What the Football with Suzy Shuster and Amy Trask: 14: Dan Patrick

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Learn more at discover.com credit card. Limitations apply. Hey there, everybody. Welcome to this week's edition of What the Football. Thrilled to be with you again, Amy. So good to see you. Thrilled to be joined momentarily by Dan Patrick.

And I went really deep into my cell phone for that one, but very cool. I'm excited to talk to him because he always comes with a chill demeanor. And sometimes you learn something new from him. Well, almost every single time.

So thrilled to have Dan joining us momentarily. This episode, as all episodes are, is brought to you by GameTime, the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater events near you. GameTime's got killer last minute deals, all in prices, views from your seat, so you know exactly what to expect when you arrive. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code WTF for $20 off of your first purchase. Restrictions apply. Visit GameTime.co for terms. Again, create an account, redeem the code WTF for $20 off.

Download GameTime today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. And Amy, we're here to talk about passion. We're here to talk about passion and not anger or tantruming or whatever you might want to call it. And again, this is about Patrick Mahomes and his outburst after the game and during the game on Sunday in their loss to the Bills. Obviously, so upset about Kadarius Honi stepping off and being offsides and losing the game, possibly because of it.

We did see one of the most exciting moments we've seen in weeks and months of football with the Travis Kelce catch in the pass in the would have been touchdown. But we are reacting to a very emotional Patrick Mahomes. And Amy, I want to just say this, a lot of people say anger and outburst, and they're surprised that he was pulled off of his teammates or look like not teammates, but the animus in the direction of the refs. But sometimes you have to draw the differentiation between anger and passion. And I am here to say, I'm not upset with him at all because I liked the passion that he showed. Well, I'm not upset with him at all. He behaved in a passionate manner.

He subsequently apologized for his behavior. But Suzy, this has bothered me from the time I started in this league. It bothers me to this day. Football is a game of passion. And if fans expect their players on the teams that they love to play with passion, you have to understand that passion cannot be turned off the second you walk off the field. If you want your players to play with a passion and with emotion, understand that passion and that emotion carries over. And I remember during my career, there were times that players got angry. There were times I got angry. But sometimes that passion shows itself in other ways. I distinctly remember sitting in the locker room with a player after a game.

It was a corner who gave up the game winning touchdown to our opponent. And he was in tears. He simply sat there crying as his teammates and any number of us tried to comfort him. Sometimes passion comes out as anger. Sometimes it comes out as raw emotion.

It's a game of passion. As somebody who made a living out of putting a live mic in front of men's faces who just came off the field, you want that from my perspective anyway. And you are putting a microphone into someone's face who has just experienced the highest of highs, the lowest of lows.

And not everybody can regulate that quickly. And I think we heard from Patrick Mahomes, and we can play this in a second, when he was speaking to Carrington Harrison, I believe his name is, a Chiefs radio commentator. When he was talking about it, he pulled himself back.

He recalibrated. Let's listen to that for one second. I mean, I care, man. I love it. I love this game. I love my teammates.

And I want to go out there and put everything on the line to win. But obviously can't do that. I mean, can't be that way towards officials or really anybody in life. So I'll probably regret acting like that. But more than anything, I mean, I regretted the way I acted towards Josh after the game, because he had nothing to do with it. And so I was still hot and emotional.

But you can't do that, man. It's not a great example for kids watching the game. So that was more upset about that than I was about me on the sideline. And you can imagine my reaction was, I'm so glad he said that about the kids, because he is a role model.

And as anybody who listens to me on Rich's show or listens to me here, they know that I truly believe that athletes are role models. But I love that he walked that back. And yet at the same time, I'm not mad at him about it. I've had moments in my career where I'm so frustrated. I once got suspended from Fox for a game because I was so pissed about this jag off I used to work with, who took an interview I was supposed to do and I kicked a wall. And they said that it was inappropriate conduct, unsportsmanlike conduct, not befitting a reporter.

And I basically said, both. But, you know, Suze, there were times during games, any number of games, umpteen games, when Al Davis had to hold me back from pitching the fit that I was pitching. And when Al Davis has to tell you to calm down, you know your passion is overflowing.

It's a game of passion. He was passionate. He realized he was inappropriate. He apologized.

End of story. We'll have this conversation with Dan Patrick, as well as many other things. We have a lot to pick his brain on.

And as promised, Dan Patrick joins us now on What The Football. And, Dan, I want to clarify this with everybody. I did not threaten you in any way to come on the show. I didn't promise bodily harm.

You came on your own volition. Is that correct? That is not correct. Because I sent you a picture of my children and my granddaughter, and there's a picture of her crying, and it's a Christmas party. And you used that against me, saying that, you know, my granddaughter would cry if I didn't come on your podcast. Well, I may have done that. That's effective.

Very effective, Suze. I may have done that, actually. No, you didn't.

Well, actually, I did do that. Allegedly. Allegedly. Well, you know, there's one source, and it's me, so you might need another one. At ESPN, we needed two sources. Fake news.

Fake news, Dan. But if I actually have it in writing, and it's in a text form and has been photographed, does that mean it actually happened? Well, let me see. Well, there it is. Josie will cry if you can't do my podcast with Amy Trask next Tuesday. Please?

Just an easy Zoom. Is this the time where I would call you an f-stick? No, we're not telling that story. It's a podcast. We can say anything. Okay. All right. I'm not going to hog this conversation, but I would talk to you, Dan, basically all day, every day, if I could.

But instead, let me get into the conversation with this. What's been said of Tyreek Hill, got a text from his wife halfway through the Miami game, the game, of course, in which he left with a sore ankle. And his wife said, Kita said in no uncertain terms, get back on the field, dog.

I love that. I'm all for the wife phone on the sidelines, but what was your reaction when you heard about this one? Well, TJ watt came on the show. I don't know when that was last year or the year before he was checking to see if he was getting credit for a sack at halftime.

And he told us the story. The NFL didn't think too kindly of that. So he got fined, I think a 10 or $15,000. And I thought Tyree kill using a cell phone at halftime would be something that the NFL would be interested in. And then I found out if you're injured, then it's different. So I don't think that Tyree kill will be reprimanded for that.

But I thought it was, it was nice. It was touching that, you know, you can reach out to your wife and let her know I'm okay, but I'm gonna need some help when I get home. And she's saying, Hey, how about you help out the dolphins now and get out there and then we can worry about home when you get home. Well, I also think that Sue would probably do the same thing. Don't you think she'd be saying, she'd probably say, Dan, get in. She is guilty of tough love. Absolutely.

Well, you're absolutely right, Dan. The league has said that was not violative of any rules. He was checking in with his wife. He was injured. But why am I the only one who thinks maybe it wasn't just loving supportiveness, get back on the field, but she might be playing him in fantasy football and she might've needed those yards or those scores. Fair enough. It could be all the above. Maybe he was looking for love, comfort, and she's looking for points.

And, you know, we have ulterior motives, but I don't blame her. I I've been watching the, the in season hard knocks and I'm just fascinated watching him. He's Kevin Hart on the football field at, you know, size wise, personality wise, not talent wise, but he just, he's a difference maker. And, and we saw that we just saw that Miami's offense without him in there became a whole lot more predictable. Well, and you're right in both respects, we're seeing Miami's offense with him and we're seeing the chief's offense without him. And yes, I know it's not his first game's gone from the chiefs, but there's a real void at receiver for the chiefs.

Yeah. Well, I think that, you know, we're going to look at Patrick Mahomes. If he gets them back to the super bowl, we might look at this as the best Tom Brady impersonation where you may not have great receivers, but you're going to have enough to kind of stumble into the super bowl because you look around and you have Kelsey, but I don't know if you can count on anybody else on that team. I love Pacheco.

He runs hard, but this feels almost New England Patriot like offense this year for Mahomes. What was your reaction to Mahomes outburst, his passion, his temper that we saw on the field on Sunday? I was surprised. I was disappointed because I knew once he saw the tape, then he was going to have to walk that back.

And, and this isn't a regular occurrence. This is, I gave him a hall pass. Not that he needs it from me, but it was, I get it. You know, you're frustrated. I don't think he's confident with that offense, with his receivers, with his offensive line. And you had something magical where maybe you do escape, you know, in a game where Buffalo was better than you. And you know, they just lost to green Bay the previous week.

They didn't get a pass interference call that they should have gotten. I, I get it that it kind of builds up and that you might be playing playoff games on the road for a change, but I knew he was going to have to walk that back. And the NFL probably is going to find him and Andy Reed as a result of their outburst. But, but I love the passion. I hope that he talks to his receivers with that much passion privately, just to tell them, how about you do me a favor and hold on to the ball, please. Dan, I love that you gave him a hall pass.

I do as well. I love that you use the word passion because it has been my view since my years in the league, that it is absolutely intellectually inconsistent for people to expect players on their team to exhibit that sort of passion on the field and yet be able to shut it off the second the game is over. Should he have done what he did after the game with Josh Allen? No. Do I understand why he did it? Yes. Did he apologize for it?

Yes, he did. Let's move on. But you just can't expect players to turn passion off on a dime. And look, just so you know, it's not just players who get that passionate and who do on occasion things they shouldn't have done. Says the girl who got the letter from the league office telling me that if I didn't learn to behave better in the press box during our games, I was going to get fined to which I said, I said, yeah, I picked up the phone.

I called the league and I said, you want to find me, find me to which my husband said, why don't we take that down a notch? But even Andy Reed, when he got involved in it as well, and he might've been doing that to kind of back up Patrick Mahomes a little bit. So, you know, Patrick wasn't out on an Island, but I just look at this Kansas city chief's team a little bit different where I think they know that they're vulnerable and they played that way. And Mahomes he's got to make magic. He's got to make magic every, every weekend. And I, I think the pressure kind of built up on him because I thought Buffalo was the better team on Sunday. And I think moving forward with Kansas city, you know, they've been very fortunate to be at home for a lot of these playoffs.

And if you have to go to Baltimore or Miami, or I mean, Baltimore in particular, you know, that, that I think weighs it. And he is battling himself. He's battling Tom Brady and himself. Those that that's probably what, what he thinks about every single season as Brady did, it's the Superbowl Mahomes.

It's an MVP. It's a Superbowl every single year. And the standard that you set, you, you can't keep that up, but in your mind you do. I mean, Brady would come back now and say, all right, who can I win a Superbowl with? You have to have that mindset. I mean, I'm sure Michael Jordan thought with the wizards, I can win a championship because I don't think you can ever turn that off. And Mahomes will be like that his entire career. And I admire that to be great. Want to be great.

You're expected to be great. And you know, there's no net underneath him. And we saw that on Sunday. But I feel like Brady would go down the sidelines and rip guys, new ones and not care.

And it was okay because he was Tom Brady. And I'm wondering if maybe Mahomes had that passionate outburst because he can't direct it directly at his receivers. I wonder if almost he channeled his passion that way because he's not going to them directly. And I wonder, I'm just curious about your thoughts on that, on the communication there, because they are very different people. I mean, we've heard for years and years about this sweetness, this goodness in Mahomes and him and Brittany buying people dinner and paying the check and them never knowing that it was them.

And I just have to wonder if maybe there's some misdirection there. And that's what came out after the game we saw. We were all surprised watching him getting pulled back by his teammates on Sunday.

I just think it was in the moment. I think if he's had a message or he's going to have a message for his teammates, he knows to do that in private. You know, Brady led in an interesting way that he just wanted you to want what he wanted.

And not everybody does. You know, does Kedarius Toney want it as bad as Mahomes does? I don't think so, but I don't think that in that moment, he was like, I'm taking out my anger on this. He just thought they made the wrong call plain and simple because how would he not, how would he know that it was the correct call? And, and, and so I think afterwards, that's probably where you get those guys together and say, how can I get this through to you? Like the catching the ball is imperative and it may sound simple. It may at times be simple, but in the game, it's not simple. Let's simplify this, catch the football, and then whatever you do after that, that, you know, great, but catch the football, please help me do that. Well, and what we saw in that play exemplifies the agony of defeat, but it was straight off the thrill of victory. They thought they won the game, realized it was a flag. So you go from the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat. And we saw it play out on the sidelines and he apologized.

And I think we should all move on. Also, if you look, Amy, when I go back and I look at the different angles there, so Tony, there's no reason for him to be offside or even close to being offside because he's not going to the end zone. He's only going down 10 yards and doing it out, which he did, which he was open. And when he does that and Mahomes doesn't throw it to him, he gestures back and then he puts his head down and then he's not moving. He's not part of this play, this grand scheme by Travis Kelsey. And that to me was what was really interesting about that play, his body language, Travis having the wherewithal to go.

He's all alone over there. He can take it in for the touchdown, but that's what made it even more curious. If you're Kadarius, Tony, why even get that close to the line? There's no reason.

There's no benefit. It is in my view, whether it's an offensive lineman lined up as Kadarius, Tony was, or a defender lined up in the neutral zone, the most infuriating penalty. Look, if you're an offensive lineman and you have to hold to keep your quarterback from getting killed, all right, fine. Hold because we'd rather the quarterback live to play another down. Go ahead and hold because if the alternative is your quarterback getting killed, we don't want that. If you're a defender and the, you know, if you're a safety, if you're a corner and the receiver is blowing by you and you can commit defensive holding or DPI and not give up a touchdown, okay, fair enough, we'll deal with it. But there is absolutely no reason to be lined up in the neutral zone.

Look down, find the ball, look at your feet. And if you have to pardon the language, but it's what I said all my years in the league back up, but look at their offensive tackles. They get away with that. I talked to Dean Blandino today and he said, you could call them for having the tackles, not on the line of scrimmage.

True. They can call that if they want. I mean, if you really want to be a stickler, they could call it. It was just so egregious. It's like, oh, you gotta be kidding me.

It's like the police officer who goes, oh, that guy's going 68 and 50. I got my lunch. I got to go get it. All right. Great analogy. But you're absolutely right.

Of course. I just get infuriated because that's a penalty with no upside holding to keep the quarterback from getting killed. Fair enough.

There are other penalties with upsides lined up in the neutral zone is just dumb. All right, folks, let's talk about game time and let's talk about buying tickets to big time events because it can be worrisome. It can be time consuming and it can be expensive. So game time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy and theater events near you. You can see the view from your seat before you buy.

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Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. You know, in today's world, it seems the best treatment is reserved only for a few. Well, Discover wants to change that by making everyone feel special. That's why with your Discover card, you have access to twenty four seven live customer service, as well as zero dollar fraud liability, which means you're never held responsible for unauthorized purchases. Finally, no matter who you are or where you are in life, you'll feel special with Discover.

Learn more at discover dot com slash credit card. Limitations apply. All right. Do we have any idea how good the Cowboys are? I think they're so dangerous. I do.

I think they're so dangerous. I know they haven't played anybody. Then they play Philadelphia. Then they beat Philadelphia. And then we say, well, it's Philadelphia going through a rough stretch.

Okay. And no matter what they do during the regular season, they're the one team. It's like Clayton Kershaw when he was dominating during the regular season.

And what did we say? Well, let's see when he gets to the world series. And then we would see that and we go, yeah, he's having another great regular season.

Let's see what he gets. The Cowboys have been the Clayton Kershaw of football teams. Like, Oh, okay. They got, they got a defensive player. They got a great receiver, great tight end quarterback, high level.

Everything seems to be good. Good offensive line. Yeah. But let's see what they do when they get to the post season. I think they're really, really good. I do.

I don't think they're Niner good, but, but I, I think they can be close to being Niner good by the end of the season. I do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Although, you know, with Mike McCarthy, same thing, clock management, big game.

If you have to go on the road, we've seen them melt down in historical fashion the last couple of years. And it's the smallest things they're they're kicker. I mean, 30 for 30, he's a, he's a walking 30 for 30 and he, you know, he's seems to be, you know, non-plus it's like, all right, you know, it's my job. Sure. Of course. I haven't played football before, but yeah, no big deal.

I'm kicking 60 yarders. And he's a rookie. Yes.

What 28 year old rookie. But I think it's, I think they have everything, but that's sometimes not enough. You know, the best team doesn't always win the super bowl, but if they're best on that day, that's all you have to be.

It's not a best of three or five or seven, you know, it's like March madness. It's one and done. And I, I liked that. I, I, I hate saying it because those words always come back to haunt you. But in this case, I really liked Dallas.

I like him a lot. Yeah. Maybe Mike McCarthy should have something else removed before the next game or before the Niners game, just start chiseling away at his body. Like a game of operation where you just go, we're going to take that, that part. Yeah. Yeah.

I think I might be onto something. I usually am. I want, I want you to tell Mike McCarthy what body part that he's going to have removed. Okay.

I'll call him after the politics. How much of a difference will it make if the game is played in Dallas versus San Francisco? I mean, it's undefeated in Dallas.

Yeah. And you get on turf and it's just, they've, it's not a fluke that they've been great there. Um, I think San Francisco can win in Dallas. Uh, I don't think Dallas can win in San Francisco, you know, unless the, you know, the quarterback gets knocked out in the backup quarterback and then the backup to the backup quarterback gets knocked out as well.

Okay. I'm glad you brought up the topic of backup quarterbacks. Um, roughly 25% of the starters in week one are no longer playing due to injury. Uh, last weekend, seven backup quarterbacks led their team to victory. Eight, if you count the fact that Minnesota played two backup quarterbacks in that game versus Las Vegas, seven quarterbacks led their team to victory. Dan, I can't remember a time during my years in the league when there were this many backup quarterbacks playing. Can you remember a time?

And do you have any theories? Well, I think there, at one point recently, there were 70 different quarterbacks who had threw at least one pass this year. And I thought that seems like a lot. And then I had my research department, which is actually not a department, it's one person. And I said, Hey, research department, can you find out how many quarterbacks have thrown passes and compare that? We've had this a couple of times in the last decade, but I just think quarterback play. Um, I don't think the offensive line are anywhere near what they once were. I think the edge rushers are so good. I just think you have that you have quarterbacks like will Levis who want to take on contact or Josh Allen. Um, Hey, I did this in college.

I can do this in the pros. You do have more running or versatile quarterbacks that kind of bring about even more contact. I think it's just there's a variety of reasons there. But, um, offensive line edge rushers and the ability of these guys to think that they can extend a play or extend to play more than they really should. What's the story that we're not talking about, Dan, because we're so busy talking about the Eagles, Dallas Niners, Mahomes? Well, I think the NFC South is interesting because somebody is going to win and they're going to host a playoff game.

I don't know. I mean, going to New Orleans, uh, somebody could lose in New Orleans if they host Atlanta, maybe hosting a playoff game. I thought that coach's job might be in jeopardy. He could actually win the division and still have his job in jeopardy. Todd Bowles in Tampa could have his job in jeopardy.

They could win the division. It's, it's one of those that you, you don't want to acknowledge the NFC South, but you have to. And I we've seen this before where, you know, teams with a losing record end up hosting a playoff game. And I wonder about that, Amy, if you think the NFL would ever go, we don't want a losing a team of the losing record to host a playoff game.

We don't think that that's fair. Um, you know, it's interesting that you raised that. And of course there's a league meeting this week in, um, I think it's in Dallas, but irrespective of where it is, um, when you just asked that question, it reminded me of league meetings that I attended for almost 30 years. And it was a subject of discussion, but the fact is the way the league is designed, someone's going to win each division. And by the way, when I started in the league, there weren't eight divisions. There were fewer divisions and the divisions were different. Someone gets to win every division.

And this was a topic of discussion. And so was seeding, which is if you win your division, but let's say you win with a losing record or barely a winning record. Should you still be seated ahead of a wildcard team?

These were debated a lot, but the consensus was to leave it as it is. Now you're more polite than I am about the NFC South. I jokingly suggested it might need to be relegated, but someone is going to win that division. And by the way, don't count out Baker Mayfield. Well, I, the, the analogy that I used was Florida state, the college football playoff committee could look at Florida state and say, we don't want them in.

And they left them out. The NFL can't do that to the NFC South. If that team has a losing record, whereas college football said, that's a wounded animal.

They're maybe not the best team to be in the final four. We have control over that. The NFL has control over just about everything, but if they were the college football playoff committee, they, they would probably say, you know what? Uh, we just came up with a new rule. The winner of the NFC South is not going to host a playoff game. And then we would go, sure. But with college football, we're like, how dare you do that to Florida state?

But they were able to control what they could control and they did it. And of course the NFL can't do that unless they get a vote from ownership to change the rule. And that was a debate I heard at league meetings for many, many, many years, which is, should that rule be changed?

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Lowest price guaranteed. Do you think, and I'm going to switch this up because you've got another three hours left with us, right? Oh my gosh, we're having a sleepover. That would be fun. Don't get me started.

I have so many different places to go with that. How has Otani changed the game of baseball with this contract? Well, I don't know. You know, we tend to look at like Dion going to Colorado, and then I remember hearing from some coaches with black universities, colleges, and everybody thought, well, now we're going to get an opportunity. I said, there's only one Dion. You're not.

Unfortunately, you won't. It's not, now they know that we play good football or we can coach on a big level, and Dion's the outlier. Otani's the outlier. Who else is going to get a contract like this? Who else makes $50 million a year off the field in endorsements? Who can then defer this kind of money? Is baseball going to continue to allow this kind of contract to exist? I just don't, unless it's 10 or 15 years down the road, we see, you know, the high school player who's the pitcher is also the shortstop, and then he says, I want to try that in college or in the minor leagues, and then can I try that in, you know, major league?

Can I be good enough to do it? I think you might see that, but I don't know if there's a trickle down where Juan Soto is all of a sudden going to get more money than if Otani didn't sign for $700 million. I don't think that there's any, I don't think all of a sudden the doors open and it's like, ollie ollie income free. Everybody's going to make money and everybody's going to defer. How many players would defer? I mean, Mookie Betts deferred, but Otani is deferring everything except for $2 million.

So I mean, it's amazing. And really, you know, what he decided to do, and he offered this up to all the other teams, and he said, I'll do this for you. And I mean, I don't know how many guys would do that. Brady would do it. You know, we would hear, Oh, he's only making 10 million. He's deferring.

What Giselle's worth 400 million. Like, wow, what a sacrifice, Tom, you're going to defer. But he wanted to have players on his roster. He didn't want to lose players.

And I think in today's game and today's sports, that quarterback like Dez is, or I should say, Dak's going to make $60 million a year. How does that affect CD lamb? How does that affect Micah Parsons? You know, that's what, that's what happens when the superstars come calling and they want to get paid. How does it affect your team? And I think that was the curious part. If he's on the angels, then it probably really affects, you know, what they're going to do, but with the Dodgers, they have the money he's deferring.

And I just think he's, he's the outlier, the unicorn is everybody likes to say, look, we won't dive into this because when I do this sort of thing, it makes Susie's brain explode. I'm a Dodger fan. I grew up a Dodger fan, but the first place my mind went when I heard those numbers was a how much is deferred and B let's talk about the tax issues. Now, Susie has let me know that this is not a tax podcast, and I'm not supposed to talk about duty day formula calculations, but there is a benefit to deferring.

There can be. And I am sure that the deferral and the tax issues were considered going into this contract. Well, plus you have California taxes and if he can hold off on that and relocate to Texas or Florida or back to Japan and sure.

Why not? I thought it was really interesting that he and his agent came up with this and, uh, but the fact that everybody else Toronto could have done it, San Francisco could have done it, but you know, the Dodgers went in. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's awesome.

I do. Uh, and I was wondering if, if you're the commissioner and you can place him, is that the best place for him? And I was wondering if he's in Toronto, he plays in the American league East. We'll see him at Yankee stadium with the red socks, Orioles Tampa Bay. We'll see him on the East coast. Um, and you know, of course there's East coast bias with us media, but you would at least see him as opposed to if you put him in San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles. And, but then I started thinking, what do we want to see from our great players that they play in the post season?

He's going to be in the post season probably for the next 10 years. Well, that separates him from man. He was unbelievable. I mean, babe Ruth won. How many world series did he win? It's not just boys, great pitcher, great hitter. He played in the biggest games. That's where you solidify a reputation as Mike trout is going to the hall of fame, but how he, you know, how great is he?

Um, we don't know because he never played in big. We didn't get to see him in those moments there. And I, I, I that's what we'll always miss. We'll lament that, that man, he was great, but, uh, not many people saw that Oh, Tony, we're going to see it. And you know, he might not be great in the post season. I don't think Ted Williams had a great post season career, but we do remember him as maybe the greatest hitter of all time. But I love that possibility of seeing him in big games in October.

Um, cause that's, that's where legacies are formed. Yep. A hundred percent. And as the sunset is going down over Chavez ravine, it's going to be beautiful. He's going to be out there. He'll be in the number two market in the country and he'll have the attention that he didn't get when he was in Anaheim. But speaking of winning big news, Dan, the Lakers won the in season tournament. Yes. And they're going to raise the banner.

Well, I'm surprised at that. I was, you're the Lakers. You don't raise an in season ridiculous. Now the Pacers, they would hold a parade. I would, I would, I would green light a parade. If I'm the Pacers, if they won, I said, banner hell yes. And a parade.

Why not? You're not going to be celebrating anything anytime soon, but the Lakers, it almost seems like we need a reason to celebrate. You know, we won a title in the bubble. Hey, we're still a championship caliber team, you know, in season championship caliber season, but I'm surprised at that. But the way LeBron was celebrating after they won, damn. I don't know if he celebrated that much when they won that title in the bubble, he was very excited.

Plus players got paid who don't normally get paid, but you beat the Pacers in Vegas. I can't celebrate that. I can't celebrate too much. Who cares? I don't. Yeah, I know.

I know. Before we let you go, Tommy Cutlets, where does that rank amongst your favorite sports nicknames? Well, I wish he had an accent because like my wife's Italian. And when I hear from her brothers and mock and PETA at two New York city, former New York city firefighters, they have that void. And we're waiting for Tommy DeVito, you know, Tommy Cutlets.

And then he gets up there and he sounds like he's from Iowa. I go, what a buzzkill. Yeah. And I don't know if the legacy gets any better. It, you know, it feels like Tommy DeVito 10 years down the road is going to have a restaurant maybe in Paramus or something. And people will come in to Tommy DeVito's before they go to the Giants game. The sauce.

Yes. Well, the gravy, Susie, it's gravy. Just saying, but I think Tommy DeVito opened it up a restaurant, but he did play well. It's so it's not just a he's, he's just in there. He took care of the ball, made big plays.

And I thought it was a really good performance. I don't remember him in Illinois, but I remember him at Syracuse, but only because of the name of Tommy DeVito. And I always think of, what is it? My cousin Vinny. Yeah, sure. Miss DeVito. Great movie. And I just thought that's good. Well, Amy much prefers, uh, Tommy Cutlets to Danny dimes, right?

Oh, let me tell you something. When, Oh, don't even get me started. When Daniel Jones was drafted and he comes marching out and it's Danny dimes, Danny dimes. My reaction was dude wins something and then go prance around declaring your nickname is Danny dimes. You don't declare yourself and preen in the fact that people are calling you Danny dimes when you haven't won anything in the league so far.

And by the way, Dan, as to last night, that was the first game. I believe that the giants did not give up a sack all season. They have 69 sacks given up this season, which is just incomprehensible.

And it is no coincidence. They gave up no sacks and they won. But also if you look at the commanders and the giants, I wonder if there's ever been two teams who have given up that many sacks in the same season, in the same division.

Great point. I mean, it's really, uh, I, I feel bad for Sam Howell at the fact that he's still alive and playing is remarkable there. Um, but I, I think what the giants, it's not a good offensive line. You have Saquon Barkley. Those are really young receivers. I think the defense is good and, uh, green Bay. I think, you know, you have the big win against Kansas city. And I think they went through the motions. I think Miami went through the motions with Tennessee. It's just, there's every single week.

How many times do we go? You gotta be me. What happened? That's the way the league is designed.

Parody that in any given game, any given team can win. Did, did Berman ever give you a nickname? He called me the Charlotte observer because I came in from CNN and they had me observe for three months on how to do sports center. And I would just come in and I would observe and Chris would come in and he'd go, it's the Charlotte observer. And I went, yep, I'm here. And finally, after two months, I went to my boss and I said, I know how to do this. I did this at CNN.

I can do this. And my first show was with Chris. Chris just did the 11 o'clock and he said, observer, I'm going to observe with you. And he stayed and did the late night sports center.

My first sports center was with Chris. I I've never forgotten that, you know, it was a generous gesture to do it, but I couldn't get over how loud he sounded when you're sitting next to him. And then he said to me, it's like being with the Beatles. And I went, Oh wow. And then he goes, or Elvis. And I went, damn, okay. I'm just the Charlotte observer. You're Elvis for you.

But you do remember what you did to rich before his first sports center, right? I said, don't get up. Oh my gosh. That's what Elle said to me all the time. No, he said, you nervous?

Oh yeah. I walked by and he was looking at highlights and I just said it in that deep voice where I go, are you nervous? And he's like, no, no.

Why, why should I? Dan, that is exactly what Al Davis said to me umpteen times throughout my career. He'd give me some project to do. And then he'd look at me and say, try not to get up.

All right. This is, this is the part of the show where we're having fun and you're like, get me off the show. I'm feeling like all of a sudden I'm thinking like, he wants to go home. What happens after this? Like when I leave, what happens to the pajamas? And then we have like a, we do each other's hair.

We have a little somber party. I did watch the Barbie movie, uh, last night, just letting you know with my daughter and my wife with Molly. Yeah. Molly.

And what'd you think? You know, what's amazing is that they don't teach you an acting class for Margot Robbie to play something like a doll because like, how do you play a doll? But it's, but you're actually not just, you know, a doll mannequin. You're, you have to have these characteristics.

I, I, I thought it was great. Now I know she struggled with trying to find like, who is Barbie? Like what, who, what am I? I was fascinated with her ability to be able to kind of find that.

And she's finding it right in front of you, whether that was on purpose or not, where she is, you know, finding the world and then getting confidence and trying to figure out like, what is this all about here? And, uh, I know I'm getting way too deep on Barbie, which is most, what most people thought I was going to today. And I swore I would not.

You're so predictable, Dan. I know, but I, when she did I, Tanya, I was like, Ooh, somebody can act. And then this one, this was just different, man.

It was different. I, I thought that it was, it wasn't my kind of movie. Um, cause I like to cry at the end of a movie.

Oh, not me. Oh, I, I, I, when's the last time you cried? Why would I want to watch a movie that is going to make me cry?

You know what? I didn't see Titanic. I know the boat sinks.

I know they die. I am. I want to see happy movies or scary movies or thriller movies. I do not want to cry. When's the last time you cried, Amy? When, Oh, I cry. I just don't like to cry at the movies. When's the last time you cried at a movie? At a movie.

Yeah. Well, okay. First of all, if you were, and don't you dare do this. If you were to start singing the theme right now from born free, I would just lose it. No, no, no, no, do it in your falsetto.

As free as the wind blows. He's going to make me cry. This is a big deal. We got Dan Patrick singing on our podcast and talking about Barbie and talking about Barbie before we let you go. Also, you could do your ramp up right now. You could, you could ramp up for us. I used to love ramping up, uh, you know, top 40 DJs. I love that.

I always wanted to do that where you have like, you know, 14 seconds to give time and temperature and what's coming up. What would your DJ name be? What would your DJ name be?

I'd be DJ Sprinkles or DJ Double Scoop. Well, my wife runs an ice cream parlor. So, uh, Oh my God.

How did I not know that? She's my new best friend. She makes her own ice cream.

She's my new best friend. Yes. Yes.

Uh, I don't know, but I, maybe I would be DJ DJ. Not just DJ DP. No, no easy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I'd be DJ, but now I'm DJ. Like I'm, there's a lot of DJs, but I would be, I'd be the DJ.

Yes. I'd be, I have no idea. It's late in the day for me. I, you know, I'm, I'm emotional.

You are. And by the way, people don't know that about you, that you are very emotional, that you do cry on a dime that you like to, you know, that you love to share emotions. You don't have to walk. I walk three, I have to walk three daughters down the aisle at some point and I'm not going to be able to do it without, I cried when I walked my son down the aisle with my wife, I even said to the audience, yes, I'm crying.

Cause they're like, he's crying. I go, yes, I'm crying. Oh my God.

Georgia. That's going to be, I'm going to come with a box of tissues, not a little travel one. I cry at every wedding I go to, whenever the bride walks down the aisle, I cry at every wedding.

I do too. I, that moment where it's like, and then everybody gets up and then I go, I cry, but I'm going to have to walk three daughters down the aisle and give a, a speech at the reception. Oh God. Do you know that I think about that on a regular basis? It's like people have, you know, nightmares.

Mine is I can't get through the reception speech and I can't walk down the aisle with it. Like you don't want to be like, like you just want to tears. Like if I could tear, I'm fine.

It's just, you don't want to sob. Yeah. I, well, I'm going to, but yeah. So that, those are my nightmares.

That, and I I'm getting to sports center late for some reason that those are the nightmares that I have. Well, don't worry. Don't worry because Sue's going to pull a key to Hill and she's going to text you, pull it together.

Hey dog. Okay. She didn't cry. She didn't cry when my son got married. That's crazy. The reason I have been excited to tell you something before we let you go.

I apologize that I interrupted with it, but I do want to share something before you go. One of the people who listens to our podcast weekly is Kathy Schlossman, who is the president of the Los Angeles sports and entertainment commission. She also happens to be president of the Dan Patrick fan club. I didn't know. I don't know if you know that you have a fan club. Of course you know that.

I just didn't know if you know it was official. She is the biggest Dan Patrick fan. And when we shared with her that you were coming on our podcast, we got big, big, big, big points, Dan. Oh, that's very sweet. That's very sweet. You never know who's listening and I never take it for granted.

When somebody says they listen or they like the show, I'm still to this day and I've been doing this a long time. I never, I never take it for granted. Never, ever will.

Because one day no one cares. One day there'll be like, whatever happened to that talking hairdo guy? What's his name? Jim Patrick? No, it's Dan.

It was Dan Patrick. But one day nobody cares, but while they do care, you reciprocate. So thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Thank you for allowing me to share whatever I shared today. And maybe we'll meet in Vegas for the Super Bowl. I will look for you there. We should all be there together. Oh, okay.

That sounds great. Who's buying? Oh, it feels like Amy should.

I'm buying everybody ice cream. And by everybody, I mean Dan and Susie. So I'm not talking about all the listeners and viewers just to be clear. Oh, okay. All right.

Fair enough. Love you, Dan. Thanks for coming on.

Thank you guys very much. The Charlotte Observer. His Chris Berman nickname, which I love. Amy, you have a very famous nickname. Best nickname ever.

The Princess of Darkness. But you are not the only person with a nickname. I actually have my own Chris Berman nickname. I just want you to know this.

Are we going to learn it? He would call me Susie don't step on my blue suede Schuster every time he saw me in the newsroom. I was this many years old today when I learned that you had that nickname.

You're welcome. What are your favorite other nicknames? Because I was seeing in the green room here at the Rich Eisen Show, Rich Eisen Show productions. I was saying that Tommy Cutlets is like a mafia name, right? Tommy Cutlets.

So what other names in football are there that are mafia names? I said the fridge like William Refrigerator Perry sounds like he could wax somebody and put them in there and then put them in the refrigerator. Yeah. I like that one.

Yeah. I like refrigerator Perry. Playmaker could be somebody who waxed people. I never, ever considered refrigerator Perry a mafia name until you just met. Now I do, I have a favorite nickname, but I don't think it's mafia like.

What? The Mad Stork. Ted Hendrix, the Mad Stork. That's just a great name.

Well, that's because he whacked a couple of people in the swamps, right? Oh, okay. I see where you're going with that. You like where I'm going here? Yeah, I do. Otis Sistrunk went to the University of Mars.

Is there one? He went there, so apparently. Well, I have to say this has been one of my favorite podcasts if I have to pat myself on the back for calling up Dan and basically threatening him and taking his granddaughter's picture and saying that she would be unhappy if he didn't do the podcast. I love that you got Dan Patrick on the podcast, but I am going to talk to you about admitting things on air and just to cover you, I will say allegedly she did that. I did that. I did that.

I did that for you people. I did that because I wanted to bring you something special on what the football and I also love that you got a chance to listen to Dan in a way you don't always listen to him, which is opining on Barbie, but I will say this as well. He is the best girl dad that there is. And we're very close to that whole family as I'm sure you could tell. And it was just delightful to get to show that side of Dan.

So another fun addition of what the football. And how did I never know that his wife was in the ice cream business? Sue, if you're listening, which I know you're not, but I'm going to call you after the show anyway. Because we're best friends now. Yeah. By the way, like we're besties. It's real and it's spectacular.

And you wouldn't know that because you don't want Seinfeld. All right, people. Thank you for taking in this edition of what the football. We will talk to you next week. For the real story behind some of wrestling's biggest moments. It's something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson to 1995 when WCW announces they're going to be live and head to head with Monday night.

Raw feels like this would have been something Vince would have kind of laughed off. No, we did not like them moving to Monday nights. There were a lot of hotels. They all carry CNN, TBS, and TNT. Vince was convinced that Ted Turner had deviously done this deal to get in the hotels and keep us out. Something to wrestle wherever you listen.