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What do we always say? This is the Rich Eisen Show. They've almost self-loved themselves into this final. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Roger Bennett back here on the program.
They will play a quite daunting spain and every time they've won the nation has said, but you're terrible, you do. And Spain dealing in silverware once more. Today's guests, Apple TV lead MLS analyst, Taylor Twelman, senior NFL writer for The Athletic, Kevin Fishbane, co-creator of Netflix's Unstable, actor Rob Lowe. And now, it's Rich Eisen.
Oh yeah, baby. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. We're here live on this middle Monday of July, 2024.
Appreciate everybody hanging with us here over the next three hours. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial here on the show to have a conversation with us and hang out with us. Three guests, Taylor Twelman will be chiming in from Lake Tahoe where he took part in the American Century Championship. Kevin Fishbane who covers the Bears for The Athletic is going to join us because apparently Caleb Williams is unsigned.
So we've got that going on and I'll give you my two cents on that story if it is one. And then Rob Lowe returns to the Rich Eisen Show studio. It's been a while since we've had Rob. He's hanging on the wall in our hallway.
If you've ever come hung out with us, it's a neat spot. Rob's going to be joining us on this program. It's season two of the show Unstable. He and his son are acting together in this show together. His son is going to be on this program later on this month. So John Owen will be here. Rob is here, father and son on this show on Netflix.
Season two debuts on August 1st. So Rob's here in advance of that. It'll be good times. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you, Rich? I'm great, man.
Mike Del Tufo is in hiding. Good to see you over there. Jason Feller, how are you, Jay? I'm great.
Thanks for having me on. TJ Jefferson, good to see you over there. How are you, sir? Great, man. How are you guys doing?
Candle is lit. We're all good in this hood. Greatly appreciate it. We're live on the Roku channel. And it's kind of funny. That's how I started my day yesterday by watching the Roku channel. A very, very rare moment for me where watching the Roku channel made me very sad because we love our relationship with Roku and the Roku channel. Well, you're still torturing yourself watching the Yankees.
That's indeed. That's how my day started, watching Yankees Orioles on the Roku channel. By the way, a fun broadcast, Matt Vascurian, Jeff Nelson, who's been calling games for the Yes Network this year for the Yankees, and Ben McDonald.
He's outstanding. It was really a great broadcast, and it was a lot of fun. And the Yankees took a lead, top nine. Ben Rice, the young kid who had a three home run game, first Yankee rookie to ever do that.
Last week, this week, a big three run shot to hopefully sweep the Orioles and go into the All-Star break that way. And then Clay Holmes put some runners on base. Those ducks on the pond scored when the Yankees defense fell apart. And that's the way that one ended. What was Alex Verdugo doing?
Have we figured that out yet? Well, he kind of froze out there in left field. Kind of froze out there in left field.
Yeah. Well, bad news bears. And that's the way the day started. Then I flipped over to Fox to watch the Euro Cup final between Spain and England. And my day started with the Roku channel baseball, because Carlos Alcaraz made complete short work of- Very quick work. ... Jokovic in London, three straights, three straight sets, and that was wrapped up.
By the time I turned the television on, that thing was toast. It was all over. And so I watched the Euro Cup final that was outstanding television there, where it looked like maybe we'd get extra time there. But Spain broke through towards the very end and won 2-1, and they won the Cup again. And England got close again and did not win again. All three goals in the second half. It really was a fun watch. And then came the nightcap, Copa America, where all holy heck broke loose before the game. And then the game took place late, and I was complaining to Mike Del Tufo about an audio issue on Fox. He was then texting me back, it's not his fault, which I thought, is it true or not? Because I hear that all the time.
Everything ready? Correct. Everybody was blaming Del Tufo.
It was amazing. Lionel Messi's ankle blew up. You know how sometimes you watch a major league baseball player warm up with sort of a donut on the bat? Yep. That's what his ankle looked like.
So gross. I mean, it's just... And to see him come off the pitch and crying, crying, seeing him come off the pitch, and when you saw that ankle blow up like that, you're like, okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Now I know why he just couldn't continue anymore.
And then just to see somebody who's done so much and has accomplished so much, and this meant so much to him that he's crying, he's been moved to tears, really just broke my heart, and then watched a late goal in the second period of extra time before what we thought was what we thought was going to be penalty kicks to decide Copa America's final, Messi did in fact watch his teammates pick him up, and he picked up the trophy once again and had some help holding it because, again, that right ankle looked like, can we get this man some ice? It's kind of crazy. It was kind of like, you know, in Jacksonville, they couldn't get a cart for Trevor Lawrence. Right. Well, there's no ice in Miami.
That sounds kind of crazy. So that was my day of watching sports television, beginning tonight, morning to end. Great sports day. That was, oh, and watching celebrity golf as well. The American Century Championship, Marty Fish, our friend who once upon a time won us a all free travel golf bag. Travel bag I still use to this day. At that local charity golf tournament we played in a few years ago.
Red Cross we used to play. That's right. Also on the PGA Tour, Scottish Open, Bob McIntyre sinks, who is a Scott? Drains a 20-footer to win to beat Adam Scott.
That was awesome. Scott beat a Scott. Scott on Scott violence. Scott 1-T beat Scott 2-T. Nice.
To hoist the trophy. British Open this week. Great day. It's great. What a day. Love it.
Fantastic. The only thing that I would have changed was the way the Yankees-Orioles game ended. AL East is getting tight because Devers is putting his name into the MVP candidacy right now. You have to talk about him right now. If Sox were somehow to win this division, he would get a sniff, but Judge is such a massive favorite. Because he's hitting more home runs right now? Yeah. At 34th break. At any rate, a home run derby tonight. All three hours are all set up. Team USA just tipped off.
And Abu Dhabi playing Australia in the Olympic showcase. Oh. Is that why you were so happy, TJ? You mean just in general this morning? No, just that there's a showcase going on right now. I see this guy, man. By the way, I got a funny ping pong story to tell you guys from last night, but I'll wait till the end of the show.
Okay. Not on your own table because I assume it's still boxed up. And speaking about that one, yeah.
Someone tried to get me to donate it to him last night. Really funny. I'll tell you about it later. Do you know what's happening in two weeks? Two weeks. Training camps open up. At this point, two weeks from this day. I just saw a video of Omar Jackson showing up to Ravens camp.
Their veterans are reporting and you're going back to work one by one, slowly but surely. But two weeks from today, all 32 training camps will be open in the National Football League. And the top stories won't be, hey, Andy Reid and Kelsey's mom are starring in some Hallmark show together for the Chiefs. Like that won't be the top stories of the NFL.
Like we're not hunting and pecking. So in that regard, I'm just going to start diving in here early. Oh, and coming up with top five lists every single day.
I'm in this chair until training camps open. And I have a top five list to start this program today just to kick things off and see if it'll light a phone line up. And if it doesn't, it's OK. I have my top five teams that can go from worst to first.
Oh, as you know, that happens almost every year in the National Football League. By the way, I appreciate you reacting in that regard. Thank you. Thank you.
I am excited about it, too. Zero the hero. Well, I mean, there's only eight teams that can make this list and I've whittled it down to five. Yes. OK, I mean, I know it's three. You know, Brockman is going to lose his mind that one of them is obvious. That's not on the list.
Two of them chose third overall and would have chosen first overall if they didn't trade away that pick to the Chicago Bears. Those two are out, right? So we're whittling it down. It just depends on what order I put it in. Right. Hit it, please. One, two, three, four, five. Rich's top five. Here we go, everybody.
Here we go. My top five teams that can go from worst to first. You know, I'm high on this team.
I've been talking about it. I'm sniffing around them as the sleeper team for my AFC. For my AFC sleeper team this year. OK, I'm going with the Tennessee Titans here. The only reason why they're fifth on this list is because I think the AFC South is going to be Houston's and Jacksonville's to buy for with Houston having the pole position and then the Colts could potentially throw their hat in this ring, depending on how talented Anthony Richardson is and how he looks coming out of the gate. But folks, you can put this wide receiver room up against a ton of wide receiver rooms and it holds up as one of the best. Calvin Ridley, DeAndre Hopkins, Tyler Boyd, and then the running backs. Taji Spears, who we all know has taken some reps from Derek Henry and Tony Pollard. And then the offensive line is going to be coached by Bill Callahan, the new coach's dad, one of the best at it.
Jeffrey Simmons is a very prideful individual who came in this studio, says he's going to bring the heat and the noise. They also got Le'Jarius Snead in the offseason and last week, last Friday, we didn't talk about it. They picked up Jamal Adams, the prez, who I think has got a chip on his shoulder to prove that he still has it. Don't sleep on the Tennessee Titans, folks. Everybody keeps calling into the show to play the win loss game. And when their team is playing the Tennessee Titans, they give their team a W. Disrespect. The disrespect is real. But I put the Titans, I put the Titans fifth on this list because I don't know how close they're going to get to flip things around to be first in this division.
Fourth of the commanders, they might be my NFC sleeper team. I love your guy DQ, TJ. I mean, he worked wonders. OK, and so I know you don't believe it. I don't get this one at all. You don't believe it. I really don't. You don't believe it. I don't. They're going to be in the top five of the draft.
I don't know. You might be right, but there this kid, Jayden Daniels, we were talking about him at the draft and after the draft, well, like in the first two days after the draft, three days after draft, he's the most pro ready kid coming in. He's your Heisman Trophy winner. And then all of a sudden we're just wrapped up in Caleb mania and suddenly he's going to have a learning curve for Cliff Kingsbury and Terry McLaurin is no slouch. I saw Austin Eckler Friday here in town at an event that Variety was holding. And he's just jacked up, man. Oh, yeah.
And Brian Robinson Jr. Just to name a few. I don't know. I put them fourth on this list. Number three.
I don't know, man, but I got to put him on the list and I just put them here at three because of my guy. I'm putting the Chargers here. OK, putting the Chargers here. I thought you'd have them one.
Now honest. No, no, no, because the Kansas City Chiefs are back to back Super Bowl champs, dude. That's a heck of a team to unseat. That's that's that's a big and Jim is Jim's got to show up with and do his magic.
And I think he has. And you got to shut down Travis Kelsey. You got to figure Jim's going to figure out 87 to bracket him because honestly, other than the Spanos is, that's a guy who's owned the team and everyone is like, who's he going to throw to? Well, maybe not as much. And maybe he'll be part of a run attack, too.
I don't know. I can't wait to see what this is going to look like. But Jim's going to plus him up. And if he plus fives them to plus sevens them, if he plus sevens them to 12 wins, number two on this list of the Bears. The Bears. The Bears. I'm putting the Bears here just because that defense was top five from week seven on last year. Talked to Jalen Johnson about it on Friday's program.
Check it out again on our YouTube channel if you missed it. And then, dude, that Roma Dunze may win Offensive Rookie of the Year. Oh, he's got a shot. He sure does. The only reason why he wouldn't, one would think, is because he's got a rookie quarterback and there's two significant veterans to feed as well.
Yeah, he's got some big time talent around him. No, because Caleb wins it. Or Caleb could win it too.
You're correct, sir. What would you think if Roma Dunze is in line to win it? Yeah, Caleb is pretty good. Caleb's the reason why? Caleb's Caleb.
And it's a quarterback driven league? But Rome has the eyes and show rub that these other guys don't have either. Yeah, I know Caleb doesn't know. He has to show up. He's going to. Don't you worry. Hang out. Don't you fret.
Don't you fret. Number one on the list of the Cincinnati Bengals, guys. Joey Friggin' B. It's like such cheating that they finished last last year, you know. Joey Friggin' B, man.
Kind of like when the Spurs finished last when David Robinson got hurt and then they get Tim Duncan. Let me give you a name. Another name, nobody's talking about. Chase Brown. Chase Brown. Fast, one of the fastest players in the league.
Brother. He'll be available in so many fantasy leagues in round two, I think that kid, that kid is going to see where he is going to fit in very nicely. He was beginning to last year, too.
That's another one to just keep thinking about. And they got a ton of guys that want new contracts or upset. They didn't get him. And then Joe Burrow is going to come back. And I just have to hear everything that's out of his mouth right now is, you know, there's a big chip. He's ready.
There's a chip on his shoulder and a farmer's tan on his back from Paris. Well, I got Zach Moss, too. Yeah, that's my number one worst first team. Do you think we need one more? Sure, why not? What? All right, we'll get one more. Patriots. Nope. It's not the Panthers either. There's only one last choice.
By the way, I'm talking your language. They should have been on the way. Honestly, they should have been, like, third, dude.
Calvin Murray could win MVP. I know you keep saying that. I know you keep saying that alone. The San Francisco 49ers are in this division.
They want it. The loss hangover, dude. Super Bowl loss hangover. Guess what?
If that happens, you know who could swoop right in? The Rams. Yeah, man. playoff loss hangover. Excuse me. The Rams are really good, and they're going to be better. So that's why there are the one more here. But why not throw them on this list? Because, again, they may be my sleeper team in the NFC as well.
Now, if you were ranking the final two, where are those guys? Like, at seven, maybe? On the clock at Green Bay, pal. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah.
But that's my top five NFL teams who can go from worst to first. Let's take a break. We come back.
Taylor Twelman, he finished eighth in the American Century Championship. Ballin'. Yeah.
Yeah. And then, of course, as we all know, the Eurofinal and the Copa America final on the same day. We haven't spoken with him since Team USA, or pardon me, the US men's national team bounced their head coach. Lots to talk about, where the Apple TV analyst extraordinaire Taylor Twelman will join us next.
He's still got the soccer hair and pomade. Years later. Hear the beeps of a heart monitor. You could hear doctors and nurses in an emergency room as you're being treated for your injuries. You could hear the sound of worried family members in the hospital waiting room hoping to hear that you're OK. You could even hear the sound of people crying at a funeral. Because if you drive over the speed limit, whether by a lot or by a little, you could do damage that's beyond repair.
you could seriously injure yourself or worse you could hurt and even kill someone else. When you speed you put everyone on the road in danger. One way or another speeding catches up with you.
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Only at a Sleep Number store or sleepnumber.com. Back here on our program how was San Diego? You took the kid right? My goodness that city.
Every time you go down there you're like why don't I why don't I live here? It's just so beautiful but it was great. It was great. The Padres they kind of did some work in the outfield. They had a much bigger wiffleball field. They kind of put in like a Tony Gwynn Hall of Fame kind of thing. So they moved the wiffleball field a little bit back but Cage waited 45 minutes in line. All the kids were there.
So many kids just hitting bombs all the like 10-11 year olds. He gets up there but you get like four or five swings. First pitch boom rips it up the middle runs to first. I'm like we waited 45 minutes for one swing. What do you mean?
It was so funny. Usually like each kid kind of sits in there and hits like four or five pitches. Oh. Nobody runs bases. They just hit four or five just trying to hit home runs. So didn't you send him back?
Back to home? He literally just ran to first. He was so pumped. All the older kids were kind of dapping him up because he ripped it and he was like the youngest kid there. And then he waited for every person to hit and every time they hit he would go to second. He went station to station.
Oh he did. He went all the way around the bases. And nobody's supposed to run the bases. No, no, no.
The bases are just out there for show. Like. Well that's cool.
It's pretty funny. We had a good time. The Braves offense didn't show up. So Cage had the best offensive day? Cage had the best night. Anyone you were rooting for? Anyone in a Braves uniform Cage had the best night.
But it was fun. Beautiful. God the ballpark is just if you've never been to San Diego, Petco. Right. Oh just beautiful.
Gorgeous. So the Padres won that day? Padres won on Saturday.
Braves won yesterday. Okay. How about you? Fun time. Just a just a TJ weekend?
TJ at home weekend? Let's see. Yeah. You got to think about it.
I actually went to the bar last night to watch the soccer game. So. Whoa. You alright? Feeling alright? I should have led the show with that. Okay. You left huh? You guys act like I'm a hermit. Which I am kind of. But I do lead. Can't confirm.
That's some weird confirmation. 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 a light. Has the right product for you.
Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Lots of football to talk about with one of our favorites. Fresh off a top 10 finish in Lake Tahoe from the Apple TV coverage of the MLS. One of our favorites Taylor Twoman back here on the program. Congrats Taylor.
Thank you Rich. I was also top 10 for Miss Putts inside 15 feet. So I'm not sure I'm gonna take a lot of pride in the top 10 finish buddy. But it's alright. Come on. First time doing it. Dude.
It's good. Dude. The one time I played there. They didn't invite me back. I literally.
They may. You may have found my replace divot from a decade ago at some point. Walking past it. It's weird. There is a little bit of a there's a plaque right there that says Rich Eisen used a shovel here. It's weird.
Used a shovel here. Exactly. Alright. So let's let's get into it.
Obviously you were on the course yesterday. I'm sure you've caught up on on a few things. All of it. Okay. Yep.
Very good. Let's start with what happened in in Miami last night and and leading up to the game. Who was in charge there? Best you can tell what what who runs the event with that cut to such a garbage way for people to get into the stadium?
Buddy, you and I have been living in this country. We've been doing sports a long time. I think Miami has hosted some big events if I'm not mistaken. Yeah.
Right. So when you have less security than a a Hurricanes versus Ball State football game that tells you that Miami, the Dolphins family, Hard Rock was not in charge. From everything I can gather over the last 24 to 48 hours is that CONCACAF, the U.S. owners of these stadiums provided the base of what CONMEBOL should have done. They chose not to do that. They chose to take the money and it's gross. It's real gross.
And Rich, I tweeted this this morning because I think a lot of people are misconstruing this. It's the exact same thing that happened against England, Italy in the 2021 European Cup final. I was in the building. They blew down the gates. They came in in the middle of the game. Ian Dark and I are sitting there calling the game and people without tickets were coming into the press box sitting next to us. And so what what all the organizations need to do here, that was UEFA and initially they came out and blamed the fans and then UEFA studied it and they blamed Wembley and the FA. I think the same thing's gonna happen here. I do not think this is on anyone within the United States. I think this is CONMEBOL. They chose money over safety and that is a, that's a real black eye on that organization because they're gonna have to own up to it in the next 12 months here.
All right, two things to follow up on. First one, so you're sitting there with Ian Dark on live television and fans are just strolling into the press box taking a seat? Is that real?
Rich, yes Rich, no joke. It's the scariest I've ever felt in an environment and obviously all of us in the sports media world, we've read the horror stories of the hooligans back in the 80s and those awful stories Hillsboro and being one of those. Point being is that that was five days after the mask mandate was released and they were not prepared for just 20,000 people with no tickets bum-rushing the stadium. And I looked at Ian and I would elbow him here occasionally and I'm pointing this way, it was as uncomfortable as I've ever felt the stadium as a player and I've been to Boca versus River in Argentina. This was very uncomfortable so a lot of people throwing stones at South America.
I just want to remind people it happened in Europe as well. Yeah because that that you know reading up on on everything in advance of today's show that you know I was reading in South America there's a lot of fans who show up unticketed and and thus the organizers of last night's event should have realized that in advance. And so you're saying essentially this is not a bellwether for what's gonna happen during the World Cup in a couple years? No chance.
No chance. One, FIFA has already seen this and their security is exponentially better than anything that Conmable will have done in their past and in the future. Two, I think this helps the United States, Mexico, and Canada for the World Cup because they don't want to have that look again. But anyone saying the United States can't host a World Cup. Rich, they've hosted super they've hosted the biggest events in the world so don't tell me that the United States can't host this. This was 100% the United States owners, the United States Stadium, the infrastructure, they all offered the proper infrastructure for this tournament. Conmable chose less than what they did in 2016 when Copa America Centenario was in the exact same country. They didn't have any of this.
They chose to take the money, they chose to take the bigger paycheck, and unfortunately I think they're gonna have to write a bigger check to pay for some of the damages. Taylor Twelman here on the Rich Eisen show. I don't know if your sources are impeccable and plus obviously you know they're impeccable. Have you been able to determine if anybody's gotten Messi some ice for his ankle, Taylor? I've sent him a game ready. I've sent him a cold plunge.
I've sent him anything he needs and I will be flying this evening to make sure that he has a cold six-pack of Michelobolger right there for him so he can enjoy it. Truthfully, Rich, that ankle looks awful. That ankle looks really bad and to see the passion in his face, the tears coming out, you know that is a serious injury.
I think Inter Miami are trying to have their fingers crossed for the rest of the season here. Yeah, obviously this is gonna be a few weaker but let's let's discuss that moment where Messi comes off the pitch and he must know it's serious and he's got to be sitting here thinking I guess this is his Copa America final moment, right Taylor? Is that what's going through his head there? I think so.
I do. I also think what's in his head is he's trying to do everything he can to get ready for the 26 World Cup. I know publicly he said he's 50-50. I'm telling you from following him, watching him closely, he will play in that World Cup if he's healthy and I think that's all the mindset of that. This is the tail end of his career. He wants to play in that World Cup. He wants to be a hundred percent fit. He also wants to win an MLS Cup with Inter Miami in the moment. He wants to bring trophies in MLS the way David Beckham and Robbie Keane did for the Galaxy. So I just love the passion for him. He's done everything, Rich, and yet he's still worried about this moment and what he's doing for his club team and for his country. I've never seen him react that way and I've seen some nasty challenges on Lionel Messi. I have never seen him react that way and that's why I think that right ankle, it's a serious injury. Well I guess he's limping off into the sunset with DeMaria, right? For the last time on the same pitch wearing that. That's why you're so good at what you do. Well done.
Thank you, sir. And my god, just watching DeMaria play deep into that contest last night and then to come off when it's, well I shouldn't say it's obvious anything can happen, but it looked like this was going to be the end of the match because of the late goal that Argentina scored with Martinez just being an absolute goal scoring machine for that side. What was your sense of the actual soccer that we saw last night in Miami? It's amazing. It's amazing to think that you can bring off the leading goal scorer of the tournament off the bench. I mean it's remarkable.
Rich, honestly, this is where I think your fan base would appreciate this. I get asked millions of times during this week in Tahoe from all the biggest names in American sports, why can't the U.S. men's national team compete? Watch Argentina, Colombia. Argentina brought three world-class superstars in their respective positions off the bench. Deep into the contest. Until you get to that point, you're still behind the eight ball a little bit when you're playing against the Argentinas of the world. I think for anyone that watched the game last night, it was as contested as any final you have. That is very South American.
It's going to be a bloodbath. You've got to be physically up for the challenge, but mentally composed that you don't get caught up in, as I like to say, some of the baby games off the ball. But when I look at that team, Argentina, if Di Maria was healthy for the biggest finals in 14, in 16, and in 18, we're talking about a completely different history for Lionel Messi because if Di Maria is completely healthy, I think they win the 14 World Cup.
We're talking about two, three, four, five major trophies. He is the Robin to Messi's Batman. He was wonderful last night and he's 36. Few minutes left with Taylor Twelman here on the Rich Eisen Show. You just mentioned how you just saw how the Argentine national team, the Argentines, were able to just bring so many studs off the bench deep into the contest and that is a, you know, an idea as to how difficult things might be for the U.S. team to catch up. What about Spain throwing a 17-year-old kid out there, barely two days into being 17? How remarkable is Yamal Taylor?
Can you walk me through how we can see this? I mean, my son is about to turn 16 and, you know, and my wife and I are wondering, how are we gonna get him a learner's permit? You know what I mean? For real, it's crazy. Rich, I think about when I was 16, calling a girl's house to try to talk to a girl, the older brother, the dad answers and I'm just like, kind of need to change my underwear and this guy's playing the European Cup final.
So it's it's just, it's very difficult to try to grasp. Here's what I'll say, and I believe in positive energy and manifestation. To think that he and his parents took him to Barcelona, took a picture with Lionel Messi when he was four months old and that picture has been floating around the internet and his parents saying to Messi and anyone that want to listen, my son's gonna play for Barcelona one day.
And I love that story more than anything. And the reason why is because when you watch him play, he is not overwhelmed. He is completely in the moment. He's completely in the essence of the competition. He's scoring an unbelievable goal in the semi-final and then the final comes and he's completely content on who he is.
He's 17. He recently just 16 scored goals. So the point being Rich, Spain, the last 20 years, three European Championships, a World Cup. They've won 10 of the last 20 Champions Leagues. They've won a Women's World Cup and I'd argue they've completely changed the way you've looked at the game.
I'm not gonna sit here and pump my chest up but I am gonna tell you before the tournament started, I chose Spain and the biggest reason why is that golden generation was done. And so these 17 year old kids that grew up watching, arguably the greatest national team in the world, 2008 to 2012, Spanish national team that won two euros and a World Cup, they were all gone. So now they had a chip on their shoulder but they're playing different. Yamal's different.
He's got a verticality to his game. They're not a thousand passes to death, knocking it around, tiki-tocking. They can play a little bit more explosive.
They were as good of a team as I've watched and I'm not sure you're ever gonna see another team go to euros, play seven games and win all seven. What are the English thinking today? This is just what the English do, isn't it? Isn't it?
Well, they would have lost in penalty kicks if you really want to go the ultimate here as opposed to giving up a late goal after they're getting the equalizer out of nowhere. But, you know. Rich, it's a great question. Think about it. Wayne Rooney, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Steven Jarrett, Paul Scholes, that golden generation, they never made a final.
What is this? Three finals? I lost four major tournaments or at least whatever it is. Gareth Southgate has been criticized for being boring.
I've been one of those. But he's been effective. But that picture you're showing right there, Harry Kane's been in some massive games.
Massive games. And if I'm not mistaken, I think it's six finals in his career. Zero goals, zero sis. He has more yellow cards than shots on goal. And that's difficult because any goal scorer will tell you, me being one of them, when you get to that game, do you have the extra five percent?
Ten percent that moment. I think Harry Kane has been a fantastic player, but I think the English media is always gonna look at him and say, in the biggest games, where was he? And I think that's unfortunate, but I think that's also part of the Gareth Southgate system of kind of playing a little reserved versus trying to blow the doors off the thing and trying to win the game 3-2 or 2-1. I'd love to see Argentina play Spain now, but that's called a World Cup, right? So if they did play one another, and let's say Messi's ankle didn't look, you know, like a softball in the middle of it, who would win? I like Spain. I like Spain. I just think you give them an extra 18 months before this World Cup comes, buddy. I just, listen, if they played tomorrow and everyone was fit, I think Argentina would try to make it a very ugly game.
And I think it's difficult. Spain technically is just superior to any other team in the world, and they understand their identity. Make no mistake about it, they've got a couple weaknesses.
Defending in transitions, one of them. Where Argentina thrives, I just love the way Spain played. Again, seven Euro games, they won all seven. There's no draws in there, there's no slippy, weird moments. They were definitive and they blew the doors off the thing, and I just think in two years from now they could come to the United States and win the World Cup.
Yeah, Yamal might be shaving by then. Do you want to take your two cents before I let you go on the US men's national team firing Greg Berhalter, and your thoughts on that and what should happen next? I'm glad there was a sign of accountability, Rich. I think you got to send it to your fans, you got to send it to your players, but most importantly, you got to send it to the sponsors and to the people that are gonna be behind this thing in 18, 20 months when the World Cup is here.
My concern is, what do you do now? And I've said this and I'm gonna stay on this. You go get the biggest, most experienced name you can get right now, you offer him 20 months. I don't need you to worry about anything other than the World Cup. Get this group of players ready to play and we will worry about 5, 10, 15 years down the road.
That's got to be an experienced name, it's got to be someone from the international cloth. It cannot be a United States American, because right now, I'm a United States American, I don't, I don't have anyone that has the international experience managing the game. I'm not talking about players, I'm talking about managing the game. I also want my young American coaches right now, Rich, that I think have a real shot at doing this. Allow them to grow. Steve, Toronto has barely been a manager for three years.
Pat Noonan's barely been a manager for three years. Let them grow, give them time to really figure out who they are, but go get a big name. And the other one, Rich, I want someone when the lights on, the cameras on, they take the attention away from this golden generation of players. You know what I mean? Take the attention away from Pulisic, McKinney, Adams, and all these guys and put the attention on them and really get the guys ready to go in 20 months.
And I think they can, but I'm still holding out that they're not going to be able to pull off the biggest name they can on the international market. Well, Klopp already said no, right? So who would you if, or, or you just got to, I'm just looking at your face. I would go down the line. I would go down the line. I would say, okay, Klopp, are you a hundred percent no? Because if it's 95 percent and you want to come in January of 2025, then I can make that work.
If it's no, it's no. I'm calling Jose Mourinho. What is it? What do you want to do? Because Jose Mourinho in Turkey has an out clause January 1, 2025. I'm talking to everybody. And Rich, I've taken some criticism from U S soccer fans on this, but I still believe talk to a hundred people. If you need to just talk to people, see who they are, but you can't waste 14 months to what you did after the 22 world cup to then rehire Greg Berhalter. This process should have been done then. So now you're here. You gotta, you gotta expedite it. You gotta be quick, but go talk to everybody. There's one name that I've said from the beginning that has a real interest in this, and that's Patrick Viera.
He won a world cup as a player. He loves the American player, but he also walks into that room and every single player's tail is going to be between their legs because he doesn't hold back on anyone. So if that's the guy I got to go get, go get it. But I'm talking to everybody and I'm talking to everybody with him. 48 hours. It's close to Roy Kent as you can get is what it sounds like right there. All right. See what he's saying.
I don't know if you want a good one. They should just bring back as an interim coach, Bill Belichick, have them stand on the sideline, throw a headset on it, just to piss off everybody else in the international world and say, here's what we're doing. You gave, you just gave Chris, you're so happy. He thinks that last week he and Saban should be co co co-head coaches like that, you know, like, uh, Nick and Bill Lasso guaranteed, you know, would you imagine, would you imagine they did the three friendlies? They went all three friendlies, nine, zero combined score.
And all they did was sit on the headset and talk to each other on the sideline. Matt. Patricia would be awesome too. You know, give him away. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That pencil behind the ear.
What's the, what are you writing down? Get rid of that now. No, he's in, he's in the Northeast.
He knows the whole drill for sure. Miss me with Patricia dude. Next up a LAFC, a real song like a Wednesday night, uh, both teams tied to top the Western conference standings.
You got that for Apple TV. You're back in the mix ready to go. I'm leaving Tahoe, dropping the kids off in Boston, taking the red out and then go right back to LA. It should be a good one. Awesome.
Absolutely. Thanks for the time here. And again, congrats.
That is no slouch, man. Finishing eighth at this tournament. I don't know if people told you, but I was watching the final holes and the announcers were saying, you've got the stuff to win this thing one day. They literally said that I do, but that means Marty fish has to not show up. If Marty doesn't show up rich, I got a shot. I hear you, man.
He did look great. Taylor, thanks for the time. A safe flight, a crisscross in the country. Always love your, your passion, your knowledge and friendship. Thanks, sir. Thanks brother, man.
Taylor Twelman, everybody check him out on Apple TV, Wednesday night, LAFC and Real Salt Lake back at it with the MLS season right here on the Rich Eyes and Show. Okay, let's take a break. I've got a couple more cents to give about what happened.
Um, last night at the hard rock in South Florida, and then we'll get you set for our number two overreaction Monday and a chat on the Chicago Bears and what is going on with their quarterbacks contract. That's next. This is the Rich Eyes and Show. Let's talk O'Reilly Auto parts people. You love their jingle. You're gonna love their friendly, helpful service even better because they're in the business of keeping your car on the road and the parts knowledge they have. It's all you need for your maintenance and repairs. They've got thousands of parts and accessories in stock, either in store or online.
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He wanted to change the culture and he wanted me to be a part of that. With Believe you get immediate reactions, game previews, and expert analysis from all 32 teams plus all of your favorite college teams. He's just rare in just about everything he does. Sideline to sideline, end zone to end zone. This was good for everybody. Just search Believe. That's B-L-E-A-V Podcast wherever you listen. Put your hands together for the most recent Heisman Trophy winner, Kyler Murray. Where is that trophy right now? I sleep next to it. It's on your nightstand? Yeah. So it's good morning Heisman every day? Yeah, tight. Seriously it's right there next to it like there's a night table next to Kyler Murray's bed and the Heisman Trophy is resting. Yes sir.
That's amazing. Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and you've had it in your arms like you've been spooning with it? There's no spooning. There's no Heisman spooning? By the way, I would absolutely spoon with the Heisman if I won the Heisman. Now taking part in the Rich Eisen Show Throw Challenge, Kyler Murray, is this the first NFL Duke ball that you have thrown?
That's an NFL. Oh my God, you won't even answer that. Go for it Kyler.
Go for it. That's one. Two. Three. By the way, that's four. Those are all Duke NFL footballs. Just wanted everyone to know that.
First overall pick. That's four. That's five.
These are the footballs Kurt Warner complained about. That's six. That's seven. Oh my goodness. Let's get some. Here we go. Keep going. You got one more? Hold on, this is getting bad. Here we go. No.
Yeah, it's getting bad. You got seven for first seven. Good enough. Congratulations, you won the Heisman and it seems the Rich Eisen throwing contest in the same year. That's a first.
No one could ever take that away from you. Ah yes, five years later we're still talking about him. Back on the Rich Eisen Show.
Here we are everybody. Listen, I've been to Super Bowls at Hard Rock in South Florida and when I saw the scene outside of Copa America and saw the rushing of the gates and then the one that really got me was seeing fans gaining access to the field like they were John McClane in Nakatomi Plaza like just crawling into the vents. Like Tom Cruise. Honestly, I mean look at that. Like first of all, how do you gain access to that area and then decide we're gonna go in through the vents? Yeah, how do you know where that leads to? Good question. Like do you have a blueprint? Good question.
Schematics. And so I place the blame, obviously I was also wondering, you know, why would so many people show up without tickets? Right? And now that's a naive way to say or just an honest way of saying I'm unfamiliar with this phenomenon that Taylor Twelman just mentioned isn't just a phenomenon to South America soccer clubs and fans that people just show up without tickets and try and get in the stadium and en masse said that happened at the Euro Cup final a few years ago.
Yeah. So because it's not just like downtown Miami. You've got to really get on, you got to get in the car and you got to get out there or you got to take public transpo way out. It's not just like hanging, it's not like again like Wrigleyville where it's just right in the middle of a very large population area. But just to the point of here why it is on the individuals that were running this tournament and I don't know if there was any pushback from those who know better at hard rock. But if you go to a Super Bowl, when you go to a Super Bowl in South Florida or anywhere else, there are multiple checkpoints. You can't get within a quarter mile of the gate to enter the stadium unless you have a ticket. There are multiple checkpoints. Basically, if you're dropped off in the parking lot, immediately you've got to go through a metal detector area and show your ticket there. And then once you're through that, you've got to show your ticket again.
Then you got to show your ticket a third time in some places. Where the hell was that yesterday? I mean it was as if it was Dolphins Panthers week two, just strolling up. What an absolute abomination and I think somebody or some class action is going to make whatever it was going down at the Super Bowl in the Jones Mahal years ago. Looked like child's play. You know, I'm seeing people who were like holding up their tickets that they spent thousands of dollars to... $2,000 ticket.
Well, not just buy the ticket, but to get to South Florida. They couldn't gain access. They couldn't get in. Because at one point they're like, just let's let everyone in. Because it was so dangerous on the other side of the closed gate.
How the hell does that happen? They underestimated the power of soccer. Well, it's not just that they underestimated...
I don't know. They completely whiffed on the other perimeters that need to be had for a major sporting event. This is a Copa America final. Whole world's watching. Certainly multiple hemispheres are watching. And Taylor Twelman just came on the show and laid it completely at the feet at Conma Bowl, which has been running, which runs Copa America. And it's the passionate fan bases.
It's Columbia and Argentina that are just so popular, not just in their own countries, but South Florida and worldwide. Now, obviously the fans need to come and behave. I mean, you saw some of them were throwing like popcorn all over the place. And I saw a footage of an escalator being demolished. What the hell?
So, you know, obviously there's a lot of blame to go around, but the bottom line is I can't believe I'm... It's like security 101 for a massive event. Certainly if it's an event where fan bases have been known to show up unticketed to try and gain access. And we just saw what happened, you know, after Columbia, Uruguay up in the stands. Like, how do you not come prepared at a stadium that has been shut down for the Super Bowl and big events like that before? Multiple checkpoints push the perimeter out.
Thus, the perimeter doesn't start at the turnstile. I couldn't believe that. Did they have a halftime show for the Euro Cup Final? I don't think they did, right?
They just treated it just like any other... But the Copa America halftime show... Shakira up there. Oh, baby, Cage was locked in. He wasn't the only one. Well, the Colombian coach apparently wasn't happy about it because it pushed... Was it 25 minutes? It was so long. It was worth every second. Let me tell you who wasn't complaining about that. Me and Cage. Boom! Shakira, Shakira.
Oh my goodness, you guys, man. She did one song completely in Spanish, Brazil. What is her native tongue?
It was phenomenal. She's from Colombia. Colombian. What are they speaking, Colombia? Colombian?
No, it's this guy. Anyway, it was amazing. I didn't know what she was saying, but I was glued. I was locked in.
I didn't even blink. Spanish criticism. She speaks and she's fluent in the hip snot line. Let me tell you something.
Them hips say you never told a tale, a false tale. That was just... That was absurd. Was there a game played last night? All right. Very good. All right. That'll wrap up our number one's coverage. But it's just... Hey, accountable.
Multiple layers of perimeter. Simple. They know how to do it in South Florida. One other thing to get ready.
Kevin Fishbane of The Athletic, who covers the Bears, will be joining us shortly. Caleb Williams let it slip at a charity event, or was he asked? I don't know, straight up. Yeah, I don't have a contract. But he's not in charge of that. He's not handling that.
I was shocked to hear that, weren't you? My lawyer's an attorney and everybody, the head of the Bears, everybody up there up top is handling that. That's not my position that I'm handling.
So is it all about the offset and all the others? Who the hell knows? What's the holdup? I don't know. Number one pick.
You're slotted. We know what you're getting. Well, yeah.
Well, then there's got to be some language that I don't know. Here's my guess. It won't amount to anything. This will get done. He's waiting on his 0.1% of Bears ownership?
I don't know, right? The side deal that everyone thinks is going to happen, right? By the way, the Pirates need to make one of those deals with Paul Skeans. Do anything you can to keep that guy in Pittsburgh. Well, they got him for at least, what, three more years? That'll look great in pinstripes. That's the sad thing.
Well, I mean, look, I'd love to have him on the Mets, but the Pirates need to really keep him. He turned it on you. I know that. Well, he's got the owner that just says, I don't care. Yeah. Your owners care a lot now, apparently. Apparently so. Listen, same with you. Who cares less about winning, the Steinbenders or the Fenway group? All I know is it helps to have Bobby Axelrod on your team. For real.
Although he swears it's not him. It's the same thing with the Billions writers. Kevin Fish painted the athletic to tell us what's up in Chicago with overreaction Monday after that. Welcome to Talkville, the Ultimate Smallville Rewatch Podcast. Season four, I'm glad that it's over. I'm glad that it's over. As we know now that season five is supposed to be one of our better seasons. Obviously the tattoo storyline, you know how I feel about that. You hating that storyline brought me a lot of joy because I kept waiting to see how it was going to keep going and then how they would somehow settle it. Binge seasons one through four of Talkville before season five begins, wherever you listen.
