Taylor Twellman: Does Messi Win the MLS Cup ? That's This Season's Biggest Storyline.

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It doesn't matter how much money you're making. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. McDavid scores! Connor McDavid scores the goal!

Team Canada wins four nations gold. Earlier on the show, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero. Coming up, Apple TV lead MLS analyst Taylor Twelman, broadcasting legend Al Michaels.

And now it's Rich Eisen. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air here on this Friday and Al Michaels making his way to our studio. He's spending the entire third hour with us. Tomorrow is the 45th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice. We have not one, but two surprises for him.

He's just going to hang with us for an hour. An extraordinary memory lane of the greatest moment in the history of American sports, North American sports, if I can include. I don't know if Canada would say obviously the Miracle on Ice would be maybe that important to them. I'm honestly, you know, 20th century for sure.

1980. What was going on in our world geopolitically, what was going on in our world, you know, sports-wise, what was going on in our country, what was going on with this team, and a bunch of amateurs coming together and creating the movie Miracle. Oh, and you know, the other things.

Or the actual thing. And so Al's going to be joining us in hour number three for that. Just had a nice chit chat with Taylor Twelman. Nice. It's the 30th MLS season. Wow.

Yeah. Landmark 30th season kicks off tomorrow and, you know, we'll talk about everything going on there with the lead analyst for MLS season pass on Apple TV when he rejoins us here in just about 18 minutes time there. And then Al's joining us in hour three. 844-204, Rich, number to dial. Modi in Detroit. Let's take this phone call to kick off hour number two. What's up, Modi? Hey, Rich. Hey, everyone.

I was listening to one of your YouTube videos yesterday. Okay. And you were thinking, you asked this question, what would be the four-nation face-off version of the NFL? And I was thinking maybe we can have four teams, one representing the Big Ten, because that's the one representing the SEC players in the NFL.

Okay. One representing the Big 12. And that's like the closest thing to like healthy tribalism in football, which is college football, right?

Because it's kind of territorial in a way. And each team play one quarter of 15 or 20 minutes of tackle football instead of the pro bowl or something like that. Yeah. I hear you, Modi. That's not a bad idea other than the fact that, again, you are never going to see national football league players when the season is over.

Just lay it on the line and start hitting people like McAvoy hit McDavid on Saturday night. Like that is just, those days are over. Those days are absolutely over. They used to be had. And by the way, and thanks to the call, Modi, it used to be those pro bowl games played on that rock hard surface in Honolulu, right at the hula bowl, right? Is that where it was? And honestly, I would walk on that turf and I'd be like, this is like a parking lot.

Like the old vet dude. It was absurd. It was crazy. Sean Taylor blew up the punter or whatever. And those days, again, the guys would just play at half speed.

I swear to you until the third quarter. And then the guys who were in the pro bowl started doing the math in their heads, how much this week cost them to bring their entire family around and what their family was doing while they were practicing and going on shopping sprees or dinners here and lunches there, they would do the math in their head about the extra rooms that they would have to get for their family. And the difference between winning and losing and the prize money was the difference between winning and losing for the week as well in terms of how much it cost them. And then they started playing like it was the super bowl. The fourth quarter of pro bowls were really fun to watch and then stopped. And the NFL was done wringing their hands over it and said, fine, let's put flags on them. And I think they figured that one out. They will never like we could sit. That's not a bad idea.

Hey, who's better? Big 10, SEC, Big 12. I think something that might work better than that is if you go either by region or state, because you always hear about the Florida boys, right?

I heard that too. Florida tech. No, that doesn't include everyone, but just say you had Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, California going at it. Don't forget Ohio. Don't forget. That's the other thing too. So maybe we go region like Jersey. Jersey is a sneaky, terrific football state. Break it up like that.

Perhaps that's not a bad idea either. Again, it just that players, the, the, the thing, you know, that the Eagles are rejoicing about mostly obviously is winning the super bowl, but every single Eagle guy got through winning the super bowl healthy. You know, like Charles Woodson won the super bowl as a green Bay packer, but he left in a slink. Yeah. Ronnie Harrison, right, Chris? He nobody wants to spend the off season rehabbing.

Nope. No one wants to spend it. And so no one's going to go ahead and do that. We're sending on contact injury. It's a contact sport. The NFL just, they, they had to do something and they just said, screw it. We'll put the flags on them. A flag football.

I'd also tune in to watch. I think Irv popped his Achilles one year in that. Remember the Madden, Madden used to do it up here in Malibu.

They used to have a, a, a flag football game. Irv popped his Achilles doing that, you know, but he was long since past playing. That makes it even worse though, having the rehab when you're not doing it. Yeah, exactly. But the NBA can figure something out.

Now that wouldn't be bad to do it. Would you do that with the NBA with, I don't know, Big Ten and college conferences? Listen, do what the NHL just did.

The NHL just gave you the blueprint, figure it out. Oh, we've talked about it, TJ. What about just Duke versus Kentucky?

Like Duke colleges. That would be dope too. That would be crazy fun.

No, that, that might be of interest. But you're also excluding some other All-Stars that you'd want to get in there. Just the only issue again is that some NBA players would have to play three, four, maybe five extra games in a span of a week plus. And we just saw already last night, Luca didn't play for the Lakers for the first time because it was a back-to-back night. They sat him.

And so LeBron scored 40 on his own and, and, you know, beat the Blazers, Blazers last night. But I think I 8 4 4 2 0 4 Rich is the number dial. Taylor Twelman's coming out very shortly here to talk about the 30th MLS season that boots off tomorrow. Let's talk about a What's More Likely here on this Friday. Hit it. What's more likely?

Never say never, but never. I love that job so much. What's up? What happened?

What happened over there? You're I was waiting for you to just say, Hey guys, happy Friday. Everybody good?

YouTube pointed out. I didn't say hi to you guys on Tuesday. So people like the hellos. I don't know.

People are friendly. All right. Rich hates it. So I don't hate it. It's just, it's, it's now I'm trying to get to it and you're interrupting now.

You're wasting time. Excuse me, superfluous. When you're talking to a man with a well-groomed beard.

Well, then he stopped me respectful beard thing. I'm going to be a Yankee guys. Yeah. That's more scruff, but is it more likely that Sam Darnold ends up more like Baker Mayfield or Daniel Jones? Oh, I'll go Baker Mayfield.

Why would you? Yeah. Meaning Daniel Jones, like he's contract that they get ends up being a great deal for, you know, both parties and that they win and then they make the playoffs or it's an absolute disaster. I got it.

I'll go Baker Mayfield. Come on, man. Really? The last few games didn't concern you at all.

No. And he's going to a new spot without Kevin O'Connell or, or Justin Jefferson. It was his first year as a full-time starter in the national football league since his time with googly eyes jets.

All right. And let's be honest, Chris, he was superb. He did have some issues in the final two games and a team sport Jordan Palmer came here on Tuesday. And I know, as he said, people think he's biased when it comes to Sam Darnold, you look at the tape and it's a team effort.

There was no blocking up front. There was some issues that in protection he did on occasion, hold Ottawa too long. But I think you saw, you saw right system, right situation, right everything.

And we haven't seen Daniel Jones in that for the exception of the coach of the year, year of Dayball's first year in which again, Daniel Jones looked stupendous, looked like a high-end Kaepernick against the Vikings. But I will go, I'll go, he'll find the right spot. He'll get the right deal. And I think he's going to, he's going to prove out. What else, Chris?

More likely to have a Jaden-esque rookie season, all about the quarterbacks, of course. I'll go. I mean, you can't say that till we know where they land though, but we can speculate. They're doing one of a handful of spots. He just gave me a what's more likely that is impossible for me to correctly with every piece of information determine what to do. I'm just saying, obviously I, I, I've never met Cam Ward. So I don't know.

There's only four teams really in the mix. I have met Shadore Sanders and I know how prepared he's going to be and how ready he's going to be and how I will just go that way. Ready for the spotlight, ready for prime time. You know, Chris, have you seen the videos of those two working out together? It's fun. I liked that they're friends. Yeah. And there's also talking smack to each other too. It's great.

It's fun. And obviously linked up for their whole careers. It's impossible to determine this. I'll just go with the kid that I know as opposed to the kid I've yet to meet. So how about we're talking about the past rushers, Miles Garrett, and we've seen, you know, Hutch is coming back. Who's going to have more sex next year?

Miles Garrett, Aiden Hutchinson. Now you're asking me questions that I really can't answer. I mean, it's February. I got it. I understand.

Man, I'll just go right now. Oh my God. Well, I mean, one's coming off. Look at that picture of Miles Garrett. And this has got nothing to do with the lack of belief here.

You know, I, I'm just going to go with the guy who's one defensive player of the year and didn't have a catastrophic leg injury last year. Right. It's a smart, interesting thing. But the interesting part about all this though, is that they will both have chips on shoulder. Absolutely.

Okay. One guy to say, I'm, I'm just as good as I've ever been. And the other guy saying, I wanted to out, and now I've got to prove out again in Garrett.

So now I'll, I'll just go, I'll go the grim reaper. Aiden Hutchinson, favorite for defensive player of the year and comeback player of the year. I love that. And by the way, I, I, if there's anybody who deserves that sort of, you know, moment to happen in his life, I'll go with my guy, Aiden Hutchinson. How about this one?

I thought this was kind of fun. Rookie head coach, more likely to win their division next year, Ben Johnson or Liam Cullen. Duvall.

Stop it. Duvall. I'm going with him. I'll go with Liam Cullen.

I'm going with him. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm done with this. I'm done with the slag in here.

Oh, you're, you're, you're now team Cullen. Yeah. Is this because he probably had a Jew fro growing up? No, no, no, no. I don't know.

He's it's, he's missing the age. So I don't know. And plus I don't know, I didn't go to summer camp with too many Liams. You know, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't take, I didn't take, you know, when I was going, you know, prepping for my bar mitzvah, going and trying to get out of Hebrew school to watch Bucky Dent Homer against the Red Sox.

And I was successful that day. I didn't meet too many Liams. So if you're saying, here's the two, what's more likelies rookie head coach to win the division, I'll go with Liam Cohen. What's more likely Jew or not a Jew for Liam Cohen.

I'll say not a Jew. That's what I'll say. But I can't wait to have Liam on to ask him that. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like I didn't grow up around too many rabbi Liams. You know what I mean? Liam Cohen. Yeah. Former roommates with Victor Cruz. Is that right? Salsa is not kosher.

Very rarely. What else? What's more likely salsa kosher or not kosher? The more likely free agent, free agent, old head quarterback to have one last winning ride. Russ or Aaron Rogers. Old head quarterback to have one last winning ride. Duval.

Oh my God. Well, what is a winning ride? A winning season.

Oh, just so you just got to be nine and eight. Yeah. I'll go with the guy who was going to play for Tauman who hasn't had a losing season in forever. Aaron Rogers. Nice.

Russ is a free agent. Yeah. I don't know.

I have a feeling they'll bring him back. You do? I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I have a feeling. I got two more. More likely potentially traded NFC West wide receiver who will be missed more Deebo or Cooper cup.

I mean, man, both these guys expected to have new homes next year. Missed more. I will go Deebo. That's what I will go with. I will go with Deebo being missed. Cooper cup, not a New York Yankee. Cooper cup will never play for the Yankees.

Looking like that. Not like that ever. I would argue that if I could, please do because I'm like, well, Cooper cup, former MVP.

There's no question. When your butt, whereas the Niners have, I guess you're coming off an injury and the cup doesn't run the ball as much as Deebo did. As you know, if you remember when they were having all those issues, when, when, um, you don't want to play running. Well, no, no. And McCaffrey went out and then Mason went out and then, um, Deebo would be the one running the ball every now and then. Yeah. They had Garendo and Garendo.

So I'll, I'll go there. And plus there were times where cup wasn't even targeted in a game that the Rams were winning towards the end of the season. I know I had them in fantasy, Rich. What else, Chris?

Do you think we need one more? Oh, well, my goodness. This is a glitch.

Glitchy, glitchy palooza. More likely to be the higher total. Lakers wins the rest of the season. How many games do they have left? 28.

Okay. Or Dodgers wins in April. How many games do they play in April? Probably 30. Interesting. This is a good one, Chris.

This is a really good one. I say the Lakers have 28 games left. I'll say they go, if the Lakers go five over 500, that would mean, that would mean 19. That they'd be 19 and nine, right?

That's 10 over 500. Yes. Okay.

Here we go. 18, 17. I'll go 17. 17 and 11, something like that. I'll go Dodgers wins.

25 games in April for the Dodgers. Okay. There you go. Huh?

Great one. I'll go Dodgers wins in April. Cause I mean, how many times are they going to load manage Mookie bets? You know what I mean?

I'll be zero. Correct. Correct. You know, Tony might get a day off here because he just pitched the day before. Okay.

Freddy Freeman. They're going to load manage him. They won't.

Right. Why don't they go 25 and 0 in April? That'd be such crap. They don't call it load manage in Bay. They don't call it, the Dodgers don't call it load manage. They call it deferring. Deferring is play. We're deferring at bats day. Deferring is at bats to tomorrow. That's what it is.

They call it deferring play for the Dodgers. Well done, Chris. That's a good one. Good talk. See you out there.

Yeah. 8 4 4 2 0 4. Rich number to die. Al Michaels is making his way to hang with us in all third hour action. And we've got some surprises in store for him as he reminisces about the 45th anniversary of the miracle on ice that happens tomorrow. But coming up next also tomorrow is the 30th landmark season of MLS action kicking off and Taylor Twelman of Apple TV.

And one of our favorites is here in studio to set the table. Let's talk TurboTax people. You might be sitting there going, wait a minute, Rich.

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Hey, Rich Eisen here. I hear from a lot of business owners like you about the work it takes to pursue your passions. So I know how important it is to have the tools that can help keep you moving forward. And with access to world-class business and travel benefits, the American Express Business Platinum Card helps you take your business to the next level. It offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business.

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Terms apply. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash Amex Business. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate first.

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Savings vary. Subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. Back here on the program, Taylor Twoman is here everybody. Ladies and gentlemen, I'll give a more appropriate welcome when the radio audience returns. You were just saying you were seven days old when the... No, I was born seven days after. After the miracle.

February 29th, 1980. My mom to this day still tells the story because they were in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was like six or seven below. The heater wasn't working.

My dad's not handy at all. So she's under like 10 or 11 blankets. And then literally watched that game. And then I was born on leap day, whatever that would be. Would that eight days later?

No, seven days later. When do you celebrate your birthday then? I mean, Rich, you've known me for a while, pretty much every day of my life, just to make sure everyone understands how sad it is.

28th and March 1st, guaranteed. Yeah, because the 28th doesn't matter anyways, because that happens every year and it's not my birthday. But I want people to feel sorry for myself. So you're turning seven. You're turning seven. I appreciate that. I turned 11 last year. Hey, God bless you. So this year's a non-birthday year.

So yeah, it's great. I'll do a double header on MLS season pass on Apple TV and no one will know I turned 45. Okay. So next year, invite me to the Bar Mitzvah. Absolutely. Will you do that?

Sure, no problem. Don't do that for me. I still won't. It's not a leap year.

Like, I don't know if anyone can figure it out on the show. It's every four years, not two years. That's correct. Every four years. I thought I said five. Yeah, you said five. What is the matter with you? I don't know. Eleven. You turn 11 last year. Great conversation. Oh, this is fun. I've lost brain cells.

10 out of 12 in everybody. MLS this year. That's right. Yeah, the 30th season of MLS action. We'll get to that in a second. But that's, and you had tickets to the final last night?

Yeah, it's going to be a tough one. Yes. You had tickets, but you had to work. I had to work. So work comes first.

I would argue US Canada may should have come first. My gosh. I also walked out on 14th inning when the Red Sox started to come back in 2004. Taylor Twelman, everybody here on the Rich Eisen show from Apple TV, MLS season pass.

The lead analyst is here in advance of the 30th landmark season of MLS action tomorrow, Saturday, February 22nd here on the Rich Eisen show as part of the Rich on the pitch segment. What do you think of me and my kit right there? I would tuck the shirt in a little bit.

You're trying to be too much like Messi, but I'm not going to lie to you. You kind of look fit. I appreciate that. You know what I mean? Yeah, I appreciate that.

You sound a little surprised. In two seconds. Presented by Apple TV season pass. Ladies and gentlemen, Taylor Twelman on the program.

And so what what should we be all looking for? Taylor Twelman. Does Messi win MLS Cup? First and foremost, I think that's the biggest storyline. When you set the record for most points in a regular season, you're named MVP. You have 36 goal contributions in only 19 games played because he got an awful slide tackle, ankle injury in Copa America.

Everyone's going to be wondering what comes next. If he's healthy, rich for twenty five plus games, you're looking at forty five goal contributions. I mean, he's still that guy. Still that guy. He's that guy for Argentina World Cup qualifier. That's not a slide on MLS.

It's just Messi's the unicorn. He still is the greatest player I think the sport's ever had. The other part is this, is that you and I have been talking about this league in this sport. The fact that we're in the 30th year, it needs to be celebrated because there was a time when I was playing. It was about survival.

Now it's about thriving. And in about 18, 19 years ago, the MLS owners, led by Commissioner Don Garber, really looked at expansion and they looked at it from a lens of where the markets that love soccer and the two that came to the forefront every single time they talked about it. St. Louis, Missouri, San Diego, California. I just find it fitting that in the 30th year of the league, the 30th franchise is sitting in San Diego. Now you've got LAFC, LA Galaxy, San Diego. Now all of a sudden, Southern California is really going to be a hotbed. I just think it's fitting that where this league has come from and where it is now, San Diego comes in in the 30th year.

That is amazing. That's why you are here to give us that sort of perspective here. And in regards to what we just saw last night with the four nations for the NHL, and the reason why I bring this up is you could see, you know, Team USA and Team Canada literally neck and neck, right? Well, at each other's necks on Saturday and then neck and neck throughout this tournament.

How, with the US, you know, hosting the World Cup or one of the hosts of the World Cup that's coming, how will we look at this MLS season and the talent that we're seeing through the prism of being on par or nearing par or what? I mean, Rich, it's the first thing I thought of. I mean, it's the first thing I thought of watching four nations. By the way, tip of the cap to the NHL. No doubt.

Brilliant idea. Right. There's not a greater accomplishment or privilege as an athlete to represent your country. And the reason why the four nations blew the doors off everything is hockey players want to, they just don't have the opportunity to do so as often as soccer players do. You play for your club team and then the international break comes and you play for your country. Right.

So that's why it was such a huge hit. But the first thing I thought of is this World Cup coming up is in your backyard, both for the United States and Canada and Mexico. And what does that do for those three countries? Correct. For Canada, they've got their best generation of player ever. Hands down. They've got an American coach in Jesse Marsh. I think it takes them to another level. They may surprise people, but for the United States, I've been a huge problem with this and I'll raise my hand calling this group the golden generation of American player. And I think in fairness to myself and others that have done so, we've never had a crop of American players playing at AC Milan, Chelsea, Aventis, Dortmund at the same time.

So naturally say, well, wait a minute, we haven't had this quality of player at the same time playing at the highest level in the World Club level. However, Rich, they don't have a signature win. And for anyone watching or listening, if Mexico is your signature win, my generation did that.

The generations before me did that. Your signature win has to come against a top ten, top seven country in the world in a big time tournament. We're not going to get that answer until next summer because they only have the Gold Cup this summer, Nations League.

So why do I answer that question in that way? Pressure is going to build. Pochettino's got to figure out who his two centerbacks are going to be in that opening game.

He doesn't know that now. Who's his number nine? Is Pulisic healthy? Weston McKenny, Timothy Way, they're all operating at a good level. But we will not get that answer on what the potential and real expectation is for this U.S. team until the opening game of the World Cup, which is kind of crazy to say because every other generation's had World Cup qualifiers leading into it. We've had other friendlies where you can say, OK, that's a better barometer of where this group is. We don't know that with this group. Well, again, just to bring everything together here, because again, we got Al Michaels coming up in a half an hour to talk about the 45th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice that happened seven days before you were born, is that, you know, the friendly, if you will, that Team USA had against, you know, the Russians in Madison Square Garden before they went to Lake Placid was an unmitigated disaster. Yep, like total disaster, which which is what set the stage for the Miracle. So when I'm watching the MLS 30th season, who should I be watching for that's going to be on this team to see if they have actually to raise their level of play?

I would actually answer it with another one. Who's playing an MLS that we, myself and others are not talking about? They're going to play themselves on to the World Cup because I promise you there's going to be one or two guys that are just they have an interesting storyline for the American player. I would say in Major League Soccer, 14 year old Kevin Sullivan's playing for the Philadelphia Union. Manchester City deemed him 14, the best 14 year old in the world. He's now 15. He's going to be playing at a good clip for Philadelphia Union, and then eventually he's going to move on and play for Manchester City. What happens if he bangs in 15 goals this year? Like his age, he scores his age. Yeah, what happens? Yeah, truthfully, I can't shoot my age in golf. I wish I could.

Well, I can on nine, but neither here nor there. Nice point is, though, what happens? I'm not putting pressure on Kevin Sullivan, but what I'm using as an example is there's going to be a player or two that Pochettino has told me to my face and publicly when he watches MLS games, there's going to be a guy in this league in 2025 that is playing regularly that he's not thinking of, that he's going to say in January of 26, I want to see you and then it snowballs into the he's got to go with his hot hand. And so there's many of different players. San Diego's got an interesting player, Luca De La Torre. He was in the national team consistently in the national team, got an injury before the 22 World Cup, didn't go playing regularly in La Liga. Then he hurts his ankle really bad. He's taken a risk for his European club career to say, I'm a San Diego kid.

I want to go to San Diego. I want to play regularly. And the reason why he's doing is Pochettino is going to watch him every single minute in this league. And it would not surprise me one iota if he plays himself right back into the national team program, because the problem with the American player in Europe that isn't playing, Rich, those are not good reps because they aren't reps. So if you're going to play in major league soccer, play consistently, be accounted on for the intangibles of leadership and experience and all those other buzzwords that we use, there's going to be one or two players that you and I are going to do this next year before the 31st season of MLS. And I'm going to say these two players, they've got themselves a real shot.

I think the gold cup this summer will be an interesting tournament. I think Brandon Vasquez is another player. Austin just paid 10 million for him. He's coming back from Mexico. I could see him score 18, 19, 20 goals, go to the gold cup, bang in three or four because he's a different profile. He's big, he's strong. He can run like the wind, something US doesn't have in those spots, but it wouldn't surprise me a year from now if I can legitimately say these two guys just played themselves in the world cup. When you said those aren't real reps, what did you mean by that?

What are you talking about? If you are just training and practicing and not getting into games, in my opinion, when it comes to the world cup, you're not ready. Doesn't matter if you're at a, at a major, big time level, you're just not out there. At my club on Saturday and Sunday, I'm a plus two.

Rich at Tahoe, I was scrambling to two putt from 35 feet because why? That's real. I'm not saying the club on Sunday and Saturday, by the way, you know me, I'm a degenerate gambler.

Those are real, but for different reasons. My point is practice is fine, but we need US players playing all the time, no matter where they are. So what do you think it's going to all come out in the wash? I do think it's a good world cup. I do. And I do think this season is one that that springboards.

Yes, I do. Just because 30 markets, if you would have told me in 2005 that we as a league would be in 30 markets on a global media platform like Apple TV with this documentary that just came out on side, which by the way, is as good as drive to survive as anything I've seen. Same producer, director, no, no coincidence. I just think we're at the precipice of saying, you know what? 2026 is really where this thing balloons. And I think this year is going to be a fun ride. Yeah. The first episode is available for all MLS season pass subscribers from today through the third of March.

And the MLS season pass is the three year three in partnership with Apple and you and the World Cup. And just so much is going down right now, man. This is exciting.

This is fun, by the way. Plus two. Yeah, I love it.

Yeah, keep mentioning that. What a fraud. Congrats.

What a fraud. I'm a plus two at the club. And then you show up real and shoot 75. Oh, you finished eighth in Tahoe. Yeah. By the way, he's just the seventh loser.

When he said he shoots his age on the front nine. It's on a bad day. Give me a break. That's Stableford. That's where you're a tremendous slouch.

You're Stableford. Yeah, that's 45 on that. Give me a break.

You shoot 45 on a now front nine. Get out of here. You would be livid. You would be livid if you made the turn. Oh no, absolutely. I would quit and I don't know, try to skate.

You would be absolutely livid on that front. So we had the MLS Cup here. Yeah, we did. It was great.

It was awesome. You want to take a shot at who hoisted this bad boy? Look at that thing right there on my desk. I mean, I've already insinuated and I'm looking at the odds. I find them very interesting in Vegas right now.

Okay. FC Cincinnati went out and bought for the first time ever. You can now buy players within Major League Soccer. It's not just outside. They paid $12 million for the Portland Timbers MVP candidate last year, Evander, and then spent a club record $15 million on a guy that can put the ball in the back of the net.

They're plus $1,200? Well, the Bengals should take a page out of that, right? Hello. You know what I mean? Well, they should. They're going to send T. Higgins to play right back for FC Cincinnati. Actually, T. Higgins wants more than what you just said combined, so I understand, but okay. By the way, he's a 1B at best.

We got to be careful here that T. Higgins sets the bar for the wide receiver bar. He's legit. He's the best that's out there right now.

He's not better than the guy. No, Jim R. Chase, I agree with you. So, FC Cincinnati is interesting. Atlanta is interesting. I think LAFC, because of the Galaxy winning last year, are really motivated. First time since 2021. So, my prediction will be LAFC in the final, and I think FC Cincinnati. I don't think Messi and Miami get to the MLS cup final. No, man.

But they are. I'm just doing it for your clips. I have a feeling there are some executives right around here in Southern California, maybe in Cupertino, that would like to see Messi, though, make this run. Maybe.

Maybe there might be a- I got to drop off his coffee and watch his car in about an hour. I said, yeah, absolutely. That's why you couldn't make the final last night. That was Rich on the Pitch, presented by MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. The 2025 MLS season is finally here. Catch Inter Miami's opening match versus NYC FC Saturday at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Time.

And then the start of Sunday Night Soccer, the LA Galaxy against the aforementioned San Diego FC, 7 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, with no local blackouts or out-of-market restrictions with MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Just an absolute blast. Before I let you go, you were saying, what about, I overheard you say the North End in Boston last night? Because they were saying that was the toughest ticket maybe in the history of the TD Garden last night. I've been there 24 years. Game sevens, all of that. Even Sean McDonough, who did a fantastic job calling me up, he literally texted me and said, I've been here a long time.

I've never seen this city the way it was like that. No kidding. Which is awesome. And by the way, all the conversation about the NBA doing something like that, good luck. Good luck with game management.

They wouldn't even do it. I'm- Road management, excuse me. No, I hear you. Again, I'm just wondering how to fix that.

I just don't know if there's a fix. And I think the NHL did show how to make it work. And they used a World Cup pool play. It was like a pool play, World Cup, four teams. And we'll see who the top two advance. And they could add Russia eventually if that war ends and all that. There's two countries more, probably.

So you could probably have six. But next year, they're not doing it because there's the actual Olympics, the actual nationalist tournament. Which even builds more momentum than for the following year.

I just don't know, again, to see. That's one of the things that you just love when you're watching these football tournaments, right? That it means so much to these people who are already generationally enriched. And you saw that from the NHL players. Agreed. And it mimics what you see when you watch, you mentioned, Gold Cup, World Cup, all of these cups, right?

It's the greatest honor for an athlete. But I'll tell you right now, I'd watch the US versus the world in the NBA All-Star game. Problem is, the US might be sweating a little bit. They might not want to play that game. Hey, man, you're not wrong.

It's not the 92 Olympics anymore. No, it's not. I understand that. I'd watch it. But putting it on the line, it would be amazing.

Absolutely. Even if it's just one game, because I don't know if the NBA would do a week-long tournament. I don't think you can. You could. I mean, you could. You'd have to ask guys to play every other day. You'd have to ask the Players Association for no back-to-backs for a year. Maybe so.

I don't know. But it's a pleasure to see you, man. Thanks for making the time. I love being here.

And I love having you here as well. Everybody, again, check out the MLS season 30. That's a landmark season that starts tomorrow. Taylor Twelman, check him out as the lead analyst on the MLS season pass on Apple TV. We are back with more Al Michaels making his way to our studio to talk about the 45th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice and the Four Nations and so much more.

45 years. Indeed. Rich Ackerman with the sports update. No one knows music like Rolling Stone. Senior writer Brian Hyatt talks the biggest music news from the biggest stars. Almost everyone is teaming up on Drake.

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Al Michaels, we're going to give you a choice of three. And you must start one. You're Tom Brady, if you will. You must bench one. Malcolm Butler. Oh, yeah.

Or cut one, which could be Malcolm Butler too. All right, here we go. Do you have any?

Just sit down and be quiet. All right, with Al Michaels. First one up for Al Michaels and start, bench, cut.

Do you have any music, Mike Del Tufo, please? Thank you. Cuts of Steak. Ribeye, Filet Mignon, New York Strip. Ribeye, Filet Mignon, New York Strip. You must start one, bench one, and cut one.

Al Michaels. New York Strip is in the Hall of Fame. So that's the story. Filet is, you know, on the bench. Ribeye is great, but the problem is it's so fatty.

So, you know, you're always watching your weight. So I love ribeye, but I got to cut it. You're cutting ribeye?

I'm cutting ribeye. New York Strip is in the hall? Oh, yeah. That's the best. First Ballot?

First Ballot? Yeah. Okay.

They waived the five-year waiting period too. And it's your medium-rare guy, right? Medium-rare plus.

Okay, medium-rare plus. Wow, look at that. Okay, next one up for Al Michaels. Start, bench, cut.

Event to call. Super Bowl, World Series, Olympics. Start, bench, cut. Oh, yeah. Well.

Super Bowl, World Series, Olympics. Oh, you think I got to put the Super Bowl as the starter? Okay. Bench. When am I going to bench here?

That's the idea. I haven't done the World Series since 1995, so that's cut, I guess. Okay. The Olympics. You'll bench the Olympics. Well, yeah.

I'm going to put the Olympics on waivers, but I'm going to bring it back. Okay, very good. All right, Al, we got a bonus one. You have one?

Yeah, we got a bonus one. Okay. All right, Al, ready? Golf Partner. Start, bench, cut. Golf Partner.

Okay. Doc Rivers. Pete Sampras. Rich Eisen. Since I played golf with all of these guys, you know, I'll probably start Doc.

I knew that. He's Doc is extremely competitive. Pete's a lot of fun to play with, but Pete, he's been through the competitive realm of his life, so he's out there to have fun.

And Rich, I'm sorry, but you know. I'm cut? Let's put it this way. Neither of us would. I'm fun? I'm fun? Neither of us would make the cut.

We'd be gone by Friday afternoon. Al's a crowd pleaser. You knew that's exactly what you wanted to hear, Brockman. It's Al Michaels and one of his many, many appearances here on the Rich Eisen show that was back in 2018 when we did start bench cut with him. I don't know, again, I think this is almost an annual tradition that we started a few years ago, where Al comes in for the Miracle on Ice memories and what an absolute treat that is, right? It's so great.

Forty-five years tomorrow. Unreal. Lake Placid, New York. Have you ever been to Lake Placid? I have never been to Lake Placid. I've never been.

I mean, you could do an upstate New York, Western New York, as well, trip. Cooperstown, Lake Placid, I mean, got to go to Cooperstown. You've been there, right? Yeah, I've only been once in 2000. I haven't been in a long time. I've been to Lake Placid. Did you go just for anybody's specific Hall of Fame?

No, just it was a weekend. Just went, yeah. 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 here on the program. Let's go to Mitch in Dallas. You're here on the Rich Eisen show. Where are you, Mitch? Hey, Rich, how you doing? What's going on, man?

How are you? Well, you know, I saw, you know, you got Elle coming on. Yes, indeed. I think the Miracle on Ice is one of those sporting events, and I'll keep it the sporting events.

Sure. Where everybody knew where they were when they watched that game. That is correct. I was in Johnny White's in New Orleans. The great Johnny White's was just closed, by the way, unfortunately.

The other one would be Reggie Jackson hitting three home runs in a World Series. Yes, sir. And the other would be, of course, somebody mentioned earlier on your show, Bucky Dent.

I was in, I mentioned that earlier in the show, Mitch. So are you from New York City? Is that where you're from? Or you're just a Yankee fan or something like that?

No, I'll tell you what. No, I grew up a Yankee fan. I grew up in Toledo. And the other thing about Miracle on Ice, I went to Bowling Green University and two players on that team, Ken Morrow, and I can't remember the other guy were on that team.

Ken wound up being a New York Islander. He was part of the Drive for Five after he won the gold medal. Thanks for the call, Mitch, and the memories right there. Yeah, that's cool. I was, for the Miracle on Ice, Bucky Dent's home run and Reggie Jackson's three home runs, I was in the same spot. Oh, really?

Yeah. Your house? My ancestral home in Staten Island, New York, in the Willowbrook section on Harold Street in Staten Island, New York. I did watch the Bucky Dent home run on my TV, in the TV in my parents' room. We had three TVs in the house. We had one in my parents' room. We had one in the downstairs. And then we had one that my brother had, a black and white TV. It pissed me off. How did he get a TV and how did he get a TV in my room?

It was a black and white television. His older brother. Yeah, I understand. Come on, man. I was still pissed. You know what, though?

I have to ask my mom this if she would remember. Anyway, I probably just didn't have the attention span to have a TV in my room. That would be like giving Zan his iPhone at 10 o'clock at night. Yeah, not good. So, or any of our kids.

I shouldn't just single my oldest out. But my brother had a black and white television that he would turn on and off. It was a touch, I'll never forget this, like a piece of metal, like a rectangular piece of metal. You would touch it with your finger and it would turn it on and off. I thought it was the most incredible thing. Like it was... No remote, obviously, right?

No, you would just touch it and it would go on and off. And it was like the greatest invention of all time. I never saw anything so newfangled, but we would wheel the black and white TV into the kitchen to watch television for one sporting event and only one sporting event per year.

Only one. And it was the US Open tennis on the day of Super Saturday. That's my... And I remember my parents' room to watch Bucky Dent's home run, the three home runs for Reggie Jackson and the Miracle on Ice and the downstairs one. And I remember we had to turn off all the radios in the house. So we didn't have the Miracle on Ice finish ruined because it was tape delayed. Could you imagine in this day and age, tape delaying, like even just consider tape delaying the four, assume tape on the four nations face off vinyl.

You couldn't do it in today's days. The Olympics in a weird way is kind of tape delayed. That's true, in a sense. If it's overseas, right?

But you can find out everything you need to find. That's right. Mark Wells was the other Bowling Green player.

Yeah, I just looked at it. Like, hey, turn off your sets if you don't want to know the score. But my parents were addicted to traffic and weather together on the 1s or the 8s. And we would have to, we went through sports blackout to make sure we did not have Al and Ken Dryden's call of the Miracle on Ice ruined. That's cool. Yeah. Forty five years later, we're now on a live streaming show, television and radio. And if you miss us, there's a podcast and then there's a YouTube channel.

What a world we're living in right now, man. Yeah, Al is streaming football games. Football games. For a company that used to be known for just delivering stuff to your house. For books.

Yeah, for books. That's right. When it started.

Isn't that crazy? How old do we sound? Have we sounded the last five minutes or me? It's just reminiscing, man.

It's the way life was. Nice. Very good.

Very good. Where were you in the Miracle on Ice? I mean, I didn't see it when it happened. You didn't?

I mean, I watched it late. I can vaguely recall, like because we're the same age. Yeah, except you're older.

But I can vaguely recall. I didn't really get into it till like I remember being in like seventh grade and fully understanding what had happened. So just after just as you were in seventh grade, just as it was being played. Dog, if I was in seventh grade in 1980, I'd be like 66 years old. No, I'm very out. So it took a while.

So does that mean you're in kindergarten in 1980? What's going on? Just trying to flush this out. You know, I'm going to tap dance over this. So we try to brush this out. It's like trying to get a handicap out of Marshall Faulk.

What his golf handicap is. But it wasn't something I was watching live and knew about. Like I said, it came years later. You weren't even alive. I was not born yet.

I was born in July of 80. So I was still. I was in there.

I think I was in there. I was ruminating. You were ruminating. Is that what you're doing?

Marinating. I wasn't. I didn't. I hadn't come out in there. Okay.

And busted out the gut yet. My mom's probably watching. Exactly. What a weird way. With your mother watching. You use that language.

What's the matter with you? Were you alive yet, Jake? No, I was born 85.

Damn. And I remember I was young. I was 11 years old.

Yeah, that's cool. Or no, I was 10. I had yet to turn 11. 1980.

So in 1969 was when I was born. It's cool. It's such a tiny rink and a tiny arena. If you've ever been to Lake Placid, you know.

It's like a small sleepy town up there. It's really cool. Gotta go. History. Absolute history. Right? The number one moment voted of the 20th century, right? Yeah. A sports moment. Like it was the iconic cover on Sports Illustrated.

I don't know how. Yeah. Just get goosebumps even thinking about it. Imagine calling it like our next guest is about to join us. So cool. So cool.

Imagine saying something that just popped in your head and it's the most iconic thing that a human being has ever said at a sporting event. Yes, imagine that. That's insane. I know. Yeah.

Also, I was like 35 calling that game. I know. Do you believe in miracles? Yes. Yes. Come on. Ken, it's so iconic. It's so iconic.

TJ can't even. That's what she said it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you could. That's what she said.

Anything. Let's be honest. But Ken Drin was trying to step on it too.

No, stop. No, he was just talking about it. He was excited. Right. He was just talking about what happened.

And who would have thought of all people to score to a Ruzzioni? No, he was the captain. But he wasn't exactly. Yeah.

He wasn't known as a lamplighter. Gretzky or Ovechkin out there. Right.

You know, he was the heart and soul and the heartbeat of the team in many different ways. I'm gonna have to watch Miracle tonight. Yes, you are. Yeah, you are. Not tonight, boys.

Not tonight, boys. What a scene that is, right? It's amazing. Now that and the way ESPN cut it up into the locker room footage of the like, that was I saw that was doing the voice of what a great idea.

Yeah, that was awesome. Yeah, I've never watched the movie the all the way. Oh, it's are you serious? I don't know why. I mean, you know, I've seen bit by bit, you know, 20 minutes here, but I don't think I've ever start to finish. It's great. Sat and watched it for whatever weird. Oh, tonight's your night.

But I know what happened. Maybe I should watch that because I have seen it. I don't know if they have.

I don't know if they have. It's it's awesome. It would be the first Kurt Russell movie of their lives. Oh, not a bad one. That's not a bad one. You're not showing a big trouble in Little China.

Hey, kids, dad's got a new movie for you to watch. It's called Tango and Cash. I mean, I get overboard is fine. No, you can definitely show him overboard is fine.

Overboard sounds like Tango and Cash. He did a lot of Disney back in the day, too. So he was a child actor. He's been around his entire life.

He's been famous a very long time. Yeah. So there's that. But yeah, watch that tonight. And the kids will love Silkwood is all upset. Oh, my God.

Erase them. Now you're just going down his list and choosing the most kid inappropriate film. So of Kurt Russell's career. OK, thank you for that swing shift. No.

The one he plays, Elvis. OK, very good. And that will David R. All right. We're now done for the premiere of that movie, Chris. It'll wipe away.

It will. Having that the first Kurt Russell movie of my kids will wipe away war with grandpa or war on grandpa, whatever it is. You're doing them a disservice. The first ever Robert De Niro movie they've ever seen.

They can't see tombstone. Now, Michael, let's do this coming up. Bravo TV star Lala Kent holds nothing back like I go into a full spiral. Get to know the TV personality. I talked about this with Teresa Judice. Remember when I pushed Andy Cohen?

Yes, it was like, OK, the entrepreneur. What are we manifesting in 2025 and the mom Sosa is a dream baby. Your kids are older. It's Bravo children, the celebrity children of celebrity Bravo. Give them Lala. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.