Verne's Sendoff / Din Thomas on UFC 300 (Hour 2)

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That's Z-A-C-H G-E-L-B. We'll get to Mark Pope being the new coach at Kentucky in just a second. Big broadcasting news. Obviously, yesterday, if you're watching the Masters, we know Verne Lundquist, legendary college football voice, has done obviously NFL games. But the only thing he was still really broadcasting was the Masters. And he has that great position on 16 and one of the iconic voices, Uncle Verne. Well, yesterday was his last Masters. I literally thought Verne was going to do the Masters until he was no longer on the earth. And he said that this was always something that he was going to do. But he is 83 years old. He turns 84 in July.

So obviously a massive, massive, massive standing ovation. And you can't say more of kind things about Verne's career. Where I don't know how many people have a bad word to say about Verne. But any time I've been able to have interactions with him, he is just the definition of class. And I miss him on those SEC football games. I really do. That voice, I just always knew that there was something special about it.

Obviously did a bunch of NFL games, worked a little bit with the late great John Madden as well. But to have that moment yesterday and I thought, right, it was subtle, but it was appropriate. Right. Because golf's a different tone. Like when you watch golf, it's like class, it's like whisper into a microphone. And it's tough to really give someone like the proper sendoff.

I thought CBS did a good job yesterday. And I know some people are like, oh, they cut away too early when Verne was trying to speak. He was clearly emotional.

That tournament means everything to him. If you know Verne, you know that. And he just couldn't speak. So, you know, they had he had his moment of thanks.

And then eventually they faded away to commercial. And it was cool to see Tiger pays respects through the week. And you had Verne. It was like hiding behind the tree. And you just see the hand of Verne Lundquist just pop out and then Tiger shakes the hand.

And there was a different shot where eventually you got to see the full exchange. But I kid you not. And sometimes I don't like when this happens in sports, when someone retires and everyone makes it about them. Or someone takes a job or gets a promotion and everyone makes it about them.

Right. On social media, that could bug me. Where someone gets a new job or someone retires and everyone just shares their experience with that person. Like first, thank the person. Explain why the person is a legend.

And then like a little bit later on, you could relate your personal experience. But I always feel whenever you have a legend retire or you have someone take a new job, it's always like for everyone else to have a look at me type of moment. So with all that being said, I will have a look at me type of moment with Vern. When John Madden passed away, we had Vern on what was CBS Sports Radio now, the all new Infinity Sports Network. And Vern joined us and he was talking about the impact of John Madden.

And he was saying no one operated a telestrator on a TV broadcast like John Madden. And in doing so, this was not intentional. This is just Vern being a nice guy.

Right. Just having a conversation, explaining himself. And I don't think this was meant to be as malicious as it may sounds. But in the process of Vern praising and remembering the late great John Madden and his impact on TV, he did take a shot at a co-worker of ours. Now at the time we like this interview happened live, but we didn't like pump it out or anything afterwards because the person that he was taking a shot at was taking a new job. And it just like it wouldn't be a right thing being a company guy to really pump this content out to someone that's very nice to us and someone that is a great person.

And right when they get a new job, have this kind of piece of audio go viral. But let's look back. This is my favorite Vern moment ever. Vern on the Zach Gelb show. When was this?

This was December 2021. Remembering John Madden and in the process of showing and speaking how great Vern's memory was of John Madden on TV, he did take a shot at a co-worker of ours. I think Chris Collinsworth does a really good job on Sunday night with that device.

I've seen some others who are they probably should never touch that telescope. I'm thinking of one guy who worked with Greg Gumbel over the weekend who kept they would show a replay. Oh, come on. I'll tell you who it was. It was Tiki Barber, who I know and is a wonderful guy, but he doesn't do that much.

You know, Tiki? Yeah, he's a co-worker of ours. He used to do the show before us, but he's moving down the hall.

So don't worry. I never tell him that I'm telling you. I see him every day. He's a good friend. But go ahead, Vern. Oh, my gosh. I'm embarrassed now. That moment and Santa works with Tiki for a long time.

But that moment, even with all the great memories we have of Uncle Vern, it's the only thing I could think of because it was so innocent by Vern. He was just talking about the business. Some guys are great at the telestrator. No one was better than John Madden. You know, Chris Collinsworth is with it, is one of the best at it. He was saying that he goes and there was some guy I was watching over the weekend. He's a very nice guy. Oh, I'm forgetting his name. But he was doing the broadcast and he's like, Tiki.

And I'm like, of all places for Vern to say that. And like the 9000 interviews he did after the death of John Madden. It was on at the time CBS Sports Radio where Tiki worked for 10 years.

So, Santa, I don't know if you ever heard that. But when you were listening to it today before we aired it, what did you kind of think about that with how close you are to Tiki? No, I mean, listen, you know, this was four years ago. Tiki was just getting his start on CBS doing TV. So I'm sure he wasn't super acclimated to the telestrator.

However, I just found it funny. It's coming from a guy, you know, I'm surprised he said his name. Yeah, I didn't think he was going to say the name.

I thought if he just says, I'm like, oh, I saw some guy on the telestrator this weekend. That's what. But it's Vern was just having fun. Vern wasn't meaning any harm by Vern. Just seems like a nice guy. And, you know, he's just having a good time. And probably because he knows Tiki personally, he didn't feel like there'd be a way that some people would probably make it out to be.

Yeah. He's like, don't tell him. And I've never I've never told Tiki about that. Oh, no, I played it for him in the newsroom. Did you really?

No. No, I was going to say I wanted to hear his reaction. He was walking by while I was listening. I stopped it just in case. Turn the volume down. Just in case. I don't want to have him walking into a new show with a new boss and a new network and everything. It's almost like when you're watching March Madness in the office and you just press that button that pops up an Excel sheet.

So your bosses don't actually see that you're watching March Madness. Yeah, that was kind of you today. And listen, you know, when I think of Vern, I think of Happy Gilmore. Like Vern has so many amazing memories actually being at the Masters. Yet I'm thinking about the gold jacket in Happy Gilmore, not the green jacket.

Isn't that funny? We have an iconic voice where no one could say a bad word about this dude. He is one of the more legendary broadcasters, Vern Lundquist, who's now out of broadcasting the Masters. The last thing he was doing, it was his last Masters this past Sunday and this past week. And Santa, the only thing you think about is Happy Gilmore. And with all the legendary calls, all I could think about is Vern coming on the show and taking a jab, which wasn't a malicious jab at Tiki Barber.

Well, I think also, like when you think about golf calls, I mean, there have been some amazing Vern calls. Oh, my goodness. I know that he is. Yes, sir.

And all that. But oh, my goodness, with Tiger and then how he had to. He did that years ago. And then when Tiger won his recent major and he had that moment. It was on 16 when he's walking from 16 to 17 and he almost had that great shot. And he was like, oh, I was about I'm compelled to say, oh, my goodness, that's a legendary call. And obviously, I think he was on the the kick six.

Yeah. I'm pretty sure Vern was on kick six. Alabama and Auburn in the Iron Bowl. There's so many legends you could sit in. But for us, it's funny. Your memory is Happy Gilmore. Mine is the Tiki Barber moment.

Yeah. And it's amazing with a career that long. There's so much to choose from.

It's impossible to pick one or two, really. I mean, obviously, like, you know, you think of you think of Al Michaels, you know, the miracle. Do you believe in miracles? Yes.

Yeah. So there's a couple like with Vern. He's been so good for so long in so many sports. You can't just basketball to college basketball. Just find one sport with Vern. He's done final fours and he's done the Masters. He's on the Christian Laitner call.

I'm pretty sure. Oh, so good. And so many different calls that that that shaped our viewing of sports and our memories of the things that we fell in love with as fans. That Vern is just it's it's he is the voice of our of our sports fandom. Yeah. And it's kind of crazy because there's this certain iconic voices that you feel like they'll never go away. And eventually, right, everyone has an expiration date on when they could do this and you ride off into the sunset or you retire, things like that.

And it's like, oh, what are you going to do without that voice? And eventually new voices do emerge. I was also reading and this is from the New York Post and also via Andrew Marsha and at the Athletic. But the New York Post just had a quick excerpt about it, that the Yankees legendary voice, John Sterling. And this is what it says in the New York Post.

Headline is expected to retire this week due to health concerns. So I know John a little bit. Man, I hope everything's OK with John. How John's got to be what? Eighty three.

I want to say let me just do a little quick. Eighty five. And I know his birthday's July 4th, so he turns 86 in July. I know a lot of people like to clown John Sterling because he's messed up some calls just because his vision is not as great as he once was. But that is a creme de la creme broadcaster. And I think you reminded everybody in the judge race a little while back how great of a broadcaster he is. But I hope everything's all right with John. And if these reports are true that he's retiring this week, man. Tip of the cap in a large standing ovation for John Sterling, just one of those iconic voices.

And it's crazy. He did Atlanta Hawks games and he'll tell you about that. But that's an iconic voice like ball game over. Yankees win. Yankees win.

And then a lot of people are going to do the Yankees lose when the Yankees lose. But like, man, that's crazy to see that right now when we're talking about Vernon. And that pops up on the screen that John Sterling, according to the New York Post, expected to retire this week due to health concerns. Is there any more information on that, Samter, when you're holding a news conference Friday? Is that what it is? Yeah. The only other thing that we've seen, Pat and I, is that initially people thought maybe it would be end of the season. But now it seems like it could be immediate.

Wow. So that would be health concerns. I don't want to speculate. Yeah, we don't know. And listen, we also know this is 100 percent the case. This is a lot of speculation. Andrew usually gets things right.

Usually knows things before he says things. But, you know, it's an end of an era if it's true. Yeah, absolutely. P. Caldera of the of the Bergen record in North Jersey dot com said that Sterling confirmed.

To the record and North Jersey dot com, he has decided to call it a career, so I think he is going to be retiring Friday. OK, so if it's if it is a health issue. Right.

You wish him first and foremost, all the best health moving forward. Even though. Right. He's in his mid 80s and right. These things happen. It is tough to imagine a baseball game, a Yankee baseball game, at least without John Sterling.

So I wish him obviously congratulations and hope everything is OK with some of the differentiating reporting out there. I don't I can't speculate here, but Justin Shackle used to do updates for me on the weekend overnight when I first got here at CBS Sports Radio. And he's like the main fill in Yankee play by play guy. So this means Shackle gets a lot of opportunities. I hope Justin Shackle does end up crushing it.

All righty. Mark Pope to Kentucky. My first reaction was I was surprised, but it ends up, in my opinion, being a good hire. I'll tell you more about it coming up later on this hour. But we do got to take a break here on the Infinity Sports Network.

It is the Zach Gelb show. And when we return, we're going to be joined by former UFC fighter and now is a UFC broadcaster in Dean Thomas. We just had UFC 300 over the weekend. And man, those are some savages in the Octagon.

It was I had a very nice parlay hit, very nice parlay hit where I won some straight cash homie over the weekend. But we'll talk about the future of the UFC. And then also we now have a date on the Conor McGregor return. Conor McGregor has not fought since twenty twenty one. He will be going up against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 at the end of June.

So we'll recap UFC 300 and we will also have to preview what Conor McGregor is going to look like since we last saw him in the Octagon when he did did have a broken leg and he's lost three out of his last four fights. Call from mom. Answer it.

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That's right. It is the Infinity Sports Network. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

How are you? It is the Zach Gelb show right here on ISN. We will be joined coming up in a few moments by Dean Thomas, the former UFC fighter now does a great job broadcasting a bunch of fights. And we just had UFC 300 come to a close. Epic few fights on the main card that did come your way this past Saturday. And we got a big announcement from Dana White at the end of UFC 300, where a paper was just slipped to him. Whoa.

It's kind of a crazy way that this did happen. And he announced some fights that were going to happen at the Prudential Center for, I believe, UFC 302. And then he just gave a Dana White smile and made it clear that Conor McGregor is coming back at the end of June for his triumphant return. UFC 303. Last time we did see Conor McGregor.

He did break his leg. And that was in 2021. And we've been hearing about this fight with McGregor and Chandler. And we were waiting and waiting and waiting when it was going to happen. I actually thought it was never going to happen. And we got the date that it's going to be June 29th.

So coming up this summer, you will see the return of Conor McGregor into a UFC Octagon. Dean Thomas is going to join us momentarily on the Zach Gelb show on Infinity Sports Network. And Dean's kind enough to join us right now after what was an epic UFC 300. Dean, appreciate the time as always.

Thanks so much for doing this. How you been, my friend? I'm good, man. How are you?

Well, I'm doing great. So let me start you off with the last fight, the main event on the main card. And that was Alex Pereira, who once again, right, it doesn't matter where he fights. All this guy does is when he's won the middleweight belt before the light heavyweight belt now. But to see that knockout where he gets hit in the groin, waves off the referee, and then 10 seconds later delivers a knockout.

I know you've seen a lot of things in the Octagon, but how did you process that one? I mean, that was gangster. There's no other way to put it other than gangster. I mean, it was if he knew something about Jamal Hill that we all didn't know as if he knew that was coming. So when he got hit in the groin and he just kind of waved off her Dean and said, don't worry, I got this. I mean, it was a gangster move. It was a flex. And poor Jamal Hill to come back to accept this fight to me on short notice, he might have came back prematurely.

But poor Jamal Hill to have to go out there and be on the receiving end of something as gangster as that was. And I also heard that after the fight, Dana White said that he had a broken pinky toe. So how much does that affect maybe a fighter when you get in the Octagon if you have a broken pinky toe?

I mean, that's pretty bad. I mean, it's the little thing sometimes. And the little things have an effect on your mentality going into a fight. So having a broken pinky toe, knowing that you can't really move as well or knowing that you can't do certain things, that little element can just turn into such a big, huge factor of a fight just because of the mentality going in.

And you know, wait a minute, I'm going to be a little bit limited. Dean Thomas here with us on the Zach Gelb Show on the Infinity Sports Network. So after the fight, Alex Pereira, right, is in the Octagon and he's talking about, all right, he's had success as a middleweight, and he's had success as a light heavyweight. Now he wants to compete in the heavyweight division.

How did you kind of react to that one? And do you think that's something that obviously he could do? Because, man, from the electricity with his introduction and then the performances, doesn't matter where he fights, this dude's one of the more entertaining fighters right now in the sport. He's fully taking advantage of his window of opportunity, and you've got to give him credit for that. A lot of fighters don't take full advantage of it because they're not disciplined. And I've spent time around Alex Pereira, and he's so disciplined, he's so focused on the task at hand, and that is winning fights. His life revolves around winning fights.

From the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to bed, he's thinking about winning fights. So I think he can go up to heavyweight and have some success. Can he beat Tom Aspinall? I don't think there's a person on the planet who could beat Tom Aspinall, but he can still have some success at heavyweight. He would even have success against Jon Jones, but Tom Aspinall is a different beast. I know it's right after the fight, so you hear Dana say something, and it could change a few days later or a few weeks or months later, but he kind of shot that down pretty quickly.

He didn't think that would be a smart decision. I was watching his post-fight press conference, UFC 300, and Dana said, I wouldn't go to heavyweight if I was him. I would stay around the light heavyweight division for a little bit.

Why do you think that was? You know, I think sometimes when fighters want to move around a bit, it just kind of convulates the divisions. And, you know, the heavyweight doesn't need Alex Pereira up there. They need Jon Jones to come back and fight.

That's what they need. So I'm sure he just shot it down for that. But let's keep it real here. Sometimes Dana and the guys don't want things to happen. A little birdie told me that they didn't even want Max Holloway to move up to fight Justin Gaethje. And we saw what happened when Max Holloway moved up to fight Justin Gaethje. He gave us one of the most memorable moments that we will never forget that happened inside the Octagon. And talking about that moment with Dean Thomas right now, I know he's done that before. But on this stage with 10, 15 seconds left in a fight, a fight that he was going to win to say, let's just go savage mode and meet in the middle and beat the start out of each other. And then he delivers the knockout. Like we've seen buzzer beaters right in basketball. I've never seen a buzzer beater like that on that stage in the sport of UFC. That's I know we talked about Pereira first and how insane his knockout was. I've never really seen anything that I can remember from Max Holloway. No, you can't. I mean, you can't compare it to anything else.

I was trying to compare it to other sports and you just can't. And I rolled back to the hotel with Laura Sanko in the in the in the whip. And we were talking and I told her, we don't know anybody like Max Holloway unless, you know, Max Holloway. You don't know anybody who's built like Max Holloway.

And you could ask your friends. No one knows anybody like this because Max Holloway is just built different. He's a different breed of human being. And what we got to witness, we're lucky to be in the era of Max Holloway. We're just and even Justin Gacy, we're lucky to be in this era of MMA where these guys have the heart that they have.

And they are as good as they are to give us those level of performances and to give it to us, which is with just such freedom to just play. Right. Because some guys that are good, they're like, no, I don't want to fight now because, you know, a tour, you know, my pinky, you know, saying like, oh, I got to hang now. I don't want to fight right now.

Or we couldn't make the deal. But you got a guy like Max Holloway who said, I'm a gladiator. Gladiators don't walk around with scales asking fighters how much they weigh. They fight just engage. He gets poked in the eye.

It says waves it off. I don't care. We're still fighting.

We don't know anybody like this. And we are lucky to have been able to witness those two fight. I actually wonder what Max Holloway did after the fight, because obviously he won. But that leg was swollen and you could see it just getting bigger and bigger and bigger during the fight.

Right. You had this experience winning fights before. When you win, though, and you get beat up, does it affect how you party after the fight? Just wondering.

Oh, absolutely. I remember my very first fight, which was in Vegas, UFC 33 against Fabiano. I remember my mouth was so cut up from getting punched in the mouth. I wanted to eat. I wanted to eat a burger. And I just I couldn't even eat a burger.

I couldn't even because the ketchup was burning my mouth. So I'm sure Max Holloway after a fight like that, he was probably riding high, but I'm sure once he came down, he was in a tremendous amount of pain. But when he was fighting, if you saw the focus on his face again, we don't know. And I mean, I don't know who your group of friends are, but I can almost assure you, you don't know anybody like like Max Holloway because I grew up around fighters and none of them are like Max Holloway. Trust me, none of my friends could be as savage as Max Holloway. Wrapping up with Dean Thomas is here with us right now.

Alrighty. So there was all these rumors that at UFC 300, we were going to get this announcement that McGregor's coming back. It's been speculated, right? It's been set up for such a while. I was at a point, though, where I was like, all right, enough.

Just wake me up. When we have the date and Michael Chandler is going to be fighting Conor McGregor now that we have a date end of June, June 29th at UFC 303. What was your first thought when you heard Dana White announced that late Saturday evening?

I was happy about it because we had heard the rumors so much and they had been playing with our emotions for so long, for almost two years, it seemed like. And I remember doing the after tough show of Tough 32 in which Chandler and McGregor competed with the ultimate fighter. And I was like, man, I hope that Chandler gets an opportunity to fight this man, because what he went through, what he put up with the ridicule that he had inside the MMA community, because they thought he was thirsty for chasing and waiting, waiting for Conor McGregor. So I am glad that Conor McGregor has finally said, you know what?

I'll fight you. And after that horrendous movie that he did on Roadhouse, I'm so glad to see him back inside the Octagon. I'm glad you brought it up that way, because everyone talks about how long it's been for McGregor to get into the Octagon.

You know, December of 2022, I was there at Madison Square Garden. That's the last time we've seen Michael Chandler fight for something that actually means something. So I wonder how much rust he'll have to knock off as well. I don't think he cares. I think for him, he's just trying to cash out. I think he waited this long for McGregor or else he would have retired. I don't think he cares.

I don't think there's going to be any rust. I think this is that once in a lifetime opportunity that a guy like Michael Chandler is fully going to take advantage of. He's not going out to fight a calculated fight in which rust will have an effect on. He's going out to go balls to the wall, either get knocked out or knock Conor McGregor out.

All he wants to do is put on a show. And that's going to be really good for the fans, because whenever you got a guy who wants to put on a show like that and then you got a guy as dangerous as Conor, who's as lethal as Conor, we're always going to get a good show. And I'm excited about this because I'll be cornering a fighter on that card anyway. So I'm excited about International Fight Week.

Last thing for Dean Thomas, who joins us right now in the Zach Gelb show. Just continuing with that fight, McGregor going up against Chandler. And I remember two Super Bowls ago, I was talking to Dana White and I said to him, you know, at the time where McGregor breaks his leg, right, he's lost three out of his last four fights. It felt like that was a wrap on his career. I never thought this fight was going to happen.

So I felt that way back in 2021. And now we're going to see them fight in the summer of 2024. What do you expect out of Conor McGregor? Because he was obviously starting to look human the last time we've seen in the last few timeouts in the Octagon. Honestly, I don't expect much from him. I mean, Conor was such a good fighter in his prime.

But that window of being in your prime doesn't last very long. We've seen him just kind of flirt with that line of if he's still got it, does he not have it? And then his last couple of fights, he just showed that he doesn't really have it. And so I'm not expecting much from him from a X's and O's standpoint. But in terms of excitement and entertainment, I'm expecting more from him than almost any other fighter on the roster of the UFC because he knows how to bring it. And his fights are always entertaining. I just don't expect much from him in terms of being a good fighter.

I don't expect him to come out with a Iliya Taporia-like performance. So do you think Chandler's going to win right now if you had to give me an early prediction? If I had to give you an early prediction, I would say that Chandler wins this fight. But as we get closer to the fight, when we start to see Conor train, that may change. So if Conor loses, do you think that's a wrap? Do you think that's it for him with his UFC career? You know, if Conor loses, there's only a couple of other fights for him. Obviously, the Nate Diaz rematch may be a Jorge Masvidal fight. Or we may see him in a Jake Paul boxing match.

But if he loses, we will never see him in a conversation of UFC gold ever again. He is Dean Thomas. Dean, always appreciate the time. Thanks so much for jumping on board with us today. Thanks for having me, man. I truly appreciate you guys. You got it.

Thanks so much. There he is. Dean Thomas always does a great job breaking down everything. And he knows it from the fighter's perspective, being a part of the UFC for such a long time. And now he does a great job as a broadcaster, recapping UFC 300. And then getting an early preview on UFC 303. Where we will see the return of Conor McGregor going up against Michael Chandler.

And let me be abundantly clear about this. I hope Conor McGregor gets his ass kicked. He is so insufferable. And you know everything that happens away from the octagon. And he's so arrogant.

And I get it. It's part of the sport. You gotta be arrogant. And you gotta sell the fight and say a bunch of ridiculous things.

But there is a laundry list of things that have happened in the last two, three years. Where you just look at Conor McGregor. And even if you did like him, it's tough to still like him.

But with how long this has dragged out. And where his career. And he's one of the greatest ever. And maybe the most important person in the UFC ever. But where his career was going towards the end. And he lost three out of his last four fights. And then he breaks his leg.

I thought it was a wrap then. So now all these years later to get back in the octagon and go up against Chandler. I know that Michael Chandler hasn't fought since he was at MSG in December of 2022. But I gotta think Chandler is going to win. But we'll see the rust factor for both and how it does play out now.

But I'll trust Chandler will be more prepared to take the actual fight in the octagon more serious than Conor McGregor. Welcome back to the Infinity Sports Network. Good rejoin music today.

Boil on the ones and twos. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. If I may say so myself. This is the Infinity Sports Network. This is the Zach Gelb show.

We're here Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern, noon to 3 p.m. Pacific. Across all of our great local Infinity Sports Network stations. Sirius XM Channel 158. The free Odyssey app. And of course streaming live on YouTube.

YouTube.com slash at Infinity Sports Net. Alrighty. Santa's got some questions for me.

I got some answers. Let's go to a little onside offside. Patty Boil.

Hit it! Alrighty. Let's get to a little onside offside here. I actually have a question out of the gate. And I'm going to direct that question to Pat Boil. That's not how this game works. I'm the quarterback. I make the rules here. Alright. It is checks and balances though.

But, you know, I'm going to object to everyone else here. Pat Boil. Onside offside. Beautiful day here in New York City. Weather's getting warm.

We're at 70 degrees. This is a very casual office. Like you could wear shorts to work.

It's not the end of the world. Sometimes Pat though wears these like compression shorts. I think that's crossing the line.

Too much thigh from Pat Boil, if I may say so myself. But I was walking around the newsroom today and I saw Santa's feet. He's wearing the good old flippity flops. Onside or offside? You should be able to wear flip flops to work here at Infinity Sports Network. What do you say? Onside.

I'm going onside. I sponsor. I will co-sign any kind of fashion statement. And a nice pair of flip flops.

Open toned with the little split in the middle. Not just the... No, no. Santa's putting his feet to the camera. Show off those puppies. Get it OnlyFans.

Get it OnlyFans. Oh, this is disgusting. Were they hairy? I didn't really... I wasn't Rex Ryan. I didn't really kink too long ago.

I am known to be a hobbit in some ways. I'm going to go onside. I think that's fine, right? I mean, I got the shorts on today. Why not?

So take me through the decision making process. And I am not like the king of fashion here, obviously. But why'd you go flip flops today? I mean, it's not about fashion. It's about comfort. It's 75 degrees.

It's going to be like 77 when we leave here. Why not? Those puppies need to be contained. I need shoes. If we're going to continue to work together, I think I need shoes. Well, unfortunately, you don't get to dictate my outfit.

I don't know about that. You can dictate many things, but not my outfit. We have a new boss now, Ryan Hurley, who I have a good relationship with. Imagine that's the first thing I say to Ryan, congratulations. Here's your first order of business. Make sure Sampter wears shoes to work.

Hey, you know what? If we were in the same space and my feet smelled and you were complaining and it was distracting you, fine. But you and I are separated by soundproof glass. Boyle is five feet away from me. He hasn't said a word. My feet are okay.

So you can't complain unless it's actually impacting your work. Boyle did say there was a peculiar smell. I don't think he realized that your toes were just out in the open.

That's also a possibility, too. If they were funky, I would probably say something. No feet funk from Sampter so far. I think Sampter's somewhat of a clean human being. Like, there's others that work here that they have a certain smell about them. I won't say that person's name, but there is one person in particular that I've had to work with before. And he's not in the regular show.

That's what I'll just say. That I've had to work with him before and every time I work with that person, I think he's either coming from the gym every time and I just want to throw him a can of deodorant or a stick of deodorant because he needs it. And listen, coming from the gym is at least acceptable. You're listening to The Good Shepherd on CBS Sports Radio. But where'd that come from?

And you said the old network. I did that on purpose. Coming from the gym is acceptable. Just not grooming yourself and not having hygiene, like not showering in the morning or coming to work.

That's not acceptable. So I like Shep, but here's the problem with Shep. Every time I feel like he's coming from the gym or some high school basketball practice, and then he orders Chinese food, too. And I love Chinese food, but it's like all these different...

It's literally like you are in a frat house on a Friday evening. That's what it smells like with Shep. There's a bunch of different smells from The Good Shepherd here. All right, well, I'll keep that in mind next time I see him. I saw him today. He actually didn't smell that bad today. He wasn't running a marathon or something?

No. Well, that's true. He also came running from a marathon to work with me once. So maybe that... I don't work with him a ton, so maybe that's what it was.

All right, let's get to the questions. All right, well, the Eagles lost Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox to retirement, but will be keeping Devante Smith around for a while, inking the star wideout to a monster three-year $75 million extension with $51 million guaranteed. So onside, offside, Devante Smith is a top 10 receiver in the NFL. He is one of my favorite college football players of all time. It's amazing that having a Heisman Trophy may not be his greatest accomplishment because he also had a walk-off touchdown catch to win a national championship where Tua came in for Jalen Hurts and then found Devante Smith on that great play in the left end zone up against Georgia. So just a remarkable college career, has been a really good NFL wide receiver.

That's a lethal one-two punch, A.J. Brown and Devante Smith. He is close to being a top 10, but he's just on the outside looking in. There's just so many great wide receivers now in the league and he's not the number one wide receiver on that team. So I have to do a slight offside here when you say is Devante Smith a top 10 receiver in the NFL.

Offside. Number two. Now, while Smith is staying put, Brandon Ayuk may be on the move out of San Fran. However, this week QB Brock Purdy said, quote, I'll always have his back and support him in whatever he does. And I will always love you. Oh, sort of. I will always have your back and support him. I want what's best for him.

It's a business thing, end quote. So onside, offside. The 49ers do need to keep Ayuk if they hope to win a Super Bowl this year.

This year, absolutely onside. Yes, you have run CMC. Yes, you have Mr. Kittle. Yes, you got Debo Samuel. But just having that extra guy in Ayuk who's a better receiver, not a better overall player, but a better receiver than Debo Samuel. Look, they have all these weapons and they weren't still able to beat the Chiefs this past year.

You need full go once again. Everyone's locked in for this season to try to go hoist a Lombardi trophy for that franchise. So, yeah, I think they need to keep Ayuk if they hope to win a Super Bowl this year. Onside. Now, around the NFL, voluntary workouts start this week with a few noticeable absences. Obviously, Micah Parsons and C.D. Lamb are no-shows for the Cowboys, while Justin Jefferson, looking for his new deal, is not at the first day of Vikings workouts.

So onside, offside. It is a problem when star players skip voluntary workouts. Samter, let me just say to you, hey, it's voluntary for you to show up to work tomorrow. Would you show up to work? I mean, it's different. Is it vol- I'm asking you a question. If I said to you tomorrow, it's voluntary that you show up to the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network, no harm if you don't show up, would you be showing up?

I won't be offended here. If my appearance here, or lack of appearance, impacted our ability to work together and succeed together and have success as a show together, and we were judged based on that success, then, yeah, I probably would be here. But, missing these monotonous voluntary workouts means Jack. I have been to OTAs and training camps, the most boring thing, and I love football, boring to cover. And every year, it's negotiated, these are voluntary workouts, and people miss them and people lose their mind. I'm not losing my mind about Micah Parsons and C.D. Lamb and Justin Jefferson, who doesn't have a quarterback right now, missing the first days of voluntary workouts. That's the key word, voluntary. So, is it a problem when star players skip voluntary workouts?

No, sir. Offside. Offside. Now, after a final wild weekend in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder sealed the number one seed in the West, despite finishing tied with the Nuggets.

Shay Gilders-Alexander finished third in the NBA with 30 points a game, 30.1 points a game, and Chet Holmgren will likely finish second in Rookie of the Year voting. Onside, offside, the Thunder are the best team in the West. Offside.

Offside. To be the champ, you gotta beat the champ when it matters. I think I said that correctly. The Denver Nuggets are the team. Until they aren't hoisting that Larry O'Brien trophy again, that I think they're going to win the title until I'm proven wrong. Joker, Murray, one healthy, unstoppable in this day and age of the NBA. I will take the Nuggets, especially in the West, until someone proves me wrong.

Offside. Now, speaking about those Nuggets, they are the two seed in their quest to repeat. Jamal Murray made a bold statement heading into the postseason saying, quote, I think me and Djokic are undoubtedly the number one best duo over the likes of LeBron and AD, Damon, Giannis, and Luka and Kyrie. Onside, offside, Djokic and Murray are the best duo in the NBA. So out of the duos that you gave me, LeBron and AD, Damon, Giannis, you have Luka and Kyrie, yeah, I think so and here's why. They're the duo that I could trust the most. And I know that, and I know Murray's had his fair share of injuries, but when he's healthy, there's just no way in stopping Nicole Djokic. So AD has health issues, LeBron has had health issues, Djokic and Kyrie, it's entertaining, but I don't really trust Kyrie. Yeah, I would go Joker and Murray. I think right now they're the best duo in the NBA onsides because I can trust them.

Next question. All right, well, over in the East, the Knicks and Sixers both got hot at the end of the season with New York sneaking into the second seed while the Sixers are in the playing game as the seventh seed. Now, if the Sixers beat the Heat on Wednesday, they'll face the rival Knicks in the first round. Onside, offside, obviously with a lower seed, but with a healthy Embiid, the Sixers will beat the Knicks. I'll be rooting for the Knicks because I love me some Leon Rose, if Embiid's healthy, though. And I think the Sixers are going to pull off the upset. And I hate to say it, it would be a miserable way for the Knicks' season to end. But the Sixers with a healthy Embiid will beat the Knicks. I hope I'm wrong. Let's make sure they can beat the Heat first. I hope I'm wrong. All right, just the quiet.

It's a question. I would go onsides. The Knicks and the Sixers need to have a baby, though. And what I mean by that is Joel Embiid needs to be on the Knicks. Could you imagine Embiid with Brunson? I don't think the Sixers could win a championship this year, and I don't think the Knicks could win a championship this year.

But if you merge those two teams together, I think that's a championship team or a team bare minimum that could get to the NBA Finals. And Samter led this charge. Jalen Brunson, I led the charge that he was great. Samter disrespected him a lot. That dude should receive some MVP votes. That dude is, he may be this year, not the best, but the most impressed I've been with an NBA player because he has carried that team.

And you know that Randall's been out and he's out for the season. T-Mobile has invested billions to light up America's largest 5G network from big cities to small towns, including right here in yours. And great coverage is just the beginning. Right now, families and small businesses can save up to 20% versus AT&T and Verizon when they switch. Visit your local T-Mobile store today. Plan savings with three lines of T-Mobile Essentials versus comparable available plans.

Plan features and taxes and fees may vary. What up, y'all, it's your boy, Danny Green, three-time NBA champ. You either rooted for me or rooted against me. Join myself and my co-host, Harrison Sanford, on the Inside the Green Room podcast. It's a podcast that brings you never before told tales from the locker room to candid interviews with basketball legends to breakdowns of what's happening in the NBA right now. Whether you're a diehard fan or casual about your hoops, this podcast brings you the game like never before. So, Inside the Green Room on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.