Dan Quinn is Underwhelming for Commanders (Hour 1)

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Additional terms apply. Live from the play show, yet not overly ostentatious, studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City. Sitting on top of the tenth floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Thursday edition of the Zach Gelb Show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates. Sirius XM Channel 158, the free Odyssey app, and of course streaming on YouTube. YouTube.com slash CBS Sports Radio 855212 for CBS's number to jump on in 855212-4227. You could always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb.

That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Got Moist Mike? Welcome on back buddy. And also Stuart Kovacs rocking a roll with me all the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Tony Pauline will join us at the Senior Bowl coming up in about an hour 20 from now. And we got a whole lot cooking on a very busy Thursday edition of the Zach Gelb Show. I got to start the show off with the Washington commanders. And the Washington commanders made a hire today that wasn't unexpected, but it was unexpected a week ago. Like you get to what has happened the last 48 hours once Ben Johnson was out and he elected to go back to the Lions. It was one of those decisions of who was going to be their next head coach. And you saw that Dan Quinn was getting his second interview. Well, Dan Quinn getting his second interview solidified to me that he was going to be the next head coach of the Washington commanders. And when you take a glance at the whole situation and what's going on with the commanders.

The way I look at it was about a month ago there was so much excitement with the commanders. You got rid of Daniel Snyder. You have Josh Harris as the new owner. Then you know that you have the second overall pick in the draft and you're going to get a quarterback.

You're looking for a new general manager. And not only when you get a new general manager, the higher was met with the positive reaction. And it was a higher where you were able to get one of the more impressive candidates on the market in Adam Peters. But when you look at the head coaching higher with all the speculation, with all the palpable buzz and all the excitement. It was feeling like there was going to be a really good announcement and a really good hire for the Washington commanders. And when Ben Johnson announces he's going back to Detroit and you inevitably find out that it's going to be Dan Quinn as the new head coach of the commanders. Nothing against Dan Quinn. He's a fine head football coach. You knew he was going to get a second opportunity. He did a good job in Atlanta.

But from where the buzz was and where the expectation was and where the excitement was with the commanders and their next head coaching higher. It's impossible to not feel as if this hire is underwhelming. And that's the best word that I think it is describing this hire of Dan Quinn. Like you could do a whole lot worse than Dan Quinn. Dan Quinn is not a bad football coach. Dan Quinn is deserving of a second opportunity. But Dan Quinn just doesn't get me excited. I don't look at the commanders now and say, oh, my, here we go.

And sometimes those hires end up working out and panning out. And if it does, I couldn't be more elated for the commanders fans because that's been a fan base that used to be a proud, great, awesome, legendary fan base in the NFL. And now they are a fan base where there's a lot of apathy and it's a fan base where they need to buy back in on their football team because there was a big reason to go away and not root and not cheer and not support this football team because of the embarrassment that Daniel Snyder was as an NFL owner.

And don't get it twisted. Commanders fans still understand that now it's life without Daniel Snyder and there's going to be positive moments and positive memories with Josh Harris and then bringing in Adam Peters. But the excitement of Josh Harris and the excitement of Adam Peters was all the way up here. The excitement for Dan Quinn is what, like 50-50? There's going to be a contingent of people that are like, OK, good hire, veteran football coach, defensive minded, you know, younger than Ron Rivera, good solid hire. But then there's going to be another amount of people that go, well, did we really get that much better than Ron Rivera?

And I do think that Dan Quinn in the year of 2024 is a better option than Ron Rivera in the year of 2024. But this is not a move that evokes emotion from me where I'm jumping up and down like a fat kid in a candy store and I'm thinking that this commander's team is now a lot to be heading in the right direction. And it is a little bit better than Ron Rivera, but this isn't a move where now all of a sudden I'm thinking to myself that the commanders in the immediate future are going to be a big player.

And it's unfortunate. And they've got to build this thing, not from the ground up, because they do have some solid foundational pieces like a Terry McLaurin, I'm not a believer in Sam Howell, you got Daron Payne on that defensive side of the ball and some others. But the overall totality of this move is just an underwhelming hire to be the last hire in the cycle and to have all the speculation that you were going to get the guy in Ben Johnson.

Right. The innovative young under 40 offensive coordinator. And maybe that guy in Ben Johnson wouldn't amount to be a great NFL coach. We've seen that before with the hotshot offensive coordinator and hotshot defensive coordinator.

But the thing that I'll ask the commanders is why didn't they heavily pursue a Mike Rabel? Why didn't they heavily pursue Bill Belichick? Why didn't they heavily pursue Pete Carroll? Because if you hire Dan Quinn and there weren't better options out there, I could live with that. I could deal with that.

I could be fine with that. But at least with Mike Rabel, that's the one that I just can't wrap my head around. Why they wouldn't have heavily pursued Mike Rabel and at least make him say no. That's the one to me that I go, man, the commanders could have done better. Like Ben Johnson said no.

Ben Johnson pulled himself out. Mike Rabel never seemed like there was any real interest with the commanders. You want to tell me Belichick and Carroll are older and they're not fit for 2024? All right. That's your prerogative. You could say that, but I do walk away from this commander's hire of Dan Quinn where it's not an F. It's not an A plus. It kind of feels like an incomplete. It's like, all right, you made a hire. It's a solid hire. We'll see how it pans out.

But it doesn't elicit a strong, positive emotional response. And this is the first move in this short tenure for Josh Harris, where Josh Harris obviously was met with great excitement. And then Adam Peters. All right, you got the guy.

Great excitement. And you knew that there was going to be a lot of building. But is Dan Quinn really the right guy to build with? Is Dan Quinn really the dude that you think is going to turn around the Washington commanders? And I'm not someone that just says, just because you're a defensive minded head coach, you can't have success in this league. Heck, look at what D'Amico Ryan just did in year one. But I also got to see who he's bringing in as his offensive coordinator. Because it does feel inevitable with the second overall pick in the draft, whether it's Williams, it's May, it's Daniels, they're going to take a quarterback at number two.

And if you don't put that quarterback in the right environment and get in the right coaching and get in the right protection, this is going to be something that could get ugly real quick. So, so far, all the dominoes that have fallen with the commanders, positive, positive. And this is the first one where it's not negative, but it does not give you this response of, wow, gee, golly, they really hit this one out of the park.

And that's the disappointment. It's almost like I'll equate it to you get told you're getting a great gift for Christmas. And someone asks you, what do you want?

You tell them what you want. They make you believe that you are getting the creme de la creme gift. And then Christmas comes around, you run downstairs in your pajamas, eat the cookies, you drink the milk, all that stuff. And Santa gives you like a T-shirt. And it's like, OK, I could use this T-shirt. All right, it's a nice T-shirt.

It's a solid T-shirt. It's a fine gift, but it's not the gift that I wanted. It's not the sexy gift. It's not the great gift.

It's not the awesome gift. And that's the part where it's like, hmm, not a bad hire, but it's not one that is an A and it's probably not one that's like a B. It's an average hire. It's like a C plus.

And in college, I was told for me C's get degrees. So maybe the commanders start to get back to functioning the right way. Heck, you can't function any worse than you did under Daniel Snyder. But we've seen before Josh Harris, when he's at least operated other teams, hire big time coaches.

Dan Quinn just doesn't give you a big time vibe. Now, I know that we're now back up and streaming YouTube dot com slash CBS Sports Radio. We had some problems right out of the gate, but someone did ask a question. Bucky Cheese asked the question, what a name. Who's the best coach now in the NFC East?

And I think it is a great question. So the commanders now have Dan Quinn. The Eagles somewhat and for some reason brought back Nick Sirianni. The Cowboys, they did retain the services of Mike McCarthy for one more year, not giving him an extension.

And guess what? Jerry Jones already run in his mouth about how much respect he has and how him and Bill Belichick work well together. And then the Giants have a guy that was the coach of the year two years ago and Brian Dable had a feud with his defensive coordinator. Now they were underachieving this year.

They missed the postseason. And I don't really see a future for the New York Giants to turn this thing around anytime soon. And it is a make or break year for Brian Dable.

You know, it is wild. Like you look at the hot seat entering next season, the premature hot seat. McCarthy's on the hot seat. Sirianni's on the hot seat and Dable's on the hot seat. But this time next year, the longest tenured coach in the NFC East could be Dan Quinn. And he would only have one little season with the Washington commanders because I could see Sirianni getting fired after this year. I could see McCarthy getting fired after this year and I could see Dable getting fired after this year.

This is like what disease do you want to pick? That's what it really is with these coaches because you don't look at any of them and have any confidence in any of the four to win a Super Bowl. So I guess I would say the best coach in the NFC East right now. And I'm sure a lot of people are going to be surprised by this. And I'm sure a lot of people are going to laugh at me for this. But it is McCarthy. Like, at least, you know, the Cowboys are going to win 11, 12 games.

They'll choke in the postseason. But you see Sirianni with the Eagles. It probably should have been him. And you look at the resume, three years, three postseason appearances. Zach, oh, he's been to a Super Bowl. But he lost all control of that locker room this year. And I know the players will speak positively about him. But when you lose control of that locker room.

Yeah, I don't think you get it back. And I can't say it's Dan Quinn. And I can't say it's Dable. So I would go with McCarthy, who has won a Super Bowl, who is a good coach. He's not an elite coach. He's not a great coach.

He's not an excellent coach, but he's just good. And he has won with Aaron Rodgers. And I know he hasn't won a Super Bowl without Aaron Rodgers. But the Cowboys have consistently been under his watch a playoff team in back to back to back seasons. And they exceeded regular season expectations this year because they won the NFC East.

And entering last year, I thought the Eagles would have won the NFC East. So, yeah, that's how you know the state of the NFC East from a coaching perspective. When I'm sitting here 15 minutes past an hour on the first day of February in the year of 2024, and I'm saying McCarthy is now the best head coach in the NFC East, it kind of falls in line how I answer that question with how I view the hiring of Dan Quinn. Like saying Mike McCarthy is the best coach in the NFC East now is an underwhelming kind of coach. That's an underwhelming statement. Saying Dan Quinn is the hire for the commanders is also underwhelming. How do you describe the hire of Dan Quinn? Once again, my word is underwhelming.

855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. Should LeBron James ask for a trade from now until the end of the NBA trade deadline this year as he gets set in all likelihood for free agency? We'll discuss that on the other side. Willow Stove, the perfect flame for the big game. Listen up. I won't sugarcoat it. This is the longest cold flu analogy season we've ever seen, but we're not alone. We've got Instacart. Sure, you may be a coughing snot faucet who just wants mommy, but you're not giving up. Not when cold medicine, fragrant herbal teas, and honey shaped like bears can be delivered through Instacart in as fast as 30 minutes. Let's go win the sick playoffs! Daddy, I just want my soup. Oh, sorry. Sport App says it'll be here in a few minutes.

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That's Stamps.com code PROGRAM. I keep on reading about the future of LeBron James, and some of it is tied, whether what you want to believe or not, to Bronny James, who's in his freshman year at USC. I think it's probably best that Bronny stays another year at USC, but just because Zach Gelb thinks that's what's best for Bronny James, it doesn't mean that is what is actually going to happen. And I do believe when we get into this summer's NBA draft, if Bronny James does declare, there's going to be that belief from what LeBron has said that he wants to play a year or two or he wants to play some time with his son, that there will be teams that may not like Bronny James as a player and may not think Bronny James is ready, but they end up picking him because with LeBron about to hit a player option, he could opt out and get his free agency and then do a favorable deal or go to a place that he wouldn't consider if in fact that team, let's say, drafts Bronny James.

So there's that component of it. But I think what would make it a little bit more compelling is if Bronny doesn't come out of college this year and if he stays another year at USC. Because I think we're at the point with LeBron and the Lakers where you know their days of winning are behind them. And the goal is to win a championship. It is championship or bust every year for LeBron James because of who he is as a basketball player. And he won the 2020 bubble championship. That's a legitimate championship to me.

I'm not going to be one of those clowns that go, oh, it's illegitimate, don't count it, Mickey Mouse championship. And I also wouldn't do that to Stu. I like Stu too much, who is a diehard fan of the Los Angeles Lakers. But now I think last year shows that even when everything goes right, there's still a ceiling with the way that the team's constructed. I still can't get over that I had a trip planned to visit my brother-in-law, my sister, and my niece in Denver, Colorado for game five of the Western Conference Finals.

I had tickets for game five. All the lousy Lakers had to do was win one game. And they couldn't even do that. And that was a surprising surge that was exceeding realistic expectations of where the Lakers were entering last postseason. So if everything went right last postseason and they still could only get to the Western Conference Finals and they got swept out of the Western Conference Finals, and it's not as if this year we have many strong teams in either conference, what makes me believe, even with LeBron getting another year older and LeBron still playing at a high level, that this is going to work? And what will the Lakers be able to do from now until the trade deadline to change that opinion? They could get better with getting Dejounte Murray. They could. But is it going to make them a championship contender? No. Let's say, and I don't think the Warriors will trade Klay Thompson.

They should. But let's say Michael Thompson's his father. He does the games in Los Angeles. Klay wants to go there. He realizes the team's not going to give him a new contract. And let's say they actually make the right decision. Like if Klay goes to the Lakers, are we now saying championship for the Lakers?

No. So I actually do believe the best course of action for the Lakers is to trade LeBron James. But I don't think LeBron James is going to go along with it because I think LeBron does take pride in the fact that even though he's moved around and even though he has left teams, he's never requested a trade.

He's never forced his way out while still under contract, you know, regardless of a player option to get the free agency sooner. So I don't think LeBron is going to operate that way. And I also do believe LeBron enjoys now living in Los Angeles.

And it's easy access for him to get to USC's campus to go see his son play basketball games right now. So from a professional standpoint and a personal standpoint, I don't believe LeBron is going to go to Rob Polinka and Jeannie Buss and say, OK, I'm ready to get you guys something back for me and I'm going to leave. And also the team that trades for him, what's the guarantee that LeBron is going to stay there with him having a player option? And I know also with the Lakers, when it comes to trying to improve their team, because LeBron's putting the pressure on them. He's given the side eye to the new Laker coach Darvin Ham.

He's tweeting out the arrow glass like times are ticking away. You know, he is leading on that he's upset and he's putting on the pressure for the Lakers to do something. But can the Lakers even get elite talent right now to join him? Because just the way that the first round picks work, from what I was reading, they could trade one first round pick now.

But in the summer, the off season, they could trade then three. Like if you're trying to maximize this window with LeBron and you're trying to get him another championship. You don't want to make a move right now just to try to save the ship from sinking this year, because even if you save the ship from sinking, it isn't sailing to an NBA championship this year. So I would actually do the opposite. Like I think the Lakers should trade LeBron.

I don't think though that's going to happen. And I hate to say punt and do nothing, but I think that's the best course of action. Assuming LeBron doesn't want to tango here with a trade situation and he doesn't want to get traded. It's probably in the best interest of the Lakers to just wait until this offseason to figure this out. Like Stu, since you're a Lakers fan, where are you at with LeBron James in terms of what do you expect him to do with this future decision?

Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of with you. I think trading him right now would probably be the right move only because look, I mean, they're not winning another title. I'd be stunned if they got another star to play with LeBron and Davis somehow, whether it's next offseason or whatnot. That would shock me.

I don't think that's possible. I don't think LeBron's going to ask for a trade. I think he likes being in L.A.

I think that's part of it. I think he's waiting till when Brony comes out and who he gets drafted by. I think he's in L.A. till then. So like I just I think it's over.

I just can't see a way that they win another title. So I know LeBron is still playing at a very high level. He's what, 39 right now. So maybe he wants to play until he's 40. Isn't it like I'm never going to tell a guy when to retire. That's to make that decision. But isn't like it's it's already enough. And I know that could sound hypocritical for me because I want to see Tom Brady play as long as possible.

But when is enough enough? And these guys are wired different ways. They are wired a certain way. And that's what makes them some of the best athletes and the most winning athletes that we've ever seen. So they're addicted to the sport.

They're addicted to the grind. And I really do believe that with Tom Brady and LeBron James. But even Brady walked away eventually. I feel like we never talk about LeBron retiring. The only speculation on LeBron has been when is he going to go somewhere else to play with Brony?

And then is that the final year? And hey, God bless LeBron. LeBron could do whatever the heck he wants with the way that he has been on the basketball court for the last two decades. But like from the Brony perspective, as much as you love your dad, do you want your dad in the locker room with you for your rookie season? Like, for example, let's say when I was going to college, my dad was like, oh, I'm going to transfer in and just take some classes at Temple University. Like, Dad, when I'm trying, when I'm having fun as a young up and coming athlete, I don't know if I want dad in the locker room.

I would kind of want to go on my own and find my own path. So the LeBron future part to me is just fascinating. And I do also believe what Stu is getting to. It is dependent on what Brony James ends up deciding, because let's just say he goes back to USC another year. I think LeBron is back in the Lakers next year. But let's say he enters the draft.

Then I do believe as long as Brony is cool with it, LeBron is going to whatever destination and whatever team Brony gets selected by. All right. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We will take a time out when we come on back. We got a news brief to get to. And there's one colleague of mine at CBS Sports Radio that is not happy with me.

And he talked about me a lot last night after getting so sensitive about me talking about him. I'll play you some of that audio on the other side. First up, though, with the latest CBS Sports Radio update. Drinking a coffee, got the backwards hat coming straight from the gym. Shorts on. Yeah, shorts that are way too short. I feel a little uncomfortable with how short those shorts are right now.

We don't need to see a thigh show. Hold on. Oh, no, no. What are we doing? Oh, yeah, yeah.

That's called flexibility. We could start an OnlyFans, I think, on our YouTube.com sports radio page. I'm down to do that. We'll give you like, what, 75 cents or something. Dude, you'd be surprised. You wouldn't. Well, you'd be surprised for me.

You'd be surprised if I was a hot girl. What? Five dollars a month. How that can quickly add up for somebody. I have no clue what you're trying to say, but I think it's the perfect time to toss it to the latest CBS Sports Radio update.

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Yeah, Graybar does that. Time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors, reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports. This portion of the show is sponsored by the new Hyundai Tucson, available with complimentary class leading Blue Link Plus.

Now it's easy to use your phone to control your Tucson. Let's start with K.J. Wright on Seattle sports. He commends the hire of new Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike McDonald.

The proof is in the pudding when it comes to his defense. We're talking a bad, bad defense this past year. Doing it with a bunch of just, I'm not gonna say Jags, but doing with some guys that not just high profile type of defensive players.

He did it with those group of guys. See his personality, see that he did at the college level, at the pro level. He comes from a phenomenal culture, phenomenal organization. The IZ Newsome's, the Harbaugh's.

And I believe that everyone in the city of Seattle would be on full board and full go with bringing them in. It feels like they're trying to recreate what they had with Pete Carroll, but just getting significantly younger. Because McDonald is a rising coach, right now he's gonna be a head coach. He's 36 years old.

He's got great energy. He's a defensive minded coach. Like, I feel as if they looked at Pete Carroll and they said, okay, he's done everything he can with this franchise.

He's a legend. Won a Super Bowl. They were never gonna win another Super Bowl with him again. Now we gotta get a younger, energetic guy that maybe could be the defensive version of what Sean McVay has been for the Los Angeles Rams.

Like, that's the way that I look at this hire. Where not a lot of people were talking about him being a head coach. But then when it happens, you know, you say, okay, he had the experience at the Ravens. We know what he did at Michigan and goes back to the Ravens. He has a great wealth of football knowledge, even at a young age. It's a gamble because there's gonna be a lot of people that go, wow, how do you get rid of Pete Carroll for an unknown? But I think that the Seahawks had to end up going to this unknown kind of territory to set up the next 5 to 10 years of their franchise.

And we'll see if it works. Here is Micah Parsons, the edge of Micah Parsons. He was doing his own podcast and he talked about if he had any regrets about his playoff loss. I'm at complete peace. And I say that because I don't think I could have done anything more to try to win that game. And that comes to watching film with the other guys in the room, saying what I'm seeing, being vocal out there on the field. I was completely at peace because I know I don't have no regrets about how I performed or what I put into the game.

You know, and I appreciate what really matters. Let me play you one more. Micah Parsons calls out the defensive play calling. At the end of the day, we were just outperformed, out-skeamed.

They had an answer for everything. People were saying, well, why don't you go to linebacker? Guess what? The packages are in for me to go to linebacker. I can only play what it's called. I'm not putting out personnel. I've even told multiple players, coaches that I'm very fine playing linebacker. In playoffs, if that's what y'all want me to do, I just want to win. I do see a Super Bowl in my future.

I want to be a Super Bowl champion. I challenge anyone to actually go look at the game film and say, did Micah play his heart out? To go out like that at home was completely embarrassing and unacceptable.

It took me a while to even be able to show my face in the public. I think Micah Parsons means well, but there's no way you could justify that performance. When you're basically giving the line of, I played well, it was everybody else, or it was the coaching, that's taking no accountability.

And if they would have lost that game, let's say 17-14, all right, different story. But no one on the Cowboys showed up. And think about the Cowboys' offseason so far. You have Dak Prescott's brother sounding off on the Cowboys' fans. You have CeeDee Lamb's mother sounding off on Dak Prescott. You also had Micah Parsons' brother sounding off on Dak Prescott and the organization and their fans. Now you have, in the span of the last two days, Jerry Jones already talking about how he thinks he could work well with Bill Belichick.

And now you have Micah Parsons with his defensive coordinator on the way out, throwing him underneath the bus, when just a few weeks ago he said, oh, maybe Dan Quinn will bring me to the new place that he's going to. What a mess. And I look at my watch. It's only February 1st at 3.43 p.m. Eastern. This is just the appetizer? Are you kidding me? To the offseason?

When you get blown out in a game like that and you clearly underdeliver in the postseason, the best thing is to take it on the chin, talk about it immediately after that, and then shut up and go away. Seriously. Because anything you try to use to justify just reopens the wound and it doesn't make you look good. Alrighty.

Let's open up this can of worms. So yesterday we had Bart Winkler on and Bart said that Shep took some shot at me and then when I asked him what did he say, Bart was like, oh, I don't know. I really don't care if Shep is taking shots at me.

And I'm sure it was in the large scheme of things innocuous. Now, Stu was here yesterday. We had fun poking at Shep's basketball knowledge and Shep's way of doing a show. And it went on for like about eight minutes or so.

And I was like making a joke with the listening audience. Oh, if Shep says anything about me, I want people to inform me. So I roll over in the middle of the night, had to go to the bathroom. It's 3 a.m. Eastern time. And my mentions have been off the charts these days, even before this, with the whole Flacco video last week, the Entertainment Tonight stuff, what Earl Akker said on this show as well.

So I'm like, oh, it's probably just a carryover to that. I get tweets left and right. Shep talked about me at 1220 p.m. last night. Shep talked about me at 1140 p.m. last night. You know, Shep talked at 140 about me, like multiple segments, because if it all came in one time, it would be one thing. But he invaded Bart's show. And I know he's the producer, so you could say it's their show, right? But he basically invaded Bart's show and spent three different segments talking about me. And let me just peel back to Curtin a little bit.

Shep was already trying to do some crisis management, which there was no crisis. He's emailing Stew and I last night. Like, just take a shot at me and shut up, all right? I don't need you tweeting me today about a paragraph, but let's just play the audio.

We condensed this because it was like 15 minutes, five minutes in one hour, five minutes in another hour, five minutes in another hour. Here's about like two minutes of Shep on the Bart Winkler show last night, sounding off about your boy. This dude, Zach Elb, is a three to six primetime host, and he is spending the first segment of his show talking about me and imitating my voice. Zach, if you are going that way. He imitated you? Yes, yes, I did. Was it good? Zach, no, you know what?

Zach does a good job imitating me. Of course it was good. But let me make this very loud and clear for Mr. Gavin.

It was fine. I hope he hears this. I hope his ears are percolating right now because I'm coming right at you, Zach.

Percolating. Oh, no. Let me tell you something, Zach. I've done shows here for three years now. I have never, ever, ever spent the first block of an hour talking about anybody else in the industry, let alone another host. Zach, I got a lot of respect for you. There is no question you have had more success than I have in this industry, and rightfully so. But I am very disappointed that you spent the first segment of your third hour talking about me. Zach Gelb, you're better than that.

You are. And yeah, I asked if I could host a show one time. Of course I did.

He's got a great platform in front of like eight people. I asked that. And Gelb said he's happy to have me host. So let's put that out in the open. That's okay. That's okay, Zach. And you know what? I'm damn well good enough to host your show.

I'm not saying I do the kind of job that you would, but it would be similar. Let's just be fair minded about this stuff. If you haven't even heard what I said about you, don't spend an entire segment clowning on me. And I like Zach Gelb as a person. He's been good to me.

But he was out of bounds for doing that. Bart, I'll say this again. I have nothing but respect for Zach Gelb. But when you tug at my cape, Zach, I'm going to come back at you full throttle. So just be ready for that, my guy.

Do you understand that you have now spent the total of about a whole segment talking about how you would not talk about this for a whole segment? First of all, I love the threats too, because I'm not kidding. He must have said 400 times last night how much respect he has for me.

But if you tug on someone's cape, he's going to punch back and he's going to end this. I am so concerned. Let me tell you, when I rolled over last night at 3 a.m. Eastern time, I couldn't go back to bed. I was shaking, shaking. I got sick.

I was ill. I saw the boogeyman of David Shepherd. Like, what is his knockout shot going to be? Like, what is he going to do? You know, I'm going to be like Ray Allen in the NBA Finals, and I'm going to make you look like Greg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. You know, I would never, never, ever talk about another radio host on CBS Sports Radio with my time. Instead, I would just lecture everyone about the history of basketball and Dr. James Naismith, okay? And I'll give you a 45-minute history lesson with Dr. James Naismith.

Like, come on, Shep. His show's called The Good Shepherd Show. I'll give him a free advertisement here. The Sensitive Shepherd Show with Dave Shepherd on CBS Sports Radio. Maybe that's what we should start calling his show.

So sensitive. Then he's like, oh, I'll get in that athletic competition with Gelb because he could run a bunch of miles, and he trains with some, like, college basketball team. All right, go ahead, Shep. You want to do an Oklahoma drill like this? Is that what we want to do? Man, Shep is, I like Shep.

I'll pull the shepherd. I like Shep before I give him a negative compliment or a negative comment. But man, can we let Bart do the show? Even Bart was like, you know you've now spent about a full segment worth on him.

That was my favorite part about it. So good luck to Shep. And I will just say, the time he did ask me, and I have no problem with Shep wants to fill in here, but the time, all right, Samptermay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That might be a different story.

Yeah. But the time he asked me, it was one of the more awkward moments of my life. I was standing with three other people in this company two minutes before we got on the air, and he just bombarded and he said, do you mind if I fill in one day? And then went on to tell Stu he should be the next program director of CBS Sports Radio. You know, Shep is telling me how to do my show.

Maybe Shep should apply for the programming position. Could you imagine those critiques? Oh, we didn't talk enough basketball, okay?

You know, you got to talk about Damian Lillard and the way that he runs the pick and roll with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Okay, okay, okay, okay? All right, it's the Sensitive Separate show on CBS Sports Radio. Oh, geez, Louise. Like, I can't talk now about other radio hosts. I can't talk about other people in the industry because big bad David Shephard is against that. Because one of the legendary hosts, Scotty Ferrell, Ferrell on the bench, who Shep loves and I adore Ferrell.

He would never talk about another radio host, right? Come on. I do have to ask, though. He said, if you pull on my cape, what the hell cape are you wearing? Got a few holes in it. Is it Super Shepherds?

It's from a thrift store. Is he Batman? Like, what cape are you wearing? And secondly, why are you wearing a cape, dude? You're not a superhero. You're a radio host.

If he goes on the air one day wearing a cape, he's got bigger issues, I think. Geez, Louise. All righty. Let's get to Brian Gudekunz. Can we talk about this?

Are we allowed to talk about this? Is he going to give an extension for Jordan Love? We'll go down that road.

You know, I think certainly, I think that'll be important for our football team to have some stability there. Jordan and his representation, I think they're really good people, so we'll start working towards that sometime this next couple months. Yeah, they gotta get a deal done.

Even though it could be a little bit premature, they believe in Jordan Love, so if it behooves you to get a deal done now, then wait until after the contract expires and the price you would think would only go up. Also, Shep was annoyed that I was talking about Taylor Swift. He was like, you know, it's a shame that Zach talks about Taylor Swift with an accomplished host like Bart Winkler. Here is Charles Barkley on the haters of Taylor Swift, this courtesy of the King Charles show on CNN.

I'm going to say, I'm going to look right in that camera. If you're screaming at Swift saying she ruined it, you're just a loser. You're just a loser or a jackass. You can be A or B. One of the two.

One of the two. I love Charles Barkley. I absolutely do.

And he's 100% right. You are a loser or a jackass if Taylor Swift going to a football game annoys you. Like, I don't understand what people get annoyed about. That they show her on TV for less than 44 seconds.

Like, I think that just because, Sam, do we live in a society now where people just like to complain to complain about things? And my issue is, I understand it might be Taylor Swift over overhaul, but it's not her fault. She's going to a game to watch her boyfriend play in the NFL with her boyfriend's family, which is what most girlfriends would do if their boyfriend, husband, whatever played a sport. So, I don't blame her for that. It's not her fault. If you want someone to blame, blame CBS, blame NBC, blame Fox, blame ESPN, blame them for showing them on camera. Blame the cameramen. Blame the producers.

Blame the on-air talent. Don't blame her for going. She's sitting in a box. She's trying to be private. She's back there half the time. She's not really in the front showing her face the entire time. But, as soon as she goes out there, she celebrates a touchdown.

She's the bad guy. Shut up. I like it.

Fiery Samtor, back from some vacation. Well, you know, she's dating my tight end, so I have to defend her. I haven't gotten to gloat about that yet, either. Yeah, well, that's what happens.

You take off a few weeks after the conference championship game. We don't wait for you. We keep this thing moving. We don't stop just to cater to your needs, Samtor.

We'll get to you, though. Well, you just said that, you know, it's the Winkler and Shep show, so this must be the Gelb and Samtor show. Maybe you should just be talking more than me, because it seems like, with Shep, he just thinks that's his show as well.

Maybe it's the Samtor show. I'll just take off the next two hours. I'll do a full segment on Shep next. Let's go.

Alrighty. Zach Gelb's show coming on back, CBS Sports Radio. Let's talk some basketball next.

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