Pro Football Hall of Fame Finalists (Hour 4)

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Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive and save 10% on your first month. Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. We will get to a news brief in just a second. But first, the 15 Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists for the class of 2023 have been announced.

I'm reading this via our pal Ari Mirov at My Sports Update. So here are the 15 finalists, and it's five, I believe, that do get in, that get voted in out of this 15. Darrell Reavis, Joe Thomas, Devin Hester, Tori Holt, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson, Dwight Freeny, Jared Allen, Patrick Willis, Demarcus Ware, Zach Thomas, Darren Woodson, Rhonda Barber, Albert Lewis, and then Willie Anderson. Now, this is going to be extreme hot take in the moment. Usually we save the hot takes for hot take hickey, but I will give you the five that I think should get in.

Now, the first take hickey, before I give you my five, what a class this is. Like what a 15, I know, right, whenever it's 15 finalists, we're talking about for immortality in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, clearly there's always going to be great names on this list. But some years it's like an obvious five that you go with. This is very tough to get this down to five names. This is going to be like you are going to have to really earn it. Like it's it's a really tough class to crack the top five.

And you never know the politics that go on inside those rooms and the standards of the Hall of Fame and all of that. But right away, I would have to think. And you have the same list that I have, correct, Amundo? You have that in front of you? Yes, sir.

So I will. You have your five names. Can you quickly jot down your five?

I know that this is just breaking, so we're reacting to this right now. My five in the moment that I think will be the class. Darrell Rivas. Joe Thomas. Andre Johnson.

Dwight Freaney. And I'm deciding between Jared Allen and Demarcus Ware. Oh, geez. And I think that this is maybe Demarcus Ware's first or second year of eligibility.

I think it's his first. Oh, geez, that's tough. I'll slightly, slightly lean Demarcus Ware over Jared Allen and Jared Allen obviously will be a Hall of Famer.

But those are my five right off first reaction seeing this list. Darrell Rivas. Joe Thomas. Andre Johnson. Dwight Freaney. And Demarcus Ware. Your list, Tiki?

I'm going to go. I'm with you on Joe Thomas. I'm with you on Darrell Rivas. The receivers kind of feel like it's one of those factories.

Like Tory Holt, by the way, should be in the Hall of Fame. That's my answer. Oh, is it?

Yes. I think it's one of those lists where it's like you kind of because there's going to be so many great receivers that get in. I think it's kind of now seniority. It's just my total, again, total guess how it's going to go. So because Tory Holt's been on the list a little bit longer than Reggie Wayne or Andre Johnson, I think this is going to be the year that he gets in.

I will say Dwight Freaney. And the tough part, like so I'm at four. The toughest part for me about five is not deciding who. It's deciding will they double up on a position. I feel like we've seen situations where it's like they'll kind of take and cherry pick one from each sort of box.

So it's like the tough part for you. You picked you finished with what was it? Was it Jared Allen? Demarcus Ware?

Was it two that you were through? And I went with Demarcus Ware. Now, you also got to remember you wonder how much his final year of eligibility factor into this, too. Albert Lewis, it is his final year of eligibility.

So I'm just I'm just throwing it out there. I don't know if that's going to be why he ends up getting in this year. But you could always go to different committees that that get you in, like Jerry Kramer for years. I said should be in the Pro Football of Fame.

And he finally got in a few years ago. But you just got to think of things like that. But I'll stick with my five.

I hate it. Well, that's a whole other discussion. Yeah.

I will go for a fifth. This is really tough. I'll go with Devin Hester. He's kind of in his own box.

Wow. Now, don't get me wrong. Devin Hester is definitely deserving of the Hall of Fame. But when I just look at and you could say, hey, at what he did.

It's tough to find better than the position he played, right, as punt returner and kick returner. This is tough. This is really tough. I'm going to be curious. Now, we'll find that out. It's usually on that that Saturday right before the Super Bowl. But sometimes you find out earlier now because that that award show on Friday night. So you'll find it out Super Bowl week. I'll be fascinated to see who are going to be the five out of that 15.

But that's a man. You are like you look at some of the guys that I'm leaving out there on that on that list this year. Like, no Devin Hester. I didn't put Tori Holton. I didn't put Jared Allen in. Man, this is this is some 15. I'm just looking at real quickly. What some people are just saying, what their five are going to be.

But yeah, I'll stick by that. Revas Thomas. I'll go Andre Johnson, Dwight Freeney and then Demarcus Ware. It's got a feeling. I don't know. And maybe I'll be wrong on this. That two out of the three from Freeney, Allen and Ware will get in. But you are right. Maybe they just go one this year.

The committee won next year and then the one the year after that. It's fair. And Tori Holt. We've had him on this show multiple times before. And every time I just.

I know that it's just sometimes the process and you got to wait and you know, you got other guys that that are still waiting. And I know I'm going to miss a lot of people when I say this, but like Steve Smith's not in the Hall of Fame yet. Heinz Ward's not in the Hall of Fame yet.

Tori Holt is definitely deserving. But Andre Johnson, when you just hear his name right away, I don't think anyone makes an argument on why he can't get in the Hall of Fame. Now, he played from two thousand and three.

Let's just say twenty fourteen. I know he spent a year with the Colts. Was he any was he any good with the Colts that one year? No. Right. And like Tennessee, like I remember that he spent other places inside the AFC South, but it's really from two thousand and three to two thousand four.

I'm just doing a deep dive here. And Tori Holt, let's say from nineteen ninety nine to two thousand and eight. So basically both pretty much that that decade and Tori Holt.

Yeah, man. Tori Holt's definitely deserving. So Andre had one thousand sixty two receptions. Tori Holt had nine twenty receiving yards. Thirteen thousand three hundred eighty two receiving yards. Andre Johnson. Fourteen thousand one hundred eighty five and the receiving touches. Andre Johnson at seventy.

Tori Holt at seventy four. You know, it's also a shame, too. And that's what I learned about the Hall of Fame process. Sometimes when you have a team that has so many great players, it's like they hold it against some of those players. Like Jerry Kramer said to me before he was convinced he didn't get in because of how many other people on the Green Bay Packers, you know, in the area that he played, got in and it was like, all right, Packer fatigue.

And for the Rams. You you've had you've had obviously other players get in, but just looking at a wide receiver like Isaac Bruce. So then it's like, all right, if you put Isaac Bruce in, obviously, then Tori Holt, unfortunately, they make him wait a few years.

But he's deaf. He definitely should be Hall of Fame. I actually feel bad that when I gave my five that I didn't put him in that five. But I just look at Andre Johnson as more dominant. Like, look at Reggie Wayne. But look how great Reggie Wayne is.

And, you know, he's he's going to have to wait a little bit. And that's another guy, like you said, with Isaac Bruce and Tori Holt, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. Peyton Manning, Edron James.

Right. It's like, do you know, Ed just went in last year, obviously Peyton Manning as well. So it's just like, do you make him wait or punish him for playing with other great players? And like Dwight Freeney obviously is is is going to be a Hall of Famer. Do you think your guy gets in definitely on the first ballot? He should.

But is there that concern that you never know without the with how this goes? I think he will. I think Dwight Freeney will get on ballot number one. Now, Jared Allen. Let me just pull up Jared Allen, DeMarcus Ware. I just want to you know, we all know obviously all three of them are Hall of Famers, but I just want to give you the numbers just as we have them real quickly. DeMarcus Ware, obviously Super Bowl champion.

Write this down, Hickey. DeMarcus Ware, Super Bowl champion, nine time Pro Bowler, first team All-Pro. One hundred and thirty eight and a half career sacks.

From two thousand and five to twenty sixteen. Jared Allen. Who is a four time first team All-Pro, two time sack leader, five time Pro Bowler. And he had one hundred and thirty six career sacks, two thousand and four to twenty fifteen. And then the name that we did not give you is Dwight Freeney. Just real quickly with Dwight Freeney.

Two thousand and two to twenty seventeen. Super Bowl champ, three time first team All-Pro, one time sack leader, seven time Pro Bowler and one hundred and twenty five and a half sacks. So those are the numbers right there for for those three guys and what they were able to do in their illustrious NFL careers.

Man, that's a. That like you want to say, right, Allen Ware and Dwight Freeney, all three should get in. But all three getting in this year that I can't see them putting all three in and in one year, right? Especially when it's only five. Like it's I agree. It's not like, oh, like, you know, all the voters. It's like baseball.

It's like 70 percent. And you're in. So the number could be one. It could be seven. It's we're only taking five. So that also makes it tougher when it's, you know, the number, the ceiling's already there. So it's like you're going to take three from here. Well, then, like I said, the other, you know, other guys are going to get screwed.

But it's Joe Thomas, whether it's Darryl Revis. And we say screw just after a year or two. They said they're going to get in. It's just that's tough to put a cap on it. It's not easy because there's nothing you could do at this point to enhance your career.

Your career is what it is. And it seems like for some guys, you have to make a case in order to get in. But when you just say DeMarcus Ware, Dwight Freeney and Jared Allen, I say Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame. Now, Darryl Revis is the first time nominee. This is first year of eligibility. You also have Joe Thomas first year of eligibility and Dwight Freeney first year of eligibility. So those are three guys that are first year eligibility.

Darryl Revis, Joe Thomas and Dwight Freeney. So I wonder if they say, OK, Jared Allen, DeMarcus Ware, you had to wait a little bit so then we'll put you in. And I just wonder if if that's the way that that this will go down this year. But I would think that Freeney is getting in the first time. You're not making this argument, but it just it always does bother you when it comes to any Hall of Fame voting, when the discussion is about at one point or another his time in the ballot.

So one of those things is you're a Hall of Fame or you're not. Yeah. And so it's like, oh, we got to vote to make this to the last year.

Always been there now seven years. Like, let's put them in now. But I do appreciate with football how they only let five in a year. Now, I know in baseball, I think it's what, 10 on your ballot. Yes.

And it's over 70 percent. Then you're in. Yeah. So you could have 10 guys on the Hall of Fame. You want to.

And, you know, in a certain cycle. Now, every year you're getting bare minimum five guys from the modern era into the into the Hall of Fame. I like that.

But it even shows you how tough it is to to do this. Now, people say, oh, expand the ballot, expand the ballot. But it seems like for the NFL, for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That out of all the Hall of Fame process, I think this is the best one.

Because you know how many have to get in each and every year. And also. Even though, like, right, what happened with Tio was a joke.

We could all admit that. Tio should have got in the first try and there should have been no other discussion. You had a bunch of dopey writers and people, oh, he wasn't a good teammate. Oh, you know, he didn't talk to me, so I'm not going to vote for him.

That's stupid. You know, I don't put in guys in the Hall of Fame, oh, you were a great teammate, so therefore you should get in. Yeah. Like you said, Hall of Fame player or not. Now, some guys have to go, wait a second, I got to think about it.

But they're guys instantly. Like when I say Darryl Revis, you go right away Hall of Famer, correct? Absolutely. When I say Joe Thomas, right away Hall of Famer. Hall of Famer.

And then it's like, Torelloans. Right away Hall of Famer. Hall of Famer.

But they made Tio wait a few years and it was just such a mess. So anyway, we will get to a news brief on the other side. Didn't know we were going to spend that much time on the Pro Football Hall of Fame finals. But like every Hall of Fame, whenever you start talking about it, it goes in many different directions. Zach Galb shows CBS Sports Radio.

And save 10% on our first month. You're listening to the Zach Galb Show. Time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors, reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports.

Deion Dawkins was on SportsCenter last night with Kevin Nagande and he delivered an emotional message on the impact of Tamar Hamlin's unfortunate injury that we all saw on Monday night. We are human. We are not athletes. We are not superstars. We are not celebrities. We are not anything. We are humans at this moment. We are vulnerable humans.

You know, our brother is, you know, fighting. And we have taken off all of that armor and we're just being human. And the humans that we are is we're a brotherhood. Like we're uniting with just positive vibes and just positive spirits and positive prayer. And with being a human, you kind of just take it for what it is because we're all learning how to deal with this situation together.

Because this is not a situation that the average person will go through. And when something like this happens, Kev, it just kind of just makes you realize that we play a sport to entertain the world, right? And with entertaining the entire world, we put our bodies, our mind, our careers on the line every single play. And with something like this happening, it shows you that not only was his career like on the line because, you know, everybody's fighting for their best rep. And then now you have somebody who's fighting for their life as well.

So this should really just put a shock into everybody that is quick to go on Twitter and is quick to say anything bad about any athlete like, oh, he missed that layup or he dropped that pass or he fumbled that ball or he missed that block. We're all human. And we try to be our best all we possibly can.

And, you know, at the end of the day, we are humans and we have families and we care and we cry and we're vulnerable and we have emotions and we feel the same pain that the regular person feels. I love Deon Dawkins. There's no doubt about that. He's someone that's just tremendous. And he always hits the nail right on the head, even in the toughest of circumstances.

I'll never forget. I met him freshman year at Temple University. And he walked right up to me with the same class. We're sitting right next to each other. And he goes, I'm Deon.

Nice to meet you. He goes, I'm going to play in the NFL one day. And that dude has never changed. He is maybe the most thoughtful, caring, genuine person that I know. And he's just a good dude.

And there's a reason why he's nominated for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award. And we've talked about media before and we've talked about dealing with the press and things like that. And obviously, you know, Twitter could be a cesspool.

There is no doubt about it. That's why I call it the good old cesspool of Twitter each and every day when we start the show. And there's a lot of people that say hateful things and it comes with the territory. And I'm sure, right, I've had my fair share of lambasting players. And right, we've all had our moments and, you know, we get paid to do a job and you got to react. But in a moment like this. It does put into perspective that these are human beings and we sometimes lose sight of that.

We do. And it is a sport. It is entertainment. It is a lethal sport. And when a moment like this happens with DeMar Hamlin, which is the biggest nightmare that anyone could have, when you know the risks of football, but even Nick Gates said it with us yesterday. You know you take a risk when you when you play football, but you don't know that it could get to this level. Like you think, OK, you could tear your ACL, you could, you know, leave it in an ambulance on a stretcher. But you never think you're going to need CPR in a field. And when you have something like this happen.

It's just awful. And you feel for everyone in the. In the Bills locker room, you feel for everyone in the Bengals locker room, every NFL player and their families, too. Because you don't have to be in the Bills or the Bengals.

You could be, let's say, a player on, I don't know, Miami Dolphins. And your wife or significant other or mother or father, whoever it may be, sees that. And then their loved one goes on a football field this weekend and plays. And everyone thinks that could have been their son, that could have been their husband, that could have been their uncle, cousin, whatever the relationship is that you have to the player. That's the scary part. But I will say, even with how much we we do go after, just assessful Twitter could be, you also see the generosity in a time like this.

And how much money has been raised in support of DeMar Hamlin. And you see some of the encouraging words that have been said. It's it's been tough, man.

Ever since Monday, it has been really tough. And I know that we're in a bubble sometimes. You know, we are in the toy store, as a lot of people like to say. And we get to talk about sports and we get to have a lot of fun. But moments like this, you never want to see them.

But in a weird way, it brings people together and gets the best out of people. And you've seen the generosity and you just hope that DeMar Hamlin will end up being OK. DeMar Hamlin's uncle, Dorian Glenn, talked to the NFL Network and says the family is extremely appreciative of the outpouring love and support towards DeMar Hamlin. It's tremendous to see all the love and support that my nephew has out here. And like I had told the guy earlier, a lot of people don't get a chance to see how loved they are while they're alive. So for him to have a situation where he could have been taken away and he has a chance to come back and see all that love that he got is truly an amazing thing.

And I can't wait for him to see all the love and support that people have had for him, not just around the area, but around the country and the world. It's been it's been amazing. Zach Taylor, the head football coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, discloses his first conversation with Sean McDermott on the field after the DeMar Hamlin injury. We separated as teams. The officials, again, did a great job of coming over to me and saying, hey, you know, they're still trying to process this moment here. Coach McDermott and their team. And so instead of playing telephone on separate sidelines, the decision was made just to go over there and make sure we're all talking together.

And I won't disclose any of the private conversations Sean and I had except for this. When I got over there, the first thing he said was, I need to be the hospital tomorrow and I shouldn't be coaching this game. And so that to me provides all the clarity because there were there was no unprecedented is the word that gets thrown out a lot about this situation because that's what it is. But in that moment, he really showed who he was, that all his focus was just on tomorrow and being there for him, being there for his family at the hospital.

And at that point, I think everybody, everything trended in the direction they needed to trend and the right decisions were made there. But again, just just the way that I really felt Sean McDermott led that moment for his players. He was there for his players. He processed the right way, which is incredibly difficult and and really helped us get to the the solution that we needed to get to. There's no playbook for that.

There isn't. And you saw the way that Sean McDermott and Zach Taylor handled it. It was just admirable because they did in that moment what you should do.

And that's forget the game and care about your players. Zach Taylor does shout out all the medics that were involved in the on the field process with DeMar Hamlin and afterwards to give him the best chance to survive. All the medical professionals that were involved, the bills, trainers, the bills, doctors, our trainers, our doctors, the paramedics, the emergency response team.

I thought that they were on it. They were composed. It was a it was obviously a complicated situation on the field that everybody was trying to process. And for me personally, being down there and seeing the composure that everybody involved had, you know, obviously not knowing how how the situation is going to unfold.

I was led to believe that it was going to be positive because of how they handled it. And I think that's important to point out that they were prepared and that they gave DeMar the best chance. So that was that was well done by all of them. And I was really impressed and thankful for the work they put in to be ready for moments like that. And the way they handled it, I think was important for everybody to see. No doubt about it.

And definitely there's a lot of people that need to be thanked in a situation like that who unfortunately don't get thanked. Mike Florio on what could have happened or what could happen to the Bengals bills in terms of resuming that game. It's on 93 7 the fan in Pittsburgh. I can't imagine them playing that game. I can't imagine reconvening in Cincinnati to build in the Bengals. They could cross paths in the playoffs.

That's different, though. Going back and finishing that game the longer that we go without a decision, I think the harder it's going to be to play that game at all. And obviously it's not going to happen this weekend.

So what do you do? There's an idea of percolating that would go like this first week of the playoffs would be NFC wild card only and build Bengals. Second week of the playoffs would be AFC wild card. Once we know the final seating in the AFC after bills and Bengals play, then divisional round for everyone, AFC and NFC the following week, then conference championships, then Super Bowl.

You would just wipe out the week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl that currently has nothing other than the Pro Bowl games, whatever they want to be. But I still can't imagine that game being played. I think they're going to come up with some other solution for resolving that game.

No contest, tie, coin flip. That would seem horribly unfair and arbitrary if that's the outcome. There's just no good outcome.

I mean, that's the problem. There's no good outcome. So they have to pick the best bad outcome. And who knows at this point what that's going to be? The way he said it at the end, they got to pick the best bad outcome. He's right.

Like this is a horrible situation. If you tell me that people shouldn't play this weekend, I'm not arguing it. You know, though, with how much money is on the line, they will eventually play football again. And you know, they're not going to push back the Super Bowl date from what we know right now. So you could get into do you play no games this weekend on Monday night, you resume bills and Bengals. Honestly, I don't want to see bills and Bengals in the regular season and resume that game at 7 to 3. Like nothing ever happened. You have to continue that game. They meet again in the postseason, like Mike said, different story. But I don't know what you do then with that game.

There's no easy answer. If you want to tell me don't play this weekend, you play Monday and then what would have been week 18 is next weekend. And then there's just no bye week in between the Super Bowl.

You know, I understand that can make some sense. What I think is going to happen, barring a lot of Bills players and ownership, the Pagula family, and Brandon Bean and Sean McDermott telling the league we just can't play this weekend. I do think that there's going to be football this weekend. And it feels like we're going to have to somewhat need to know by tomorrow. There's been reports out there, there's been statements by the league as well. And the way that it's been worded, I think it's been very calculated.

Because I don't even think they know yet what they're going to do. Alright, that's the news brief. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. You can follow us on Twitter at ZachGelb at CBS Sports Radio. Poll question today, Jim Harbaugh next season will be coaching the NFL or coaching at Michigan?

Right now 55.7% say coaching at Michigan, 44.3% say coaching in the NFL. To lighten up the mood a little bit, I've got to play this for Marco Belletti here. You're going to get a kick out of this. This is classic. And I mean classic.

I don't even know if this guy can have classic moments. But hot take kicky. This is hot take kicky after Penn State won the Rose Bowl. Did you see this video at all on Twitter?

No. I'm not completely unaware of what you're about to play. So did you know Hickey went to the Rose Bowl? I found out last night, yeah. Okay, so Hickey went to the Rose Bowl for this big Penn State Utah game. Which by the way, let me just add, and thank you to Brad Geller who's a listener to the show.

Who just randomly tweeted CBS Sports Radio this because I guess he heard our conversation. This big, big, big Penn State game. Which you know how big of a deal the Rose Bowl used to be, the granddaddy of them all. Yeah, used to be is the right word. And now with the fact that sometimes it's a college football playoff game, sometimes it's not. I get it, it's still a big deal, but it's not as big as it once was. Hickey, did you see the ratings for this Rose Bowl by the way?

No. According to the athletic, the Rose Bowl between Penn State and Utah draws the lowest viewership in game history. Yikes. But, big game, big moment.

It's a Monday afternoon. Dominant victory. And here comes the Penn State propaganda from the leader of the cult. This is hot take Hickey leaving the stadium after Penn State defeats Utah in the big, big granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl. We are live right at the Rose Bowl where no big deal Penn State demolished, dominated, controlled number eight Utah in an absolute dominant victory. So let me just tell you this folks, for the future, 2023, look out for the Knicks. They dominated with Sean Clifford, Shakespeare Corduck, no big deal. They, as you all are coming in, two professional running acts, dominant. We'll see you next year.

We'll see you in the playoff. Adam Ritchie on Twitter says, Tequila take Hickey. That sound bite was absolutely legendary. I love drunk Hickey.

Your thoughts Marko? That's good stuff. Here's a maybe future reference for you. When you've had that many. Stay off Twitter. Don't let it up. Well you never know.

For someone that's trying to create a name for himself, we've seen people do stupid things that are drunk and say stupid things that go viral and they end up getting paid a lot of money. I guess. If that's the road you were looking for. I'm pretty sure that's not what you were going for in that spot.

So you might want to just, you know, wait a couple hours. Hickey's usually a button up professional broadcaster and we heard a few butt lights in there, we heard a few tequila shots in there. I'm glad you had a good time.

I think that's the big takeaway from this. You had a good time, you went out. I will say my voice was shot because, like I told Zach before, I left it all in the field.

Just once in puberty. That voice, the voice being hoarse, the last three and a half hours in the rain and the cold, I was out there basically being the 12th man. Cold? Was that cold?

Oh, it was awful. 55 degrees for L.A. That's cold in L.A. but you're a New Yorker. 55. I'm not saying I was cold, I'm just saying for expectation wise, when you go to L.A. you expect 70 to have it sunny, you'll expect 55 and then cold.

Sounds like he's from Florida and L.A. No, it was really cold, so it was cold out there. Yeah, 55. From the same guy that was talking about being shirtless at Lambeau in the negative weather. 55.

Again, it's all about expectation. I'm expecting the cold in Green Bay. I'm not expecting a chill in the air in L.A. Chill in the air.

Marco, you have a great memory because I forgot that he said he would go to Lambeau shirtless next year in December. 55. Yeah. It's cold, my voice.

55. My voice isn't good. Pop, I got the black lung. And rain, by the way. The rain makes it worse. Please, come on. You're a piece of work.

I didn't even know it rained there because I'll be fair, I didn't watch two seconds of that game. Didn't even turn it on. He has a problem. What else are you doing? It's Monday at five o'clock. What do you mean you weren't watching? Are you for real? Are you for real? It's not that big of a game anymore.

Marco's right here. Okay, one, I don't care about that game. That game means absolutely nothing.

Two, I was actually home with family trying to beat the flu. Yeah, that's true. So the last thing I was worried about was Penn State and Utah. I didn't care. I didn't care. But hold on.

Don't you see the problem he has? His team wins the game. Forget the fact if we're debating big game or not. It was such a big game. 25% of the people that were only Penn State fans and the other 75 were Utah fans. So it couldn't be that big of a game for the Penn State community. But he's making this as if it's the biggest deal. And this is going to ignite a run next year where they go to the college football playoff.

He can't even just enjoy the moment. He has to go right away for the college football playoff take. Again, that's the fan in him because if you honestly think that any bowl game can propel you into the next season, please, honestly, just stop. That has nothing to do with anything.

You're talking about kids that graduate, they transfer, they move on. Who knows what the hell is going to happen. Plus, you're talking about a game that really had no significant meaning of any kind. And also James Frankel being a horrible big game coach. That's why they won this game. It wasn't a big game. At any point have we talked about, you know, any team in the college football player or any team going for a national championship.

I've got to tell you, when this run started, last year in the Citrus Bowl. Stop. Stop. He has no response. You know what my response is?

You'll see. How'd the Colts do this year? I'll talk to you this time next year. They lost the last two games so they didn't win their bowl game last year. They actually got eliminated. That bad juju from last year carried over to this year. How was that Ranger Stanley Cup parade that we were all supposed to be at that you're joking still? Slow start to the season.

I wonder why. Bad ending last year. You're making no sense. We'll just hand you out. You're really one of those guys that think that the way you ended the season last year has something to do with how you started?

In certain cases, yes. This is a young team where most will be back. This is not a senior-laden team that most people are going to ride off into the sunset. It's a brand new team next year.

Part of the reason for the optimism is not only a win over a good team, but this is also now most of the players that contributed will be back next year. Alrighty. We're going to take a break here. Steve, thank you.

Marco, Marco, speechless. I can't listen to any more of this Penn State propaganda. Some of that makes sense. No, they have a young team. They should be good next year. Whether they lost to Utah or not had nothing to do with that. They say they're going to already be better than Michigan and Ohio State when James Franklin can't win a big game to save his life. Yeah, I'm not ready to go there.

Anyway, we will take a time out. Maybe if there was 12 teams next year, then you'd have a chance to make it. Is Franklin coaching Michigan next year?

That's a good question. Is he going to be rumored for that job there, Hickey, you think? He will not be coaching Michigan.

I can promise you that right now. Yeah, I don't think they would want him at Michigan. Oh, I don't know who they want, but it sounds like Harbaugh doesn't want to be there, so. That's what it sounds like once again.

We'll find that out. We'll see how he spins it if he's somehow back at Michigan next year. Once again, not going to make this a yearly thing, folks. Yeah, I'll say it every year until I get the job that I really want.

I'll keep coming back. Another day is in the books, and we're taking stock of the sports world. It's time to find out who's up and who's down. Let's end the day right and hit the closing bell.

Only on the Zach Gelb Show. Giannis on to the kumpo, Giannis on to the kumpo, Giannis on to the kumpo. Last night, 123-113 victory against the Wizards. Giannis had 55 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. Right now, they're in the fourth quarter with 6.03 to play. Bucks are up 77 to 65.

Yeah, Bart Winkler, we got Bucks lost. Now 80 to 65 as Giannis just, oh no, Grayson Allen just hit a 3-point shot. Giannis on to the kumpo on the assist. Giannis has 25 points, 19 rebounds and 7 assists.

Stock up to the Greek Freak. Rafael Devers, he got paid today. 11-year contract extension with the Red Sox. Hey, the Red Sox finally paid someone.

$331 million give Rafael Devers a stock up. Michigan football. You lose on Saturday, and now you may be losing your coach as there continues to be a lot of information about maybe Jim Harbaugh thinking about leaving the program and going back to the NFL. I don't know then who's going to be the next coach of Michigan this late in the game.

Maybe they promote with them. Their offensive line coach has done a wonderful job, but give a stock down to Michigan football. Ron Rivera. This whole reporting today was kind of sloppy, right? It was originally that Taylor Heinecke was going to be the starter, then he announced that it was Sam Howell. It made me think, Hickey, and I didn't watch the Rivera press conference, so this may be a hot take, that they leaked out that they wanted Taylor Heinecke to be the starting quarterback, and then maybe Heinecke said, I'm not going to mop up here. I already proved my worth this season, kind of. So now why would I go out there and play in a game that's meaningless, and then they go, okay, we'll play the kid Sam Howell, but it would make sense to play Sam Howell over Taylor Heinecke just for a starter, so do you think the reporting was just wrong here?

No, I just don't think they know what they want to do, to be honest. I think it's more they don't trust Sam Howell, and then they said, you know what, screw it. At this point, if he's going to play, just start him and then just kind of go all in.

Okay. Anyway, give a stock down to Ron Rivera and the commanders. Come on, Carson Wentz in a big spot. All right, Mira, for my sports update. Lamar Jackson once again did not practice today, asked about his status. Head coach John Harbaugh said, I'm just going to leave all that stuff alone and focus on the game and have the guys ready for the game. Thirty-one days ago, Lamar Jackson suffered his knee injury. No contract.

You wonder if maybe that's part of it. He's not going to get back on the field until he's 100%, waiting to get paid. I wonder if Lamar is even going to play in the postseason. It doesn't seem like he's playing this week. We'll see if he makes his return next week in the postseason.

Give a stock down to the Baltimore Ravens. Now, did you see John Feinstein today? He used to work here at CBS Sports Radio, and I met John before. I sat next to him at a Temple basketball game.

Very nice guy. But he was going after J.P. Finley today because J.P. Finley, when this news was out that it was going to be Taylor Heineck, he's like, we'll see if we will get Sam Howell eventually. And John Feinstein was like, we?

Aren't you a reporter? You're not a part of the team. And J.P. was like, I mean, like, we as in us from the press box. And then that still wasn't good enough for John. John, lighten up a little bit. OK, that's all I could say. You're going to get on J.P. Finley for using the word we when I don't know what else you wanted him to say in that spot.

So stock down to John Feinstein. And finally, I go to my phone today and my iPhone says it's disabled. Now, it took me an hour to try to figure out how to just do a factory reset. I went to the Apple store at first.

They weren't having any success. I got to go to work and then I eventually used a third party device to unlock my iPhone so I could reset it. Thankfully, I got everything back. But I want to know how my phone just all of a sudden got disabled today.

I woke up and then boom, it's disabled. Was this you, Hickey? Did you break into my apartment last night and do my passcode nine thousand times? It was me.

I knew you were going to make some sort of joke about Penn State. So I said, you know, I'm going to get out ahead of it. Get fired. Huh. Gone. Where's Jack? Oh, no, no. Where's the? Oh, no, no.

All right. Well, we'll keep you. We're like the commanders. We've got to throw someone out there on the field.

Zach Gilp's show CBS Sports Radio. We'll be back tomorrow, everybody. We out. Bye bye.