Super Bowl Contenders (Hour 2)

Alrighty, this is Zach Yelb's show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. We've been in the news a bunch lately. We had the viral Deebo Samuel hang up. Then Austin Eckler was joining us earlier in the week talking about the running back position and the lack of new contracts coming out for running backs.

Kenny Clark says that he thinks the Green Bay Packers are 100% getting disrespected heading into this season and then also something that it didn't get lost in the shuffle. This made the All-Star game a few times, right? Former Seattle Mariner and brother of Aaron Boone. He was on this show and he said, my brother didn't tell me this, but a little birdie tells me that he's hearing some rumblings that don't be surprised if Aaron Judge comes back shortly after the All-Star break. I just saw a video as the Yankees are in Anaheim. Going up against the Angels, right? You're getting ready for the game. Aaron Judge not only took batting practice, but also was running the bases.

Now, Hickey, your guess is as good as mine on this one. But when Brett Boone, who I like, goes out of his way a few times to say, I haven't talked to my brother about this. And then he just has heard some rumblings about Aaron Judge coming back shortly after the All-Star break. Yeah, I'll call a little cap on that, as the kids would say, where he's not going to say publicly, OK, my brother told me. But maybe his brother gave him a little wink, wink, and we just asked him the right questions to get that response and get that info out of him. Yeah, I would have a hunch to say that maybe Aaron, in passing and talking, maybe have put that out there and said, hey, it wasn't me. Yeah, well, not even that, just like catching up with your brother.

It's natural, right? If your brother was the manager of the Yankees and you have this mega star in Aaron Judge, who's a top five player in the sport and is an enormous personality not there, you would ask your brother, hey, when can we expect Aaron Judge to come on back? And maybe Aaron Boone was like, eh, not that far off. Don't be surprised if he comes back a little bit after the All-Star break. So that was heard right here on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio, July 11th.

And that was something I was monitoring. Now, you get about right shortly after the All-Star break, he's got to be back by what you would say, August or at least that last week of July. And maybe they're trending in that direction where the All-Star game was pretty much a week ago. And now you're getting these steps of him on the base paths and also him taking some BP. And you don't always have to go to like AA or AAA and go on a rehab assignment. Yeah, a lot of baseball players do that when they miss significant time.

But we've also seen players just come on right back when you're that big of a star and you get to call the shots. And if you don't think the minor league rehab assignment is necessary and you feel good to go, boom. You go on out there and you play to try to save the Yankee season, which is fading right in front of us. And you look at the Yankees, there was a reason why when I was making my five predictions last week for the second half of the season, I grouped three teams together and I said the Yankees, the Mets and the Padres, all three of those teams won't get hot in the second half.

And all three of them wind up missing the playoffs. And if the season were to end today, the Yankees are three games back of that wildcard spot. And in the NL, you have the San Diego Padres seven and a half back of that final wildcard spot.

You have the Mets eight and we'll see if the Padres who have so much talent, if they're going to be sellers at the deadline. And there's been some speculation about the status of Juan Soto and maybe Juan Soto does get dealt. And clearly the biggest name on the market right now is Shohei Ohtani. But after Shohei Ohtani, Hickey, if Soto's there, he would then be the second biggest name because we all know how great of a young player for a while. Juan Soto has been in Major League Baseball, whether it's with the Nationals or the Slam Diego Padres that have not really turned out to be the Slam Diego Padres this year.

And it's very rare to see a young player like Soto traded not once, but twice. It would be in successive trade deadlines. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Give me a little NFL music, because right now we are going to draft the five Super Bowl contenders each for this upcoming year. And Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tungavailoa, absolutely. He says that the Dolphins are definitely legit contenders for this upcoming season. I will start things off here and we will have an honest draft here just to lay out the rules. I will go first, then Hickey will go, then I will go, then Hickey will go until we reach the number of five teams each. And I really do think the first three teams that we each draft will be fairly easy. But then four and five, it does get difficult because I only think there's like five or six contenders to go win a Super Bowl that I feel good about. But we're going to do this exercise to make it five each.

I'll start it off and I'm going to go out on a limb here. I'm going to take the defending Super Bowl champions, the team with the best player on the planet right now, and that's the Kansas City, how about those cheese, with Patrick Mahomes. I'll take their challenger then, the Philadelphia Eagles out of the NFC, who just gave out their NFC Championship rings today. And to be honest, we got a chance to see that ring today as Ricky Ricardo, the Spanish play-by-play voice for the Philadelphia Eagles, has a NFC Championship ring and he was showing it around the office. Now, he also got a Super Bowl ring from when the Eagles won the Super Bowl, a Super Bowl 52 up against my Patriots.

Let me ask you this, though. Are you wearing an NFC Championship ring? Like he just got it. It's really cool. And it's actually easier to wear than the Super Bowl ring because the Super Bowl ring, you can't even call it a ring with how big of a rock that is. And the NFC Championship game winner, it actually looked like a nice ring that you would wear out, but it's associated with losing because you know you're playing for that big ring. I don't like, no, to answer your question, I would not wear the NFC Championship ring. I don't like that they give out rings.

I'm with you. I think it should just be for champions. Super Bowl champions. Maybe you want to give out, again, you want to give out a memento and say, hey, look, it was a great season, we won the NFC, and give out something to recognize that. I wouldn't hate it, but again, I think the rings especially should be reserved for only champions.

And you know what I just thought about? For Brady and Belichick, right, they've got two, three Super Bowls that they lost. You never see there. I don't think you really see the AFC or NFC Championship rings. And I didn't see this publicized anywhere really on the internet, so you know that this is a practice and this occurs and you get them, but I don't think you end up wearing it all that much. If they want to give me a ring, though, I'd go sell it.

And we could go get a nice dinner or something like that at Enzo. Well, that's probably keep it in the trophy case, maybe if you have something like that or a room with all your accolades and accomplishments, but you can't. I mean, again, it's obvious, if you were on the Eagles, what, five years ago at this point and you have a Super Bowl ring, you can wear the NFC title ring.

But if you were, which most players weren't, still, you can't be wearing that out. Right? I think you use it as motivation. You automatically think title, championship.

Yeah. The only time through the Patriots run that I ever got a conference championship shirt was in 2003. Now, they already won a Super Bowl.

This was 2003 when they won the AFC Championship game up against the Colts and they ended up winning the Super Bowl. My uncle, like I didn't buy it, but my uncle got me a conference championship shirt. So that was like a gift. But that's also different. That's a T-shirt. That's fine.

I was also like eight years old or nine years old. It's not like I think like you when you I think it's universal when you look at a ring in sports, you think one thing championship. Yeah. Like it's not like you look at it. It's not like you can only wear a Patriots championship T-shirt and any other Patriots T-shirt you wear is like, why would you wear that shirt? There's like shirts are meant to be worn. I have a Mets like World or division shirt like 20 years ago and they won in 06.

Like, I think it's that crazy. Oh, I wouldn't wear that. I would not wear it because it's associated with losing every time you look at it, you go, OK. Yeah, you won.

But what happened to the next game? Oh, you lost. I think it's crazy to buy if your team, you don't have any winter vision. You don't root for a lot of winners. If your team wins the conference or whatever sport, I think it's crazy to buy, you know, memorabilia commemorating that.

I think when it comes to rings specifically one ring only champions, you want to give them a placard, little pennants, NFC conference champions. Yeah. A watch. I don't know something. Maybe not a watch.

I'm not wearing the watch either. It's all the same thing. It reminds you of losing. You just use that as motivation.

And that's a pretty expensive motivation gift. Alrighty. So I go Chiefs, you go Eagles, Super Bowl contenders. Next up for me, if it's not the Chiefs, then the team I trust the most in the AFC, the Cincinnati Bengals. I'm going to hedge my bet here, then basically try to guarantee one team in the Super Bowl. I'll take the 49ers. I'm going to try to lock down the NFC. So how many AFC teams will we go through until we get our next NFC team? Because outside of the Eagles and 49ers, Slim Pickens in the NFC. So I will go back to the well in the AFC and I'll go with the team that's been close. But yet so far, the Buffalo Bills, they make you want to shout. I'll take the Bills. I think this quarterback is in for a big year. Big jump. I'll go the Jacksonville Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence.

Alrighty. I will double down in the AFC East. If it's not Josh Allen, Jets fans, sorry. Ankleby Aaron Rodgers.

Everyone's doubting this guy out. I like his team. Give me the Miami Dolphins with Tua Tungo Vailoa. I have four AFC teams here. Chargers fans should be happy. Ravens fans should be happy right now. If you're not on the list, you're probably feeling good right now. Who's your fourth team here? I will take the Chargers.

I'll go with the talent. It's can't trust them. Something always goes awry. Someone always gets injured. But at this point, I can't look at anyone in the NFC. I feel better than LA right now. I can't look at anyone else right now in the AFC and feel better than I do with the Chargers.

So my last team, I got to give myself a shot. I have to go with someone in the NFC. I have all AFC teams so far. Can't trust Dak Prescott in a big game. The NFC North, the Lions are a fun story, but they're not even a lock to win that division. The South, forget about it. I'm going to the NFC West as well.

And the NFC West as well. You have a Kenneth Walker. You got a DK Metcalf wearing shorts to a wedding for Tyler Lockett. You got Tyler Lockett too. You got Zach Charbonnet. You got Kenneth Walker. And I'm looking at that team and you see the defense.

It's been improving. You got Tyreek Woulin. You got Devon Witherspoon who you just drafted. Quandre Diggs is still there. You drafted Jordan Brooks.

You bring back Bobby Wagner. You got Pete Carroll. The only concern is how much regression is there with Geno Smith. And it's tough to see Geno Smith in a Super Bowl. But I do think the Seahawks are the third best team in the NFC. So I'm going to pick an NFC team here. I go Chiefs, Bengals, Buffalo, Dolphins. Those are my first four picks. I'll take the Seahawks in at number five. And for Hickey so far, he has Eagles, 49ers, Jaguars, Chargers.

My friend, I'm curious what you go here. Before you answer, you go in AFC or NFC here? I think I'm going to go back to the well of the AFC. I think that's the right call.

And I think there's one team in the AFC that should get the benefit of the doubt here. But let's see what you'll do. I'm going to probably pick a team that's under the radar. Oh, I know who you're picking.

That not a lot of people are looking at right now. Real quickly. Sure. Has this team been associated with a lot of losing?

They have. You like this team's roster, right? I do. You like some talk show hosts in that city? Debatable. Debatable? Yes. There's one large talk show host in that city that you are a large fan of. Whose name rhymes with Ren Rarman. You got to be better than that. Ren Rarman.

I mean, I could have used any letter. Here we go. Brown is here we go.

And I said, here we go again. It's the Cleveland Browns and it's first and 10. You go with the Browns over the Ravens.

Long shot. I don't like the Ravens changing their offense. I want to see Lamar Jackson play a full season. I'll go to Sean Watson in a big bounce back year. I like the town in Cleveland.

I will go again. Fifth team here. Don't really feel great about it anyway. So I'll take a risk and maybe a low, I guess not low risk, but yeah, sort of a low risk, high reward team. Cleveland Browns. No Cowboys? No Cowboys.

Just like Texas. No benefit of the doubt given to them. So you're not going to be joining Jerry and Oxnard next week holding up that mock trophy trying to simulate winning another Lombardi? I will not. No, sir. I want to go to the Lions. I said, you know what?

I'll go to the Browns. You think your boy, Jim Irsay, by the way, is going to, he's talking about two Lombardi trophies in this decade. That was two years ago, right? So we had eight years left? Well, it's in this decade.

It's got to be by. It's 2030. Yeah. So by the end of 2030, like we're halfway there pretty much almost.

Basically, I think eight years still anyway, I think. Yeah, whatever the math is. I'm not a math major. I elected to go to Temple University.

I only took one math class. You think your guys start to panic a little bit because he's getting nowhere close to winning that Super Bowl? You think we're going to see him pull a page out of Jerry Jones' book, holding up a fake trophy, simulating that? You think that's going to happen? I don't know. Not this year.

No? He is now maybe next year. If Richardson plays well in his rookie year, can I see Jim Irsay saying something out of pocket that way puts the carp before the horse?

Absolutely. Well, don't you have Montana and Young anyway on that roster with what he was tuning out at the draft? Well, if they drafted Will Leviss, they could have, yes.

But they did not go that route, so Jim's probably pissed. That's why he's probably down on the team because they don't have Will Leviss along with Anthony Richardson. So Gardner Minshew is in Steve Young? No. No, he is not in Jim Irsay's eyes.

Big take. This is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Alrighty, we will chat some Alabama football, SEC football as well, former Crimson Tide offense lineman Mike Johnson next. We can't wait for the 2023 season.

And we're counting down the days to kick off. Here is your college football fix only on the Zach Gelb show. Alrighty, time to talk some SEC football. Also, Alabama will do so with a former offensive lineman for the Crimson Tide.

That, of course, is a BCS national champion. And Mike Johnson, who's kind enough to join us right now, does a kick-ass job on his new morning show, a 92-9 the game in Atlanta. Mike, appreciate the time as always. How you been?

Oh, I've been excellent, man. I love this time of year. I love starting to kick off college football season. So, I got to start you off with Nick Saban because you have Paul Finebaum the other day being Paul Finebum pretty much. Starting to take a shot at the legacy of Nick Saban and question it if he doesn't get back to the college football playoff this year. I laughed when I heard that, but how did you react to it?

Much in the same way you did. I honestly think a lot of people kind of feel like that, man. I mean, look, Nick Saban's position among college football coaches is pretty cemented, no matter what he does from here on out. I mean, this is a guy who's been incredibly successful. Obviously, I'm very thankful for my time with him. I know that there are a number of other coaches that have been influenced by him, including Kirby Smart, Billy Napier.

I mean, you go on down the list. So, you can talk about his legacy, talk about what you'll remember about the guy, talk about the job he's doing currently. But there's just no debate that he's one of the greatest college football coaches of all time.

And that's not going to be affected by anything that happens this year, next year, or the year after that, or whenever he decides to hang him up. So, when you take a look back at your time with Saban, it was at a different era of Alabama football, right? The earlier part of the Saban tenure, what are the memories that you have with coach and what he's done for your career?

Well, you know, I'll be honest with you, I was a little frightened when he was hired. You know, the clip that got played over and over again is as he makes the defensive lineman there with the Miami Dolphins cry. I can't remember the guy's name, it was an Auburn crowd.

I'm watching, you know, we're on Christmas break. We had already played our bowl game. It was sometime in early January and we're watching that on repeat about how he made this grown NFL defensive lineman come to tears during training camp. So, I was a little frightened and, you know, soon got to meet the staff, got to meet offensive line coach who was Joe Pendry. And just was just very impressed with how things were run. It just felt like I learned how a premier college football program was supposed to be run.

And we were asked to up our effort, up our toughness. And we were able to do those things throughout my final three years there with him. And he just, a lot of people don't realize how much of a player's coach that Nick Saban actually is. Because of the way he can be and because of truthfully the way he is socially. I think that a lot of people look at him and just think he's not friendly. But he's in his element in the locker room and in those meeting rooms around the players.

And that's one of the things that I'll take away from him. Just how friendly and how funny he actually was to all of us guys in the locker room. When that decision was made to hire him, I don't know how closely you were following. I know you were a part of it, but you had the whole situation with the Dolphins. He's like, I won't be the coach of Alabama. You being from the player side of it, when that hire was first made, what was that first reaction?

And were you really plugged into the entire search? Well, listen, if I'm being truthfully honest, if you remember the Rich Rodriguez saga was just a few weeks before that. And we were actually, funny enough, we were actually in bowl practice. And we had TVs in our locker room.

And I don't remember what day of the week it was, but Joe Kynes was our interim coach back then. And the news is kind of breaking one day. And then, you know, kind of 24 hours later, we step back in the locker room. We're going through bowl practice.

It's really cold down in Tercalusa. And the news is kind of breaking that Rich Rodriguez had kind of turned the job down. And he was staying at West Virginia. I just remember Joe Kynes at the time was our interim coach kind of calling a huddle around himself in the locker room. Which we almost never huddled in the locker room. We always either did that on the field or over in the meeting room.

Just saying, hey, look, that guy messed up. He missed an opportunity to coach a great group of guys. And so, you know, we broke for, you know, our Christmas break after our bowl game. And just kind of held our breath and wanted to see what was next. And I think everybody at that point kind of assumed that Coach Saban was the home run hire.

You know, he had such a good track record. So we were just, I was excited, man. I was excited to get to work. It was a chance to kind of turn over a new leaf. It was a chance to really, you know, sink my teeth into that program and make sure I left my mark.

And, you know, hopefully I was able to do that. Talking to Mike Johnson right now, the former Alabama offensive lineman. Played in the NFL with the Falcons. Now hosts a local talk show on the game at Atlanta.

Highly rated show. And has done a kick-ass job there. Let me get to this year's Alabama team. I brought up the fine bomb stuff and, right, people questioning Saban. But you do look at this upcoming squad this year. Like most years, Alabama's a shoo-in for the college football playoff. And I think there's an argument to be made either way this year. What's kind of your view on the Crimson Tide this season? That's a good question.

That's one I've been trying to, listen, I work in Georgia country over here in Atlanta. So I've been trying to come to terms with, you know, how I feel going into the season. I think I'm optimistic is probably the way to put it. It reminds me a lot, honestly, of Jalen Hurts' first year as a starter. Where you had so many questions, they were starting off with USC. You kind of went into the season over with so many questions. But you knew you had a little bit of talent up front. Knew you had some talent out wide and the defense was going to be a little bit better that year.

So I really don't know. I don't know what to expect as far as quarterbacks go. I don't know what to expect as far as the offense goes. We can sit here and guess what the offense is going to be. But until they lay out, you know, who that quarterback is going to be, I don't think anybody knows. I'm just hoping for a little more imagination offensively.

I think Bill O'Brien did a lot of good things. But in the run game, I really felt like the offensive line the last couple of years has been up against it. I don't think there's been much imagination in the run game. A lot of RPOs just based off of inside and wide zone.

So, look, have some imagination. Hopefully Coach Reeves can put those guys in the right spot. I think if you can put that together and really start to get that offense clicking, that I think these guys are hungry and I think they're going to be willing to fly around.

Because they definitely have the talent to do it. There's playmakers all over the field. Corey Brooks I think is going to take a huge step. I think, you know, Jason McClellan will do the same thing. And some of those guys up front, Darion Dalcorp should be taking a huge leap this year as well. A guy who's been a part-time starter in the past. So, I'm optimistic.

I don't want to say that I'm confident, but I will say that I'm optimistic at this point in time for the damage they can do nationally. I know that it was the other side of the ball when you were there, but what are your memories about Kirby Smart being on that Alabama staff? Well, first of all, I love him, man. He's so just energetic, charismatic. One of those guys that – and I'm pretty sure he's still this way as a head coach, just, you know, watching him from afar. But he's a guy that felt like, you know, he was your friend.

Especially as an offensive lineman, you know, with a defensive coach. We just felt like, you know, we were good buddies. We've had a chance to have a couple of beers since then and a couple of golf tournaments and a cross pass. He's just really energetic and always felt like a friend. And, you know, that's one of the best things about him. And I know – I know that's why he's been successful on the recruiting trail, amongst other things. You know, he's a Georgia guy through and through, always has been. And when you pair that up with the personality he has and, you know, the love that I know he has as a family man and that he cherishes on that staff, you know, it's just – I think it's awesome. So I just – I have a lot of good memories about him.

I consider him a friend and I'm just really happy for the success he's had. You being in Georgia country right now, I know the fans are going to be confident, obviously. You won back-to-back national championships right there, the team that everyone's hunting right now. How likely do you think it is that Georgia is going to find a way to three-peat this upcoming season, even with some of the changes they've had to make on the roster? Yeah, I mean, they definitely – look, there's going to be turnover. There's going to be, you know, bumps and bruises.

The good thing for them, and I know it's been widely broadcast, is that they're going to have a chance to settle in. You know, UC Martin and Ball State, obviously, to start the season. You've got UAV in week four, and really your first test could come at Auburn there in week five. So, look, man, just playing the odds, being a Vegas kind of guy the way I am, I don't know how it happens.

It just – it never seems to happen in these kind of situations. But it's just hard to figure out who exactly is going to beat them. You know, maybe an LSU or a BAM necessary title game, and then maybe they run into another very, very talented football team here from the Big 12 or Big 10 in the playoffs. But, gosh almighty, when you look at their interior offensive line and the emphasis they put on the run game, and really the consistency they had in the staff. I know they've had a lot of players turnover, but, you know, a lot of staff has stayed around, including Mike Bolo, who just got promoted.

Man, it's hard to see. You just think they're going to be a bust all the way through, and nobody really impresses you unless somebody like a Tennessee or Auburn is going to jump up and get you on their schedule. So, you know, we'll see. But, man, I would feel pretty confident if I was a Georgia fan now.

I know they do call in and thought that was one of the other things. No doubt about that. Wrapping up with Mike Johnson, let me just hit you up here on one Atlanta Falcons question before we let you run. I think Atlanta is a team this year that could go win that division.

That division is not good. You're not going to need, like, 10 or 11 wins to get the job done. But the big question is, what do you kind of expect out of Desmond Ritter, because you do got some talent on both sides of the ball there in Atlanta, but the quarterback's a big unknown. Well, for me, I just hope that Desmond doesn't try to do too much. And I think that he needs to understand that the reason that Arthur Smith and his franchise have put the confidence in to be a starter is because he is a smart guy and a trustworthy guy, not because he's a dynamic playmaker that can stand flat-footed and throw the ball 70 yards. I mean, maybe he can, but that's not why he's got this job. He has this job because Arthur Smith trusts him to get in the right situation offensively and trusts him not to make dumb decisions. I think if he does that and stays away from interceptions, that when the season's over, that he's going to like where he's at. I truly do. I think it's a team capable of winning double-digit games. I'm with you. I think this team is capable of winning a division that has not been very good recently.

And so I think if Desmond plays with himself and looked at backfield, featuring the rookie, B. John Robinson, can stay healthy, I think this offense line is good enough and this defense should be good enough to take them where they want to be by the end of the year. It should be exciting. Mike Johnson, we appreciate you carving out some time for us today. Thanks so much for doing this.

Hey, I enjoyed it, man. Have a good time. You got it. There he is. Mike Johnson joining us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We will take a break.

When we do come on back, we'll teach you some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. We call that segment a news brief, but before we get to act, let me just tell you that you can think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all your car care needs, get guaranteed low, low, low, low, low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. O, O, O, O'Reilly Auto Parts. For 25 years, Stamps.com has made mailing and shipping easy. All you need is a computer and printer. Imagine mailing and shipping right from your desk, anytime.

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Use code PROGRAM for a four-week trial, plus postage and a digital scale. That's Stamps.com code PROGRAM. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio, so I just put a video out there of yours truly eating a New York City glizzy, as the kids would say, as I guess my friend Mark Hochman alerted to me that today is National Hot Dog Day. You want to hear how I got that message where they wanted me to come on their radio show in 560 WQAM to eat a hot dog?

Like, what a random but funny but awesome request? So this is the text today that I got from Hoch. You around today? Today is National Hot Dog Day. We would want you to be calling in from a gas station or a 7-Eleven or a hot dog cart and order and eat a hot dog off the roller during the show while talking sports, of course, or you could grab a couple of dogs and then eat them from the studio, your apartment, while we talk. And then I said, what time?

2.25. And he said, yeah, I could go grab you a New York City glizzy. And he said, that's beautiful. What a request. You've had a lot of messages with people having to make requests for radio hits. Should we start just figuring out what's the national day each and every day and have guests do some zany things on the radio?

Hey, Roman Harper, appreciate listening to the show. Today is... Oh, come on, you can't throw up right now. You got to have something. You can't stall when you're about to just say something funny. I'm trying to think of a food that'd be funny. I got nothing right now.

Escargot Day? No. Man, that was kind of disappointing. I know. I'm disappointed myself. I'm sorry.

You're like the Dallas Cowboys right there. That was really bad. You had a lot of hype. You had a lot of drama. Everyone was like, okay, here we go. And then... You throw up all over the field. Jeez Louise.

I'm going to erase that from my memory right there. This is that Kelp show on CBS Sports Radio. Let's update you on some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. Let's get to a news brief. Time for your Daily News Brief.

We get you caught up on the rumors, reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports. You know what, Hickey, you just failed the listening audience there. I failed the listening audience as well in the previous segment. You have any idea why I failed the listening audience when we were talking to Mike Johnson?

I do not. Mike Johnson is a former offensive lineman, correct? Yes, he is. That means he's a large fella. That means a large fella knows a thing or two about cake. He was coached by Nick Saban. How the heck did I not ask Mike Johnson what his favorite cake is?

Well, someone asked that to Nick Saban today at SEC Media Days and this is what Coach Saban said. Favorite cake. Want to know your favorite cake since you mentioned that in your opening statement. Yeah, well carrot cake.

That's easy. Do you think Saban's trolling there? And he knows it's such a stupid question and a question that Saban doesn't want to answer. So he's going to give such a crazy kind of take right there. Do you actually believe that that's easy to him and he's a big proponent for carrot cake? I would believe it. I was listening to a lot of press conferences to try to pull some clips. Not that there was crazy questions like that.

Do you believe it at all? Nick Saban actually cracks me up with how serious he is. And there were a few questions that could have gave a chuckle or could have like, Hey, Nick, you're so great. Why are you so great? He just goes right into the answer. Well, every day we just care about the process. He had a few opportunities throughout the press conference today to even smile.

Didn't do so. So I think he's being dead serious. He's answering the question he's given. Carrot cake.

Easy money. Let's go. The reporter at the Patriots asked Bill Belichick what his new year's resolution was. And what was it? I forgot.

I got to look up and give an answer. He like refused to give an answer on it. If memory serves me right on that. Oh, it wasn't. It was. I think she was. Was it a reporter that usually is not on the beat?

Yes. That was like there. I think she asked like two weeks in a row or something like that because he didn't like get back to me next week. Yeah, he said something along the lines of that and then she came back to try to get that answer once again. And wasn't it after a game if I'm not mistaken? Yeah, it was after a game. After a loss. I don't know if it was after a loss or not. I get a lot of credit.

I don't remember what the winner loss was, what the result was, but yeah, I do remember that. Carrot cake. Now, I will say when we went to Kansas City, we had the carrot cake cupcake and you were like, oh, I'm not trying. And then I go, shut up and just try it.

It annoys me when someone like you just won't try anything. You try it and it was absolutely delicious. I'm not against carrot cake, but there's better cakes than carrot cake.

That is dead last. Carrot cake, the one we had in Kansas City was actually better than I thought, I will admit. Carrot cake's good. But I mean, I can't think of a cake right now that I would rate under carrot cake. Do you have any cakes that you would put underneath? Like true cakes, not like, I would put bundt cake. I would put pound cake above carrot cake. Oh, pound cake easily. Pound cake's good with some cool whip and stuff like that.

I agree. I'm trying to like, ice cream cake is king by far. Well, I have a big problem with Nabisco.

Big problem. They got rid of the world famous Nabisco chocolate wafers. They discontinued them. That was my famous dessert that I would make where I make an ice box cake, which my family would call a cookie cake. Cookie cake, by the way, is very good. You know, a traditional cookie cake.

But I would put the cake together with heavy cream, whipped cream, and then it would sit in your fridge for four days. And that was wonderful. And they got rid of the world famous Nabisco chocolate wafer. And there was one other time where it was discontinued and Trump was the president. I tweeted Trump to try to solve this. He didn't get back to me. Then they brought the Nabisco wafer back and now the Nabisco wafer got discontinued.

Got to be Biden. Now I don't think he'll get back to me. Ice cream cake's really good too. Ice cream cake is. Especially in the summer.

My friends kind of started to make fun of me because we've had a few events, right, for housewarming stuff and backyard parties, you know, barbecues. And last like three or four times I brought a Carvel ice cream cake because I've been jonesing for some some ice cream. Is that your number one? If you were Nick Saban and I was a reporter, oh, Nick, your favorite cake is what? I would blast Nabisco and I would say that was my favorite cake. It was a Gelb family staple.

Now we've got to find a way to get a different wafer that could substitute it because that wafer was perfect for it. So here is Nick Saban using that cake analogy when discussing the quarterback competition. Grandma Saban used to bake the best cakes in the world. And I used to stand by the oven when I was a kid and say, when's this cake going to be done? When's this cake going to be done? And she said, if I don't let it go through and take it out of the oven too soon, it's going to turn to mush. So it won't be a really good cake.

So I think we got to let this sort of develop and make sure we let the cake bake until somebody separates themselves. You know what cake has actually grown on me and my grandmother used to always make this, but when I was younger, I guess I just didn't have the taste buds for it. A lemon cake. My grandmother makes us phenomenal lemon cake, but I'll tell you, you like chocolate cake, correct?

The moon diver and like, oh, of course. Come on. But if the chocolate's too rich, that's a problem. No such thing. Come on.

No, no, no. I'm telling you a few weeks ago, my sister went to this bakery and just got this chocolate cake and it was too rich. And who I'd never turned down cake, but I had one bite and I said, this isn't for me. Devil's food. You ever have that? Yeah. That's rich.

That's good stuff. But I'm telling you, you, you have not had, I would love to taste this rich to try that cake. You don't, you don't even understand the level of richness that was in this chocolate cake. Nick Saban says he doesn't care about the expectations for this season. Expectations in some way are a premeditated way to create disappointment. And I think you can look at it in your life.

And that's why I say we need to stay process oriented, not focused on the outcome, but focused on the things that we need to do to get the outcome that we want. I thought he was about to crap on the reporter. He's like, look at your life, things along those lines. Dude, that's awesome today, Nick Saban. He was very salty. I like Nick Saban a lot. He unintentionally cracks me up.

They both give nothing, but they give you something if that makes sense. So this podcast was done, if I'm reading this correctly last week, if I follow this, it was before the announcement the other day that the giants weren't able to get a deal done with Saquon Barkley long term. Now that deadline has passed here was from before that deadline and the money matters podcast, appropriate name. Saquon Barkley threatening to sit out the season. I could say fuck you to the Giants. I could say fuck you to my teammates and be like, you want me to show you my work? You want to show you how much, how valuable I am to the team? I won't show up. I won't play it down.

That's a play I can use. Anybody knows me, knows that's not something I want to do, but like it's something that hasn't something that crossed my mind. So I never thought I would ever do that. But like now I'm at a point where it's like, Jesus, like I might have to take it to this level. Am I willing? Am I prepared to take it to the level?

I don't know. That's something I got to sit down and like, I got to talk to my family. I got to sit down and talk to my team, got to really strategize about this. Can't just like go off of emotions. That's such an empty threat talking such a big game the first 30 seconds and you go, Oh, I don't know. And also can we deal without the profanity police? That's what you expect from a Penn State guy just cursing up a storm all over the place. He had Hickey back to before, right before the NBA playoffs started cursing about Russell Westbrook on the air dropping an F bomb. And now we have to bleep out Saquon Barkley because he keeps on dropping F bombs. What's in the water at Happy Valley with Penn State, a lot of F bombs there. I would say a lot of passion.

That's what I would really describe it as. That's the guy who's passionate, wants to play for the Giants and the Giants gave him the double bird. Okay.

That's how you want to justify it. No one carries the water for Penn State like hot take Hickey. KJ Wright says Russell Wilson needs to apologize to a bunch of former teammates. This is courtesy of KJ all day podcast. Gee, I don't want to, I don't want to go viral with this. I really don't. You're about to.

But a few dudes that came on here off record, on record and has said what they've said or how they felt about number three. When you play this game, when you go through this journey, it's all about the brothers. It's all about the brotherhood. And when it's all said and done, he, he got a lot of making up. He got a lot of phone calls to make a lot of a bro. I should have done better with that.

And that's the God on his truth. I couldn't hold that in. I couldn't hold that inside, but he got a lot of making up. So how much was this, that Russell Wilson was just a jerk in the locker room or it was members of the LOB and that defense just annoyed that Russell Wilson through the interception.

That's what I'm trying to figure out on this whole thing. And next time we get KJ on, I'll bring that up because there was also that whole thing too, where the players were annoyed that Pete Cowell would always protect Russell Wilson. Was any of this actually Russell Wilson's fault is, is what I want to know, or is it all revisionist history now? That's what I wanted the last part you said, if it's Pete Cowell protecting him, you grow resentment to the guy that if he's not playing well, he's still, you can't say anything, you know?

Yeah, I guess the whole thing just bizarre. Dallamoria 97 five, the fanatic with our guy, Anthony Gargano cause confirms that James Hardin wants out of Philly right now, unfortunately he does prefer to be somewhere else. I do have a long relationship with him.

I'm attempting to honor that. But the reality is if we do look at a trade, we're going to, it's going to be for one of two things. It's either going to be for a player who continues to help us be right there.

Like we were last year, or we're going to do it for something where we get enough, uh, you know, draft picks and things like that in a deal such that we can then turn those into a player who is as, it can be a running mate with Joelle. I actually feel bad for Dallamoria and I'm not a fan of Dallamoria cause this was the dude that was dating the girl that everyone knew was toxic and all your friends were like, no, no, no, no, no. Like stay away.

And she eventually burned you and broke your heart. And that's what's going on right now in the Darryl Maury James Hardin relationship. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. That's a news brief for today. We will take a time out when we do come on back. It is SEC media days as they do continue. I have five things to watch for this upcoming season of SEC football. We'll get to that list in just a bit. And also Alfred Williams, big Al is going to join us for a little first and goal preview in the Denver Broncos at 8.20 PM Eastern, 5.20 PM Pacific coming on back.