Transcript of Grit Week Finale, Coach O, Saints HC Kellen Moore, Knicks Up 2-0 And Fyre Fest of The Week New

Hey, Pardon My Take listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Stella Blue Coffee is more than just great coffee, it's coffee with a purpose. Introducing We Brew to Rescue, a nationwide campaign using proceeds from our new ready-to-drink cans to help fund 1,000 pet adoptions this year. Every can you crack open helps a real pet find a real home. Simple as that. Made with 100% Colombian coffee, each 11-ounce can delivers smooth, drinkable energy with a boost of protein. Available in Espresso Cafe Mocha and Espresso Sweet Cream. Built for mornings, long days, and everything in between. Drink Stella Blue, fuel your day, and help save a pet's life. You can follow our progress in real time throughout the campaign by watching the adoption tracker on our site. Grab yours now at stellabluecoffee.com, Amazon, and select retailers nationwide. On today's part of My Take presented by DraftKings, it is the Grit Week finale. We are back in studio for the first 10 minutes of the show, then we're back on the bus, and we have Coach O. Prior to him being announced to being back at LSU, but still a great interview.

It was literally like 24 hours before all was right in the world.

Looking back on, we did talk about a lot of things as if he was still working at LSU.

Yeah.

And we had an idea that it might happen.

We had an inkling, but we couldn't, we couldn't actually talk about any of it. So, but, but awesome interview. Always great to talk to Coach O. And then we also have Saints head coach Kellen Moore. We were at the Saints facility on Wednesday. You'll hear us recap everything. Uh, one of the best moments that we've ever had in an interview.

Yeah, we have Grit Week history on this episode.

Yep, Grit Week history. Uh, we're gonna talk some playoffs. We got Fyre Fest, a great finale to a great Grit Week, and it's all brought to you by our friends at Chevy. It's Grit Week. This is the part of the football calendar where nobody's watching but everything gets built. Early mornings, pads back on, conditioning, film, reps. Spring training in football is all about putting in the work when nobody's cheering yet. Check out the current offers and build your Silverado at chevy.com. We had the Chevy Silverado, the Grit Week Chevy Silverado, with us all week. It was awesome.

Taylor—

it was actually when we were in Vandy Woodhead all week, felt safe knowing that there was a Chevy Silverado trailing us the entire time in case Vandy Woodhead decided to just stop working. So thank you to Chevy, our wonderful sponsor. They've always been, uh, believed in us and fun things like Grit Week. So check out your current offers and build your Silverado at chevy.com. Okay, let's go!

Welcome to Pardon My Take, presented by DraftKings.

The crown is yours. Today is Friday, May 22nd, and the New York Knicks are up 2-0. Congrats, memes. Congrats, Zach. We are in studio for the first 10 minutes of this show, then we were back, uh, the rest of the show will be back on the bus. Back at the Saints facility. So, uh, we, we just— we're back in Chicago, we watched the games, we're going to give you a little playoff talk before we get to everything else with the Great Week finale. But memes, Zach, 2-0! We all said you guys were going to win this game, we all said the series was going to be over after the— after the first game, and what happened with the Cavs? How are we feeling, boys? Uh, I feel great. The— that's 9, 9 in a row now. Ooh. What the Knicks did tonight is the formula to just win every game.

Oh.

KAT showed up. Josh Hart finally showed up. I— okay, yes, I would agree with you, the formula, but Josh Hart scoring 26 points and being like everywhere, that's probably not—

well, but if you're playing great for me, Josh Hart scores 26 points and you don't win, we got a fucking problem.

Mikal Bridges, like, you know, scoring 19 points, shooting a very efficient night. Yeah, I'd agree. You know what, Memes? I'm going to agree. That is the formula. All your, all your guys who can't usually score being really good scorers. To Mikal's credit, he's been doing it since he cried game 3. He has.

Yes.

But he was super efficient tonight. Yeah, he's been so good. KAT showed up tonight.

So this is the formula.

This is the formula.

Okay.

All right.

Formula locked in.

Wait, is the formula also to have the Cavs like 3 sharpshooters miss every open 3. And I, I'm not saying this is like— I, I think the Knicks are going to win this series. I said it before the series, especially after game 1. But that was the— that was what decided this game more than anything to me, was the fact that the, the Cavs couldn't hit an open 3. Like, Sam Merrill, Max Struis, and, uh, Wade— I think they went a combined 2-for-14. Sheesh. Yes, Sam Merrill missed like every single wide open 3. And they were wide open. Yeah, there was a lot where it was like, how do you, how do you miss that? Again, not saying the Knicks aren't the better team because they are, but the Cavs, like, you have to look at that game if you're a Cavs fan being like, dude, could if, if these guys hit 4 more 3s, still lose, but it would have been a tight game at the end.

9 for 32 is not going to do it. It's not going to do it on the road. Um, I still think that the, the Knicks are probably going to win in 5.

9 for 35.

9 for 35.

Yes.

From 3. They're probably going to win in 5. They could even pull off the sweep. I guess the only real question we have for you, because we already— we declared that the New York Knicks have won the series after Game 1.

Correct.

Who would you rather play in the finals?

I would like to see that series go Spurs in 7.

Okay.

And then best case scenario, this series.

I mean, if we are—

if we're able to pull it off 4 games, get good rest, and then we go Wimby, we go to Spurs.

Gets, gets more rest.

You don't want too much rest.

I was worried about too much rest last time. It seems to be working out now.

They did shake it off.

No, no, it didn't. The first 3 quarters, very bad.

They shook it off in the 4th last game.

Yeah.

So I was actually— it's funny because we talked after the last game on Part of My Take and we kind of gave our analysis of just James Harden getting cooked, just like a human barbecue of James Harden. And the stats just keep coming out and they just keep getting worse. For how historically bad that defensive performance by James Harden was.

And it was— as much as it was James Harden, it was also the coaching. Oh yeah, they didn't do anything.

You got to get him out at some point.

Not only that, get him out or be like, hey, here's a timeout, guys. Stop letting them— stop, stop switching, letting James Harden or Jalen Brunson switch to James Harden on basically nothing. It wasn't even screens. They were just like, hey, Jalen Brunson is going to walk over here, so now James Harden has him.

Yeah, it was, it was outrageous. And the fact that it kept happening over and over and over again, and how many points he gave— he was giving up like basically 2 points per possession. Yeah, which is crazy. And you could make the argument that like a dead body would have given up fewer points than James Harden, because like then at least the guys on defense would know that they'd have to play, uh, 4 on 5, or they would just help out.

Ew, yuck. Yeah, I'm staying away from that.

I don't want to drive on a dead body.

Ew.

But the way that it played out, it was almost like the Cavs They were just like, okay, James is gonna get cooked, that's his problem, memes, that's not our problem.

I will say that, uh, the— if you, if you talk about the blueprint and the Knicks, the way they played tonight, uh, the one, the one thing you could say like that they still have a level to go up is it wasn't a Jalen Brunson hero night. Like, he did the hero night in game 1. He wasn't his absolute— I mean, he still controls the game. It's more like scoring 19 points for Jalen Brunson, you just You've— we've come to expect Jalen Brunson to drop 30 every playoff game almost, you know. And so the MSG crowd's electric. It's awesome watching playoff games there. I, you know, we're having a great New York debate already.

A great New York debate. Uh, for the Knicks, people are saying that Jalen Brunson would be the greatest Knick of all time if they won the Finals. I'd agree. Number one.

I don't think it's greatest of all time. Yeah, well, no, maybe not. Like, if you're saying greatest in terms of playing career, maybe not, but most beloved, I'd say yes.

It's also very funny because they're having this debate, but like, if they do win the Finals, we don't know how they win the Finals. Yeah, who knows? Maybe we just get— maybe it's just replay of tonight and we get this formula over and over again.

I, I, I, uh, I think we said something to this effect last year where he already is top 5. That's clear. He might be top 3, you know. It's I mean, this is— he's my number one. Yeah, this is the best the Knicks have been in a long, long time, and it's, it's now sustained, you know, being competitive multiple years in a row, and they're 2 games away from the NBA Finals. Yeah, in my lifetime, the Knicks have fucking sucked, right? Uh, they made it to the Finals when I was 4 years old.

Yeah, your lifetime, I would say like Patrick Ewing, Carmelo, and Jalen Brunson.

Yeah, David Lee. Yeah. And maybe even your lifetime. Yeah. Oh yeah, it's brutal. I said you got a really shitty lifetime.

Put Mitchell Robinson up there.

Yeah, Mitchell Robinson's in there.

Okay, so we talked about maybe doing the granny shot because something needs to change with the foul shooting. He was— what was he, 0 for 4? I know he started 0 for 4 tonight. I don't know if he missed every shot after that. First year, part of my take, we suggested just rebranding the granny shot as the pimp grip. If you just call it a different name, it sounds way cooler. Nobody— no player in the NBA wants to shoot a free throw granny style. But if it's pimp grip, that sounds pretty fucking cool.

Listen, if it goes in, it doesn't matter. Like, if he would— he actually probably get some endorsements from it. Yeah. It is fun seeing Memes happy. It's a very bizarre feeling. But he is— he's very happy. And I'm happy for Memes. I'm happy for Zach. 2 games away. I, I know you guys kind of get a little upset when we keep saying the series is over, but I, I truly believe it. I don't get upset. I just spoke too soon in the Hawks— Hawks series, and they went down 1-2 immediately.

So that's why I hold back a little.

But I mean, they— this team is so fucking good. They're better than— they're just better than the Cavs. And And again, what happened on Monday night—

was it Monday night?

Tuesday night? You can't— you can't lose that game for the Cavs.

No.

But trying to predict the future gets scary. Just like putting things out there is true. Definites as things that are going to happen. I mean, it just makes me nervous.

I don't get mad.

I just get nervous.

You get nervous, you know?

So you're like, you don't even want to think about the finals.

Yeah, you get nervous all the time. I've had a peak about every—

that's fair. But this is where this is an isolated incident that we're referring to. You just get more nervous.

Would you be nervous if you lost Game 3?

I wouldn't be thrilled, but I wouldn't be nervous. I'd be same nerves. They wouldn't escalate too crazy just because the way tonight went, really.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hank, you're a fan of the New York franchises. What do you think about the mindset that Mims and Zach are in right now? Just Knicks fans in general.

I think it's the right mindset to have. I mean, they're saying the right things. Deep down, they know that this series is over and they're just focused on the finals. But you have to at least say— You don't want to get bullied. Yeah, you don't want to get bullied, but they know it's over. We know it's over. This series is over.

Right.

And the Spurs-Thunder series looks like it's going at least 6, probably 7. Like, it looks like an absolute battle.

Yeah.

So that's good for them.

The Spurs—

all things— I mean, this is, this is the Knicks championship to lose.

Oh, like, and you're now you're just saying NBA Finals?

Yeah.

Wow.

9 in a row.

Okay. Yeah. The Spurs-Thunder are tied 1-1 after Wednesday night game. Uh, oh wait, one last thing about Knicks, uh, Cavs. I forgot I wanted to do this real quick. Um, I just wanted to check and see if, uh, our good friend JOC watched all 4 quarters, because on Tuesday night he said, I need to admit something, I turned off the Knicks last night in the 4th quarter. I will never miss another minute of this postseason. I am ashamed. He missed the entire— he actually probably saw our text saying Hey, let's go. Let's go record.

Why do you think he admitted to that?

I don't know.

Telephone.

Ah, I— he saw this. I saw him courtside tonight. He was at MSG.

Wait, he was?

Yeah.

Oh, I didn't see him.

Yeah, no, they put him on and they said like, it said Star of Ozark, the whole thing.

Oh, that was mean of you.

Yeah, it's Jerry.

Yeah, it was. It was Jason Bateman and Jason Sudeikis. That was very mean of you.

It's my guy. I looked at TV, I was like, Blake, that's our guy.

Yeah.

So Thunder Spurs tied 1-1. Do you know that this is the first time that the Western Conference Finals has been tied 1-1 since 2018? That's kind of a crazy stat.

Did not know that.

Crazy stat. This was the let's get physical game because Hardenstein got very physical with Wemby.

Just wrestling them.

Castle got very physical with SGA. I, I, I unfortunately feel like the, the tenor of this series is we're just gonna have to talk about the refs after every single game, which sucks.

It's like, how is this guy going to be officiated tonight? Because Hartenstein was— he was like draped all over him. He was playing physical basketball, which I love.

They didn't call it.

Yeah, physical basketball is great.

Charles Barkley said that wasn't physical. He's been kissed harder. Yeah, that's what he said.

It's good. Uh, yeah, I mean I know that Charles has a thing for Max Struess. Maybe they got into it, but like, it was, it was good basketball. It was fun to watch. And that's how basketball used to be played. And I don't think Wimby was flat. Maybe, maybe the coaching point is going to be like, Wimby needs to start flopping more because if he had, then I think some of those calls get made.

Yeah, we just have— it just sucks. SGA was, was good. He answered back after a not great game 1. He had 30 points and it was, you know, they, The, the Thunder— I expected the Thunder to have that type of response after losing Game 1. We also have like dueling injuries because J-Dub got hurt again, Dylan Harper got hurt, De'Aaron Fox remains hurt. So it's a little bit of a war of attrition. Stephon Castle had, I think, what does he have, 20 turnovers so far?

Yeah, he had 11 in Game 1, 9 in Game 2. I think that's a record for back-to-back games.

And it's, it's tough because I, you know, some of them were egregious, but also he now with De'Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper being hurt, like he has just dribbled the ball all the time.

And it looked like— it looked like Dylan Harper wanted to come back in the game, was not permitted to by the training staff. Mm-hmm. Um, I don't know. I don't know if it's— if it's just going to be Castle and Wimby. I feel like that's— Wimby's going to have to do a lot of it on his own.

Yeah.

And, and the role players that they had, I think, were— the series felt like it was more in favor of the Spurs till those injuries. But I actually have a take now. I've got to take on the series. I know who I want to win. I want the Thunder to win this series. And the reason why I want the Thunder to win this series is because I think if the Thunder win, we get to restart the clock on how much longer we get to love Wimby before we hate him. Mm-hmm. If the Spurs win this series.

Yeah.

And then they win their first championship and Wimby dominates, we're going to enjoy it. We're going to have a great time. He's so fun to watch. I love watching Wimby play. But just like any other superstar that we see in every sport, it doesn't matter. We're going to eventually hate Wimby. So in the interest of being able to enjoy more Wimby basketball, yeah, I think I would like to make the sacrifice of having the Spurs lose this series. That way I get all next season to root for him, probably the season after that. And then I'll be like, this guy fucking sucks. He broke basketball.

You could just enjoy him.

No, not— you know, goddamn well, that's not an option.

Like, Steph, I'm going to enjoy him because he's— he's like I said on Wednesday's show, he is— he's already better than LeBron. So that's how I'm going to enjoy him.

But, you know, like Steph Curry, we all enjoyed Steph Curry.

Oh, I never stopped enjoying Steph Curry.

We— not when they were just— when KD was on the team, I still enjoyed Steph Curry.

I was pissed at KD, but I still enjoyed Steph Curry. Steph Curry might be the one guy who's— who was actually like impervious to it.

Patrick Mahomes, like, really?

Yeah.

No, no, I know what you're saying. I agree with you.

I think a lot of America, like, they—

Steph Curry might be the only guy because he's short.

Wimby. Yeah. Wimby is so much fun to watch. And I love— he's just a treat. I look forward to it. But I know that in the back of my head, I will one day say this guy is cheating at basketball because he's too tall. He's an alien. He shouldn't be allowed to play because he's a walking PED.

I don't think I'll get sick of Wemby. I think I'll get sick of the Spurs, which is kind of one of the same. Yeah. But yeah, this— I don't know. I think when it comes to like the refs, because it really is the series of just who can get clips up faster of the opposing team doing something, whether it be Hartenstein, uh, grabbing Wemby, SGA getting absolutely like face guarded and crushed by Castle, SGA flopping. I love the one where I saw, uh, there was a highlight tape of— it was, it was titled SGA literally fell down on every single one of his shots. I think it was maybe 7 of his 24 shots total. And, uh, I think— oh, Jerry's calling me back. Jerry! Hey, hey, did you watch all 4 quarters? Yeah, I watched the whole thing, so stop fucking calling me a hex. I only won. I didn't say anything. I, I just was— we were checking in. We're doing the show right now. Am I on the air? Yeah, you're on the air. Okay, so what I say is for air? Yes, for air. Okay, then let me say this, and I'm gonna be real clear about it, okay?

Because I'm still at the bar. Okay. The Knicks are 6 wins away from a championship.

Think about that. Can Hank hear me?

Yes, he can.

Hank, think about that. Have you thought about that?

Oh yeah, 6 wins away. I'm gonna tell you something else.

You're Knicks in 4.

Okay, 2 West Coast teams beat the fuck out of each other, just fucking beat each other up, flopping all over the place. Okay, so 6 wins away from a ring.

I love it. I love it.

Okay, well, good for you, Jerry. Also, PFT kind of took a shot at you.

I didn't know. I was mistaken. It was mean.

Whatever, you'll just have to listen to tomorrow's show.

I got confused. I got confused with the broadcast, Jerry.

I'm at a bar and there's like people. I'm having fun. I'm not like doing a podcast. You gotta be a little louder. PFT said that you were at the game tonight and I was like, oh shit, I didn't see him. And he's like, yeah, it said Star of Ozarks and all that.

Yeah, yeah, I got confused, Jerry.

By the way, uh, just, uh, wanted to say, I was about to tweet this out, but I thought it was a little hater of me. Um, Bateman was like hardly in his seat, like when the Knicks came back for the second half, he wasn't even in his seat.

That's not me.

I just want to say, I never— when, when the Knicks invited me, Mr. Dolan, if you're listening, I know you're a huge fan. Uh, when, when I went to the Knicks game, I stayed in my seat. I went number one before the game and then held it and stayed there the whole time.

You didn't even watch the game one.

I got to go tinkle, you know?

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right, Jerry, we love you.

No, no, no. Guys, guys, hold on a second.

I want to start with the AFC. Okay.

All right.

All right.

That's it.

He actually— one of these days he's going to do it. Yeah, we said him on a random show.

He's going to do it. We told Jerry at the live show, we're like, hey, Jerry, it would absolutely kill if you went out there to introduce us. And then you just unfold a piece of paper and said, I'd like to start with the AFC East. And I think every time that we've talked to him since then, he started our conversation with, I want to start with the AFC East.

Yeah, he's going to do it.

He's going to do it.

But yeah, so back to what we were talking about. I just look, I get it. SGA, I actually think the problem with SGA more than anything is he's just boring. That's really what people are upset about. The flopping, like, sucks. But so back to my point, there was this clip that went viral that was like, SGA literally fell down on every— yeah, SGA flopped on every single shot attempt. It has 16.5 million views and 10,000 retweets. It's 6 or 7 shots of the 24 he took. He went to the free throw line 3 times last night, 3 times. And again, I'm not saying that SGA doesn't flop. He does. He falls down, he flops. But more than anything, he's just— he's boring because he's a lethal mid-range guy. He doesn't have flashy dunks. He's not doing— I mean, Stephon Castle, that was like the dunk of the playoffs. And, uh, He's not hitting threes like Steph Curry. He's just methodically into like great. That's what he is.

This is what we thought.

He's an exceptional basketball player.

It's what we said that we've wanted from a superstar for the last like 15 years, which is like the lost art of the mid-range.

Right.

And he's very good at it and he's lethal and he's like master of his body control and he should be celebrated. But it does get fucking annoying watching him pull out for no reason.

But it wasn't called that much last night.

Oh yeah, I agree.

Hardenstein was 100% like getting very physical with Wemby. If you watch that game, Castle was doing a lot on SGA in terms of before he got the ball, face guarding him. I like that it's a physical series. I hope the refs don't call a lot of this stuff. And again, they didn't call a lot of his flops last night.

I just—

I—

it's, it's such— the two— like, the teams are so good, and it's just gonna— it's gonna bother me if we— I'm just gonna tune it out, but it's gonna—

but we can—

the fact that like every game refereeing, we can get upset with SGA for flopping even if they don't call it. It's still annoying to watch.

See, but I have— but I, I, I think if it doesn't work, it's actually he's just disadvantaging himself. He's falling down. Like, that's a disadvantage to himself.

But it's still annoying to watch. It's like when he takes a shot and then, then he like dives forward and he tries to draw the call. To me, that's something that they should be able to review between games, and if it's egregious, they should be able to issue technical fouls for clearly diving. If they missed it during the game, they should like in the off day be like, Yeah, that was, that was bullshit. Let's stop with the flop bullshit.

See, I don't care. I don't care as much if they're not called, if they're not calling it. I don't like it. I think it's actually hurting him.

I think it sucks to watch when, when superstars just like diving.

Also, Tom Haverstraw did a look at every single shot he said, and he broke it down in this series so far. He has fallen to the floor in 27% of his shots. So that's, that's a little over a quarter. So to say that it's every shot is just— it's gotten a little out of hand.

The, the—

you would think that SGA is just constantly on the floor. He, I mean, he does go, but I'm saying a quarter is not as— if you ask 100 NBA fans how many times does SGA fall on the floor after a shot, they'd all say like 70% just on the narrative.

Oh yeah, that's people that, that aren't watching the full game, that are watching like the highlights. But SGA has said that he intentionally goes to the ground. He's admitted that. He's like, it's part of my game. I think he says that He does it sometimes because it's— he can control how he goes down. Like in football, we always talk about a running back learning how to get tackled.

Well, it's also like—

when he's off balance a little bit or when he's diving or jumping, he thinks that he's got a better chance at controlling his body, preventing injury if he ends up like diving to the ground in like a very controlled manner.

It, it, I mean, we've seen injuries before. I mean, the Kawhi, the famous Kawhi injury, the landing zone, like when guys get under your feet when you're, when you're trying to rise for a mid-range jump shot or a 3-pointer.

Oh, is that a cheap shot?

Yeah. That's probably a little bit of it is like, hey, if I'm falling forward, I'm not going to have someone get under my legs and turn my ankle. Anyway, I'm just excited to keep watching this series and not— I don't know what— I think there will be an adjustment to Hartenstein that will 100% happen. He will get called for a lot more. I hope Dylan Harper comes back. I hope De'Aaron Fox comes back. I hope J Dub can play because I just want to watch— I want to watch 7 games of this.

I do.

And it was— it was— Tuesday or Wednesday night was the championship medal of an Oklahoma City Thunder team where it was a tight game and they were able to find a way to put it away and be like, that's a team that they know they've been in the wars and they're not going to go down 2-0 and lose both games at home. So hockey, PFT, Canadiens up 1-0.

Disqualification.

Canadiens up 1-0. They took it to the Hurricanes. They went— they were down 1-0 and then they rattled off 4 goals and it was like record speed. And I think I saw a stat that was something like—

I got—

I have the stat right here.

Do you? All right, give it to us.

So since 2000, teams that are coming off of a sweep are 1-7 against teams that are coming off of a Game 7 win in hockey.

I saw a different stat. So that's a great stat. It was something like teams that have 10 days of rest 10 days rest or more have, have lost, I think it's 3 series in a row. So maybe rest versus rest, like the entire series. Yeah.

I mean, yeah, this is like specific for— yeah. So if you come off that sweep and I think the Hurricanes had the longest possible layoff that you can have and the Canadiens had the shortest possible, which you would think like, yeah, okay, Hurricanes will be ready to go. I think that I'm going to— I might launch a nuke on the Hurricanes game 2. That feels like— that feels like a must-win for Carolina at home because you don't want to go up to that barn in Montreal down 2-0. No, you don't want to look that in the face.

You don't have to become a French citizen.

Yeah, I don't want to have to do that.

And then— and the Knights took it to the Avalanche, who— Makar being out is very, very substantial. I feel like if he's out for the series, I don't know what his prognoses long-term for the series, but that does feel like the Knights are going to win if Makar just doesn't play in this series. Yeah, I would agree that just continues. Itchy for Mitchy is what they're saying.

And that was one of the teams that I believe Biz gave us.

Yeah.

To start the playoffs.

Yeah.

Vegas.

Yeah. Vegas.

Tremendous organization.

Biz also just doesn't— he just calls Bluttman Bluntman. I love that all the time.

Yeah.

And I don't think he knows that he's doing that, but it's awesome.

Memes keeps pulling up— or is that Zach? Zach keeps pulling up the, the Rastafari Canadiens fan that Memes put my face on.

It looks like you.

It looks like me.

It does.

It does.

Canadian.

Canadian.

Montreal Canadiens.

Okay. Anything else with playoffs or any other sports stories real quick? I'm thinking— oh, I had— oh, just so everyone knows, if you don't listen to the intro, Coach O, we taped on Tuesday, and, uh, so we didn't know that he was fully back. We had an inkling that he was maybe going to be back. So if you think we're like, it sucks the timing worked out that way, I'm so happy he's back. It's all is right in the world. I love the LSU too, is like, hey, remember when we were kind of successful a few years ago? Like, let's just do that again. Yeah, Will Wade.

Yeah, let's lean into it. And if you listen to the interview with Lane, Lane drops a little Easter egg in that interview.

Yep.

About Coach O when we were talking about if he's met Mike the Tiger yet, if he's looked in his eye. And then Lane said something along the lines of like, that could be a good job for Coach O to be the Mike the Tiger translator for me.

Yep. And the Coach O interview also, he drops some kind of hints of like, hey, I want to be in it. I like, you know, talking to recruits and making sure.

Yep.

Like I can, I can fix defensive lines. Like he's got the enthusiasm for it. He's— it's perfect. It's perfect for LSU.

Coach O, he can coach the fuck out of a defensive line, and he's probably the best recruiter in college football.

Not only that, but he's— he can essentially just tell Lane Kiffin how the state of Louisiana works. Yeah, like just that. That was the big thing from our Coach O interview that you're going to listen to— his love for the state of Louisiana and his just— he's telling us like how it's just different. And we have funny moments where we asked him about Brian Kelly and he gave very candid answers.

Yeah, great answers.

So like those You understand those, like, Coach O is— he's built for it. He's ready to go. Um, all right, and then the last one, uh, Kyle Busch, which was tragic. Uh, we're not the biggest NASCAR fans, but we, we had Kyle Busch on the show. I think it was like 7 or 8 years ago. Awesome dude, one of the best NASCAR drivers of all time. Anytime there's a, you know, someone loses their life, 41 years old, he's got 2 little kids, it's just absolutely heartbreaking. Like, I don't I feel just gutted for his family. I feel gutted for NASCAR fans. It's— I don't know what else to say than it's just— it was shocking. I was shocked when I saw it.

It came as a big surprise. I think everybody was shocked, even like the biggest diehard fans. I knew that he didn't feel well last week. Yeah. And that he might be going through something. And we still don't know what happened, but obviously came on quick and suddenly. And it's very, very tragic what happened. And yeah. Nobody saw this coming. And it seemed like he was a guy that, that, you know, he, he was the face of NASCAR, one of the most successful drivers of the last 10 years, 15 years.

And he won a truck race 5 days ago. Yeah.

And then after that race, he said, cherish every one. You don't know when it's going to be your last. Yeah. Which is kind of— it's a little spooky but poignant in retrospect to look at. It's just very— it's very sad.

It's brutal. I I mean, I just like— I don't know how AI works or, you know, the algorithms, but he was— his Instagram feed was on my algorithm almost immediately. His, you know, his 11-year-old— his son turned 11 3 days ago. It's just like, I just— it's really, really, really sad. And we feel, uh, awful for, uh, his family. And I said again, NASCAR fans, um, because he's a legend. And I, I think it's like one of the top just shocking deaths of guys in their— he's still in his prime. So, uh, all right, let's, uh, sad note, but let's, let's— we're gonna, we're gonna transition back into our truck. Uh, Coach O, we're gonna do fire— or sorry, we're gonna do Grit Week recap, some really good stories, tell you everything that went down. We are gonna do Coach O, Kellen Moore, and then Fyre Fest. And again, The Kellen Moore interview. Top Mount Rushmore PMT moment.

It's pretty great.

It's really great.

I think I don't want to spoil what it is, but I'll just say that there will be one member of part of my take that will probably not spend a lot of time online on Friday reading the replies and the comments.

Well, he was golfing anyway.

And it could be any one of us.

But thank God he's got his kids to see.

But he's got more important things. Yeah.

Touch grass.

Put some perspective in my life.

That's literally— okay, are we touching some Bermuda, some split grass, whatever? What is it?

Bermuda?

Yeah, Bermuda. Yeah, there's some—

Saint— what's the one? The Saint Augustine?

Yeah, the bent grass. Touch it and then touch it again. Maybe touch a little sand.

Sure.

No, no, not, not a guy like our guy Hank.

But we don't— we're not gonna say who it was.

Nope.

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Restrictions apply. Bonus bets expire 7 days after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see sportsbook.draftkings.com/promos. Limited time offer. By the way, speaking of the NBA, can I read you guys a tweet real quick before we do, uh, our recap of Grit Week and what we did with the Saints?

Yeah, I got a tweet too.

Oh, you go, you go.

I'm getting there.

Okay. I got to—

okay. Yeah.

Clint Kubiak called Brock Bowers a football robot from heaven.

I saw that.

Yeah. Like, I am not— I didn't know if I was in on Clint Kubiak, and then he just said that, a football robot from heaven, and I'm like, that guy is going to win.

What I like about that is it does beg a lot of questions.

Yeah.

Like, is heaven filled with football robots, like, instead of angels? Yeah. Angels are just robots, and then occasionally one can get sent down to earth.

Yep.

To rescue the Raiders?

I think so.

Okay. All right. That's actually the only question I had.

So that's football robot from heaven.

That checks out.

Yeah.

And then does hell also have a football robot army? Like, can a football robot go to heaven and it can go to hell? Are they produced and made in heaven, then sent back to Earth?

I think football robots from hell play defense.

Yeah.

That's, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. If you had like a stud nose tackle, that's a football robot from hell.

And football robots in purgatory are just the ghosts of players that played for Jeff Fisher.

Yeah. Kickers and punters as well. Okay. Next tweet. I actually have a couple. We'll just do it real quick. Is Joey Chestnut competing in the Fourth of July hot dog competition? He slapped a man. Did you guys see that? He slapped him.

Yep. Yeah. He got charged with battery.

I didn't read it.

It's the most delicious sounding felony.

Yeah, it absolutely always has been. I, I was like Kieran, Kieran McCulkin in Succession when the rocket blows up. I saw the tweet about Joey Chestnut being— it says America's most popular competitive eater, Joey Chestnut, is now serving probation after pleading guilty to slapping a man inside of a Westfield bar earlier this year. I saw the tweet and just closed my phone and put it back in my pocket because I was like, I don't want to deal with the fact that he could potentially not be competing on Fourth of July. He— we were robbed of Fourth of July. Was it last year or two years ago? And it was not a holiday. So I don't want that to happen again. I'm not going to look into it. I'm going to just find out on 4th of July, turn on my TV, and we'll find out if 4th of July is canceled.

What a storyline it would be if it was true, though. Like, and he makes his comeback. He's like, really, you know, the Rasheed Rice of competitive eating. What if he's in prison and he has to, like, keep training for the 4th of July hot dog eating contest behind bars?

Yeah. So that training wouldn't be fun.

Well, there's some— yeah, when I'm thinking how hot dogs behind bars, how would you learn how to train for that particular throat competition? Yeah, behind bars. Actually, I would probably bet on him heavy when he came out. Yeah.

I mean, the man's been to hell and back. Yeah, he, he, he had to train so far off the grid. He's basically Bane. Yeah, he would be Bane coming to the Fourth of July. The Nate—

yeah, Rocky IV.

Yeah. Instead of training in the gym, it's just training in a penitentiary for the hot dog eating competition.

A lot of log cabin stuff up there. Yeah. So I'm not— do you think—

do you think—

on his side, I'm on Joe's side.

Do you think if he trained in prison and he got to the Fourth of July, Nathan's competition, he'd just eat one solo hot dog and never eat it?

Maybe he'd scars it for life.

He just— he just sucks on a hot dog in front of the whole country.

He just doesn't— he might not have to chew anymore. This might be a game changer. He's out there like, like Deutsch with beers. Yeah.

All right, next tweet. So we're gonna just put a pin in that one. We'll forget it, but we'll think about it later. Uh, this one's just a quick math one. Zach, you ready? Get your, get your human calculator out. Uh, Cam Scadaboo believes full season will equate to big numbers for him. He said, I had 400 yards on 100 carries last year. When I play 17+ games this year, it's going to be 300 carries over 200— 2,000 yards.

Okay.

Yeah. Does that make sense?

Would it be 1,600 yards?

It would be. But yeah, whatever. That's scatterboo math. But maybe he thinks he's going to wear them down.

I think it's like with him, he gets stronger as the season goes on.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's fair. And then this is my final tweet. This one, I actually think they should be in the take for just like roller coaster tweet, funniest tweet. I don't know what you want to say. This is from Henry Abbott, True Hoop.

Yep.

Uh, this is after Jason Kidd was fired. He said, I covered Jason Kidd when he played for the Nets. I know one of his childhood friends. I've been to his house, met his kids, then wife, and Pilates instructor, and I have insight from many people who worked with him in his coaching years. This is a great firing. Yep, it's a very funny tweet.

Perfectly constructed in the exact format of like A beat writer that's about to go to bat for somebody that does not need to be going to bat for.

I know everything about Jason Kidd. He sucks.

Yeah, very good joke.

Pilates instructor. Yeah, throw him in there. Okay, you got one or no?

Uh, no, no, my, mine was— I was starting with I'm getting there.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, let me switch back and forth, but I do have one right here. Um, it's actually kind of an old segment that we used to do, Radio Wars. So in, in the offseason, there would be back and forth about you know, sometimes usually between Philly radio stations, they would get into arguments with each other, kind of fill some of that space after football was over. And now I feel like we might be in a beef right now. Oh, we might be beefing.

Who are we beefing with?

Uh, with Toucher and Rich.

Yep.

Which sounds like that's, that's just the name for Glenn and Jeffrey Upstate back in the day. That was, that was, that was their going out name. Um, but Apparently they're not happy with the way that we conducted the Bill Belichick interview. But they said something that was wild today because I guess they're— they're a Boston radio show, right? Yeah. And so they've been around Belichick for a while, probably got sick of the way that he used to treat the media sometimes, which is like he's always been a grumpy guy, never been like, you know, the most forthcoming when he didn't have to be. So it sounds to me like they don't really care for him that much based on the small amount that I've heard. But then one of them said something. I don't know if it was Toucher or if it was Rich or who it was, but they said that Belichick right now needed us more than we need Belichick. And they're like, I wonder what the part of my take, guys, like we're getting out of having Bill Belichick on the podcast. It's like, wait, what? He's the best football coach of all time.

We want to talk to the guy about football. And then the other guy said, Bill Belichick right now is more known for dating Jordan Hudson. Than he is for anything else. And it's like, wait, what? Have we completely lost the plot? Oh, yep.

I, I agree with that.

That's—

she's our queen.

We can agree to disagree.

Our queen.

We got— I think he is most known still for being a football coach, but it's like the guy that can do it all.

Yeah. I mean, so, Hank, where are you at with this beef? Because you, you started this beef on— no, they started— you retaliated.

I kind of retaliated. I think that The clip he's talking about is the original clip.

Oh.

No, there's no, it is what it is. PFT's right. He's like, they have a longstanding beef with Belichick and they need to fill their time. They need to talk shit about Belichick. They're never going to be complimentary.

I saw one tweet that was like, Hennys did not back down.

Fuck yeah, Henk.

Way to go. That's my boy.

This is great. This is from Boston Radio Watch, which I'm going to follow that account.

Looks like—

oh, Toucher and Hardy just started a beef with Barstool as part of my take. Oh, they roasted PMT's Belichick interview on air yesterday, and PMT's Hank Lockwood didn't exactly take it lying down.

Let's go.

That's the tweet.

That's the tweet I was talking about.

My guy Hank.

That's my boy.

Phrased a little bit.

Doesn't take it lying down.

Yeah.

So I like—

he's in— unless he's in Vandy Woodhead and we got a long drive.

Yeah, fair.

Sitting down.

Yeah. Yeah.

So we were strategizing how we could both lay down.

Cuddle, big spoon, little spoon.

No, because there was, there was a little alley for— we were like, I could go on the floor right there and then Hank could make the back row a bed.

We, we were, we were trying to figure out how to lean up against me.

The back does fill out.

You should have just both gotten on the bed.

We could have snugged.

Yeah, you could have vacuumed beforehand. Yeah, I learned that today, that Vinnie Woodhead has a vacuum in there.

Great vacuum.

I hit a bump on the way to Waffle House And I was like, I heard this noise like, oh, fuck, Vinny Woodhead's about to break. Felt like a real handyman because I went back and I just turned the vacuum off and I was like, look at that. I'm like, I can fix cars. So where are we at with the beef?

I don't know. It's more, more a question for Hank because he's the one that's leading this battle.

So I'm not leading this battle. They took a shot. I said, fuck them. And that's where I stand.

Wow. But he did not back down.

So, guys, you guys can just fuck them.

Okay.

All right.

Fuck them. Yeah.

So yeah, I guess the battle rages on.

Yeah, we should, we should just title this.

Quote card. Yeah, we make a quote card.

Yeah.

Of Henny saying fuck them.

Yeah.

In reference to Rich and Touchy or.

Yeah, we should, we should honestly, we should, we should title this episode Hank Doesn't Back Down Again.

Oh, you know what I love? I love the, the thumbnails and the headlines that always say like So-and-so breaks his silence. Yeah, that's real high, right? Hank Lockwood breaks his silence on Boston Radio Beat with Toucher and Richardson.

Oh, man. Okay. Grit Week. Great Grit Week, boys. We were at the Saints, so we woke up in Baton Rouge on Wednesday morning. We went to Waffle House. Delicious. Hank tried to shame you for not having grits.

He did, in fact, shame me for not having grits.

What I did, I just said, like, your whole spiel before the Waffle House was like, I'm going to have grits every day.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. There's no spiel. What spiel are you talking about?

Your monolog.

I did a monolog.

I didn't do a monolog.

I—

in your conversation on this show, I think I was like, maybe I'll have grits. I actually—

it's like a spiel.

I actually remember it.

Yeah.

No, PFT got in front of all of us on Sunday. He goes, you guys hear about this thing called grits? You started the model.

Is it a spiel?

Your keynote was TED Talk. I'm gonna, I'm gonna eat grits every day at Waffle House.

My keynote. Yeah, my keynote spiel. Yeah, thesis. I, listen, I said that I would like to eat Waffle House every meal because I love Waffle House, but then sometimes what unselfish people do, Hank, is when they're in a situation where they're around others, they don't make everybody else change their calendar for the things that they want to do. So I was like, you know what, let's eat some pub subs. Let's, let's have some good meals on the road if we find ourselves at a Waffle House. This is deflection. That'll be great.

This is deflection.

Sometimes you go right past the Chick-fil-A that your brother works at and you just don't tell anyone that your brother—

so yeah, exactly. We talk about that because we, we have to go back now. Uh, we'll leave Wednesday morning. Well, that's where we'll come back to if you want to bookmark that. Uh, Zach, we found out— we went through Tallahassee and Zach told us afterwards his brother owns 3 Chick-fil-A's in Tallahassee runs 3 Chick-fil-A.

He runs the stores, though.

Yeah.

And you were like, not— you weren't going to tell us. We weren't going to—

we drove by the one that his brother was at. Like, we were on the road and the Chick-fil-A was to the right of us.

See his car? No, no.

Usually they park on a parking lot across the street. It's like behind a different building.

Look, I totally understand if your brother doesn't want to be on camera or stuff. I would have just liked to meet him because you are your brother's keeper. I want to know who you've been keeping all these years.

I—

so I know we had like 10 hours on the road and I didn't want to be selfish of everybody's time.

But we stopped at— we stopped at a Publix 2 minutes away and that was our longest stop.

Yeah, true.

Looking back, that does make more sense. But that's where my headspace was in the moment. I was like, I know there's a lot to do this week.

I don't want your brother not like us.

What's up?

Oh, no, my brother likes you guys.

Does your brother have— does he have the same tattoo?

No, he's got tattoos. We just have different tattoos.

Does he have one that's like About you? Yes.

You have one that says like, kept by Zach?

Yeah. If lost, please return to Zach.

No, no, I just— I'm bummed because I asked afterwards, I was like, what's your brother like? Is he basically just you? And you said yes, but cooler. Like, this is like a possible Urkel and Stefan Urkel situation.

Yeah, he's me, but cool. He's one of the coolest guys the globe has.

Yeah. Guy.

Does he have— does he have glasses?

It does.

Now, are you saying he's one of the coolest guys in the world because you keep him? No, no, I'm not doing it. That's a good pelt on your wall.

I would say I'm a supporting cast member in his world.

Oh, okay. I bet you he runs his own Chick-fil-A too.

Oh yeah, he's, he's, uh, he's great.

Sunday off, that's nice.

Yeah, that is kind of money. I think they went this Sunday, I think they went beach.

Okay, nice. And then, uh, all right, so we— so back to Wednesday, we went to Waffle House, then we drove to Go ahead.

Well, going back to Waffle House, PFT did a deflection there. I did not care that you didn't go to Waffle House every meal. Like, that was fine. The point that you also made with the Waffle House was, I'm going to go to Waffle House and eat grits. So when we went to Waffle House, all I said— I did not accuse you, I did not come at you. I just said, PFT, did you get grits? Question mark. Just because I was remembering you saying verbatim mid-spiel That sounds—

we're back to the spiel.

It sounds anti-Semitic when you say the word spiel.

I'm gonna go to Waffle House and eat grits for every meal.

Uh-huh.

So I was just like, oh, surely we went to Waffle House one time, you must have got grits.

Yeah, so that was not— when you have your cute little attitude like that, you know, you hear some— hear some things. Maybe that's just a product of us knowing each other so well that I hear when you're being a bitch and I pick up on it. Um, Listen, the fact is I forgot to order grits and I apologize for that. If anyone out there is disappointed, OK, yeah, I screwed up. Nobody to blame but myself. I did try to order grits halfway through the meal, which was fantastic. Got the hash brown bowl with sausage and a blueberry nougat waffle, which I believe is a new menu item, but it's fantastic. So I did order the grits and then the grits, they just never came out. Yeah, they just never showed up.

It was fantastic waffles.

Yeah, it was better than you say, Max.

That makes sense.

What?

I forgot about this whole spiel, to be honest with you, until, until somebody reminded me and I asked PFT what he ordered and he was like, oh yeah, I got the, I got the hash brown bowl with sausage and then I, and I ordered grits, but they never came out. I was like, you just didn't need to tell me that you ordered something that never came out.

Yeah, he did.

So now I know why.

He's circling back to his State of the Union that he did before the grit week started. Got it.

Now it's all making a lot of sense.

Now it makes sense.

Cause I was thinking, as you said that, I was like, That sucks, but that's okay. You didn't need to tell me that. I asked what you got.

Yeah, yeah, I had Hank's little face dancing around my head.

You know, I didn't say that.

I just asked.

Didn't order grits. All right, so then we went to the Saints. Great day with the Saints. Shout out everyone at the Saints. It was incredible hospitality.

Yeah.

Kellen Moore interviews coming up. We also did a couple other interviews that will run next week. Got to see Tyler Shuck, got to throw the ball around with Tyler Shuck. Max, you were back here between PFT, myself, Zach, and Hank. I think Tyler Shuck threw us probably 30 to 35 passes. Ball did not touch the ground. Yeah, it was— I can't tell you, like, catching his spiral is a dream. It's a dream.

His balls are even better in person. It's like you can't help but catch it. It lands perfectly. It lands softly. And it's coming in with a good amount of velocity. We had a shock, but man, it feels soft.

We had our hands all over Shuck's balls. He was great.

I would say official stat line: 34 for 34, 512 yards, no touchdowns, some deep passes. Yeah, no touchdowns, no touchdowns.

We never got in the end zone.

Do you think we're gonna see an All-Pro?

Not a lot of yak. Yeah, not a lot of yak.

All-Pro year for sure.

Yeah, no, yeah, because Max wasn't there.

Yeah, All-Pro year, floating. Oh, I think that there's definitely something to Zach. So we went to the Saints' whole facility, they gave us the whole tour. We went to— they have their ice cream machine, which— what was the, what was the ice cream machine?

They had a spaceman machine.

Yeah, so we actually looked at that machine, uh, and Zach knew right away. He's like, no, this, this machine— listen, he's not going to judge another man's machine, but we wouldn't buy— we did not buy that machine when we were looking for machines. Zach, though, said that he could fix that machine in like 2 minutes because it was a little soupy. We might have to start sending Jacob and Zach around as like a John Taffer for ice cream machines. Would be—

I love that idea.

Doesn't it always come out soupy to start, though?

So it can come out soupy.

The first cone is going to be soupy if it's—

if the machine's not getting enough reps. But it was coming through soft all the way through. So that's more of like a viscosity problem.

Yeah.

Oh, Zach diagnosed it instantly. He's like House. He's like, yeah, I know, I know what's going on here.

You'll see, like, at the office, if the ice cream is soft, if you, if you run like a little bit into a cup, the next ice cream cone will be firm.

Yeah.

Their machine was just kind of—

it's viscosity soft all the way through.

Well, the humidity here is probably— is that a factor?

No.

I mean, it was 60 degrees in the cafeteria, so I don't know if the humidity was much of a factor.

It's indoors. It was in—

it's definitely something they can fix pretty easily.

Yeah.

Yeah. And we heard that the, the owner of the Saints, she likes the ice cream like a little bit on the softer side. So that's— it was actually intentional. So it's not like, you know, different strokes, different folks, what we say, different creams for different teams.

And we went, we went to the gym. Ted Rath just went after PFT.

It was going to be my fire.

Okay, we'll talk about it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And also the Saints gave us a great gift for the office. They gave us the— if you remember when Drew Brees broke the record for passing yards, he got the little laminated card that just said like Drew Brees all-time passing yards and he held it up and it was very funny because it was like, this is all he gets mid-game.

It was like an 8x11 sheet of paper.

Yeah.

So they gave us the backup one. They made two. They gave us the backup one. We're going to hang it like a banner, which will look ridiculous because it is just a piece of paper laminated.

Like a spot it if you can. Like, yeah, I spy.

Right.

Like an I spy. You can even notice it.

I think in our office you probably have to take your phone out and then zoom in on the camera to be able to read it from the ground. Yeah, but yeah, it is a piece quite literally of NFL history.

Yeah, so great, great weekend. Then everyone please watch the vlog. So if you, you're listening to this right now, Thursday we dropped the vlog with, uh, Friday we're dropping it over Friday. Okay, with Blake Bortles. So watch it today. Blake Bortles, uh, with us in the backyard. We built a swing set for, uh, not just a swing set, an entire place, a playset for a kid battling cancer. And it was— so we started it, obviously that entire idea was a joke where Blake has always talked about wanting to sit on a construction site, rip cigs, hang out with the guys, throw a football around. And we're like, all right, we'll go to Jacksonville, we'll do that. Then the people from Rock Solid hit us up and they're like, hey, if you're serious about this, could you come help us? Yes, of course. It was awesome. Like, it actually felt good to be able to do something like that. The kid loved that he came out and he, you know, went down the slide. And, and he can't go to the regular park because he's immunocompromised. So it's really cool. Blake is the man. Watch the vlog.

Please help out and donate to Rock Solid if you can.

It's R-O-C, Rock Solid Foundation. Uh, great charity. It sounds like they do some really really awesome work to make a lot of kids happy in some pretty tough times. But that was— it was an awesome time out there.

Yeah, it really was.

We had volunteers and we were joking, like, because it was what, the, the 4 of us, Max, Blake, Memes. We even had all, you know, the people we had helping, Mulcahy's helping. So we had like 8 of us and then there was, I think, 4 volunteers from Rock Solid.

Yeah.

If we didn't have the 4 volunteers from Rock Solid, it would have— it took us like 3 hours, I think it would have taken. We would still be building that.

Oh, that's easy.

It was— they'll help.

Help!

At one point, Max and I just had to raise our hand and ask for an adult.

Yeah.

And I think everybody there was younger than us.

Yeah, it was, it was quite something. But yeah, really cool that we got to do that. We really appreciate the people from Rock Solid. And do, do donate if you can. We'll put, put the— we'll post a link on all of our socials so people can help out. They do awesome. They said they build like I think like 350 playgrounds for kids throughout the year. So they're building one like basically every day, uh, and a lot of these kids can't go to regular playgrounds. So now they have a place to play outside, uh, through a really tough battle and really tough time. Cancer is not fair. Childhood cancer is like the, you know, it's just, it's just you can't comprehend it. So, uh, shout out those people.

And then, and also congratulations to Zach, uh, for winning the Golden Hammer. Yeah, yeah, like the game ball of the console.

Congratulations to Max.

Whole vlog.

Awarded to X. Oh wait, I also got a Golden Hammer.

Congratulations.

Wait, did anyone else get one?

Yeah, I got one.

Oh wait, you got one?

Yeah, I got one.

I was trying me hardest.

Zach, you got one?

Well, it's like Kellen Moore, like, I guess we'll get there, but if you—

let's just spoil everything.

If you give out one Golden Hammer, like, I don't know that two or three matters. It's kind of like makes the other ones insignificant, in my opinion.

Our Golden Hammer team would beat your Golden Hammer team, or our non-Golden Hammer team would beat your Golden Hammer team in football.

Ball.

Disagree.

Me, Hank, and Blake Bortles. We're running away.

I forgot, I forgot about that last member there.

That's on me, that's on me.

He's a golfer now. He says he doesn't throw anymore.

Uh, and then, uh, shout out to the AWLs who met us on Bourbon Street. Great meetup. Uh, thank you to Twisted T too. People were having a lot of tweez. It was a great time.

And someone brought a game-used Hank doll. That was a first.

That was awesome. I signed his dick.

I signed his ass.

You see a lot, you know, I've seen a lot of things over the years, but that was the first time Someone brought a chewed up doll of myself. Also, when I went to my brother's house in San Diego last week, I— that like he had like his dog Mookie just came running out with me. I kind of forgot about it.

Loved it.

It's unbelievable.

Wasn't expecting it, but when it came running out, I was like, this is ridiculous.

So what do your parents think about the toy?

They love it.

They have—

they have them.

They have everyone loves it.

Yeah.

Like they put it— I think I sent you the picture. They put it as the star of our Christmas tree.

That's right. Yeah.

Yeah. Hank, you're loved. You are loved.

Have you come around on it finally where now it's like, yes, it's pretty cool that I have my own? It's fun.

It makes me laugh. The picture, it like— it's still like it was an insult toy by you. I can find humor in it and it makes me laugh seeing them in the wild, kind of. But it's just ridiculous.

I like it. I love it when somebody sends me a video of a dog just going to town.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I actually like it when a kid— when a kid's also playing with it. Yeah. But it's like a kid's throwing it around. It works for everyone. It's one size fits all. And then last thing before we get to Kellen Moore and Coach O, we're going to Coach O, then Kellen Moore. Listen to Kellen Moore. One of the funniest moments of Grit Week happened during Kellen Moore's interview.

I would say one of the funniest moments in Grit Week history.

Yeah, sure.

We'll also get to it for Fyre Fest.

Yeah, yeah.

We'll probably talk about it at Fyre Fest. But your Fyre Fest, not my Fyre Fest. Thank you. Thank you to all the behind-the-scenes people. So Jonah, our sound guy all week, uh, Jacob, Shane. I'm not gonna thank Memes because of the, uh, Knicks debacle on Tuesday night, uh, and also you're not as much behind the scenes, you're on, you're on the scenes too, uh, Caitlin, the Mulcahy's security guard, Mike. It takes like Colton. Colton, Colton was good. Colton never went outside.

Colton has just been grinding, grinding.

Colton. Colton, I actually asked him, I was like, did you go outside today on Tuesday? And he's like, yeah, I stepped out for a minute. I was like, did you eat? He's like, yeah, I had a little food. He was just grinding all day making sure these interviews— because it's a quick turnaround, hotel Wi-Fi, and all the vlogs.

That's why you have to watch all the vlogs. He's just been editing every piece of content that we've been doing this whole week.

Amazing work. The, the bus driver that drove this studio around, yeah, shout out her.

Yep. So a lot of, a lot of people behind the scenes, uh, helping us, uh Put on a good grit week. What was that, Zach?

Nothing, we just found such great work that— oh, such a great week that I just get like, uh, a little animated with my hands, and that's on me.

Okay, sorry about that. Yeah, yeah, no, no, you could— don't, don't apologize for your hands.

I was excited. It's just been such a great week, I just got a little excited.

What would you do?

I didn't see it.

It's just like, uh, you know, you shout at the bus driver and he's like—

no, we were shouting at everybody, but that one was the bus driver and you were like, yes. Yeah. Did you get a chance to meet her?

That's all. We just What a week we've had, gentlemen.

What a week.

What a week.

And also shout out Brandon from UNC, Sawyer from LSU, and Grant from the Saints, because I was working with all those guys the last month and a half making sure we could get all the access. And they were so, so nice.

Alex with the Saints, too. Yeah, great stuff.

They, they were very awesome to work with, go back and forth. They made it super easy trying to get this all booked. So I appreciate their help. And, uh, yeah, it was like seamless. What are you gonna say, Max? You're gonna say something?

I, I don't, I don't remember.

Okay, okay, good, good point, Max. All right, sorry, let's get to Coach O. Negative star. We're gonna do Coach O, then we're gonna do Kellen Moore and finish with Fire Fest of the Week. Coach O is brought to you by our friends at Chevy. This is a truck, this Is a truck— is— cut.

Hank, you've been doing stupid shit all week, dude. I did one stupid thing.

I didn't say anything.

You did.

You did your stupid face.

All right, Hank wasn't saying anything.

No, but he does.

He does the fuck— he does.

Yeah, he does face.

This time it was blatant.

Oh yeah, you saw that, right, Hank? Yeah, it was disgusting.

We're keeping all this. Well, I'll do the ad in a second. Hank's best quality is that he doesn't He just serves you looks and then he says, well, I didn't say anything.

Hank walks around the Barstool office doing these disgusting looks at people and he's like, I don't know why everyone thinks that I hate them.

Yeah, he just fucking— he's so emotive with his face and then he's like, well, I didn't say anything, so you can't get mad at me.

I didn't.

You say everything with your face. Oh yeah, he's just doing it now. Oh yeah, yeah, that one shit.

Memes.

Memes does that too. Oh, that's when you have a bad idea.

When you have a bad idea, Hank, He goes, I mean, I just looked over at Max.

He goes, Max, he goes, yeah, that's—

no one thinks anything of that.

But you know what we do? We lift our brothers up. Yeah, when they're struggling, we're like, that's fine, Max, thanks for trying to contribute. You'll think of it soon.

People love it. And we move on.

You don't look at him and go, Hank, do you think that people, that people outside of this podcast at Barstool are scared of you?

At Barstool?

Yeah, yeah, PFT, PFT.

This is great for the audio listeners of that.

We're just doing some really— chat thinks we're being so funny right now. We're doing some great looks. All right, let's get to Coach O. Uh, there'll probably be more of this in Fyre Fest because it is— Great Week's always a fun week where we, uh, we spend so much time together. We love each other, but we also fight like, uh, little brothers. Uh, all week. So Coach O's brought to you by Chevy. This truck is the definition of grit. Long days, dirty work, and showing up day after day no matter the conditions. Strong, dependable, and built for the grind. Because grit isn't about being flashy, it's about being ready when it's time to go. That's Silverado— all grit, no quit. Check out the current offers and build your Silverado at chevy.com. We had the Chevy Silverado Grit Week truck driving with us. Mike was driving it, Memes was driving it, making sure that, uh, they were, they were tailing Vanny Woodhead in case Vanny Woodhead had any issues. The Chevy Silverado is incredible. We've been in the truck, it is such a smooth drive. It's an awesome, awesome truck. You get up there and you feel great.

So go check out the current offers and build your Silverado at chevy.com. Okay, here he is, Coach O. Okay, we now welcome on a very, very, very very special guest. We could not come to Louisiana, Baton Rouge, New Orleans without seeing our good friend Coach O. Coach, great to have you. Uh, it's Grit Week and it's presented by Twisted Tea. I've actually— we've asked you this question before, but we gotta start with it again. Maybe I'll ask it this way: has your definition of grit changed at all, and if so, how has it changed?

Not at all. Hey, you know, grit is, is be able to face adversity, dig in deep, scrape your face against the cement when it's tough, full of blood, facing adversity and coming out victorious.

I love that. I love that. So how is it that, like, we've been here for 24 hours, we've been here a bunch, and it's awesome that we have you here because you were one of our first very big guests on Grit Week. We've been doing this for 10 years. Louisiana, are you— is everyone just always wet? It feels like it's just wet. I, I've changed like 3 shirts today. I've had to take 2 different showers.

It's just wet all the time. Yeah, I love it. Love the sweat. And you know what?

It's got Spend more time with it.

Got to get used to it. Yeah. So Ray Baker, the sun, and then I don't know what we're going to call the humidity, but yeah, you get used to it. You'll be good with it.

It's like a steam room.

It is a steam room. We stopped by Mike the Tiger's pen on the way. Show us, you know, out of respect, want to say hi to Mike and talk to Coach Kiffin. He hasn't met Mike the Tiger yet. And I feel like that's something that you have to do as head coach at Louisiana State. You have to look Mike the Tiger in the eyes. And develop a mutual respect, or at least, you know, show that bond.

Spend some time with him.

Spend some time with him. Yeah. So do you remember the first time that you locked eyes with Mike the Tiger?

Yeah. You know, I remember we had some recruits and I was actually working under Coach Miles and he had a deal where he knew the person that would feed the Tiger. So we got to go in there, feed the Tiger some raw meat and see how he reacted after raw meat, which pretty good.

So became friends with you, associated you with—

yeah, yeah, you're safe with violence. Yeah.

We also brought up the— I was, I was asking him the story about, uh, I don't know if you remember this, the Tennessee-Alabama game when you were coaching with Coach Kiffin, getting the team fired up before that game, because that was a big game at the time. And it was, uh, who was it that blocked the— it was a blocked kick.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Big, big— what's his name? Cody. Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he took his helmet off. Should have been a penalty.

It should have been a penalty, but The story goes that you smashed a projector before to get the boys fired up.

Yeah, probably something like that.

How many times? How many things do you think you've smashed before? Because obviously it worked. You have a national title. You're a very accomplished head coach. And also, I would say one of the best motivators, just being around you the little bit I have, one of the best motivators I've ever seen. But would it be like, hey, we need this game, so I'm going to smash— like, would it go up in size, like, depending on how important the game was?

You know, no question. Yeah.

So what would— what's something small and then what's something like, all right, this is the biggest game of the season.

Yeah. You know, one of the things I used to like to do is get up a bunch of sharks attacking people, blood, you know, and see them attack and tear legs off and stuff like that and have, have like a defensive lineman going after the quarterback. And then you see the shark attack the person, the defensive lineman go after the quarterback. Yeah.

What, a video?

Yeah, a video. Oh yeah, sure. Show the team right before the game that this is who we are. This is who the quarterback is and this is what we want him to look like.

It is your shot.

Be a shark.

Be a shark today.

Shark.

Yeah, I like that a lot. So what have you been up to? I feel like it's been a while since we talked to you. You're back here in Baton Rouge, which is amazing. I mean, I feel like this is— you're still a king. You'll always be a king in this city. But what have you been up to these days?

You know, first of all, I had all 3 of my boys in the college football playoffs.

Wow.

My twin boys, two at Miami and one at Tulane.

Yeah.

And man, I went to all the games I could. And believe me, I saw some great games. I love the college football playoffs this year. Yeah. I thought there were some great games. And you know, so I got to see Ohio State play for the first time. I got to see Ole Miss and Miami play. I got to see the championship game.

Yeah.

Yeah, I watched my son at Tulane. And I just saw some great players and great teams. Then after that, I moved back here. I've been with my boxing trainer. I go box every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning from 9 to 11. Yeah. 2 hours. Yeah. It takes a lot out of me. Yeah. And I went this morning and I'll go again tomorrow morning if you all want to come.

I think we're out on morning workouts. I'm more of a yoga guy myself.

You all think hot yoga or something. Bring it on, boy. But anyway, I've really been enjoying coming home. I've attended a lot of events. I've been to LSU baseball game for the first time. I had a company, I brought them around. We saw Coach Kiffin. We went to tour the facility. I went to Tiger Stadium for the first time. And so it was good to be back.

Yeah, that's great.

So you spent a lot of time around the Miami football program this year.

Yeah.

You're a defensive line guy. Tell me about that defensive line and just how intense and how violent they were because they were so impressive to me.

Yeah, they were. And, you know, that's what Mario built that team around. And Bain and Mesidor were phenomenal football players, even better workers. And Jason did a great job of coaching them. I thought they got better as the season went on. I thought— and Bain's Ohio State game, he started revving it up a little bit. Those guys took over in the playoffs, man. And it was great to see, especially their pass rush ability. Unbelievable.

Do you, as someone who knows the defensive line as well as you do, do you, do you take any credence in like the NFL scouting Bain and being like, oh, his arms are too short? Or is like, hey man, this guy could ball. It doesn't matter. A baller's a baller. Like, just let him play.

You know, remember they told Joe Burrow his hands were too small. You remember that?

Yeah. Yeah.

His hands are too small. Yeah. You know, I think, I think that could be overstated. Sometimes it's right, sometimes it's wrong. With this guy, he's a football player, he's a baller. I don't know why he dropped to Tampa Bay. I thought he was going to go top 10, but I thought Tampa Bay did a great job of drafting him. He's in a great place. I think he's going to have a great career.

How so? When we talk about the NFL Draft, and it's interesting because it feels like a lot of times a lot of these guys are very similar in traits and production. And it kind of comes down to like who loves football and who loves football to a level that it's going to take to be good in the NFL. How long do you think it would take you to sit with someone before you can determine like that's a guy who loves football or that guy doesn't love football?

2 minutes.

2 minutes. See, teams should hire you. Honestly, that would be incredible if you just went around and just said, you're just, just talk to me about ball and I'll find out very quickly. Do we? We love football, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, hey, I came here, I'm trying to talk to y'all. Y'all checking the scores or something?

Yeah.

I don't know what's playing right now. Y'all checking some score?

No, we do. We do absolutely love football. Throughout the last few years since you've been out of the game, did you fall out of love with football or did you?

Never.

Are you coming back? You love it more?

Oh my, yeah. Always. I'm always going to be involved in football somehow. You know, I got my 3 boys coaching. I go to practice. Every Tuesday at Miami. Sometimes I go to Tulane. I go to games on Saturday. If I'm not at a game, I'm watching football from Saturday morning till I fall asleep on the sofa. So, and I'm keeping up with it all. You know, I get up now, I gotta admit, you know, when I was young, I used to get up and look at the Twitter machine. I look at nice girls, you know what I mean? Now I look at football and TikTok I told Joe, I said, the other night I'm watching you on a Pilates machine at 1:00 in the morning.

I know I'm getting old. You know, is it so? Mario did an incredible job with this Miami team. Feels like he has everything in that program going in the right direction. What is it like? It must feel very— it must feel awesome to see a guy who you knew way back when he was a player to have this type of success. And like, what does that when you're watching some of the guys that you've touched throughout the years?

So happy. Look, he's been around some great coaches. He's learned. But I've been with him since his first day of practice. Right. And I saw him change that roster and get better and better and better. And the size of the line— his offensive line, as you guys know, and he built that team after the Miami blueprint on defense, but after his blueprint on offense, he wants to be big. And smash-mouth football. Look, the thing about, you know, paying players and transfer portal and NIL, you hear none of that at Miami. When you go out to practice, Mario's the head coach. Everybody's got it. Everything's in line. It's a pecking order. Yes, sir. No, sir. And they practice it and you don't hear none of that BS. And they practice as a Miami football team. That's what I'm most proud of.

Yeah, that's cool.

Over the years, since you've seen so much football, I hear a lot of coaches sometimes talk about different positions that they coach. Some say, you know, the positions are being taught differently. Some might not think that, you know, they're being taught as well as they were back in the day. What do you see from the defensive line? Like, is defensive line play— has it gotten consistently better over the years?

I see the teams that I watch, I see great defensive line coaches. So if not, I'm going to fix it. I'm going to jump in there and fix it. I can tell you that right now. You know, but they know I'm there. But, you know, Miami's got some great defensive line coaches and I really like the way they coach. Tulane, I think Tulane did a great job of coaching their defensive line. Now, I don't— I see on TV some guys don't know how to play blocks well. You know, I see some teams getting some players getting double-teamed, getting knocked out of the gap, not playing with great great technique. So I can't see it. I see everybody play with great technique, right? And I'm not gonna say what team, but they piss me off when I see it, right?

Is there one guy that you've, um, that you've seen over the course of your career coaching, like the most, uh, dominant defensive lineman that you've had a chance to be around?

Uh, oh, everything all the time. Sapp.

Yeah, yeah.

And look, you know, when Sapp, when Sapp took off in his stance This is what you heard, like a snake. I never heard that before. I didn't tell nobody. That's how fast he was, man. Think about it. He was 265 and he ran a 4— no, he's 275 and ran a 4.65 40. And he was mean as hell. Now he, now Sap. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

He got it now.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

So we're here at LSU. It's different here. It really is. Like, if you've ever been here, go to a game. It's different. Your guy Lane Kiffin is now the head coach. Have you given him any advice on like what it is like here and the culture? Because it is—

it's—

there's certain schools and certain jobs that are just completely different than the rest of, you know, 100 other jobs. And I count LSU as one of them. I'm sure you would agree.

Embrace the state of Louisiana and its people. Use it as your advantage. Recruit them, love them, keep them involved. And when you walk down that Tiger Walk and there's 30,000 people, your feet are going to be that high. But when you walk out that little tunnel, that little square that looks so small, and you walk in there, there's 100,000 people. Screaming at the top of their lungs. It's an energy level that you have never felt before. Use it as your advantage for your team. Recruit them every day.

Right. Yeah, that's good advice because it is— it just feels like this state and this program, they're so intertwined in a way that maybe Ohio State, maybe Alabama. But other than that, there's just not a lot of places like this.

And, and look, We're the only big school in the state, right? Saturday night, everybody's watching the Tigers. Now, you guys were there at the Superdome.

Yeah.

You remember that energy?

Oh, yeah.

You remember when we pulled up to that Superdome? There was 300 people in front of the bus out of Marriott. They didn't want to let us leave.

Yeah.

So we go Tigers. Yeah. And then when we pulled up there, it was a synergy. It was an energy that you just can't match at other places. Maybe Alabama. Maybe, maybe somewhere else, but right here we're the only big school in the state.

Yeah. And actually, you know what the funny thing is, because we were at the Superdome for the national championship game, incredible game. The, the— when I tell people to come to Death Valley and come on a Saturday night, I actually tell them we went to a game when you guys lost 28-nothing to— or maybe 29-nothing to Alabama. And that pregame and even in the first quarter and the second quarter, it was still so goddamn loud. And you guys had nothing going on. Offense. That was the year before the year.

That's right.

And it's like that told me everything. It wasn't when you're on the top, on top, it's when you're still climbing and people are still going nuts and crazy for you.

And that's what I was— that's what I told Lane. Look, recruit them. They're going to be there for you thick and thin. The guy before didn't do it. And you cannot disassociate yourself with these people because this is their life. Now, look, rich, poor, indifferent, North Louisiana, South Louisiana, all worker, rich man, they are all the same. And look, those cooks and those people working offshore, they're pulling for them Tigers, man. Yeah, they listen to it on the radio, they watch it on TV, they betting on it. That's their life.

Yeah.

Have you gone back and watched that championship game?

You know, I, I never watched the whole thing. Yeah, every once in a while I watch like bits and pieces like they have on the internet and stuff like that. I was— Jamar Chase eating that cornerback up.

Yeah.

Yeah. You should do that sometime. It would be fascinating. You should— what you should do is you should watch it and you should sit there with a microphone and a recorder and just give your thoughts as the game goes on. Relive it. Put yourself back in those shoes because at the start it wasn't— yeah, you guys ended up blowing them out. But at the beginning it was a little back and forth.

Back and forth.

It was a little dicey. I don't know how you felt at the time, but I, in the stands, I was nervous watching because I wanted you guys to win so much at the very beginning. It, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't a blowout from the very kickoff.

Back and forth. We'll get an ass kick.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, and we— what happened is we should have never took that penalty. We didn't want to take the penalty. It was a mistake. And we, we gave them 5 more yards and— no, no, no, we put them 5 yards back so they put the ball on the like the minus 3 yard line and they were blitzing us. They were coming and we couldn't pick it up. And I remember saying this and they asked me this about Joe Brady. By the way, I think the Buffalo Bills got another guy.

Yeah, right.

You got a great coach.

Okay.

And they asked me this. Well, tell me something about Joe. I said, well, you know, obviously he helped us put in the spread, but we're losing against Clemson and I'm about to lose my shit. I'm not happy. What the hell's going on? And Joe Brady got on the headset and said, hey, let's stick to the plan. We're all right. And you know what? That made me feel good because somebody on the other side had enough confidence to tell the head coach, we're all right. Just calm down. We're going to make it. And he was right.

Yeah, I'd love to hear your thoughts. You should watch it again because it was an amazing game. And, you know, especially the second half when you guys just turned it on, it was so much fun to watch. You should go back and watch that. If for no other reason than to just be like, you know, that was an amazing time.

Yes.

In Louisiana State football history.

I have a question about— because you're right, PFT, I have a question about a different game because that game back and forth, the game before that against Oklahoma.

Yeah.

Has enough time passed that you can admit that like in the first quarter you're like, this is going to be fucking easy?

What? I played on a high school team, you know. I actually became a fan. I was on the sideline going, go Joe, go. I was like, wow, you know, you had a coach, you know, every play, you know, you test like that. It was like, hey, let's go, guys. Look at this shit. Hey guys, did y'all see that play? Wow, you see that play Joe just made? And then Justin Jefferson, they couldn't cover him.

Yeah.

And plus our defense played very well too.

Yeah. 63-28 and you guys were up 49-14 at halftime. Time. Yeah, that's— yeah, that's, that's time to just be like, hey, because most coaches will say, and, and they'll be like, oh no, you got to play till the last one. That was a game watching it on TV, I was like, this is just not— they're just— no one's on their level right now. You guys are just playing at a different level. It's not fair.

Yeah, and it was. And you know, and, and you're right, Big Cat. Look, as a coach, you rarely want to say that, but there's sometimes you got to say, you know what, Look at this shit, man.

Wow. That game definitely deserves that. Yeah.

Yeah, we got him. So how are things right now between you and Louisiana State?

Great.

On good terms. Everything's good.

Great.

Go ahead. I assume the people just love you. Feel the love when you come.

Even more. Yeah, even more since the last debacle.

Yeah, it's true.

What were your honest thoughts when he went out onto that basketball court the very first time?

It's over. Ain't got a chance. You ain't got a chance, man. And you know, and not only the fans see it, the players see that. Yeah. And they're like, yeah, what was that? You know, one of the things, and you guys know this, man, the players got to trust you. You got to be who you are. If you try to be somebody you ain't, they're gonna smell it right away.

Yeah.

Yeah. I don't think anyone ever had that question about you and about your love love for the university. So with Joe Brady, we're a big fan of his too. Love Joe. Um, that was kind of a roll of the dice that you took when you had co-offensive coordinators, right? Like, no one knew that was going to work out. Uh, what was it about Joe that made you confident that, um, it's going to be a good match between him and Burrow?

Look, I, I think I told you guys this before. I made a 10 on my ACT, okay?

All right, 10. You did not tell us that.

So you spelled your name correct?

Yeah. All right. But I got a thing called situational awareness that I'll trade. I'll trade that in for anything.

Yeah.

And I can walk in a room, I can figure shit out. You know, I was in the ballrooms when I was 15 years old, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

And, you know, you learn a lot in those ballrooms.

It's true, though. You're— what you're saying, and I completely agree, is like knowing you could be the smartest person in the world, but if you don't have any sense of where your blind spots are, you can look like a fool. Whereas someone who might not be the smartest person in the world, if they know where their blind spots are, they have the self-awareness to realize that, that person goes farther.

Apply it. And so we wanted to learn the RPOs. And he was at Penn State with the guy that was at Mississippi State, and he knew it. And we knew some guys at the Saints. I was at the Saints. Coach Michaels at the Saints. They said, look, Joe knows the RPOs. Let's bring him over. So we did some personnel deals and I walked in the room and he was on the board and it took me about 2 minutes and I said, you know what? This guy is special. I want him on my staff. I didn't say nothing to anybody. And as the season went on, that game, 28, 29, nothing. I went up to Steve Smith and said, who is the general of everything? You got to give, you know, if there's an MVP, give it to Steve. Because without him it wouldn't have worked. I went in to see him, I said, Steve, I've been mistaken. I thought we had to match Alabama's physicality. I said, Steve, let's go to spread. He goes, you know what?

You're right.

I said, I got somebody can teach it. Are you willing? Are you receptive to learning it and let us— let him teach it and let's totally go into it? Because with Joe, I know with Joe, Ja'Marr and the guys that we have, it's going to be great. He said, yeah. And we hired Joe Brady and off we went.

That's genius. Because then the next year you have the game in Alabama, Tua versus Joe Burrow. That was just a shootout. And it was like you guys, you guys beat Alabama the way that they had started, started to beat everyone else.

One of my favorite times besides the one at Clemson, you know, on Thursday night, coaches go home, you know, we wore out, go home at 6 o'clock. Not Joe Brady. Joe Brady is going to sit in there and he's going to watch every NFL touchdown in the red zone and study it and come up with maybe an extra game plan. And I got to work about 6:00 that morning and Joe was just leaving the office. And this is all he told me, Coach, I got him.

Yes.

And he had him. I mean, I mean, that 3-level route we ran to Clyde in the end zone after the interception, I saw Saban scratching his head. Yeah. And I got all the respect in the world for Coach Saban. When we were slicing and dicing Alabama, I never seen our guys that wide open. Right. I'm like, look at this shit, man.

Wow.

I mean, he had it. He had it. He did.

Yeah. He seems like he's set up for success too, because Josh is obviously a great quarterback. And he's been working with him for the last few years. So excited to see what he does leading a team. What did you see out of him in terms of leadership qualities where he could, you know, take that next step to not just be coordinator, but, you know, command respect on all sides of the ball?

You know, he said this and just like myself, you know, it takes a while. Pete Carroll told me, you're going to find out who you are, who you are as a man, who you are as a coach. What you do well, he said, Eddie, do that. He said, the thing that you don't do well, hire people to do it just as well as you. That's what I did. Now I'm motivated, recruiting toughness, defensive line. Joe's going to coach the offense. He got a great defensive coordinator. I think the guy from Wisconsin is going to do a great job with him. But I do believe he's going to delegate. But Joe understands that he's got to set the standard and hold the standard up high. Give everybody their job and hold them accountable. And I do believe he's going to hold them accountable.

Yeah, he learned from the best when it comes to motivating. What did you do? Did you have like a special motivational plan that you put in place the night before the championship game? I feel like that's, you know, that's got to weigh heavy on your shoulders. It's like this is the biggest stage of them all and everyone knows that you always bring the energy and you're going to do something like, what was that like? A little game planning or something?

Yeah.

Yeah. Like, what were the options that you Did you have different things that you thought of going into that week?

Yo, yeah. Man, the night before is the motivational speech, you know? Man, I walked in there, Bruce Feldman's in there, everybody's in there, I'm like, "Oh my God." And they all looking at me, like the coaches are looking at me. And one of the things I did, I gotta tell y'all this before. Coach Carroll did this with us. We were playing Michigan and we were riding this Mercedes on a Friday. And he could tell we was uptight. He goes, "Hey guys, we're gonna play our best game tomorrow. It's already done. You guys gotta go do it. I wanna guarantee you guys, Coach Swell, we're gonna play our best game." And we had like 12 sacks, but he gave us that confidence, you know what I'm saying? So we had gone and I had meet with Dabo Swinney, you know, those little fireside chats, whatever they have and all that, you know? Dabo got to ask me a question and I was asked a Dabo question, not how you tackle Aituan or something like that. And he goes, "Well, could you do me a favor and not play Joe?" And I almost said, I almost said, "I didn't plan on playing in the fourth quarter anyway." That would've been great.

So, but I didn't, you know what I mean? Yeah. And so, so I get in the staff meeting, look, and look, it's the day before the championship game, and you know, I'm all right, I'm ready, I know we're gonna win. And I walk in there and Steve Hinsman and the staff, the staff's looking at me like we looked at Coach Carroll, like. I told them that story, they started laughing. I said, hey guys, I almost said, yeah, I ain't gonna play Joe fourth quarter, it gave them all the confidence. So I went in there tonight, I said, well, we're going to play our best game tomorrow. Why shouldn't we? We've done it 14 games in a row. Right. What's changed? You practice well, you've done well. We got great players, we got great coaches. Guys, it's already written. Let's go get it done. But we got to get it done. And everybody in the room just went, they'll just relax, man. It's like, let's go. Right, right. Love it.

Do you miss being able to motivate guys like on a daily or weekly basis? Because if you ever want to just motivate us, you can.

Yeah.

Like you could just call us up and just give us a little, you know, hey, you're going to run through a brick wall for this podcast.

I like that. You know, well, I do notice that it just rained and the humidity is really hot out there. I don't know. We can go and start going through some get off, you know, up and down the field. They run some Tom games, some X games, you know, make sure that we mentally sharp for the game.

Yeah, yeah.

I just retired from running, uh, a couple weeks ago, so I can't, can't do that. Are you, are you still running? You go for your jogs every day?

Running, boxing, yeah, doing it all, man.

Are you benching? Do you bench?

I, I gotta tell y'all, man, I wish. In 2015, I tore my rotator cuffs. And I haven't been since. So I'm doing the stupid little cable curls just like everybody else at home. But I never wanted to get operated on my bench, on my rotator cuff. So I had to give it up.

That's a long recovery.

That's like a 9-month recovery from a shoulder surgery.

I didn't want to walk around South Beach like this.

No.

Yeah, no, that's a vibe killer. Yeah, absolute vibe killer.

I like that. It hurt my neck.

When you— do you still go back down to where you're from in southern Louisiana? Do you ever still go visit and stuff?

Always.

Yeah. What's it like down there?

I mean, always back to my roots.

Yeah.

Do you still have people like— I mean, I'm sure people are tremendously proud of you down there.

Yes. You know, I have my brother lives there. My mother lives there. She's 84 years old. She's still the same. Look, acorn didn't fall far from the tree. Every time we go, she's going to cook. 2 pots of food. You know, we got to go eat. I go right by my high school. I take my wife down there. She hasn't been down there with me. We go down to Grand Isle. I go see my friends. And the other day we had a recognition party for one of my old coaches. Bobby Ebert was there. We were all there. The boys were there. They were drinking at 10:00 in the morning and they were drinking at 10:00 at night when I left.

That's incredible.

Just having fun. But, you know, I've been more involved in the community things down here than I ever have, and I enjoy it.

That's awesome. When you go back, do people, like, make fun of you and say that you've lost a little bit of your accent?

Never.

Okay. Because that would be funny if, like, it's just even thicker accent, you know? Coach O's.

It'd be big. Come on, we start talking French and it's all over.

Yeah. Give us something in French.

What do they say? Oh! Allons manger des crevettes! Des crevettes c'était bon aujourd'hui? Zut de papa! You know what I just said? Hey, y'all want some crawfish? How was the crawfish? Oh dude, très bien! Très bien, très bien.

That's awesome. Yeah. Louisiana is such a cool state because it really is— I tell people if you want to go, you could basically take a vacation outside of America in America when you go to New Orleans or you go to different places. It's just the culture is so unique and different. It's awesome.

You know, that's what makes this state is the people. Look, guys, they don't come here to see the mosquitoes, the humidity, and the alligators because of the people and the culture.

Yeah.

And you know, actually, you know, Baton Rouge is right here, but North Louisiana is different. And then you go all the way to New Orleans and New Orleans is like a different country. Yeah. And then you go down where I'm from, that's totally different than anything else. So there's a lot of things to experience here, but I think it's what the people— the people make it. But LSU makes the state of Louisiana.

Yeah.

And everybody loves the LSU Tigers.

Does this like Southern Louisiana where you're from, do you guys like spicier food or any like— what do you, what do you look at Northern Louisiana as you're like, you guys don't do this correctly?

Well, you know, Northern Louisiana, They're— and I went to school in North Louisiana. I like it. I like the people up there, but they got a twang. They got a different accent. They don't have a Cajun accent. They don't speak French. They don't cook a roux like we do and gumbo like we do. Kind of like Southern Arkansas food or Southern food like that. They're just a little bit different. Yeah, but they are Louisiana.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I think it's the friendliest state. Like everybody here has always been, always been so nice to us. And we absolutely love it. So if you're looking at, if you're looking at like Shreveport, what's, what city in Louisiana would Shreveport be like the biggest rival for?

Shreveport being the biggest rival, like you look at Shreveport, Ruston, Monroe, all that I-20 corridor right there. And then you also look at that, that's the Arklatex too. You got Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas, and that is a great area of football.

Yeah, I was going to say, which part's the best at football?

Which part's the best football? Shreveport?

No, no, just in Louisiana.

In Louisiana? Oh, definitely New Orleans. Yeah, there's more schools and more players in New Orleans. It's great. But Baton Rouge got some great teams. Ruston, Monroe have always had national, state champions, great players there. But you're looking at the more football players come from the city of New Orleans.

Would there ever be a— I would assume this happened, but like a recruit, like 5-star recruit in Louisiana that you didn't even have to do anything. You just had to show up and be like, you're a Tiger. And he know, like, because that is something different in this state where there are kids that it's not even an option. It's just they're a Tiger.

80%. Yeah. Yeah. So, hey, that's what I used to say. 99% of the young men that were born in the state of Louisiana at some time or another wanted to run through them goalposts.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know what I'm saying? He's got to recapture it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I imagine that you still— you do have the itch to get out there and recruit again.

I, I do some recruiting. I've been asked to call some people and really like, like before signing day or something like that. In fact, we had a couple of guys about ready to flip and I knew their families and they didn't flip.

Yeah, the closer.

Yeah. Yeah, you are the closer. I mean, we said it the first time we met you. It is really cool that you're doing this because I don't know, I think the first time we had you on, it was early. I think it was the third or fourth week and it was such a big— we can't thank you enough because it really was like a a big moment for the show.

Helped us out a lot.

To have you on the show. What was your first impression of us? Were you like, who the fuck are these guys?

No, they're talented. They're on their way, but they're good guys, you know? And really, situational awareness. I felt good people. And you know, y'all didn't come in there begging for nothing or asking us for nothing. Y'all just fit in with us.

Yeah.

And we like to fit in, you know? Sports people know the code. And once you know the code and you know how to act, you know, go around people, you guys get the code. Yeah, it's cool. You know, some guys don't get the code. They don't. They're not blessed with it. We're blessed with the code.

Yeah, we get the code. That's fucking the one guy that might not get the code.

He's not here right now.

Yeah, Hank's not here.

Hank's not here.

He actually doesn't get the code for not— for skipping the Coach O interview.

No, he doesn't. But maybe he does get the code because he knew that he would not get the code and it wouldn't be good for him to be here. Right. He's the self-aware—

he would probably ask about the code and we'd be like, dude, if you have to ask, you can't afford it. You can't afford the code.

Yeah.

We have a new guy. I don't think that you've met yet, uh, Coach O. I think he— I think he knows the code. Yeah, I guess we'll find out.

Should we give it a shot? Let me do the Roback question. R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com, promo code TAKE, 20% off your first purchase. Qs, hips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Roback.com, promo I'm wearing it right now. Coach O has done some rowback stuff, so he loves rowback as well. All right, Zach.

Uh, Coach, how are we doing today, my man?

How are you doing?

Doing well, sir. I was curious, as someone who's able to go into a program on such a stage like LSU, uh, if you had any words and advice for like, uh, younger coaches looking to kind of— who have those same aspirations that want to go in and make an impact with the team.

I, uh, one of the advise a young coach, go to work early, keep your mouth shut, take notes, listen, find the winners on the staff. I found Jimmy Johnson and I listened to every word Jimmy Johnson said and wrote notes. And you know, the impact on my team of this 2019 team all started with a smart quarterback. And I learned that from Coach Johnson. So the things as a young coach that you will learn, you will later be able to implement those things when you get your chance.

Thank you.

Good question.

Great follow-up question, Coach, with the LSU Tigers being such a, you know, like the team is ingrained in the city. It's like, like you were saying a little bit earlier, like whether it's the gentlemen flying the planes or they're cooking gumbo in the restaurants, they come together with one common thing, and that is the team, right? Did you know right away that you were going to be at the forefront of that and having to have to produce for the people of the city, or is that something you kind of came into and adopted?

Hey, I was born with it, okay? I was raised in the state of Louisiana. Nobody ever had to tell me about the expectations of LSU. I got it, gotcha. I saw it, I saw it from a home, I saw saw it from my mother, my grandma, I saw it from coaches. And I understood that everybody was just LSU, you know what I'm saying? But I knew that people wanted to be involved. They wanted to be part of. And then when you, when you got them to be a part of, they fight like heck for you. And that's what I did. I felt like we pulled the whole state together.

Awesome. Good job, Zach.

Great job, Zach.

You like Zach? Zach, yeah, Zach's our new guy. He's not even that new. He's a year old. He's been a good part of the team.

A+.

Thank you.

That means maybe you know, sir. Thank you very much.

He might be too shy to ask you this, Coach. Have you ever had a problem sleeping in? Missing alarms?

How do I—

Have you ever had a problem sleeping in, or have you always been able to wake up on time?

Look, man, I've been— I've been some nights.

Yeah.

Walk straight up the stairs. I was going to show up. Yeah, I was going to show— I was always going to show up for work.

He's fixed.

No way I wasn't going to show up at work. Now, if I went to bed at 10, 11 o'clock at night, waking up at 5 was no problem.

Yeah.

Now, when I used to come in at 4:30, waking up at 5 used to be a little problem.

That's a little bit of a problem.

But we're moving past that. We're working on it.

Yeah, he's got it fixed.

I actually— I just got a text from Booker McFarland. Yeah, he says hello. He says that he just hung out with you in Mobile a few weeks ago. He's a big fan of yours. Booger's a great guy, too.

You know, he was put in the Hall of Fame, Senior Bowl Hall of Fame.

Okay.

And now, I've always been proud of Booger. I just— I love him.

Yeah.

His quickness from Louisiana. He always represented that. But the way he speaks, he's so smart and so articulate. He just represented the people of Louisiana. In an elite way.

Yeah, great guy.

Yeah. Well, Coach O, we love having you on. You're an integral part of our show. You're in the book. Thank you again for writing a chapter in the book. And we really appreciate your friendship.

Well, we're family, guys. Whenever y'all need me, I'm there. Whenever I need y'all, I know I can call on y'all. But I want to congratulate y'all on the success that you've had. But I will say this. I saw Joe Burrow the other night. With all the success he has, he's never changed. Neither have y'all. You're the same guys, man. But that's what makes y'all unique. And I'm gonna be the same guy every day. I ain't changing for nobody. I'm gonna be me. I'm gonna teach my kids to be me. And you guys are living a great life, and I'm proud of y'all.

Yeah, thank you so much.

We appreciate it.

And you're damn right, whatever you need, Yes, we got your back.

I don't know what you could possibly need from us.

It doesn't matter, we got it, we got it, and we'll figure out a way to make it happen.

Yeah, you got it.

No problem. You need a worm? You need us to get you a worm? I'll get you one so you put it in your mouth for a pump-up speech. We'll get you a worm.

Hey, thank you, man. But I gotta say, the things that we did— they did in January, it went viral, man. It was all over. I mean, the worm—

the worm was incredible. Pulling a worm out of your mouth for a pump-up speech. All right, thanks so Thank you so much, Coach O.

Thank you, guys.

Coach O was brought to you by our great friends over at Reese's.

What's that?

Oh, that's a Reese's.

Thank you.

That's a Reese's.

All the Reese's we could ever want. Uh, it's the best. It's the best candy in the world. You guys know what chocolate peanut butter— game changer. One of the GOATs. Mount Rushmore of candy. Some fans believe in teams of destiny, but I believe everything happens for a Reese's. That's right, Reese's. You got the chocolate You got the peanut butter. They got all the different flavors, new varieties. We have the Reese's Marshmallow, the Reese's Strawberry PB&J. We've been snacking on those all week. We love Reese's. Actually got us through that long 10-hour drive. It took us from Jacksonville all the way to New Orleans, eating Reese's in the front seat the entire time. It's almost like you were destined to get one right now because everything happens for Reese's. Reese's, the official candy partner of Barstool Sports. Everything happens for Reese's. Get yours at hershealand.com/reeses. And now here is head coach of the New Orleans Saints, Kellen Moore.

Okay, we now welcome on a very, very, very, very special guest. It is head coach of the New Orleans Saints, Kellen Moore, and it is Grit Week presented by Reese's. So, Coach, thank you for joining us. Let's start with the question we ask everyone on Grit Week. What does the word grit mean to you?

Appreciate you having me. Grit. I think we use this word tough around here a lot. I think there's some similarities. We always say be your best regardless of the circumstance.

Okay.

I think it ties to grit. Be your best. There's good days, there's bad days. You got to hang in there and you got to keep going.

Yeah, I like that.

It's a good answer. It's a good answer. You had some good days. You said some bad days last year, like first first season as a head coach, you know, you have to kind of leave your mark on the organization and kind of mold it in the way that you see things. What's the biggest change that you see after being here for a full season, going into year 2 now?

Yeah, I just think we have awesome guys, awesome locker room for us to kind of navigate the season that we had last year. There's a lot of guys that would— it'd be really hard on, and our guys stuck with them, stuck with each other the entire time. I mean, I shoot, I think we were 1-8 at one point going to Carolina in the division game, and our guys are still having fun and getting better each week. And I felt like we finished the right way. We finished with the sights, you know, with where we can take this thing.

Yeah, we've asked Sean McVay this because we've had him on a few times. And when he was hired, he was very young in his 30s. You're in your 30s. Is it hard to, to like be that voice, that leadership voice and be like, I'm also kind of some of you guys, I'm your, you know, I was, I was playing against you or, you know, like I know, like especially some of the guys. I mean, Cam Jordan, like, you know, you were in the league at the same time as him. Is that, is that difficult to get through?

I think I'm getting to the tail end of it. I'm 37, so I'm like, okay, a couple of these guys are still hanging, hanging around, which is awesome. Good for those guys. When I was younger, I was a coordinator in Dallas at 31 and shoot, half the offensive room I played with 2 years before that. And so, right, it was a unique deal when, you know, I'm playing with Dak and the next thing you know, you're, you're coaching that room. And so it was a lot of fun though.

Can I give you a tip? I think you got to go mustache. Can you grow a mustache?

I try. I, I like to call it the Paul Pierce. If you guys remember when he was— yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's in a tough spot.

You can go to Turkey. They actually do the, uh, the transplants for your face in Turkey where they can give you some—

might be something to consider.

That could be good.

McVay told us about that. I probably shouldn't say that on the air. Oops, sorry, Sean.

Yeah, but he's face injections.

Thinking about getting the face injections for that.

Yeah, but listen, that this is what being a coach in the NFL is like. You have to you have to look for any competitive advantage, right?

No doubt.

So Turkey, let's do it. We actually do a series called Bald Stool where we send a bunch of our guys from the office and some of the stoolies to Turkey to get hair transplants. I'm going to say right now, full trip paid for if you'd like to go.

Just let's do a little research. Let's do a little research.

We'll see what we can pull off.

You know, you always like dye the sides too gray. You can go prematurely gray. Like, just put that on yourself like a reverse Pepe Le Pew look. Yeah, it might be good.

Be nice. We can see.

I've got kind of a, kind of a real question for you about like the different dynamic. You obviously go from being an offensive coordinator. Yeah. Now you're a head coach. There's a dynamic between the OC and the head coach I think is really interesting, especially for you, because it's ideally it should be the same job. And I think 99% of the time you guys are in alignment for with what you want to do as an OC versus what you want to do as a head coach.

Yeah.

But there are some times where as a head coach, I know in the past you've had some sometimes where maybe the coach wants to run the ball more and you want to throw the ball more. And there's a bigger kind of like game plan that you're looking at from a head coach's perspective. And that doesn't always work from what the OC is always trying to do. But now, now as a head coach, is that ever in conflict? Like, do you, do you see it from a different perspective now?

I think you see the whole perspective a little bit more just from a defense perspective because when you're an OC, you're on the sideline kind of getting ready for the next drive. And when you're the head coach, you're out there watching the whole thing. I think my experience has been awesome. I've been with a bunch of head coaches that were all offensive mindset coaches, and so it was a lot of fun. I think our goal always was— ultimately my job was to create an offense in the identity of the head coach. And so, uh, us working together, and so I got to experience that in a couple different spots, which was fun. And so, uh, now you kind of get to see the whole perspective. You see how the defense, you know, uh, There's times where, hey, defense on the field for a long time, probably going no huddles, probably not the best idea, you know, coming out of the gates. And so you kind of got to pick and choose your battles there.

Do you think that was a fair criticism of you when you were younger that you didn't take that into consideration when you were calling the plays?

I think you always get to grow each and every experience, get to learn from those, those times. I think, you know, in Dallas and Philly, you know, we played a lot of different styles. You know, in Philly, we ran the ball a ton. In Dallas, we probably threw it a lot. And you find something in the middle.

Just for the record, I thought that that criticism was bullshit. Put it on the record. It was like, yeah, Kellen Moore is a great offense. He's scoring a ton of points. You should say thank you.

Yeah, we still ran the ball a little bit. We had Zeke and Tony. Who coached about it?

I didn't—

whoa, whoa.

I didn't say which head coach said it. Yeah, it could have been anybody.

In Philly, the Super Bowl year, did it feel— I mean, I don't know how to ask this question. Cheating is the wrong word, but did it feel like you were on easy mode when Saquon would just rip like 60-yard touchdowns? Would you call that? Were you like, hey, you know, let's do the 60-yard touchdown play?

It was good.

I felt like it was every week.

The, the best was— yeah, I mean, it got to the point we were rushing it 40 times a game. I mean, it was just a matter of if we get 40 rushes, we'll probably win. Uh, you know, defense playing really good football, and, and, you know, Jalen and AJ and Smitty, you know, kind of when we needed to get some passing game stuff going, we did it. And, um, I think my favorite play was the snow touchdown by Saquon.

Yep.

Because that play pretty much was drawn up in the dirt on the sideline by Saquon and the O-line, just like, just give me this run play and we'll make it work. And I think there was an unblocked guy and Saquon made a miss and, you know, he's running down the sideline. It was pretty cool.

That is cool. So how much is it like as OC and now head coach, how much are you like listening to the players? Because obviously you have an idea in your head of like, hey, this is what we want to do, this we want to attack. But then when they come to the sideline, are they saying, hey, we got to do this? And then you're, you're putting that into your game plan and changing it, or it's like, hey, no, let's just keep doing what I have planned and going forward?

I think the goal is a collaboration because ultimately these guys are the guys performing on the field. And, uh, my experience is if someone's really convicted about something, says, hey, let's do this, if we do this, I'm gonna be really successful, like, they're gonna figure out a way to make it happen. And so, uh, you know, now, are there bad ideas at times? There probably are. Yeah, I kind of got to keep that moving, get to what we need to get to. But, uh, you know, it's a ton of fun with these guys.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right. You, um, you had a great college career as quarterback. You should be in the College Football Hall of Fame.

You're not.

It's ridiculous that you're not yet. 50-3, the all-time winningest quarterback, right?

Yeah.

The history of college football. Not in college football. What else can you do? Put him in the College Football Hall of Fame.

That is insane.

50-3, it was fun. But, uh, you got to be like good enough to win, which we were able to. But, you know, all these guys leave early. You know, if you're really good in college football, you leave after 2 or 3 years, right? I didn't think everyone was chasing 6-foot quarterbacks who didn't scramble. So, you know, I stuck it around.

But it's called the College Football Hall of Fame. So you played college football at a high level for a long time. Like, I don't know why you would look at a guy that left after 2 seasons and be like, that guy deserves to be in there more than you.

We'll see what we can do for Boise. Yeah.

What can you tell me about the magic of the blue turf? Because I actually just purchased some blue turf.

I have heard about this. Yeah, I'm very excited.

I'm very excited too. So we're putting it in our office.

Okay.

I am a big believer in the blue turf. Now, I will say it feels like after, you know, you left and there was a little bit of a downturn where there was times when I would be like, it's blue turf, it's blue turf, and Boise wouldn't win. I'd be like, what's going on with the blue turf? Because I believe in it. I like when you go to the blue turf, that's a tough place to play.

Oh yeah.

Has Boise lost? Is that why they're changing the turf?

We're just resetting ourselves.

Okay.

You know, okay, a little refresher. Sometimes it's always not bad. What yard line did he get by the I got the 10-yard line. Okay.

And then I think I talked with them and they're going to give me some of the sideline too. So I can turf the whole side. But did you guys, did you guys feel that when you were playing? I mean, 50-3, you probably did. But like when you got to go to Boise, like you're— it's a different animal on the blue turf.

We love the blue.

Yeah.

Our fans were all in color-coded student sections every single game. And it was, it was a great atmosphere. And so It was a ton of fun. A ton of people would go there, kind of be a little bit paranoid about this whole blue turf thing. What's this thing that we're playing on? And, uh, it was a huge advantage for us.

Yeah.

Is it true that birds try to land on it sometimes thinking that it's a lake, or is that just an urban legend?

Unfortunately, I've not seen one. Now maybe someone has. Uh, they definitely hover around a little bit. There's a river close by, so maybe they're getting a little bit confused.

Okay.

And then, uh, as you kind of progress through your NFL career and you decide that you want to get into coaching, what made you decide to stay with the NFL as like your, your target for, uh, for advancing the career as opposed to going back to college?

Yeah, I always wanted to be a college football coach, to be honest. That was always my goal and aspiration. Uh, I was fortunate when I was in Dallas. Um, so in 2016, Tony was our starter. I was one of the backups when we drafted this, you know, 4th round, you know, draft pick, Dak Prescott, you know, whatever.

Yeah.

Uh, and I got hurt during training camp, and so lo and behold, Tony gets hurt a few days later, and all of a sudden Dak becomes our starter. And so, uh So through that experience, I kind of got to see the other side of it. I got to see the coaching side of it, kind of be around the quarterback room and all that sort of stuff. We figured out this Dak Prescott guy was pretty good. And so it all happens for a reason. And 2 years later, I just slid right over to the QB coach chair.

Yeah. What would— being a backup quarterback, I actually think it's one of those jobs that is underrated in the fact that I don't think everyone is built for it. Was there a moment where you're like, okay, this is my role and I'm going to embrace it? And, and like what goes into it week to week?

Yeah, I think part of it's, it's, there's two parts to it. You're preparing to play as a player if you ever have that opportunity, but at the same time, like, the starter's got a lot of stuff going on, you know, and they're trying to prepare everything in every way they can. And so you're trying to help those guys as much as you can. When I was in Detroit, you know, with Matthew, Matthew is our starting quarterback, and the backups, you know, is Shaun Hill or Dan Orlovsky and myself. And, you know, our job is to kind of watch some film and give them a few little things that maybe they missed during the week, or give them just another viewpoint as they prepare.

Yeah. Was there— when you were with Matthew Stafford, was there— I don't want to say like a wake-up call, but like watching his arm talent, you're like, okay, this— there's a little bit of a level to this.

Sean Hill was our backup. He was like 14, 15 years in the league, backup quarterback. I remember going to OTAs and one of the early throws, he throws this double move post route to Calvin Johnson. And, uh, he just looks at me. I see this ball go up in the air. It's got to be, you know, 60 yards on a rope. And he just looks at me and says, Kellen, we don't even try those throws, buddy.

Yeah, right, right.

We don't even go down that road. And so, uh, it was pretty cool to watch Matthew and Calvin, you know, dealing.

Yeah.

Was, uh, was Dan Orlovsky always like really weird about Matt Stafford? Like the second he met him, he was like, I really like you, man.

Yeah, that's what backup quarterbacks do. You're protective of your starters.

That's true.

Until the day he dies.

He took an oath.

He does a great job of it.

He's committed. Yeah, Dan's committed.

So it'd be nice if he spread some of that love to Shuck. We're big Shuck fans on this podcast. What was it? Tell me about the first time you saw Shuck. When did you get Shucked for the first time?

I mean, we all remember.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, he did the Senior Bowl, then he went and did the Combine, so we kind of got some exposure there and then we had him come in on a visit and it was awesome. It was awesome. It was just a great time. And I think his personality, just this like, I'm just going to go for it. I'm not going to worry about a single thing. Like, That's what you want in a quarterback. And so it's been awesome.

Yeah, it's, it's weird because I think probably the, the age thing, you know, had him fall. He's older than you, which is crazy. But he's, you know, he was a winner and he— there's something about the way he throws a ball. Is that crazy? Am I wrong on that? Like, it's just so catchable. It seems like it floats when it gets to the receiver.

Yeah, that's what, that's what playing quarterback's about is you got to throw this catchable football. Everyone, everyone's got different arm talents and arm strengths and It's about giving your receivers opportunities to make plays. And so Tyler does a great job with it. You know, his anticipation, his ability to throw it when he has to on a frozen rope. And so he's got a really good ability there.

Yeah, I got two dumb questions. Which one do you want? The dumbest one first, or we'll build up dumb to dumber.

Okay.

All right. So this is just the dumb one.

All right.

So you're from a town of 66,000 people.

Oh, yeah.

At what age were you like, I'm the man? Because it had to have happened when you're— you won 50 games in college football, you went to the NFL. You were definitely the man. I'm just wondering what, what age was everyone's like, oh shit.

So I'm Prosser, Washington. There's 6,000 people, there's 2 stoplights, so, and it's on either side of the bridge. So that's, that's what we got going on there. So, uh, my dad was our high school football coach, so I grew up wanting to be a Prosser Mustang. That was my whole hopes and dreams is I want to be a Mustang. And then, uh, you know, having a chance to go to Boise obviously, uh, you know, turned some things into a pretty cool, uh, perspective there and, uh, made a fun run at it.

All right, so you didn't answer the question. What age were you the man? Like, what, did you start freshman year?

Sophomore year.

It's all—

I think my freshman year I felt pretty good.

Okay.

Freshman year because we were, we were winning 60 to nothing, 80 nothing on freshman squads. And then sophomore year's like, all right, here we go.

Sophomore year varsity. And how'd you guys do that year?

We made the playoffs. We lost.

So you were the man then? Yeah.

Yeah. As a sophomore.

Yeah. Yeah.

So 15, you were 15 years old and you were the man? Yeah.

That's awesome. You ever have Kellen Moore Day? Has there been a holiday in your honor?

I don't know if there has been, but, uh, we go back once a year. Yeah.

Did you win state?

We never won state. I ran into, uh, Jonathan Stewart. Remember him from Carolina?

Yeah.

Ran to Jake Locker.

Okay.

Imagine Jake Locker around the wing tee in high school. Yeah, 200 yards rushing as a quarterback.

Big guy.

Yeah, uh, we had a couple times we were close.

Okay, that's a rinky-dink offense though. You were, you were the best pocket passer.

Yeah, we were throwing all over the field. Yeah, you know how I am.

Okay, so you ready for the dumbest question? Um, do you like the name Kellen?

I do.

Okay. Yeah, I just didn't know how you felt about it. Yeah, you don't see a lot of Kellens.

There's not a ton.

Yeah, this is not a rare name.

My mom's maiden name is Kell.

Okay.

K-E-L-L. And then I turned into Kellen.

I like that.

Did you have any nicknames growing up?

Uh, the man.

Kells.

Yeah, Kells. Kells.

Yeah, short.

Yeah.

What other sports?

Softly.

Are you one of those guys that you were just sick at every sport?

I was football, basketball.

Okay.

Yeah.

Someone said that you play at the Pelicans facility on Friday sometimes.

We'll go over to the Pels Arena. Yeah.

Yeah, that's—

see, that's bullshit. They're like, you're so good at football and then you're also just awesome.

I'm just the guy who sits in the corner and shoots the 3.

Okay, that's a great guy to be.

Like Shane Battier, you know, sitting in the corner for the Heat. Like, that's, that's my goal right there. I just sit over there. You need me, I'll be ready.

Yeah, I heard, I heard a rumor that you are an addict. That you have an addiction, um, to giving out game balls. Oh, how many game balls do you give out after each game?

I don't know the number, um, however many we need. And, uh, it's a problem that you don't know the number.

Yeah, like, that's, that's the sign of an addict. Yeah, it's like, has there been—

has the equipment guy ever been like, hey, we don't have any pushback yet?

We've always had enough footballs until the bucket is empty, then I'll just keep going.

Some of those balls, they can't have all been used in the game.

So they actually have to return those ones, then we'll get them the official, you know, fancy colored ones with their, uh, names on.

All right, so like after a typical game, like let's just say, what's a big— one of the big wins that you had last year?

Yeah, Bucs game.

Yeah, how many game balls we giving out after that?

I'm thinking 8. What?

That's a lot of games.

Too many game balls.

We had a couple touchdowns. Tyler Shuck, you know, uh, well, Shuck deserves a game ball. Just got one. Yeah, we had a couple rushing touchdowns, you know. Uh, defense, we had a couple picks, maybe one pick.

Eight, you give them out like helmet stickers.

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

Do you think that's a problem? No, they don't lose their mystique.

We still have a player of the game later, so we'll narrow the focus down later.

What number's too many? Like, if you're giving out 30 game balls, that's over half the roster.

Yeah, that's, that's probably a little aggressive.

Okay, so what about 20? Would you ever give out 20?

That would probably be a whole organization at that point, you know. We might as well round up and just everyone gets it, and they just do one ball and it's to everyone.

Yeah, yeah, we'll get there. So now we're Probably 8.

I mean, we're gonna be single digits.

We're gonna be obsessed with this. We're like, the first time you add it up, the first time you do more than 10 in a game this next year, it's gonna be a big moment.

You guys can call me out on the show.

It's gonna be a big moment.

Double digits.

Yeah, we'll see.

Has anybody been like, sir, I think you've had enough?

We're cutting you off. Give me the keys.

We were winning late in the season. We gotta keep this thing going.

So that was the— so is, is it like the momentum from last year? Can you feel it going into this year? Because a lot of coaches will say, hey, last year is last year. You're— it's a new season, it's a new slate. But that was a great finish. You guys, we kept on saying like, it's too bad that you started kind of slow because we thought you guys were playing the best ball in the NFC South at the end.

I think there's parts to it. Obviously there's a long window between seasons, uh, we get that. But there's a ton of young guys who played late in the year. I think that's— that says a lot about those guys, you know, developing. And, you know, obviously those guys are going to carry on some big roles moving forward.

Yeah, Hank, by the way, just farted. I think everyone heard it.

Who farted?

Who farted?

It was Hank. It was so loud. That was so loud.

We all heard it. It was mid-question. Kellen and I locked eyes. I kept it together. Kellen and I locked eyes and we like, we're like, we're not even doing this question anymore. We're just thinking about who farted.

That was crazy, dude. We were joking earlier about this getting to like the loopy point in the week, in the week where, where Hank just kind of like hits his wall of grit week of caring. And, uh, that was it right there.

Hank, come up here and ask a question now.

You have to—

the farter has to ask.

You raised your hand.

Yeah, you did. Yeah, you stopped the whole interview. That was nuts. Like, I— Kellen and I both, I think, like, locked eyes. We're like, we're not even doing this question. We're just thinking about who farted.

This is in the, this is the press conference room right here. Has a reporter ever done that? Have they ever farted in a postgame?

I just tried to—

I tried to put my, my— I I was crossing my legs and just the, the physics of it. I take myself very seriously and I'm really sorry. I apologize. I try and be all business in these settings and that was unacceptable and I'm sorry.

Do you have a question? Yeah.

Uh, do you feel the momentum going into this year? Like, what do you think about this season coming up?

It was also the loudest.

Like, I don't know how loud— how that was so loud.

Now he's blaming your chairs.

Bad chair. That should have been a soft chair.

This hat is not as funny anymore.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, Kelly.

All right, good question.

Great question. Great job, dude.

Oh man.

I think I can pinpoint where the season turned around for you guys last year. I think I know the exact moment where it was like, okay, watch out for the Saints. Um, it was going into halftime against the Seattle Seahawks, and you kicked a field goal, uh, to make it 38-6 at halftime. Yeah, your team was like, okay, this guy believes in us, we believe in him.

Yeah, that was a rough one. That was a rough one. That's— that was Super Bowl champs for a reason.

That game got out of hand fast.

Can you walk us through that, that field goal process?

We did—

we We said things about you in the moment, uh, and it was all pride-worthy. Yeah, in the first half. But sometimes you're just like, you know what, I want points.

We just needed some points. We just needed to get this thing heading in the right direction. It wasn't going to go probably our direction ultimately, but, uh, maybe we can get a little bit.

Did the field goal kicker get a game ball?

We got to win the game.

That would have been funny if you're just like, hey, you did, you did something nice there.

Might have been worthy though.

All right, so here's an analytics question for you.

All right.

4 minutes left in the game, you're down 14, you score, you go for 1 or 2.

Oh, we're definitely leaning towards going for 2.

Okay, that's correct.

Yeah.

You said leaning towards—

leaning towards going for 2. Part of my thing with the analytics is, okay, there's a decision and then there's actually like the play you have to run. And so like sometimes there's the element of like, yes, I want to go for 2, but do we have the confidence? Do we have the play to call to execute in that situation? Right. You know, there's, there's two parts to that.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. So here's another question for you. Analytics question. So let's say that there's 2:09 left in the fourth quarter and you're, you're down 8 points, 31 to 23. You're at the 8-yard line.

This is just off the— off the—

yeah, it's just a random idea. It's a random idea that I'm looking at. It's fourth and goal from the 8-yard line. What do you do? Again, you're down 8, 31-23, and it's in the fourth quarter, 2 minutes, 9 seconds left. And also the quarterback of the other team is like a 6-time Super Bowl winner, league MVP, that kind of guy. What do you do?

Yeah, we'll probably go for it.

Okay.

Smart move.

Smart move.

Yeah, we agree with that.

We check that one off the box. Smart guy.

Do you think I got that one right?

Yes.

Yes, you got that one. That's 100% correct.

Yeah. Through the— PFT Analytics Department.

Yeah, yeah, I think through like the real world analytics department, like why would the Packers have ever done that against the Bucs and Tom Brady? Yeah, I still don't understand that to this day.

You have an award named after you, the Kellen Moore Award for college football.

I think I do.

Yeah.

Yeah. You think you do?

Yeah.

You don't know.

I don't know if it's still running.

That's kind of crazy. You're not in the College Football Hall of Fame. You have an award. They're doing every— they're teasing you. I think we got to give—

we got to give the Broncos some more love. We got Boise in there.

Yeah, they're teasing you right now.

Do you know who votes on that?

On that?

I don't.

If you listen, if you're listening right now, get off your ass and put Kellen Moore in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Yeah, this is crazy.

It's a sham of an institution until he's in it.

Having an award named after you and then also still not being in the College Football Hall of Fame. We're gonna, we're gonna make this a personal mission for us. Will you give us a game ball if we get you in the Hall of Fame?

Definitely game ball.

Okay, because see how that worked? I don't know if you know us that well. We're not going to do anything, and then when you do get in the College Football Hall of Fame, we're going to demand a game ball.

Claim it.

It's still a win.

It's a win for raising awareness.

That's how we come out on top at all times.

What are your thoughts about design downfield laterals?

Definitely trendy. I like it.

Yes.

Yeah.

Would you say that they are the future of offense in the NFL?

It's getting bigger and bigger for sure. So, yep.

Okay. I like— thank you. Thank you.

Yeah.

I've always looked at you as being an ally.

I've been on a crusade to have Boise run one that was Well known back in the day.

Very much.

I had Oklahoma in that game. It's unfortunate. Yeah, I was like, how the hell will Oklahoma lose to Boise? Like, that's crazy.

No way.

I'm proud of you, by the way. You're saying Boise.

Yeah, well, you did it. You got it in my head.

Boise. Yeah, Boise.

Boise.

Yeah.

Did you happen to see— you probably didn't, but I write an annual blog for the Coach's Picture. You looked pretty good in it. I gave you the award. You were standing next to Dave Canales. You guys look like you were almost planned it together. You're wearing kind of similar shirts. And I said the young dads on vacation who still think they're cool because they have hot wives award. Think that's fair?

I'll take that one.

Okay.

How awkward is that photo?

It's all about the positioning. That's the, that's the, that's the juggling factor because everyone wants to be in, you know, you wanna make sure you're in the right spot.

Oh, so you, is there like a little, is there a hierarchy?

There's just a slow movement of letting you know. Certain, you know, we're gonna let certain guys kind of make their decision, and then you kind of try and slide in where you fit in.

And so maybe in a couple years you start to maybe take the spot you want instead of the spot you're given.

I like the back right. Yeah, I think it's a good spot.

Okay.

Yeah.

What about the chairs? Do people— how early do you have to get there for the chairs?

Like, they camp out the night before?

Like, there's some guys who love the chairs. There's some guys, you know, last spot's the chair. You're stuck. Now your socks and your, you know, your shorts are exposed. I think—

yeah, I think standing's the right move. Yeah.

Absolutely.

Yeah. Because you can kind of just— and yeah, the back row usually has—

back row, you got the shirt and that's about it, you know.

Would you be open to maybe, uh, wearing something if I sent you it? Because I'm trying to work with Kevin Stefanski. He's open to it. He actually didn't, uh, he didn't wear anything I sent him this year. But if I sent you—

you want to create like a little section?

Yeah, where it's like I just dress half of you guys.

Some of us, you know, you can have that whole NFC South over there in that corner.

So listen, you don't have to do it. Just say yes now and then everyone be like, damn, he's cool.

Yeah, sounds like the game ball thing.

All right, great. Absolutely perfect. That's a win.

Do you, uh, do you hate the Falcons?

Uh, yes, I've grown quickly into that mode. Uh, the team in red. Yes.

Yeah.

Was there, was there a moment where you realized, oh man, I, I hate, I hate you guys?

I think as the week grew, uh, Cam really educated me on the rivalry and the understanding of that. We were basically tied going into this year. Now, unfortunately, we lost 2, so we got to get 2 back. And so we got some business to do next year.

Yeah, that was a really strange position that the, the entire division was in at the end of the year this year. Like, how did— what, what was your message for your team going into Week 17?

We want to win because we had won 4 in a row and so finished the season 5-0. But it was a weird game. You know, Falcons were basically playing for Carolina. We were playing for Tampa.

Yeah.

Is a unique deal.

Yeah. Did you talk about that at all during the week?

We did not.

We did not.

But we focused on the rivalry. We had an opportunity to play Atlanta. You know, we were down a few guys. It was a, it was a fun game for Tyler, but he hung in there.

Have you embraced New Orleans culture and food? And what's your favorite food now?

Absolutely. The food is a challenging task because there's so many restaurants and recommendations when you come here.

So basically, so good.

My phone is just a running tally of anyone you meet in the city. They come in, what's your favorite restaurant? Where have you been? And then they give you another list. And so I just keep adding to that list. And, uh, so it's been good. Yeah. I can't go wrong with steakhouse. The seafood is amazing. I'm growing in that aspect, getting a little bit more seafood, uh, you know, friendly.

Yeah.

So it's been good.

You doing gumbo? Are you doing all that stuff?

Gumbo, all that.

Yeah.

Which level of spice?

Uh, good question.

Thank you. Yeah, thank you.

Low to medium.

Low to me. So is that something that we're working up?

Yeah, it probably deserves something to— yeah, it's an offseason project.

We got to work on that. You gotta get Ted Rath to get you like a, a spike, like basically doing Hot Ones every day after practice, just work you up.

Ted's the best one to do it.

Yeah, you're big, you're stronger than spice. You need to get that mental toughness.

You gotta let spice into your life. Yeah, it's not like trying to defeat spice. You got to learn how to work with it and then you'll learn how to love it after you can work with it.

Mm-hmm.

Exactly.

So just give it a shot.

What do we— we poke fun of a lot of people ourselves mostly. But what is it about Mike McCarthy? Because we tend to poke fun, but he is a very good head coach. What did you learn? Like, what's maybe one of the big things you learned from your time with Mike McCarthy?

I love Mike. He's very much the same every single day. He's very consistent. He likes to have fun. The watermelon smashing for you guys who've known that pregame.

Yeah. Meaning I'm still pissed about— were you there for that?

Oh, I was there for it.

Okay, tell us in detail. Yes, I— so I had— I bet against you guys big in that game and I didn't know till after the fact the watermelon was smashed. And I've never been more angry because if you smash a watermelon, that's an auto win.

Remind me, Minnesota game.

Minnesota.

Okay. Yep. Got it. COVID year.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Late in the season.

Late in the season.

We're in the middle.

We're not, you know, we're hanging in there. Andy Dalton's our quarterback. I think he had just came back off of being hurt. And so COVID, your team meetings are like in the biggest ballrooms and everyone's like 10 feet apart, right? The whole 6 feet apart thing. And so there's this big open room, wide open. Then towards the front, you see all these like tarps kind of out and you're like, all right, this will be interesting. What's going on today? You know, sometimes these team meetings have different things. Next thing you know, there's watermelons, there's a sledgehammer, there's guys going up there, the watermelons, you know, whoever's in close proximity. I mean, you're getting sprayed a little bit here.

So everyone's smashing watermelon?

There's just a few. There's just a few.

How many is a few?

How, like, what's the line like to smash a watermelon?

I would say— I'm trying to remember. I'm thinking there's— there was under 6. 3 to 5.

And did Mike smash one?

It's a great question.

Oh my God, I don't remember.

You don't know?

I think he did.

He had to, right?

He had to.

Were these all team leaders that were smashing?

Yes, the team leaders.

Okay.

Yeah.

The captains.

Yeah.

And was the crowd going crazy when you were—

Awesome.

Damn.

But part of it was there was no expectation of watermelons coming out for a team meeting. No, that's part of the excitement.

No one expects that, you know. And could you feel it when you were— when you guys were playing the game being like, this is a watermelon game, we need to bring some juice.

We're playing in—

Yeah, yeah.

Minnesota. There's no fans. You know, they're trying to do the Skull chant with the speakers and there's no one in the crowd. Like, it's a quiet game. So will you bring a little juice?

So the question was, what is the big thing you've learned from Mike McCarthy? Will you be using a watermelon game at some point?

There's potential now. My God, what that watermelon is, you know, do we— you know, maybe, maybe do something a little bit different.

Why was it— do you know why a watermelon was selected?

I still don't remember.

But it was genius.

But it was great.

You guys were underdogs that game. It was like the The Cowboys were— you guys weren't doing great that year because of injuries and everything.

Yeah, we won late right at the end, man.

What was the cleanup like? Did people have to stick around afterwards?

Oh, there are some really people that were really pissed off, probably. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I—

now I'm— now I can't stop thinking about you doing a watermelon game. Like Tyler Shuck in a watermelon game.

That's—

that's like 10 touchdowns. Yeah.

Watermelon's probably the best, right? Yeah. Any other suggestions?

A giant king cake.

King cakes.

And then whoever accidentally hits the baby piece. Then they, they get the game ball for the watermelon smashing.

I think smashing like a TV or something would be cool. Yeah, maybe a car.

TVs, cars.

Yeah, bring in a car.

Just got a car crash. Yeah, just like drive two cars into each other, be like, that's what we need to play like today.

Yeah.

So what, like, in a real way, Mike McCarthy, what, what's kind of one thing that you've taken from him where you're like, all right, this is how I want to operate, how he operates things?

Just really steady, uh, really consistent. Day in and day out, week in and week out. I think, you know, what they had so much success year after year in Green Bay as well was, you know, just their consistency. And I think it was because everything was so steady that, you know, the NFL is about highs and lows no matter what we do. You know, 2 years ago you're in Philly, at one point we're 2-2 in Philly and the whole world is going to fall apart because we lost to Tampa. And, you know, the teams that can kind of stay steady, those are the teams that have success towards the end.

Yeah, that is a very like I, I don't know how you guys do it because from our perspective, if you lose a game, I just think you're the worst team ever. And when you win a game, you're just going to win forever. So I don't know how you're able to stay steady like that.

It feels like that. You know, we put a lot into this thing and for about 24 hours you feel, you feel those emotions. But then, you know, the trick is you got to move past it.

Thankfully, you had fans in Philadelphia that loved you win or lose. So they weren't really that concerned after you started.

I was fortunate.

I was fortunate. Our years It's fun.

That's true.

So what was the key to, to cracking that relationship between just the entire offense? Because I feel like Philly has had one of the most talented teams. I think most people would say that for the last, what, 3, 4 years? Like, yeah, they've got great players at every position, but sometimes like interpersonal dynamics, you know, that it can make the talent take a little bit of a backseat. So what was, what was your key to like cracking that and making sure that everything ran smoothly?

It was awesome. I had an awesome year there, uh, teaming up with Nick and all those guys. And, um, you know, we had a ton of star power. We had a ton of guys that were really talented players, had a ton of success in the league. And so I think the fun part of it was really bringing them into the equation of, you know, I mean, shoot, there's nothing better than talking about the run game with Jordan Mulata and Lane Johnson and Saquon and being like, okay, you know, how are we gonna approach this week? And so in the pass game, you know, getting with Jaylen and you know, AJ and Smitty and spending time with those guys. And so they're all super competitive. They all want to win. They all want to be successful. And that's the fun part of it.

Yeah.

Did you read AJ Brown's book?

I've not read— AJ Brown has a book?

Well, the book that he would read on the sidelines.

I've seen it. I've seen it.

Yeah.

But, uh, yeah, maybe, maybe I need to read it.

We get— we— have you guys read it, Max? Did you order it?

No, I don't think so. Yeah, that's right.

Anything.

Max, you read it, you loved it.

Um, all right, this has been so awesome, Coach. We really appreciate it. We got one last question, uh, Roback question. R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com, promo code TAKE, 20% off your first purchase. Q-zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Roback.com, promo code TAKE. Zach, come on up here. Zach is a Bucs fan, so just so you know, this is a rivalry here.

Rivalry question.

It's a rivalry question.

Rivalry. All right.

I was curious, uh, Zach, one more step, one more step, one more step.

You're doing good.

Get out of the light now.

Wait, wait, Zach, this way, this way.

Stay in front of the camera.

Yeah, you're good. Okay.

All right.

Good start.

Sorry about that, boys.

I would like to apologize for that, Coach. That's my bad. I was curious if you've had a chance to kind of get yourself familiar with our former edge rusher and now Tempe Buccaneer, Rueben Baynes' game, and if there's any kind of worries to him getting to the quarterback at will week 15.

Good question.

I don't like that Reuben went in the division. He's a really good player. He's really talented. He's really talented. And so luckily, you know, we got two left tackle, right tackle first round picks the last couple of years. And so, you know, I feel like we'll be able to hang in there.

I'm looking forward to it. I, uh, best of luck.

Well, you got another question?

I do. I do, if that's okay. Coming off of last season, do you kind of have any, like, looking to improve in different areas of the game? Do you have anything you're paying special attention to for this year's team that you really weren't able to execute on last year?

It's just a scouting report for the Bucs. Is that what this is?

Just two guys talking ball?

Yeah, two guys talking ball. Two guys talking secrets.

Just talking football. We didn't run the ball great last year. We're going to run the ball a little bit better. That's a goal of ours, you know, schematically and all that fun stuff. And so, you know, we got to close out these games. We got to play better early in games. We didn't start games well, you know, early in the first quarter. And so a bunch of things we're going to improve on.

Awesome. I appreciate the info. Not intel.

Info.

My bad.

You have a great rest of your day.

Definitely not intel.

Thank you, sir.

Definitely not intel. This stays between us.

Well, Coach, thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate it.

I am—

I mean, the game ball thing and then the potential of a watermelon game has me juiced up. So we're going to be— and we love Tyler Shock, so we're going to be rooting for you guys this year.

I appreciate it. I'm excited for that.

Yeah. And anytime you're in Chicago, you want to come see the blue turf that you helped make famous. We're gonna have it ready to go.

Awesome.

And we have a basketball course. You can stand in the corner and hit some threes.

There you go. That's all I need.

All right, thanks so much, Coach.

Awesome. Thanks, guys.

Thank you. Kellen Moore was brought to you by our great friends over at Twisted Tea. We've got the tweeze right here, right in front of me. I got the Hard Iced Tea Twisted Tea Party Pack. Uh, delicious flavors in there. It's got the hard lemonade. I had a couple half and halves, uh, at the meet and greet tonight. Down on Bourbon Street. The Twisted Teas are great in this party pack. We're looking at the Rocket Pop, the original, the half and half, and the lemonade. It's got a refreshing taste with a little kick, no carbonation. Perfect drink for day drinking. Hey guys, it's a, it's a long weekend. People are firing up the grill. There's gonna be some day drinking going on. Why not get things started and finished with a hard iced tea? Twisted Tea. Perfect drink if you're gonna have a few of them. Grab a refreshing Twisted Tea today. The new Summer Party Pack, it's brand new and it's got that Twisted Lemonade. Don't be left out, try that lemonade, get yours. Twisted Tea.

Okay, Fire Fest of the Week to wrap up a great Grit Week. Uh, PFT, did you want to go first?

Yeah, yeah, I'll go first. Um, my Fire Fest of the Week is that Hank is by far the funniest guy that we got on this podcast, and it's not close. The, the funniest moment maybe I've ever seen on the show happened in that Kellen Moore interview. And goddamn it, Hank, the, the word genius gets thrown around a lot these days. Hank is a comedic genius for what he pulled off. Um, Hank, that was so funny.

You're so, so funny.

Serving a great look right now.

Yeah, but it was funny. It It was one of the hardest I've ever laughed. I know I've been saying that a lot recently, but it's been between Zach and Jerry O'Connell. Now, now Hank getting involved in it, it's like I feel like I've got a front row seat to comedy genius. I'm just— I'm on one hand, I'm so happy to get to watch. On the other hand, I'm like, I'll just never be able to achieve what these guys have done.

George Carlin produces Part of My Take. Yes, that's what it is.

Yes. But originally, one of the behind the scenes guys on Part of My Take turned out to be by far the funniest. Um, so Hank, that fart was awesome.

It was so fucking funny.

It was so funny.

I mean, come on. And then afterwards saying it wasn't a fart, it was just air coming out of your butt.

Can I—

if I could explain that, I think it would make more sense.

Okay, great.

Yeah, please do. First of all, I'd like to— I'd like to give some even more context to the situation. Because, uh, shout out to the Saints and the Saints and the Pelicans share the same like facility, same building. There's a Saints facility, Pelicans facility, same parking lot.

I can't wait to hear how this is relevant to it not being a fart.

And we talked about, uh, in last, last year about the Pelicans giveaways.

Yeah.

And now they weren't doing giveaways.

Yeah.

And so while we were waiting for Kellen Moore to come, uh, some of the staffers came through like, oh, we got you a bunch of the best giveaways from last year. In that box, it was like a bobblehead, uh, a gnome and a hat, like a ridiculous green Pelicans, like, it's awesome cartoon hat. And I was like, oh, this is funny hat, let me put it on. So I'm wearing this ridiculous green Pelicans hat during the interview, before the interview.

You're loopy.

No, it's just like, yeah, this is whatever, like, cool hat.

Yeah.

Uh, why are you wearing your sweatshirt like this right now? Because it's hot.

But you're wearing it like a bib.

I have— I only brought— I packed two shirts and I got a coffee stain on this one.

Okay.

Uh, then during the interview, I was sitting in the back and I'm— the chair that I'm sitting on is like circular, so I'm basically sitting on an amphitheater. It wasn't like you're sitting on the Hollywood Bowl Yeah, I'm not sitting in like a square like desk chair.

It's like I'm literally—

Yeah, it's Hank's ass live at Red Rocks.

Literally, like the acoustics on this chair were second to none.

Yeah.

And I like, and I, I'm a, I'm a, I always get confused. Liberal means like a lot, like, right? Like you do it a lot. Like liberal, like liberal use of something is like you—

Abortions?

Yeah.

No, just like I, I'm, I'm a liberal.

You trying to turn the kids trans?

I'm a liberal, I'm a liberal farter. Like I know like lefty, lefty lock. Buckwood, whatever, but like MAGA Hank, but like I'm a liberal farter. I'm not afraid to fart in front of the boys, in front of a crowd. Like I don't mind it in the right place at the right time. Like I'm not afraid to let one loose for jokes. Obviously I do consider myself a very serious guy, very professional, like all business all the time when it comes down to it. Like, you know, play hard, party, or work hard, party harder.

Like that, that's actually hard, but I also party hard.

So like, I would never do this like in, in this setting. I would never, I would never, if I had to fart, I would never be like, I would never risk doing it in front of an interview. Yeah. So I didn't have to fart. There wasn't, we did have Waffle House, which is PFT's fault. But like, I, in the interview and, and Jacob was sitting behind me, all I did was like, I lifted up my left leg over and when I went over to pass, air came out of my—

you are just the defining a fart.

You keep saying this, and that's the definition of a fart. You're not listening. He's not listening, Max. You don't get it.

Let him explain. This is not a fart.

Most farts—

air coming out of your ass—

you have to push. Like, most farts, you're like, this one fell out. I have like— when you have to poop and to fart, you're like, oh, there's a fart inside of me, and then let me like hit the button. Like, like, that's a fart.

Yeah, we've all the body.

Like, you, you know, you know what that is. Like, this was not— I was not like consciously like, oh, I got a fart.

Yeah.

But when I lifted up my leg, I, I guess I had like gas down there, and like, you still don't—

you still don't think you farted?

Came out of my ass. That was so loud. I, I, I couldn't— I turned around to Jacob, and he had the— literally had the eyes.

He was like—

it was like a dog fart. You know how dog farts, they scare themselves? Yes.

That's what you did.

And I was hoping at first that it It was like just me and Jacob that like witnessed, and I was like, dude, that was insane. Like that, I can't believe that just came out. And then I looked over the entire room, the Saints people were looking at me, and then Big Cat was like, what was that?

Yeah, because Kevin Moore and I locked eyes like, who just farted?

I couldn't believe— so when I heard the word, I looked, I looked up and I saw you and Jacob looking at each other, and I thought to myself, dear God, I hope That was Hank.

Yeah, yeah, it would have killed me if it was Jake.

And then the look that Jacob had, I— it felt like there was some unspoken communicating going on. And Jacob, I was saying, that's crazy, that was crazy, that was great.

Did you, did you hear that fart?

I did think—

I just fell out of someone's ass.

I did think in the moment that Hank was trying to get Jacob to take the fall for him.

No, no, no, no, the, the sound did come out of me, my body.

But you didn't fart.

Yeah, but it was not a conscious fart.

It wasn't really.

It was essentially like if you were— if you left your trunk open and you had luggage in there and then you sped away and it just fell out, you're just like, hey, I didn't— I didn't think that was gonna fall out. The fart just fell out. Not just fell out of your car.

Not even that big. I don't know if you've heard, but like the Saints and the Pelicans, they share a facility.

Yeah, that's true.

And that is true.

Important context that we have to have because that doesn't happen.

He was wearing the hat.

I was wearing— not only was I farting, then I got called on camera and I had to be like, oh, sorry for farting. Meanwhile, I'm wearing a fucking like cartoon hat with a coffee stain. Yeah, I think I was wearing the sweatshirt at that point, or that was before I drank the coffee.

But then Hank went around the room blaming everybody else one by one in the room for his fart because it really— it wasn't a fart, PFT.

You keep saying fart.

It wasn't a fart.

It was air that came out of his butt.

This is by very difficult house gives you gas. You made us go to Waffle House, let me get grits.

Yep.

Uh, the chair—

you are, you are describing the telltale signs of a fart.

The chair was bad, the food I ate was bad, the chair was bad.

I moved.

Also, Max looked at you and then he didn't look away, and if he hadn't, if he hadn't looked at you, no one would have known that you farted.

No, that was the chair. Yeah, that one's on the chair.

Yeah, I actually didn't look because there was a bunch of like people from the Saints that were behind me. So I didn't want to turn around and look and make a scene if it was one of them that farted. So I didn't want to take that risk and make one of the people from the Saints embarrassed. And then once I heard you say that it was Hank, it was the most joyous I've ever been.

Game on.

Yeah. But again, not a fart. Anyone who says it's a fart, you don't understand how the human body works.

I think people— there's some relatability to that. It's like sometimes you It's not a fart.

Yeah, right. All right.

A fart happened.

This is actually gaslighting, right?

Anyone who says it's a fart, delete it right now. You're actually— I will talk to our lawyers because it wasn't a fart.

If you say fart, like, that's actionable.

Yeah.

If you say air out of Hank's butt after eating Waffle House, air fell out.

That would be correct. But fart? No. Yeah, right.

Yeah.

Okay, we're good.

But it was so funny.

Yeah, it was. It was. It was actually so loud. I I can't believe it. Everyone heard it.

I think it— I actually think it made the interview better. I think, I think it broke down a barrier. I think Kellen Moore, he thought it was the funniest thing ever too. Like, yeah, he thinks farts are funny.

Well, Kellen Moore probably smelled, but that's another key factor. Kellen Moore probably thought it wasn't a fart.

He— I think up until that point he thought we were guys that didn't fart, and then we did one and he's like, oh, I can hang with these guys, they fart.

Boom.

But yeah, the fart and then realizing like what I was wearing and saw, it all fell apart.

All right, Hank.

Hank went on like a 15-minute walk right afterwards because he— yeah, he was looking for a bridge, I think.

Yeah, I did.

Yeah, I did just go take a walk outside.

Yeah, because we didn't know— we did another interview and then afterwards I was like, Hank, credit to you, you didn't fart during that one. And everyone's like, he isn't— he hasn't been in here for a while, so he probably was farting during the interview. Yeah. Uh, we've been— PFT, you got your neck wrenched.

I did get my— yeah, I got my neck blown out. Um, shout out to, uh, to the Saints and their, their training staff. Ted Rath, you might recognize him from being, uh, he was Sean McVay's holdback guy.

Yeah, he was also on the Lions with Dan Campbell, I think.

Yeah, one of the all-time great strength coaches and, uh, holdback guys as well. They're doing these neck workouts for, for the rookies that are here, and I think they're doing like 2 or 3 times a week everyone has to get run through this neck workout. And, uh, we did a similar one when we were with the Chargers a couple years ago. This was like 3 times crazier. This was maybe the, the most uncomfortable workout I've ever done in my life. And at one point he was like, okay, you're halfway done with this set. And I just stopped. I was like, you got to be fucking shitting me.

Your leg was twitching. Hank and I were watching, being like, no chance we're doing this.

Like, neck workouts are crazy. Yeah. And this was the hardest one yet. And I, I feel like if, if I like go to sleep, I don't think I'm going to be able to like move my head off the pillow.

But you're stronger now.

I'm going to be stronger. I said at the end of it, like, I kind of— I don't want to get into a car accident, but if I got into a medium car accident, I would like to be able to do that just to prove that my neck is so much stronger now. Yes, I'm ready to, to absorb anything. So there was that. And then also for the second year in a row, I, uh, did not pack socks on Grit Week. So I thought I learned my lesson last year, and I only packed 2 socks, uh, for this Grit Week. So I've had to be doing, um, sink laundry at the end of every day where you've been doing a lot of stuff too. Yeah, you put, you put soapy water in the sink and then you soak the socks in there, but then the problem is they never really dry out fully overnight. So I've had to like use use the hair dryer on them in the morning. Yeah, it's been a lot. One of these days I'll learn to pack enough socks.

Yeah. By the way, just as an aside, Ted Rath and his guys, if you really want to feel like a pussy, go to an NFL weight room, have the strength coach say, are you guys ready to work out? And reply, no, sorry, we did hot yoga yesterday. That hurt. Yeah, they all just looked at us like, what? Like, We're being serious. We did hot yoga almost 48 hours ago and it's— we can't do this.

Since I lost one of the contests that we did, I volunteered to step up for the neck workout. But then when I was done, I looked at these guys. I said, you guys do not want to do this workout. Like, I'm dead serious. Do not run away from this workout. But there's some ridiculous pictures that came out of that, including one where you look like a demon. I went Gremlin mode on Kellan Moore.

Do you guys remember By the way, this popped in my head when we were getting the juice with the LSU coaching staff. And I think the defensive coordinator, like, casually was just like, so what do you guys work out like 5, 6 times a week? And we're just like, what, 5, 5, 6 times a week? Yeah. A year. Yes. A week. No. And they just looked at us like, goddamn. All right, Hank, what's your fire fest?

I mean, PFT took a majority of mine, but you didn't fart. So it's not actually not just the fart accusations, I guess, was going to be mine. I mean, I don't know. Other than that, I guess, I guess whenever I do these, these group week vlogs and then Big Cat has to do his rebuttal, like, oh, that's my, that's my fire for us.

I said I'm gonna miss your vlogs.

Well, then why are you— I don't understand what you're—

I'm gonna miss your vlogs.

Are you editing yours? Are you just sending the video to someone else?

What are you talking about? So Hank does these vlogs behind the scenes and he's getting mad because I've had my camera out, uh, in his face the whole time. You— what do you have? Max, you have—

I have a video of something.

Yeah, yeah, of me taking the video of Hank. Yeah, you went meta on it.

Do you want me to—

Yeah, you could show it to Hank. Yeah, yeah, this is so— Hank's getting upset because he's, he's videoing all of us all day, and then I started doing it to him and he's getting upset at me.

Yeah, you did this before.

You did this years ago.

Yeah, I learned one thing.

I haven't been recording once. I just take my phone out and pretend I'm recording. Yeah, I have— I haven't hit record on one single video today. He's just putting the camera up.

You turned away and then he just looked at me and he's like, I haven't been recording.

Look at my photos. Look at my photos. There's not a single Hank picture in there. There's not a single video of you.

All right, well, yeah, you did a couple years ago that you did get mad at me for doing the vlogs and then did like a rebuttal vlog.

It's been great. I thought you were doing that, my phone out and putting in Hank's face and him just serving. I wish I actually had been taking videos because you were serving looks. But yeah, I didn't— I did not press record one single time. I didn't even open my phone any of the times.

That's good. That's funny.

So, so yeah, I'm gonna miss your vlogs. They're very funny. The voiceovers are great and I love them.

They all keep them coming.

Okay. Yeah, I like that. Also, so, so that was your Fyre Fest and my Fyre Fest combined. Also, we are— we have not given Memes enough shit for what he pulled on Tuesday night.

No, I assume that's going to be Memes' Fyre Fest.

No chance that Memes is happy as a clam. Memes does not give—

I didn't get to see like one of the greatest fourth quarter— I watched it via like a—

we did a bad job of explaining broadcast.

All of us were separately watching it on our phone at insanely different like Playback.

We didn't— while we were all watching, let me explain it.

Let me explain it. We're all sitting in our hotel rooms watching the Knicks-Cavs game. Memes texts the group when the Cavs go up 20 saying, we got— let's record right now. So twice, twice he says that. So we all, being the good friends we are, came down from our hotel rooms, from our TVs where we're watching the games, into this truck that does not have Wi-Fi, bad cell service, and we're sitting here waiting for memes. We all take out our phones to try to watch the game. It's spotty. It's going in and out. We're all on different intervals. We're all like kind of spoiling it back and forth because we can't really watch it. I think I saw like 6 plays.

I just had to stop talking entirely because I didn't want to ruin it for Zach, who was—

I started just watching the score. I watched the score bug on ESPN.com because I was like, I'll just watch this instead. So I'm just watching the score change the entire time. We're all here because Memes told us to come down here. He's watching the entire game on his TV in his bed and he never came down. But I, I did apologize for this last— no, last show.

Did you guys accept it?

You accepted.

You accepted.

I got it.

I can't accept.

Okay, you accepted in a a good moment because now you're pissed. But the power of the pod brought the Knicks to a win.

Okay, so what do you mean?

You didn't come down.

You— that's the only—

if you—

if you came down, correct, and then we— because we were all together watching it collectively in a shitty atmosphere, then that pod would have brought the the Knicks to win.

What do you mean, the power of the pop?

You used us.

Yeah, I used you guys.

We feel used.

Yeah.

It's also been very funny because Memes— I've tried to have like multiple conversations with him today and he just replies like, put the Knicks. Yeah, actually, at like 10:30 this morning, I was like, all right, Memes, we're done talking today. Not, not because I don't like you, it's just like, I know that you're not going to reciprocate a conversation with me. You're just going to want to talk about the Knicks. Knicks. I don't have much more to talk about because I didn't fucking watch the fourth quarter.

Yeah, Big Cat was like, yeah, episodes this week been really good.

I'm like, and the Knicks? Yeah, and I was like, I didn't fucking see it, dude. I watched it on ESPN. Oh, but yeah, good job, Memes. I mean, I'm happy for you. I am.

Thank you.

It was— you were very— it's great to see Memes happy, and he was truly, truly happy for the entire entirety of day. So only one good team.

Yeah.

Uh, Zach and the Jets. Fire Fest.

Uh, my Fire Fest this week, uh, I guess kind of a short one. Uh, we did go, we went and did the hot yoga with, with, uh, Coach Kiffin the other day. And everyone is— everyone in there, you know, we just established a safe word. We went in as a team. We were gonna, we're gonna tackle it and take it on head first. Uh, there was like— we're probably 20, 15, 20 minutes in at this point. I'm like physically fighting for my life just trying to survive I didn't want to be the first guy to break the box and get out of the hot yoga. And then I just hear, uh, I just hear Coach Kiffin just go, not an athlete, this guy's got no twitch. And my heart sunk. I've never felt more just physically ashamed in my entire life because I was really just trying to get through the workout with the boys.

Yeah.

And to hear somebody just come over the top like, hey man, you just don't got it. I respect the honesty, but it— painstaking.

And then he's used to looking at D1 athletes. Yeah, like his, his version of 'Not an athlete' is not our version of 'not an athlete.' It's true.

I know, but I think it was just all in—

would you say Zach's an athlete?

Yeah. Okay.

I don't even disagree.

It was a good ball. He does. He has a cannon. We found out Zach has a cannon.

He's got a great throwing motion.

Yeah, it's kind of like a Haynes King. Yeah, situation.

I don't even disagree with 'not an athlete,' but that just wasn't the setting you want to hear it because you're just doing everything to survive. Like, you're just trying to—

and then he'd get jogged. He dogged you on the softball field. Field, which that vlog is going to come out on Tuesday. He dogged you.

He had some things to say. He did. One of the things he said just wasn't true.

My hand up. I'm part— what do you say that wasn't true?

He just said you never got hit in your life. And then I just got a hit and we won. Yeah, everybody won and I got hit as well as you guys.

Yeah, I partially— I'm partially to blame for that. I was coaching third base and Lynn Kiffin turned to me and he's like, what's this guy's deal? And he's like, can I make fun of him? I was like, yeah. And then he kind of— he emptied the clip. Yeah, that'll play out.

That's totally fine.

Yeah.

I mean, you're one of the guys, like, I would hope you'd want me— I think it would be bad if I answered like, no, do not say anything.

That would be extremely uncomfortable.

Yeah, that would be worse.

But Zach, you're doing hot yoga. That's not necessarily the place that you want to show Twitch.

True.

Maybe the opposite.

You're stretching.

That is—

you want to lengthen it.

You actually—

it just wasn't hot yoga.

It wasn't hot yoga. Whatever it was, it was nice. It was HIIT yoga, full movements, and that's the complete opposite. So I feel like he was not in a position to judge that.

Yeah, it was sauna boot camp. We do keep saying hot yoga, but I think we're selling ourselves short. That was—

we are— it was not hot yoga. They told us it was hot yoga.

It was hot HIIT. It was hot CrossFit.

They, they had us bring in the weights. I did. I mean, I, I kind of, kind of felt bad, but I also kind of felt like I was maybe trying to like do Zach a favor. But like, they were like, oh, grab weights, grab 20-pounders. We grabbed 15-pounders. I was like, oh, the 15-pounders those look like 20-pounders.

I was like, oh, perfect.

Those are still way too heavy. I also was just trying to get through it. Zach started doing— basically, they were doing— having us do stuff with weights. Zach was just doing with no weights in hand. He had 10-pound weights, so I just at one point just took his weights because I was like, I don't want to do the 15-pound weights. And that way Zach, like, he, he doesn't have a choice to use the weights because I took them from him. But I did— he said something after, I kind of felt bad, but I couldn't— the 15-pound weights were too heavy.

Yeah.

Always, by the way, that's a tip. Just a little old hockey trick for anyone out there. If you go to a workout class, they tell you what weight to get. Always size down. You gotta drop. Always size down. You got to. You have to size down.

No one's out here to be a hero.

No, no. Because you know, like, it's always going to get harder and you're just going to be like, fuck, why did I get this weight? Uh, Max, you got one?

Yeah, a lot of stuff has been said already.

Um, I—

the hot yoga has put my body in shambles. I did more activity at LSU than I've done since I left college baseball. And I've been thinking about that a lot. And I've been really been thinking of how much I've let myself go and how much like that used to just be a normal day. And I— and I am dead.

Yeah.

I also jammed my finger playing third base. That's an issue. We got the Pugs playoffs coming up. I've got to have— I got to be back for that.

Max, can I point one thing out? So I don't know if I'm going to— No, yeah, I think, I think you'll be okay with it. In the softball game, you don't have to try to kill the ball every time.

Yeah, that sounds like something that historically I've been okay with people telling me.

I'm going to say right now, Max and I are back as softball friends. We agreed. We had a great game together. We were kind of like co-captaining the team and we felt good. It felt good.

I also went 3 for 5 with a double.

Just make contact.

That's all you got to do.

Played fucking awesome at third base. Yeah, no big deal.

We were— the boys were looking good.

Yeah, the boys were—

it was Pug softball.

The boys were humping.

A lot of errors, a lot of runs.

Yeah, I made some great tags.

They did.

No, PFT was a piece of shit. That's another big time Fyre Fest is that PFT just tried to fuck us at one point in the game.

Also threw the ball behind the runners. Which is a big no-no. That's Little League, Little League shit.

Yeah, yeah, I should not have done that one.

Threw it to first with a guy on third.

The more I think about it, we— like, Lane Kiffin was upset that we took one of his guys. He took one of our guys.

Yeah, he did.

He took PFT from us.

Well, no, I was all-time catcher, and, uh, I, I had some— I had two really nice tags. One, Means threw an absolute laser from the outfield, uh, tagged a runner coming home. He was called safe on review, but I, I touched the guy. I don't know what you want me to say. And then I didn't want to be accused of cheating them out of, out of a win. So because I was all-time catcher, there was a time where I had to tag Hank out at the plate and I put a tag on him. And then all of a sudden my own guys are mad at me. Now it's like, well, I can't.

Well, you said to us, you said to us before, you're not going to get any of us out.

I have another question about that, Hank. Did you just, did you just lie to me about that play?

What do you mean?

You were on second. I hit a hard, a hard ground ball down the line. I'm thinking 2 off the gate. And you get tagged out at home. And you told me the reason was because Lane Kiffin tackled you rounding third.

He screened me.

Oh, screened him.

You told me he pushed you.

I said he screened me.

He did.

He screened him.

He, like, blocked. I didn't think it was an issue because I was like, there's no way I get thrown out. But he, like, got in my way.

It was a shocking—

and I had to go. I had to go go around him. Was I going 100%? Probably not. But I did, like, it was a little, like, in, if we were doing, like, softball, so who cares? There was interference by Lane Kiffin, which, but again, I was like, hahaha, let me go around you. Yeah, I was going, you explained, and then PFT didn't make a crazy, like, catch. I did try and get around him and they tagged me out.

But why am I getting the blame for you not running hard?

Yeah. Also, I, I, we weren't, we weren't mic'd up. One of the best moments because Security Guard Mike is the best. For people who don't know, he's a Staten Island cop. He's been with us for, I don't know, 5 years now. He's the man. And he like— it's something about like he's so New York. He's such a New Yorker. Being in the South is just such a clash. And we don't know the people we're playing. I got a— I struck a guy out and Mike just yells from right field, nice at bat, guy.

Sounded like a fan of the Yankees.

It was so crazy.

And they had, they had, they had one of the women of the LSU softball team, like, nice enough to, like, play with us.

It was a coach.

Yeah, it was a coach. She walked a couple batters, and then Mike was yelling, like, at her, was like, she walking on me.

Yeah, we're rooting for LSU against, uh, Alabama. I think their Super Regional series starts today as you're listening to this. So yeah, we had a couple LSU coaches playing the game. It was awesome.

Oh yeah, we're LSU softball.

They were so nice for sure. Let us use their field. It was awesome. Yep. Uh, memes, you got anything before we go? Uh, yeah, I'll do a quick one. So I only packed socks and underwear this week. I've been just get buying shirts as we go. Been given shirts too. Been given shirts. This is where the Fire Fest comes in. I took a tour Probably the nicest tour ever. The LSU facilities just in a Florida State Seminole shirt.

Yeah.

What are you going to do? Just an absolute— just an absolute piece of shit move. You also— well, later on that day, I think you were wearing an LSU bucket hat and a Florida State shirt.

Mm-hmm.

Also, yeah, yeah.

Switch it up.

Just a fan of SU's.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then Jacob was wearing a University of Florida hat right in Lane Kiffin's office.

It was awesome. His face.

Balls. In his fucking face.

And then Jacob also— actually, you tell him what he said.

Yeah, that was tough, Jacob. That is your Fyre Fest.

Oh yeah, I—

so I did tell Lane Kiffin at the end, I wore my Gator hat in his office, in his face, and I said, we're leaving. Hey Lane, sorry in advance for, uh, the Florida game this year. And then he was like, we don't play Florida this year.

So what kind of a Florida fan are you? Yeah, which is a fair point, but I'm the kind of—

when it comes to the schedule, I usually am like, uh, I will memorize it in July, August, like when it starts coming out.

That's fair.

And also like, we play LSU every year, and now we're starting the SEC schedule of like pods and shit. Yeah, we saved it. We said like, SEC doesn't care about rivalries anymore, and I do, and maybe be in the championship game. Yeah, that's what I meant. That's, that's true.

Yeah, yeah, that is true.

Either way, um, I'm proud that I stood 10 toes down.

You did. Hell yeah, you did. You, you rattled Lane Kiffin.

I think I did. During softball, I was giving him a little shit. He made a big error on third, and, um, I got on camera.

It'll be in the vlog.

But he— you were behind the camera.

Yeah, no, I know.

I did sideline reporting.

No, he actually— Jacob did. Jacob literally literally when we beat them, Jacob like did a beeline to Lane Kiffin. He was like, coach, how do you think that game went?

I told him, I was like, how do you feel that your team of D1, uh, athletes and coaches just lost to a team made primarily up of podcasters? How does that, how does that feel? And then he said something like, you know, we're here to lift other people up and make them feel better.

Um, so, but we had a good rapport.

I was, I was glad that Lane let me give him a little bit of— a little bit of shit.

Yeah. Okay, great week, boys. Great week.

And Memes, you look swaggy as fuck right now, dude.

Thank you.

Also, I thought I had a fart for you, Hank, to solidarity.

Yeah, that was pushed for Hank.

Uh, we—

yeah, that one was for Hank.

That one was wet.

We're in the bayou.

That was not that Was that what I did? Was not. It was. It was.

We stand with Hank.

Did you guys know this is like—

this is like— this is like the All-Star Game when everyone does a stand up for cancer. That's what we just did for Hank.

You know when you like open a door and there's like wind coming in and all of a sudden it like creates a crazy amount of gust?

All right, let's—

mine's pretty bad.

Oh, it smells.

Zach, do you have a fart? No, I don't know.

Wait, wait, wait.

I got one more.

Oh, there we go.

That one was cute.

That's 6 parts. That was a 6-shooter.

All right, that's enough. Did you guys know that we do, uh, lottery balls back in the office?

We stand with Hank.

You know that we missed our 1,000th lottery ball?

Two birthdays.

When we get—

we'll do lottery balls now.

Okay, birthdays now.

No, no, birthday's that.

Yeah, I just want to say, just so I get this on record so I don't forget, it's an important birthday on Saturday.

Yeah, but we're going to do it all. We're going to all do And then we'll say it again tomorrow.

Happy birthday on Saturday to Security Mike. It's his birthday on Saturday.

Remember to say it tomorrow because that's the part that's gonna—

this counts.

This doesn't count. This counts. You have to say it tomorrow.

Uh, do you know that we missed our 1,000th lottery ball on Wednesday?

Yeah, that's okay. We'll do it. Our 1,000th lottery ball will be back in the studios. None of this—

yeah, no, the, the mic is going in.

Smells in here.

Oh, we missed it regardless.

Yeah, we missed it regardless.

Okay, wrapping up the show. We missed the one 1,000th drawing of the Lotto Ball. Whoops. I guess this will count for it. I don't know. This counts for it. I think it does. Yeah, those ones don't count. So is this— this is actually 999, right?

I have no idea.

I think it is. Pardon my balls. You let us know. Numbers for everyone.

16.

8. 17.

6.

I'll do, uh, 85. You guys got them? Throw them in there. What do you got?

21.

Jacob.

18.

Good call, bro. 12.

12.

Nobody. Nobody.

One more.

One more. Right quick. Nobody. Nobody.

36, 36.

All right, no, no one.

All right, have a great weekend. Love you guys, and happy birthday to, uh, Security Mike on Saturday. Yep, he's the man. Happy birthday to Julian Edelman. Jules, shout out Jules.

Happy birthday.

Hank probably has another family member whose birthday it is this week too. It seems to be that time of year. Happy birthday to Laurie Markkinen. Happy birthday to Anthony Richardson, kind of a member of your family, Hank. You love him so much. Happy birthday to Novak Djokovic.

Nice.

And happy birthday to Aaron Donald. Did you know he's kind of a pussy?

On Wednesday's show, who did you do?

When did you show— I made a minor mistake. There was an error. I'd like to know that.

Like a really good friend?

No, it's a minor mistake. Minor mistake that I made on Wednesday.

What did you— was a minor mistake.

Patrick Ewing. I wish Patrick Ewing a happy birthday, but I can't remember.

It was not Patrick Ewing's birthday.

It was Patrick Ewing's Junior's birthday.

Ah, but who else did you wish on Wednesday's show?

Uh, Crispin Waugh.

Anyone else?

Crossface Cripple.

Was there any good friends?

Yeah, Will Smith. And I forget who I wish a happy birthday to on Wednesday.

Why?

What?

Jason Werth.

It's Josh Allen's birthday right now.

Oh no, no, I—

okay, good. All right, that's all right. All right, good.

I, I don't know, I got it.

I—

thanks for listening.

I, I got it.

I got ahead of it and I was said happy birthday, Josh Allen.

Got it.

Because he's going to be on a non-show day.

Got it.

Yeah, got it.

Did say that.

So Patrick Ewing Jr., it was his birthday, not Patrick Ewing.

Yeah, but you can see how one can make that mistake.

He missed the junior.

He missed the junior on that one. But also, Josh Allen did share birthday with Chris Benoit.

Nice. Uh, memes, anyone? No, I think you got it.

Shout out the bus driver.

Open roads aren't easy.

Yeah, big-ass bus.

Love you guys.