Michael Wilbon: Just Want The Bears To Get It Right

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Here's the station you might like. This is the Rich Eisen Show. This is one of the most shocking turns of a career in the 20 plus years that I have been covering this league. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

Is Russell Wilson going to turn into a journeyman? Today's guests, co-host of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, Michael Wilbon, NFL network analyst, Bucky Brooks, 12-year NBA veteran, Rex Chapman. And now it's Rich Eisen. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Thrilled to have you chime in at 844-204-RICH. That's the number to dial. See some phone lines lit up. If you're on hold, stay on hold.

We will take your calls. Rex Chapman, one of our favorites. He's got a new book out and I can't wait to help him sell some copies of this tome about his life and his battles with addiction. That's in hour number three of the program. And we've already had a fun first hour right here on the Roku channel. Free on every Roku device.

Select Samsung Smart TV, Amazon Fire TV, the Roku app, and of course the Roku channel.com. We say hello to our terrestrial radio listeners, Sirius XM Odyssey and our podcast listeners later on. I say hello to people who listen on demand. That's the type of guy I am.

That's basically what I'm saying. Hey, listen, I love this man. And I'm not just saying that because he's listening to me to introduce him. Thrilled to have back here on the Rich Eisen Show and thrilled to call a friend, the one, the only from Pardon the Interruption, of course, ESPN's outstanding coverage of the association, Michael Wilbon. How are you, Michael? Rich, I'm good.

I'm good. I'm excited to hear you having Rex Chapman on, one of my favorite people I've covered. Love Rex. I told him, I better get a copy of the book soon. And so it'll be, I'm glad you're having him. Has he done five good minutes with you again, Michael? We got to get that done.

No, that's a good, it hasn't been lately. I see Rex more, you know how this is. We've covered all our lives and then you become great friends over a period of years and decades.

And I see Rex actually out in the desert when I'm out there more, socially almost. But I'm really excited for him. And I know how difficult putting a book together is and particularly one where you have substantive things to talk about. So I'm glad you guys are doing it. And me too.

That's an hour number three. So let's just jump straight into it. Michael Wilbon, the Chicago Bears sitting first overall once again at the combine. All I heard is it's Caleb Williams.

It's definitely going to be Caleb Williams and Justin Fields is going to be on the way out when they can find a suitable match for him and the team. What are your two cents on the subject? I don't know that I believe any of it. I mean, I just, do we have to go back?

Rich, I'm too old. I'm not a prisoner of the moment. And there are too many times where people just start to draft it. Oh, what a surprise we have at the time. It shouldn't be as big a surprise because history repeats itself all the time.

I don't know. And I'm not going to sit here and tell you, I'm not reporting on this as I was, you know, for years and years and years. People don't even know before I was covering the NBA as much as I am now. I covered the NFL for a couple of decades and wrote columns about it.

And there were all kinds of things where people thought they knew the answer to something and didn't know anything. Suppose, let me give you a suppose. And I hear you. I know that you, I know that what you're saying is the, that's the way the wind is blowing now. I get it. I know it. I know you were accurately representing that. Do I believe that?

Not necessarily. So I sit here. I'm in an interesting situation. I'm a lifelong Bears fan, lifelong.

That would be hello 60 years. And I want to see us get it right. That's all I care about.

Get it right. I, I prefer sort of, if I have my druthers to get it done with Justin Fields and using all these, uh, draft assets and other assets to get it right and build a team around Justin Fields, who I just think watching football for 50 plus years has the, has the talent. Has it been coached adequately? I don't know.

I know I suspect not, um, at the pro level. So I'd like to see that happen. But if it doesn't happen, I think I've told you this before privately, at least, uh, Caleb Williams went to my son's high school, Gonzaga high school here in Washington, DC.

I sit about 25 minutes drive from that place right now. So Caleb Williams is not only not a stranger to me, he and his family. I, I, I root for the kid in a personal way that almost nobody in this audience or any audience has any, you know, equal to, cause like I know the kid so, and he could come to the bears. So I'm not rooting against that.

There are more than, there's more than one way to get it done. It's possible that Fields could be traded and be terrific somewhere else. And it's possible that Caleb Williams could also be good, but the scenario I'm going to give you is this really quickly. I sit here in Washington, DC, the home of Caleb Williams, where, oh wait, the local football team, which hasn't had a hometown hero in forever, which is trying to remake itself, remake itself on, on every level, including the important ones, not just the optics, but if you could have a hometown hero with a Heisman trophy who grew up about 15 minutes from where your new slash your new stadium site is going to be, which is the old stadium site, and you remake the Washington football franchise, you wouldn't want that kid who people say is the best player in the draft?

Really? So if the Washington football team goes to, I'm just giving you a possible scenario, you know, this could happen. If they went to the bears and said, look, we're going to blow you away here with an offer. The bears don't listen.

Have they, do we know they've already decided that Caleb Williams is their guy, no matter what, we know that? Like, like, again, I'm not reporting this stuff out. That's not what I do anymore. But I also know some people who work for the bears and who play for the bears and wear gold jackets from their careers with the bears. So I'm not entirely out of touch with the people with the people who represent emotionally the Chicago bears. Okay. So I'm not, I, this, Rich, this is the most divisive sports issue in the history of Chicago. Really? Yeah.

Oh God, yes. You think there's, you think there's division on whether people want the Cubs to win or not, or the Bulls to win or the bears? No, there's no division. There's no division that matters between the Cubs and White Sox as 80% of the population is in Cub camp and the White Sox, who've always been the small market team, relatively speaking, are the White Sox.

Rich, there's nothing like this. And I'm, I am not boots on the ground every day. I spend most of my time in Chicago after the finals end and the six months between June and November, but I still have a residence there. I'm in and out. And I'm on with Wildland, Sylvie, you know, on their radio show every week, every week, including yesterday, there's nothing as divisive as this.

And I don't mean people are mean to each other. I just mean, everybody's got their opinion about whether or not it should be Fields or Caleb. And do I know that this has been decided? No. Do I believe the people who are telling me they know this has been decided, who are not at Hallis Hall every day? No, I don't.

It's a hell of a sports story. And since you and I talk for a living and we entertain every angle we can, good, but I'm not buying it until the Bears make a deal with somebody or decide in Hallis Hall, yep, here's what we're doing. I don't know. Are you telling me that there are no developments, there are no days left between? When is the draft, Rich?

April 25th? It is that. And there's a lot of time. I totally agree with you, Michael, in your opinion. I agree with you, Michael, in terms of, you know, there's enough time and a Godfather offer that could be sent from anybody to Chicago. The one, though, that I don't think there's enough of a drumbeat about is the one that you just mentioned, which is Washington having a rare opportunity to reset the stage. I mean, Dorothy's house fell on Dan Snyder, you know?

Yes. And there's a yellow brick road that could be paved just one spot up and have the hometown kid and what better way to continue to communicate to the fan base that we get it. We get it and we're different. This is not Dan Snyder's team franchise.

And that paved road that yellow brick road goes right through, it could, if they wanted to, go right through Gonzaga High School. And by the way, Rich, as you mentioned, if we bring up now the Washington, I know the Washington owners personally. I have friends with a couple, good friends.

I know how ambitious yet sort of civic minded. I mean, a couple of these guys are really dedicated locally. And while they haven't necessarily lived here all the time, they're from, they're of here.

Now, so is Dan Snyder, to be fair. But these guys are of here. They're of Washington. And they have, they sit around now dreaming how to do this differently, dreaming of how plotting, not just dreaming, plotting how to do this. And I've had some dinners and some breakfasts and I'm around them socially.

And I talk to them occasionally, not all the time, but enough to know these aren't lightweight dudes. There was a story in the Washington Post yesterday, it's still on my nightstand because I didn't get to it last night, about just this thing. Kevin Blackistone wrote it, maybe it was two days ago, but it was talking about Washington getting a hometown hero, which has evaded Washington in every sport, in every sport. Now it's less likely to happen in hockey, in the NHL. It's not a hockey hotbed for junior play, but we never got Grant Hill.

We didn't get Kevin Durant here, Washingtonians. And so here's a chance. Here's a chance. I'm just saying, so if these guys as dedicated as they are, whose reach, determination, and resources, I do not doubt for a nanosecond, if they decide, and we're just, that's just one, this is just one scenario relating back to your question. So do I know that this is decided at Hallis Hall? Hell no, I don't know that it's decided.

And I don't believe 90% of the people who say they know it's decided either. Michael Wilbon here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's switch gears then in the few minutes I have left with you here. What is, do you think the, I mean, were you dealing storylines, obviously, the main storyline left to mine in the association, in the NBA?

What do you have for me from this point forward? The Celtics. I mean, they've established a bar, right, despite that loss. Was that last night? It was. Despite that loss, I even watched it.

I couldn't remember with this lesson. That was stunning. To be honest, I turned it off when they were up 22 and I started getting text messages when they're coming, when they're losing their lead to Cleveland. The Celtics are going to be, if healthy, they're the Eastern entrant. So, but you've got a defending champion out there that lost a six game losing streak last night, too, has been playing great in Denver. So, I'm not saying these, well, I am also saying, I guess I'm almost saying these are the finalists.

If you ask me, would I have greater faith in Boston versus Denver or an automatic, you know, Bears selecting Caleb Williams, I'm going to tell you, I might think, I think I'm going to take the finalists I just gave you, but Boston, it's Boston. These guys have been together, this would be like their fifth conference finals if they get that far in second finals and Tatum and Brown are $600 million tag team. What the Celtics haven't hung a banner since 08, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and Doc Rivers and that group, Rajon Rondo, that's the story. Anytime the Boston Celtics, like the Lakers, set themselves out there with a big lead at a horse race, they're the story. And so, they've made themselves that, particularly over the last month. And then let's see who's chasing, like in the East, Rich, I don't see a real team to push them, which sort of worries me.

Will they be battle tested? There are teams that will test Denver in the West. So, I think that's, I think as we, we only have, it's a horse race now, to continue with that analogy, we only have a month left in the regular season. That's it.

Yeah. So, what about Doc coming mid-season with obviously Damian Lillard making his Portland exit finally, shows up in Milwaukee, Doc comes in mid-season. I mean, and obviously Doc Rivers spoiling a Celtics party would be quite the story. One would think. Yes, it would.

Yes, it would. Rich, I don't know that they have enough, particularly if Chris Middleton is not healthy, and he hasn't been. People forget, when nobody was calling it a big three, you know, when it was Giannis, leading that team to a championship in 2021. But Chris Middleton was absolutely, if he wasn't an All-Star in 21, then he wasn't 22, or he wasn't 20.

He'd been an All-Star multiple times. Chris Middleton is an integral part of what Milwaukee does, and he ain't out there. And I know that Damian Lillard is out there, and Milwaukee can be a threat, and they've looked really good recently, although of those wins they had recently of the six-game winning streak, two were against Charlotte and one was against the Bulls, so let's not get crazy. There were two signature wins there at Minnesota, and what was the other one just two nights ago, as I have a senior moment again. The big win they had without Giannis on the road.

But anyway, so Milwaukee, I believe, I know I was around those guys recently. Recently, I know they have firm belief that they have turned the corner, and they are ready to move, to make a move, and they are ready to get for April. But, you know, I mean, without Chris Middleton, I don't know that I believe that. So, you know, the buck sticking clear of the Clippers is what I think you might be referring to, and that kind of leads me to the last question for you on that, is you put your marker on which team in the West to push the Nuggets. You said there you think the Nuggets might be pushed more than the Celtics by the rest of the field in a conference.

Who would you put your marker on there? I guess it's got to be the Clippers. I just don't think Minnesota and Oklahoma City, Rich, have had enough heartbreak. In the NBA playoffs, heartbreak is the name. Okay, so other than, you know, Bill Russell, you know, Magic Johnson, and Tim Duncan.

I'm sorry, who? LeBron, heartbreak. Michael Jordan, heartbreak. Kobe, air balls against Utah, heartbreak.

I don't, heartbreak. It's like three guys who didn't have heartbreak in the NBA playoffs. And so I think that Oklahoma City hadn't even started on a heartbreak row yet. Minnesota's had a little bit.

They had some last year. They played Denver pretty good. I think they got, what, one win out of that. The Suns aren't what they want to be and not close to it to me. It's going to be interesting game tonight. I don't see the Suns challenging, even though the Suns won two games, took two games off Denver last year and have this great lineup.

It's not working to the degree they thought or I thought. Well, here in Los Angeles, Michael, the Laker fans feel they're going to win the championship again. Yeah, well, I tend to ignore Laker fans. They're like cowboy fans.

It's good to have them, but I mean, they're a nuisance and anybody who listens to them is insane. But the Lakers, of course, have produced much more recently than the Cowboys. You know what? The Lakers, look, I'm not going to sit up here and stand over and start counting LeBron James out. That's just dumb. But the Lakers have to go, the Lakers and the Warriors, and look, they're playing their way close to this now. I mean, they were solidly in like 10th and 11th a minute and a half ago. And now you look at their ninth and 10th and you go, wait a minute, they're only like a game and a half out of seventh or sixth. So I get it. I get it that they are built for postseason play and they've got these godlike leaders who can do this. But I don't know that they can go through as many people as they have to.

It's not just like beating one. Suppose one of them finishes, take whichever one you want. Take the Lakers as you mentioned them. Suppose they finish in eighth and they got to play Denver in the first round.

Really? I'm going to bet on the Lakers? No. Laker nation, sorry. I wouldn't even bet on them to beat the Clippers. Could they beat the Clippers?

Yeah, they could, but I'm not betting on that. Suppose they have to play Oklahoma City. They just beat Oklahoma City. The Lakers did a couple of nights ago. But once you do that and you play that team with perhaps an MVP and Shea Gilders Alexander, how much do you have left for the next series? It's too far to go to finish seventh or eighth in this Western Conference. To me, this is not Miami last year.

Not to me. All right, you're the best, Michael. I miss talking to you.

I always do every time I do talk to you. How is Tony? What's going on with him? How is he? Our dear friend Tony is crazy as ever. There's nothing new on that front.

It's like assessing Laker and Cowboy fans. Nothing changes with Mr. Tony. He's produced. He's great.

All right. I'll spar with him later today. He says, I'm old.

I need to retire. And then he takes a day off, an alleged day off, and he calls the producers 13 times with story ideas on his day off. So you know this scenario. Oh, I do. That's what I wanted to ask anyway. Does he Zoom? Does he get on a Zoom? Does he Zoom?

Would you know how to Zoom? Well, he probably has to have two or three people set it up. That's a great question. He effectively does, because he...

Yes, yes, yes. Because he's back in studio now. His fabulous producer, Mark Stern, sets him up every day at home with the studio at one of his homes. And so yes, he must.

He either does the equivalent, or more importantly, he has it done for him. You should snatch him. I would love to, but the way to reach him back in the day was to leave him a message on his work voicemail at the post. That was a while. Is he updated?

Is he updated a way to reach out to him? You're making me laugh with that. It's so true.

People think you're exaggerating. That's the exact way. It's like reaching a hostage holder.

It's close to that. I'll tell you what, I'll text you and make sure you have his number, and most importantly, his producer's number. And I'll do that when we hang up, and you should call him, because he'll tell you, Rich, I'm old. I need to quit.

I need to retire. No, he doesn't. And he'll have 437 story ideas before you get a... Of course, because he's Tony Kornheiser. So I just say, again, just make sure when you give me that number, it's not a landline with a busy signal, because he doesn't have call waiting, Michael. You know what I mean? We just make sure we're good. I think he got the call waiting in 2011.

Call waiting in 2011. Well, in the meantime, say hello to him. You're the best, and you take care of yourself, Michael. Rich, thanks for having me, man. It's great being with you. It's always a blast. The great Michael Wilbon.

Pardon the interruption. Check him out on the tube whenever. There's a big game on ESPN from the association.

I love him, man. Okay, we just checked. We had Tony on in 2017 when we were in Washington on the phone. On the phone. He didn't show up in person, right?

He did not come in person. But the fact it's one of those things, hey, we're in town. We were in town. We'd love to have you come. No, call.

Yeah, yeah. He was like, you're in town. I'll lift the phone.

You just call. If I sent you on Sunday, when you asked me if I liked the broadcast and I was like, we were down the street. Oh, he is like Larry David. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Right. For sure.

Yeah, similar. But because I read Tony was a syndicated columnist and his column was syndicated in the Staten Island advance, my hometown newspaper. So I read Tony as a kid. And pardon the interruption, I believe launched when I was definitely still there when it launched. 2001.

Right. But he was doing local radio in D.C., the Tony Kornheiser show. And John Walsh, the godfather of Sports Center, told me, and this was one of the first moments of my career where I was blown away by the people that I was reading or watching and idolizing that they were now watching me and taking in what I was doing. He told me that I had a big fan in Tony Kornheiser.

And I'm like, what really? And he goes, yeah, Tony wants you on his show. I'm like, OK, so of course I'll do his show.

And I went in to the studio in Washington, D.C., and I was I might have been on the air only like three or four months. That's how quick I had heard about Tony watching my sport because, I mean, my sports centers were rear in the morning over and over and over and over again. And I'll never forget, I went into his studio and he started railing on Chris Berman in a way that made me so uncomfortable, because if I'm laughing, which it was funny the way he was doing it, it's now complicit, like I'm buying what he's saying. So I didn't know how to handle it. I didn't know how to handle it. But all I thought when I was there was like, this is big league stuff and I better learn how to handle these 12-6 curveballs being snapped off like Dwight Gooden, you know, midnight to 6 p.m. curveballs. Because I guess he wasn't a fan of Chris's back in the day and it was something else.

But I'm like also thinking to myself as I walked out the door that I need to make sure he still likes me. That was the most important. That is the through line with him.

Are they cool now or? I have no idea. If he zooms in, I'll ask him. Do you think we'll get him to zoom?

Seems unlikely. He needs a computer. High-speed internet.

A reliable internet connection. But of course he must have one because he did the show from home forever. Yeah, but he's back in studio sometimes.

Sometimes, yeah. All right. Pretty sure he was at home yesterday. We got to work on this. I still watch every day. It's still great. Are you kidding me?

It's still great. And then we'll take a break. In the same way that the Manning cast is hugely successful and the Kelsey podcast is immensely successful, part of the reasons why is the chemistry. Yeah, and you have chemistry between brothers.

Check the box because they know you, they know where the bodies are buried. They also can get with a jab, get away with a jab, but somebody else can't. Tony and Michael are like brothers. They've known each other forever and their chemistry cannot be simulated.

And the thing that's so relatable is it's just like, you know, if you work with somebody for as long as they did and probably were jabbing each other over the cubicle walls of the Washington Post when they started out or whatever together, you can't simulate that chemistry. Yeah. And then, of course, you have Eric ride home, the producer coming up with that brilliant construct of that rundown down the side. You can follow along and know what's coming up next. It's an unbreakable format.

Yep. Let's take a break. Eight, four, four, two or four rich number to dial here on the rich eyes and show your phone calls when we come back. Welcome to talk about the Ultimate Smallville rewatch podcast. Title Transference aired October 27, 2004.

Director James Marshall, writers Todd Slatkin, Darren Swimmer. I really like this episode and I'm surprised that you don't like it as much as you thought you did. I actually respect your opinion more than I respect my own in general. When you say things are good and I check them out, they are. Jump in now or catch up on any of the past seasons of Talkville on YouTube or wherever you listen.

Named one of the best personal finance podcasts, The Stacking Benjamin Show with Joe and his friends makes financial literacy fun. I got an email today from the LenPenzo.com HR department. I find it really interesting. I'm an employee of one at this company, but somebody from the HR department sent me an email telling me that I had a raise.

If I just open the attachment, I could see how much my raise was. Make sure you click on the links that are in there, too. Oh, absolutely. I can't wait. I'm excited. Find out more by searching The Stacking Benjamins podcast wherever you listen. Good to see you, Shaquille O'Neal.

How are you, sir? Before we get started, if I take this home, will I get arrested? The Vince Lombardi trophy? Is this the real one? That's the real one. That's a real Vince Lombardi trophy.

I don't know if that's the one that's going to be given to the Rams or the Patriots this weekend, but that is a real. You want to lift it? Well, if I lift it, I want to take it home. No, if you. Well, then I think we're at a crossroads here.

Actually, we're not at a crossroads. Let me tell you why. Okay, sure. I'm not a lawyer, but I watch a lot of law shows. Okay.

I got about 50 witnesses to see me hit my head on your set. So if you just give me this, I'll let bygone be bygone. So it's a liability issue for me. That turns into an even worse liability issue.

I don't want to have to call it the Shaq Eisen show. I know. I know that I know that. Just give me this and I'll put it next to mine. This is beautiful. I'm doing the math in my head as to how much you be suing me for personal liability as to how much this trophy costs, which I've been told is around $22,000. Well, I'll be suing you for $23,000. You want to lift it? No, I don't want to touch it. Okay, you sure you don't want to touch that? Bad luck. Bad luck for you or for? No, to touch the trophy when you don't earn it.

I like that. Yeah, my father used to always. Are you serious?

Yeah, he always used to. Because, you know, like when you're a kid, you get the trophy from the local trophy shop. Sure. You be like, if you listen to me, guys, you get this, you want to touch it. Don't touch it is bad luck. You got to earn it. Right.

So that's why that's why, like, you know, like in the NBA, when you win the Eastern Conference, the Western Conference, they give you those little trophies. I never touched it. Never. I never touched it. And I never celebrated.

I remember Phil did that, too, right? You like when you guys won the Western Conference finals of one of the many times you did. Yeah, I never touched.

I never, never looked at it. Never celebrate. This is beautiful. It's a beautiful it's a beautiful trophy. Ah, the great Shaquille O'Neal. Happy birthday to the Diesel.

He's just 23. Back on the Rich Eisen Show. 844-204-RICH. Number to dial here on the program. Let's go to the phone lines here. I've been hanging on for quite some time.

I believe this is the case. I've never said I've I've said these words before, but never referring to a caller party in New Orleans. You're here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Is that a crime, Rich? Yeah. Yeah, no, I called him a few months ago with that ridiculous take that the Saints would beat the Cowboys in the playoffs. We saw how that went. Oh, I'm sorry. I threw that out like beads. You know, so I might not be Bucky Brooks, but I could definitely help. Don't worry about it.

It's all good. What's going on, brother? I got a lot on my mind today. I'm on the long road from New Orleans to Colorado.

Told people it was for work, but really I just miss my head coach. But I really wanted to start by talking a little bit about the run Rich run thing you do every year. It's about the time of year we always start talking about it.

That's correct. I've always been such a huge supporter of it. And I mean, I've been listening to you guys since the Rich Eisen podcast days, and I've watched you grow that thing from something that was small and kind of for fun to something that's so real.

And it hits close to home for me. I participate in like a barbecue cook-off that's for pediatric brain cancer at Children's Hospital called Hogs for the Cause down in New Orleans every year. And it's one of my favorite weeks. And one of my favorite times is watching your coverage of the run Rich run. If you don't know about it, get your head out of the sand. Everyone just get involved. I just really wanted to say thank you for all that you've done there. Geez, I appreciate that.

Stjude.org slash run Rich run to give. And we're going to start ramping that thing up. I'm running on the 20th of April. I've cut weight.

Feeling good. We're going to do it at the Rose Bowl and show the contents a week later during the draft. So that's funny. We gain weight when we do our fundraising. Hogs for the Cause sounds amazing. When is that party? When is that? It's always either the last weekend of March or the first weekend of April. So I believe it's like the first Friday, Saturday in April, like the fourth, fifth or fifth, sixth this year. There's like 90 teams compete. I mean, they raise over a million dollars for pediatric oncologists.

Pediatric oncology at Children's Hospital every year. It's one of the, it's one of my favorite festival events in all of New Orleans, even more than Jazz Fest and such. Well, do me a favor, party.

Before we hang up, Jay, just put them back on hold and add them our call screen or I'll get information from you on when it is so we can be involved as a show. Pay it back to you. Absolutely. Let's pay it back to you. And can I, yeah, for sure. Can I talk a little safe football for a second too? As you're on the way. Are you going to do like a say anything, like stand outside Sean Payton's house with a, with a boombox?

Tell him how much you love him. I mean, I really should. I really should. You know how our city feels about DA and he was a great defensive coordinator, but I just don't think it was right just to promote someone in house. Like I really want to go for a big time coaching candidate at some point. And I know we're rebuilding still just in cap H-E double L. Yeah, I know. We are, it's, it's rough and we just seemingly signed Derek Carr up for the rest of his contract or maybe guaranteed two more years by restructuring him.

And hopefully he's just going to get more use to our system and Clint Kubiak does something good with them. Well, we shall see, sir, but they, they draft what's the, there they are 14th. So, um, if they are interested in a quarterback, they better hop to it because they better leapfrog. They better leapfrog about, um, half an hour worth of draft time. It looks like to me, I'm sitting here looking at a home and away games list for the saints season next year.

Can we get a really early, maybe a 1.0 version of a win loss record for the saints on the record here? Oh, like what? Like you just want to go through there. Wow.

Well, I mean, here's the deal. Party w when, when we get the schedule, it's just like, let's, let's not put the cart before the horse right here. Um, and I know that you're, you're driving a long drive, but why don't you call back anytime by the way, but before then, when, when it comes in, then we can figure that out. We'll do, we'll do, we'll do week by week, but thanks for the call and drive safe.

Will you please? Thank you guys. There you go. Party sounds hands-free drives in New Orleans.

And when he's talking about hogs for the cause, you can go to hogsforthecause.org. Sounds amazing to get involved. Sounds good with that. Okay.

Let's go. And, uh, hopefully he is in fact on hold. Thank you for putting him on hold. He's going to give the, uh, the information almost still two for them, but you didn't.

I didn't because you pay attention. You know, Mike was doing his taxes the other day. You got to do them sometime, but he was here, but he was prepping them for his appointment that afternoon. He was just like totally checked out. I don't think he said one word. He didn't say a word on Monday. Didn't say a word. He didn't. I also, well, I think he was a little hung over from Friday night. Still Friday. He doesn't drink as much anymore. Oh, when he did his Friday night show Friday night show that was just off the rails to the point where two days later he hadn't slept it off yet.

I got to say, if he's being totally honest, I think he's still a little banged up. Oh, really? Yeah. So then how is he working faders for whatever game he was doing that week? I don't know.

I don't think that game sounded good. It's not that hard. I'm just kidding. I can't do what he does.

Be careful. Yeah, he'll take umbrage. Okay.

He will definitely take umbrage then. All right. We will take a break and hit a subject matter. I can't wait to discuss with Chris Brockman. That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show right here on the Roku channel and more.

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Oh yeah, that was fun with Wilbon. Yeah. By the way, said your Celtics are the number one story.

Number one story is how like make you cash. You know, they've gone through a lot of the heartbreak he was talking about. And I love that. By the way, every championship team goes through. And so Tatum and Brown have been through it together since 2018.

Yes. And feels like it's now or never. It feels like this is a big year, crucial year to finally get over the hump and win one. But Denver is going to be tough.

Milwaukee is going to be tough. So if heartbreak is all you need, right? As that extra added incentive, then the Knicks are winning it all. Well, that's literally what TJ and I were just talking about. Well, the Clippers are winning it all.

But it's heartbreak. Well, he's given the caveat that you have to be either in the finals or the. You've got to nearly be winning a championship. That type of heartbreak. Conference finals. The Clippers, as you know, never made it to the conference finals. But that's the heartbreak is that they had championship quality teams and then get there.

Yeah. That's just bad luck, bad injuries. That's the heartbreak curse.

But I did like that. They're too young for heartbreak. They don't know. They don't know.

You know, they have heart. OKC. But you get and Minnesota. Yeah. Even though he said last year is kind of that. But. Yeah. Yeah.

You got to get you got to get far and then get the rug pulled out from under you. Right. You know, so I kind of I kind of liked that analogy that even Jordan had it with the Pistons. Right. And then it was over. Well, then he was just came by because he was getting beat up.

Once he got through that, it was and then it was heartburn for everyone else. You know what I'm saying? You see what I'm saying?

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Call clickgrange.com or just stop by. As you know, I have this best dad ever sign here. And part of that, I'd like to think is because I fully believe to let my children follow their heart wherever it wants to go. Yeah, that I have certain thoughts about what they should do or. In the case of sports, who they should root for. But at the end of the day, choice is theirs. Got to let them fly. And as you know, when I'm not here, there's a best mom ever sign that I believe is somewhere in the desk drawers here.

Susie places it here on the desk. Yes, indeed. And she is a New Englander. And I married into that family. And when Xander was born, first born. Oh, boy, a lot of red socks, bibs and Patriots onesies and Celtics pajamas and they all I mean, it just came in from everywhere.

Beautiful colors. And, you know, how to had had in my estimation, sort of, you know, like a jury pool, you get preemptories. I had one.

And I placed my preemptory on the Red Sox. That just I just that one was just a bridge too far. Just couldn't have it.

Knock on day. Just couldn't it just couldn't have it. You know, Celtics, as you know, how I felt about James Dolan and how I felt about him for a while. And Patriots quarterback by a Michigan man, I was able to sort of, you know, go with that. Well, that got you the best dad ever right there.

Well, and also also the Jets, as I like to say, so bad and the Patriots so good that child services would be called if I'm like, no, no, no, you cannot root for a team that your mom roots for and is winning championships as quarterback by Tom Brady. Let me show you about this Ray Lucas fella. Right.

You had to acquiesce on that. Right. So that's how Coop's going to go to college. And he'll be like, Who are your favorite teams?

Coop will be like, my favorite teams are the Patriots, Celtics and Yankees and Michigan Wolverines. And they'll be just like, Who the hell are you? That's it. So it goes.

So there's influencing and then there is letting them go. That's it. I understand my very long winded wind up to set the stage for Chris Brockman to explain what's going on with beautiful, sweet cage Brockman who just turned four years of age or and had his four year old checkup on Monday. Great. Everything's great.

Still top 98 percent. Outstanding. We're 90 percent on height and weight. Fantastic.

Looks great. He's very healthy boy. Very. If I'm not mistaken, last night when I called you, I was hearing the ping of some baseball hitting in the backyard.

Because why? Sign him up for Weeball. Basically T-ball.

But it's the super lower entry level first year four year old. Okay. Very excited.

And out in the Valley. And well, they got assigned their teams a couple of weeks ago. Who's he playing for, Chris? Not great. Leave out the editorializing. Oh, sorry. Just give us the facts. Sorry. All facts. Facts, sir. Is who's he playing for?

He's playing for the Yankees. Okay. So you want me to give you the rundown of how this all went?

Please. So how mad? How'd you handle it? So we realized we found this out.

We were like, oh man, it's got to be almost sign ups for baseball season locally. By the way, this can't please Sarah either. Definitely not. Okay.

Definitely not. So we were like, oh man. So we kind of looked it up locally where we live in the Valley. And like, oh, the deadline is tomorrow.

Oh, we better get this in right now. So we sign up and we're looking through the rules. And because it's four year old, it's the first year. There's only a handful of games. They have four practices and then four games.

It's like two months long. And then you get placed on a team, depending on how many kids sign up. That's how many teams there are. Cool.

This is going to be great. And then the guy kind of emails us and it's like, hey, I'm going to be the coach. Your son was picked for this group. We're still waiting to get our team name, but you can enter in this little form and you can get what you want the jersey to say and what number you want them to wear. And so we're like, oh, cool.

Like he loves Ronald Acuna. We'll have him be number 13. Like, that's awesome.

We'll have Brockman on the back. It's great. Then, like, a week later, we get the name assignments. Oh, baby. And it was like, hey, this is cool. Oh, name assignments. Let's open up the email.

Yankees. What? We both kind of look at each other like, oh, are you kidding me? Now, you, if I'm not mistaken, because I'm just wondering, I'm just wondering, did you now have a confab about being one of those parents to call up whoever's in charge? I almost immediately I immediately hit reply and I started drafting and I went this is what you're going to introduce yourself in your first foray into youth sports as a parent in the world. It was also this would have been a follow up, because right before that, when the coach sent out the email before the name had been chosen, it was kind of one of those, hey, blah, blah. And I was like, yeah, anyway, I can help.

Let me know. Played baseball my whole life. Like, I'm here for you. I'm here for you, coach.

Anyway, I can help. And then the team name gets announced. And I immediately was like, look, man, Red Sox fan wife Braves anyway, like, he's got to be on a different team. And then I was like, I don't immediately want to be that dad. And look, let's be honest. You're the adult here. Let's be honest.

He's four. Probably not going to remember. You won't.

Not going to remember it. But the pictures are the pictures. But the pictures last to last. Guess what? No pictures with him in a Yankee uniform will be hung up in my house. But they will be, and if they are, they will be Photoshopped out. They'll be his first baseball card. Chris. And I'll have a blue hat and a blue jersey.

Because we know NY on any of my son's photos hanging up in my house. What happens when this team wins the championship this first year? There's no championship.

They're four. But guess what? What? You won't be shooting video of his first hit of his first, you know, digitally edited, digitally edited. You're not going to mind every single video. You're standing there and the cage is going to be running the first time. I'm going to go back. That's going to edit out the NY.

Scrub it out. Come on, man. So we have the opening ceremony last Friday, where it's first time to get the jersey, get the hat and meet all his teammates.

There's a couple of kids from his class currently who are also in the league. And the dad kind of looks at me and goes, you don't want a hat? I'm like, no, I don't want a hat. I'm not wearing a Yankees hat, bro. And then at one point, a mom on another team comes up to me and goes, see your hat? Because I was wearing my socks. You wore your Red Sox hat to his first thing as a Yankee? Stop it.

What do you mean? Stop it. And then the mom looks at me and goes, we were in the same boat last year.

We didn't hang up any of the pictures in our house. I was like, yes, I got a teammate in this. I will say, however, so we changed number 13 because God forbid my kid is not wearing A-Rod's number. So we changed. I asked him what number he wanted to wear. I gave him a couple of options.

So we're five. We're Joe D. And so he does look great. He really looks like a ballplayer. In pinstripes?

So proud of him. In pinstripes? Nope. Solid blue. Where it says Yankees across the chest? No, it's got the NLI.

The classic. Even worse, a little less bad than the Yankees. If it was a full on Yankees, I'd probably demand. There's no pinstripes, huh? No pinstripes. They're four, Rich. What does that mean?

You could put a kid in pinstripes. What are you talking about? That makes no sense.

Probably the other teams in the league are like Dodgers, Astros. So to recap, to recap, to recap, you almost sent the... Almost. But you didn't.

I hit reply and I started typing a few words, and then I went... Okay, so at least you pulled up stakes. Too early to be that guy. Do you realize again, you must realize by now, and you will if you haven't, but if you don't mind, that parenting sometimes teaches you how to be a better person. You know what I mean?

Not there yet. But it teaches you that your child will wind up putting you in situations you would never imagine, and you come through it as a better human. I think this is one of those situations. I think I showed great restraint by not doing that.

I think if I was earlier in life, five, ten years ago, I probably would have fired that off without thinking, and he'd be on a different team, and I'd be that guy. But even worse, we went and got him some new cleats, and they're really cool, nice ones, and Sarah didn't even notice until after we got home that they're Bryce Harper's cleats, which she does not like as a Braves fan. But it's okay, though. He loves them, and that's all that matters. It's okay, exactly. So he's a Yankee wearing Bryce Harper's cleats for a Red Sox and Atlanta Braves household. Yeah.

I think this is absolutely something that you and Sarah can grow from. I can feel it. I can feel it. I don't know. What if he does start paying attention more to Yankees games? That's not gonna happen. How is that not possible? Because they're not gonna be on in our house. What do you mean? What do you mean? What do I mean? I have the remote.

Sarah has a remote. Brave socks all summer. I understand that. He's not gonna want to watch Yankee game.

But what if there's a highlight pops in, and it... Oh, that's the same uniform on. That's my team, Daddy. That's my team, Daddy. There's my number, Daddy.

That's my number, Daddy. We literally will not put that together. And you're just trying to get me wound up. No, we're not. And I'm not taking this bait.

Excuse me. You call it wound up. I call it being prepared. These moments could happen, Chris. By the way, how much you're trying to keep your hands on 10 and 2? At some point, you just gotta let the car drive.

If the first time he says that question, you know what's happening? No. My TVs are going in the trash. No, they're not. No, they're not.

Yes, they are. And I will... You know what? I will... No, you're not.

No, you're having no part in any of this. I will have... Excuse me.

Because you're gonna try to thumb, thumb, thumb the scale, and that's not gonna happen. Because he's gonna want to take pictures with the rest of picture day. I'll take the pictures. Absolutely not. You're not invited. You're gonna be nowhere... I'm not gonna be there.

Nowhere... But you come to Cooper's games, I'm ready to pay it forward. What does that mean?

You're not gonna like it. Cooper didn't play for the Red Sox. But I would have had no problem if he had done that.

I wouldn't have banned the photos because it's his mom's team. I'm just saying I'm growing as an individual. I'm not.

I'm not ready to grow. You've come to Cooper's Little League games. I am willing to come to Cage's Wee-Ball games and stand in the, sit in the stands, and as he hits one, even if it's dribbled in front of the plate, this high, this far, it's a Cage match. Gaddy. Cage, Brockman. Let's go, Cage.

I'm sure there are many people out there listening who have been in the same situation as you. Terrible. And also me having fun with it. Rex Chapman coming up. Still here on Roku. Terrible. You know what I mean? Just terrible.

No, I don't think so. It was fun. It was fun.

Of course it is. It was fun. They did a great job opening ceremony last week, honoring all the past champions, kids who have played their whole career there. You know, for age four all the way through 12, the former pros played in this little league. It's really cool.

Had a Matt Barnes, Greg Oden sighting. Okay. So that's cool. Yeah.

Should be fun. Sarah wind up inadvertently buying Barry Bonds batting gloves for him, something like that. Just we get home and she's like, and I go, did you know these were Bryce Harper's cleats? She goes, what? Oh my God.

We were going to have to return them, but he had already worn them. This is really, this segment went better than I hope. Cause I didn't know where you were going with this to start with. Oh my goodness. And I will say, here's the deal.

Fantastic. I was not going to say anything. To me? I was going to kind of let this go. And I'd find out. Sarah posted it on Instagram, bro.

We saw the video of him wearing the uniform. I know. But then she also said something at the bar mitzvah after she'd had a few. And I'm like, Oh God. Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

I was going to keep this down for a long, for as long as I could. What happens in Weeball doesn't stay in Weeball. Eventually we're going to find out.

Yeah. Eventually Cage is going to learn about Derek Jeter. And then your world's going to be blown. Daddy, can I switch to number two?

Jeter, daddy. I hate you. I hate you all. Movies, TV shows, books, podcasts, and more. It's What Women Binge with Melissa Joan Hart and her friend Amanda Lee. We have Lauren Bosworth with us. The Hills. So what is like your number one question from fans? The primary question I still get asked was what, is it real? In 2024, to me is a surprising question to get because I feel like everybody has been through the reality TV gauntlet at this point. What Women Binge, wherever you listen.