green jacket. I want to I want an Augusta membership membership. That's why I want a hamburger. I want a cheeseburger.

Nothing unlike you all got nothing and like it. Is that what the U.S. Senate said today? Did they judge Smales this deal today?

Did they? Because at the end, I mean, well, everybody's putting up the other documents, you know, best of both worlds. Best of all worlds. Here's what I'd like. I would like the following.

I would like the following. I want an invite to the white party, whatever it is, you know, whatever it is. I want the first the first white party I want in. I want a membership. I want a cheeseburger. And a green jacket, you said. I want a jacket. I want a green, a gold jacket.

Green, green jacket. I want it. I want in the Hall of Fame, all Hall of Fames, all halls of fame. I want a yearly Super Bowl ring. Yeah.

I don't think you're asking for too much. Thank you. Permanent monster seats.

By the way, I'm willing to put this in writing and email it back and forth and place it out there for discovery at any subcommittee that wants to investigate it. Taylor Swift tickets. Well, you don't want that. You've rejected that. I want an Emmy each year.

Spell my name right, Mike? I do. I want all of it.

What do we care? Put it in a document, have it discovered. For anybody. Unreal. Put it out there. Just so you thought this story couldn't get more... By the way, can you just do that? Can you just call up Augusta and just say... I want a membership? Here's how we're saving golf. You've got to flip a membership, Tim. That's how we're saving golf.

Oh, and Royal and Ancient. By the way, that's like an NBA trade. You've got to get a third party.

We can't get this deal done and we bring in the... Who's got the second round picks? Yeah, jacket swaps. How are we getting this done? I want a jacket swap. I found Augusta's phone number. Call it up. Call it up. I want a tee time with Peyton Manning and Rob Manfred.

That's it. I want it. I want it.

If you could legitimately only have one of those things you guys just said... Can we just stop the conversation? I want an Augusta membership. I'll take an Augusta membership. You don't live in Augusta. How many of those members live in Augusta? Zero. Yeah, but you can't golf there.

What do you mean? Let's assume you just get the green jacket. You just get...

So you get a membership, you get the golf. Whatever you want. Let me just say this. Let me just say this. I'm sure... I shouldn't say this out loud, but I'll do it anyway since, you know, I'm yellowing right now. Dude, I'm sure security is very tight at the gate of Augusta National.

But if you drive up in a green jacket and you flip that thing, it just stays the crust right inside. Excuse me. Hey, hey. Eyes in here. Okay.

Do you have a pond for Del Tufo? I'm in. I'll drive the cart. Very good.

Oh, carts aren't allowed. That's our coverage of today's proceedings. Can't get any weirder until it does. This is insane. Chris, remember when Rich was still on vacation, I did a power ranking of the top sports documentaries I wanted to see.

Yeah, I want one on this. Remember, I said I live in PGA and then the next day the news came like this documentary is going to be just getting crazy. And it'll be a 30 for 30, an agreement to get an agreement.

I'm telling you. Here's the story of how Yasser got his green jacket. What if I told you that an agreement led to another agreement?

Oh, my God. And the green jacket agreement to an agreement to an agreement. By the way, is that is that is that your fantasy team name agreement to get an agreement? Best of all. It's where it's it's it's it's wordy.

Is it better than just here to get aggregated? Best of all. Speaking of which, we have the latest on that. Oh, by the way, we'll take a break. Yes. Yes.

Sometimes things get spoken into existence. T.J. Jefferson. Let's take a break. Back with more in a moment.

Best of all. Why is Mattingly trending? Don Mattingly is trending. It says Mattingly Mattingly. Oh, could be my daughter's middle name is trending.

Did you click on it? What happened? It's just a lot of videos and text of Mattingly.

All right. It's so weird with the trending. Here's a photograph of Mattingly and Steve Balboni and his Columbus Clippers. Here's one of Mattingly and Joe DiMaggio. I like it.

I don't know why he's trending, but it's of course, as always, it scares me. Here's a video of Don Mattingly playing third base left handed. Oh, you know what, Rich? There's a yeah, there's a guy named Phil Mattingly is doesn't appear to be OK. Well, hold on. Donny Baseball. Met him for the first time at the celebrity softball game in Seattle, the last All-Star game in Seattle. That's the first time you met him? That's the first time I met him. And that's when I told him. And he said, he said at the end, that's when he said to me at the end. Glad to meet you. And I'm like, well, we've actually met before, Don. Oh, he's with the Blue Jays now. I know. Yeah.

And he goes, we have. And I told him the story and it didn't end well for me. Was that really me? That's you.

That might be top three right now between Chaka Khan yesterday and this day. Can I tell you the role I got? Now you're going to come back. That's a perfect. No one was laughing. It's perfect.

There's a perfect job. What's up? What's happened? I said, what's up? That's it. It's not saying what's up. I said, what's up?

I can't tell the difference. What's that? I probably had 20,000 drops. That's like my got it voice back. Oh, got it. He got it. He got it.

Thank you so much. Back here at the Rich Eisen Show. What a fun show. Funny show.

Funny show. Yesterday's show, Jeff Darlington came on and talked about DeAndre Hopkins and what's going on with him. Also, he wound up changing his Twitter handle based on the fact that we talk about getting aggregated, which is, again, when you talk about something somewhere and then somebody who's not part of your news organization writes about it and gets the clicks for it. Is this the highest form of flattery, getting aggregated?

Oh, it's great. I mean, you're being talked about. So he said, he added to his Twitter handle, I'm only here to get aggregated. And the most famous aggregator is a gentleman named Dov Kleiman, who I think he's a bro Bible guy or something like that. He's a bro Bible now. OK. Again, he's I believe he lives in Israel.

This is kind of I think he sent a direct message welcoming me there when I was there with the family recently. Sure enough. We talked about him getting aggregated and look who aggregated him talking about DeAndre Hopkins yesterday. Here we go.

We spoke it into existence. I you know, the bills would love to sign Hopkins if he's willing to ring chase and take less money. Which is what he said. There'll be some interesting replies to that. Yeah, some of them.

Oh, I saw one of them like, oh, how can they chase rings with the bills since they've never won one? Get out of here. Get out of here. Fair points?

No, it's not a fair point. What do you mean? Chasing rings, you have to have one. Excuse me. Let me ask you this question.

No, you don't have to have a ring to chase a ring. Excuse me. The organization. Come on. That's a trolling. That's a troll thing to say, as if the bills adding DeAndre Hopkins would not put them on better footing to win it all this year, because they have a team that, if healthy, can indeed win it all.

I think we can all agree. Look up your little gambling sites. Well, Rich, I mean, look, I already did. So where do the bills currently stand on your little gambling site? They're not little.

They're the number one sports betting game. OK, I say little to belittle. No, I understand.

Understood. The Chiefs are your Super Bowl favorites right now. They're six to one. Eagles, eight to one. Bills, nine to one.

So if they get de-hopped, do they jump either of these two teams? You tell me you're the little gambling guy. We're the Cowboys. Wow.

I've been on a roll with that in baseball. Where are the Cowboys at there, Chris? Where are the Cowboys? Out of curiosity.

He's got to scroll down. I understand. They're above the Jets, I know that. Are they?

Yes. Cowboys are six. Come on.

Settle down just a little bit. Cowboys are six, according to the FanDuel. 49ers are ten to one. Bengals, ten to one. Cowboys, fourteen to one. Jets, sixteen to one.

Yeah. Back up off me. Why are the Cowboys any closer to the Super Bowl than the Jets?

How are you better? How are the Cowboys better than the Jets? You've got an all-pro on the defensive line? We've got one. You've got a pro bowler, all-pro bowler in the back end of your defense? We've got one. You've got a home run hitting a running back coming off a knee injury? We've got one. Cowboys have a better quarterback. Now you're getting to the spot where you're trolling.

How many MVPs has that guy won? You living in the past? Okay. Yeah, we are because we're using the past, the recent past. Rogers had an off year for an MVP quarterback. I'll take the 30-year-old guy over the 40-year-old guy.

Oh, really? Would you have said that when Brady was there when you had him? You mean the guy with six rings on his fingers? Understood he had a better resume in terms of winning than Aaron Rodgers did at the time, but it's just because the Cowboys are the Cowboys. The Jets have been to more championship games in the last quarter century than that guy. Is that really what you want to hang your hat on, man? You're 54 years old and I know this because you tell us all the time. Your team has never won a Super Bowl in your lifetime.

That's true. The majority of your life. At least when they bury me, if the Cowboys never win again, I can say that I enjoyed three Super Bowls. How far back do you want to go? Do you want to talk about like dinosaurs when they used to roam the earth as well? Like how far back do you want to go? I'm talking about somewhat recent history. I'm talking about a quarter century is what I'm talking about. Actually, I'm talking about less than that. I'm talking about the last 15 years.

Okay, how about this? Your team finished one in seven last year, last eight games, so maybe that's why we have a better chance of winning one in seven. No, the Jets didn't have a quarterback last year.

You did. I'm just saying. I think Dak is outstanding, but I'm not sitting here thinking the Cowboys have a better shot at winning the Super Bowl than the Jets. I'd put them neck and neck. I'd absolutely put them neck and neck. Cowboys have an easier road.

Yeah, you have to go through the sheets. That's what I'm saying. So the Cowboys odds are better because they have an easier path to the playoff basket than the Jets, not because they're appreciably roster wise better.

Or because we didn't lose six straight games in the season last year. Is that what you just said, Mr. Gambling Sight? Isn't that what you just said? Well Rich, you said odds to get action on both sides. That's kind of the point of odds. Oh God. What a soup eats like a meal down the middle fence rod that was. Cut out of here, man.

Each time out. I think the Jets being an AFC is a reason why they're below the Cowboys. Not because their roster is worse than Dallas. They have a better roster than Dallas Cowboys. Well, they have essentially the same odds.

So, you know, 14 to 1, 16 to 1, not exactly a big difference. Yeah, the Jets don't have anybody on their defensive line who's a game changer. No, you don't. You do not have anyone as good as Micah Parsons. You got Quentin Williams.

He's sitting right there in the middle. He might be the best at the position in the game with all due respect to Aaron Donald. I mean, Sauce was first team. Chris Jones? First team all-time last year. You know, I take that back. I do like Sauce. I ain't going to disrespect him.

Yeah. At Rich Eisen's show. Chris, he makes me do it because he always gets real snippy with the Cowboys. It was really nice to not be involved in an argument for once on this show. I'm going to come back and I don't want to do that. I want to leave that with you guys.

But he's always kind of like poking the bear when it comes to the Cowboys. Best of all worlds, Jets make the Super Bowl against Dallas and I get an Augusta membership. Okay, are we going to that game? I mean, you'll be there.

It's in Vegas. We're all going. Okay, I'm with that. That's right. And we're going to catch.

Can I tap somebody? Should we get reservations there right now and recreate the moment? They're sold out. I'm sure they're already booked.

For the Super Bowl? Yeah, of course. I think I know someone that owns a catch though. I think we can get in there. Really? I've never been, but I think I probably there is. And you know how and you know how you could reach out to that person to set the reservation.

There's a there's an app for that, is there not? He's not even ready with. I was ready. I'm getting ready for the cloud to reach out to Wilmer on WhatsApp. 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. Eighty three weeks on YouTube or wherever you listen.