Shams Charania: LeBron James Will Have A Decision To Make

This episode is brought to you by Michelobultra, the official beer sponsor of the NBA who's getting you closer to the game than ever with exclusive prizes. Enter for your chance to win at Michelobultra.com slash courtside. Enjoy responsibly 2024 Anheuser-Busch Michelobultra Light Beer, St. Louis, Missouri. Michelobultra registered, courtside sweepstakes. No purchase necessary. Open to U.S. residents 21 and up. Begins October 19, 2023 and ends June 12, 2024. Multiple entry periods. See official rules at Michelobultra.com slash rules for free entry, entry deadlines, prices and details.

Message and data rates may apply. Void where prohibited. This, this is the Rich Eisen Show. I know I'm great. Let's just review this. Honestly. Live from the Rich Eisen Show Studio in Los Angeles. Does he want to stay in Chicago?

Yeah, of course. I feel like the biggest thing with all this, just let me know if I'm getting traded, let me know if I'm staying. The Rich Eisen Show. I get it with Justin Fields feeling that way. Earlier on the show, NFL Network analyst Chase Daniel. Coming up, Senior NBA insider for the athletic and stadium, Shamsharaniya. Plus pro football hollering. Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw. And now it's Rich Eisen.

Yes, it is. Welcome to this second hour of the latest edition of the Rich Eisen Show live on the air on the Roku channel, which is available on every Roku device known to man. Also on Sirius XM, we're sitting here on Odyssey, the Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate smart enough to have us our podcast listeners. We say hello to you.

Doesn't matter that you're not listening live. We still love you. You know, I mean, it's your decision to it's your your sports consuming right to take us in whenever you want. So, you know, no pushback from us.

Is this an odd way to set up everything? Hello to our podcast listeners. Terry Bradshaw is going to zoom in an hour three.

Come on now. That'll be great. Can't wait to chat with Terry. Do we ask him his favorite Burt Reynolds story? Yep. Okay, we will do that. We will do that.

Should I ask Sean Sharana, his favorite Sharani, his favorite Burt Reynolds story part doesn't have one. Absolutely. Right. Anyway, to help us tip off the de facto second half of the season is one of the best in the business. Senior lead NBA insider for the athletic and stadium and also our good friend Michelle Beadle co-hosts run it back on FanDuel TV with him and so many others. Shams Sharani back on the Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you, sir.

How are you? Rich, great being on. Appreciate you having me.

No, anytime. So let me ask you to set, I guess, the stage. What do you think is the biggest story that we're going to see tip off starting tonight in the run up to the playoffs in the association, Shams? I was just talking about it today on running back. But when you think about it going into this playoff run, there's probably 14 teams across both conferences that really genuinely believe they have a shot in these playoffs. And to at least get to the conference finals, the NBA finals, you think about it in the Eastern Conference, Milwaukee, obviously, Boston, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, Miami. Then you look out west, Minnesota, OKC, both teams surprising as top seeds in the Western Conference. You have the Clippers, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas, Lakers, Warriors. I mean, that's 14 teams right there.

And I guess you have the Pelicans, Kings kind of on the outer skirts. But the parity in the league right now is so high that there's going to be such expectations going into the playoffs. Realistically, three, four teams in each conference will obviously be there at the end.

So to me, it's really the parity that we're seeing in the league right now. Well, then let's let's jump on the Bucks, since obviously they're a recent champion that decided to change coaches midstream and not just to anybody, but to Doc Rivers. What is the challenge that you're hearing about out of Milwaukee to get this thing on the straight and narrow in the remaining few weeks of the season? Rich, there is a challenge, but listen, obviously there's been a lot of rhetoric, there's been a lot of chatter publicly over the last couple of weeks, ever since Doc Rivers took that job with a 30 and 13 record. Make no mistake, the Milwaukee Bucks this year, the only thing they're playing for and thinking about is winning a championship. This season is very much title or bust in Milwaukee, does not matter what anyone says, doesn't matter about excuses, not excuses, whatever. Anytime you have Damian Lillard and Giannis Interdicumpo and you fire your coach and you hire Doc Rivers who won a championship before, obviously among the top 10 in wins of all time in NBA history, was voted as a top 10 coach of all time. These ingredients are not made for a team that is going to accept or want to be bounced in the second round of conference finals.

It doesn't matter the scenario that Doc Rivers took this team in. A coaching change was necessary. They needed to make a change.

I reported on it extensively in the athletic. There were issues throughout the locker room with Adrian Griffin, systematically, as far as Xs and Os, how adjustments were handled, were not handled. There was going to be need for change.

Now they did go and make that change. And so you do have to give Doc Rivers some credit since he took over this team, which was floundering defensively. They've been a lot better on that end of the floor. Now it's just about putting together wins, having a healthy second half.

And I was there at Indy for All-Star weekend. Damian Lillard had himself a weekend. I mean, you think about three-point contest victory, MVP of the All-Star game, even though both teams had almost 400 points combined. You can't put that on Damian Lillard because a lot of his points, they were really heaves from like half court. His shooting that was on display was impressive. And you hope that this carries into the second half because that relationship between him and Yats and Tsutokounmpo is going to be the most important one in the second half, possibly in the NBA.

Shams Shirani, you're here on the Rich Eisen Show. OK, so many folks who heard you run through the teams that have a shot at doing it might think that you are being generous to put the Lakers in there. But they did finish the first half hot. And what did you make of LeBron's comments at the All-Star game on All-Star Sunday about his future?

What can you tell us about your reporting there? LeBron James, the only thing he's thought about this year is being a Laker. And at the end of the season, he's going to have a decision to make.

He has a player option. We know Bronny James, he's been vocal about wanting to play with Bronny James. If Bronny James does indeed come out, we'll see on draft night where he ends up. And LeBron James' player option, over $50 million. That's for after the NBA draft.

So we'll know all the answers we need to know by draft week. Where does Bronny James go? How does that impact LeBron James' future? Does LeBron James opt in, play out next season, and then join Bronny James?

Where does this all lead? I think LeBron is going to get the end of the season, after the season ends, to really decide how he wants the last two, three years of his career to play out. But he said it vocally. He's been up front. He knows he's at the twilight of his career. He knows there's not much time left. He was contemplating retirement or at least was open about the concept of retirement after last season. That's the first time we saw LeBron James even openly mention the concept of retiring. And that alone lets you know that whether it's a year, two years, three years, there's only so much time LeBron James has left. But to everything I've reported on, everything I've heard, there was never a trade for LeBron James that was ever going to happen this season. He was going to play this year out with the Lakers, with Anthony Davis, with this group now. Would he have wanted this team to be more active in trades potentially? But they really believe that getting Spencer Dinwiddie on the buyout market for nothing allowed them to really be equipped, going to the second half of the season, adding him. And now they'll have three first-round draft picks to trade in the offseason if they want to go get a star player in a potential trade.

And so do you think – I'd love to put it this way. What's your reporting on the trade offer that did come from the Warriors for LeBron? There was none that I know of. Okay.

No offer, no nothing. Was there a phone call from Golden State to Los Angeles that wound up being routed to Rich Paul, Shams? I'm sure those conversations happened. But any time you're LeBron James – and the Warriors, I will say, this trade deadline specifically, they were active.

They were making calls. I reported on trade deadline day. They were – a guy that they did exchange offers on is Alex Caruso with the Bulls. That is a player – even beyond any conversations with LeBron James, there was actual traction with different concepts and variations with Alex Caruso and the Bulls. Obviously, a deal did not happen. The Bulls had a sky-high asking price for Caruso. No deal got done.

But there were more offers, you know, concept exchange in that capacity than any others. Is there anybody in play over the next six weeks who can get bought out, wind up on a team, make a difference here for a playoff run or playoff push, Shams? I would look at a few players right now on the buyout market.

Marcus Morse potentially, he could be out there as a candidate to be signed by a playoff contender. Daniel House, another player, he got weighed by the Pistons. He was traded by the Sixers. He's played in playoff moments. He's known himself to be a three-indy player when it matters most. Those two guys, to me, immediately jump off the bat as guys that can help a playoff contending team right now. Killian Hayes, another guy that was weighed by the Pistons at the trade deadline. He's the guy that's sifting through options. When you think about a young guy, number seven overall pick, he's only in his early 20s.

He's already made $24 million over his career. Where does he end up? Does he end up on a rebuilding team, playoff team? Those are really just three names to keep an eye on over the next week or so. What's your reporting on the health of the Knicks and how healthy they can get over the next six weeks right now? Yeah, Ojian Anobie had elbow surgery. His return is still weeks away potentially.

But Julius Randall, that's a guy to keep an eye on. From what I'm told, he's feeling less and less pain in that shoulder, which is a good thing. He said yesterday surgery still has not been ruled out on that shoulder. He dislocated it a few weeks ago. The hope is that he's going to be able to continue to rehab and get back on the floor and avoid surgery. Any type of surgery you would expect would potentially be season ending for Julius Randall. But he's doing everything he can to not have surgery, avoid it, and return at some point this season. What do you think about Embiid, Shams?

What do you have there? Joel Embiid is still hopeful that he can return at some point before the playoffs. My reporting when he had the injury a few weeks ago is that it would be a one to two month injury. So let's say that's at the six to eight week portion of that stretch. That would put him at late March, early April. And the Sixers are hopeful he's going to be able to rehab himself back from that meniscus tear. He had a displaced flap tear in that meniscus. And he's hoping, he's pushing that he can make a return late March, early April. So basically the way things are looking tonight may be the way teams go into the playoffs, right?

I mean it looks like it. Clearly there's enough time for some of these injuries that you just brought up to heal in time. But there's really no significant names that can get bought out that might really just shock the system. Like this is about it, like everybody's just going to have to play better or continue to maintain is what it looks like from what I'm hearing from you. Yeah, I mean obviously we saw a flurry of, I want to say 15 trades, 16 trades on trade deadline day.

Those were the major deals that happened. Of course we didn't see an all-star caliber player the last couple of years. We saw Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Ben Simmons, James Harden all traded on trade deadline day a week. This year there were a lot of players that filled needs. Gordon Hayward in Oklahoma City. He filled the need of a veteran player to come off their bench. If someone's dealing with foul trouble, they can slide him in.

P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford ending up in Dallas. They got some much needed depth in the front court. Now you look at Dallas, the depth that they have. I know Luka Doncic is very confident in that team going to the playoffs with a healthy Kyrie Irving. Then the Knicks, they're dealing with playoffs, you know, with the playoff run coming into play.

And Julius Randle uncertainty, Ojan Inouye uncertainty. Well, they just got Boyan Bogdanovich, Alec Burks to replenish their depth. So we saw teams make moves for players.

Those are all high-level players. And then Philadelphia, with Joel Embiid out, even when he comes back potentially, having a guy like Buddy Heald providing floor spacing, scoring, shooting, he's going to be able to do that. So you saw teams fill needs, fill holes. We didn't see any star players move, but a lot of the action happened already on deadline day. So over the All-Star weekend, Shams, in a few minutes left with Shams Sharani, here on the Rich Eisen Show, senior lead insider of the athletic and stadium and FanDuel TV's running back and so much more. So while you're strolling around the All-Star game in Indianapolis, which is the team that everybody who's whispering in your ear and there's all talk at parties, bars or courtside or getting ready for a meal and things of that nature, who's everybody talking about saying, watch out for this team? Well, I think in season right now, you have to keep an eye on the contenders, right? Boston, Milwaukee, we know the issues Milwaukee's had this year over the course of their coaching change, over the last 10 games under Doc Rivers, the contenders are the contenders. And then out west, Warriors, Lakers, which of these teams could see their end of a winning era, a winning stretch? But I think when you think about transactions, when you look into the summer, you look ahead, the Atlanta Hawks are in a situation right now where they need to identify their future.

And that's a team that definitely has come up around the league as a team to keep an eye on. You have two players, Trae Young, Dijonte Murray, All-Star caliber players. The Hawks need to decide which area they're going in. Are they trying to rebuild or are they trying to compete? Quinn Snyder obviously is a coach that wants to win. Him and Trae Young's relationship, from everything I've been told, it's been smooth sailing, it's been a strong one.

Where does that organization go this summer with two All-Star caliber guards that you might need to make a decision on? And what's the chatter you're hearing coming off of the All-Star weekend itself? Ratings up for the game, obviously, but Adam Silver's trophy presentation, well, congratulations. To the east, it was telling, to say the least.

But the numbers were up. And I was talking in my household about Sabrina versus Steph significantly. So what are you hearing?

What's the few days later chatter you're hearing about it? On Saturday night, Sabrina and Steph definitely got the most excitement out of the crowd. And I spoke to Steph Curry late Saturday night and just hearing him talk about that competition, how much joy he had from that competition. And when he was watching Sabrina Yunescu shoot and score 26 points from the NBA three-point line, his confidence was getting lower and lower. He was starting to sweat.

He was starting to feel it. But then he goes out there and shows exactly why he's the greatest shooter of all time. That's 29 points. But that probably was the most exciting event of All-Star weekend. From the fans' perspective, player perspective, league perspective, obviously everyone was down about the All-Star game. Anytime two teams scored almost 400 points in the All-Star game, that's not the recipe for a successful competitive All-Star game. But I think you have to look within if you're the players to figure out the competitiveness that it takes, especially down the stretch of games.

I know one thing. This is from the NBA as well. Andre Iguodala, Larry Bird, Dr. J, all went into that pregame locker room on Sunday, told the players, this is why we have the God-given ability to go out and compete, play defense, play hard, show why we're the greatest players in the world.

We want you guys to do that. And then the players end up, it ends up being really a layup fest. So we'll see how and if the NBA can change things up for next year. So they did go into the locker room, huh?

They did. And so what happened? Because Joe Dumars apparently was supposed to be, or not supposed to, he delivered significant messages to these players as well leading up.

So what happened? Yeah, Andre Iguodala, the NBA executive director, Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Dr. J, we know those guys are legends. Two of the greatest players in the history of the game.

They all went into the pregame locker room. And the messages that they gave the players is there's a reason why you're here. We're here to show why we're the greatest players in the world. And that comes through competition.

It comes with playing defense, playing hard. Obviously that message did not seem like it was received. Send my best to Beadle. Will you please, Shams, do that for me? I will Rich, appreciate you. Appreciate the time as well. Shams Sharania on Run It Back with Michelle Beadle and Chandler Parsons, Lou Williams, who's dynamite, at 10 a.m. Eastern time on FanDuelTV and FanDuelTV Plus.

And obviously I follow you with the athletic and stadium as well. Thanks for the time, sir. Thanks Rich, appreciate it. You betcha.

That's Shams Sharania right here on the Rich Eisen Show. What'd you take out of that, Christopher? Man, players don't want to listen to anybody but themselves. OK. Anything about Embiid?

Anything about... It doesn't appear like anybody's walking through that door off of a buyout contract. I mean, this is it.

No. Like you said. We're in a lot of big name players, moving teams like last year, like we saw Kevin Durant on the move. It just seems like the West is going to be kind of a wide open shootout in the playoffs and the East is pretty top heavy. Obviously, I think Boston's going to make it. Lakers. Lakers. It was very generous of him to put them in the contenders.

He did. Well, hey, listen. Put up the standings, would you mind? Western and Eastern, dealer's choice, Hoskins. All right, there you go.

The West. So the Lakers are taking on the Warriors tonight on TNT. That is the bronze out, huh? Yeah.

I have him and so I had to make an alignment. So LeBron's out. Hey, listen, last time what LeBron and A.D. weren't playing.

That's true. Who do we have here? We had somebody here.

Oh, it's Jim Jackson here. And we're like, well, Lakers are going to lose tonight. And they beat the doors off the Celtics. Yep. Yep. And then went to Madison Square Garden and beat the Knicks.

Yep. Well, at any rate, so they're four over taking on the Warriors. That's the old 9-10 game. Remember, the Lakers played the Warriors in one of the first play-in games. And we're like, good luck to having them do that again. And looks like they might.

And then you look at the East. He mentioned the Heat, too. Heat's only five over. Lakers are four over. Heat's only five over. But we look at the Heat differently, don't we? Yeah. Because they're the cohesive team that, you know, the Heat way.

Battle-tested. Right. And so let them be the eight seed.

Woe to you. Like, you want no piece of them. Not in the playoffs. As a one-seeded Celtics. Like, that's the last team you want to see.

We do not want to see the Heat. Correct. Yeah. So everybody views the Heat differently, but their record's the same as the Lakers.

Essentially. Once 30-26, Heat's 30-25. You don't think either of those teams are going to win the title, do you?

Who? The Heat or the Lakers. How can you sit here and say the Heat cannot win the title?

Because they haven't. But they make it every damn time, it feels like. They make a run and suddenly you're like, how are they doing it? By playing tough, timely basketball. Giannis gets injured. Three seasons away from their last Finals appearance. They get very lucky, it seems.

That's part of it, though. You've got to have a little bit of luck in with how good you are. I tell you, the Lakers or the Heat are going to make the Finals. Which one do you choose? Zero. I tell you, I have a crystal ball. I play that game.

I tell you. I play the what's more likely game. I tell you, one of these teams makes the Finals.

Which one do you choose right now? Lakers. Okay. I'd go the other way. See, I'm thinking the Heat. Yeah. That's what I would say.

They're going to do it again. If you tell them you came from the future and said one of these two teams is in the Finals. Yes, you choose the Heat, wouldn't you?

I would choose the Heat. Me too. Yeah. Nah. But that's because I also, you know, how I feel about that team that wears the yellow.

Nah, you've got to be straight up about it. What if the Nuggets just do it anyway? That's also possible. Seems likely. I don't know. Did you see anything else in the future? Yeah, what else you got?

Lottery numbers? Like 500 mil now. Oh, is that what it is? Yeah, they're getting up there. So does it mean I should rip up my tickets?

Nah, it's time to start buying tickets. No, I did the other day. Oh, you did? Well, I mean, yeah, I had to go, you know, get some eye drops for Suze. A little of this, a little of that.

You're like, oh, hey, let me just... Let me just stick it in. Stick that $20 bill in there and... Nah, nobody's won in a while. Say some numbers. Should the four of us go in on the ticket? No. I'll buy the ticket. Nah, nah, no, no.

Why is Brockman not here? I mean, why'd you say no so fast? Can I get a slow yes instead of a quick no? Oh, sure. We should do a... Let's jump in on it. So let me finally hit the lottery and split it with you guys. Well, wouldn't it be better than not hitting the lottery? Yeah. As a group, it'd be amazing.

Imagine if the four of us got to split $500 million, my brother. Excuse me. Let me just say this. Why would I go into a lottery ticket with three guys who have all said, at one point or another, in the history of the show, when the lottery ticket stuff's come up, if I win, I won't be working here anymore. No, you have never heard me say that. These guys can tell you.

Yeah, I've never said that. I'm showing up. He says that. I'm just gonna have security sitting out here, and I'm gonna get a ride to work. But you'd still be here. Yeah, until somebody made me mad. I'm sorry, but I'm the only honest one who works here.

And I told TJ what I would do. You would not show up. You'd never see me again.

Well, respectfully. I would show up. I would be here. I would do the show. 100% I'd be here.

Oh, my God. You'd all get raises. You'd all get raises. You'd all get raises.

Yeah. Because your name's on the show. But you have no... What does that matter? More incentive to show up. I'd like a raise. 100%.

For sure. You'd get raises. Honestly, the backdrop that we have here, where it looks like gold, would literally be gold.

Ask for peas all day. Honestly, it would be gold. Gold-plated... Seriously, it might turn into Willy Wonka. We might turn into Chocolate Streams.

I'm not gonna lie, though. I'd be walking around singing. I'd sing.

I would mix the show remotely from the condo verdando. I wouldn't come in every day. Then we don't need you. You're not here anyway. You're not here anyway.

Yeah, what do you mean? Feller would do it, too, though. Feller's just close to winning the lottery out of all of us anyway.

He's got more loops than all of us. He just got a new mommy. He's showing up in a Lambo. He's showing up in a sweet ride. Feller don't even have to be doing this to me. The nicest ride showing up here at anybody's... Oh, so Feller's working.

Oh, Feller's here today. He does it at the goodness of his heart. Exactly. Because he likes it. What are you talking about?

So do I. This is the goodness of my heart. Oh, my God. Rich, I'm here. And the goodness of my toys.

Thanks. Like anything over 500 million. So why would I spend tickets with him? Yeah, think about it. It's good karma. It's still 200... It's still a lot of money, is what I'm saying.

50 each. We're good. You'll never see me again. Sorry.

I love you guys. I'd be gone. Can I do the news update?

For the flop sweat alone, yes. What's more likely? Chris is gone.

Will you be claiming what's more likely than Chris? Sure. No, I'm taking it with me.

Aw, come on. Well, we need that. Yeah, he's patented. Taking it with him. He's patented that. He's gonna take all his winnings and hire a copyright lawyer and slap all our asses with a lawsuit. What a reaction Monday. Jack GPT will do what's more likely. Take a break.

844-204-rich-number-2-dome. Oh, by the way, it looks like a long time question I have is about to be answered. Thank you, guys, for joining us on this edition of America in the Morning. America starts the day with America in the morning. Hi, I'm John Trout, your host for the latest news, politics, entertainment, business, and weather.

Our staff of correspondents provide a fast-paced look at the world with specialized reports from where news happens. In New York, I'm Sue Aller. I'm Charles.

That's my saga. I'm Meghani. Washington. I'm Jennifer King. I'm Clayton. I'm Kevin Carr.

Be precise, accurate, and fresh each day. America in the Morning. The podcast.

Available wherever you listen. On the BiggerPockets real estate podcast, cohost David Green and Rob Abasolo interview real estate investors and entrepreneurs about successes, failures, and hard-earned lessons. Joined by author Dave Meyer. Who wrote a book? I did write a book. It seems like you're coming out with a book every four minutes. You are one to talk. You've released two books this year. I've done half as many as you. It is more about strategy than it is about just finding whatever the new buzzword happens to be.

BiggerPockets real estate podcast on YouTube or wherever you listen. What is going on with you, Jim Brockmire and Brett Musburger? This is my Musburger face. No, you can't put that to bed, Rich Eyes. You know why you can't put it to bed? Okay. Because he's a punk.

That's why. Brett Musburger is a P-U-N-K punk. The man is a thief, okay? Brett Musburger is a thief.

How so? Stole my line. What line was that? This is for all the Tostitos. Remember that?

These are all the Tostitos. Remember when he said that? Everybody in the business... No, it's not funny. Everybody in the business knows that was my line, but he went ahead and used... That's what I always yell when I climax inside of a woman or when I'm just... When I climax all by myself.

And ever since then, now I have to yell out, the ruffles have ridges, and it's not the same thing. Here he is. Brett Musburger. How are you, Brent? Hey, Rich. Rich, I'm great. Listen, I'm so proud of you guys for trying to help resurrect little Jimmy Brickmyre's career. We all know the problems.

We all know the problems that he had in the past. He says that you stole all the Tostitos from him, Brent, from back in the day? No. I got paid. I got paid by a company to drop the name. I got three Tostitos for a week. What are you talking about?

Okay. Well, what's really interesting is we started this in here in Las Vegas, and Brickmyre was having trouble getting a job. So he called our executives and our general manager. He interviewed Brickmyre and asked him about a three team parlay. And our boy, Jimmy, he thought that that was two hookers with him in a Morristown hotel room. You know, Jesus, we would have loved to help him out of this, but I wish him the best. He's so delusional. And listen, let him go at it for all the Tostitos, baby.

Oh, boy. So great. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, along with our Roku channel stream, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickrainger.com or just stop by. So there's, as you know, as we just said, farewell to Shams Sharania and everyone else who's in the news and information business in our sports business. As you know, there's always unnamed sources, correct? There's the unnamed source. There's the source close to the situation. There's also the anonymous source. Source close to? As we mentioned. There's also, as you know, the European source per source.

Like if you have a dinner table of all the sources, the source family, anonymous sits at the head close to the situation is probably the middle seat to use the Larry David. And then the one bringing something from Scandinavia or central Europe or whatever is per. So I look down at our call screen and see someone's calling in from Germany and it does appear the name of this individual is per. So I do believe we're about to reveal sources per in Germany, you're calling into the rich eyes and show that I get this right per yeah, exactly. You got that right.

It's a, it's actually a Swedish, Swedish name, the Swedish version of Peter Peter source. Yes, exactly. Okay.

Where in Germany are you calling in from per cologne and Western Germany where the perfumes named after I've spent some time in cologne. Have you really? Yeah, I've been there. Good to know.

Chocolate museum spelled two different ways. Okay. Uh, per what's on your mind calling in from Germany. Yeah. First of all, I want to say I'm a big fan of all of you guys listening to you every day on my way back from work, uh, uh, seven 30 in Germany. And by the way, I'm really happy at such a great time in, in Frankfurt, which, um, wasn't able to make it my myself.

I tried to, to buy tickets of all of my devices, but they were sold out in like 30 seconds. Yeah, I know. Um, anyway, I'm a big 49ers fan.

I studied in, in Northern California abroad for a semester. And my question for you is, um, was it really just bad luck for the 49ers this year in the Superbowl or do they have to make some big, some key changes to the off season to possibly win it all next year? They just have to stay the course per to be honest with you. I mean, I'm not looking at them and thinking, boy, this is a glaring need. Uh, if they had Hufanga healthy, it going into the Superbowl and had Dre Greenlaw stay healthy throughout the entire Superbowl, um, my goodness, I, I, I, I proper to think they, they, the result could have been different, but, uh, offensively, like what, what, what do you need?

Just beef up the line a little bit. I don't know. I mean, you're not, you're, you're. You're right.

Certainly when you're, you're looking at your receivers with Debo and Ayuk and then Juwan Jennings almost won the MVP of the game, you know, so, uh, and, and Purdy, I think it proved himself to be the guy. So I wouldn't, I don't know. That's why John Lynch gets the big bucks.

Just keep on drafting best players off the board and keep at it and pay your own and keep chase young. That would be my suggestion. You think so? Oh yeah, for sure. And you per well, what do you, what is your, what is your source? You're the source. So you tell me, what do you think per I wish I knew in my opinion, like only really, really good game was in a Superbowl where he had like kind of his breakout game, but before that, you're going to pay him big bucks next year to, to possibly have a better season.

I don't get hurt, but what do you do after next season? Well, listen, per thank you for calling in greatly appreciate it. And anytime you want to ring in from Germany or, or wherever else, appreciate it.

Thank you for the call. Yep. There you go. There he is.

Cologne also has maybe the largest cathedral in the world. Good to know. I think he knows what the 49ers are going to do. He just didn't want to reveal it because everyone would know where it's coming from. I think his last name was source. It was a slight chance, I guess.

Per source. So allegedly cathedral has the remains of the three wise men. Oh, you're, you're still going on it. I visited it over last year. I thought you Googled it's an incredible structure to look at. It took like 600 years to build.

Look at you. Yeah. Very impressive. And the chocolate museum.

Very impressive. What is your favorite? Cologne. Cologne. Like scent. Yeah. Not a big cologne guy. You're not. No.

Do you still wear decor? Yeah. Correct. Come on.

I have it. Come on. I just dismissed you. Come on. Obviously. Yeah. I mean, no, no.

I didn't dismiss somebody. That was the stuff. That was the, that was the scent of my high school prom. Obsession.

Yeah. I stepped my cologne game up a little bit. Thanks to one of our former guests. Calvin Klein. Who's that? Tim McGraw.

What happened? Oh. Tim McGraw was in here in July. I remember. I happened to say, Hey man, I hope this doesn't sound weird, but you smell pretty good. He told me what the name of his cologne was. And then three months later, I'm sitting here and Liz brings me a package. She's like, I got a gift for you. And I opened up. Tim McGraw sent me a bottle of Aventus Creed cologne, which is what he was wearing.

Are you serious? Yeah, man. So I've been smelling great. So thanks.

Shout out to Tim McGraw. Again, these are things that I should know what's going on in my own house. You probably just forgot about it. I don't recall this. Um, how many guests do you remark on their scent? He was probably the one and only. Okay, very good.

And then he was kind enough to receive this information. Didn't find it weird. At all.

Off-putting? No, he was, you know, ask Mikey. He was like, nah, this is why I've been wearing this for like 10 years. And then he made a note of it, mental note, then wrote an actual note, sent it to you.

Can I hold it? Here we go. He's got it somewhere. I had no idea. Did you guys know this? I knew that he sent it, yeah.

I was not here that day, actually, when Tim McGraw was here. All right. So what have you got? We have the bottle. Okay.

And then we have the note. TJ, great to meet you, man. Hope you enjoy. Look out.

Tim McGraw. Wow. You can't really read it. No, you can't. No, there you go. Leave it right there. You can see it.

No kidding. Yeah, pretty cool. So you're not using it, or you use it here? You know, I tend to, when we have a guest in studio, I'll use it. Ms. Hennig?

Yeah, what's on that tape? This is it, for instance? You know. Okay.

But also, Kai Fiverr was here, so you know. Oh, okay. Very good. Shout out. Derek and Missouri are here on The Rich Isaac Show. What's up, Derek? Hey, Eric.

Hey, Rich. So really quick, I got to say something to TJ. Oh, what up, Derek? So I'm coming back from Florida on Tuesday, Florida Day 2500, and I'm in Austin Airport, and in my gate, I happened to run into and got a picture with Mark Henry. Oh, okay. Yeah. He was really funny, and a lot bigger in person than I suspected.

Really cool, though. Mark, did you go, you didn't, like, did you approach him, or how'd that work? I approached him, and I saw him from a distance, and I'm like, that's Mark Henry. Was he wearing any cologne, Mark? Henry? Derek? Was he wearing any cologne? No. Okay. I did not even try to think if he was or not, but I just wanted to give my two cents on it.

Mark Henry, at one point, was the world's strongest man, former WWE wrestler. I feel like this is like Hoosiers. Just tell me what the flavor of the gum is by the end of the game.

That's all I want to know. So what's on your mind, Derek? Well, Rich, it's pretty obvious what the Broncos need to do come April with their first pick. They need to go after a quarterback, and you can make this as a drop for all I care. With these three words, I'm going to say, give me anybody. I don't care who it is, if it's KK McCarthy, if it's Bo Nix, if it's Michael Pinnix, because we already know what the fate's going to be for Caleb Williams, and David Daniels, and Drake May. If it's McCarthy, I wouldn't mind it one bit. I just want to see what we can do with whoever we get, and plus, Rich, we even had a long-term quarterback since Elway. Let that set in for a minute, because the longest-changing quarterback we've had since Elway is four years, two quarterbacks of Manning and Plumber. Give me that guy that could be the long-term quarterback for 10 to 12 years.

I don't care who it is. That's interesting. Just give me somebody that we can work with in the system. Thanks for the call, Derek. Appreciate it.

That's interesting. Give me anybody. Give me anybody.

That's not a bad drop. Very good. He don't even care who it is. Tom, Mike doesn't even know what's happening. It's all good. I was texting. I'm sorry. I just admitted what I was doing.

I mean, I admitted it. Who are you texting? Who are you texting? I was working on it. My boat's getting repaired. You just made that up.

I did not. My boat's getting repaired. His boat is getting repaired, and he's texting the boat repairman during the Steve, the boat repairman. Yeah, he wants to call here. Have Steve call it.

Absolutely. What is stopping him from calling? No, here's why I want Steve to call in. I want Steve to call in so at least he'd be paying attention. That's true.

We could kill two birds with one stone. He's focused on the program, and he gets his boat fixed. Well, then he'd think about his Tesla or something.

Steve, the boat repairman. You guys get into some detail stuff. I kind of drift a second. Yeah, but you never know when you're needed. I know. I know.

You never know. This guy. All right. Let's take a break. Wow.

When we come back, if there's going to be a 14-team playoff in college football, what the hell would it look like? We will help. R.E.S. consulting to the rescue. That's next. Terry Bradshaw.

I'll help. Mike will focus on that. Terry, it's Mike. I'm the guy you hear all the time in your ears. Big Fox. Big Fox. Big Fox.

Act like you know me. Hi there. Sorry for the interruption, but are you enjoying this show on Google Podcasts? You should know that the Google Podcasts app is going away this spring. That's right, going away, gone as in no longer available. You can still enjoy this show elsewhere, though.

Try out Spotify or Amazon Music or maybe TuneIn is more your style, whatever app you switch to. Be sure to follow so you never miss the next episode, and thanks for listening, wherever you listen. Still here on the Rich Ozzins Show, how's Steve the Boat Guy doing, huh?

He's doing good. Remember we talk about conversations and commercials? Right there, we just added. Did you? Yeah, me, TJ and Chris. Oh, we can talk about that, though.

No, no, we can't. I prefer to focus on the conversations on here. Do you? Yeah. Like what if I, what if I, what if you guys were, you know, talking and I'm just like texting and not paying attention? That'd be a problem for the show, wouldn't it? Probably. Yeah, but you're the host.

Yeah, but you got to pay attention. I'm not the host. I'm sorry. I'm still doing my job. I'm sorry, I'm texting.

Chris, take it. I got something fixed. We were talking about a video I found on Instagram about Rick James and Eddie Murphy making Rick James, making a song together, and they were Snowden and Buffalo, and I had made a comment about them being Snowden. I saw a great SNL reel yesterday. I'd never seen the skit before. It was dysfunctional family feud.

You ever see that? No, but that sounds really fun where it was one functional family, you know, and Kevin Nealon was the happy father and Spade and, and Rob Schneider and Sandler were the happy kids. Right. And then the other dysfunctional family, Phil Hartman playing a very angry, recrimination filled father and Chris Farley was one of the kids and Spade literally looks like a child. Right.

So you're looking at it right now? I just got out of Christian Slater. Christian Slater was the guest host. Right. And, and all the answers were nasty answers. So the functional family couldn't guess the answers right. And the dysfunctional family were just angry at each other and their anger towards one another were the correct answers on the board. It was deep.

It's very esoteric. Christian Slater is smoking during this thing. Yeah. It's a funny skit.

Pretty awesome. Back on the Rich Eisen Show right here. Terry Bradshaw is going to be zooming in shortly. Big 10 commissioner, Tony Petitti. He's a smart man, even though, you know, Michigan and he had some odds this year and I took some umbrage with him. Remember he called in the show when he first took the job because reason why he's a smart man.

And the person who reached out to me after ESPN and I parted ways, he offered me my first job. Yeah. Genius.

To be the host of a late night tennis program on CBS. Yes. They used to push back Kilborn a half an hour after Letterman. Right. And sandwiched in between for the CBS affiliates to feast on a half hour highlight show on the US Open from Flushing Meadows. You were there for USA Cable.

That was one of my first jobs. Right. And I think I walked past you in the hallway and didn't give you the time of day, right? You did. Multiple times. I'm sure.

You did that about 20 minutes ago in the back. Wow. Boom.

Thank you. But at any rate, Tony's a smart man. Apparently while the college football playoff committee and all the conversation about a 12 team playoff is out there and apparently there's a new television contract that's coming around the college football playoff, I'm telling you, this is the part, this is the part of the college football world. This is the spot from which the Super League is going to be formed. Because all the teams and all the conferences that are eligible to appear in the college football playoffs, those are the ones who have the similar issues financially and NIL and transfer portal and scheduling problems. Those are the ones that are closest together and needing to want to come up with a singular construct to handle all the issues that coaches may be having and administrators may be having and Jay Billis doesn't have, you just sign them a contract tomorrow.

Let them unionize, sign them a contract, make them employees and go to work because that's the way it's going to have to be one day. So face it now. That's the conversation we have with Jay on the show Tuesday. But at any rate, I'm telling you, the college football playoffs is going to be the spot. Someone's going to be a commissioner of that and from this will form the Super League and maybe have a certain number of teams that come up with the right construct and the rules and regulations and things of that nature to make everybody play on the same level field. And from there, you're going to figure out maybe the institution gets better players because of facilities or wait, wait for it.

I can't believe I'm saying this academics, student athletes. So keep that in mind as we now talk about how Tony Petitti was saying, Hey, maybe just maybe the better system is going to be 14 teams. We were even apparently talked to 16 teams. Everybody was involved in this conversation yesterday from commissioners and everyone else started telling everybody outside of the room that it was one of the most productive meetings they've had in a while. So 14 teams better than 12 in their minds, 16 teams might be as well.

No one would get a buy in that situation. And I think they would like to have something the regular season leading to conference championship weekend where something is on the line more than just who's seated one, that there's a bye week involved. And then there's home playoff games involved. So I think they want to keep something on the line. And then obviously if they are creating a new television contract just for the college football playoffs and based off of that might be cascading money down towards heaven forbid getting rid of these collectives and the NIL business gets some guard rails on it.

You have me at hello. Certainly if you're going to have a college football playoff season go 13, 14, 15 games, Michigan first ever 15 and 0 team in the history of the big 10, I might add, just one of the many other accomplishments. It's a whole long wind up to this pitch, we put together what a 14 team playoff field would look like based on the final college football playoff rankings that were out there, placed out there after conference championship weekend. And they set the college football playoff field and they did have everyone ranked. As a matter of fact, they did the full on rankings, one through, let me get this correct, I have the piece of paper buried, I should have it at one down to 25.

So we took the top 14, here it is. And the two teams topped top seeds got first round buys because that's the way it's going to be. You'd have to have, it's like the NFL playoffs, right? 14 teams make it, seven on each conference make it and in the NFL with the top two getting seeds while three wildcard games are played and then they wind up getting it down to just four teams and then two teams and then a Super Bowl. So this would basically be like an NFL playoff system. And so the top two seeds would be Michigan and Washington. And this is what it would look like. The three seed Texas Longhorns would take on the 14 seed Arizona Wildcats. How about this?

Because we've split it up into two different brackets here, two different sides of the brackets. We put the 6-11 and 7-10 games on the same side of the bracket as well. This by the way, would be something else. There are two conference games, Georgia hosting Mississippi and the Ohio State hosting Penn State. And I imagine Penn State would actually try to scratch out a touchdown that time around against Ohio State.

Maybe. And then you've got another SEC game. How about Alabama hosting LSU?

Try that one on for size. Yeah, that sounds fun. Florida State was the five seed. If you recall, they didn't make the college football playoffs this year. They take on 12 seeded Oklahoma and then Oregon would take on Missouri. And now the only question would be, do you reseed it like the NFL? I would.

I absolutely would. So Michigan would take on the lowest remaining seed and Washington would take on the lowest remaining seed. And this way I would do it too, because I would want to separate as many of the rivalries as you possibly can, I'd imagine. I would want to have Alabama and Georgia in separate sides of the bracket. So they'd meet in the final and I'd want to have Ohio State, Michigan on the separate side of the bracket. So they'd meet in the final.

Right? Washington, Oregon, you got to have them separated because they've already played twice, right? Texas, Oklahoma, et cetera. Right.

Texas, Oklahoma on separate sides of the bracket. So you manipulate in these brackets now? Of course you do. That's what these guys do and ladies do in the meeting rooms.

Yeah, it's a TV show. That's what they absolutely do for both men's and women's hoops tournaments, don't they? That's part of it, where they look ahead and see what the one seeds would look like against the two seeds and what that would look like, for sure.

What's wrong with this, right? You just have two fewer teams have buys. We're going to get 12 team playoffs over the next two years just to get us used to it.

And I bet you, again, if they do a 14 or a 16 team bracket, it starts in 2026. You could do 16. You could just have the top four have buys. I guess you could. Them look exactly the same as this with the 12 teams playing the opening round. I guess you could.

Same thing. Four teams have buys and then, yeah. Are we getting rid of the bowls? Because we're getting in like 16, 17, 18 games. You're never going to get rid of the bowls.

There's still going to be some people who want to hold these things. Are we going to slap a bowl on one of these early round games then? Sure.

You could. The bowl season this year, the so-called most wonderful time of the year that was in ESPN was non-existent this year. It really was... No buzz.

Yeah, no buzz. Not even from you. Gambling honks, right?

No, I wasn't into it at all, really. So you might as well just take those bowls, slap them on some of these games and let the people with their gaudy jackets have their day. Maybe have a parade. Give out free stuff.

Ooh, love free stuff. Have a Pop-Tart to pop out of a toaster. Ooh.

You know? Pop-Tart bowl. Cinnamon. Just no more chess passes, please, on the Dr. Pepper thing. That's the way it would look. Oh, by the way. Oh. That's right out. That's the worst thing if I'm in charge. See you.

See you. You gotta take the ball and throw it like a football. One-handed throws. What are we doing? What are we doing? Great question. Thank you.

So you're welcome. That's our number two, huh? Arias Consulting. Arias Consulting on it. Look at us. Who are we billing for all these? Nobody.

I mean... Nobody. Steve the boat guy. Steve the boat guy. Send the invoice to Steve the boat guy. Terry Bradshaw's coming up, folks.

Still here on the Roku Channel? No, Steve bills me. A lot. What does your boat need? What's wrong with your boat? You have to take a boat out once a year and do, like, tune-ups.

That's what I'm doing right here. Oh, the tune-up tour? Yeah, it's a tune-up. Is it a three-hour tour?

No, actually... That's a hell of a tune-up. No, actually, this afternoon I'll be doing that, because I'll be out. I'll take it out. You gonna take Liz out on the boat or what? Yeah, Liz... Liz has been on every boat I own.

Yeah, you know who hasn't been on any boat he's owned? I've never even been invited. Sure.

You guys can come. The problem that it is, is I do last-minute... I don't, like, plan that, the boat ride. You try planning it. Because I live literally from here to the other building from my boat.

Okay, great. So it's like I just walk to the boat. So it is possible to schedule a boat ride, though? Theoretically, yes. In theory.

In theory. But what the possibility is, is I'm like a last-minute person like that. Yeah, you know what? You're like, you know what? I've got nothing going on.

I'll just take the boat out. Exactly. I don't know how to... That's just not my life. I don't have that.

You guys don't? No. I don't want your life. I don't want you. Mocks.

I don't want my life. So, you know who would be out? Louisville would have been out. Notre Dame would have been out.

Yeah. Notre Dame. Thanks for coming this year. You see what Stephen A. said about Notre Dame? He had me at hello there. Stephen A. got me at hello. You see that?

Stephen A. had me at hello. Taking a big flamethrower to that. Yeah.

Just terrible. Well, they haven't won since 1988. I get it.

But, I mean, that is what it is. It's been a long time. Michigan's won twice since then.

Oh, please. A half. You cheated twice. Twice. They cheated for once. Here comes Terry. Thanks, man. We'll be right back.