RE Show: Taylor Twellman - Hour 1

All I give a damn about you. The Rich Eisen Show. God, I love that guy.

Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Solid. You know Jerry, Agents of the Stars, I had to give this to because he kept on calling things that I'm doing solid.

I'm like, all right, we got to stop now. Well, what about you're doing solid work? There is a better adjective. Excellent is a better adjective than solid. Solid. Today's guests, Apple TV MLS analyst, Taylor Twelman.

Free agent running back, Dalvin Cook. Legendary boxing champion, Oscar De La Hoya. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

Yes it is. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. Live from Los Angeles, California. Oscar De La Hoya is going to be in studio with us hour number three. It's going to be a lot of fun. Dalvin Cook, lots going on with him. He is calling into this show on hour number two.

And then, as you just heard, Taylor Twelman, who was in the booth for Messi's debut here in the United States, will be joining us in about 20 minutes time. You throughout. 844204 Rich. Number to dial right here on the Roku channel. Live and free every single day between the hours of 12 and 3 Eastern time. Free on all Roku devices. Select Samsung Smart TV. Free on Amazon Fire TVs.

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Well done, Elon. Hey, speaking of empty chairs, is there any more of a terrific visual for those at home seeing it on the Roku channel? Could there be any more of a fitting visual than an empty Chris Brockman chair as it is today? Very quiet over there next to you, DJ Mikey Diaz and Deez Nuts. I have to do overreaction Monday. I'm kidding.

No you don't. Chris is calling in in the middle of hour number two. I was all excited for that. Chris is somewhere. He's somewhere with Sarah and his beautiful baby boy, I'm assuming. They're all hanging together. So Chris is not here today. Sooz is on the East Coast. So that is now an empty chair today.

Normally Soozee sits in that chair. Soozee and I go back and forth much to TJ Jefferson's delight. TJ, good to see you over there. The candle's already lit, Isaiah.

It's lit, Rich. Can I just say it was my birthday this weekend. Yes it was.

TJ! By the way, happy belated birthday to you and Brockman. You share a birthday.

Yes. And I tell you what, yesterday for my birthday, my godson made me a what I thought was a cross out of a piece of wood, but it was actually a letter T. And he spray painted it gold. And he gave me what he assured me to be a golden nugget. So who had a better day than me?

Not a nobody, as the hardballs might say. And I'm rich now, too. Happy birthday, TJ. Thank you. Thank you. So you are now?

Eighty-two. Very good. You look great. Thank you, sir.

You look great. So as we just showed you, Chris Brockman is not here today. All reports are, is that he is conducting a Zoom with all disgruntled on-air producer slash AKA sidekicks. He's on with, I don't know, is he on with Paul Pabst? Who else is he on with right now?

Who else is on the air? One of Pat's guys. I don't know, Stu Gatz? Stu Gatz is on that one?

Boston Connor from Pat's show. Okay, yeah. Is that what is going on? They're all on a Zoom together to try and band together. The running backs held a Zoom this weekend and, you know, or at least we'll ask Dalvin Cook an hour or two, was he on this Zoom? Of top-notch running backs getting together and most of them, to be very honest with you, have been on this program over the last month as we've been on this developing situation, to use the phrase of my friend Bill Pedo from back in the day at ESPN. Christian McCaffrey, we asked him when he was on this program about six weeks ago, what do you think about this running back market that seems to be deflating? And he's like, you know, no one's ever asked me that question.

Well, isn't that fascinating? He's getting paid the most money at the position. Derrick Henry tweeted out on the day that Saquon nor Josh Jacobs got long-term deals and found out that they have to play onto the franchise tag or not at all this year. He was upset. Austin Eckler was on this show two days before Saquon and Josh Jacobs learned that they're going to have to play on the franchise tag.

And he said that him making as much money or a third wide receiver on a team making as much money as him, quote unquote, pissed him off. He was on the Zoom reportedly. So was Saquon Barkley on the Zoom.

So was Christian McCaffrey on this Zoom. And our friend pro football talk, Mike Florio, was saying they were talking about crazy things like exaggerating injuries to try and get out of whatever they need to get out of to make a point. I mean, these guys are desperate. And again, I understand that they are not standing out there looking for spare change here.

True. I understand that the money that we're talking about is still stuff that the rest of the human race in this country would take and play for. But this is a matter of pride and it's a matter of self-worth and it is a matter of significant importance because there but for the grace of the football gods goes the next skilled position. Could wide receivers be next? Could anybody other than running backs bear the brunt of what's being borne by them? Which is as Nick Chubb pointed out at Cleveland Browns training camp this weekend, hitting the nail directly on the head. What they are bearing is they are the only position in the NFL where their success is held against them.

Check it out. Well, I mean, right now is just talking. There's really nothing we can do. We're kind of we're kind of handcuffed with the situation. But I mean, after what I took from it, McCaffrey and Derrick Henry and say going, I had a lot of good points. But the biggest thing is that we're on position that our production hurts us the most.

You know, if we go out there and run two thousand yards with so many carries the next year, they're going to say, you know, you're probably worn down. That's the biggest thing that I took from it. It's just it's tough. You know, we it hurts us just to go to go out there and do good. It hurts us at the end of the day. It's absolutely. Spot on truth.

Because let's talk about it. Last year, Patrick Mahomes had one of the greatest quarterbacking seasons of all time. Are we talking about is he now going to potentially show diminishing returns because of that? Nope. Anybody who came up with a monster sack season?

Name them. Are we sitting here saying Micah Parsons? Oh, are we talking about the longevity of Chris Jones?

We're talking about the longevity longevity of anybody. T.J. Watt Bosa, even Von Miller. Even Odell Beckham Jr., two guys coming off of knee injuries, are they going to get paid this year? But talk about a running back. You just had a big season.

Oh. Well, we're we're going to get genuinely concerned about your ability to start running the football again next year. You just had an incredible year.

Instead of paying you, we're going to start sitting here. Well, history shows diminishing returns. Aaron Rodgers. He's pushing 40, talking about playing multiple years, which delighted me to hear that's for another segment on this program later on. He's talking about multiple years, pushing 40 and the entire fan base is saying, hell, yeah, we're back.

But if you're pushing 30 as a running back, if you're pushing 27, that's a running back. And you just came up with a big year. Well, we got to go back to the draft, don't we? I don't know how you can push back on this, except for the fact that you go, Derek Henry, you start showing something different. You go. Let's see a big season.

I keep going back and forth. Who has to have the biggest season in the NFL this year to push back on this diminishing market? Is it Bijan Robinson to show that, yeah, somebody out of college at the position can be drafted in the top 10 spot and be a difference maker for the team? Just to show that the position, the way that he plays it.

Could it be Jameer Gibbs drafted 12th overall by the Lions showing that, yeah, he's a matchup nightmare, except for the fact that they flipped DeAndre Swift overboard, who they just drafted a couple of years ago, essentially for the kid. Now, obviously that has to do with the way that Swift played the first two years, but I'm just pushing back to say maybe it isn't just this young class to show that, yes, these positions are worthy of top 15, top 12 draft choices. Because I don't think people think these positions are less than, they are just sitting there in front offices thinking that the players that they get are replaceable and that the numbers show and it doesn't lie. And that's the pushback I get every single time I've been caping for running back from this chair over the last few weeks.

Yeah, but the numbers show that these guys get older, that these guys definitely break down, that you do need these young kids who can come in. It's amazing how people start pushing for the young kids to say, you know, management is right. I don't understand who capes for management out there. And I'm somebody who sits in this chair in a rare, rare hybrid of on air slash management. I'm not even caping for myself here.

Pardon me. But it's true. Like everyone's out there saying management is right to do this sort of thing. Okay, that's the way it is.

You want to cape for management in your job, too? It's really weird to me how players don't get the support from fans unless they need them for their fantasy team out there. And then all of a sudden, wait a minute, Saquon was my keeper. Who, Rich?

Hold on, I'm not done yet. Saquon was my keeper. So I'm out there saying, hey, where are you Saquon? But when he wants to get paid, you're not sitting there caping for him.

True. So I'm going to land on, do me this favor, Google this information for me. Tell me the age of one Derrick Henry who is on this Zoom.

The diminisher? Over the weekend. He is 29 years old.

29 years. When does he turn the big 3-0? January the 4th.

January the 4th. So just in time for him to potentially cap a 2,000 yard season for a Tennessee Titans team that everybody's overlooking. And I want to see him be healthy the entire year. I want to see him rampaging everybody. I want to see him showing everybody at this age. I can be one of the highest paid guys and I can be somebody that nobody's looking at thinking, uh-oh.

My born on date is about to expire at age 30 and I'm going to go into the playoffs and I'm going to take the Tennessee Titans further than anybody thought. With DeAndre Hopkins and Ryan Tannehill and my guy coaching. That's the guy this year. More than McCaffrey. More than those kids that got drafted.

More than Austin Eckler who needs to prove that I'm underpaid. More than Dalvin Cook who's going to get a job at some point, we assume, over the next couple of weeks. More than Zeke who's sitting at the crib and Kareem Hunt and LeGarrette, pardon me, and Leonard Fournette sitting at home at the crib.

I know LeGarrette Blunt's sitting at the crib. More than any of these guys. More than any of them. More than Josh Jacobs or Saquon who's going to get out there and show I'm underpaid at a franchise tag of 10 million. Because we're assuming they're going to play to get this money. And maybe run with the light pockets that Dion always refers to players who are underpaid. And instead of putting that chip on their shoulder and saying I'll show this management team that didn't want to give me the long-term contract. And that's the way that they perform. That suddenly maybe players of their stature will get paid similar to the rest of the skilled position players. And maybe be looked at in a way with their stellar season.

Maybe that didn't take everything out of them. It's Derrick Henry. Out of anybody on that Zoom, you go. Run like the wind diminisher and try and diminish the way that management is apparently viewing this position. What say you?

844-204-RICH being the number to dial here on the program. Taylor Twelman's about to join us. But what were you going to ask me a couple minutes ago, TJ Jefferson? Oh, well, you know, like I said, I come from the era where, you know, the running back was held in high regard.

So like this new thing is kind of weird to me. But when you said about Bijon Robinson finding success in Gibbs, wouldn't that actually prove management's point? If these young guys come in and they ball, then it's like, yes. Which is why I didn't settle on them as the most important players this year.

But it is also them pushing back at the notion that the position might not be as important for some team success. OK, let's go five wide. Let's you know, let's do that. Let's try and let's try and run a track meet here. We don't need to run the football. That that position isn't that important. Just look at the Kansas City Chiefs. All you need is a unicorn quarterback.

Let's go find one similar to him and go run. And we don't have to have running backs. And so if there is that notion, but they're drafting proves that that notion is incorrect, that's important. But it does prove that you can go back to the draft to replace your guys. I mean, Atlanta has a whole bunch of guys who did do very well last year. Yeah.

So put it all together. It's the guy who's about to turn 30 in the season. And if he breaks down and he gets hurt and he's 30 and he doesn't run the same way that Derrick Henry has.

How damaging is that for this entire position that they zoomed about? Eight four four two or four rich number to dial here on the Rich Eisen show. I talk about it all the time when you want to see a moment in sports and somebody who is generationally brilliant has an opportunity to deliver it. And you place all your hopes into that moment. And that guy or gal gets an opportunity to actually meet that moment and surpasses it. That's what we love about sports.

And that happened with Lionel Messi. On Friday night at his debut in MLS on Apple TV for the whole country to watch. What a moment that was.

Taylor Twelman was in the booth for it. He's going to join us next. The Women's World Cup is underway and looks like the Saudis have struck again in the world of sports.

And it's happened in the world of soccer. Looks like they're putting a Bill one on the table for Mbappe squad in Saudi Arabia. So that's all coming up next. Taylor Twelman is here.

And then in hour two, Dalvin Cook, hour three, Oscar De La Hoya in studio and you wherever you are. That's next. This is the Monday edition of the Rich Eisen Show. And follow this show there.

Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. All right. Very good. So what did your nephew give you for your birthday? My godson. Your godson. OK.

So what do you mean? A letter T. I thought it was a cross. OK. Apparently, according to him, it was a letter T. Well, it's a piece of wood. OK. It looks like a cross.

Yes, it does. And then he spray painted it gold to make it look like it was a gold chain. OK. He also gave me this nugget that he likes in Iraq. He is. Well, he assured me that this was gold as well. So I'm rich, right? I'm I'm I got Mbappe money. I could you just with this. All right.

Mbappe money. I mean, thanks, Bear. Do we do we want to appraise that or no? We just take the word. I mean, why would you lie to me?

You know, I'll take his word for it. I'm emotional today. I put out broccoli next to me. What's happening? Oh, my God. It's been 20 minutes.

I'm actually I'm a little sad. I know what it is. I know what it is.

What is it? I'm not going to tell you now. I'm just not going to tell you now because there's not enough time. But I think we need to I I have just diagnosed the entire issue.

What's going on over there? OK. And later on, I'm going to help you. We're going to talk you through it.

OK. OK. Paging Dr. Eisen. I know what it is. I totally get it. I totally know what it is. Is that a new camera shot on?

I got a single because I don't. Oh, by the way, that's nice. I know we're moving this one. We got to get that. We're going to move this because, you know, we're reconfiguring a lot of stuff here to get ready for the football season.

Side ones. I like that, Mike. That also shows off how much weight you've lost to thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. That's a nice shot, which isn't often. Mike gets that. And I enjoy the next three days.

What are you upset about? It's a great shot. We try to veal. That's a nice shot. That shot. Also, your Olaf mug in front of you looks very nice. Dr. We got to actually see what's in front of you.

The World Cup trophy that the women are going to hoist later on in New Zealand and Australia. Very good work. Fantastic. Back here in 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 click Grainger dot com or just stop by. This was amazing. On Friday night, Messi with his new pink Inter Miami kit on. And the match all square at one apiece. An extra time running out. He finds himself with an opportunity.

To win the game. And he bends it like Beckham for Beckham in front of the entire football world. And it was glorious. This was the moment as called by Jake Ziven on Apple TV Plus. Here it is.

Messi. Unreal. I mean, you're hoping to see it. You're expecting you're expecting to see it. You're hoping to see it. You know, I'm probably not going to see. I mean, this can't really work out this way.

And it does. Unbelievable. Oh, my gosh. And all hopped up on sugar cereal, too, as we saw from his Publix run the week before.

Although we're assuming that's for his children. He had a few bowls back here on the Rich Eisen show. He was in the booth.

He's going to be in the booth for Messi's next match, which is tomorrow night on Apple TV. And joining us back here on the program, Taylor Twelman. How are you, sir? Good. How are you, pal? What's going on? Tell me about it, man. Just go for it. What was it? Just lay it out there. Friday night.

Go for it. Well, Rich, the best part is and you know this better than anyone. They always tell you in those big moments to really resist the urge to say anything. Yet about eighty five seconds went by and I forgot I was commentating the game. I literally was so enthralled with the moment. To then see him celebrate at the end and run over and see his mom, his dad, his family, his kids.

It is as surreal of a moment I've ever been a part of. And that includes the Zlatan Ibrahimovic debut for the Galaxy, which we could always get into a debate. But the Hollywood screenwriters may be on strike, but I feel like they wrote one script and that was for David Beckham. No, you know, Zlatan is Zlatan.

And, you know, I think that speaks volumes, even though I just only said three words. But Messi's on a different level, right? I mean, he's just on a different level.

Taylor? Yeah. And even Zlatan would tell you that, you know, he sat down with me two or three times for long interviews with ESPN and there was a reverence to Messi. You know, there wasn't a reference to Pep Guardiola. There wasn't a reference to Thierry Henry.

But for someone like Zlatan, for someone like Thierry Henry, anyone in this game, number 10 from Argentina shows up. There's a reverence. They know. We know.

Everybody knows. I just think what's remarkable here is that he just started training four days ago, Rich. And so while his teammate, his best friend, Sergio Busquets, is on the record of saying how fit he's been, staying fit. Messi needed time off. He just won the World Cup, then immediately went in to finish the European Cup season. He needed time off. He shows up to Miami. He trains three times. And he's not going to run around and buzz around the way he used to 10 years ago or when I played against him in 2007.

But Rich, just different. There's an element of the bigger the moment, the easier it is for him. And I think there's athletes on one hand that you and I could talk about for an entire radio show that we could say did that. That actually has the ability to pull it off. And to get David Beckham to cry?

That says it all. Well, I mean, that because it had to I can only imagine how long Beckham was at it. Right.

And and then and then he finally lands him. And then in the first match that happened that he would even have an opportunity. Right. But the opportunity would come along and then he would cash it in like that. Of course, he's exactly right. Exactly. And even more so, Rich, it took David Beckham eight and a half years just to get the franchise, let alone Lionel Messi. Right.

Then Covid hits. I mean, he's been punched in the gut three or four times. I just think there was a real moment there for the Moss family and Beckham. And I think the emotion, they showed that real emotion.

Taylor Twelman from Apple TV, lead MLS analyst, of course, former MVP of the league joining us here on the Rich Eisen show. Just can you explain to me what the atmosphere was like? More more Argentina kit than than inner Miami split.

What do you got for me on that front? Way more pink than I thought I would see. There was obviously there's the Argentina jerseys. You're going to see that.

You're seeing that at the All-Star Game in D.C. You're just now that he's here, all of that's going to come out. You saw some of the pair of jerseys, but I was stunned how much pink there was. But honestly, the atmosphere was like, you know, any other.

Friday night for me, you know, Serena Williams, LeBron James, Kim Kardashian, just the whole nine yards. Everyone was there, right? I mean, and your broadcast was all over that. By the way, there was a great shot. Our buddy Pat McAfee popped on his Instagram, too. I don't know if you saw that, but everyone was was had their phones up when Messi was kicking, you know, attempting the game winner.

I think it was the game winner or the eventual game winner. Right. But no, the picture actually, Rich, the picture was when he was coming on. All of those celebrities had the phone up. And Rich, it's one of the best photos for your listeners.

You've got to find it. And yet only one person didn't have his phone up. And it was David.

Yeah, it was. I think, Rich, there was it was so symbolic for me because he oftentimes and I didn't pull my phone out one. I don't have a single picture from that night.

But Rich, I'm old school. You know me a little bit. I wanted to be so enthralled with the moment.

I didn't care about text and pictures and all that. I just thought that picture was amazing. Everybody's taking a picture and David sitting there just taking it all in. Yeah, he's like, I'm Beckham. So, you know, I can I'll just take a mental photograph of this moment.

Taylor Twelman here on The Rich Eisen Show. So what's next? What's the next step? Tuesday, right? Yeah, good luck.

Tuesday night. Good luck on the sequel to that. I honestly this is more intriguing to me because of the soccer part. This is the Atlanta United where inner Miami's head coach won an MLS cup. This is where Joseph Martinez, who now looks like the old Joseph Martinez a little bit, who's now playing with Messi, scored 77 goals in three years for for Atlanta. So now there's going to be an animosity.

I just left the press conference before calling you. Messi's now the captain, it sounds like. Messi's going to play a little bit more. Brisket's going to play a little bit more. I think you're going to get a little bit more of a taste of what inner Miami major league soccer is going to look like with Messi in it. Well, I'll be honest with you, Taylor. This is the first Tuesday of NFL Monday of NFL training camp opening week in the nine years we've been here. I guess eight in which we've had an opportunity because we came on during the middle of the football season nine years ago that we've been talking MLS. I mean, that Friday moment was exactly what the the league wanted or could use.

One thousand percent as well for the television partner in Apple TV. Do you think this is going to actually keep cutting through or does Messi need to keep having these transcending moments? What do you got for me on that, Taylor? I think he has to win. I don't think he has to hit a ninety fourth minute game winning shot every game.

I think anyone that expects that is going to be out of their coconut. But, Rich, to your point, you've got this summer, next summer's Copa America, Argentina's in that. Guess who's the face of that tournament? Messi, an MLS player.

2025 FIFA Club World Cup, 26th the World Cup. So for the next three summers, all the eyeballs in the world for almost six to eight weeks, everywhere in the world is going to be on this country. And guess who the face of it is now?

So I just look at this. I think Apple TV allows you and, Rich, you and I know this, but the listeners don't understand. That highlight is not geo-blocked. That highlight hit over a hundred million views in less than 24 hours.

A lot of times debut was geo-blocked, so no one around the world could see that. So the power of Apple TV having the right to Major League Soccer in 107 countries, that in and of itself, with the greatest player in the world, that tells you right now it's going to infiltrate and transcend sport and soccer I think faster than Beckham did. Beckham did a lot on anyone else, right? And so then you couple that with the runway of the next three years going into the World Cup.

Rich, I just think the time is now and I think a lot of people are starting to see it. Taylor Twelman here on the Rich Eisen Show. Then let's talk about the sport writ large on that front. What's your two cents on the Gold Cup performance by the men?

Taylor? It's still disappointing. I don't care if it's your A-team, B-team, and even C-team. You've got to be in the final.

I don't care who you play against, how you go about it. The United States men's national team is deep enough to field two teams that should go there. So that's as disappointing as anything. Now in saying that, this is also coming off a Winter World Cup. So it's difficult to assess some players. Some players are completely knackered, Rich.

They are exhausted. They've played for 18 straight months without an off-season. So I'm going to give them a pass, but Copa America is going to be real interesting because Greg Berholtzer coming back as the manager. Not highly liked from outside the sport. So I think there's a lot of pressure on that team to perform next summer. Can you explain to people who may not get it, and there's a lot of people who don't get it. When they hear that the US men's national team in any competition like the Gold Cup doesn't put the best players out there. Where is everybody? And explain why they feel, because it does feel like from the outside in, clearly. Can the US men's national team just afford to not be constituted in the best way that they can for every single one of these types of events?

Tim? Great question. The answer to that is yes.

The United States can. I think because right now you have players playing at the highest of levels, Rich, that we've never had. So you've got to allow those players to be ready for their club season. Because what's most important for the US national team is that the players playing at the highest level are playing consistently.

They're not sitting on the bench. Political move in the A.C. Milan, a massive move for him for his confidence. And if he plays well, guess what? That's transcendent to the national team.

So the United States men absolutely can. The other aspect is you get a deeper roster, Rich. So now I want a pool that's bigger of 50, 55 players that I can count on for major tournaments. Now, Copa America next summer? Dude, that's the A team.

That's going to be the best 20, 20 some odd players that you can bring in at that moment. This year, the Gold Cup came after a Winter World Cup. It would be so stupid of the US national team to ask the players that consistently played for the last 19 months to take one more summer. That doubles down. That's 28 months. Guess what?

Copa America next year. Rich, they needed a break. Those guys needed three to four weeks off. They had to give it. And it was rightfully so that they did so, I think, to give those players the best opportunity this club season. And another story that is jumping out on the news stack today from the world of football, Terry Twelman, is unbelievable. It's the truth, though, is Mbappe now being in the sights of the Saudi team Al-Hilal that struck out, I guess one would say, on Messi, allowing, you know, allowing for Friday night's moment, right, is that Messi told the Saudis beat it, essentially, that they are putting 332 million dollars on the table to Paris Saint-Germain to go get Mbappe and then throw another three quarters of a billion on top to hand to the French star.

What do you think of that? What's happening there, Taylor? For one season, Rich. For one season. This isn't a four-year deal. It's a 1.1 billion dollar package to both Mbappe and PSG for one year and then they're saying he can go play for Real Madrid. I'm of the mindset.

How do you turn that down? Apparently, he's thinking of it. Apparently, he's not interested, he's saying right now. That's what the story is here.

Of course. Because you know why? Because guess what Paris is going to offer him? Paris is going to offer him a nine-year deal at 1.2 billion. And he gets to play in Champions League. And he gets to stay home. And he gets to play in one of the top five leagues in Europe. So, he's going to have to make a real decision. But if he wants to go to Real Madrid, in my opinion, I would take the Saudi Arabia deal right now, because he will not go to Real Madrid right now, because Real Madrid doesn't want to do that. Real Madrid can save 300 million given to Paris by better players to make the team better and he goes there for free.

So, if I'm killing Mbappe, I'm looking at it saying, you pocket 800 million, which by the way, Rich, we don't understand. It's net. That's not gross. That's net.

It's a hell of a net. How do you turn that down? I'm having a tough time turning that down. Well, again, according to this story that I'm reading on the app of our former Places of Business, ESPN, saying in this story that he plans to walk away as a free agent at the upcoming season when he's widely expected to join Real Madrid. And sources told ESPN that Mbappe is not interested in the offer from Al Helal. How about them apples? He will not play for PSG, though.

So, that's the pickle. They will not play him. Yeah, because they don't get hurt, right? Pretty much?

Is that it? Well, he's leaving for free, so they're going to say, no, you can't play. And then guess who holds his cards?

They do. So, he either has to take a transfer or he waits six months, signs a free transfer. That's why this is of the utmost importance, and that's why the reports literally 20, 30 minutes ago in France is that it's going to be a $1.1 billion offer from Paris to try to get.

I just don't see how he says no, but also Paris says, no, we're not going to allow you to play either. This could get ugly. Before I let you go, Taylor, while you were in the booth in Miami, the women's national team took on Vietnam in their first match down under, which I think I'm allowed to say, Australia and New Zealand. So, I'm wondering, any first blush thoughts on the first match or matches that you've seen from that tournament about the women's chances to take home another cup?

Taylor? I think it's going to be interesting, Rich. I've been on the record. I'm going to stay on the record. I think the rest of the world is catching up to them, and I get it. I'm saying that as they're trying to chase their three-peat. I understand all of that, but I watched Brazil.

Watch out. I watched France. There's teams that all of a sudden, that gap that you and I have been so used to being in the media world or even when I played, the gap was always the United States women, everyone else. There's pressure now coming, right? So, listen, the new crop player for the United States, Smith, I mean, she's fantastic. She's going to carry on the torch from Rapinoe and Alex Morgan. I get all that, but the rest of the world is all of a sudden catching up, and I think the U.S. viewer now is going to be exposed to the U.S. women being challenged a little bit more than they have in years past.

That would be my first overarching theme after watching a couple of the games. Taylor, look at us chopping it up on soccer. How about us right now, you and I? I know. You guys lost the bet, didn't you?

No. I'll be honest. I'm sitting here.

You know I reached out to you over the weekend. I'm just sitting here thinking, what are we talking about on a Monday that will be of interest to fans of our show that I'm interested in? And that Messi moment, that's it, man. I mean, there's obviously some big moments to talk about from baseball, and the NFL world's about to kick in. That was huge Friday night. Absolutely huge.

And then the Women's World Cup happening. I love it. It's great.

It is terrific. And so, Tuesday, give me the details for those who want to see Messi's next match. Taylor, what do you got for me? Tuesday night, Apple TV MLS season pass at 7.30. Pre-game starts at 6.30.

We'll have who knows what celebrities are coming to this one, but it will be Inter Miami taking on Atlanta United. Okay. First broadcast in which you've thrown down to a chit-chat with Kim Kardashian, right?

That's the first time that's ever happened for you in your career? Yeah. I mean, I expect it to happen Tuesday night, naturally, in Fort Lauderdale, so we'll see what happens. Okay.

So, let's just say there's fewer celebrities, and you might need some time to fill at any point in time. I'll call you. No, no.

Well, actually, you don't have to. I'm giving you something right here. You just mentioned Messi and I share a birthday. Okay? So, there you have it. I'm part of the Messi mania. We're going to do an entire A block on that, Rich.

June 24th. You know, two legends were born separately. That's all I'm saying. You should see I can- Fifteen years apart. I can bend it to. Thank you very much. Greatly appreciate it, Taylor. You be well. Thanks again. Let's do this again.

That's Taylor Twelman, everyone, right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Messi and I share a birthday. You guys are twin sons of different mothers.

Yes, one would say. I'm just looking up the rest of the June 24th birthdays. Oh, don't do it.

We've gone down that before. But, you know, what we didn't do, and if Brockman was here right now, he'd be, Oh, we need to look up where you rank on the list of celebrities born on that day on IMDb.com, and it never works out well for me. I'm going to say you'd probably rank fairly high from what I'm seeing. No, I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't. I'm not seeing- I mean- Am I at least not 130th anymore? Well, this one, well, I mean, who cares what the ranking is?

That's correct. Who cares? Who cares? What does it matter? Who cares? I don't care. What does it matter?

I actually care deeply. They have Tiny Lister at like, you know, Debo at 34. He's much higher than number 34, so come on. Are you Samuel and I share a birthday? No, Debo from Friday. Oh, okay. Alright then. Debo. I don't know if that's worse. Alright, we'll take a break. 844, 204 Rich, number to dial here on The Rich Eisen Show. Have Angels fans just seen the last of Shoei Ohtani in their home uniform?

It's coming up on The Rich Eisen Show. I've got a nickname for you. Certainly since, again, as we established earlier on, that people are concerned of the amount of usage that you have and you're getting, and that, you know, running backs wind up showing diminishing returns. And I don't think you're showing any diminishing returns, and that's not going to happen. As a matter of fact, you are the one who does the diminishing. You're the one who comes downhill and does the diminishing. So I have a nickname for you.

You, Derrick Henry, are the diminisher. I love it. I love it. Whoa. I love it.

Okay. So you understand this is this means a lot to me because I've tried a lot to give nicknames to people in the NFL and they have rejected them. I love it.

I love it. I can tell you put thought and time into this nickname. And I definitely appreciate it. Like you said, we've been knowing each other for a long time.

Yes. And I know that you put a lot of thought into this and I'm very appreciative. It comes from the heart. I love it.

From right here. You are the diminisher. You're the diminisher is coming to your town to diminish your chance of winning. You are the diminisher in the fourth quarter.

The diminisher is running downhill. Derrick Henry. Yes. Right. But you know what I got to do?

What? I got to live up to it. That's the only thing I live up to it. No.

You gave the nickname not trying to live up to it. I am not concerned about it. That's all I'm saying. I appreciate it. Okay.

I am not concerned about it. So let's print up the shirts and the hats and let's go. And you can have it. You take it.

How does that sound? All right. You take it.

Hey, sounds good. Derrick Henry. The diminisher. Say that one more time.

I want to hear it. Say it one more time. The diminisher. Derrick, you have no idea how much you made him say it.

You have no idea, Derrick. It's from two years ago, and again, it's now time. It's big time now, no doubt about it, to see if he can come up with a huge season back here on the Rich Eisen Show. So you can follow us at Rich Eisen Show on X. Oh, by the way, when I hear that, I think of like people on clubs, you know, in clubs getting, you know, getting loose a little bit loose a little bit. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Hey, we're on X. We're on X. Hey, what? X gon' give it to you.

So you could knock me over with a feather. The executive that Elon put in charge of Twitter, so, you know, we don't pay nearly as much attention to him because, you know, he's done what's what was the word for it? He's broken the damn thing. He they're rebranding it on X. And you read, you read, you know, honestly, you read like they're going to like you're going to do your banking on it and whatever. It's going to be like A.I. It's going to be all this stuff.

And and it's just like, hey, people, people are running out of the number of tweets they're allowed to see because there's some sort of like limit. So, you know, and I honestly thought to myself when I saw the X this morning, I'm like, does that mean X is going to pay the Rich Eisen Show? You know, the money from our, you know, ad revenue relationship that we had with Twitter all the way up until he actually took it over. Does that mean the money that he stopped paying us on April 1st, that means he's going to start paying us now?

And I looked it up on my computer. No, not yet. X is not paying in the same way that Twitter. Oh, you know where that money went? That money went to the person who designed the X. I don't know. I don't know.

You know, it doesn't matter because it's truly peanuts what the guy actually was paying us up until April 1st because he's broken the system for advertisers. I'm hoping X is better. Could you imagine, you know, if you're supposed to again, this is supposed to be banking done on this sort of I'm reading I read their tweets over and over again. Do you understand what this thing is going to be? They're imagining this.

It's going to reimagine that. And it's just like, does that mean if I use X for banking and I make a deposit, somebody's going to troll me on how much it is like, or they're going to tell me you didn't do it right. So it's going to be somebody who's paid eight dollars for a blue checkmark is going to tell me, you know, me, you're screwing up your bank. How dare you treat your bank that way? I'm for banks.

You know, is that the way it's going to go now on X, because that's the way it would go on Twitter. Oh, yeah. That's the most important question it would wind up in somebody else's bank account. He just got to be like, oh, we lost your money. Except you're eight dollars. Yeah.

Because that's necessary. I'm sorry. What do you got? I was just wondering, you know, because Twitter, they they they boycotted that too jiggy for life. Now, this X. Oh, are you back? Can I get back on with X? Can you get back on with X?

Are they different entities or the same thing? I'm confused. Can I got booted off for one? Can I you love X? I love X. Well, I mean, again, this is the service. We should say. Yeah. All right. I actually whatever.

X would make me feel warm and fuzzy. Is this Twitter Plus? Twitter Plus. Oh, Twitter Plus.

Twitter Plus. I don't know. They want. That's what they should have called it. And did anyone clear this with Dez Bryant?

That's oh, you throw up the X? The citizens of Wakanda. We talked to them about this.

These are the things I want to know, Rich. All right. Let's go back to the world of sports a little bit, shall we? So yesterday. The final score in Anaheim, California, the Los Angeles Angels seven Pirates five. And in this game, the Angels finish a heck of a week. I mean, an absolute heck of a week that began with the Yankees in Anaheim and everybody thinking it's time for. The Angels to stare in the mirror after getting curb stomped and had their hearts ripped out by the Astros the night with a ninth inning in which the Astros scored seven on him or six on him. At any rate, they sweep the Yankees. Now they've won six of eight.

There are two games above 500 with that win yesterday. And you know who's helping lead the charge? Mickey Moniac. My guy.

Monie Monie. Ever since, by the way, ever since I botched his name, calling him Mosiac guys on a 14 game history. Really? Yeah.

I mean, he's going for. He's leading the major leagues right now, 14 games in a row. Mickey Moniek, my guy, he is my guy, and he's by the way, he's sitting behind Ohtani's protecting the jewel who went one for three with a walk, a run batted in and two runs scored. This dude, man, Mickey Moniek hitting three thirty one.

Yeah, my guy, dude. But the Angels now hit the road. And they hit the road for the next week plus, and they will not return to Anaheim until after the trade deadline. And the question is, will they bring Ohtani back? They're in Detroit.

They got it. They're going to Detroit now to start a road trip that will take them through the trade deadline, which is August 1st, which is next week. Next Tuesday.

Next Tuesday, they will be in Atlanta. On the day that it's going to either happen or not, John Marosi, who's been on this program, he is an individual who is of terrific credentials. He comes out there and says, the Angels have communicated about Ohtani trade scenarios with other teams in recent days, despite the six of eight streak that they're on. The possibility of an Ohtani trade remains.

It's on. Will Ohtani return to Anaheim when their road trip is over? I cannot imagine they trade this guy right now. You can. I mean, you can.

I mean, yes, anyone could be. You can. The time to do it would have been last season when you would have had a couple of years of contractual control of Ohtani or even last trade deadline, you would have had two playoff seasons of contractual control of this guy, not when he bats when I did the games last week. It's insane. The crowd is insane.

I get it. Even the opposing like the Yankees had a lot of fans. They cheer for Ohtani.

But one thing that I will say here is that I did not believe the week before the trade deadline if you had told me that Mike Trout would be out and Rendon would be out and they would then go into the All-Star break on a big losing Jag and then take it in the chops from the Astros that they would then proceed to win six of eight, including one against the Astros. Give it up to Phil Nevin and that team for actually hitting it and give it up to Mickey Moniac, Rich, the Moniac Kid. We need him on the show.

We should. Yeah. He's our guy now. The Moniac Kid. We've adopted him. He doesn't know. Oh, he knows. Somebody's told him. And the Yankees just swept the Kansas City Royals to pull their asses out of the doldrums.

I don't know what they're going to do. It looks like your Mets might be sellers as well. Right now.

Oh, man. The Red Sox beat the crap out of Scherzer. Verlander looked terrific as we went out the door last week. Is Otani on the block or not? It looks like he is. The question is, will he return to Anaheim?

Dalvin Cook coming up shortly. They are currently in the wild card standings. The Angels are four out, two behind the Yankees and Red Sox. They're in it.

I mean, they're in it. They are in the playoff race. And Otani is hitting second and he is just doing his thing. I guess they pushed his his his final pitching start back so he doesn't have to pitch in Atlanta.

Oh, really? Yes, because they're concerned that the humidity in Atlanta will, you know, get his blister problem going again. So he's pitching Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. So that means that he's going to, with an off day on Monday, miss Atlanta. So this coming Friday against the Blue Jays in Toronto will be Otani's potential final start as an Angel and his final pitching performance before the trade deadline. And if it isn't Thursday the third against Seattle, he's back home on the mound. There he is. It'll be a it'll be a festival that he's still there beside relief from those people, I guess until he maybe leaves them completely empty handed in December.

What a time. Dalvin Cook, when we come back right here on the Rich Eisen Show, Oscar De La Hoya in Studio Hour three and overreaction Monday, as always, coming up. 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.