Dale Earnhardt Jr.: I Really Enjoy Pushing NASCAR Forward

This is The Rich Eisen Show.

Oh, a three-point wedgie! Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Why don't we ascribe to the Nuggets what we ascribe to defending champs? I don't see many people today saying, well, that's the heart of a champion. The Rich Eisen Show.

We've got to stop handling the NBA playoffs like it's an NFL season. Today's guest, Prime Video NASCAR announcer Dale Earnhardt Jr., actor, comedian, and author Paul Scheer. NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero. And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, everybody, welcome to this edition of The Rich Eisen Show. We are live on the Roku channel. The Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate Sirius XM Odyssey. And, of course, everybody listening on a podcast saying, wait a minute, you're live? No, no. You listen to us whenever you want.

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Also free if you're using the internet tubes. Lots to talk about, lot of football going on. If the Mavericks made a free throw in Game 4, they might be up three games to one, just like the Boston Celtics, but they are not. Every series is not a two-a-piece. We're going to have one decisive potential decisive Game 5. That one will be in Boston later on this week. And then there's three pivotal Game 5s, two of them tonight.

One of them in Madison Square Garden, one of them in Denver, Colorado. So much to discuss again on this program, 844-204-RICH. Number to dial. The schedule gets released writ large in the National Football League. I'll be hosting the NFL Network scheduled release show at 8 Eastern time. That's tomorrow night.

So we're thrilled. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to be first up in 18 minutes time. Paul Scheer, a fellow Clippers fan, T.J. Jefferson, in studio hour number two. And then Tom Pelissero will join us as Jared Goff struck it rich yesterday for the Detroit Lions. Kind of interesting. Brad Holmes was on the program, general manager of the Lions, and I asked him his theory on signing people earlier than later.

And he kind of danced around the subject, had no idea that he was signing Jared Goff on the dotted line, perhaps as soon as he hung up on the Zoom from us. Timing's everything in life. Good to see you over there, Chris Brocken. What's going on, sir?

Rich, man. Stressful watching the C's last night. They did it. Move on. Whatever.

Just hold your breath, sit back, and one of their opponents will eventually get hurt anyway, clearing the path for you. Don't worry about it. It's all good. How are you, Mike Del Tufo? I'm good, Rich. Good to see you. How are you doing? T.J. Jefferson, good to see you over there. It's good to be seen. Candleslit, everybody. How you guys doing?

All right. We start this show. We start this show on this day on September 8th, 2005.

On this day? That's the date I choose to start this show on. 2005?

September 8th, 2005. You were a happy camper that day, Chris Brocken. What was I doing back then? It was for the second straight year. The New England Patriots were opening up a season off of a Super Bowl win. Those were great days, T.J. Let me tell you this. Good old days.

Let me tell you this. It was also the first two years the NFL started the tradition of opening up a season on a Thursday night in the home of the defending Super Bowl champs in front of their fans as they raise a banner. Second straight year, they had done it.

Love it. And it was the second straight year they were in Gillette. Bob Kraft. Look at him. Look at all Richard Dawson from The Running Man. I thought it was Sinatra at first. I know.

He did look like Frank Sinatra. Raising another banner. There it is. We are all Patriots. And guess who was there?

Ozzy Osbourne was singing Crazy Jane. And it, and it. That's what's going on there. Yeah.

Let's go. Yes, sir. Oh, look at that. And who was in the house also, but the Oakland Raiders. Our boys sap was there. Wow.

Okay. Randy Moss was probably there. He was indeed. The Patriots had to overcome a 73 yard touchdown strike from Kerry Collins to Randy Moss. But Tom Brady and the Patriots did their business and won 30 to 20 kicking off that night against the Oakland Raiders.

Keep that in mind. Then the next week, September 18th, 2005, after a long respite, Patriots went on the road and the league decided to give the Patriots and everybody else a rematch of the Super Bowl two years before the first of two in a row for the Patriots. New England had to go to Carolina. They took on the Carolina Panthers and Steven Davis had a three touchdown day there is. By the way, also on this day, uh, he hate me had four kickoff returns for over 100 combined yards. Yeah.

That's what we're talking about. Rod Smart. He hate me. He hate me was there, but Chris, you hated Steven Davis because his three touchdown runs overcame a late Jake Delone pick six thrown to Mike Vrabel.

Oh, baby. All he does is catch touchdown and the Carolina Panthers beat the Patriots on that day. And they started one in one in their three Pete attempt, which has never been done. And they wound up losing in the divisional playoffs to Denver and Jake Delone because Jay Plummer through the end zone. So it's kind of wild that when you look up the box score and you see one interception for 100 yards and no touchdowns, but in any rate, it's still bitter about that. The Denver Broncos with Jake Plummer. So Jake Delone beat the Patriots for the first time in that season and Jake Plummer beat them for the final time. And thus to this day, no three Pete, why am I bringing all this up? Because we have for the first time in 20 years, since that season, 20 seasons, 19 years, whatever you want to call it first time in two decades and attempted a three P the last time, as we just reviewed the Patriots opened the season against the Oakland Raiders, Norv Turner brought in his Raiders after a five and 11 season into new England, and then the Patriots were told you're going on the road in week two to take on the Panthers.

Yes. There's a history that was between those two teams very recent at that time, seven to nine, though the Panthers were the year before and it's either different times or somebody went in the schedule makers cornflakes because the schedule makers decided a three Pete attempt this time around, they're not going to put the five and 11 team in arrowhead to start the season. And they certainly weren't going to back it up with a seven and nine team. After that, we have found out over the last 24 hours, as we found out yesterday, NBC, proudly announcing the season will begin on Thursday, September 5th with the Ravens at the chiefs. And just on this very day on CBS this morning, CBS announced their first major telecast of the season. Week two, late window, CBS, Jim Nantz will join us on Thursday show fresh off of the schedule release and Tony Romo in arrowhead, Joe burrow and the Bengals will be visiting.

Hello. So the NFL with another three Pete attempt this time around says, we are going to continue the tradition of you raising the banner in front of your home folks, but the visitor will not be a five and 11 team from last year. It will be the team you had to beat in their building, a rematch of the AFC championship game, just like that.

And then after a nice mini buy short respite in comes the team, the only quarterback in the NFL today to have beaten the Kansas city chiefs in arrowhead in the playoffs in Patrick Mahomes his tenure in this dynastic run, Joe burrow, fresh off of his injury, March season and the Bengals visiting Kansas city as clearly the NFL has decided that they are not going to make a three Pete and easy start for the Kansas city chiefs. Now then you could say they had a plan anyway, and that's the pushback on this whole schedule release thing is we already knew that the Ravens in Cincinnati were going to visit arrowhead. They have to play them anyway.

They're going to play them anyway, but this is my pushback to all those trolling. The schedule release show is now that you know, it starts back to back weeks to start the season. Now it's a totally different story, isn't it? Could have been Ravens week four, Bengals week 12 with a couple other games mixed in.

Nope. It's week one, week two, just like that. And the question is, as you look at their opponents, we had this already built because we were wondering who are they going to start with? They're certainly not going to choose another home date. It's not going to be three in a row.

Who are they going to visit on the road? The week after, I mean, take a look at the options here, division game at Denver, a division game would be wild out of division opponents. The Steelers, the bills, the Falcons, they have to go visit them Carolina, give them a win. We can't have the defending champs Oh, and three, but Carolina is I you'd have to think, right, like what is this so-called easiest opponent for them is 100%. And if it's not Carolina, Holy smokes, that is a very rough schedule start for the defending Superbowl champs. And you'd have to sit here and say, well, Hey, listen, you have won back to back Super Bowls, you know, it's not going to be easy, you're going to have the target on your back anyway. I guess if you had told the chiefs earlier this week, Hey, you start the first two games of your season at home, you'll be like, okay, great. Oh, it's against the Ravens and the Bengals.

Oh, well say what, what come again and then, and then who's going to be next at home for them. Now then we can now remove the Ravens and the Bengals from their options. And we have done so for our radio audience on the screen. The only way we can mark off these games is with a face of Taylor Swift on them. That's the only way we can send me that. Are you kidding me? Of course. As a matter of fact, we might just, you know, real time it because tomorrow maybe another chief's game gets announced before the schedule gets released.

That's funny. So who's next? I mean, every option is you got, you got the three division opponents, nine games. So I would, I would imagine back to back road games.

I don't know about that pal. Well, you've already knocked off two. So now suddenly you're nine and seven with games left, sir. This is wild. And again, this is what now you're now when you start ordering them together, you begin to see the gauntlet.

You have to run. So you want to give them another road game? Is it against Cleveland who Dallas is starting the season with at home? We found out that yesterday from Fox, could it be, what are you going to throw San Francisco in that mixer? You're going to put a division game. How about this at Buffalo week three, Bill's coming off the mini buy because they're the Thursday night week two opener that just got announced by Amazon announced.

What is it? She start? Oh, and three. It's dolphins at bill. Bill's at dolphins. Week two. So Chris, can I ask you a question? So it's Bill's at dolphins, dolphins week two Thursday night. So okay.

Why are you doing this to yourself? They're coming for you, bro. I can already hear you're putting them over three.

I can hear them on tour. Bill's oh, uh, chiefs. Oh, and three. They're coming for him.

Rich. Well, I, first of all, first of all, first of all, first of all, first of all, first of all, the chiefs are still the back-to-back Superbowl champs. And I'm just pointing out the way the league started the season of the last team that was attempting a three-peat. And now what they're doing this time around, and I know Chris, we're, we're, we're marking off the L's okay. But clearly you're doing that just to have a little bit of fun.

But the point is it's entirely possible. They do start Owen to split it. That's a rough start.

It's a very rough start. And the last thing that we need to do and look up, look up the, uh, new hours tour. What, what, where is she September 8th and September 5th and pardon me, September 5th. And then let's do the math 24, September 15th.

I was literally just looking at the Gambino he's on a new one October, not till October. Okay. There we go. So let's go in the, in the States she's overseas.

Let's go, uh, right now. Oh, I know that because my, my oldest son is checking out all the, no, she's checking out all the bootleg stuff on YouTube. Oh, nice.

Such a July dates in Italy. She just wanted me. He goes, you know, somebody, she kicked someone off Twitch dad. I'm telling you, this is crazy.

He's playing some song and he's like, dad, this is about Travis Kelsey. Oh, yeah. Well, she feels like she's back in high school. I'm telling you, man, her last international date is August 20th at Wembley.

And then she's off for a little bit. And then October 18th, Miami. Oh, so we're back in the cell.

This is great. We're going to have another season. It's going to be awesome. It's going to be great. We're finding out how the league is just serving up the filet mignon for all of their partners and for all the fans right out of the gate. Bills and Dolphins is another one. And then we found out the Monday night first Monday nighter is Jets at 49ers.

I can't wait to unpack that one later on. Football baby, right in the middle of May, which is why they released the schedule this way. We're all talking about it.

And so are you trolls who don't like to give the flowers to the schedule release show that the schedule release show deserves? Mission critical. Cause I'm sitting there for three damn straight. It's mission critical. It's mission critical. And I'm a mission critical employee. I'm the MCE tomorrow night for NFL network.

I signed the NDA to be an MCE for NFL N and you better be there. Yeah. Woo.

I know exactly when I'm getting the schedule down to a minute. Oh, I like which eyes that I find them accessible. Thank you. Well, what are you getting at? I'm not telling you.

Cause I don't need your pressure cause there's certain things I'm not allowed to do and I'm not going to do it. Can you leave it at the desk and walk away? Yeah. Just wait a minute. That doesn't, that's not in the bullet point in the NDA.

I think I can do that. Not mentioned yesterday. Leave it out and just go to the bathroom and get some coffee. That is not the way to show leadership to everybody here in this room. It is who I consider mission critical employees to the rich eyes and show your MCS for the RES. Thank you. Okay. And so I'm trying to show leadership. I'm trying to show leadership and what it's like to be and look like a mission critical employee. Honestly, we're, we're treating this like it's a frigging space X launch.

I hope not. Richard, we look at mission critical employee monitoring rocket. That's another version of boom indeed. Yes. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. Dale, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Jr. is going to join us next. Speaking of Amazon. So we're going to prime video.

He's part of the NASCAR cup series coverage exclusive in 2025 for the streamer, which you can see right here on Roku, Paul Scheer in studio. I've got his book right here. Joyful recollections of trauma. Great name. I like it.

Tom Pellicero and his poem aid will be on the zoom to talk about what's going on with Jared Goff now in the $50 million a year quarterback club, that's all teed up eight four four two Oh four rich number to dial here on the rich eyes and show Dale Jr. When we come back, let's talk O'Reilly auto parts people, or as you might know from their jingle, O O O O'Reilly auto parts. They're in the business of keeping your car on the road. O'Reilly auto parts offers friendly, helpful service and the parts knowledge you need for all your maintenance and repairs because you know, and you need your car fixed. You need somebody who knows what they're talking about and it's helpful as a smile on their face and get you back on the road.

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The JD power.com slash awards only at a sleep number store or sleep number.com. Just to finish up the thought about again that the chiefs are getting the Ravens and the Bengals back to back to start their first attempt at a three Pete, the NFL scene in 20 years and new England, the last team to attempt to three Pete started against the five and 11 and a seven and 19 seven and 19 had a little bit of a history clearly with the Patriots because it was the Panthers who the Patriots beat for the first of their two back to back Superbowls their options. The league could have put in the stadium the first night to open up was Peyton Manning and the Colts didn't do that. Could have been Philly Rive and the chargers who went 12 and four the year before didn't do that. That was week four for them and they lost that game could have been Steelers, which is always, you know, with cower, they were just coming off of a 15 and one season the year before. Patriots also started four six on the road that year. Yeah. I mean, so the I guess the league did that right. But I mean, the storylines were there, you know, Raiders tuck rule rematch Panthers Superbowl rematch. They're five and 11.

They're five and 11. But I think year to year, I don't think really matters in the NFL. Um, yeah, it does. In what way? Well, I mean, the patient that they weren't putting, you know, if there was an option to put a five and 11 team in the building, the league is never going to do that again. But Joe Burrow played half the year last year and he's coming off an injury. But we all know that that's I again, I don't I don't know that.

I don't know that. So it's week two. You don't think that Burrow and the Bengals are going to be appreciably better, like back to being Joe Burrow and the Bengals. I don't know what that means, though, because I guess you were already saying they were going to. But I think that I'm just kind of doing a bit.

I mean, the Bengals are I don't know, man, that Super Bowl year might have been a fluke. Well, you go to like that called who called him a Linsanity type run. Yes. Yes.

Not entirely wrong. Oh, my gosh. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Grainger has the right product for you. Call click.Ranger.com or just stop by a greenlit four part documentary on Dale Earnhardt Sr. That's just happened for Prime Video and a big time season for Prime Video and the broadcast booth because Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to help them launch the streamer exclusive NASCAR Cup Series coverage in twenty twenty five. The two time Daytona 500 champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. joins us here in the Rich Eisen Show. How are you, Dale? Oh, we're doing great.

Hanging out in New York, doing some up front. OK. Join. Yeah.

Join the town and talking about NASCAR and Amazon and all the great things coming down the pike. All right. Explain to me the Amazon up front. Al Michaels there. Right. Bezos is there. Is Bezos there?

Who else is there? Yeah. I haven't seen one of them.

You haven't? No. No.

Fitzpatrick was here. Yeah. That was cool. Let's see.

We swithered. It was here. OK. Really nice. OK. Yes.

And her. So it's it's it's been a big surprise, but trying to promote our partnership with NASCAR that you mentioned. OK. Will Ferrell was here, which had I got to work with him a little bit just for a little little tiny quick moment during the Talladega Nights movie. Yeah. And so that was cool to talk to him. Yeah.

Yeah. Will Ferrell was there. Reese Witherspoon's there. I can't believe Al's not there.

I mean, Al, he's going to show. He must be around there. Yeah. I didn't see.

He might be. I didn't see. But one of the cool things that I got to share with with Will Ferrell was. So he made Talladega Nights and all of us in NASCAR were very, very excited about that. Yeah. And they came to me and said, do you want to watch the full movie for the first time? It's not quite released yet, but you can see it.

And we were in Sonoma, California, for the race that weekend. And I said, yeah, I want to see it. Where do we go to see this early run of the movie? They took us to Skywalker Ranch, which was great, right? We're in Skywalker Ranch, walking around George Lucas, all that cool stuff.

We sit down to watch it in one of those little film rooms and George Lucas walks in, sits down and watches the whole movie. So Will Ferrell said, well, did he laugh? I said, yeah, he laughed. We all laughed. It was a great movie. OK. So you're saying you saw a screening of Talladega Nights.

Yes. The Ballad of Ricky Bobby for the first time on Skywalker Ranch and George Lucas was in the screening room with you. He was in there sitting right behind me.

Oh, wow. Any popcorn? Any Red Vines? What do we got here? I think you could have had anything you wanted.

But we were just thrilled to be able to see the movie, but not knowing we were going to be watching it with Mr. Lucas. Did you pop open an R2-D2 and grab some Skittles from inside or something like that? What is that like, man? Come on. No, but I'll tell you, here we are, it took me 15 years to be able to go tell Will the story. Oh, you hadn't told him that?

No, I told him today, at the sub front. Wow. Yeah. That is, his question to you, did he laugh? Yes.

Yes. He was glad that he laughed. That is amazing. Dale Earnhardt Jr. here on the Rich Eisen Show. Where's your Hall of Fame jacket? I would wear that all the time.

Where is that right now? I just saw it. Yeah, I just saw it the other day. I was packing for this trip. It's in my closet.

Got one of those needle plastic cover things over the shoulders that you have to have for all your storage coats. Okay. Yeah.

It's in good shape. Oh, man. I was hoping you'd stand up like, I'm wearing it right now, and you'd show me the crust right there.

Yeah. I should wear it every day. I would. I'd sleep in it, man.

I would sleep in it. What was, I haven't spoken to you in forever. What was that moment like for you, Dale, to get that? Well, yeah, it was, I can't imagine, I mean, I'm thinking hard, and I've seen my dad had an incredible career and watched lots of drivers have incredible careers in our sport and do amazing things. And just that I can't imagine anything being cooler than being inducted into the Hall of Fame of any type. It is basically the best way that you could be sure that you were an asset and that you were appreciated by that industry, in my case, NASCAR.

So we can be selfish, and we can go out and perform and have success in our lives. But when you get told that you were an asset, you were critical to the success of an industry, I think that's what going into the Hall of Fame's kind of like, at least it was for me. So I was really thankful for that. I wanted to be a great race car driver, but I also wanted to do the right things for the sport and help the sport and continue to help the sport today. So that's kind of what motivates me to continue to broadcast and do anything around our sport. You know, it's easy to get sometimes critical about the industry, but as a broadcaster and someone in journalism, I guess you have a role to be honest and transparent with your viewers.

But I really enjoy trying to push the sport forward and trying to get more people to tune in and see what we're doing. Well, in terms of that, the streaming world awaits. That's why you are in New York for this new front for Amazon and Prime Video. And we're streaming right now on Roku, which people will be watching you do your work through the portal. And we're streaming on Odyssey. I mean, it's a streaming world right now, sir.

So this is a big step up. And so when the NBA tried an in-season tournament, very successful, NASCAR is going to attempt one, it appears. What's your thoughts on the in-season tournament idea, Dale? All right, so the in-season tournament idea came from Denny Hamlin last year.

We have Dirty Mode Media is a media company that I have. We do a lot of podcasts and original content and Denny Hamlin, one of our current drivers and stars in NASCAR, has a show on our channel. And he came up with the bracket challenge last year. And so we created a bracket challenge in about three weeks for fans to fill out a bracket, much like you would do for March Madness, 200,000 people participated. And William Byron, one of our drivers, ended up winning the tournament.

And it was just something fun that we did. Denny basically said, NASCAR, if you love this idea, you can have it. Take it. And I believe that's what's happened. So NASCAR is going to have their own official in-season tournament that really does remind me a lot of March Madness and college basketball. And so there'll be 32 drivers going for a $1 million prize over five weeks. There'll be three seeding races, and that happens on the Amazon portion of the season. And so those three seeding races will seed the drivers for the five-week run to a million bucks.

And it's all or nothing. There's not a second-place prize, third-place prize, none of that. So some driver is going to be really motivated to win that. And the question, I guess, for me is, what might they do unique strategy-wise in these races to guarantee that they win that prize? They've got to think differently about how they run this race.

So hopefully it makes some unique, fun choices that we get to talk about on the broadcast. Because you're not just trying to win the race, you're trying to beat someone in particular in the race. Yeah, one driver. So if you're one of the drivers reaching the race, every race, there'll be a driver that you must beat to continue to move forward in this bracket challenge, right? And obviously, ultimately getting to the final race where it'll be one-on-one for a million bucks. Yeah.

Okay. So there's two questions I have for you, Dale. If this happened when you were racing, who's the one driver you would want to have been matched up against in the final because you just wanted to beat that particular driver?

Oh, man. For sure, Dale. I think he can appreciate this. It would definitely be Kyle Busch. Me and Kyle had quite a rivalry going back in the day. And I have to admit, he was one of the best drivers of the sport seen in the last 10, 20 years.

So I think if it could be him or Jimmy Johnson, any of the great drivers from my time, my career in the sport, that would be very rewarding. I bet. Okay.

Because that just would have given it a little special extra for you is what you're saying, Dale. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. You want to beat those guys. You get in rivalries out there on the racetrack and every week, you're thinking about, where's that guy on the racetrack?

How's his day going? I finished in front of him. So, man, if you could win a million bucks and basically come down that last race, you and him, one-on-one and you take the money and he gets nothing perfect.

Now and plus, don't you think, this is my other question. Don't you think we now have the perfect plot for a Talladega Nights sequel where it comes down to shake versus bake for the tournament? Dale, don't you think that would be amazing, Ricky versus Cal for a million bucks on the line here? Don't you think?

Yeah, I think so. I think that would be pretty incredible, hopefully. I'm biased and I think that it will come down with something pretty spectacular. And then also think too, Rich, about how this could move forward and not only could it become a million-dollar prize, but maybe it's a lot into the playoffs and automatic buy in the first round. It could be very lucrative toward the season-ending goal of winning the ultimate championship. That would be really cool and I think NASCAR would be open to that. Wouldn't it be like also some sort of strategy where teammates could help the one who's trying to win the prize win? Yeah, but I think after the race, though, they would demand a cut of them. Wouldn't you think so? Sort of like a caddy for the open championship or something? You get a little cut, right? If I was one of those drivers going for that million dollars, I'd have all kinds of alliances.

I'd be doing everything I could to at least get some of that money in my pocket. Dale Earnhardt Jr. here. A couple minutes left with the Hall of Famer.

Again, check out the exclusive NASCAR Cup Series coverage on Prime Video in 2025 with Dale in the booth. So your two cents on the commanders and their new quarterback, Dale, what do you think here with Jayden Daniels? Again, I know there's supposedly a competition happening here, but what's your two cents on what's going on with your team here? Well, I think every off-season is an opportunity to sort of rebuild your hope and excitement. And man, has there been a lot of change in the organization, not only from the ownership side but coaches and general managers and everything about this program for a fan of the commanders is entirely new and exciting. And there were a lot of free agency moves and signings throughout the agency that gave you the opinion that they felt like they saw how to improve this roster immediately. And so they're already sort of churning away at how do they make things better for the team.

It's a process, and it's not going to happen overnight. If they had an eight-and-eight season, I wouldn't be shocked, but I would be happy with that because that would tell me we're moving in the right direction. Of course, you want to win enough games to get into the playoffs, but we've had a couple of tough years. I mean, it's been decades. 1991 was the last Super Bowl, and there's been a lot of things that have changed in the organization over the last several decades that gave you hope. And I think this is the first time in a long time that I feel like there's a real chance that there could be a new identity created, a new culture, obviously, and a whole new identity built around this team.

And we'll have to see how it plays out. Do you think they should change the name of something else to keep that identity rolling, Dale? I think they should change it back to the football team.

Washington football team is a really cool name. Of course, anytime you change the name and when they change the name to the football team, we all had the same reaction. Man, this is weird. This is odd. I don't like it.

But actually, by the end of the first season as a football team, we were different. It was good. We liked it. I think most people wrap their brains around it. We're like, I kind of like this.

I don't really. It set us apart in the whole NFL's industry with that type of a name. And I don't feel that way at the end of season one around the commanders.

Rely on a few years, maybe it'll sort of become normal and feel normal to me. But that Washington football team name was kind of cool. And you had a blank slate with jerseys and everything there.

And that would be kind of neat, I think, to go back to. So why did you become a fan of this franchise? Is it because it was in close proximity to your house or I mean, where you grew up, Dale?

I mean, how'd you get hooked up with them? Well, in the 80s, I became a fan in 81, 82. And the very first game I watched, they beat Miami in the Super Bowl and just a fantastic game.

Everybody remembers that epic run for Riggins down the sideline to score a touchdown. But there wasn't a team in North Carolina where I grew up. And my mother had moved to Norfolk after my father and her separated. She moved to Norfolk.

So I'd go up to Chesapeake Bay and around that area. And there's Washington fans everywhere and the emblem. And so she was buying the jerseys and helmets as a kid. Every Christmas, I was expecting a New Jersey or a helmet or shoulder pads, the whole kit.

And I'd get all that stuff and play in the yard with my buddies. And I just was a fan ever since. So I'm too invested now to change.

And no matter what they call the team, I'm going to be a fan from here on out. You must have fan-boyed Gibbs like crazy when he showed up on the circuit, right Dale? Right? Yes. I was talking about that like 15 minutes ago.

No kidding. I remember where I was standing when I first saw him. It was like 1994 in Atlanta, Georgia, last race of the year. The race is over.

Everybody's kind of meandering about trying to leave the racetrack and I see him walking through the garage. I must have been, shoot, just 19, 20 years old. And I literally couldn't. I was speechless. I couldn't even holler out his name. I was like, there he goes. I mean, this guy, as a fan of Washington, this guy was like royalty walking across the garage. I could not believe that he was in our world. I couldn't believe it.

And then he would become an incredible owner in NASCAR and a championship winning owner. But that's the guy I remember right there. And when I saw him walking across that garage that day, I just felt like a little boy, but I was a little bit older than that. Man, it was an incredible moment. It gives me chills just thinking about it. I bet. Before I let you go, Dale, what do you want the four-part documentary that Prime Video just greenlit on your dad to achieve?

What do you want out of this? One of the things that I worried about, Rich, when my dad passed away was how quickly people might forget his impact on the sport and who he was and his character, to me, obviously unbiased. He was larger than life, tall and bulletproof.

When he walked into a room, it changed the room and you knew he was there. And I know that he had that impact on a lot of people. And so I hope that the documentary can sort of remind not only people of my generation, how important he was to the sport, but maybe also some of our newer fans will learn why we talk about this guy all the time.

Because I read about that in social media. There are a lot of new fans coming in going, I never saw him race. Why do we talk about this guy all the time? Tell me why you feel the way you feel about Dale Earnhardt. So it's a great opportunity because it's almost 25 years since he passed away and it's a great chance for us to sort of introduce his legacy and impact the sport to some new fans. Well, I look forward to seeing that. Great chatting with you, Dale.

It's been too long. You're anytime. Let me know when you're out here. I'd love to have you in studio.

Spend more time with you. Congrats on the gig with Amazon. And I look forward to seeing everything. Thanks. I appreciate you give me a few minutes today, but good talking to you. You got it. Enjoy the rest of the new front there in New York City. That's Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Check out, again, the NASCAR Cup Series coverage on Prime Video coming up in 2025 right here through the Roku portal on Prime Video. Great chat. Love chatting with him. Awesome. Good people.

Good people for sure. You know, it's funny. He remembers where he was the first time he sees Joe Gibbs and there's literally thousands upon thousands of people who share that same story about the first time they see Dale Jr.

So that's actually really cool to see. He feels that same way about. I remember the first time I met Joe Gibbs was at the combine. On NFL Total Access in our studio in one of the suites in the RCA Dome. He had come back to coach, right? He had come back to coach. And he showed up and he sat down and I interviewed him on live TV with Jim Mora Sr. It was Joe Gibbs, Jim Mora Sr., and me. And I'm like, I kind of wanted to let Sr. take the wheel here and see how that conversation would go. And it began to flag a little bit until Joe Gibbs looked at me and says, did I see you running a 40 yard dash on the air last night?

And I'm like, oh my God, what am I going to do with this one? And I'm like, yes, I did. And he told a story about how back in the day, in training camp, fans would be there and they would get bored and pull somebody out of the stands just to run a 40 yard dash with the team. And one guy had a suit and a tie on and he found it so funny and he now saw me running in a suit and tie. And then I think if I'm not mistaken, made a little bit of fun at my expense with my speed because it was 6.77. Oh my God. That was your first year.

That was the first year, 2005. That's the first time I met Joe Gibbs. And he made me speechless because he asked me about my 40 yard dash.

That's funny. We'll take a break. 844-204-rich.

Number to dial. Hey everybody, make your free throws. All you kids out there, make your free throws. That as well as the rest of the NBA playoffs. We'll hit that when we come back. It's that time of year people.

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That's my favorite feature. The all-in prices make sure that you see the lowest price guarantee and also know exactly how much everything costs all in before you purchase. So all the guesswork is removed when you buy playoff tickets with game time. Download the game time app, create an account, and use my code RICH for $20 off your first purchase.

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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Taking a 747 and driving it into a building, did you really do that? That actually happened? Yes, we did.

We really did it. We looked at doing it with miniatures and CG and set builds and everything. When you added up all those numbers, it occurred to us that it might actually be cheaper to buy a real plane. Originally we had our eye on a 737, something like that, and we went out to the airplane graveyard where we could buy an old 737. While we were looking at the 737s, I started looking across the field. You could see these MD-11s and 747s. I sort of thought, and I took to the library, I said, hang on a second, why can't we get one of those big ones?

If we're going to do it. I actually had the unique experience of impulse buying a 747 and then getting to crash it. Before I let you go, what is your remote drop movie, Christopher? Wherever you're watching television and you see a film that is a favorite of yours or you just don't mind binging it, even if it's not yours, obviously.

Which one is it? Just a fan of film. I haven't heard the remote drop as a phrase. That's a fantastic one. There you go. Yeah. I love it. There are so many.

I mean, I think by Kubrick, it's a remote drop, but some of the great comedies too. And I mean, Talladega Nights, I'm never going to be able to switch to that. Okay. Now then, really? What? The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is a Christopher Nolan mic drop movie. Is that what you're saying?

If you ain't first, you're last. You're not wrong, Christopher. You're not wrong. That's fantastic. Does Will Ferrell know this? Did you just reveal that? He does now. He does now.

We keep on getting more information about that movie back here on The Rich Eyes and Show. The GameTime app, download it right now, put it on any mobile device and start buying tickets, basketball tickets. Certainly, if you're within the sound of my voice in the city of New York or perhaps in Denver, Colorado, you want to go to tonight's games, you want to be part of that mix, go to GameTime, check out the tickets and wait even, hold, as you might say, because prices on the GameTime app actually go down the closer it gets to the tip-off. You've done that before. Oh, absolutely.

Yeah. And you could get views from your seat, last minute tickets, flash deals, zone deals. The all-in pricing is my favorite feature because you hit the button to buy your tickets, you get to know exactly how much it is before you hit that button. Take the guesswork out of buying basketball tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use the code Rich and you get $20 off your first purchase.

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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. You told me when we left the studio yesterday, Luka Doncic is going to have a triple-double. I'd be like, okay, three games to one. No doubt. But then you told me, oh, the Mavericks would shoot 12 of 23 from the free throw line.

Oh, okay. And Shea Gildas Alexander would do his thing as GA. And sure enough, it comes down to a one possession game and the Thunder do their part, making their shots and their free throws down the stretch and the Mavericks do not. Luka missed one of two when he was at the line to try and tie the game with about a minute to go. Didn't, that put the Mavs, started spinning their wheels, he even like hit his head sitting on the bench during a timeout. Like what'd you, like dummy?

The international symbol of like you dumb, you know what? Yeah. You big dummy.

Well, I mean, it wasn't like full boogie nights, but he definitely thought he was an idiot for doing it. And then PJ Washington goes to the line and it's a three-point game. He misses the first and I'm sitting there watching the game cause we're a streaming household on my phone through the Roku portal and the Max app, okay? And so we're, I'm sitting there as Taylor's getting ready to hit the sack. She's playing her, I think I told you the other day that she Euro stepped in her Goldie Wreck League game the other day, very proud. Oh my gosh.

Yeah. Well, I mean, and she turns to me after PJ Washington misses his first, she goes, well, he's got to miss the second now, get the rebound and throw it out for a three. And then PJ Washington makes the second and my 10 year old's like, what'd he do that for dad? And I'm like, great, let's ask Jason Kidd if we had the opportunity.

So you know, are you smarter than a 10 year old? And again, just counsel again, everybody, you know, Oh, the Mavericks have this one in the bag. Now the Celtics do have the Cavs in the bag, man.

I sure hope so. Donovan Mitchell adds to the mix of being out and I know it was a tight game. You know, the Celtics, there was that crucial, what, three, four minute period in the fourth quarter.

I even tweeted this out. They didn't score. It was the Cavs couldn't make and the Celtics couldn't miss.

And that was the end of that. Everybody in a green uniform was making and everybody in a white uniform was missing for like a three minute period. But there was also a four minute stretch with no field goals until, you know, Jalen Brown comes over at the end. Which is what happens.

I get it. But the Cavs just, I mean, they were just hoisting up from three when they didn't have to. I mean, Mobley was on. Well, Max True started the game five for five. Like they couldn't miss to start the game. It's just these are the moments in playoff basketball.

If Eric Mobley has Derek White on him, find Eric Mobley. They didn't. They, they hoisted for, I think it was Wade hoisted from three.

He missed. Dean Wade. D Wade. It's not that, it's not that D Wade. But speaking of D Wade, the whole conversation today is what was LeBron doing at the game? Now, listen, I know everybody likes to use, yeah, you're, you're doing full Windhorst here.

Windhorst said today that an NBA GM sent him his own meme referring to what was he doing at the game last night. How about this? How about this?

How about this? His mom lives there, correct? Yes. What was Sunday? Mother's Day. Okay.

Well, yesterday was Monday. Right. So he's staying over. And he has to go to the game? Why not?

Yeah. Why wouldn't he? What's the big deal? Why can't a guy just go to a game, sit court side, have a bottle of Opus One, which by the way he did. Because because this guy doesn't just do things.

It's all calculated. Which is what? Which is what?

Maybe I want to come back to Cleveland because they're a better team than the Lakers are right now. Let me ask you this question. True. Let me ask you this question.

We've seen this movie already. Fine. Fine. Yep. Fine. Great.

Let's just say he wants to go back to the Cavs and maybe he wants to play with Bronny with the Cavs and finish up where it all started with his son. You get goosebumps even talking about it, okay? But if he wants to do that, he could just do it. Right? Yeah, he doesn't need to make a power play. It's not a power play. There's no power play.

What's the calculation, Mike? It's no power play. There's no power play. It's not like the Lakers have to let him do it. He's got a player option. He just ops out, which everybody thinks he's going to do anyway. And so what's what gets a lot of crap.

So if he gets, if he does that, I'm with Chris. He looks like you're not listening. You're not listening. I know. I know.

There's no calculation. I call Rich Paul who calls the Lakers and says he ops out and then he does whatever he wants to do. This has no power play move to it. Also apparently Rich Paul called the Lakers, let them know he was going to be at the game. So it wasn't like he just showed up. Maybe he just wants to go to the game. Maybe he wants to just, maybe he likes Tatum. Maybe he likes the Cavs and he just goes to the game. He's in town.

They're there. He's there for Mother's Day. What's the big deal? The problem with that is half the people are going to think like that and the other half are going to think, oh, there's some underlying ulterior motive. But the ulterior motive, if he wants to go to Cleveland, you know what he could do?

Go to Cleveland. Remember we had Maverick Carter here in this chair and I'm like, you know, he's going to come to LA because he wants to do business in LA, right? And he basically is like, Rich, he can, he's LeBron James, he can have a meeting wherever he wants to go.

Facts. It's true. So if he wants to play for the Cavs, he can play for the Cavs. If he wants to have a bottle of Opus One, clearly he can do that. By the way, do they sell that in Cleveland?

Because that's impressive. What do, did he bring his own? I know nothing about YO. Is there a corkage fee in the playoffs? Corkage. You know, I mean.

I know nothing about YO. B-Y-O bottle? Yeah, that's a $400 plus bottle of wine. Do the Cavs have a, do the Cavs have a sommelier? No. Well, they will when LeBron plays for them. Maybe so. Great. Because you know what the Cavs will do for LeBron to come home and play with Bronny and say, come on and play with.

Please. And all it might cost them is just money, right? Because they don't have to acquire him.

It just costs money. So hey, do you think Spider would stick around for that and dance, and dance that drink over? He gone. Would he? Why wouldn't you want to play with LeBron?

Why would he? Because LeBron passes. That's a fact. I mean, you can't argue that fact because it's his team, and any team that LeBron goes to becomes LeBron's team. Unless it doesn't matter, you know, whose team it is when you're in a parade.

Let me tell you something. I know this ain't my team, but when we win the Emmy, I'm gonna love it just as much, and I'm not, this isn't my team. This is your team. It's not my team. It's your team. It's your team. It's our team. It's our team. I'm a member of the team.

It's our team. You know, it's everybody who's on this show is our team, and that includes his schmecky friend whose half face was on that Instagram photograph with his vinyl. Sean? You're making fun of Sean. I don't think Sean's on our team. Sean doesn't, but come on. He's getting shamed. Oh, I'm making fun of Sean. Actually, I'm not making fun of Sean. I'm making fun of you getting all these likes for photographs that don't deserve it.

That photos are like 800. Cheers coming up, folks. Welcome to Talkville, the ultimate smallville rewatch podcast guest star Sarah Carter as Alicia Baker. Although I didn't really work with her a lot, but Tom did, and they had some real big smoochie scenes. Yeah. Should we talk about that? Could there be any more sex? What was the three page make out scene that just kept going? Good Lord. We get it. They have chemistry. Jump in now or catch up on any of the past seasons of Talkville on YouTube or wherever you listen.