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Howard dismissed. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles, Ohio State National Champions beating Notre Dame tonight, the ninth national championship. Today's guests, actor Chris Sullivan, Chiefs defensive end George Koulaptis, Fox Sports rules analyst Mike Pereira, and now it's Rich Eisen. All right, our number two, the Rich Eisen Show is on the air, whether you're watching us, streaming us live on the Roku channel, or you're listening to us live on 120 radio affiliates coast to coast, terrestrial on the Infinity Sports Network or Sirius XM channel 375. You can call us at 844-204-RICH, number to dial if you're on hold. Stay on hold. We will take your calls. But our hour number two of this broadcast welcomes in for the first time in person on the show, a man who called in during the COVID years in support of the show This Is Us that earned him not one, but two Emmy nominations for his role as Toby.
He's in the new Steven Soderbergh film called Presence, available in theaters nationwide this Friday. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Sullivan back here on the program. Good to see you in person, sir. Thanks for having me.
You bet, man. How's everything? Everything's good. Everything's good.
We're we're safe, safely away from any of the fires. Right. And the kids are staying indoors. How old are your kids? Two and four.
Oh, my gosh. Yeah, you're in it. So I'm just very glad to be out of the house, hanging out with you guys. So I'm free for the next hour or two. So whatever you guys want to do.
The Rich Eisen Show studio is an empty nest every day, with the exception of the children who reside here. That's us on the air. Is that why you were eyeing my best dad ever sign? Yes, I see.
Now, I was under the assumption that I was the best dad ever. And then I see this official signage and now I have five questions. Well, I mean, two and four is in the soup, sir.
Yes. Yes, we are. We are coming. Girl, what do you have?
We have a two year old girl and a four year old boy. OK, so we're coming back alive, as my wife puts it, coming back into the world. Which one's your favorite?
Which one's my favorite? Oh, no. I know it's a rough question right off the bat. I knew you guys were going to ask the hard questions. Excuse me. First of all, don't take the bait, Chris, because you're maybe unaware of what's happening here.
They've been trying to get me. Oh, I see. Because I have three. OK. Two boys and a girl. Right. The girl's the youngest. Right.
Who everybody, everybody here assumes she's my favorite. Sure. And I am not ever going to even endeavor answering this question.
Because the one who asked it. Right. Not only doesn't have children. Right. Right.
Right. Let me just. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But I'm sorry to go in this direction. No, no, no.
Let's go. Hoskins, you know where I'm going to go with this. For a child who he went to, he went to a Monday Night Raw locally here in Los Angeles just a couple of weeks ago. Because he's friends with Ashton Kutcher. OK. And a godfather to his son, Bear, who was on camera for Monday Night Raw.
TJ jumped into. Whose son's name is Bear? Ashton Kutcher's. Oh, my son's name is Bear. Are you serious? That's right. Whoa. Yeah. Well, that's Bear Kutcher on the screen only.
We obscured the part of his face that could identify him. OK. For a second I was going to say yikes. But TJ jumped in to the frame room. Oh, yes. There he is.
Oh, yeah. I see him. I see him. Who is a favorite child? When he would actually jump into the frame of a kid who would know that was happy to be on television. Ashton looks really happy that you're there TJ.
Happy to have you. Why is your son named Bear? Well, my wife during her pregnancy had a recurring dream and she was stuck on this frozen tundra and there was this snowstorm happening all around her. And this polar bear kept coming to her out of the storm and wrapping her up and keeping her safe and keeping her warm. And she woke up one day and was like, what about Bear? And we had this long list.
Bear was not on it. And I was like, that's it. That's perfect. Well, better. That's amazing.
What a story. So was polar wasn't on a list? Polar, yeah. Bear comma polar.
No, but that's wild. Well, that's so cool. But to answer, I will answer the question, because as you said, I am in the soup.
And my favorite child is whichever one will put their pants on willingly. So it changes day to day. And who knows, today could be your day if you're feeling willing. Whoever listens the best is what you're saying. Listen.
It's not even about listening. Just put your pants on. We have to go outside.
I only have one and some days my favorite kid is zero. Because, well, Cage isn't much of a pants wearer. You know, clothes are optional at that point. Yeah. Let's clip that and send it to him. I like it.
For later on. That's right. Well, it's terrific. That's right. Well, I can't wait for Bear one day to watch The Nick.
Yeah. How old will Bear have to be to watch The Nick? Back in the day with Soderbergh. I think we'll call it 18.
A proper adult. It's a brutal show. Let's talk about this new Soderbergh, man. This new Soderbergh film that you are in. It's called Presence about a supernatural presence in a house. Monitoring, I guess, is one way to put it.
A family's affairs or something that's happening. And it is a subjective camera film. So every shot is of the presence watching you.
Yeah. Steven himself had a supernatural experience in a house that he owned. And it occurred to him, what would it be like, not for a human having a supernatural experience, but for the ghost to be experiencing a new family moving into a house. And so the entire film is shot from the perspective of the presence. And so when you're going about your business of acting this film, you and Lucy Liu and the rest of this cast, did you know where the camera was or that was part and parcel of not knowing was part and parcel of your gig? You know, Steven is, as you know, is an innovator when it comes to filmmaking. He will not make a project unless he is challenging himself in some great way.
Right. And when I first met with him about this project, the first thing he did was show me the rig. He's like, here's the camera. I've built this special rig.
It's only eight pounds. So I can hold it out here in front of myself because Steven is essentially playing the presence, the presence, the ghost. And after about a day or two, he just completely disappeared. He's dressed all in black. He's got the camera.
There's a boom mic guy hiding behind him. And he would float around and shoot these scenes. And because it is all from this first person perspective, there's not a bunch of cuts.
There's not a bunch of edits. And so each scene is like this little piece of theater. And it was, we shot the film. We were slated to shoot it in 14 days.
We shot it in 11 days. Because I was going to ask you, knowing him and the way that he goes about his business, it wasn't like, hey, do it again because I'm thinking maybe the presence should be over here. He knew exactly where the presence was going to be the entire time, right? Steven, the best part about working with Steven is not only is he directing, but for those that don't know, he operates his own camera and he edits all his own footage. So when you see a Steven Soderbergh project, it is one of the rare occasions when you are seeing a singular vision of one person. So he knows what he wants to shoot.
He knows what he doesn't want to shoot. And on the day we wrapped, the movie was done. He had already edited it all together.
Get out of here. I texted him at the end of the day. He finished putting it together in the car on the way home. That's not even possible. Wow.
He's a genius and he's a pleasure to work with. So technically, when you wrapped this movie, you could have watched it that night. Yeah. He would have shown it to you too if you asked. You want to see it? Dude.
When we were doing the Nick, he would have an editing assistant who would be taking clips from the day, who would hand him a hard drive, he would get in his car, go back to Manhattan, and by the time he was home, he had already emailed us cuts of those scenes with temporary music. To be like, look what we did today. There's nobody like him. That gives a new meaning to the word daily. That's right. Seriously. I mean, it's unreal. How does that make your job as an actor easier?
Does it? Or you're like, I better get this right because I know he wants to edit it on the commute home. Listen, I think in two seasons of The Nick, I received one acting note from him that wasn't, hey, can you move a little bit that way?
Or can you speed it up a little bit? Whatever the thing was. He does a lot of his work with Carmen Cuba, his casting director, in casting. And he hires you to do a job and he trusts that you will show up and do it.
And he has obviously three or four things going on that he's worried about and everybody shows up, they're prepared, everybody does their job, and it all works out. It really is amazing. Every single time.
CJ. Unreal. How did you wind up on the Soderbergh radar screen to begin with, Chris? You know, I was living in New York.
I was doing a bunch of Broadway shows and my manager at that time was like, listen, you could do theater forever, but you need to take a break because I got to get you on, we got to get more film and TV work going. Sure. So I took a break and immediately he got me in with Carmen Cuba. I am a six foot four Irishman, Christopher Joseph Sullivan. Yes, sir.
The one accent that I had ready to go from the time I was like 15 years old was an Irish accent. Yes. And so when this role came up, I was just, I was ready.
I was ready to do it. I know the role turned out to be an Irishman. Yeah. So he's an Irish immigrant ambulance driver. Correct. Who essentially is a man with a horse and a wagon. Back in the day.
In 1900 New York City. Right. And so you didn't make him Irish.
He was supposed to be Irish. Yeah. And then you went in and you.
That's right. And you know, Steven, I never met Steven before, before I was cast. I saw, I met with his casting director.
She put me on tape and got the part. And now you check out presence available in theaters nationwide this Friday. And, and you're, you've got a, a rewatch podcast called that was us. Oh yeah.
Which is great. Sterling K Brown and Mandy Moore and you every single Tuesday, just looking back at the, at the show. Yeah. We, you know, the show flew by for us. It was, you know, six seasons and, you know, it was one of those shows that was a huge hit that the, the creator Dan Fogelman decided to end. You know, the, everybody wanted him to continue on. Everybody wanted more episodes.
The whole cast too? Yeah. I mean, sure. We would have done it. It was a, it was a pleasure to do.
Why? Because it's, because the subject matter was pretty brutal sometimes. Sometimes, sometimes, but, but the vibe on set was kind of mathematically, it was just mathematically impossible how well we all got along.
And it really felt like a pleasure to go to work every day. And so by the time we finished, we wanted more, the people who love the show wanted more. And we thought, you know, if anyone's going to do a rewatch podcast, we should do it.
And it'll be a chance for us to kind of walk back through everything with the fans. So, and that's every single Tuesday, so far in your rewatching, what's your favorite episode that you were in or favorite scene? I mean, like you were saying, like you were saying in, in early season two, the season Mandy Moore delivers, delivers a performance that Sterling and I are still, we just bow down to. She, across, across the entire show gives one of the greatest performances ever given on television. But the episode in which her husband Jack dies is just, it's just one of the most beautiful performances we've ever seen. And so it was fun to be able to go back and watch.
And you made that a subject of, of, of a pod? Yeah, we watch every single episode. Every episode? Yeah, we watch every episode. Forgive me for not knowing, what's the grand total number of episodes? 108.
Dude. So we're halfway through season two right now. By the way, that's a, that's a, to use a Dr. Seuss phrase, as you might be reading your, that's a whopping fine number. That's a whopping fine number. I mean a hundred, a hundred episodes of any television show these days is kind of unheard of.
Like even successful shows only do eight, 10 episodes a season right now due to streaming. That's right. That's right.
The whole landscape has changed and, and we might not have been sure at the time that, that we might have been like the last dramatic hour long network television show that had that kind of run. No, you, you, you might be right. Which is, you know, kind of wild. But I understand, I know you, you, you, we were talking about it all the time, you know. Thanks. Of course.
Go for it, TJ. I'm from Pittsburgh. So, you know, that, that was the draw. A friend of mine actually, and we brought him up earlier, was Ashton when you guys first premiered.
Right. I think by episode four, he, he asked me twice, have you been watching this show? He goes, you're going to love this.
Take my word for it. And he was right. And I started watching it, but I'll tell you this, and I hope it sounds right. This show was so good, man, that I, I had to stop watching it at a certain point because at the end of every episode, you're so emotional.
Yeah. Really, and I'll be honest with you, there were times where I cried watching This Is Us and it got to the point where I needed a break after like season two, three. Some of this stuff was so good and it was so real. I was like, I gotta, I gotta take a week off and just like get this out because that's how, and I mean this in the greatest compliment I could give you.
It was so good and it was so emotional that I had to step away a few times. Like, all right, let's give me a week off of this before I jumped back. Yeah, we got that response from a lot of people who watch the show and that was part of the reason we wanted to do the podcast was to like, okay, we understand this can be a lot. How about we go back through this with you and we'll talk about it together. So, so it's kind of, yeah, let's, let's, let's all reconvene and go and go through.
Maybe we need a little support system. We'll get you back through it. It's what it sounds like, you know? And it's interesting that you say that what TJ just said is, it's not unfamiliar that you have not heard that. And so I understand, you know, it's very nice of you to give a compliment to a cast member like you did with Mandy Moore, but there is an eye in Chris and Sullivan. Give me your, your, your character, your moment that you're like the most proud of or your, or you think stands out amongst this series for you.
I'll give you, I'll give you an interesting kind of a dual, a dual scenario. Sure. Season, I think it was season three when I was first nominated. And when you're, when you're nominated for something, you submit an episode.
Yes, of course. So that the nominee committee doesn't have to watch thousands of episodes of television, you submit one. And, and the one that I submitted was, was an episode in which my character has a nervous breakdown. And, and on the day I shot it, I came home and, and told my wife, I said, well, that was my shot. And I missed it. I missed it. I didn't, I didn't show up today. I, I'm not sure what happened. I just didn't feel it.
What do you mean? I just wasn't, so a lot was happening that day. I was trying to prepare for all this heavy stuff on set. I get to set and it's the first time, and I think the only time we've ever had a split crew where an A crew and a B crew. And the A crew was off working with maybe Sterling or Mandy or somebody. And I show up on set for this heavy scene. And I, I know no one. I don't know the cameraman.
I don't know the sound guys. I, and I had now expected to have this like full nervous breakdown and I'm like, wow, this is more vulnerable than I even expected. And so I was just in my head about it. And, and, and luckily I have enough training to work through those types of things. Yeah, man, you're talking Broadway.
You don't see anybody in the audience. Listen, but it was just, it was, it was an interesting moment to realize like, okay, I'm feeling nervous. I'm feeling insecure, but I still have enough, whatever craft or skill to navigate through the stuff in it. And it worked into a, a nomination to her. Isn't that the way it works sometimes too? It's like, you know, I didn't get it.
We didn't get it. I mean, there are times when we've done segments on this show that I need to be convinced of doing. Yeah.
And I'm not having a nervous breakdown, you know, unless Michigan loses to Ohio State. Yeah, not visibly. But, but, but where Chris, mostly. Yeah.
And some others that, that are here that we maybe had not have met, like you just met Chris, have had to convince me, let's do it. Yeah. And that's what goes on our Emmy nomination reel. And we got nominated off of some of those segments. Yeah. You know, which is included watching TJ live on The Price is Right when he, when he appeared on The Price is Right. I think, I think I've seen that clip. Not to equate him losing master key on The Price is Right with having a nervous breakdown for an Emmy award. Listen. It's a nominated performance.
Nervous breakdowns come in all shapes and sizes. That's correct. Well, we were, cause there was a car on the line, man. A couple of motorcycles, Chris. That's right. He walked out with only a ping pong table and a popcorn machine, man. That's not nothing. Right? That's a good Saturday night right there. Come on, Chris.
Popcorn machine and a ping pong table. Oh my God. Chris, was that the episode where you and Kay were about the embryos? Yeah.
Was that the one like trying to see? Yeah, that's right. Okay. Yeah. Wow. And what a backstory.
And everybody go see Presents, available in theaters nationwide this Friday, January 24th. That Was Us podcasts. Sterling K. Brown, Mandy Moore, and Chris Sullivan, whose band, Joseph the Spouse, right? Oh yeah.
Is that what's going on? Okay. Your album, Six Feet Under, is available everywhere now. Yeah, great. Hey, man. Thanks for coming in here. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. Great to have you here personally and as opposed to on the phone like last time. Yeah.
Let's do this anytime you got something going on. It's much better. Thank you. Fantastic. All right. The Presents is now leaving the studio, if you will.
Everybody follow Chris Sullivan on Instagram at SullivanGrams and everybody check out again Presents in theaters near you. We're back with overreaction Monday on a Tuesday and your phone calls when we come back. I got a riddle for you. What do yoga mats, a toothbrush, and a Hyundai have in common? I'll give you a moment.
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Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. I was just a lot of fun with Chris Sullivan. Great fun chat with him. And so Presence is in a theater near you on Friday. Just think about let's let's do a movie about a supernatural presence and do the film about a family moving into the presence's house and shoot it from the viewpoint of the presence.
Wild. We watched it. I didn't know that part yet. But that it's the shot of the presence. And that scene is after the sister or his daughter had just seen it.
And they all ran outside to deal with this fact that the house may be haunted. I was in it once Lucy Liu's name popped up. So then I was already this guy going to see this movie. Mixing together This Is Us and what Charlie's Angels?
You know, a variety of things, like Kill Bill, Kill Bill, you know. She also, Lucy Liu, elementary, wherever she was last night, she had problems watching the national championship game as well. You know why? Why is that?
Why would I be bringing it up? She had to have gone to Michigan. That is correct.
I know. The University of Michigan again, presence available in theaters nationwide this coming Friday. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, 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 clickrainger.com or just stop by. So obviously, with Ohio State winning it all, it adds a wrinkle potentially to any commentary I might say into a certain microphone in a certain town of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August. It's going to be lit. It's going to be lit.
It's going to be pretty fun. Because I have something to say. They've got maybe the last word to say. You're going to get interrupted a lot. They may have the last word to say actually, but I'm the one with the live microphone.
So technically, I will have the last word no matter what words are said, and then it can get a little bit out of control. Right? What was the drop that you just played? What was that? I'm about to make a name for myself here.
That's very good. Man, I want to go this year. I just want to see it. Canton, Ohio, also the home of Michael, who's calling into the Rich Eisen Show right now. What's up, Michael? Hello. What's up, Michael? Hello.
How are you doing? Long time fan. Glad to be on. Thank you. Appreciate that, Michael. What's on your mind today? Well, I was actually in the middle of watching your reaction to the Ohio State game, and I know you being a huge fan of the team up north and me being an Ohio State fan.
I wanted to put up a little information on why some Ohio State fans don't really seem to like Ryan Day that much. Okay, Michael. So before you get into this, so this is the leopard-like face eating that I was referring to earlier. Apparently, yeah. Okay. A little bit nicer than those people. Okay. Very good. All right. But those people exist, right, Michael?
Those people exist. I like our rivalry. Okay. Very good. So I'll give you the floor now. My bad.
You have the floor. Basically, our problem with Ryan Day is, one, he's not proving to us, at least a lot of us hardcore Ohio State fans. He came in, handed a team from another coach that was really, really good, and didn't do all that well with him. Now, he's a good coach.
Don't get me wrong. I respect him. He's working hard.
And he won us a national championship. That's great. But as you know, and as I know, the main thing is the game.
Come on, Michael, Michael. First of all, you just said your coach was indeed, you confirmed he was born on third base. I get it.
That said, really? You didn't use any past tense. You're not like, he was a guy we viewed that way. You still view, you still have him on this very day, view him in this way. Yeah. Michael. I watched the game last night, and what I saw was one half of football being played or coached, and then the other half not being coached.
That's where I had an issue. He took the foot off the pedal. He does this a lot. Usually if he gets out to a huge lead, he lets the other teams get back into games and freaks us out in the same time. It's like, why not just keep the gas pedal down and win the game?
Why stress everybody out and make these questions come up? And then other coaches get in his head, like your coach for Michigan, just they completely confuddled him. He didn't know what to do in that game. So it really leads to me to think that he's still not knowing what he's doing half the time, and he's really relying on the team, which is really good, and the other coaching staff to get him through.
Like I said, I respect him, but I don't think he's that good of a coach. Even on this day, you call into the show, and you give me that piece of- For a lot of us hardcore guys, the national championship's great, but what we want to see is, no offense, your team losing. We hire guys to beat your team.
That's the reason why they're there. You guys are sick, man. What are you here to do? Beat Michigan.
Thank you. You guys are sick. What do you mean, you guys? You dragged me into Michael from Canton's category.
You'd rather have your enemy lose than you win, it seems like. Excuse me. I'm a Browns fan also, so we talk about the passion of the game, and the teams that we can't stand, and seeing them fail.
Yes, the national championship's great, but it's about the passion of hating the team that you hate. Okay. Now, obviously, you had me at hello with that one. Michael, I'm going to give you one last minute here to have the floor, because when we do, in fact, put this on YouTube and everything else that we always have in terms of our show for content, and when we do have this show re-air and other things, your comments will be heard from some Ohio State fans that think you might be a little too harsh here the day after Ryan Day finally does, in fact, do it, and that you might be on the border of a certain fringe that, once upon a time, was called by somebody who was, once upon a time, a darling of your world in Kerr Curve Street, a lunatic. How do you- Hey, I don't mind being a lunatic. I'm a Browns fan.
I have to be a lunatic. Okay, so how do you respond if people are like, this is still even a bridge too far day after winning it all? Michael?
Well, I mean, each fan takes how they win and lose games in their own way, and each fan base is different in their own passions, and there's a lot of hardcore people, again, National Championship's great, but the game is the game, and that's what matters the most to us. Michael, thank you for the call. You know, wow.
We'll see you in Canton in August. Wow. Now, I'm with TJ, you guys are all nuts. Why are you dragging me into this? Because you're like that. I'm not like that. Excuse me, pal.
Hold on a second. I'm saying you're like that in the sense that this means more to you than any other thing in sports. Like it's just- Well, I mean, I went to the school, so yes, that game, no, but the rivalry is huge. It is the biggest rivalry in sports. College sports? No. All of sports. Name me another one.
Go ahead. I think it matters most to the people involved. I think nationally, it's not as big as you guys think. Really? It's the highest rated regular season college football game.
Because it's on TV, and it's the end of the season. Oh, really? Oh, okay. Right. I mean, I see Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes are the number one feud, right? No, I mean, that's with all due respect.
Anyone who's involved in something thinks that's the most important thing that's happening. I understand that. But don't drag me into that. Last year, if Michigan was 14-1 and won the national championship, but lost to Ohio State, I wouldn't be saying that Jim's got to go, or he's not as good, because maybe he couldn't beat Ohio State this year, or has a losing record at Ohio State.
Get out of here. I wouldn't be saying that. You wouldn't go that far.
You kind of wanted Jim go. He couldn't beat Michigan. He couldn't beat Ohio State.
I never once said into this microphone I want to knock. I'm not saying you. I'm saying the school made him take a pay cut, because he couldn't beat Ohio State, and then he left. He flirted with the Vikings, and then went to the NFL anyway. But he also didn't win the Big Ten, because back in the day, winning or losing that game meant winning the Big Ten or not, or getting to the Big Ten championship game or not, as it did this year again, by the way. It's just the winner didn't go. The loser was kept from going, and then the loser of the Big Ten championship game got an easier path than either of the two teams, the one who won it and the one who missed out on it. I still feel bad for Oregon in all of this. They got absolutely hosed.
Why? They would have been... Ohio State would have done to them whenever they saw them. In the championship game, maybe? Yeah. I don't know. Come on, man. I don't know about that.
What? They would have had... Oregon would have had more of a- Oregon gets a buy. They would have had more momentum? Not a home game, and then they have to play Ohio State. How is that fair?
It's not, but you had to face them at some point. At some point. We'd rather it be in the championship game than- I guess so.
First up, well off, and not a five. So you think, let's just say last night, instead of Notre Dame versus Ohio State, it was Ohio State, Oregon. You thought we would have had a different result? Much better game. It wouldn't have been an almost 10-point spread. I don't know about that, man. I think Ohio State would have eviscerated Oregon no matter the date, the time, the place. Interesting.
Except the first time they played each other. Well, I mean, that was in Oregon. That's a different story. It's a neutral site. I don't know. Let's get into this then, and then we'll do overreaction Monday on a Tuesday on the back end of this year. But on the back end of this hour, before we get to George Karlofftus of the Chiefs and Mike Pereira in studio, what do we make of the college football playoff?
Yeah, I was going to ask you that. Now that it's done. Now that it's in the books.
What do we give this a grade at? Because there are definitely some tweaks that need to be made. No question. The tweaks that need to be made is giving the bi-week teams a home game. Yeah. And we need to change how we give out bi-weeks. Like Boise and Arizona State shouldn't have, you know, we don't need bi-weeks.
Right. Who was it? Was it Dan Wetzel who came on and said when this came up, when this idea was first born that you have to give the power five a bi-week or four of the five of the power five must get these bi-weeks and Notre Dame doesn't get one because they're demanding of being independent. Clemson got the bi-week. No, what I'm just saying is that Clemson did not get the bi-week. Clemson did not. Oh, they won the SEC, did not get a bi-week. What I'm saying is Dan Wetzel was saying that the bi-weeks were parceled out to the power five winners or four of the five of them would get it. And when that idea was born, there was a PAC 12 at the time and Texas was in the big 12 with Oklahoma. So now that the realignment is messed with that order of things, I agree there should be, would you have put Ohio State in a bi-week spot after having lost to Michigan with two losses? Maybe not after having lost to Michigan. No.
No. So I guess I agree. We do need to come up with a different way to bi-week them.
And then the bi-week teams should get a home game too, I believe. Don't you think? Am I wrong? Makes sense. No, I like it. I like that. Right? Yeah. And do we think the 12 is enough or we think 12 is too much?
What do we think here? 12 is a little, eight I think is good. Eight's a good number.
If it was eight, if it was eight. If you get 10, you could still have two buys maybe. Right.
Because they would have to still be a buy. What do you think? 10? Yeah.
Because why? Because the first round was such a blowout city that with the exception of Indiana, coming back. Seven of the first eight games were pretty bad. Yeah.
They were terrible. So we're going to want to change it right now or we want to let it run through to see if that's going to be the case every year. I think you got to give it a shot, right?
This was the first year. Maybe C. I don't want to overreact. Let's keep 12. You don't want to overreact?
I'm trying to be rational. I think 12 is good. Let's give 12 a little bit more runway, but let's make the tweaks to the home games and how we decide buys. Even if the first round of these playoffs is blowout city next year and the year after that, they will never contract the number of teams in the playoffs. That's just not happening.
They're only going to add, they're only going to add, it's going to get to 16 at some point I'm sure. Did you see Joel Klatt went all in on the social? Somebody sent me his tweet that it's an egregious handling of the sport to have the national championship game as late as the 20th on the Monday of divisional playoff weekend. That you're burying it. It's too long, it's gone on too long.
What do you think about that one? Cause I looked it up. Michigan beat Washington on January 8th last year.
Oh right. So that's 12 days later now. You like it on the eighth or you want it on the first?
I do kind of, no, I think the eighth works. I do kind of dig having this game earlier, but you'd have to what? You'd have to start the playoff first round earlier, which would be still what? Two weeks after the set, the two weeks after the conference championship games, which you're still having, which maybe that's the thing you get rid of.
You get rid of those games, man, you get rid of those games. What are we doing them for? What we're doing them for is to figure out who's getting a buy.
Other than dollars. No, you're doing them to figure out who gets a buy and nobody this year had their standing improved by missing that game. You know, nobody made, like Alabama was in and then they were out. That was the one because Clemson upset SMU.
Who made a nice run at the end of the second half. So what do we make of it? The 20th is too late.
I kind of agree with you there. So we're fixing it. We're going to get the national champion game played earlier. Well, they always played on a Monday. So how does that conflict with the last week of the NFL regular season? There's no Monday game, right? For week 18. Correct. I think that's what happened last year is the Michigan, Wisconsin game, Washington game was the Monday after the regular season was over.
I think that's a perfect spot. You don't want it to get lost in wildcard weekend. You don't want it to get lost divisional Monday either. But this year it was too close to Jan one, which is where you want to have a bunch of college football playoff games. The Monday you mean.
Right. And then you're not going to have the national championship game on, you could have it on a Tuesday. Wednesday? Thursday? Why not?
That's a great lead up. You could do that. You have to be on a Monday night, even Friday night leading into the wildcard weekend. And then you give bi-weeks to certain teams that you don't have to marry them to whether they want a conference.
You kind of have to, don't you? Well, then you get the situation that we had this year with the three loss team. I mean, let's order it. Let's order it.
First things first is bi-week teams get home games. Yes. Second thing is. Moving it up. Moving it up. I think. Yeah. And then the third thing is figuring out how to crack the code of who gets by, who gets buys.
How do you figure out the bias? Did we figure that one out? Have we lived? Have we looked at it?
Ari's consultant. What we do here. So your grade for this first edition of the 12 team playoff would be B plus. Okay. B plus because.
Can I ask you a question? Because yeah. Let's just say Ohio state hadn't won with a BA.
No, cause there's still the issues of bull out. I mean, what three of the 12, three of the 11 games were close. Right.
It wasn't, it wasn't that compelling. B plus. Yeah. It's B plus cause of the, cause of the, um, the blowouts early and the questioning of, you know, the, the bi-weeks were that, were they right or not for, you know, Clemson winning the ACC really threw a huge wrench. I know that. Yeah. And it would be a minus if Michigan were in it. No Alabama. I downgraded.
I downgraded. Carson Beck getting injured last night. But I'll tell you what, having somebody from Ohio call in and say, you know what, Ryan Day still isn't all that. And cause he lost to Michigan really helped make my day. Thank you, Michael. And Canton, Ohio.
That was great. I think that's why I predicted he might take that bear's job a few weeks ago because fans like that don't seem to like, excuse me, Ryan Day's going nowhere. He should stay put.
He deserves to stay put forever and ever. You need to think about things like life insurance in advance. Folks. Ethos makes it easy as one, two, three, choose your coverage, applying minutes, get covered in real time. No medical exam at all.
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Watch Unstoppable now, exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. All right, so let's get to it. All right, switching hats, off goes the Tigers, there goes the Ohio State hat.
Man of many hats, JK Simmons. Thank you. Last time you were here, you were like, I don't think so. I don't know. I feel bad.
I don't like it. 60 plus points later, look at you, like a Cheshire cat back here on the show. I cannot say I did not think of you during that trouncing.
I was like, God, if I had just gone in there and been super confident and cocky, you know. But you know, we'll see. We'll see.
I mean, at some point, the rivalry will actually become a rivalry again. I don't know when that might be, but. Oh, come on. Now, hold on a second. You didn't see it coming. You didn't think it was going to happen. And it did happen. I thought it would be a real competitive.
I did too. Football game. I didn't see it.
An athletic competition of some kind. It's funny, during that game, I have not seen you since. I'll tell the story. I told it here, but I'll tell you. I'll tell it again.
For those who will indulge, I saw the way it was matriculating and repeatedly up and down the field. Let me tell the story. Sorry. Go ahead.
Sixty two points. Stop it. So the way it was unfolding, I had my two of my three kids that were there. Normally, I needed to have my own space and take the kids out, whatever. They were coming in, and I decided to just throw myself into the love and the nurturing of my children who just wanted to play these games, normally during a Michigan-Ohio State football game. No time for games. There's only one game.
The game. This time, though, got down on the floor, played a little matching game with them. I just threw myself into the love of my children. That's a beautiful thing. That is such a touching story.
And at the same time, they were learning a lesson in how to lose, which is an important lesson that we all must learn in life. So what do you think about Ryan Day now, sir? What do you think now? Are you a little nervous? Are you concerned? Yeah. I mean, relatively unproven, but I have a lot of confidence there.
We had Luke Fickle when Luke maybe wasn't quite ready, and now he's proven that he is in Cincinnati. And yeah, I hope it's a brand new day. I like it. In Columbus. Is that going to be the phrase on the- Well, that's the phrase on my text chain with the Lang brothers, you know, my Ohio State little conspiracy. Okay. Homies? Homies, yeah. Yeah. Brand new day.
And I'm pleased to say, after that 2019 game later on that year, that's the last time Ohio State beat Michigan, and since then I've been able to successfully ignore my children every November since. Look at that. That's a real American right there on the screen.
Monday Night Raw. Thank you for snapping that off the screen and sending it to me. Of course. It really was the wind beneath my wings on a long day yesterday, and today. I figured it would liven you up a little bit. I did. You probably enjoyed that yourself as a Penn Stater.
I did. I just love that. Bringing that to the equation. Very good.
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Overreaction? Monday's Monday. On a Tuesday. All right, Christopher, have at it.
Go for it. Hey, everybody. What's up?
Jay Felley. Good to see you. Everybody good? Hey. What's up, Chris? We have no time for this. I'm great.
We have no time for this. It is good. The Chiefs are good.
They are. Shout out everybody in Kansas City. After Tom Brady, guys, Travis Kelce is the best post-season performer this century. Oh, man.
I don't know how you can... I mean, you put Mahomes above Travis because he's got to be the one throwing it. But Mahomes hasn't been outstanding in every post-season game. Travis Kelce has been amazing in every single post-season game. I know the after Brady is a nice touch for you, but it is... These are facts. The fact that he's in the same breath just shows you how incredible he is in the post-season, and he's, at the end of the day, he's going to be above Jerry Rice in every such category.
So I don't know how you can push back on that. Especially if he keeps playing. I know. And he's feeling 22. So that's great. I got the reference when he said it.
Proud to say. Well, Chris. Taylor Swift is his girlfriend.
I'm not sure if you knew that. I know that, but a lot of people don't know when he said feeling 22. People are like, what is he talking about feeling 22?
The guy's in his mid-30s. Well, that's a Taylor Swift song. I know. Oh, okay. Straight over my head. Keep going. Thank you. Over my head. Jason. What else, Chris? Wow. We were talking about this earlier, and I just can't get enough of the Commander's story and where they were last year, and now they're on the doorstep of the Super Bowl. Yes. Dan Quinn should be coach of the year.
Like, what are we doing? Well, it's a regular-season award, and again... And were they awesome in the regular season? Yes.
Yes, they were. What we're going to do, Chris... Did the Vikings have the second pick in the draft last year? What we're going to do, Chris, is we're going to, as I mentioned on the podcast version of this segment, where you can get your podcasts, after the Super Bowl, maybe we'll do it the Tuesday show after the Super Bowl, we will redraft the NFL Honors. We will reaward what we're going to see based on the postseason and see if it's any different for MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, Coach of the Year.
We'll see. The Honors is awesome, and I know that you want all the players there and whatnot, so on and so forth, but regular-season awards need to be given out as soon as the regular season ends. Otherwise, you're getting into these situations. It happens every year with the NBA.
You give out the MVP award, and the guy just got bounced in the first round, and you're like, wait, that's not the MVP. But for the moment, I'll just say it's an overreaction. All right. What else, Chris? The Lions' Super Bowl window is closed.
That's nuts. Come on, dude. Why is it closed? Because the coordinators are gone? Coordinators are gone.
Is Aiden Hutchinson coming back next year? Their quarterback can't win a big game. Their coach is crying at the podium, like, what are we doing? Come on, now. What a crazy thing to say.
That is a gross over-characterization, which is what I guess this segment is all about, so I appreciate you throwing that out there. This is still a terrific team. It still will be the team to beat in their own division next year. Dan Campbell does have two big hires in front of him, though, two big hires in front of him. Who's the OC?
Who's the DC? We need to know. Aaron Glenn might be gone by the end of the day.
He might be wearing green by the end of the day. What else you got over there, Chris? Let's stick in the NFC Northridge. Bears have a new head coach? Did I see that? It's Ben Johnson. Yes, sir.
He's going to play in the playoffs next year. All right, that's an overreaction, too. It happens. Really? All we talked about in the offseason was how the Bears were going to make the playoffs. Now they actually have an offensive coach. Right.
I still need to see it. Get out of here, man. All right? The commanders are going to be better, one would think, right? The Lions will make it again. It happens every year. Will they?
Okay. Teams have playoff turnovers. Niners will be better. Where were the 49ers this year?
Brian Schottenheimer will lead the Cowboys back to the playoffs? Naturally. Oh, gosh. Come on now. What an overreaction this is. We need to see it first.
All I heard is this guy was a superstar for a couple of years now. I know. So all of a sudden now we put him in the playoffs? Yeah.
That's how it works. I need to see it first. What else you got over there, Chris? I think we need one more. Oh.
All right. We'll get one more. One more?
Yeah. It's almost like you didn't write this to know that there was one more coming. Honestly, he's got the acting skills of a silent movie star. He sells me every time. Wait a minute.
Silent movie stars actually had to be more talented than talkers to be honest. I even wrote one more on the notes. Hey, Rich. Yes, Chris. Probably wasn't a good idea for Michigan to plant the flag against Ohio State, right? Not at all.
Get out of here with that noise. Probably wasn't because you sent them on a run to the... Is that why it was? I thought it was because they were the most talented team and that's all they needed to do is just to reset and go to the playoffs. Probably not a good idea to motivate your right-handed rival to a national championship. I just thought it's because they have all the right five-star recruits and everybody wants to go to the Ohio State because they're the best school in the nation. And I thought they had the best coaching staff outside of Ryan.
Probably wasn't too smart to give your rival motivation. I'm giving you all the Ohio State talking points that they're the best ever. It was the most expensive ticket ever because the Ohio State was involved. Their ratings are always biggest.
Their fans are always the most rabid and they travel well. That's the reason why it all worked out for them. Probably not a good idea to fire them up against a bulletin board material. No, no, no, no, no, no. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me.
Probably wasn't the best move to do though. Excuse me. Because you didn't win anything and they won the championship. Okay.
Understood. You beat the national champion. That is one team went undefeated, actually went to the big 10 championship game, actually won their conference in winning it all and actually beat their hated rival in the process. And one team just did not.
I'd rather be the first version rather than the other version, but it's understandable. It's understandable that people think that Michigan actually lit the flame for the Ohio State. And if that's the case, that's great.
I don't know. Probably shouldn't have fired them up like that. Is that what it was? Is that what you're saying it is? It's not Jeremiah Smith being great and the coaching staff having an extra couple of weeks to figure out, oh, we should throw it to him?
What do you think? I think when you have good players, you should do whatever you can to get them the football. That's the idea.
That would be my- That's the idea. Like giving it to Derrick Henry on the two-year line. Just because Ohio State won it all doesn't mean that they didn't lose to their most hated rival with potentially the worst iteration of that hated rivals football team in quite some time. And unfortunately, or fortunately for Ohio State is during the college football playoffs, they didn't run into a walk-on quarterback.
Nice try. Richard Petty. Over reaction. Probably shouldn't have fired them up like that. Richard the King Petty. Over reaction, sir.
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