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Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Rich Eisen. I know what I'm talking about.
That's the headline. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Brian Weber. OMG. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Oh my gosh.
And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. Welcome to the program. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Whatever you may be celebrating, it is great to have you with us. And we are live.
How can I demonstrate that we're live? Well, the game between the Spurs and the Knicks has not gotten underway, but once it does, once the tip-off occurs at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, I can keep you constantly updated. However, understanding I am not doing a radio show in 1994, and the vast majority of you do not care about the NBA, especially because the mighty NFL has hijacked this holiday as well, of far more importance coming up in just over an hour from now, the first of two NFL games gets underway. Kansas City on the road in Pittsburgh wants that game filled with playoff implications, as we always say as broadcasters. Never playoff ramifications, never playoff consequences, playoff implications. Also, when there's a touchdown and then the following kickoff is returned, remember we used to have kickoff returns before they came up with that gimmick rule in the NFL?
We always say, on the ensuing kickoff, the ball was returned to the 42-yard line. So hopefully by now I've demonstrated I am actually live. This is not A.I. Bri.
Nobody would waste the time nor the technology to replicate my dulcet tone. So I'll keep you company for the next three hours. I'm following the standard blueprint that I have deluded myself into thinking is a success. After all, I'm back. I was with you, as we found out yesterday. December 23rd, Monday, is now in some circles referred to as Christmas Adam. I don't even know the full significance.
I'm probably saying something I shouldn't say on the radio there. We know December 24th is Christmas Eve, and today is a very special edition of the Rich Eisen program. And if you've enjoyed the first 90 seconds, they've been riveting, I'll be back with you a week from today, ringing in the New Year live once more on New Year's Day. And just like New Year's Day, which traditionally has been wall-to-wall football of the college variety, now Christmas Day is a much more intriguing holiday.
If you're looking for ways to avoid your family like any rational person would, why do you think I volunteer to work every holiday? The NFL games are both not only playoff-driven, but good matchups, at least on paper. We're going to jump right in with our preview thoughts on the Chiefs and the Steelers. A Kansas City win at 14-1 locks up home field advantage throughout the playoffs in the AFC. And then as we ease into our number two, we'll turn our attention to the second game of the doubleheader. Baltimore and Houston, and I mentioned on paper, both these games have a lot that resonates even with casual fans.
However, I'm assuming a degree of sophistication, not only because you're part of the best audience in all of sports talk radio and video when it's a simulcast on the Roku channel. If you're listening to me on a holiday, you're either working like I am, a shut-in, or have no other options socially, so we might have some people who don't love sports. 10-5 Baltimore, on the road at 10-5 Houston, sounds spicy, but if you've been tracking the Texans, although they've already won the division for the second straight year, very different dynamic surrounding CJ Stroud and company, primarily because of injuries the last time we saw them just a handful of days ago. Remember, all four of these teams are playing their third game in the span of 11 days, which is just ludicrous, and I'll explain why I have strong opinions about that coming up. When we saw the Texans lose at Arrowhead, they lost much more than just a single game in the process. Tech Dell went down with such a gruesome knee injury. Reports indicate he's going to miss all of next year as well. You probably know that Staphon Diggs went down with the knee injury prior, so if the aerial game is going to have a chance, and they should because even though the Ravens have fortified their secondary over the last month or so, the biggest flaw for Baltimore is their defense.
If CJ Stroud's looking to air it out, it's going to be all Nico Collins all the time, and a steady diet of Joe Mixon, one would think as well. The phone lines are working. We demonstrated on Monday. We took a trifecta of calls, which has already hit my quota for all of next year, so if you want to keep the momentum going, understanding that many of you have far more significant things to do on this holiday, it's 8-4-4-2-0-4, 7-4-2-4.
Conversation never stops on social media. That is B.W. Weber, Weber with 2B. So, in addition to all of the relevant thoughts surrounding what should be a juicy doubleheader, a reminder, maybe I'll have more utility than normal, both of these games are streaming only.
It's a Netflix exclusive. It's coming up in 20 minutes. We'll put that in perspective. Does today's development solidify where our industry is going?
Is this really an inflection point? Is there no turning back from today moving forward? Or, depending on what Netflix does, and I'm not trying to be a Grinch, as I'm joined by a moth in the studio. This is phenomenal. I'm going to get deep here.
This might be something like It's a Wonderful Life. People are looking down, let's say the content gods, they know I'm a little bit lonely, and they said, hey, we can't afford Jiminy Cricket, not the simulcast, we'll put a moth in there. We'll go B.Web, as if I don't have enough distractions around me. But, Netflix, I would imagine, having worked for the NFL, former morning show host on NFL Network, that's how I met Rich years ago, and I am so lucky to have maintained that relationship, the NFL does not mess around. The NFL was well aware of what we, as a sporting public, endured, sitting through that farce, I can't even call it a fight, that scam between Mike Tyson, who had no business being allowed to get in the ring, and Jake Paul.
Beyond that nonsense, millions of people complained about buffering and freezing issues, so to me, that really is the key element to track today, in addition to what has the makings of a pair of compelling games. And Netflix pulled this off, and oh, by the way, Queen B, Beyonce, doing the halftime show coming up in game number two, back in her hometown of Houston. So, as we think about what the games coming up mean, in addition to five NBA games, which I will not address until later in the program, and I'm not going to deviate too far from making sure it's not just me bloviating on a big word, holiday edition of the program for three hours, coming up in hour number two, and we're wide open in the opening hour, if you want to pick up the phone, 844-204-7424, or hit me up on the X platform, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's, 1.40 Eastern Time, we're not going to get too granular with the five matchups themselves on the hardwood, but we'll talk about where the NBA is at this stage of the season, when we say hello to Jonathan von Tobolow of V-Sim, that great outlet in Vegas, and then we'll wrap up the program, 2.40 Eastern Time, taking you across the NFL, in addition to everything I'm going to cover, when I check in with my longtime friend, former radio partner, Nick Ferguson, the former NFL safety who has spent a decade in the league, playing for teams like the Texans and the Jets, coming up in hour number two, I, and I know it sounds like I'm looking for empathy or hazard pay, I got through nearly two full episodes of the Aaron Rodgers documentary before I had enough last night, what a way to celebrate the holidays, with a narcissist reminding us just how out of his mind he is, I'll give you some takeaways about that, and we'll spin it forward with Aaron's future in mind, and there's some news this morning, because the games always are drivers for the army of NFL insiders led by Adam Schefter, a timely leak, Pete Carroll wants back in, at the age of 73, Pete has made it known he wants to be a candidate for the Bears job, now Pete may be having a senior moment, perhaps he forgets that Caleb Williams no longer plays for USC, if Pete wants the USC job, my brethren, because I went to grad school there and wasted six figures to get a worthless degree, but I got a lot of alumni friends who would give Pete millions to take that job in a moment, the coaching carousel is heating up, that is also on the docket moving forward, as for the Chiefs, it's all in front of them today, they win and they are the top seed, meaning for all of the hand-rigging and all of the criticism and all of the hot takes, and most of it is grounded in reality about the Chiefs being the luckiest team we've ever seen in the NFL, with the 14 wins against merely the single defeat coming on the road in Western New York, another reason why I think it is clear Josh Allen is the MVP and it's not even close, taking nothing away from Lamar Jackson, although remember, we have humans voting for these awards, not cyborgs, it's not the BCS, I think in any instance of an MVP having the ability to go back to back, he's got to be even better the next year, which is unfair, and I realize if you look at the body of work of Lamar's numbers, they're comparable to last season, but the conventional wisdom is he's got a lot more help with the addition of Derrick Henry, and that makes sense, so I think there is voter fatigue that will slow Lamar down, and in no way am I overlooking Saquon Barkley, who's been transcended and has a realistic shot with two games remaining, and the scheduling gods like my content gods smiling with my version of Jiminy Cricket, the football gods smiling on us, it'll be the Eagles and the Giants, the John Marable, wrapping up a lost season for Big Blue, Saquon needs to average roughly 135 yards on the ground over the next two games, he'll break Eric Dickerson's single season rushing record set in 1984, and here's what I don't want to hear, although it is again, grounded in facts, yeah, but Saquon will have a 17th game, we've decided a long time ago there is no asterisk, in fact there was no asterisk if you want to go old school nerdy sports trivia, there's no asterisk in the Major League Baseball record book regarding Roger Maris and Babe Ruth, it just simply says Babe Ruth got his 60 home runs in 154 games, and Maris got 61 and 162, NFL does not care, and the reason they won't care is 17 games is merely a placeholder, they're going to 18 within my estimation, two to three years, and the next stop is 20, but Josh Allen and company have been the only team to actually give the Chiefs an L, with the full understanding, 14 and 1 is a mirage for a variety of reasons, I confirmed this morning just to get the right nugget in front of me, and I'm Brian Weber, enjoying this Christmas day with you, hop aboard at 8442047424 or we are open for business on the X platform, don't call Twitter or Elon will come after you as well, that is B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's, of the 14 wins, Kansas City eked out a victory in 11 close games, and think about all of the twists and turns, allowing the much improved Carolina Panthers, not going to bash Bryce Young, I think we all owe him an apology after the optics of him showing up to training camp this summer and looking like an 8th grader, you probably have no incentive to pay attention to Carolina, they played a lot better down the stretch, they gave the Chiefs all they could handle, how about the blocked field goal to preserve the win over Denver, probably the salient moment that sums up this entire season was the doink for the division, or the Raiders fiasco at the end of the Black Friday game, so you know that Kansas City has been living on the edge, and as somebody who does this for a living, and half of my job is to frame ideas, my biggest pet peeve, and I consume a lot of sports media, along with a lot of pizza, go back to the stripes reference, a contemporary reference here on the edge of 2025, people who don't have a topic involved, when I hear someone just rattling through arcane stats, I gotta remind myself, hit the button and go to music, what is the topic, and the topic when it comes to Kansas City is, is this inevitably going to catch up with them, is it going to be the law of averages kicking in at some point, and if you're a KC fan, here is the worry that some point is going to be a single elimination game come playoff time, however, I think we've learned along the way, with this dynastic run, and a chance to become the first team to three-peat as Super Bowl champions again, since old school sports is my monkey trick, I'll remind you that you can go back to the Browns decades ago with Otto Graham and Vince Lombardi winning three straight NFL championships, but we're talking about the current era, the reason the Chiefs are in this position is that they've been able to defy logic, rationality, and conventional wisdom every step of the way, because I was with you last Christmas, and what were we talking about at that point, that was before, because I left the radio station and I watched the end of the game, that was before the Raiders stunned the Chiefs at Arrowhead, they've lost precisely one game since then to the Bills, but a year ago we were saying, this team is limping into the playoffs, they have no business being considered a legitimate contender to go back to back, other than being the reigning champs, and you know what happened, they found a way. Now my issue with Kansas City this year comes down to the differential between what's happening now and the winning formula last year, and last year it was primarily the defense, and in terms of what's coming up today, I'll get confirmation during the break, Adam Shafter reporting a couple hours ago what we thought was going to be the case, Chris Jones, who is the third, arguably second most important player on the Chiefs, but with T-Sizzle in the house today, we'll go Mahomes, Kelsey, then Jones, Jones suffered a calf injury Saturday in the win over the Texans, unlikely to play today, and that's a massive break for Russell Wilson, who's looking like he's 110 years old again over the last couple weeks, Steelers limp in with back to back losses after Russ did have that renaissance mid-season, and then the talking points surrounding Wilson were, is he going to get a massive payday in free agency, have the Steelers found their quarterback solution, not only as a placeholder but perhaps for another two years, and now that thought process has changed because Russ, and some of that is a byproduct of who they played, remember, losses to the Eagles and the Ravens, but Russ looking more like the Wilson we saw latter stages of Seattle, and then the debacle that was all of last season in Denver, no Chris Jones, you flip it, good news for the Steelers on the injury front, and if I'm going to be fair with my observations about Russ, we have to mention he was missing, albeit a volatile weapon, because he I think thrives on the chaos, and I don't love the term diva, I think that's a slight, but wide receivers have egos, as the great Keyshawn Johnson once said, and sold a lot of books along the way, give me the damn ball, but George Pickens has been out, he slayed the play today, another reason why this game could be more competitive, beyond the fact that just about every time the Chiefs take the field, it's going to come down to at least the final five minutes, if not the final possession, but my concerns for Kansas City, even if they have home field advantage, which would mean Buffalo or Baltimore, and those are the only teams that I think have any business competing with Kansas City, in a largely mediocre AFC, and I'll continue to put the playoff picture in focus, there's not that much drama this year, I think also reflecting a largely mediocre season across the NFL, the product has been watered down, but you can't unring that bell, and it's only going to go worse because I think expansion is coming as well, but we'll save that for my podcast, I'll look into the future with B-Web, part of Rich Eisen's outstanding podcast network, Kansas City needs to tighten up defensively, that has been an issue throughout the year, and I'm talking not lazy metrics, I watch games, you watch games, just when it feels like they have something wrapped up, suddenly they give up a 45 yard pass play, and the game becomes far more competitive than it needs to be, the other question, since I mentioned Chris Jones, let's flip it to the other side of the line, that offensive line dealing with injuries, and Patrick Mahomes is limping for his life, although miraculously, he suffers a high ankle sprain a couple weeks ago, and what do you know, he looks like Usain Bolt, in his way of doing it, never going to win a 40 yard dash, but Mahomes, despite what was described as a bum wheel, had enough mobility to pick up some key first downs in the win over the Texans last week, so I'm not being contrarian, 14 and 1 tells us a lot about Kansas City, but the lazy Bill Parcells school of philosophy, you are what your record says you are, is not always true, and I think there's no more glaring example than the Chiefs, however, despite my concerns about them, concerns in air quotes, and remember, they've gotten healthier with the return of Pacheco and Hollywood Brown, they didn't play for the majority of the year, I'll pose the question to you, if we actually take a phone call today, at 844-204-7424, if the Chiefs achieve their goal as soon as today, and wrap up home field advantage throughout the AFC, who do you have a high degree of confidence in, that can go to Kansas City and beat the two time defending champs?
Baltimore, to me, is the clear answer, because while I just handed Josh Allen the MVP about 5 minutes ago, the defensive issues for the Bills are catching up to them, remember, they lost that shootout to the Rams, arguably could have lost the game on the road in Detroit after they squandered the early lead, heck, think about how good, and I can't blame you if you didn't watch the game, unless you had money on it, for our Patriot or Bills fam, how good Drake may look on the road in Buffalo last week, he really carved up the Bills defensive time, so I think we're all hoping for, unless you have a sports wager involved, a rematch of that scintillating opening night game in Kansas City that came down to millimeters, with likely out of the end zone by what, just a hair? That much, too bad it's not the simulcast, and I can't demonstrate how small the margin was. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, 8-4-4, 2-0-4, 7-4-2-4, is the number to call, you can always have at it on social media, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's, I can demonstrate them live because the game at MSG is underway, the first of five games on the NBA schedule, Victor Wembignana with an early flourish, he's got a couple buckets, and the Spurs have a 16-15 lead over the Knicks, that's the last live update I will give you regarding the NBA moving forward, but once the Chiefs and Steelers kick off, I will give you all the key developments of that game, just to make sure you don't miss a thing. We're talking NBA in 20 minutes in our media future, coming up, as I mentioned, I hope you have Netflix today, or if you live in the markets that are involved, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Houston, you'll get the game traditionally over the year. Is the streaming only double header on a new platform that has huge resources financially? Is this a sign that the future is already here for sports media?
That is next. Just getting warmed up on a very busy Christmas, after virtually no sports were available last night, I appreciate you spending part of the holiday with us, I'm Brian Weber in for Rich, this is the Rich Eisen Show. As a business owner, you're always going that extra mile to pursue your passions, so you deserve partners who can help you go further with premium benefits and rewards. The American Express Business Platinum card offers world-class business and travel benefits, so you can get more for your business wherever it takes you. With the Amex Business Platinum card, you can earn 1.5 times membership rewards points on select business purchases, and you can get complimentary access to more than 1,400 airport lounges worldwide, including the Centurion Lounge, so you can keep running your business while you're on the go. See how the Amex Business Platinum card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love.
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Learn what Amazon Q Business can do for you at AWS.com slash learn more. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. I'm Brian Weber, and I'm proudly sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you. Call, click Grainger.com, or just stop by.
844-204-7424 is the phone number, and I appreciate the holiday cheer. A rare development on social media. You can keep that going with the handle of B.W.
Weber, Weber with two B's. That is a very different vibe than what's going on between a pair of NFL insiders and good friends of the program. We have an ex-beef, formerly known as a Twitter beef, between Mike Florio and Adam Schefter regarding the Pete Carroll story that I alluded to to open the program that Schefter reported this morning.
I'll give you the details of insider on insider crime coming up to start hour number two of the program. And, as I mentioned in passing, a surprisingly light night in the world of sports. Now, a lot of that is by design. We often forget athletes are people, too. They have families, and nobody wants to unless you're someone who really loves your job like yours, truly. Remember, if you marry your job, it's always going to love you back, right? Nothing bad could happen in a volatile profession like sports media.
It's worked out so well for me along the way. But, as I was flipping around last night before I felt compelled to do, quote-unquote, more short prep and watch that horrendous documentary about Aaron Rodgers, I'll give you thoughts coming up on that in 30 minutes, and I flipped over. It took me seven different remote controls to do it. I went to Amazon, watched an excellent documentary about Chiefs of Holic, and I'll give you some thoughts about the superfan turned bank robber. We'll do that coming up. I'm not going to break it down, give you thumbs up, thumbs down. But if you're looking for something to watch for the rest of the week after we get through all the football today, I'll give you some picks there.
There was nothing on last night. In fact, just the one lousy bowl game in Hawaii. I'm not burying San Jose State. In fact, I thought about it. I did my third TV game of my career there in 1995. Yes, I'm dating myself at Spartan Stadium.
There's a T in there. It is odd other than a preference and having a degree, just a little bit of humanity, not asking professional athletes to go out there and apply their craft on Christmas Eve, but that was just a black hole of sports. And it feels like, and knowing the NFL, if there's an opportunity to monetize something, the league is going to find a way to do it. I'm surprised there was not a Christmas Eve game last night. Now, the issue is where we are on the calendar. And it's too bad I don't script this stuff.
Now, we could come in at 4 o'clock with a team of writers, have the orange juice and bagels, and my life would be easier. But I was sitting in this very studio a year ago talking about the fact that it is a sports crime, the NFL is playing on Christmas Day in the middle of the week, not again to be the guy who zigs when the world is zagging, not to be a hot take contrarian. Also, I wouldn't be invited back because Rich Eisen is the face of NFL Network. But I give Rich a great deal of credit. He gives me total editorial freedom and latitude because I hope that he knows. I'm never going to embarrass him nor the brand.
And I do choose my words and think through things carefully. There is no reason to have a professional football game in the latter stages of December on a Tuesday or a Wednesday. It's just not fair. Hence, the Chris Jones injury. Now, you could say, hey, tough guy, whoever you are, over enunciating.
And I'm Brian Weber. And for Rich Eisen, 844-204-7424, injuries are a part of sports. Especially in the NFL with 100 percent injury rate. Chris Jones could get hurt at any time, could have gotten hurt coming off the bus. I understand that point.
I'll concede it. But the probability, the likelihood, not that I say likely, the likelihood of injuries goes up with the short turnarounds. And more important, there's no time for rest and recovery. So these games have no business being played. I have a degree of empathy for these guys on the field, understanding there's no need for a GoFundMe financially.
And these are modern day warriors who signed up for this. But this is a pure cash grab by the NFL. In fact, if you don't know the particulars, they're getting 150 million bucks from Netflix for a pair of games.
That's nice work if you can get it. And last year was floated as an experiment. And the NFL said this is not going to become an annual tradition because we're aware, and I'm paraphrasing here, but the general dynamic was we're aware of player safety. And the tight turnaround asking these folks to come out on a Tuesday or Wednesday. No problems on a Monday, obviously, and Thursday now for years has been dominated by the NFL. It just is unseemly to me to have professional football out there on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
And let's just have a larger conversation if you want. This day is about family. Now, the NBA has always played on Christmas Day because it's allowed them to have national exposure. But you can argue, especially when I was growing up, we didn't gather around the TV opening the presents to watch the Knicks. It was on in the background. That's the difference between the NBA and the NFL. Also, I'm talking about 1984.
Once the NFL gets underway and that's going to happen in just over a half hour, people are so addicted to football, they're going to be thoroughly engrossed watching these games. And I'm not trying to pretend like I am the paragon of family values. I'm 55 years old. I have no kids.
I've never been married. But I am aware that some families like to spend some family time. And, hey, Dad, look at my bicycle. Not now, kid.
Mom's just throwing it to the end zone. But I realize I am largely talking to myself here and nothing's going to change. Now, the only possible snafu that could occur, because the check cleared for 150 mil a long time ago, is a technological issue. What happens if Jake Paul v. Mike Tyson foreshadowed with a bigger audience coming up?
Remember, this is a global property. You're throwing Beyonce at halftime of game number two in Houston. There's going to be a lot of eyeballs logging onto Netflix. Now, they are such a giant enterprise. I'm sure they learn from what happened in that debacle of a scam, I can't say fight, exhibition. How about that?
It'll be nice on a holiday. Between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, I am sure that hundreds of new engineers were hired. The servers were beefed up. The NFL will not stand for that kind of horrendous experience happening on their watch.
So, if there are issues, that, to me, is going to be the key takeaway because we know where this is all going. Other than sports, unfortunately, traditional broadcast TV and linear cable is the Titanic. And I mentioned I'm 55. I'm glad I'm 55. And people go, what are you, out of your mind?
And I'm actually in decent shape, so my back hasn't gone out. I would not want to be a 25-year-old broadcaster because our industry is slowly dying. As much as you read about guys like Stephen A. Smith making $20 million, the middle class is gone. It's all going to streaming sooner rather than later.
It's already there. As I'm talking about the NBA coming up, they've locked up a decade's worth of basketball rights for huge money starting next year. So, today feels like the dress rehearsal for the future of the NFL. They're always going to have games on broadcast to make sure they have the deepest reach.
And they don't want federal oversight, not to get political. People would freak out if they couldn't watch their local team on their local channel. But we're going to see more and more of what's happening today for the most basic and crass reason of them all.
In most instances in life, if you have a question, if there's something unresolved, simply follow the money and it will lead you in the right direction. Coming up as we close in on hour number two of the program, I'll give you the particulars of Mike Florio versus Adam Schefter, far more entertaining than that debacle on Netflix. If you can see it beyond the freezing screens and buffering issues of Paul versus Tyson, I will give you my thoughts on Aaron Rodgers, although I'll be transparent I didn't get to the final episode.
It got just that annoying. And we will talk more about the Steelers. I went very heavy on the Chiefs, understandably so, because they have the most on the line today, trying to clinch home field advantage throughout the AFC postseason. Steelers, though, still have an opportunity to win the division. What a realistic expectation for the Steelers, not only today, but once they get to the postseason, we'll tackle that coming up. Straight ahead, just a little bit of the NBA. It's a league in transition, and they're dealing with some significant challenges. I've heard this possibility thrown out there.
Would you be more interested in the NBA today, going head to head against the NFL, if today was opening day? I'll give you the specifics coming up as we roll on on this jam-packed hour number one of the Christmas Day edition of the program. I'm Brian Weber, always having a good time with you and for Rich on the Rich Eisen Show. This year, Santa's bringing the power of Energizer into his workshop. Whoa, the Energizer Bunny's got so much power. Wait, he's powered up all the toys. I think that means we're done for the year.
I love this bunny. He's the hardest working helper the North Pole has ever seen, and he wants all your gifts to have the power of the number one longest-lasting AA battery. So this holiday season, stock up on Santa's and the elves' favorite battery, Energizer Ultimate Lithium. Brian Weber back with you. Thank you for spending part of the holiday with us. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, whatever you're celebrating. I hope you're having a marvelous start to your day. 844-204-7424 or have at it on social media, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's, no guests here in the first hour of the program.
An hour from now, we'll incorporate our first outside voice unless you pick up the telephone. Talking NBA from a big picture point of view. When we say hello to Jonathan Von Tobel of V-Sin, went back and found the story I was talking about when I was going through the details of how the NFL wound up playing on Christmas Day last year. Remember, for decades, it was part of the league's general outlook and their PR narrative that we're not going to play on Christmas Day because it's important for the players to have the opportunity to share the holiday with their family. Now, in terms of how things landed last year, remember it's a leap year, I'm talking my way through my scheduling. Last year, December 25th was a Monday, so they had a little bit of cover to play the game for the first time and they got a big payday in the process. I do recall, though, the league framed last year as a one-off, an experiment, if you will, and they were very clear that the goal was to avoid playing in the middle of the week.
So if Christmas were to land on a Tuesday or Wednesday like this year, probably would not happen. And then, what do you know, Netflix said, what if there was something I could put in this hand? I don't know, a couple hundred million bucks, could you put a few NFL games in this hand? Pre-game show is underway, small sample size, I just threw Netflix into the X-Search feature, and unfortunately, it seems like some people are already dealing with buffering in the pre-game window. In fact, here's a good line from somebody known as Brux100, streaming quality is so low it could walk under a dime. That is bad news.
Now, I'm not going to come up with an overall takeaway, understanding that person could just have lousy bandwidth or Wi-Fi at home, but that is the huge challenge today. Can Netflix pull it off from a technical standpoint with a rabid NFL audience along with Queen Bee Nation, Beyonce performing at halftime in Game 2 in Houston? First of five NBA games underway, getting closer to halftime in New York City with the Spurs on top of the Knicks.
39-32, midway through the second quarter, big start for Victor Wambunyana, already has 15 points on his way gradually to becoming the face of the NBA. As we think of the challenges the league is currently going through, and we discussed this yesterday with Joe Vardon of The Athletic. If you missed the conversation, I'd encourage you to check out the podcast. And a reminder, if you miss any portion of any program of this fine platform that Rich has established, you can check it out anytime on demand on the podcast. Joe, when I asked him about the perception that the NBA not only getting crushed head-to-head by the NFL today as they were last year, but in an analysis of where the sport is heading into a new year is dealing with significant issues, he started with a changing of the guard of American stars, because he used the comp that it felt a little bit like the end of the Jordan era.
If you want to count the Wizards run, you can. But when Michael finally walked away and didn't come back, he saw some parallels to where we are in the current NBA, as much as Steph Curry arguably had the best individual performance of the year. Small sample size talking about what he did at the Olympics. I spent a long chunk of yesterday's program singing the praises of Shohei Ohtani, wondering why he did not get more real-time recognition for the 50-50 season. And that actually coalesces nicely with Joe Vardon of the athletics analysis. An American star is important, not to be jingoistic on a big, weird Wednesday, but we prefer our stars to be domestic. That's just how it works in every country.
Not about nationalism, it's just about being familiar with the folks and perhaps a language barrier. Well, who are the greatest American stars in the NBA right now? LeBron, who's 140 years old and finally showing signs of age this year. And Steph Curry, who's younger but dealing with more injuries and they're certainly heading towards the last, what do you want to call it, 25% of their careers?
Or in LeBron's instance, probably less, 10%. Who are the faces of the NBA? Great stars with incredible games and, in many cases, radiant personalities. Giannis Antetokounmpo. We're just talking pure basketball skillset.
Who's better than the Joker or Luka Doncic or Joel Embiid when he's actually on the court, either not dealing with the injury or getting thrown out like he did the other night, going head against Victor Buenaventura who is a unicorn. So that's one issue the NBA is dealing with. The other one, I think, is stylistic and I don't want to sound, I reference my age just to give you context because we all have our experiences shaped by the time in which we grew up when our sports fandom was most passionate. My old man used to use a line, everyone is the star of their own movie.
We see life through our own prism. I grew up in the Jordan NBA and actually I'm older than that. I grew up with Bird vs. Magic going back to the NCAA final in 1979 in Salt Lake City at the Huntsman Center.
Bird for Indiana State and Magic for Michigan State. That's my NBA. And professionally, I spent nine years on and off being the sideline reporter of the Golden State Warriors when they were terrible.
Yes, it was my fault. Don't blame Victor Alexander or Chris Gatling. The NBA I was immersed in actually had post play. There were great shooters. Dale Ellis, people don't remember him from a thousand years ago and of course Reggie Miller and Ray Allen. But not every shot was a three point shot.
That's where they've lost me. And I understand how we've evolved there because of Steph Curry. Especially because he's so relatable because Steph is an average sized human being. So if I was 12 growing up now, I would identify with Steph because I'd say, wait a minute, now forgetting the genetic advantage of being the son of an NBA player who was an excellent outside shooter and the maniacal work ethic, Steph became Steph because he spent thousands of hours in the gym and he still does.
He's a savant. But I can understand kids growing up saying, I can do that. I'm never going to be Shaq. I didn't win some sort of DNA lottery, but I can do the work theoretically or at least I can see a path forward.
Now that's me being romantic. What really happened to the NBA and college basketball for that matter is the analytics crowd took over and said, just keep shooting threes. Over the course of time, you have an arithmetic advantage. The calculus says, even if you miss more threes than you do twos, the makes are so valuable you're going to get a benefit over the long haul.
That's why it's all three pointers all the time. So forget about all of these nonsensical panaceas out there for the NBA. Today should be opening day and they can finish in August and minimize overlapping with the NFL. Well, there's a reason why nobody other than baseball, because it's 140 years old, plays sports in the summer because people have lives, especially dealing with terrible winter on the East Coast and in the Midwest.
Television ratings are at their rock bottom, rock bottom as I go Jim Ross without the draw in the summer months. So if the NBA actually went with this foolish plan, we'd be having the conversation about the sky is falling and the ratings have tanked even further. In my estimation, the two key components are load management, which unfortunately I do not have a solution for because these guys have generational wealth. If they don't play the 65 games necessary to earn all NBA honors to qualify for the supermax.
Well, when you've already made $100 million, you can leave 20 to 40 on the table load management. I just don't see the answer there because if you mandated players to play magically, you're going to have more mysterious injuries. How can you say someone's toe doesn't hurt even if the MRI is clean, but something the league could do right now or at the All-Star break? Remember the All-Star game has been destroyed because the players simply didn't care. The fix for the All-Star game was effort and I don't care if you have to bribe them because it worked for the NBA cup.
Those guys showed up and those games were entertaining as much as it got mocked on social media. The cure for the three is simple. Eliminate the corner three. It's too easy for these excellent outside shooters to knock down and or and I do both as an experiment. You got to cap the number of three point attempts, treat them like timeouts per game, make them more precious cargo and asset and make it part of the strategy.
If you had a limited number of three attempts, I think it's pretty straightforward to figure out. Teams would hang on to them to make sure if they were down by 10 points, they could still have a shot at throwing up two or three threes to carve into that lead because the three pointer has fundamentally changed the game in a negative way. I could print box scores from the last full slate of action. And if you are not paying attention and many of you aren't because the ratings continue to decline, although 30 seconds on that, the NBA is down because everything is down. The NFL is one of one. Think about your favorite show. Do you still have a favorite show on network television?
I can't think of one, but if you did, I can tell you. I'll give you one Saturday Night Live. They used to routinely get 10 million viewers. Now they get 4 million viewers. You can say the show isn't as good. The real answer is nobody's watching anything because we have 5000 options. But the NBA could enhance the probability of getting a bigger audience by cleaning up the game.
And the simplest fix is minimizing the number of threes. Six minutes to go. First half at MSG and the Spurs maintaining a lead over the Knicks 45-39. Guimignano working on a double-double.
He has 19.6 rebounds. I'll keep you updated when we come back. The game between the Chiefs and Steelers will be closer to getting underway once it starts. I'll keep you constantly updated and we'll talk about Aaron Rodgers. I'll save it for the next hour on the Rich Eisen Show. My World with Jeff Jarrett. Wherever you listen.
