March SADNess? (Hour 2)

Alrighty, welcome back in. It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. You know, to open up the show, Samter made a point and I'm like, eh, a little spoiled these days because he was complaining that yesterday we didn't have a 16, a 15, a 14, or even a 13 win. You know, the highest seed we had win was a 12 seed. And right now you have another 12 seed who's in good business, you know, good shape. They are up 68 to 60, Colorado State up against Memphis. I actually picked Colorado State on my bracket. I know nobody cares about my bracket. You have Duke just beating the snot out of Mount St. Mary's, 54 to 28.

I'll give you the Cooper flag update. He did start this game. He had a big dunk early, stuck out his tongue. He's 4-7 from the field, 9 points.

You could wipe the sweat off the forehead if you're a fan of Duke, I guess. Vanderbilt, St. Mary's about 10 minutes in. 16 to 13, Vanderbilt is up on St. Mary's. And then coming up later today, you have 11-6, North Carolina will miss. 13-4, Grand Canyon up against Maryland. Norfolk State, 16 up against 1, Florida. 14, Troy up against 3, Kentucky. 10, New Mexico up against 7, Marquette. 13, Akron, 4, Arizona. 9, Oklahoma, 8, UConn. 11, Xavier, 6, Illinois. 15, Bryant, Michigan State 2. 12, Liberty, 5, Oregon.

So that's the schedule for the rest of the day. And earlier today, we saw Alabama beat Robert Morris. It was a good game, 1981. Iowa State blew out Lipscomb, 3, 14.

82-55. And Baylor, Mississippi State, was a razor thin margin of the game. Baylor was able to hold on and win 75 to 72. If you're looking for moments so far, though, you know, McNeice getting the victory up against Clemson, a moment. Drake getting the victory yesterday up against Missouri, a moment. But there has not been this like thunderous moment yet in the NCAA tournament. You know, so far this NCAA tournament can be described in probably like these few moments. Creighton doing a very good job up against Louisville. You had McNeice with their manager, right? First program victory.

Nice job. Clemson was terrible. You know, the Michigan game was, you know, close last night, but it was sloppy at the end. It was kind of reminded me a lot like Michigan and Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship. So you're looking at this tournament so far. You know, Arkansas, Kansas was an enjoyable game. But there hasn't really been a marquee, signature, you know, wow, wow, wow moment of this NCAA tournament. And this is how, and hey, something crazy could happen.

But to Samter's point, he's right. The biggest upset so far is, you know, 12 being in a five. You know, that's the biggest upset. And I had these percentages yesterday, and a 12 being in the five is not like the craziest thing in the world anymore because of how spoiled we've gotten. But five versus twelves in 2018, it's a 66.7%. You know, fives versus twelves are 16 and 18. That 611 is where we see a lot of upsets.

They're 500, 12 and 12 since 2018. But you look at, even though we see a good amount of those upsets, ones versus 16 since 2018, 22 and two. Two versus 15 is 21 and three. Three versus 14, 22 and two. Four versus 13, all right, that gets a little bit closer.

17 and seven. So here's what I think is going to happen with this tournament. And trust me, I could put my foot in my mouth in about an hour or two with this tournament when you talk about it because the feeling how you feel, you know, right now at 4 or 4 p.m. Eastern time, and this is what makes March so awesome with how unpredictable it is, is you could get something crazy that can't transpire. And Colorado State right now is 229 away from getting a victory up against Memphis, Colorado State 71, Memphis 61. But Mike, even though you opened up the show saying you were disappointing, you know, disappointed that, hey, through one day of the tournament, it's only one day, you haven't seen a 13, a 14, a 15 or, you know, I don't think anyone actually expects a 16 seed to win, even though we've seen it with UMBC, and you also got to see it with Fairleigh Dickinson.

But that's just such a rarity. It's wild that we had two in recent memory. But I think if we even get a slow start to this tournament, where even if this continues, where after today there's not this wow, wow, wow moment, like I'm moved by what I've seen, it's unbelievable. I think the more marquee teams that are left makes the games better as the tournament does go on.

And I don't know if that's going to get reflected in the round of 32 necessarily. But when it comes to the round of 16, Sweet 16, that's when this tournament could really take off, because college basketball this year, it's been dominated by the SEC. It's been dominated by Duke as well. But just looking at who's been the best team in the country, you know, we started the year with Kansas being the preseason number one, they're out in the first round to the tournament, they were a seven seed, no expectation. The SEC had 14 teams entering this tournament, you know, a month and a half ago, people be saying Auburn's the best team in the SEC. And now people are saying Florida because they just won the SEC tournament. So I don't know how many great teams there are in this tournament. I would say, Duke to me, has the feel of the best team.

The question becomes their health. Florida is playing like the best team right now. Auburn, I know they went yesterday 61 we're not going to get delirious. But Auburn, the last week and a half their stock was starting to fade.

Can they get back in it? Absolutely. But I think this year, if you're going to say, you know, I've Duke in Florida, but if that ends up being the championship game, I think it's a fascinating matchup. So even though this tournament feels like there's no buzz right now, it feels like it's a slow start.

And it's only one day and like a half a day. So let's not get crazy. It could you know, we got a few buzzer beaters here. All right, it really starts popping with the NCAA tournament. But I think in the long run, where how there's been just a lot of good teams in college basketball this year, I don't know how many great teams I think you can make for a lot of compelling sweet 16 elite eight final four and a championship game where if you then give me those two weeks of just great game after great game, I'm okay with that. If we don't get one of those historical, you know, upsets in the first or even the second round of the NCAA tournament, cause like we all remember Florida Gulf Coast. We all remember George Mason.

You, you remember Loyola Chicago, right? The two sixteens that have won the 15 seeds that have won. And some of those teams have gone on to the sweet 16 of not even further than that, right? Like we're talking final four, but eventually there's an expiration date on those teams and this tournament.

So the better seeds that remain, even though it doesn't elicit like, Oh my God, Ooh, onions, like unbelievable Cinderella story. I think this year that fits more into college basketball where as the tournament goes on, the marquee teams will still be there and there will be a collision course. And I think it will make it a more fun tournament. And even though I always love upsets and like when you get the upsets, they're awesome.

I'm okay with the first weekend being all right, average, fine, mediocre. If a lot of these bigger programs are still around, especially in a year where it does feel open, where even when you say Duke in Florida right now, maybe the two best teams, you know, we just did a draft for the NCAA tournament Duke in Florida. Duke was the first selection, but Florida wasn't the second selection. So I think that this is an open tournament this year and as many one, two, three, four, and let's say five seeds are left. We'll make it better as the tournament does go on. I mean, to your point, sure. But I think more like in the elite eight final four in the finals, for me, like the first two or three rounds, the first round and second round for sure, upsets are so crucial, right? Having the, you know, Sister Jean, you know, having the, you know, the, the, the FGCU, like it's exciting.

It's fun. And, and like the same thing with the, with the manager at McNeese State, there's, there's a storyline, right? Like people aren't following the best player on Maryland or Vanderbilt. They're going to find like, who's something really cool on number 13 Grand Canyon, right? They upset Maryland.

There's going to be some crazy story that develops out of there. Same thing with McNeese. That's what's interesting. The first couple of rounds, that's what drives most people's attention, because like you said, we haven't been following all of these teams throughout the entire season. So I can't tell you who the best player is on Ole Miss or who the star is on Vanderbilt, but I can tell you that the manager of McNeese State is freaking awesome and he's cool and he's fun. That's going to get my interest until we get to those Cooper flags, you know, until we get to see Baylor, Dominique and Rick Pitino and do, that's when it's going to become a little bit more interesting. But even look at, and I'm not saying that, you know, all the match-ups are great, but with no major upsets yesterday and right, that's only half the field playing yesterday and the other half plays today. Just for the round of 32, Arkansas St. John's has a lot of buzz to it with Calipari and Pitino. Creighton Auburn, I think has a lot of buzz and I think that's the most intriguing second round game so far. And I know I'm only going to give you one more and it's, you're going to say, oh, it's only three match-ups, which I get, but Gonzaga with their brand and them getting through going up against Houston in a 1-8, that's a really fun second round match-up.

So yes, I'm with you. Yesterday, would I have loved to seen a 15 seed win? Yes, would have loved it. Would I love to have seen a 14 seed win? Yes, but I think the more good to very good to great teams we have, it's going to then make from the sweet 16 and on awesome if this continues the road and it really is determined in yesterday and today, because if you don't get out of the first round, hot take of the day, your season's over. And you know, even tomorrow, like you look at these match-ups, you know, for 12 beats of four, ten beats of seven, five beats of four, eleven beats of three, nine beats of one, six beats of three, eight beats of one, seven beats of two, like I'm just saying, not all those teams are going to win. But even in first second round standards, there's not even a major massive upset potentially brewing there. Where if like Purdue goes down, does it make the NCAA tournament stink?

No. And that's your 12 seed, for example. But through what happened yesterday with there was no nothing explosive, there's still a lot of possibilities for a lot of good teams still to be remaining, even if you do have some upsets along the way tomorrow. And that's the point, you know, if this trend does continue where you don't have what we've had in previous years with 16, 15, 14, 13s winning, and the highest seed that wins or the lowest seed that wins, however you want to say, I never had, is it highest or lowest when you get to a 12 seed? It's technically the lower seed.

Okay. So the lowest seed that wins is a 12. I don't think that that derails the tournament from what I'm saying is that the games will get significantly better from the sweet 16 and all. I mean, you might be right, but like number five, Michigan versus number four, a and M I'm sure that's going to be a good game.

I have no interest. Number six, BYU versus number three, Wisconsin, no interest. I actually, I liked that game a lot.

I'm sure it's going to be fine. You know what game I'm interested in? McNeese versus Purdue because like McNeese is kind of the darling, right? UCLA, Tennessee, that's a seven versus a two.

Not sexy. Yeah. The Arkansas St. John's thing. First of all, Arkansas was an upset so that you have a 10 versus two, but that's more about the coaches than anything else. Yeah, but seven, 10 not a major upset.

That's my point, right? So the ones you brought up were a 10 over a seven upset, Gonzaga as an 18 versus number one, Houston and Creighton a nine seed against number one, Auburn. Those aren't like, you know, those were pretty much set in stone for the most reason. Auburn versus the eight, nine, Houston versus the eight, nine. I'm talking about like when you get like a 13 versus a 12 in the second round where you get an 11 versus a 14 in the second round. Those are the stories you want to follow early on and then you want the best teams to take over in the Elite Eight, the Final Four and the title game.

That's my opinion. Colorado State, by the way, here's a 12 seed. It is a final now. They have defeated Memphis in Seattle. They're playing this game. So Colorado State pulls off the upset 78 to 70 over the Memphis Tigers. So we know what Sam is going to be rooting for today. Sam is rooting for Graham Canyon over Maryland. Sam is rooting for Troy over Kentucky. Sam is rooting for Akron over Arizona. Are you an Arizona now?

You're a Sun Devils fan, right? I'm rooting for everybody against Arizona. Let's go Akron.

I have my Akron jersey on underneath here. You're rooting for Bryant over Michigan State, Liberty over Oregon. That's what Sam is looking for today. But yeah, so far it's been and it's early, so I don't want to sound like I'm spoiled.

Now I'm being spoiled Zach and I started the show saying Santa spoiled. It's been a little bit of a snooze fest of an NCAA tournament. There's not been a lot of big moments to Santa's point, the Cinderella stories, the buzzer beaters, and that's what we love March. But if we don't get that in terms of the big upsets and there hasn't been a, there's been some upsets, but not big upsets. You know, if we don't get that through the first round of the NCAA tournament, I think then next week, these sweet 16 games, they could really pop off and be taken to a different level.

And so far, I mean, this is, you know, whatever North Carolina didn't belong. They're getting smoke showed right now by Ole Miss. It's 11 to 2. And what do you mean smoke show? It's like a smoking hot girl. They're getting smoked. They were getting smoked early on, UNC. Santa called McNeese, McNeese state. And then he goes, Ole Miss is getting, UNC is getting smoke showed by Ole Miss and it's 11 to 2.

Yeah, well, you know what? UNC just hit back to back three pointers. It's 14.10 now. But it was 14.4 when I opened my mic. I opened my mic at 14.4. We may have to put, like, you know, in the NBA, they do load management.

Maybe we'll put you on a syllable count because that was, that was something I've never, I've never heard on the radio in the way that you used it. So you have Duke up against Mount St. Mary's at halftime, 54 to 28. Vanderbilt is smoke showing St. Mary's right now, 27 to 18. Ole Miss, North Carolina, the Sampter mush right here. UNC was just getting smoke showed and now it's a four point game. And still to tip off, we have Grand Canyon, Maryland, Norfolk state, Florida, Troy, Kentucky, New Mexico, Marquette, Akron, Arizona, Oklahoma smoke show.

That's a song up against Yukon, Xavier, Illinois, Bryant, Michigan state, Liberty and Oregon. That could become a new thing. If a team just getting blown out, they're getting smoke showed right now and someone's going to tune into their car and be like, what model are they having on the show coming up in five minutes?

All right. It will break. We'll come on back with some onsite offside. It is the Zach Gelb show right here on the infinity smoke show network. Zach's taking on the most polarizing issues in sports. Which side of the line of scrimmage will he end up on? Offside defense number 69. It's onsides offsides with Zach Gelb. Alrighty, onsite offside time. Stu, what do we got cooking today? All right.

So while the NFL world awaits for Aaron Rodgers to make his decision, one potential opportunity may not be available for the four time NFL MVP. I just picked a hair off this microphone. It's disgusting. That was gross. Who's going to be? I don't know. Tough to tell. Really tough. It's not ideal. It's not mine.

I'll tell you that. Well, according to Michael McCarthy, a bunch of animals that work here, it's not the cleanest of places. No, geez.

I don't know. Honestly, how much longer I could take some of the people around here that just the hygiene is terrible. I'm not sitting here telling you, you know, I'm like a neat freak, but some people you could just tell have zero care for cleanliness around here.

It's gross. Like there's pizzas in the newsroom. The people that you could tell, like pick a topping or cheese and then leave the slice in the box. Like there's 15 pizzas in the newsroom. Just take the whole damn slice. Y'all weird people around here.

I'll tell you that. Yeah. It's like the people that cut the donut in half. It's just like take the donut. There's like 40 donuts. Just take the donut.

And also it's a group setting. Yeah. You don't want to eat a whole donut.

Fine. Eat half of it. Throw the other half in the trash or go downstairs.

There's like 10,000 homeless people in the city. Go get that donut to someone. Don't just take half the donut and leave it there. And it's always it wouldn't shock me if someone takes a bite and then leaves it.

Cause it doesn't. I know people it's tough to rip some of those things, but sometimes they're like, you can see like teeth marks in some of that stuff. Disgusting. I heard Boomer this morning, Boomer Esiason. So there was a big pizza issue here. So yesterday they like to get pizza for the star of the NCAA tournament.

It's like a Mike Franciso long time legendary radio host tradition. So Evan Roberts, who's now in Mike's old slot on the fan in New York, he bought pizza. He bought like three small pies.

Not enough. So then Ray Martell was like, Evan, I'll save the day. And Evan gave Ray his credit card and I love Ray, but Ray shouldn't be in charge of ordering the pizzas. Ray got 99 cent slice pizzas. Like the 99 cent slice store. He got pies from there. We have industry pizza, which is one of the best pizza joints in the city.

Less than a half a mile away here. If John's on Bleecker street, marquee pizza places, the afternoon drive host of the fan gave you your credit card, run up a bell, run it up. I'm getting pizzas next week.

Sweet 16. I'm getting the industry. We'll have some, we'll have some phenomenal pizzas. And not only did Ray get like the worst pizza place possible. He got like 10 pies, only cheese and pepperoni. No third option, right? Like if you're going to get that many pies, get like cheese, a pepperoni, a Buffalo, something else.

Don't just get two options. Boomer today said he saw the pizza because right, you got pizza here. That's how you know the pizza sucked. It was still here. It was still here this morning.

Like there has been times. Oh, we got shake shack. Santa's come in. Oh, there's shake shack. I go into the newsroom and I go, these animals here, people come in on their day off when there's free food, it was all gone.

The shake shack like they're, they get some great food catered in here. The pizza yesterday reflected day one of the NCAA tournament, a disaster. There was still pizza here this morning and Boomer took a look at it. He goes, it was the most putrid rancid pizza he's ever seen. It was cheap pizza. So our buddy, Sal Licata and Brandon Tierney, they got actual good pizza today.

And I will also get some pies coming up on Thursday or Friday next week for the sweet 16. Cause that was a disgrace. An absolute disgrace. What happened around there yesterday? Pats fans. What can you do? Well, I'm a Pats fan and I know how to get good pizza and also pipe down.

We don't, we can't even keep track of what football team you're rooting for. J E T S who else would it be? Stop it. You're fugazi. Alrighty. Anyway, let's continue with this segment. What's the question? All right. So, uh, are we still on question one? Yeah, we are. So according to Michael McCarthy of front office sports, NFL media partners have little interest in pursuing Aaron Rogers as a broadcaster with one calling him quote, a pompous know it all and quote, and another one saying quote, he would be a great analyst, but he's insufferable.

End of quote. Onsides offsides. You would like to see Rogers as an NFL analyst.

I'm offside and here's why. When I tune into an NFL game, I want football and only football, right? That's what I want from my analysts. Aaron Rogers, I have no clue what planet that guy will be on when he starts talking football and I have no clue what he's going to try to say. And Rogers makes it all about himself.

So I'm good. I don't need to like when Aaron Rogers retires, I don't want to say he's going to be totally out of the spotlight, but I don't even think he would take on an analyst role. I don't because I think if he's doing something, it's with McAfee and that like McAfee Rogers say what you want and some crazy things get said by Rogers. You know, that's the form I think for Aaron Rogers. I don't think he's going to be buttoned up, but I've heard him say this before at a studio desk, basically talking about football.

Billy Wolf, by the way, goes yesterday. Gelb says how bad the pizza was and Shep goes, I had five slices. Yeah, I thought that was a bad moment for Shep.

I did. Now Shep came on interview for the overnight job. They talked about pizza in that interview. That's not a good sign.

All right. So Shep talking about the slices he ate yesterday here. That was terrible looking pizza. That's how you know how bad the pizza was. I wouldn't even take. I was hungry yesterday when I was here. I wouldn't even take a bite out of that pizza.

That's how gross that pizza look. Next question. All right. So the NFL saw a resurgence in the ground game this past year, as well as the new running clock throughout the game. The 32 teams ran a total of 490 fewer plays in 2024 than in 2023. That comes out to be about two fewer plays per game. Onsides all sides, fewer plays per game is actually good for the NFL.

I think so. I am all for I know it's still 60 minutes, but I'm all for quicker games. And I think when you have more plays, the game feels obviously a lot longer. And football, the length of it is already as long.

You know, it's already as long to begin with as it is. So fewer plays per game is actually good for the NFL. I think so. Onsides.

All right. So the ACC, as we mentioned earlier in the show, had a brutal day one of the tournament as both of their teams who played Louisville and Clemson suffered big upsets. Well, now it appears that Coach K is pushing for the ACC and the Big East to merge. And Dan Hurley seems to like the idea. I've been saying that. I mean, I've talked to Coach K about that. He's texted me that we've talked about that. I've mentioned it to people at the Big East. I've talked to Dave about it.

I mean, that would just make obviously tons of sense to come up with some way to get. And obviously, I think the basketball programs in the ACC could really use that. Syracuse has been hurt by losing the guard.

Pitt's been hurt by losing the guard and it's harder for them. You know, BC, obviously, there's been major advantages from a football standpoint, but I hope I'm not speaking out of turn for those folks. But how cool would it be to find a way to get Syracuse back in some type of ACC Big East consortium tournament? So once it's offsides, the ACC and the Big East should merge in basketball.

I'm actually going to go onsides on this one because, like, usually I would say offside on this. But you look how many teams are now in the SEC, how many teams are now in the Big Ten, and that's all because of football. And we have those conversations in football. Oh, maybe one day you'll see the Big 12 in the ACC merge and you'll have, like, three super conferences. Well, there's no Big East in football. There is Big East in basketball. And even though the Big East has won national championships recently with Villanova and with UConn and the ACC could have the best team in the tournament this year in Duke, it's not as if the ACC and the Big East have popped a lot nationally this year outside of St. John's and outside of Duke. So I think they could use each other. And if people say, oh, it's too many teams, well, that's just the new nature of college athletics. When you put so many teams in the same conference, it would give both those conferences a little bit more extra pop, and it would be a little bit more extra well-rounded if you did have the ACC and Big East merge in basketball.

So I would be for that, and therefore, I will say, on sides. The Kaitlin Clark effect is still riding strong momentum as the WNBA released its TV schedule for the upcoming season. Now, Clark's Indiana Fever will play 41 of their 44 games on national TV, the most for any single team in WNBA history.

As we know, attendance for games with Clark were nearly double than those without her, and the TV viewership jumped for 400,000 without Clark to over 1.1 million with her. On sides, off sides, while the WNBA needs to feature Kaitlin Clark, we're going to get Kaitlin Clark fatigued with too much coverage. I'm not, and I know some people won't say this, but really, the only time I watch the WNBA is if it's a hyped-up playoff product, and you get into the championship, and that could be without Kaitlin Clark, but really, the only time I'm really watching is when Kaitlin Clark is playing.

I know this is NCAA tournament, too. I like Juju Watkins, too, but Kaitlin Clark, she gets people to tune in. Kaitlin Clark, whether you like it or not, is the face of the league, so I don't think there is a such thing as too much Kaitlin Clark for the WNBA. It's not like when Mahomes gets seven primetime games a year, whatever we go, oh, it's too much Patrick Mahomes for the NFL, or that LeBron James fella, even though he's been around for 4,000, I put them in too many primetime games.

We don't need to see him on Christmas Day anymore. No, you want to see your stars, and you showcase your stars out the wazoo, and the WNBA has done an incredible job in growing, but they need to fully embrace their biggest star, and there is a phenom in Kaitlin Clark, and I don't think putting her on TV in primetime slots as much as possible is a bad thing, so I don't think there's going to be Kaitlin Clark fatigue. While the WNBA needs to feature Clark, we're going to get Clark fatigue with too much coverage. I will go offside.

All right, last one here. Bronny James finally had his big NBA breakout moment, scoring a career-high 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting in 30 minutes during last night's loss to the Bucs. Now Bronny, who's averaging over 20 points per game in the G League, added three rebounds and five assists while hitting 2 of 4 from beyond the arc. I've gained my confidence and gained my comfortability over just reps and getting out there and taking advantage of my opportunity if it's given.

So just, you know, being ready at all times, I think that's the biggest thing for me, staying in the stay-ready games and practice and stuff like that and taking advantage like I did tonight. On to offsides, Bronny James will be a full-time starter in the NBA in the next three years. Let me preface what I'm about to say, is I'm actually finally happy that we're talking about Bronny James as something being positive and something not being about LeBron or Stephen A or does he deserve to be playing in the league and all that stuff.

I'm happy that we're actually talking about something he did on the basketball court last night. Now, with that being said, the game was a blowout and the Lakers only put up 89 points and the Bucs won 118 to 89. But it's kind of tough to evaluate when the game is so lopsided, right Stu? You know, I know that Bronny was 7 of 10 from the field and he was 2 of 4 from 3 and had 17 points. It's really tough to evaluate a player when the game is that lopsided still. So I think that Bronny James has a lot of growth still to do. I don't think he's a starter in this league, but is there a role for him in the league? Yeah, I'm not going to sit here and totally say that he can't play in the league, but I don't think right now I have enough tangibly that can make me say within three years he's going to be a full-time starter in the NBA. So I'm happy with what we saw last night, but it's one game and it was in a blowout.

So I would go offside. What were your Bronny James impressions last night, Mr. Laker? Well, I mean, just from the highlights, it did seem like he kind of, you know, got his footing a little, which was cool because a lot of the times he played in previous games, he was just kind of out there, but he didn't look out of place.

Exactly. The first couple games looked out of place, but this looked like more like a normal NBA player. I use the analogy, the first game that we saw him play, first off, he looked so small compared to everybody else, but he looked like a kid at the adult table during holiday season.

Last night, he looked like he at least belonged on the court. So it's a nice little baby step, but there's still a long ways to go. Now, Ack has high standards around here. Ack is the veteran. He has been here around here for a long time. Are you the longest tenured person? No, you're not the longest tenured person at the radio station. Yes, let's not talk about that. Yeah, but you're like a veteran. Everyone knows the Ackster around here.

So you've seen many different eras of our network and down the hall as well. And you've seen a lot of good food come through here. But the pizza yesterday I thought was embarrassing. You know, I give it a B minus.

That's you being nice. I mean, edible, not the best I've ever had. Good enough, you know, pizza, unless it's like...

It looked like cardboard. Well, you know what? A lot of these places, though, by the time they get here and they have such a big order, unless it's like an experience place like a Joe's, you know, it's not going to be that way. I'm surprised because you do come off to me as a pizza snob that you only give that a B minus yesterday. Well, well, I don't want to give this because I can like just about any type of pizza, even like, you know, selling tonos out of the frozen food aisle in the supermarket. So, you know, pizza is always good.

It's just the degree of how good it is. You know, was yesterday's on there with Joe's or Spamoli Gardens or... What industry? No.

Yeah, exactly. Prince Street. Prince Street, Lucia's, you know, Luigi's of Brooklyn. No, but was it was it good enough to eat? Yeah, it was a good enough to where... You know what that was yesterday? That was Peter Schwartz and Chef pizza. All right.

Yeah. Chef said he liked the pizza. Peter Schwartz would take home pies. You know, let's get you through it. It was free pizza.

Well, you know, most standard free pizza. This goes way back to when you were very, very young. Oh, I remember back in the day in Astoria. Yes. Well, we had we had a little incident there once. Oh, yeah? Yeah. And well, I wouldn't say like people came to close, but it was a little testy.

There was a personality who decided, I'd like to do something nice this year for everybody because Mike and Chris used to buy pizza from the local place where I'd say that was that was probably a C plus pizza, you know, but you know, you have your you know, you have your area in places that's limited. But in any event, so this this person took it upon himself and I don't know if they called... Do I know this person? Yes, you do. They still work here? No. OK.

This person, I don't know if they called him or he just knew of them and talked to them but they offered to bring pizza and now their pizza is terrific. It's one of the well known places. However, I'll just put it this way.

It's very far from Astoria. Oh, and it's not your traditional, you know, big pie. Yeah. You know, and so between those two things.

So number one, the pie gets there and it's cold for the pies and, you know, the slices are smaller and, you know, just because it's like, I don't know, it's wood fired or brick oven. OK. You know, but it's in that it's in that realm. And so there was an uproar. Really? There was an uproar in the newsroom and everyone's like, what is this? It's terrible.

It's cold. I think your father and I had it, though, and we both enjoyed it. You know what? If I'm going to say, Shep Pizza and Schwartz Pizza, also yesterday could have been a little Papa Gallop pizza, too. Yeah, so.

I've never seen him pass up a piece of pie. Exactly. So what happened was ultimately we wound up ordering more pizza. OK. Yes.

And but it wasn't there for the start, for the opening tip of 1207 Eastern Time. Here's what I'm going to say. If you're going to be doing the ordering here, you better get it right. Yeah, it was because if there is one little flaw, you will get made fun of and berated and deservedly so. We have a lot of tough critics around here.

Hands up on one of them. I thought yesterday those sent back the the network and down the hall about five years with the pizza order. Yeah, I don't know who's that. I don't know.

I don't know where you go on that, but somebody dropped the ball. Yeah, so. Right. Right. No, I think it's on Evan.

I think it's on Evan. If you are going to be the one that starts it, you better order correctly. And you also then can't just give the credit card to Ray Martel and expect it to be five star pizza. I've gone on road trips with Ray Martel. You know, Ray Martel is not Mr. Fine Dining. I was fine with three star pizza.

He gave us half a star. All right. You got it. You got to call Joes. They're pros. They deliver like multiple pies all the time.

I mean, they've they've they've come here with like 10 pies. It's no. There's four spots around here. You could go Joes if you want. John's on Bleecker Street. Yes. See, that's not I don't I don't think that I'm I'm not saying I don't like John's on Bleecker Street. I do, but I don't know if that quote unquote travels as well. I brought in pizza from there before. It's done well.

Also, the person that is doing the order and has to take a little initiative. Yeah, I can't imagine, you know, industry has become a very big popular spot. So I don't I don't. And with with lines out the you know, out the door.

Well, you could online or I've done it. Yeah. But I don't know if they're going to. I don't know if they're going to do 12 pies for you or whatever.

Oh, they would. Yeah. No, I my my friend who lives two blocks from here for what Michigan played Alabama in the semifinal. He ordered it had a lot of people over. They were like 15, 20 pies. Delicious. OK. That's first time I was introduced to it. OK. So anyway, let's take a break. We will put the pizza back in the oven. We'll come on back.

We'll see how it ends up tasting. Here is the Ackman, Rich Ackerman. Hey, by the way, Daley, who's a loyal YouTube chatter of ours, it is his birthday, I think tomorrow. So a happy birthday to Daley.

But he had a comment recently that almost I wonder Daley now has a tracker on me and if he could see me at all times. So. The last two weeks I've had wings twice. I had wings at this place called Mudville 9, which is like 15 minutes from here. Very good wings. Good sports bar. And then I went to Bar Coastal. Well, it's now called Plug Uglies, but I still call it Bar Coastal yesterday, which had these carry ways wings and they're delicious. And tomorrow I'm actually making a trip to the Poconos and going to one of my favorite spots, which is a great sports bar, doing a day trip with a few of the fellas to BVH, Barryville Hotel, which is one of the best wing joints I've ever had.

Like they could be put in Buffalo and do very well in Buffalo. But Daley just wrote in the YouTube chat. And this is why I'm wondering if Daley now has a tracker on me. And Daley says, I do have a tracker on you, Zach, and everyone.

So now this is getting creepy. But Daley said, have you ever had coffee and wings? It's crazy how good it is.

No one markets them together. Toss in some good pizzas as an option. It's gold, Jerry Gold. Now I have to admit something. And right where men, we don't lie to one another. The other week when I went to Mudville 9, I had a late night and I had to rush to get to the restaurant for 12 p.m. to meet up with my buddies. So I get into the restaurant to watch whatever game we were watching. And I ordered wings.

Right. Because that's what this place is is really good. They have good wings and burgers. And since I just woke up like 30 minutes before or an hour before, I said, oh, let me get an iced coffee. Iced coffee and wings.

Not a good combination. If you ever want something to go through your body in a snap of a finger and your body basically become Niagara Falls is what I will just say. You like the way that I just worded that, Sam. Have iced coffee and it opens everything up and then eat wings.

And it really opens everything up. And by the way, it's Daley's birthday now. So happy birthday to Daley. Two-Tone Tony says Anchor Bar in Buffalo. Folks overrated. Anchor Bar's fine.

Overrated. Go to. Oh, my goodness gracious. I'm blanking on the name of it. It's one of my favorite places in Buffalo. Oh, why can't I think of the name right now?

Because I'm stuck on Duff's that that is really damn good there. Oh, Bar Bill Tavern. Bar Bill Tavern. Those are top three wings that I've ever had. And make sure that you dunk those wings and blue cheese, folks. Daley, I'm telling you, wings and coffee, feel free to steal my idea. Oh, let me tell you, I'm still nauseous from the wings and iced coffee combination. Takes two to tango.

Those two things don't tango. Anyway, Adam Schefter has details about Aaron Rodgers meeting with the Steelers. Aaron Rodgers spent about six hours at the Steelers training facility today meeting with their coaches.

It was said to be a positive visit. And the two sides will stay in touch. Here's the bottom line. Mike Tomlin wants Aaron Rodgers.

I really do believe that. Aaron Rodgers, it's not his preference one. He wants to go to Minnesota, but Minnesota doesn't want him right now. So how much longer to make this thing be a thing? The decisions right now that are realistic are retirement, the Steelers or the Giants. I'm fine if he retires. But the Steelers also have to have the backbone here as well.

And this is a step. Rodgers will elongate this process because this is what he does. And people will say, oh, tough decision for him to make.

Come on, folks, what are we doing here? The only way Aaron Rodgers wins and the waiting ends up working out is if Minnesota somehow caves, which I don't think they're going to do. So let's just have this thing happen already. If it's going to happen, just have it happen. And I still do believe that he's going to the Steelers.

It's like 93% at this point that he's going to the Pittsburgh Steelers. We'll take a break. We'll come on back.

It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. We'll do some potential future NFL stars next. We got some questions on that. And we'll also take a look ahead at Mel Kiper's latest mock draft. Ole Miss smoke showing, as Samter would say.

North Carolina right now, 42 to 25. I think he meant smoking them.