Shohei Ohtani Time in LA (Hour 1)

Live from the police show yet not overly ostentatious, studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street, welcome on in to a Thursday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS is numbered to jump on in.

You can always get at me on Instagram, we're on straight flexin' or via the good ol' cesspool of Twitter, at Zach Gelb, that's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. College basketball royalty, the great Jim Calhoun, will join us 20 minutes from now. We also may have Tom Glavin, the Hall of Fame pitcher, coming up in hour number three of our radio program, and Sal Capaccio is going to join us in the last hour of the Zach Gelb show on this Thursday on CBS Sports Radio. We'll do a little QB Carousel. I think we have, after this, four teams, Hickey?

Is that correct? Yep, he gives me the thumbs up. After this today, three, so you should have gave me the thumbs down, but after today, it will be three teams remaining, so we got to cross the Buffalo Bills off the list. And by the way, as you may or may not know, just off that, producing this extravaganza for the next four hours is no other than Hot Take Hickey.

This dumb producer, Hot Take Hickey. I know we don't do a ton of baseball on national radio. It's usually football, college, NFL. There is a ton of NBA, and for baseball, it usually is only talked about on opening day if there is a rule change. Shoei Ohtani or Aaron Judge does something just unbelievable. There's a fight.

There's a suspension. The day-to-day of the baseball season does not get talked a lot about on national radio, but if you had a baseball team in your area growing up, this is a special day. This is a day that brings you back to your youth, or at least it does for me, not that I'm this old decrepit man to begin with, as I did sound very old there, where it brings you back to your youth. But that's what opening day does to me, because I have so many great memories as a kid where my mom or dad would pull me out of school, and we would go to the Mets game at Shea Stadium. And then you kind of continue those traditions throughout the years, where whenever it's opening day, if you're around your mom or your dad or wherever you go to the ballpark with, you try to get to the ballpark to open up that baseball season.

Whether it's a friend, whether it's a significant other, whether it's mom, dad, aunt, uncle, cousin, it's really a big family day opening day, or at least that's the way that I look at it. So we welcome back baseball. I don't have to bitch and complain about all the injuries that did get suffered in the World Baseball Classic. Just what I think is spring training, which I used to love as a kid, but now it's just so monotonous and I don't care, and I just want to get to the start of the baseball season. We welcome baseball back today, and right now I'm watching my New York Mets play the Marlins, and the Mets blew a 3-0 lead, and now they are about to take the lead back.

I think they're going to get two runs to score here, and they will get back up to a score of 5-3. I saw Jacob DeGrom made his debut for the Rangers, got beat up like a pinata at a birthday party, and then the next thing you know, once DeGrom got out of the game for the Rangers up against the Phillies after allowing five runs, the Rangers ended up taking control of the game. Last time I checked it was 6-5, and clearly all eyes are on tonight, Shohei Ohtani, as we are all waiting to see if this is finally going to be the year that the best player in the sport is going to get into the postseason. And after what was, even though I'm not a big World Baseball Classic guy, but after what was the crazy ending of the World Baseball Classic, an exciting ending to the World Baseball Classic with Ohtani getting the best of trout, is this going to be the year that the two of them do find their way to the postseason? Because it's highway robbery that such a great player like Mike Trout has only been to the postseason once, and we've only seen him play in three postseason games because his team got swept out of that first round, that divisional round a bunch of years ago. And then also, for Ohtani, he is a megastar.

We all know he's a global star. He's done something that really none of us have ever seen in our lifetime, or you could even argue the game has ever seen. Some people will say Babe Ruth, obviously, and that's not to be looked past, but what Ohtani's doing right now, how elite he's been on the mound and at the dish, it's one of one, and it's just greatness. And I talk about this all the time, even though I like the rule changes that are going on right now in baseball, you see them start to play out with the pitch clock, and we've seen the shift get eliminated where you have to have two guys on the left side of the infield, and they have to stay on the dirt, and then two guys on the right side of the infield as well, even though I think all those changes are good, because like the Yankee game today, it went by so quickly. And I know Logan Webb and Garret Cole played a role in that with how many strikeouts they did have, but when it's 15 seconds of a pitch clock, when no one's on, and then 20 when someone's on base, it does keep that game moving, which when you're like me, you don't have a great attention span. I love baseball, but there are a lot of times when you're at a game, everyone's looking at their phone, so to make the games move quicker along is extremely important.

Put the ball more in play as well, and that's the goal when you eliminate the shift, so you can actually have a ball fall and not just, okay, you have a lefty hitter up, you put everyone pretty much on the right side of the infield, the next thing you know, you make nice contact, and it gets caught because you got a guy stand in the outfield, and then there's two guys stand in the outfield, so it's good to get rid of the shift, it's good to increase the pace of play as well with the pitch clock, but really, how is baseball going to make a big impact? It is marketing the stars. And I think that's a problem, and that's something that baseball is very behind, like you go on social media, you talk to youngsters, and it's not like there aren't baseball fans, there's still a lot of baseball fans, but you see the highlights, you see the big plays, and you see what really makes the rounds, it's the NFL with crazy catches and touchdown passes, it's basketball as well, they need to market the stars better. Like, I could guarantee you, you have a youngster sitting next to you, and you show them the top five players in the NFL, if they're a big sports fan, they can name all the top five players in the NFL.

If you show them the top five players in the NBA, they can name the top five players in the NBA. If I show them pictures of the top five players in baseball, maybe Otani, and maybe Aaron Judge, depending on where they live too, like if you live in San Diego, I'm sure, I know he's suspended right now, a kid out in San Diego is going to be able to recognize Fernando Tatis Jr. with how much he's talked about, but we need the stars to be in these big moments, and you look at the All-Star game, I think it's neat, even though I'm not a big All-Star game, Pro Bowl, whatever it is type of guy, when you mic up the players and the game is on showcase in an isolated moment, I do think that probably from an important standpoint, an impact on the sport, the All-Star game probably still matters the most out of all the other All-Star games in sports. I guess the one of it you could argue would be, I'm not talking about the quality of it, like I love what the NHL does. The Pro Bowl, it's a joke now, and it's been a joke for a long time.

The other one that you could argue is NBA All-Star Weekend because people like the three-point contest, people like the slam dunk contest, even though it's not always the greatest thing to showcase now because you need more stars involved in it, but this year was pretty damn cool. And then with the new format, or I guess it's a little bit older now, but that new format for the All-Star game, it's improved the quality slightly of what is usually a pretty rancid product. So I do think the All-Star game in Major League Baseball is very important, but how do you really showcase your stars to the fullest?

Yeah, what Otani's done the last few years has been remarkable. What Trout has done for the last decade has been great, but you get robbed of those moments where the casual fan who is not watching day in and day out of the grind of a 162-game season, they will always watch in the postseason. And if you don't have your stars and the biggest face in the sport in the postseason, that's a problem.

It is an enormous problem. There's nothing baseball could do to fix the Angels, but that's something where there's other ways where Major League Baseball doesn't do a good job in marketing their stars. How many of these stupid battles do they play online with copyright infringement, where like every other sport has highlights that get shown, and for Major League Baseball, they flag all that stuff. Like, you remember a few years ago, Hickey, and I know you remember this, the Mets and the Dodgers, where Terry Collins got ejected after Noah Syndergaard, tried to hit the person, but then threw behind Chase Utley, and Terry Collins had a profanity lace rant, let's just say. I can't even try to bleep out what he was saying or even come close to doing that, because I don't want to lose my job, and this is a family-friendly program, but Major League Baseball got so annoyed that that video was out there.

That video, I get you don't want to have all that you see, but I'm sure there's a lot of youngsters that have heard worse words than what Terry Collins said, or pretty damn close to it. Like that video, even though Major League Baseball won't think it was a highlight, but they had a big problem with that video getting out, and they hid behind, oh, we don't want the conversations with the umpires to get leaked and all that, but those moments, like if that happened to any other sport, it'd be a viral clip, and it wouldn't get erased or scrubbed as much as they could off the internet. So baseball's had a marketing problem, but when it comes to getting your stars into the postseason, there's really nothing they could do about that, and you see a few years ago, like Juan Soto getting into the postseason and then winning a World Series, that's an extremely memorable moment, and I just hope, like if I take the personal side out of it, and I could just have one hope in this baseball season, it's actually that the Angels make the playoffs. And I saw that CBS Sports put out their six baseball experts had their predictions, and I know it was three wildcard spots last year, none of them had them winning the AL West, obviously, and then five out of the six actually had them as a wildcard team. One in the second wildcard spot, and then four in the third wildcard spot, and then one writer outright just had the Angels missing the playoffs. And I'm surprised that the number is that high, and maybe it's because fresh off the World Baseball Classic with that moment of Otani versus Trout, it just puts more of the Angels of a want to see them, but I can't sit here with any confidence and tell you that the Angels are going to the postseason and will make the playoffs this year, but I really hope it does happen, because that would be important for Major League Baseball to get Otani and Trout in the postseason. And then also, if you are the Angels, you make the playoffs, it's like, okay, great, but it does make that decision at the deadline even more complicated.

If the Angels are bad out of the gate, they will trade Otani, because the odds are Otani probably will not re-sign with them, but if you're good, if you have a chance to make the playoffs, which I hope you would still do by the deadline, you're not going to trade Shohei Otani, and then if he walks after the season, even if you make the playoffs and then you don't win it all, let's say, and you get eliminated early, then you basically get nothing back for Shohei Otani. So that's something to monitor throughout the season. All right, a lot to do today on the Zach Gelb show. We've got to get into Anthony Richardson's pro day. We've got the news brief. Congratulations to the Kings. They break the longest playoff drought in sports, so we'll look at some of the new longest playoff droughts in sports, or some people may say that it's old. And also quarterbacks are about to get paid in Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, and Jalen Hurts.

So a whole lot to do. We will take our first break of the day, but when we come on back, the legend, Jim Calhoun, will join us in five minutes on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Search for NCAA March Madness right here in the Odyssey app to get started. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. All righty, welcome back in.

It is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. UConn, the Huskies, are back in the Final Four. And let's head out to the guest line right now and welcome in UConn royalty, basketball royalty, as he is in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. That is a man that coached UConn for many years and did win three national championships building that program.

And that is the legendary Jim Calhoun. Coach, great to hear your voice. Appreciate the time. How are you? I'm doing pretty good.

Tomorrow morning I've been here. Did the team a nice farewell yesterday and then tomorrow I'll be joining them out in Houston. And it's that time of year, you know, it's a fun time of year for a lot of us. So a lot of great things happening, a lot of heartache and excitement. And that's hopefully what college basketball will always be. Well, no heartache with this squad so far, Coach. UConn's just been so dominant throughout this tournament.

They played exceptionally well. You know, it's funny because early in the season, you know, I told them they made it look easy. And it's not easy.

It's different. But in their out-of-the-league schedule to get 14-0, they were doing great and didn't get back to the Big East or into the Big East and in shuttles and lost six out of seven games. And they were shocked.

I think some of us had watched them before they were. But, you know, the best thing is they didn't do anything except learn from it. They didn't stay pat.

They changed a few things, changed locations, et cetera, and got their way out of it. And you're right right now. And I know I'm biased being a Husky forever. But regardless, I think at this moment they're the best team in the country. Other than the changes in terms of coaching and just what they've done to kind of tinker a few things, what have you really noticed about the toughness of this team to overcome that adversity like you were talking about? Well, a couple things we have, which most people don't, if you think about the field of 68, very few teams have a double setup.

We have a double setup. Sanogo was a legitimate big-time scorer, 16, 17 points a game, 20 points a game within the tournament. And then Donovan and Kringen, the 7-foot-2 freshmen, great. Well, that gives us a couple things. It gives us ten fouls. It gives us an inside game most people don't have. It gives us shot blocking ability and rebounding.

And I think that makes a great deal. Conversely, some of the things that can't happen, Jordan Hawkins, who started a little bit early, is now arguably the best shooter in the country. And I know that you can't say it on a short term, but remember, in the games thus far, the biggest games thus far, I'm sorry, tournament games thus far, he's shooting 52% for 30.

I'm not much of a mathematician, but that's pretty good. And I just think the team has learned how to be itself. They have terrific pieces, whether it be Jackson, the great athlete who does so many things, the bench, which has been sensational, the freshmen.

Alex is the 6'8 freshman who's been terrific for us. The length of the minutes, matter of fact. You know, we just grew. I mean, does it always happen that way? No, it's that easy.

Not that easy, but, you know, on that plan, let's readjust. They just have the pieces. And that's the thing I keep saying.

If you've got pieces, you always get a chance. We all know, as the legendary Jim Calhoun is here with us, the basketball lineage of the Hurley family. And now to see what Danny's doing with the program that means so much to your coach. I just love when you have a coach on the Northeast that's passionate.

He goes crazy on the sidelines and then obviously wins. But from what you kind of see, why has Danny been such a perfect fit for UConn? Well, you know, I think that, you know, when Kevin Olley, my former player, was here, won the national championship, and then things didn't go well. You know, UConn, once you get used to it, we won 17 biggest championships.

That's not a brag, that's a fact. And very simply. And then we won, you know, four national championships.

So when Danny came, he had to be a tough son of a gun because the bar was pretty high. The first couple of years didn't go quite as well as you'd like. That didn't cause him to do anything except recruit better, find more pieces to fit into the puzzle we all have, and use not only recruits, which he did wonderfully, the two freshmen are sensational this year, but also go into the portal and get some guys that would fill up lack of three-point shooting and point guard play. And I just think he's done a terrific job. And he's very enthusiastic, as you said. I don't know if anybody coaches him. I don't scream a lot.

I don't know any, but if I knew someone, I'd let you know. But Danny does that. He's a very passionate coach. He really knows what he's doing. Do you see some of yourself in him?

I wouldn't accuse anybody of being that. That's a nice thing. He's a nice person. Why would you call him Jim Gallo?

Why would you call someone Dracula? You know, it's the same kind of thing. Once again, I say to people, tell me his or her dear friends, he had a little bit of passion. Still has passion.

And so, I think just being passionate, but everybody has a different way to get to the mountain. And Danny's way is very persistent. That's what he does. He's a basketball coach.

He's always got there. He complained to me about a few things as a Danny. Grow up. He said, what? I said, grow up. You've got to know. If you don't win games, they're going to say bye to you. If you win a lot of games, they'll give you a lot of money and be very happy. He listened to that and started complaining about small things.

And I'm just kidding, a little bit. But more importantly, he took on the fact of taking the UConn job on it and is now five and into six years and made a magnificent job with it. And being a good coach and having good players is a tough combination. And that's what's happened at UConn. And coach, when you win and you get a lot of money, you've got to definitely tell the media, not a dime back and get some facts, right?

Not a single dime back. And the other thing I would like to do, I said, Danny, if you're going to talk to me, make sure you bring some facts. Those are two things I want him to call these two. No, he's a good man and I'm more serious now. And UConn is very serious.

I think they're the best team there now. But I really believe that Danny, and this doesn't make him a genius, but it makes him at least smart enough. I remember 100 years ago, not quite 100, I went down and met with Dean Smith to get some inside knowledge of not a basketball team, but a program, you know, something that's ongoing and talked to him for a couple of days down in North Carolina. Danny has kind of brought me into the fold to ask questions.

And I just think all of us need to do a life that we think we have all the answers and the best way to do it. But there's always other ways that sometimes may work better at UConn, may work better there. I give a lot of respect to Dan to understand that he asked questions and that's a real good thing. Obviously, whatever we told him, he more than applied it and had a terrific coaching year when he turned the team around to be, as I said, now the best team in the country.

That's awesome. The legendary Jim Calhoun is here with us. I want to look back at your three national championship teams.

I'll start you off with the first one in 1999. You guys only had two losses on the seas. You ended up beating Duke in the title game. What do you recall about that first trip to the Final Four? Well, I had good motivation. Do you know that we were, I don't necessarily bet on games, but we were a nine and a half point underdog and our record by the way was 33-2.

Give you an idea. I didn't use that, you know, every minute, probably every second I did, to say they don't think you're good, but you're really good. And we had a terrific team, Richard Hamilton and Khalid El-Amin and Jake Bosco. Guys were on to play in the NBA, but we were a really, really good team. We faced a great Duke team. You know, for our state, it was special.

When we came back home, I still wear a Route 84 coming from the airport and just 15-20 miles away and you would not believe the people lined up on the highway all the way there. They're very special. Obviously, first time is a very special time and that team was a wonderful team led by Richard. And then when you get your second title, like what did that mean to you? Because hey, the first title, it's unbelievable, it's great, so appreciative and obviously it was an unbelievable moment.

But then to go get a second one, it puts you and the program in a different category. Well, we had a great team. We had six first on draft choices. We're a team that didn't, over the years, have a lot of quote McDowell's All-Americans. We liked the Wendy's, you know, and so we get kids who probably ranked 50th in the country, 100th, 125th in Emeka Oglefour, Ben Gordon.

That team had those six first on draft choices and five of them were largely selections, two and three in draft that year, Ben Gordon and Emeka Oglefour. I would have felt really disappointed though when we got healthy near the end of the year if we hadn't won the championship. But it was a special, special time and it was a special, special team. Jim Calhoun talking about a special player and you know it better than anybody. The players are obviously the most important. When you go through that dominant run and you look back at what Kemba Walker did in 2011 with the Big East tournament and then the national title and he probably should have been the player of the year, just how do you look back at that all those years later?

You couldn't have said it better. You know as a guy now at that point getting to 70 years of age and being around a lot, having great teams and etcetera, etcetera. But that young team because Kemba was a junior, Shabazz Napier was a freshman, Jeremy Lamb was a freshman, two guys who wanted to play a while in the NBA. Kemba was magical, that season was magical, I still remember that Bill Clinton came to the game at Madison Square Garden semi-final to win five games, five days in the Big East. And he said, what made you guys special?

This is President Clinton and I said, that little guy right there. Because he was special. Not only was he a great player, emotionally he was terrific for our kids and I'll tell you guys, not many more guys who I ever coached in 50 years, more enjoyable than him. And the run was something very special for all of us and then to take six in a row in the NCAA tournament was absolutely special.

To this day I still remember that when we looked at each other, Kemba and I and hugged after each other, that was one of the great trips of my life. Coach Jim Calhoun here with us for a few more moments on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Coach, some of the conversation surrounding this Final Four drives me crazy when you hear having a four, two fives and a nine isn't good for college basketball. And since I have you here, I also hear people say, there's no blue blood in the Final Four. I would say UConn is a blue blood with what you've done. When you hear that, people go, there's no blue blood in this Final Four.

How do you respond to it? Crazy. Seventeen Big East titles in 22 years. Now we didn't have very good coaches inside as cynical as I can. Let's see, John Thompson, Rick Pitino, I'll go through the list. Beyheim, et cetera, Louie, Roy Massimino.

You go through all these different guys and you see, are you crazy? Oh, by the way, we only have five trips to the NCAA tournament since 99 and four national championships. I don't know about you else, but I think it had to do with the fifth.

No one else has done that. So what is the blue blood? You have to win championships in the toughest league in the country during that time, particularly the Big East. If you win the most national championships in your era, a 25-year period, does that make you blue blood? Or is that just a crazy game given to a school that might have won 25 years ago?

I have nothing against 25 years ago. What I'm saying to you simply is that we've been incredibly good, our schools have been great. I won a couple of championship championships, Kevin won one, and now we're ranked in the top five in the country. You can make it that. That's the blue blood.

Ray Allen, Kimba, Mecca, Daniel, you go through the list. We are certainly blue blood. I don't worry about that. We know that we've beaten enough good folks over the year, had enough championships, that there's no doubt in my mind that we're one of them.

And we may be the program of the century, that's all. Wrap it up with Jim Calhoun, didn't mean to get you worked up there, coach. No, no. You know what?

If you put a striped shirt on, that would do it, or a gold whistle, or you say something that isn't true. I'm just making sure that if anybody wants to feel like they want a life for whatever reason, go ahead and enjoy yourself. But once again, you asked me earlier, I come back with some facts. 100% right.

I know how much you love this university, and I know how much it means to you. I know it didn't end well with Kevin, but he won a championship. Now we're seeing what Danny is two wins away from doing. Just to see the success still be there years later with what you built, what does that personally mean to you?

Even though I really had great respect for Dave Cabot, who's an incredible guy, put the biggies. I asked him one time, how do you measure success? 17 biggies championships, national championships, first round draft, whatever the case may be. He already said to me, you measure greatness by what happens over time. And for that, here we are, 99 our first championship, 2003.

I think on the edge of another championship to make it our fifth. I think you measure greatness by how the situation that you helped develop stands over time. Coach, before we let you run, wrap it up with Jim Calhoun, Rick Pitino, back in the biggies with St. John's.

How did you react to that one? He'll win, he'll get players, and the biggies just became tougher because Rick and I wasn't buddies and he was at BU, I was at Northeastern. We probably deemed just like each other because our schools were a mile apart in the same league. Then he was at Providence, I was at UConn, and then he was at Louisville, I was at UConn.

So we always were fighting against each other. But anybody who doesn't tell you he's a great coach, he's a great coach, they're going to do well, he's going to get players, and St. John's fans should be very happy today. This new era of the biggies, I know there were some questions when you had some of the changes. But it has just been wonderful to watch, and now you also throw in Ed Cooley leaving Providence to go to Georgetown.

Those games coming up this year, Coach, are going to be must-watch. I was shocked that Cooley left. I was shocked too, and I know Ed very well. He's a good young coach, I got a chance to get to know him personally well, and a few years up and out I went down just to talk to him about coaching and saying, that's a good man.

Other people do things, it's not necessarily mine to do anything except observe and never interpret. It's his life. Now, once again, my wife was getting out of coaching tonight, it's a great time for you to get out. When she saw some of the checks being written for coaching today, why did you get out so early?

There's a lot of reasons, but I think when Ed was stating these reasons, he has very good reasons in himself of why this is, after 12 years, be a good time to switch. I wish him the best of luck, he's a good man and a heck of a coach. Last one for you, legendary coach Jim Kowloon here with us, three national championships with the UConn Huskies. The rest of the coaches in this Final Four, we talked about what Danny's doing, we all know how much of a legend Jim Liernig is, he should probably be in the Hall of Fame one day. What Dutch has done, building off what Steve Fisher started at San Diego State has been really special, and then what a joy it's been to watch the Owls of Florida Atlantic with Dusty May. How about these other three coaches in the Final Four? Well, I mean, obviously Jimmy's been great and he caused one of the worst days of my life and career when George Mason's biggest in the Final Eight, I'll never forget it, he's done a terrific job, he plays his coach, he's a good man, and obviously I'm sure it's going to be one of the highlights of his life, not just go to the Final Four but have a chance to maybe win the thing. The Dutch's situation, I know the whole what got started, Steve Fisher was a good friend, I know Dutch being his assistant, but I remember him at Michigan also, he's done a terrific job, and I'll tell you what, nobody in the country plays defense like they do, and he's probably right, with the movement out in the Pac-12, there's no doubt in my mind he might become one of the, quote, teams in California, by the way, God bless you. I just think that for a young guy to take a program over in Florida that a lot of us can't do, Florida International, Florida Lake, that's not important, when I was at Northeastern he used to call it the directional school, so I don't worry about those kinds of things.

All I know, he's won 35 games, he looked well coached, he's obviously done an incredible job to get where he has been, except for the UConn game, God bless him. Coach, absolutely love it, enjoy the trip out to Houston, good health to you and the family and really do appreciate you making some time for us today. My pleasure, appreciate it.

Planning a wedding is intimidating, but finding the perfect suit shouldn't be. Design your dream suit at Indochino.com and use code PODCAST for 10% off any purchase of $3.99 or more. That's I-N-D-O-C-H-I-N-O dot com code PODCAST. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show.

Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. Happy opening day to all. Coming up tomorrow, big final four preview show.

Just a few moments ago we had Jim Calhoun on, the legendary coach, really do appreciate him carving out some time and 15 minutes from now we'll delve into the Anthony Richardson pro day and we will also discuss who is going to be the team that selects Anthony Richardson in this upcoming NFL draft, which is a little less than a month away in Kansas City. So hopefully we make it our way out there. That's the plan for now and Hickey, we both better be headed the gym a lot in this next month because if we're in Kansas City, I anticipate a lot and I don't mean just a lot. I mean a lot, a lot, a lot of barbecue food being consumed. Ribs, mac and cheese on the show, before the show, after the show, in the morning. It's going to be a short time, right?

I'm assuming. Let's go. Let's go. Well, you say that, but I need you to be diverse in the barbecue order because I don't know. I get a little bit concerned in flashbacks to Las Vegas when it just comes to you eating food or just being so picky and stuck in your face.

Wait, when it comes to Vegas last year for the draft, I was fine. We went to dinner together. We had a delicious steak. You didn't try any escargot, no creme brulee.

I don't want snail, I'm sorry. And I was honestly stuffed from the steak that I did not have room for creme brulee. I'm sorry about that. You're a little man. You know, I need you to be a big boy.

I need you to be a fat slob and just start eating all this crazy food. Like Perloff today of the Maggie and Perloff show is in Houston for the final four. I believe they're the only show on the network that is at Houston for the final four. I don't think Jim is there. Right. Jim Rums out there.

I don't believe so. I think it's just Maggie and Perloff. So Maggie and Perloff are out there was listed a show today was tremendous job with all the guests that they had on from their Clark Kellogg, Steve Fisher, Sonny Vaccaro. They had a really good guest list today was really fun listen and Perloff before the show, which is dangerous.

And remember, they're an hour behind. So this must have been for lunch anyway, but before the show, that's risky. I got to give credit to Perloff because he was having some barbecue down in H town. And I don't know if I'd be able to make it through a show off on barbecue food because I think my stomach would just not hold up and even you're in a large convention center, a little toot toot would be happening and people looking at you like, oh, it's the big guy that obviously just cut the cheese.

And now the whole convention center stinks. So when we go to the draft, since those are long shows, I think it's going to be actually postgame. I know you said before and after and all that. We could be putting ourselves in a bad situation like I need you alert at the draft, not in a food coma hunched over. And remember, last time we went on a trip with you, you almost didn't make it because you had food poisoning. The last thing I need to have is Hickey on the run while you have the runs constantly to the bathroom when you see, I don't know, like Anthony Richardson get draft.

The next thing you know, we don't get them on the air because Hickey's in the bathroom blowing chunks. No, come on. I got a team in the top four here who I have no idea what quarterback they're going to take. I got to be. I will be alert, ready to go and ready to be disappointed.

That is something that I'm very nervous about, though. Like I wonder if we maybe take ship to the draft instead of you because they'll send one producer from our show and I'm going to assume that they're going to send you over Shep because you did go last year. But the only reason why I say that, and I would love to have you come, but you get so worked up with your teams, like even just for regular season games today in your Mets jersey, you're slamming the desk and celebrating when something happens during the irrelevant Penn State run in the Big Ten tournament.

I'm just poking a little fun. You were losing your mind. You watch like Penn State wrestling as well.

You lose your mind. National champs? You started to pretend to like the hockey team actually that lost to Michigan, which I asked for that clip earlier in the week of Michigan defeating your team and I never got it. Just a coincidence that it was an omission and you didn't put it in the system.

You just forgot to do that. I'm just concerned with your team having such a big draft pick here. If you're going to be able to handle doing your job with what could be a letdown or something you don't like and then JR and I are trying to have a serious conversation since we're serious broadcasters doing the show and the next thing you know, I have you throwing a fit like a child in the corner crying and freaking out and throwing things while we're doing the show. That's my only concern.

Yeah, this, well, I will say losing the number one over pick take some steam out of it, but on the 0.001% that bracing Folsom before the coach draft him that I think you talk about a loose cannon. I mean, I might not. I may just start running.

I need to get the energy though. I may even not run. I don't know if I run back. I may run back here. That's how excited I'll be. Well, that's not good then. So you know, loose cannon wild card.

Don't let the cold strap price. And that's all I'll say. I may have to talk to management then about sending ship for you and I got who else is going to to greet Bryce Young.

I got to be the first one. Oh, please. He would look at you and would say, man, should have stayed at Alabama another year on the NIL. I looked down at Bryce Young. Bryce, I don't care about your size. I love you as you like that on Bryce Young folks.

That's how, you know, Hickey knows his team has a 0% chance of getting Bryce Young because if, if, if, if he still thought there was actually a chance of his team getting Bryce Young and not trying to talk himself into it still with his crazy, wacky theories, because that's how his brain works. He would never make that joke about someone who could potentially be, no, I wouldn't come on. Everyone loves talking about joking about his size.

Well, I can't make a size joke. No, you wouldn't do it. That's your guy. I'm telling you, you would not look at like a one-on-one. I could put my arm around him. Hey, Bryce.

Welcome. Well, I hope that he's joining us at the, at the draft. That would be awesome. And he's wearing Panthers. No, no.

That would be wonderful. Well then as of course go by, he's too small and not going to succeed. Why would you ever draft a quarterback of that stature and that weight?

It's a, an anomaly for a reason, failure, bad pick. So I got two concerns. If they are sending us to the draft, which I think they are, that's what my sources tell me. Um, my two concerns are you eating barbecue food, food, and making sure you eat the proper barbecue food. And then also it's how are you going to handle yourself with the draft pick? And if you think I'm not going to record you when the Colts are on the clock, you know, I'm definitely, I'm definitely going to be recording you. So I'm going to need you to perform. Well, okay.

I'll say this real like now we're talking realistic terms. What do you want me to, I can't do anything. We'll probably be on the air. I will be happy having a job to do. I'm not going to take over the show. I'm not going to be sitting like, I'm not going to just scream like a madman or run around like a mad man. I will be professional.

That's what I'm asking. I will write the pick down. I will probably have no reaction because it's not my show. And so the video is going to be bad. What do you mean it's not your show? I'm not going to take over the show on the show.

That is our show. But if you know me showing emotion, you're getting fired up because the Colts select whatever quarterback you can't help yourself. No, I can, no, you can't. I can keep it together.

I don't want to make it about me. I can, in that situation, keep the other, maybe in a break, take a quick lap around the set, well, do a little fist pump, maybe a little yell. I got to basically yell something out.

What do you talk? Take a break. Yeah. During the commercial break, you're working during that draft show. There's a lot of moving pieces.

Well, in the little downtime I have, I'll find a way to get the energy out. If you don't like the pick though, and I don't know where we're broadcasting from this year in Kansas city, if we are going, but last year we were right in like the heart of Vegas and we had all these fans around. I just can't wait to have like a little kid if we're in the public, like run up to you. So Ryan, do you like the Colts pick? And then if you don't like the pick, you have to look that little kid in the eye and basically just say, yeah, I like the pick. Nice to meet you, buddy. Nice job, little Johnny. Maybe if we're close enough, I can boo.

With the fourth over pick, Will Levis. Boo. And you hear the boos.

That was just, you know, I didn't get, I didn't get into it. Boo. Boo. And all of a sudden, like people think they're booing Roger, but it's just me in the side there booing, booing the pick. You boo like a wimp. Well, you know, I got like the emotion take over right now. I have no emotion because the pick hasn't happened yet, but in the moment I can really let it rip, I think, but it would be very high pitch when I yell, it's loud.

I'm not going to pretend like I'm, you know, a macho deep voice man. You got it. Alrighty. We're going to do a show on CBS Sports Radio. So I need you to really think this over during the weekend, how are you going to handle yourself at the draft?

And then I will talk to you off the air on Monday and we'll decide if you're going to be the right person to join us and produce that. If not. Shep, get your bags ready.

I don't know. As much as I like Shep, I don't think Shep could shut up at one of those events. Well the good news is our company would save on the flight because Shep could just run there. Good line.

So you could just run Kansas City from New York City. No problem. And Shep would also probably just be talking basketball like during the NBA draft or during the NFL draft. All of a sudden.

All right. With the first pick, CJ Shroud to the Panthers, man, I thought it was going to be Brandon Miller. Shrinking to Charlotte. How about the Hornets tonight, huh? You hear MJ selling the team? Is LeVar Ball here? Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. Well come on back. We appreciate that he registered at his pro day today. Who will he be playing for next year? We'll discuss.