Top 5 NFL Week 1 Under The Radar Games

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Blue Nile.com. Let's land here for a minute. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

What was it called? The Rich Eisen Show. Oh man, am I really on? Yes, sir.

Yeah, buddy. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. 14 and 3. David in Oregon, I'm glad you pulled over, sir.

Raiders go 14 and 3. Earlier on the show, the second gentleman of the United States, Douglas Emhoff. Senior NBA writer for the athletic, Sam Amick. Formula E CEO, Jeff Dodds.

Coming up, co-founder of Lava Media, Jason Flom. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number three of the Rich Eisen Show is live on the air. What a day we've had so far here in our neighborhood, here in El Segundo, California. We've had secret service and we've had not-so-secret conversations right here for you on the Roku channel.

844-204-RICH is the number to dial. If you missed anything over the first two hours, we re-air on the Roku channel all the way up until tomorrow's show, which we hope will be as great as today's. We love seeing our phone lines lit.

Every single phone line is lit, so if you're trying us, keep trying. We'll create some space for you. Jason Flom, the man who's been running Lava Records and Lava Media for a very long time, is making his way to our studio here. We'll talk music and we'll talk about what's going on in his world as well. Here on this June Wednesday NBA draft is tonight. Sam Amick joined us in hour number two to talk about what the Lakers might be up to. And everything on the latest of the NBA front. The second gentleman of the United States was here.

That's my mention to the Secret Service. He played the win-loss game for the Rams and he knew about the win-loss game. He knew I was going to ask him about it and he knew preparing for it. He saw a bunch of you folks out there calling in to play the win-loss game and he saw some people saying some crazy numbers in relation to the team.

He didn't want to be that guy and then he said the Rams were going 13-4. So Rich, do you mean to tell me that we're playing on TVs in the White House? I imagine so, yeah. That's crazy. They're streaming. That's crazy.

I'm sure they're streaming. And yesterday, we helped the engagement farming industry yesterday, or Jeffrey Simmons did, of the Tennessee Titans. God bless him. Listen, when I heard Jeffrey Simmons was in town, I said, you know, let's get him in here because he is the first guy who Caleb Williams will see across the line of scrimmage.

That's it. Let's just assume, which is dangerous, but let's assume Caleb Williams goes under center for his first snap of the regular season. He's there under center in Chicago.

Tennessee Titans are there. Their first possession, he goes under center. The first guy he sees when he's looking at the defense will be Jeffrey Simmons.

He will be there across the line of scrimmage from the center. And so I wanted to have that guy on here, certainly in the world of what's going on with Kaitlyn Clark and the WNBA and a lot of folks in that association eager to welcome her to the WNBA with a shoulder, with a non-open arm. And so I want to have him in here. Had no idea he was the self-professed top five smack talker of the NFL, saying that if you polled his colleagues in the NFL, they would name him as a top five smack talker. That I did not know. That's what we just call a bonus. Certainly since I brought up the name of Caleb Williams, he gave me a little bit of a smack talk before I even said the name Caleb Williams.

This was the exchange. You, Jeffrey Simmons, week one of the National Football League season, will be the first human being on the other side of the line of scrimmage in a game. I can't wait to say that to Caleb Williams.

So you've got that plan? Yeah, it's going to be one of them games, especially, I mean, he probably talks, I mean, smack talk to his, you know, his teammates right now. But I guess it's going to be especially a game like that.

My first game, of course, I missed the last end of the season. Right. It's going to be the first game of the season. They got us coming to Chicago. He on all the hype going to be around them, of course. So it's like that's going to say, I think, like when especially like not even prime time game.

You know, everybody like them. I wish I would have played a Miami game, but like everybody's count Tennessee, which we all know and a game like Chicago. And I'm sure they thinking we about to get beat out the other like bad. So that also make me even talk more smack and boost me up a little more, make me get in a different mode as well. So I'll be in a different mode again.

I'll be in a different mode that game. Eerie calmness to him. Well, that's what happens when you're a bad man. Yeah. He's not wrong.

As I even said to him, you're not wrong. Speaking on behalf of the national media, they will be overlooked. They will not be discussed.

They will not have any of their hopes discussed. They're the ones who have a second year quarterback who performed well in the windows. He got to perform in his first in his rookie season and will love us. Everyone will be talking about. D.J. Moore and everyone will be talking about D.J. Moore and we'll be talking about Keenan Allen. They'll be talking about all of that with Roma Dunesay. They won't be talking about Calvin Ridley. They won't be talking about the Andre Hopkins and trailing Burks and Tyler Boyd.

That won't be happening. So. He's not wrong. That's going to be a great that will be a great moment in the NFL season when Jeffrey Simmons stands there and he's. And I said, I want to listen to, you know, the miked up center to hear painted nails.

He requests the NFL films, mikes that game just for us. Right. Because that would be. Oh, man.

That would be something. Oh, man. So sound effects week one.

Don't miss it. And I told everybody again, the Titans, we just had a win loss game played by a Jacksonville Jaguar fan. He's got them sweeping the Titans. And there was like, oh, that's a win. But I mentioned the Titans for their team.

Yeah. And all the ones that, you know, we've been doing, Patriots, Titans feel like the Colts are kind of one of those teams, Washington Raiders, automatic wins. Everyone goes down the schedule, automatic win council, everybody against that.

That's all I'm saying. Honestly, jet fans, too. They're thinking the Jets are going to go out to Monday Night Football to start the season in San Francisco and get beat. And then the but there it'll be a get right game for them the next week, short week going to Tennessee for their home opener. Right.

And I say no. Don't just chalk that one up, man. Speaking of week one games.

Again, since we got Jeffrey Simmons was here on Tuesday talking about the Titans and the Bears going to be a big game for him and how he can't wait to welcome Caleb Williams to the NFL in his moment. I came up with a top five list of the most underrated week one games. Now, that means we have to remove all the standalone games. They're all out of this mix.

Right. Those are marquee Thursday Night Football to kick it off in Kansas City. The Friday night game that we talked about with Lane Johnson yesterday, the Eagles, if you will, hosting Green Bay in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We're throwing out the Cowboys and Browns late window on Fox, throwing that out. And we're throwing out Rams Lions on Sunday Night Football, Jets, San Francisco on the first Monday night of the season. And you know what else I'm going to throw out, too, is because I think it's been discussed as well. We've talked about it, Jim.

But the Pittsburgh Steelers debuting Russell Wilson as their starting quarterback in Atlanta, debuting Kirk Cousins as theirs. There's some video going around right now. Russ working out with DK Metcalf. Didn't DK say they're tight? They still talk with one another? Throwing some passes?

I guess that's one way to, if you can't work out with George Pickens, work out with DK. So I've got a top five list of the top five most underrated, under-the-radar week one games as we're sitting here on the final Wednesday of June. Hit it. High five. One, two, three, four, five. Rich's top five. All right, everybody. I got my top five of the most under-the-radar games for week number one based on the fact that Jeffrey Simmons says he can't wait to go after Caleb Williams.

Number five on this list is nobody's talking about this one. This team made the divisional round last year. And you want to talk about running it back? They're running it back.

I guess that's the Cowboys way of going all in, which is just stick with the guys that run you there. And I'm talking about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And it is the debut of Jayden Daniels in the National Football League. And Dan Quinn is the new head coach for the Washington commanders. Commanders at Bucks is an under-the-radar, sneaky, good week one game, folks, that we're not talking about right now.

I kind of dig it. I mean, what if Washington hangs 30 on them and they win by two scores? Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Austin Eckler, Brian Robinson Jr.

There's no slouches. And Jayden Daniels comes in and shows up like he could be. Remember what last year's second overall pick in the draft did?

No expectations, I thought, right? I like the over. That's number five in that one. Number four under-the-radar games in week number one. I'm going with this team heading all the way across the country to Western New York. The New Look Bills, if you will, are hosting the Arizona Cardinals, who played everybody tough last year. The debut of Marvin Harrison Jr. in the National Football League. And then the New Look Bills offense without, if you will, a clear-cut number one wide receiver. With their one and two in Stefan Diggs and Gabe Davis not being there anymore.

And is it going to be the James Cook show? What's going to be Keyon Coleman's role? How is Josh Allen going to look? Cardinals at Bills is an under-the-radar week number one game for everybody to chew on right there. Number three, it was the way they finished up the season against one another. And let's see what Anthony Richardson looks like when he's coming back. And it's in the same spot where the Colts got eliminated by the Texans. In Indianapolis, Texans-Cults is number three on the under-the-radar. C.J. Stroud's first game as everyone expects him to play. How about that one? Last year was OK. When's Cinderella maybe going to run out of gas and turn back into a pumpkin?

And the answer was not, I don't think that happened. That said, how's Anthony Richardson going to look? Can the Texans put their stamp on things and say, doesn't matter who's playing quarterback here in Indianapolis, it's our division. We're going to put a stamp on it just to start in the same way that we stamped out the Colts' season in this house last year to win the division. That's going to be a fun week one game. And then number two on this list with all due respect to those two teams in the AFC South. I'm including an AFC South team in the second best under-the-radar week one game coming up. I'm going with the Jaguars and the Dolphins. Not many people are talking about this one. But I kind of dig it. You know, I kind of dig the Jaguars going down to Miami.

The who, Rich? The Jaguars going down to Miami. And we'll see. Does Tua get paid like Trevor? Trevor's been paid.

What will Tua be paid like? And then we pay attention to what the Dolphins can do defensively with, I'm assuming some of their best players still not healthy. Do the Jaguars go in there and just say last year's injury-marred season ender is not the way they're going to start this season with being off kilter? I can't wait for that one. Because that'll also be one that I think is going to be a tie break that somebody could put on the table to host a playoff game rather than be on the road later on in the year. Number one, though, can't believe nobody's talking about it.

But I will. Because Jim Harbaugh is back in the National Football League. And God bless the schedule makers for putting the Raiders in SoFi Stadium this started. Antonio Pierce's first game is the full-time HC of the LVR. And then Jim Harbaugh is the first game as the HC of the LAC in Los Angeles, where Raiders fans will tell you they're the true home team. Not the two home teams of SoFi. And this one, a division game. Both coaches love to strap up the helmet for their players and go hit one another. And we will see Raiders and Chargers be an old school slobberknocker of a game. I can't wait. Max Crosby in the house and the new look Chargers for Harbaugh.

That's the number one under the radar game for week number one. I'll give you one more. Sure. I'll go with the one that Jeffrey Simmons said.

I'll give you this one. I'll give you Titans at Bears. The Bears are going to be on hard knocks and will be discussed more than any non playoff team from last year. They've got the number one overall draft choice. They've got the home fans in Soldier Field flipping out because they feel like they finally have got the right guy under center and in shotgun. And then there's number 98 in Jeffrey Simmons on the other side of the line of scrimmage saying painted nails or whatever else is coming out of his mouth. And this is also a new look Titans team without Derrick Henry and a new head coach.

I do I do believe the Titans are are being slept on at present. And that's my top five under the radar games for week one right here on the Rich Eisen show. All right.

Love it. Any other any ones we missed are all three. Some other ones out there that I did not mention. Did not mention Pats Bengals. Didn't mention Panther Saints. I was looking at Vikings Giants for a hot minute, but couldn't couldn't supplant any of the other games that I mentioned. Yeah.

The other one that I wanted to mention, I almost Seattle, Denver. Yes, sir. Denver at Seattle is bonics going to start that one.

And if so, what a place to start it. Yeah. Seattle. Did you see? And by the way, where Russ got his first start as the Broncos quarterback, by the way. Did you see Zach Wilson's slicked back hair?

I did not photo that went around yesterday. Good for him. Do whatever works. I wish I could do that. Me too. That sounded particularly me. That's. And yeah, that sounded very wistful. That was pretty sad. I've heard the words in my ear logging up real soon.

Here it is. Look at that. What what what's what's what's going on here? Do you think. Doesn't want to look 12 anymore.

I guess so. Is it the altitude that is that that does that's what it does to your hair? I wouldn't know about that type of hair. That's why I'm asking you guys. Yeah, it's good.

The last time I had this hair, I was like nine. Maybe that's what the Cougars like in Denver. Very possible. And you mean the animal like the mountain lion cougar, right? Yeah.

I'm talking about species. Yeah. What are you talking about? I don't know. I don't know what this look is.

I don't know if it's just like I just think it works. Dad, is he like Eber flus kind of like, hey, I got things up. I'm buying a leather jacket.

No, he's just like, I'm out of New York anymore. I'm not going to look like I'm 12. I'm going to be I'm a grown ass man. I'm vying for the job. Yeah, I like it. If I had it, I would I'd flaunt it, baby.

I would do it. I can't. I'm out of moves.

Be very straight up with you. I'm 55 years old and I'm out of moves. So I grow a beard. I can't go it up there. By the way, I'm surprised you guys didn't mention J.J. Reddick's hair the other day from his press. Hey, I want him to go full Pat Riley. I want him to go. He needs to bring the suit back. I want I want him wearing suits. I think he's our champion for that.

You think so? I think if anyone could do it, it's him and we'll do it. It's him.

It's all right. Budenholzer. It's not like honestly, Budenholzer, you know what he looks like? He looks like if it was if it was socially acceptable for a coach in the NBA to sit on a couch and coach from there, he would be the guy like remote and hand phone in the other hand. We have a George Costanza chair. I don't know.

The door was short. Like, yeah, like that. That's what he if it was socially acceptable. He would coach that way.

Coach, but who's smoke a heater at halftime. All right. By the way, I've never met him. So I shouldn't say that.

We're just judging books right now. You know what I mean? Because I really thought Quinn Snyder was going to be our guy. I really thought I really thought he was going to be the one to bring suits back. He let us down. You know, Steve Nash for a second.

No, he let us down. Didn't do it. I'm surprised you're so prosuit. You wear shorts every day.

I think if I'm not mistaken, you wear shorts. Isn't Cronin UCLA's coach still? He's still doing it, right? Yeah, Mick's still doing it. Mick's the only one, right? Well, Jay Wright before he.

No, but he's he's long gone. I'm talking about right now. Who's our champion? It's got to be JJ.

Hmm. I mean, we need to we need to have the fashion industry farm that engagement. We like Hugo Bost, like somebody like this.

Hugo Bost. Let's find out who's going to tailor and clothe JJ this year. That's what you want Tom for. I mean, he might anyway.

How expensive do you want to go? I got the idea, too. I know this is the idea. This is the idea.

You go to JJ Redick and you show him this video and say, do this first NBA game. Stroll out there. Yes. With Burrow. That's it. That's going to be great. JJ, you know, you and he could he could pull it off.

No shirt. And just walk out just like that, like Stephen A. Smith showing up for game three. You know, looking like that.

That's it. With that walk. Look at, by the way, I feel so bad for Justin Jefferson because, you know, he's feeling it and he's thinking, I've got it. And he does.

And he does. And it's as if he's invisible. He's not even there. It's like he's not even there. Sorry, Justin.

Because Joe Burrow has his back out. You're all JJ Redick. You're our only hope. You're like the Luke Skywalker of the NBA haberdashery industry.

All right. The young Jedi. JJ Redick. OK, everybody, let's go. Jason Flom is going to come out here. I haven't seen him in a month. And I look forward to having this chat with him. It's going to be wide ranging and fascinating.

Coming up next is Jason Flom, the co-founder and CEO of Lava Media and also of the Wrongful Conviction podcast. They're bundled. Having these two policies together makes taking care of your insurance easier and could help you save, too. Customers who save by switching their home and car insurance to progressive save over seven hundred seventy five dollars on average. That's a whole lot of savings and protection for your favorite podcast listening activities like going on a road trip, cooking dinner and even hitting the home gym. Yep. Your home and your car are even easier to protect when you bundle your insurance together.

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Not available in all states. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. As your kids get older, some things about parenting gets easier. But then again, there's that axiom. Bigger kids, bigger problems like having that conversation about money. The fact is, kids won't really know how to manage their money until they're actually in charge of it. And that's where Greenlight can help.

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Well done. Again, my wife and I have a Greenlight card for our oldest kid. And you should as well. Millions of parents and kids are learning about money on Greenlight. Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free when you go to Greenlight.com slash Rich. That's Greenlight.com slash R I C H to try Greenlight for free. Greenlight.com slash Rich. You were twenty nine when this first started.

Now you're in your mid 40s getting all rocked up like you did. Yeah. In this. Do we do we need to test you? Matt, did you take?

No, no, I should have that. I mean, it made it easier. There's not in my experience. There's not you know, if you're not going to take anything, which I'm not the there's no it's the same workout that it was when I was twenty nine. It's just, you know, it's just a very strict diet. Two days in the gym. And, you know, there's no it's just all work.

Like there's no right. There's no there's no shortcut. And then just so you just cut out what? Sugars. By the end, it's like by the end, it's just protein and vegetables and no carbs at all. And just, you know, to work out today. And I mean, it is a lot of work for how many weeks, months did you have to do that? Well, I was in shape. I got in shape for The Martian and then and then for this movie I did in China. And then and then about ten weeks out, I kind of ramped up even more. And so it was to try to get under, you know, down below eight and like seven percent body fat.

It was more about body fat than weight. So when you were done shooting, what was the first meal that you had when you're done shooting? Oh, man. I mean, you know, for me, it's Italian food.

You know, pasta and bread, pasta, red wine, chicken parm. Yeah. Oh, my God.

Are you kidding me? That's the thing that that's what kills me. My kids love to eat that. Like sometimes when we order out, we'll get this, you know, this chicken parm, this parm and this pink pasta that they like. And I just like, you know, plating it for them. It's just like, you know, I start shaking.

I'm just wondering if the Boston and you just came out. I think I just said, I didn't say that. I didn't say chicken farm. I didn't say I said chicken.

But I but I it was it was I forgot the R. It wasn't that I'm the I'm the same way, you know. And when I go back to the old school days, I love chicken farm. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, as well as our Roku channel stream, I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grange with supplies and solutions for every industry.

And if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Grange has the right product for you. Call click range of dot com or just stop by and look who's stopping by right now. A new friend of mine who I met playing golf just a few weeks ago. It really is Jason Flom, the co-founder and CEO of Lava Media and Lava for Good and Lava Records.

Jason Flom, also of the Wrongful Conviction podcast and so many other thought provoking podcasts. Great to see you, sir. You know, I was looking at the pictures on the walls, man. I'm in good company with the people that have been on this show. Hey, man, I appreciate you saying that. And, you know, obviously you have definitely been around some very famous people.

I mean, so let's just just jump in before we get to some of the serious stuff for sure. How did how did you get started in in the music business? Well, I want to be a rock star. So, you know, I tried and I didn't have the talent. Unfortunately, I had plenty of hair down here. And in the summer it got so thick that I couldn't actually see through it. So I was a little I was just one. I'm bumping into things. I had to look this way to see that way.

There's a little slit in the middle. I just was like a ball. And anyway, set myself on fire, smoke and weed a couple of times, I'm sure.

But whatever. And so my dad gave me a year off. I didn't want to go to college.

Right. I just wanted to play guitar and smoke weed. So I had a year to become a rock star and then I had to go back to work. So I in that year, I managed to wangle a position as a trainee, field merchandiser, Atlantic Records.

I was 18 years old. I was like, this is the greatest job ever. Four dollars an hour, free records. And I get to put up Led Zeppelin posters all day at AC DC. I'm like, this is the greatest job ever. But then I decided I wanted to find a band because I thought maybe if I could find an artist that becomes a hit.

Not only could I live vicariously through them, but also maybe I could get a job doing that. And I was like, so I had to figure out how to do that. So I did. Who'd you find? I found a band called Zebra and I found them in the most random way.

Well, yes and no. I mean, I decided I would study this trade industry publication called Album Network. Every week they would publish the list of all hundred and ninety rock stations in the country, the playlist. So I thought, I'm going to study this list.

My eyes were really good back then. I could study this list and find an act that's being played on one of these stations that isn't already signed. Right. Maybe that would be a tip off.

Right. Sure enough, I found a station on Long Island called WBAB. They're playing a band called The Lines. I call up the program director. I said, what's this? He goes, it's not that I put it on as a favorite. First of all, I can't believe he took my call.

But I said, well, if you were me, who would you sign? Which was a ridiculous thing to ask. I was 19 years old and high as a car.

I was 18. He says, let me tell you about Zebra. I go, what's Zebra? He goes, it's the most requested band at this radio station.

I go, you mean the most requested local band? He goes, no schmuck. He says, listen, number one is Zebra two was like it was Zeppelin Ozzie and somebody else with two, three and four.

Oh, my God, this is it. So they get a long story as short as I can. I made a copy of the cassette. I put it on the president of Atlantic's assistant's desk.

Yeah. There was a wall of cassettes on there. He was never going to listen to this thing. But as it happened, he grabbed a few cassettes off her desk to listen to on his drive home to Huntington, Long Island, where he lived. And he's listening in the car to a song called Who's Behind the Door, decides he hates it, pops it out of the tape deck and was playing on the radio at that very moment.

No kidding. Because his station was tuned to WBAB, which was the station. So it's just serendipitous, right? It was just magical. And he listened. Now he's like, what the hell is going on here?

Right. Like he did a full double take. And then the D.J.

says, that's the most requested song in the history of WBAB. And he lets you sign him after that? He comes in the next day and goes, this is genius. And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's me, boss.

Yeah. And so that was my break. That's how you got started. So who's the first, if you will, major music recording artist that you... Well, Zebra became a hit and then Twisted Sister and then it led to Stone Temple Pilots and Skid Row and White Lion.

Twisted Sister. You had me there. So you got a good Dee Snider story? Oh, I got lots of good Dee Snider stories. That you can tell on national television?

Yeah. I mean, look, the first time, can I curse on this show? We would prefer if you didn't. The radio stations would not. But you can, however you wish.

I can bleep myself. How's that? So Zebra told me about Twisted Sister. They were like, this is the best band in the world. Zebra told you about it. Yeah, the singer from Zebra. And his name was Randy Jackson. Not the Randy Jackson we all know and love, but a different Randy Jackson.

So common name, I guess. Anyway, so he says, you got to see Twisted Sister. Twisted Sister.

So as it happened, Zebra was opening for Twisted Sister. So I drove to Poughkeepsie on a Wednesday night. Sounds like a punch line already.

And I get off to Poughkeepsie, which is, you know, 100 miles north of New York City. And there's three thousand kids at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center on a Wednesday night paying six bucks. And this is what are we, 1981?

Right. I'm like, what the hell? They all have Twisted Sister T-shirts on. And Zebra plays to polite applause.

Another band called DC Star plays polite applause. Then Twisted Sister takes the stage and the place erupts. And I'm watching this and D gets on stage and he goes, all right, you New York mother f-ers. He goes, we just got back from f-ing England and we're sick and f-ing tired of hearing these limey mother f-ers telling us how bloody f-ing good we are.

What do you New York mother f-ers have to say? And the whole crowd goes twisted f-ing sister. And I was like, I'm done. I don't even care if they can play their instruments. It doesn't matter. Right.

The proof of concept is right here. These kids were in heaven. And so I came back to the city. I slept. I drove back with one of the guys. Got home about five, six in the morning and walked into my boss's office.

The same president of Atlantic. The next morning I go, I found religion last night. And he goes, what's wrong with you? And I go, Twisted Sister.

And he goes, get out of my office. They were a joke in the industry. They were wearing, you know, makeup and nail polish and women's clothes.

And they had been rejected by every label in the business. And I was like, how could? I don't understand. And I went to see the next night in South Jersey at the Fountain Casino, it was called. Thirty seven hundred kids. Same thing. I was like, what?

What is everybody not seeing here? This is this is obviously a huge act. And, you know, it turned out to be is it took a lot of twists and turns. And I almost got fired because I wouldn't leave my boss alone as he would throw me out of his office every day. But then you signed him in the rest. Eventually, I actually brought them to a guy named Phil Carson, who ran our English company, who didn't know me from a hole in the wall. But I saw him in the hallway and I begged him to listen to it. He told me later he threw it in the garbage.

Right. Because he didn't know me. He was this long haired kid like twisted sisters. But he happened to go and see them in London because when they played there, they opened for, I think, Foreigner or something. And he went to the show and called me up the next day and said, this is the best thing I've seen since I signed AC DC. And I was like, well, let's go, boss. You know, so he really signed them. But I'll take whatever credit I can get from that because I was.

Yeah, it's well, you should, Jason Flom. And then before we move on to the podcast here, you know, anybody who will look you up or Wikipedia or Google you, you are credited with discovering Katy Perry. Is that true?

That is absolutely true. So how did that happen? Oh, Katie. Well, you know, a woman, unfortunately, she's not with us anymore, but a wonderful woman named Angelica Cobb. I hired her when I was running Virgin Records to be ahead of our publicity department. And she I heard her from Columbia. And she says to me, Columbia is getting ready to drop this girl, Katy Perry. I think she's a real star. You should meet her. I said, great. So I met her at the Polo Lounge here in L.A. Yeah. OK. And I just came out and I met her and I lived in New York.

And she walked in and sat down. I was like, this is a star. Like, I have this sort of weird radar. Like I have an instinct.

Right. And I was like, this is a star. I hadn't heard a note of music yet. And I loved her music when she said to me, send me the album that Columbia was dropping. And then I went back and played it for some of my top executives like this is going to be our turning this label around. Virgin was the coldest label in the business when I took it over.

And I've been running Atlantic before that. And then they all were like, oh, no, this is horrible. Really? Yeah.

Everybody hated it. And we just signed red jumpsuit apparatus, which was a hit. And things were starting to turn around. And I was like, man, maybe I'm wrong. But then I was in my garage working out.

There's a sports connection. And I had to bring that in. And I'm like, wait a minute. This is great. I screwed this up.

How could I have been so stupid as to not like to listen to other people's opinions? You remember what song that was when you were the only one that was on that tape or CD? That would became a big hit was Waking Up in Vegas.

So it might have been that one. And then, you know, I you know, I invited her. We signed her. I invited her to our Grammy party that we were hosting because it was around that time. And she walked in with a guy named Dr. Luke, who was one of the hottest, best writers and producers in the music industry at the time. I knew him because I had actually signed into a record deal when he was a kid. And he had been the guitar player Saturday Night Live at the time. And anyway, I was like, oh, my God, you guys know each other.

This is perfect. You got to work together. And so I helped to facilitate that connection, which became you know, they wrote Hot and Cold and they wrote I Kissed a Girl together. And I'll give you one more story. I remember calling Katie when I said, Katie, we're going to put out a kiss to girls at first. She goes, you can't do that. I go, why not?

She goes, because my parents will never speak to me again. You know, they were evangelicals, right? I said, they'll probably speak to you after it goes number one. I was right.

On both counts, it went number one and they spoke to her. So, yeah, that was a that was a great run. The music business has been great to be rich. I mean, I've been very fortunate to work with some incredibly talented artists and she's one of them for sure. And, you know, there's there's just there's too many to mention now because I've been doing this for so long.

Sure. But but tonight, actually, we have a new album coming out from our group, The Warning, and we have a big release party in L.A. So very excited that three sisters from Mexico who are just blowing up right now. And they play I mean, they they play like they're just incredible musicians. And I think it's so wonderful because it's a real rock band with three female musicians. And and that's it.

I think it's time for that. And obviously it's opened up so much for you, Jason Flom, in terms of the podcasting world and other and other aspects. And again, I'll just say this, even though, you know, we just met at this at this golf outing in May. And I'll share here that, you know, when I met you and I knew about your history and I knew about, you know, your your depth in the music industry. And then I heard all about what you know, you're wearing your T-shirt right now, Wrongful Conviction Podcast. I'm like, all right, there's a lot to talk about with you. And so I kind of forgot I had that. I know.

How did nice. How did you how did you get like why why the Wrongful Conviction Podcast and what you were talking about on on this level? Jason, I hate injustice.

I hate bullying. I think that there's no more extreme form of bullying than when the government devotes its limitless resources to persecuting and prosecuting a person who's actually innocent of a crime or someone who is convicted. Convicted of a crime that shouldn't even be a crime in the first place, like, you know, marijuana possession or something like that. We have you know, we have a mass incarceration problem and industry here that is unique in human history. No country has ever locked people up their own citizens up the way we do. You know, we have four point four, four point five percent of the world's population. Twenty five percent of the world's prison population is in America. Right.

Thirty three percent of the world's female prison population. I won't just I won't turn this into a college course, but it's crazy and it doesn't make sense. Why do we do this? There's no benefit to public safety. In fact, it's it has a negative impact on public safety.

We do it because it's economics. So I first got involved in this work in nineteen ninety three because of a story I read in Rolling Stone magazine. Sorry. And strangely enough, in the New York Post, the first was in the New York Post.

I never read the New York Post. I mean, don't get me started. That's probably the only time in my life I ever bought that newspaper. And I'll stop there because I don't want to get in trouble. But I'll just say that it's not my favorite.

So but I happened to buy it that day because it was meant to be. And I saw a story about a kid who was serving 15 to life for a nonviolent first defense cocaine possession charge in a maximum security prison in New York State. And yes, you heard me correctly. Nonviolent first defense cocaine possession charge. And I was like, excuse me, I had my own substance abuse issues as a kid. I'd ended up in rehab because of the color of my skin and the zip code I was born in. Let's face it.

Right. So otherwise I would have ended up in prison like so many people that you and I know and respect and love. So so I just thought he's 32.

I'm 32. The kid had been in prison for eight years. I had been sober for almost eight years. I was like, this is too close. That could have been me.

So I said, I got to do something. I only knew one criminal defense lawyer at the time was a guy named Bob Colina. He represented two of the artists I signed, Stone Temple Pilots and Skid Row, and they were getting arrested weekly on speed dial. So I called Bob. I got him to take the case pro bono, even though he said it was hopeless.

And six months later, we ended up in a courtroom in Malone, New York. They bring this kid in his shackles. Right. Like he's, you know, the night stalker or something. Right. And his legs are chained together. His hands are chained to him.

It's like the nonviolent first offender. What's going on here? I knew nothing. I saw it a mullet back then. So. Arguments go back and forth. I have no idea what's going on. The judge is some old guy with white hair, like Ted Forsythe. If you remember the actor, he bangs the gavel down and goes, the motion is granted. And the lawyer comes scurrying over in his three pieces. I go, Bob, what happened? He goes, we won. I was like, we what? And they sent the kid home. And I was like, oh, my God, I have a superpower. Like, I had no idea.

But if I can do that and that's the greatest feeling I have ever had better than any hit record, then I want to do more of that. So I joined the Board of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, now known as F.A.M.M. Fantastic organization, F.A.M.M.org. And soon after that, I saw a story on TV about a case. The Innocence Project had taken had found a guy who was scheduled to be executed. And they had discovered the DNA. Two guys, Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, with their law books and their microscope. They had found the DNA and they had proven this guy was innocent and they had him not only not executed, but freed. And I was like, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard. So I marched into their office and I said, I'm your guy.

I don't know what you need done, but I'll do that and more. So I became the first board member there, the founding board member. And, you know, it's been sort of a huge passion of mine ever since, which led to me founding this podcast eight years ago, because I wanted to be able to share these stories of these incredible human beings, Rich, who have been to hell, literal hell, death row, life in prison in some of the worst prisons in the world, which are right here in America.

And many of them in states you wouldn't think for crimes they didn't commit. And they come out with a positive attitude, without anger, without bitterness. And I'm like. I need to be around these people as much as I can, as often as I can.

They become like family to myself and my partner. Oh, yeah. Who's here. You know, and and so I thought in telling these stories, we can help to open these prison doors by bringing exposure, as you do on this show, to so many important things and shining a light on these things that are otherwise exist in darkness. Yeah, we had Brian Banks on this program.

Wow. We spoke about him when when we met back in May about being wrongfully accused of sexual assault as a high schooler and convicted and blew up his whole NFL career. That was, you know, or at least college football career that was going to blow. You know, we all expected to lead to the NFL, wrongfully accused. And now he's freed. And but his his life has changed forever. But we had that story.

We he came here and there was a film made on his on his life. And and that's the sort of stuff you talk about on on Wrongful Conviction podcast. We're all podcasts are acquired, obviously, is where people can get this. Yeah. Yeah.

It's Spotify, Apple everywhere. I mean, it's you know, we're we're very proud. It's, you know, close to we're closing in on one hundred million downloads.

I mean, I'm in the entertainment business, so it's really more like 70. Nice round up. But it's been it's been credited as a factor, as a key factor in freeing about two dozen innocent people so far. I'm talking about the legal teams and the people themselves who've come home. And some of these people did, you know, Vincent Simmons, 44 years and nine months for a crime that never even happened.

Right. I mean, there are so many of these stories that you'd be, you know, and the crazy thing is. You listen to these stories and you'll be better educated so that when you get a jury duty notice, which we all get those notices and a lot of us dread them, but you need to go serve if you get the jury duty notice, you'll be better educated, be better able to help prevent these wrongful convictions from happening because it could happen to you or somebody you love. Let's face it. I mean, it does. It happens mostly to people without means to protect themselves and mostly to people who are nonwhite. But it happens to everyone.

And our the stories will blow your mind and they'll inspire you, because these people have such such otherworldly courage and even I'll say grace like they just have this. You know, John Huffington, who was on my show, did 32 years sentenced to death in Maryland. Totally innocent. He's been completely exonerated. Prosecutor was disbarred for framing him, which almost never happens.

But in his case, it did. And I'll never forget, I was with him at an event and someone came up to him after I had told his story. So he walks up to him and he's a big guy, six four square jawed guy wearing a suit. He says to him, man, you don't look bitter. Like, what's going on here?

If I was you, I'd be out to get these guys that did this to me. I'd I'd be in the tower with a rifle, man. Look at it. And John looks him in the eye and goes, man, that's why the rear view mirror is small, but the windshield's big. And I was like, oh, yeah, give me more. You know, I mean, more. So that's the type of things you'll hear on the podcast. And of course, I'm so glad you had the Brian Banks story on.

It's such an important story. And podcasting has become such a powerful medium. No question. No doubt.

It's really no doubt because people can, you know, take it on the roads, keep it somewhere. Then listen when it's convenient or and then also just be affected by where you can tell long form stories and you can unpack stories clearly like the ones that you're doing on your pod. And it touches people in a certain way when it's in their ears, but not necessarily in their eyes. Obviously, you have a huge following on on visual mediums like YouTube and stuff and Roku. It's awesome. But it it has been a really important force for good. And, you know, if I can, I'd love to talk about a couple of other initiatives that we have. If you don't mind, let's take a break. We'll come back.

We'll finish up with that. That's Jason Flom right here on The Rich Eisen Show. 844-204-RICH is also a number to dial. Surface key signals such as job changes or which accounts you should prioritize and shows you hidden allies so you could find those buyers that are most likely to convert. Fueled by LinkedIn's one billion member platform, Sales Navigator gives you the most up to date first party data, enabling you to unlock conversations with the people that matter. Right now, you can try LinkedIn Sales Navigator and get a 60 day free trial at LinkedIn dot com slash direct. That is LinkedIn dot com slash direct for a 60 day free trial. Let LinkedIn Sales Navigator help you sell like a superstar today.

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E-I-S-E-N. That's I-B-O-T-T-A in the Google Play or App Store and use my code Aizen. Back here on the Roku channel, radio audience rejoins in two minutes. Jason, this is where we sometimes show some visuals. So I want to put this up.

This was from last month. There it is. You know where this is. Yes, that was our magical golf experience in the Hamptons. And it was so fun.

I mean, what a great group we got together. Well, I'm pointing out this shot because I almost hold it out, Jason. I almost hold it out.

I believe that's on six, I believe there. And nationally, you can see that there's the ball mark to the right. The reason why I bring this up is I topped the the first attempt, went 20 yards and I said, screw it, I'm going to peg up one more time.

And I almost jammed it in and you almost became that guy with the hole in one on your mulligan. Right. The question was, is would I have said anything?

You know, that's a good question. It was basically a heads up to me that I should never do that again, because what if I do hold it out and then become that guy? Yeah, that guy. And it would have cost you a lot of money to pay off the three guys plus the caddies and never tell anybody.

So, yeah, it would have been an expensive way to have. Certainly since one of them was Chase Utley, he's got enough money. I don't know how I could pay him off. Yeah, he's OK. And Brian Baumgarner was there, of course. He's a stick man. Holy cow. You know, he made two eagles on the front nine when we were playing together.

Crazy. Well, did Ray Scott actually? He did have a hole in one. Yeah, did Ray Scott have a hole in one? And I thought to myself when he came back and he told everybody, hey, I got a hole in one, everybody. I thought, what if I had said, I got a hole in three.

That's right. Zander Shoffley told me to lie, by the way. I told him that story. He said, you just go ahead and lie about it.

You just tell people you got one, which is great. I know. So just figured I'd share that moment with you on live streaming Roku channel radio and television here. I've got Jason Flom here on the Rich Eisen Show back here, everybody.

So I've got Jason Flom here. And before we have about four minutes to go. So I want to give you the floor on what what other I know it's just only four minutes, but that's all I have. What do you what other projects do you have from your podcasting world or something that you want to bring to to the audience here? Yeah, great. Thank you.

I am. I'm just very humbled at having the opportunity to be able to influence hearts and minds here on your show, Rich, but also through our podcasting channels. Of course, wrongful conviction is the show that that I host. I have other wonderful co-hosts like Maggie Feeling and Lauren by Pacheco. But on our show, we've expanded. So we had a show last year called Bone Valley that many of your listeners probably heard because it was downloaded millions and millions and millions of times. And it led to the eventual freeing of the subject of the podcast was a guy named Leo Scofield, who was wrongfully convicted of murdering his young wife when he was just 21 years old himself, served 36 years in prison in Florida. And on our show, the actual killer confessed on our show, sort of like sort of like the jinx. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like that.

And except this guy did it on purpose. That was a sort of an inadvertent admission that right that Durst made. But so Bone Valley is a fantastic show. I'm the it was hosted by Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist.

I recommend that highly. But I also want to shout out a show called The War on Drugs. I think it's important, especially as your audience is so, you know, hyper focused on sports. I mean, the intersection of sports and and, you know, the negative impact that certain wrongful convictions, I would say, of people, athletes who've done smoked weed or something and then have gotten disqualified, like Sha'Carri Richardson was, is something that we need to we need to fix that. We need to right that wrong.

And I'm so glad that she's made the Olympic team now. But on our War on Drugs show, which we did in partnership with the Stand Together Foundation, who've been phenomenal partners for us. We highlighted in the first season the history of the war on drugs, how it started 100 years ago, how we've managed to waste a trillion dollars on this failed, misguided, cruel social policy disaster, which has turned out to be almost like a continuation of, well, you know, mass incarceration is a continuation of slavery.

So there's there's intersectionality there, too. But without getting too deep in the weeds, the war on drugs is an important show. We covered the history of it. We covered how we got to a place where people are still serving huge sentences in America for weed.

Kevin Allen in Louisiana was sentenced to life for selling twenty dollars worth of weed. I mean, I wish these stories were anomalies, but there's too many of them to talk about now. And now the new season we're focused on, which comes out probably, well, about six months. We're focused on solutions. We're focused on how veterans are impacted, in particular, veteran access and how veterans we believe should have access to plant medicine.

I've been saying that for many, many years. It's federally funded. That should be part of their recovery. We talk about medical benefits and opportunities for scientific research to discover new cures and relief. We talk about entrepreneurship opportunities for people coming out of the system who were sent to prison because of addiction issues, which is a medical issue. To me, it couldn't be clearer that addiction is a medical issue.

I had that issue. Right. I didn't need to go to prison.

I needed to get, you know, get some help, which I did and went on to become a very, I think, productive citizen. Some might disagree. And and then just reducing the stigma around addiction itself.

Right. If you look back to the 80s, late 80s, right, there was stigmas around people that had, you know, HIV or this or that and all different things. We go as a society, we go through these phases and we eventually learn better. And it's time for us to learn better about our brothers and sisters who have addiction problems. I'm sure many people in your audience have either had these issues themselves or have a loved one who's had those issues.

And many of them have ended up going to prison because of a problem that is a problem that can, you know, can be addressed in a humane manner. And that's all available through the Wrongful Conviction podcast portal. And people can find that where we're all podcasts are required.

Yeah. You can go to Lava for Good or you can subscribe there, but you don't need to. You can listen to them for free with ads or you can listen to them a week early without ads by subscribing to Lava for Good. And so, yeah, there are others as well.

My daughter created a podcast called The Race that I'm super proud of. But if you go to Lava for Good, you'll see all of our different podcasts. And I think you'll you'll definitely take something away that will it will impact you one way or another. It'll make you mad. It'll make it'll inspire you.

It'll make you more better educated in dealing with these issues, which are some of the most important social justice issues of the day. Thanks for coming on, Jason Flom. And that'll wrap up this edition of The Rich Eisen Show. We're back on Roku in a sec. People are calling, riveting, incredibly moving, captivating and addicting. Binge seasons one and two of In the Red Clay now, wherever you listen.