Transcript of Mike Florio, Browns Find A Coach, LeBron May Have Played His Last Game In Cleveland, Zac Uses Anonymous Tips To Get To The Bottom Of Belichick + Fyre Fest Of The Week

Pardon My Take
02:03:46 136 views Published about 1 month ago
Transcribed from audio to text by
00:00:00

Hey, part of my take, listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.

00:00:09

At Bumble, we're all about helping you find someone who vibes with the real you. This year, meet real people on Bumble who actually want you for you. Whether you're looking for big, soul-shaking love or fun casual dates, on Bumble, clear and honest intentions lead to better matches. When you say what you're looking for upfront, you get more aligned and meaningful connections. With features like photo and ID verification, you feel more confident the person you're talking to is real. Start your year off with real connections on Bumble. Download Bumble today.

00:00:39

On today's part of my take, presented by DraftKings, we've got our good friend Mike Florio talking Hall of Fames, what happened with Belichick. We're going to break down what's going on with the Browns, other story lines. He's also got some crazy ideas about the future of Conference Championship Sunday. We are going to talk about those hirings. We also have Zack has gone through some of the emails and some of our sourcing. We do some journalist stuff. We're going to get ready for our kickoff Super Bowl week. This is our last episode in studio before we head out to San Francisco. We got Firefest of the Week. Our good friend, Oldie, is going to join us for Firefest. It's going to be a great show, and it's brought to you by our friends at Microsoft. Before we get into today's Chaos, we got to tell you about something that helps people Focus on what's most important. Microsoft 365 Copilot. The world moves fast. Your work day, even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work. Built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create, and summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear path to your best work.

00:01:55

Learn more at microsoft. Com/m365. Com. M365 Copilot. Learn more at microsoft. Com/m365copilot. Okay, let's go. Hey, football guy, but Dino, A-W-M, Welcome to Part of My Take, presented by DraftKings. The Crown is yours. Today is Friday, January 30th. Happy birthday, Big Cat. Oh, thank you. Happy birthday to you tomorrow.

00:02:42

Yeah. Happy birthday, Big Cat. Yeah.

00:02:44

I appreciate it. Forty-one really doesn't mean shit. I was thinking about dropping a 40... Like, 41 lessons of my... Zack, did you just look back and... Oh, no, the clocks actually are working.

00:02:56

A 41 tweet thread. Yeah, I love it. Forty-one lessons I learned throughout life.

00:03:00

I love when people do that and they're all the same thing just rephrased. They're like, your most important asset is time.

00:03:08

Wake up early. Yeah. Go to bed early. Drink water. Practice mindfulness. I got to start practicing mindfulness. Less fried food, more protein.

00:03:17

There's contradictory ones, too. It's like, fuck being normal. Be yourself. Then it's like, learn to enjoy the mundane normal things in life.

00:03:27

Stop and smell the room. Yeah.

00:03:29

So, yeah, 41. This is the one day that we're taping this that I'm- You're on. I'm on. I'm 41. You're yet to be 41. You're going to be playing Spy Glass. That's pretty sick.

00:03:42

Yeah, this is going to be a lot of fun. Thank you, Hank, for that birthday present. Yeah, that's huge.

00:03:47

That's huge. No problem. Birthday week. Birthday week, it used to be that we would do it during Super Bowl week, but now that I feel like we haven't had that in a while.

00:03:55

Yeah, Birthday week also just getting older. It sucks. Getting older is not great. There's nothing good about I guess you get wiser. The nice thing about getting older, though, is you do start to care less about stuff, like all the small stuff.

00:04:06

I'm in the most hardcore I don't care phase of my life, and it's awesome.

00:04:11

Yeah. I think turning 41, I finally Except I might be done growing. Oh. Which that's the big change this year. I am not.

00:04:20

I am not because we have some diet problems in the boot that we need. We're looking for an extension.

00:04:26

Granted. Thank you. Extension granted.

00:04:28

We're four weeks into We're texting each other our updates on Wednesday, and this Wednesday, I texted my update and I said, I think it's time we start talking about an extension. Max immediately said, I agree. So, yeah, 41. Hank, you want to make fun of us for being old?

00:04:44

No. Okay. It just means I'm old.

00:04:46

You're not that old. How are you feeling, Hank, about Super Bowl?

00:04:51

The thing that always bugs me out is that when we first met, I'm older than you were.

00:04:58

Yeah, that is It's crazy.

00:05:00

At the time, you seemed so old.

00:05:02

But that makes sense. We met 15 years ago. I know.

00:05:04

It's just crazy.

00:05:04

When we started the pod, you're the same age as we were then.

00:05:08

That's crazy.

00:05:10

No, he's actually older. Yeah. We're 31. Yeah. He's older.

00:05:15

That's insane. Yeah.

00:05:17

Wow. Yeah. Wow. Unks all around. Yeah. Okay, well, we'll just keep doing this. We'll just keep having fun. We'll slowly get to our phase where people laugh at us, not with us. But guess what?

00:05:28

I don't care. But I can laugh with somebody who's laughing at me. Oh, yeah. I'm capable of that.

00:05:32

Yeah, but it will happen. They'll come for us.

00:05:35

You guys will be yelling at Cloud soon enough. No.

00:05:37

Don't care. No. Don't care. I already started that. Weather luck. Yeah.

00:05:41

I have some bad old man takes already.

00:05:44

It's fine. Hank, I did submit the $40,000 bet on the Patriots' money line. It's in the DraftKings sportsbook. I put that in. We're good to go. At the very least, you can sleep comfortably knowing that if the Patriots lose, I will have lost $40,000. Out of my own pocket. There you go.

00:06:02

I feel more confident than ever.

00:06:04

Yeah, more confident than ever.

00:06:05

I'm excited.

00:06:06

You're even more confident. How? How is that possible? What has changed?

00:06:10

I don't want to spoil the interview, but we just had esteemed football journalist Mike Florio on, and just seeing all of the reports coming out about Patriots, the coaching staff, watching them miced up from the game and just seeing… Drake May, I don't know if you guys saw the clip. I did not. He was on the sidelines. They would think there was seven minutes left, and he was like, Golly, it's freezing, man. It's hard. Josh McDaniels was like, Hey, it's hard. Just listen to me, look at me. It's hard right now. But if we do what we got to do in these next six and a half minutes, it's going to be the greatest feeling ever.

00:06:45

Yeah, well, how do you- Just great coaching. How do you feel about Drick Mays' shoulder?

00:06:49

No, I'm not worried about it. Wait, it's hurt?

00:06:50

Well, that's my concern with a run first quarterback like that, especially taking shots on your right shoulder, because that's the only position that a guy can't play if he's got a sore on the right shoulder.

00:07:00

Wait, did he get hurt, though?

00:07:01

Yeah, so he was running with the football like he does. He likes to take off. It's one of his strengths, so you don't want to limit that, but you want to make sure that he protects himself. I'm very concerned about him protecting himself. He took a shot, got tackled, and then he got up shaking his shoulder out. Then the very next throw, it short-armed, it went down to the right, and now he's popped up on the injury report.

00:07:22

He missed a couple of throws. He'll be fine. He's a young buck. All the fake doctors on Twitter are making stuff up, but I'm not concerned about his shoulder.

00:07:30

What do you mean the fake doctors on Twitter, like the real doctors?

00:07:33

The real doctors who are on Twitter?

00:07:36

The fake, yeah. They act like they're in the know. They're just watching the same football that we are.

00:07:40

But they also went to medical school.

00:07:43

But they're fake doctors.

00:07:44

Okay. Because you don't like what they're saying.

00:07:47

I don't. Yeah. I mean, it's Twitter. You don't agree. You could say I could make myself look like a real doctor. Who's to say?

00:07:53

Oh, I'd like to see that.

00:07:55

You should try that. Look like Johnny Sends.

00:07:57

If Drake May's injury If somebody does become a real thing, Super Bowl week, I would like you to rebrand as a real doctor and then just start fighting with people about it. That would actually be a very funny storyline.

00:08:08

So, Drake May, not a doctor. We should say his name does begin with D. R, but he said that he has bumps and bruises. Bumps? Bumps and bruises. He should get that checked out. The bumps, that concerns me. Everyone's bruised this time of year, but bumps, I don't know.

00:08:22

I think it's just a figure of speech. Okay.

00:08:27

So you feel good. Feel better than ever.

00:08:29

Better than ever. Excited.

00:08:31

Love that.

00:08:32

Better than ever.

00:08:33

Better than ever.

00:08:35

Did I stutter? No.

00:08:37

Was the Bill Belichick news, did that make you feel better?

00:08:43

It's not related because it's not this team. He's not still our coach, but it is good to see the fan base and just America galvanize around the Patriots. You guys agree. Everyone agrees that Bill Belichick should be in the Hall of Fame. It's basically just forcing people to talk about how good Bill Belichick and the Patriots were, which is just nice.

00:09:02

The more I've thought about it, the more I find myself agreeing with Bill Polian.

00:09:06

The more I've thought about it, the more I've realized that Bill Polian, what were you doing, dude? You just basically had the whole world Whatever legacy you had is gone.

00:09:17

Yeah, it's tough.

00:09:18

We talked about- All-time backfire move.

00:09:20

Like, he's Mount Rushmore of haters. I did some research on the biggest haters of all time. Did you know that there was a guy... Well, let me ask you this. What do you know about the death of Edgar Allan Poe?

00:09:34

I don't know a lot. To quote The Raven, I don't know a lot.

00:09:37

So most people, all they know about that is that he was naked, high on Ether, running around town, and he died- In Baltimore, yeah. Yeah, in Baltimore, in a pool of his own puke. Yeah. That's not what happened at all. He had a hater, like his fiercest critic his entire life. Lifetime hater, Edgar Allan Poe dies. This guy writes a newspaper report under a fake name that deta tale is the cause of death, how he died. That becomes the story. But it's not the truth at all about Edgar Allan Poe.

00:10:07

All right, so all-time haters. This triggered something in my memory. Do you know that I think Ty Cobb, he was a bad guy, but he wasn't the worst guy. There was just a news reporter who did it. Back then, if you had the sports column, 80 years ago, what you said was just fact, and he just hated him, and he wrote a whole book about him, and that just became fact.

00:10:28

Yeah, that's an all-time hater move, getting him post-mostly. Yeah, post-mostly. Mercury Morris, great hater. He was a great hater. Every time a team lost a game, he'd pop champagne in their faces. Call me when you're on my block. 50 Cent, I think, is also an A full-time hit. Oh, yeah. But he uses his hate for good.

00:10:47

Yeah.

00:10:48

Big-time hate. But yeah, Paulian right up there. As much as I would love to take Paulian side of this crusade, it's a bridge too far even for me. It's like, no, Bill Belichick should be in the Hall of Fame. It has backfired. We're all talking about how great he is. I do think that Vrabel is going to take a little bit of that personally. Not that it needs extra motivation. This is a quintessential Mike Vrabel game. Mike Vrabel as an underdog. If he's an underdog of three points or more this year, he's been 2-0 in those games. His lifetime record in those games is above 500 as an underdog. They gave Mike Vrabel a Mike Vrabel game at the Super Bowl.

00:11:25

Yeah, he's got all the motivation of the world. Okay, let's talk some other news real quick, and then we will get to Zack's reporting, which, Zack, how you feel about your reporting? It wasn't a great... What was the exact quote when I came down this morning?

00:11:39

I relate to Zack. I've been in his shoes in this spot. Big Cat was walking over me and Zack sitting next to each other at our desk. Big Cat walks over and from a distance was like, Zack, you ready? I forgot. I didn't know what he was talking about at first. I looked over to Zack and I could tell he looked up with the, I don't know what he's talking about either. Then he was like, The reporting, and Zack was like, Oh, I need to get the password. Which means no. That is a long way of saying no, he was not ready. Again, I've been in his shoes. I felt what he was feeling. It was like 9: 00 in the morning. Just not how you want to start the day. He had just come in, sat down, got settled in. He was probably in his desk for 10 minutes. Not how you want to start a work day. Yeah.

00:12:18

Zacks, are you ready when we get to it?

00:12:21

One of the worst days you could start a day, but I am ready. Okay, great. All the emails have been gone through.

00:12:25

That's great.

00:12:26

But you hear on time, someone would say even early this morning?

00:12:29

Yeah, he was Yeah.

00:12:30

Yeah, we're ready to go.

00:12:31

That's a great way to start today. That's a great way to start today.

00:12:33

Okay, so other stories real quick. The Browns have hired a coach. It's Todd Munkin. It is the most Browns coaching search possible in the fact that they had young offensive minds come in. Jimmy Hasam wanted to keep Jim Schwartz even knowing the whole entire time that Jim Schwartz wanted the head coaching job. All these offensive coordinators come in. They're like, Hey, we don't want to just be given a defensive coordinator. We want to have a chance to hire our staff, which makes sense. They end up with Todd Munkin, then Jim Schwartz does exactly what we all expected. He takes his ball and goes home. He's like, No. So the Browns were trying to do the impossible, which they're not in a place to do the impossible.

00:13:13

Yeah, and apparently Schwartz just badmouthed the front office on the way out, and he just packed up his office by himself, put it in one of those brown cubes, walked out talking shit about everybody in the room. It does feel like it's been botched. It's too early to say, but you can imagine yourself 5, 10 years from now looking back on all the Brown's coaching hires and be like, Oh, yeah. You remember Todd Monken? Yeah.

00:13:38

It does- He fits in perfectly.

00:13:40

It feels maybe pre-botched. I don't mean to disparage Todd Monken, but if you ask any Ravens fan what they think about this hire, they think it's an absolute home run for the Browns as a Ravens fan.

00:13:51

Yes. Jim Schwartz motherfucking the Browns on the way out. Also, the Browns hired a guy who just six years ago was on the Brown staff and was reportedly motherfucking the Browns at that time. There's an old ESPN article that went out reviral, and it was essentially when Freddie Kitchens was the head coach and Todd Munkin was on staff. Todd Munkin would spend the pregame warmup on the field being like, this fucking guy doesn't know what the fuck he's doing, and the whole team is a mess, and the organization is a mess.

00:14:24

Yeah, it doesn't feel great.

00:14:25

They brought him in.

00:14:26

It does not feel great in Cleveland. With all All the discourse around Sam Darnold, quarterback reclamation projects, we've had a lot of those in the last couple of years. It's actually cool to see. Darnold being in the Super Bowl, teams are going to be like, who's the next Sam Darnold? I found myself this morning thinking about, what if Deshawn Watson is just good again. That could be cool. What if he's just- It'd be cool-ish.

00:14:50

It'd be cool for Browns fans to not- To pretend.

00:14:53

To have a quarterback. Well, Pro Bowler, sure. It'd be funny to watch Browns fans who have hated Deshaun Watson when he's been bad to have to then be like, I think Deshaun's turned a new leaf. I think he's a new man. But I think that might be the final boss of who's the next Sam Darnold is like, What if Deshawn Watson just goes out next year? He's good again.

00:15:13

Next Sam Darnold. We also had, out of this, Emmanuel Ocho with one of the takes of the year where he said, If I'm Shador Sanders, why am I listening to Todd Monken? What have you won at the NFL level?

00:15:23

Good point.

00:15:24

What has Shador Sanders won at the NFL level? Also, this begs the question of Emmanuel Ocho. I think I'm going to switch my brain and just be like, This guy's doing satire, because otherwise, it's just rage bait and gets me upset. He blocked me years ago, so I don't really care what he thinks. He doesn't like me. I don't care. But I want to enjoy it as he's doing a bit because it's so ridiculous. He's a character. Right, he's a character. But it's very funny for... So Emmanuel Ocho is giving Shador Sanders advice to not listen to Todd Monken because Todd Monken hasn't done anything in the NFL. So then wouldn't Shador Shoulder Sanders be listening to a guy who's done less in the NFL than the NFL, Emmanuel Ocho?

00:16:03

But isn't it also possible that he's right?

00:16:07

I would say Shador Sanders should probably listen to his head coach.

00:16:11

I agree. As a general rule of thumb, if you want to succeed as a young quarterback, you should listen to your coach.

00:16:18

This is also a chicken and the egg situation. Exactly. How could you ever listen to anyone?

00:16:23

That's it, yes.

00:16:24

Because you can't listen to someone until they've proven something. If they can't prove anything, if you never listen to Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams shouldn't have listened to Ben Johnson.

00:16:32

Yeah. You're right. But there's a chance that doesn't work out with Todd Monken for whatever reason. I don't think that it doesn't... I don't want to disparage Shador. I don't think he's going to be Lamar Jackson. I don't think Shador is going to be a top-of-the-line quarterback in the NFL, regardless. So maybe the best outcome for Shador is to not listen to Todd Monken, get himself traded to a head coach that has won a Super Bowl, and then he's the next Sam Yeah, that could work.

00:17:01

This would be no different than Zack getting a dietitian to lose some weight, and I say, Hey, Zack, don't listen to that guy. Listen to me. What are we talking about?

00:17:11

It feels botched in a lot of different ways for the Browns. Feel bad for them, feel bad for that fan base. They just want a glimmer of competency. Just give them two months where they feel like they did a competent job in their coaching evaluation.

00:17:24

But Jimmy has them. This is the problem. It's these fucking owners, man. Your anger should be Jimmy has them, and Jimmy has them alone. When we do our list of asshole dumbass owners, he's on the top of the list.

00:17:37

I did see that ESPN put out a list of the coach hirings over the last five years. They rank them. So from 1-37, I think. Do you know who the number one hire on the list is? Max, do you know who the number one hire on the list is?

00:17:53

nick Seriani. What?

00:17:56

nick Seriani? No, he's number two. Number 1, winner, Dan Campbell. Dan Campbell, number one of that list. Winner. What are your thoughts? You're just smiling, staring at me like you're going to punch me.

00:18:11

That was a take that I got absolutely crucified for.

00:18:16

It's not my list.

00:18:17

It's ESPN's list. If we do anything on this podcast, we respect ESPN. And then it turned... Yeah.

00:18:24

Do you know who last place would be? Worst hire in the in the last five years per ESP.

00:18:31

All right, so my years get mixed up. No.

00:18:34

I think he was maybe in the late '20s, early '30s on that.

00:18:39

My years do get mixed up, so this is a little bit tough.

00:18:43

No, the Raiders had a nice little run. I think all three Raiders coaches were somewhere between like 32 and 35.

00:18:51

Where'd Iberflus land?

00:18:52

Iberflus was... He was like '20s. Okay. Down there, but not too bad. Okay. Oh, Urban Meyer. Urban Meyer was last. Yeah, passive.

00:19:01

I knew I'd find it.

00:19:02

Was last place. Ben Johnson was number 8 on the list. Dan Quinn was number 10 on the list. I think Vrabel might have been three or four on the list.

00:19:10

Seems like a good list.

00:19:11

Yeah, it's a pretty good list. All the Texans coaches, besides D'Amico Ryan's and all the Raiders coaches, were all right together. Those two franchises, they've had a rough five years. Nathaniel Hackett, not last. Wow. Yeah. Good for him.

00:19:25

Yeah, good guy. Because is that an eligibility thing? You got to coach the whole season No, no. Urban Meyer didn't. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, the other one. So the Bills, we brushed on it, Joe braided. It does seem weird. I think Joe braided is going to be a good coach, but Terry Pagula. I feel like these owners just realize whenever they have to hire a new coach, they realize they have to do a little work, and they're like, Fuck this. Get me the guy down the hall.

00:19:52

It's almost like every owner should take a stance of just being a silent partner in the team. You get to show up to the games, you get to have fun, they roll out the red carpet for you, and then just don't make any decisions ever about football. Yeah.

00:20:08

And then the last one I wanted to talk about, I think of the cities that we are pro on this podcast, I think Pittsburgh is pretty high up there. We love Pittsburgh. It's a football town, the Stillers, everything. We talked about it. We love the fact that they do... It's the Stealers on ice when the Winsor play, the Stealers play in baseball when the Pirates play. That's how they think about it in the town. The switch up that Stealers fans in the city of Pittsburgh did by just having Mike McCarthy get in front of a microphone, look fat, and talk about Pittsburgh is so funny.

00:20:47

And cry. And cry. The crying is the key. Mike McCarthy getting emotional about football is beautiful. I think any Stealers fan out there, they watch that. It doesn't matter if you thought, Oh, we got Tomlin 2. 0. You see a grown man, a grown, overweight man cry talking about football, and you have no choice but to buy it.

00:21:07

I went on with our friends with Randy Balman today on WDVE this morning on Pittsburgh Radio. Pft and I do a hit. We alternate weeks. I said to him, I was like, This is ridiculous. On the outside, you guys were all upset. He gets up there, he brings his parents. He says the Super Bowl parade is going to start in his childhood home, all this stuff, and now you guys are in. What happened? And Randy told me that it was how he said Will Howard. Did you guys hear how he said Will Howard? No. I'm going to play you how he said Will Howard. He said that was it. It is very funny to listen to. Wait, all right, here we go. Hold on. Where I'm going to, because I'm really excited about Will Hard.

00:21:49

Yeah, that's it.

00:21:51

Will Hard. When he said Will Hard, that was it. We were just all back in. That's all it takes. I'm in.

00:21:58

I think McCarthy is a very good coach. I think that he's been clowned upon a little bit for not winning as much as he could, especially when he was in Green Bay. But I think he's a good coach. I don't like what he does in-game sometimes. He just gets that thousand-yard stare, or as they put it on a comtown, he gets the thousand-island stare where he looks off into the distance, and he'll botch a time out here or there. I think he's a good coach, so I'm happy for Pittsburgh. I'm glad they got a Yinzer. I love how red McCarthy is now.

00:22:28

He's in his face. He's got a big fart just waiting to come out. I think- Because I'm really excited about Will Hart. Yeah. I fucking love it. Yeah. How big of a fart do you think Mike McCarthy ripped when he got off stage? It had to have been like first date fart. When you get out- A peroguit just fell out. Yeah. When the girl gets out of the car and you just fucking rip in your car. I've been holding that in for hours. He had to have.

00:22:54

I want to know what Tomlin's office was like when he moved in. Tomlin strikes me as a guy didn't have anything in his office. Just like an overhead projector from 1985.

00:23:05

I think that's all for NFL. Do you guys have anything else for NFL? Because I have one other thing I wanted to bring up.

00:23:10

Did you know that Mike McDonald has a LinkedIn profile? I didn't. Active LinkedIn profile? Oh. Yeah. He's one of these guys. It just lists current profession, head coach, Seattle Seahawks. But he's a big business leadership guy. So he thought it was important to create a LinkedIn profile. Fernando Mendoza like that.

00:23:29

The I saw the report, Schrager, our good friend Peter Schrager, report that the Rams are down tremendously. If you were curious, if they wanted to win that game.

00:23:41

They're upset.

00:23:42

It was a real report being like, They're really, really, really sad.

00:23:47

Listen, are you calling that fake news?

00:23:50

No, it's just very funny news.

00:23:51

I think it's real. I think we should applaud journalists when they get it right. Yeah.

00:23:56

Listen, it now would have been funnier if it was like, Hey, reports from the Rams, they're pretty cool about it.

00:24:02

Yeah, that would be- It's fine. That'd be concerning. But this is like, We care about facts and journalism. The Los Angeles Rams will not be playing in the Super Bowl next week, and they wish that they were. Yeah.

00:24:12

Okay, the other thing I wanted to talk about, have you guys I have a little... We can just do a LeBron James minute. You want to do LeBron James minute? I'm going to try to keep it nice. Zack, you're a LeBron James lover, right?

00:24:24

I would say I super respect LeBron James as a basketball player.

00:24:28

Are you a lover?

00:24:31

I don't feel that emotion towards LeBron, but I got emotions towards him.

00:24:34

Okay. Bronsexual?

00:24:35

Are you a Bronsexual?

00:24:38

I'd say I'm a LeBronner.

00:24:40

This is just an accumulation of LeBron stories that I feel like we had to address. Like I said, I'm going to try to land the plane here so it's not just all hate. But what do you guys think was the more ridiculous tale that LeBron has told in the last couple of days? One, LeBron LeBron had nothing to do with the Lakers drafting Bronnie. That was a Ramona Shelborn report. Or two, LeBron James quit alcohol while rehabbing so he could keep up with the young guys.

00:25:11

I think the drafting Bronnie. I think so, too. I think that's We'll believe a lot out of our superstars. And the fact that he had nothing to do with his son getting drafted, I think that's... Come on, LeBron. Have some respect for us. Yes. I feel disrespected by that report.

00:25:28

The alcohol The one, I think, is just... Listen, LeBron is an incredible player, but he also has a great media team that works overdrive for him. The report said, Hey, yeah, you know how committed he is? He stopped drinking wine while rehabbing.

00:25:42

It would be more impressive if he kept drinking wine. Tell us that. I would be very interested in that story. Some guys just take baths and wine. That's a new thing. It's like, yeah.

00:25:51

Amari Stoudemire.

00:25:52

He started it. Yeah, you bathe in the tannins and you're good to go. I would like to read two tweets from last night regarding the Lakers. Okay.

00:26:02

Yeah, I might have them as well, but go for it.

00:26:04

Okay. They both come from Irvin Magic Johnson.

00:26:06

Oh, okay.

00:26:07

No, I do not have it. Okay. I'm getting my popcorn ready for an outstanding night of basketball on ESPN, starting with Luka Donchik, LeBron James, and the Lakers against Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers at 4: 00 Pacific Time. Noted that he put Luka first before LeBron, and then he actually updated that tweet later. To my surprise, the Cleveland Cavaliers blew out my Lakers. It was total domination in every basketball category with a score of 129 to 99. That's as mad as Magic Johnson gets. Magic Johnson is furious. He is walking through hallways, kicking paintings off the wall. There will be changes made in Los Angeles.

00:26:47

Yeah. They've made the shift this year where it's like it's Luka's team. We're going to get a lot of stories about LeBron being okay with it and how good of a teammate he is. But so LeBron went back to Cleveland last night, and this could be it. We don't know. Hank, you're going to like this quote after the game. Did you see this one? He said, Eight years ago, when I left to go to LA, if you would have asked me, would I still be playing in 2026? I would have said no. After going to eight straight finals and with all the energy and all the mental toll and the physical toll that I took on me and obviously my teammates. That's how we're now remembering the three finals wins in that frame, time frame. Eight straight finals. Eight straight finals.

00:27:31

Well, he's talking about the toll that it took on, mentally and physically.

00:27:35

8 straight finals.

00:27:36

Dates will be an extra season.

00:27:37

8 straight finals.

00:27:38

I would say that if you lose five finals, that takes a huge toll on you mentally. Yeah. He might be tougher than Jordan.

00:27:46

He's lost all those finals. But yeah, I don't think it's going to be about rings. It's going to be 8 straight finals. It's going to be the new talking point. The other last two things, these are more just crazy because like I said, I'm going to land the plane. Lebron deserves respect, especially maybe his last game in Cleveland. One, he has been playing so long in the NBA that the Cleveland Cavaliers wore throwback jerseys last night, and the throwback jerseys were jerseys that LeBron James debued. Think about that. 20 years ago, he debued the jerseys. They were wearing them as throwbacks last night.

00:28:17

Was there a patch?

00:28:18

I don't know if there was a patch. Another patch? He had his patch. Then the other one, he got emotional with the video they played for him. It was a nice scene because, again, I think he might be coming to the end here. It feels like his body is finally caught up to him. This might be the last time in Cleveland. They played a tribute video for him. He teared up. How many times has he gotten a video tribute in Cleveland?

00:28:43

Don't know. Five.

00:28:44

Eight.

00:28:45

Oh, my God. That's his eighth on. That's his eighth. I guess when he goes to Miami.

00:28:50

It was- Tribute video. When he was in Miami, then it out. That's the eighth time he's been playing a game in Cleveland. He's got a tribute video.

00:28:58

That's That's actually impressive.

00:29:01

You got an eight of them?

00:29:02

Longevity, yeah. Going to Miami, that's a natural tribute spot when he comes back. Then when he returns to Cleveland, they do a tribute video there.

00:29:10

No, I think it was eight when he was on the opposing team.

00:29:13

So that doesn't count all the tribute videos for home games.

00:29:16

I think they've just done it every single time he's come back to Cleveland.

00:29:19

I guess I get that with LeBron, though.

00:29:21

No, I agree. I actually saw it like people were clowning it. I saw it more as, holy shit, to be that good in that play for that You get eight tribute videos?

00:29:31

That's insane. Maybe he'll remember that this offseason. If he's like, maybe one more ride, maybe go back to Cleveland, cap it off.

00:29:38

Yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy. Eighth time. But yeah, this could be it for him in Cleveland. What are you looking up, Max? You're just watching the video, the tribute video?

00:29:49

Yeah, I just wanted to see it. Feel free to pull up the Sydney Sweeney stuff from the other day. I want to do some more investigation. Okay, I got you.

00:29:58

He's got a tab. Ready to go.

00:30:00

Bookmark. You're a bookmark guy?

00:30:04

I bookmark. Not creepy stuff. Sometimes creepy stuff.

00:30:09

Not creepy. Just- Hot? Red-blooded American male stuff. Hot? Yeah.

00:30:14

It really is. The algorithm is just insane. Now you're just looking up gifs. Okay, let's do an ad because we're going to- Barkley did say there's one thing I'm sure of this is last year with the Lakers.

00:30:24

He's not going to play with the Lakers next year, which you could glean that from some of the- He has one year left on his contract. From some of the stuff that was said not just by LeBron, but also by Magic. Really, those two tweets by Magic, the fact that he went out of his way, he put Luca's name first. That would never happen in the past.

00:30:40

I do think he should go back to Cleveland. I do tell you. He should finish it there. I mean, they still love them. The tribute video is like, It's still home. Yeah, he should go back to Cleveland. Okay, let's get to Zack's reporting. Before we do that, DraftKings. Super Bowl 60 deserves a sportsbook built for the moment, DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner. The Super Bowl 60 puts you right in the center of the biggest game of the year. Anything can happen during the Super Bowl, and DraftKings has your back with early exit. If your player goes down in the first half, you still get paid in cash. When your bet settles, no bonus bets, no waiting. While other sports don't offer injury protection, DraftKings covers the entire first half, even the second quarter. And early exit works on live bets, too. Pre-game or in-game, DraftKings has you covered. New to DraftKings, new customers can bet just $5 and get 300 in bonus bets if your bet wins. This is the best thing that DraftKings has. Everyone has been bet a player, had them get injured in the first half, been like, That really sucks.

00:31:41

Draftkings has you covered. If he doesn't play in the second half, they have you covered. Download the DraftKings' Sportster app now and use code take. That's code take to turn five bucks into 300 in bonus bets if your bet wins. In partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours. Gambling problem?

00:31:56

Call 1-800 Gambler. New York, call 877-8 Hope & Wire. Text Hope Why. Connecticut, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.

00:32:04

Org. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas, wager tax pass-through may apply in Illinois, 21 and over in most states, void in Ontario. Restrictions apply.

00:32:11

Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days.

00:32:14

Minimum odds required. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.

00:32:18

Co/audio.

00:32:19

Limited time offer.

00:32:21

Okay, Zack, what did you find?

00:32:24

I have gathered a few things, a couple of talking points that could point to why Bill Welscheck was not a first-bout Hall of Famer. Okay. I'd like to share them with you guys. Okay.

00:32:31

How many titties did you get?

00:32:34

Okay, I did do the math on tits. We talked about the email on the same episode that we talked about Sydney Sweeney pretty heavily. 29% of the emails were breasts.

00:32:45

Okay, that's good. That's good. That's a really good percentage.

00:32:49

I'm a little worried. I opened up so many tits on my work computer a couple of minutes ago that I'm going to be in a meeting.

00:32:55

Your work computer at Barstool Sports.

00:32:58

But it was But Big Head, it was so many breasts.

00:33:01

It was the most breast. Let me tell you a little story, Zack. All business, Pete, who watches all of our computers. He literally is bugged into all of our computers. Do you know what I got him for Secret Santa? I don't know, eight years ago?

00:33:14

What was that gift?

00:33:15

I got him a Brazzers password. Do you know what he did? He tried to log in right away. Boom. We are free and clear for the rest of our lives. I was sitting right next to him. He tried to log in to look at hardcore dick and vagina porn. He can't do shit to us.

00:33:30

That would be a great thing to take into that meeting if I was put in one. I got you.

00:33:34

Thank you, sir. Just give us a sampling of the emails just so we can double-check that ratio.

00:33:38

Yeah. Okay, so 29% press, great ratio. Great ratio. Wait, your mic's not on. You guys need a light back there because there's so many times we've been loose with it.

00:33:52

There's nothing about that booth that's light.

00:33:54

We've been loose with it where there's been a lot of talking when the mic's forgotten to be turned off, and then we got to get some system. It's 90% on me. Okay. Do you guys have your own buttons? Yes.

00:34:08

Zack is the only one who sometimes turns his mic off to talk, though.

00:34:12

Okay. You just keep your mic on to Yeah. Got it. Okay, Zack.

00:34:17

This first talking point is from Carlos Mencia. Insiders told him that Belichick may be going to coach another NFL team, so he cannot be elected to the Hall of Fame.

00:34:26

Oh.

00:34:26

Yeah, so that'd be interesting because of the eligibility after being out of the league. He could get elected to the Hall of Fame and coach. There's no rule against that.

00:34:36

Sorry, I would like to remain anonymous. Carlos Mencia. You said his name right away.

00:34:41

Carlos Mencia is a comedian.

00:34:43

No, but he spells differently.

00:34:45

Mind of me, CIA?

00:34:46

No, he spells M-A-N-C-I-A.

00:34:49

Oh, okay.

00:34:49

Now we're fully- I think we have to bleep all of this. He said he would like to- Zoom in. Did he- He said Ammonimus. And he also said Rename Anonymous. Is that not Rename? Yeah, that says, Rename. All right, so then he's... No, we're saying your name, dude. Spell it correctly. He said, Rename Anonymous. What if he gets mad?

00:35:08

Well, we'll have to deal with that later. Sorry, you're mad.

00:35:10

Okay, this is a cost of doing journalism. Okay, what a tip from him.

00:35:14

Journalists should always name their sources.

00:35:17

His tip was, Bill Malachek might want to coach the NFL again.

00:35:20

You think anybody in the room was like, We can't vote him in because what if he comes back next year? I don't think that was the calculus.

00:35:27

Yeah, they should have thought of that. Someone in the room should have Hey, if we don't vote him in, part of my take, they're going to have an email where it's Tits and tips. Tits and tips to Zack. Actually, we might just have to have Tits and tips to Zack as a monthly segment.

00:35:41

Yeah, I agree. It would be an all-time hater move, though, if you did If you owned an NFL team and you hated Bill Belichick, you hire him, and then that resets the counter on his Hall of Fame club.

00:35:53

Tits and tips, though. Tits and tips, Zack's Rumor Corner. Just every couple of weeks, and we just say, Hey, look, these are all a mom in this, and they're also just rumors, but just throwing it out there. I think we'll definitely hit on something.

00:36:12

Oh, certainly. Yeah. We can get behind Tips and Tits. Yeah.

00:36:15

News flash.

00:36:16

You want Tits and Tits or tits and tips?

00:36:18

Tits and Tips?

00:36:20

Tits and Tits. Tips and Tits or Tits and Tips? He just said Tits and Tits. You just want Tits. Double Tits.

00:36:26

Tits and Tips.

00:36:28

Tits and Tips. Tits and Tips.

00:36:29

Tits first.

00:36:30

Zack Rumor Corner. Maybe you eat some steak tips while you're doing it.

00:36:35

Don't send tip pics.

00:36:37

I could get all the way in on that. Tip pics? Tip pics. Tip pics.

00:36:37

No, it can be photos of the tips. No, don't send Tip Picks. No, no. Good point, Hank.

00:36:46

Because those will be hard to read. If you're going to send a tip, if you send a photo of the article, it could get blurry.

00:36:51

He's talking about the tip of a penis.

00:36:53

That is also something we... That's a different email address. I'm not going to be monitoring that one. I don't know what you guys want to do with those.

00:36:59

This is actually a good It's a good idea for a news station. If you have any important breaking news, just Photoshop it on top of a pair of tits and get people to read it.

00:37:06

Okay, let's keep going. I agree. That would be very good. Just watching the news on tits. I think they do that in South America.

00:37:13

This is a great idea. Yeah.

00:37:16

This next source or this next tip is from Matt McClean. He says, A voter who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Deflategate and Spygate came up in the talks.

00:37:27

This guy sent you a It's a screenshot of an Instagram story from another source.

00:37:35

That tag to ESPN.

00:37:36

This is good, though. Thank you, Matt. Appreciate you reaching out.

00:37:39

Okay, so they did bring up Spygate.

00:37:42

Yes, sir.

00:37:42

According to Matt.

00:37:43

This was a little bit of source-ception because it was sources inside of the sources on the attach file, but we got to the tip of it.

00:37:51

Okay.

00:37:52

This next one is from Glenn Mandel.

00:37:54

Okay.

00:37:55

Says his uncle is a voter.

00:37:56

Our anonymous part of this This is really struggling.

00:38:01

We don't have to say their names, Zack.

00:38:02

Well, you guys said you're going to shout out their Twitter and Instagram.

00:38:04

Oh, yeah, that's right. Okay, go for it.

00:38:08

So Glenn says that his uncle is a voter and that Bill has been blackballed from the Hall of Fame due to jealousy about Jordan.

00:38:14

Oh, okay.

00:38:15

It makes sense.

00:38:15

What does that say? It's crushing 20-something puss, and they have to go home for their daily haggard wives. Okay, that makes sense.

00:38:25

Just jealousy.

00:38:27

Yeah, that's just straight-up jealousy. Okay, good tip.

00:38:31

I would like to see the sitting for the bust that Bill Belichick would have to do because you know that Jordan would be in the room giving advice to the sculptor.

00:38:41

Oh, yeah.

00:38:41

Make the nose a little smaller.

00:38:43

Oh, yeah.

00:38:45

Make his lips jucier.

00:38:49

We got this next tip from Michael Lundin. Says that sources in the room tell him that the post-Brady years may have a big part on Bill not getting to the first ballot. Might have been. They're saying maybe he was all braided.

00:38:59

Okay. Okay.

00:39:00

Maybe it wasn't Bill.

00:39:02

Yeah. I mean, the end of the career wasn't great, but there's a lot of guys in the Hall of Fame that didn't have great last seasons.

00:39:09

He said there's no one he'd rather play for. If he needed to win a Super Bowl, it's Belichick.

00:39:13

Well, that's not true.

00:39:16

Do you want me to send you the same thing that he said?

00:39:18

Well, he literally had the choice of who to play for, Bill Belichick.

00:39:21

He said if he needed to win a Super Bowl one season, it's Belichick. Okay. So it is true.

00:39:27

But he did say, I'd rather play for a different person.

00:39:30

We don't know what other factors were involved with that.

00:39:33

Do you think Belichick is rooting for the Patriors in the Super Bowl? No way. Definitely. Really? Patrior for life. No, but... Okay, you're smirking, so you don't think he is. I do. You actually do? Yeah. Okay.

00:39:53

Former player.

00:39:54

Yeah, but if the Patriors win this one, then, braided has one without Belichick, and Kraft has one without Belichick.

00:40:02

Belichick has two without them.

00:40:04

That's a defensive coordinator. Yeah, I'm just saying. Would he be a system coach? Deep down, do you think he's rooting for him? Yeah. Okay. I guess Rable, that part.

00:40:12

Have you thought about the scenario where Robert Kraft gets into the Hall of Fame and Belichick doesn't?

00:40:18

No. I think that's what's going to happen, right?

00:40:20

That would be crazy, wouldn't it?

00:40:21

It feels like that's what's going to happen.

00:40:23

Robert Kraft, he's a classy guy. He'll probably do the Rudy. He'll say, I'm not going in without Bill.

00:40:29

I'm not going. Yeah, he's got to. Has to.

00:40:32

Has to. Be a snake move if he didn't.

00:40:35

Zack, what do we got next?

00:40:37

We got a next one from Jackson Reemers.

00:40:40

Okay. This is the best reporting ever.

00:40:44

He's saying that everyone assumed that Belichick was a lockerer for his ballot, that the assumption mattered more than people thought, and then there's a new group ballot system. With the new system, there's five finalists and only three voters.

00:40:56

This is quickly becoming send us tips. When it's in reality, read the internet for us. That's what people are doing. I appreciate that. People are reading the internet for us and then telling us.

00:41:07

We do discuss this with Mike Florio. I think this guy just copied and pasted a Florio article.

00:41:12

Yeah, but I like that because it is a quicker way of being like, Hey, read and decipher the internet for us.

00:41:18

Send it to us. It's like spark notes. This is what we've gathered. Here's some talking points.

00:41:23

It also could just beWe've created our own AI system. Yeah, it could just be people looking up on ChatGPT, what's going on with this vote, and then and pasting that into an email. And then the AI of Google on Gmail reading that to Zack.

00:41:36

This next one is from Henry Fords.

00:41:39

Okay.

00:41:40

That spy game 2007 was not just about filming signals. The real footage of Belichick allegedly had was of Roger Goodell shapeshifting during a league meeting. And the NFL leaked a watered-down version to make him look petty. But the voters know the truth.

00:41:56

So he's an alien.

00:41:57

They're saying that Goodell may be a semi-human species, other species. Okay.

00:42:03

Like reptilian. He's got the eyes that close from the side like Hillary Clinton. You remember those videos? Yeah.

00:42:08

I like this. There's actually quite a few Goodell is a lizard person. There's a lot of outer Earth's conspiracies in the emails.

00:42:15

I believe him.

00:42:16

Okay. It's enough that we should start thinking this might be true.

00:42:21

Yeah, his eyes might blink the other way. Okay.

00:42:24

What else we got?

00:42:24

We've got...

00:42:26

How many more we got?

00:42:27

We only got three more if that's okay. No, that's great. I run through. Parker Erichson says his aunt is married to a guy who was cleaning the room after the meeting. He heard them talking about how Bill will not make the first ballot because of his connection to Russia.

00:42:40

Okay, now we're talking. Now we're talking. Robert Kraft should be held to an even higher standard because he gave Putin a Super Bowl ring, or Putin stole it from him. Yeah.

00:42:51

We should have put a disclaimer at the start of this. Everyone, please credit us for any of these reports if they turn out to be true. If Kudel's a reptile, if Russia is involved, what, Max? These are all our anonymous sources that we would never actually reveal our sources. Right.

00:43:06

Correct.

00:43:07

But we want the credit. Yeah. We're not starting off every single one with your name. Shout out, Parker.

00:43:13

Yeah.

00:43:15

Okay.

00:43:18

Quick one. Justin Peter says he's a voter and then just Goodell is in on it.

00:43:21

Okay. That sounds like a good source.

00:43:23

That's a perfect source. We got an actual voter email us?

00:43:28

He's saying he's in the room. He's at the table. He's in the votes.

00:43:30

So we're good. That basically gets to the bottom of it right there.

00:43:34

Hey, do you believe that Goodell could be in on it?

00:43:36

Yes, 100%.

00:43:37

What was that?

00:43:38

Justin Peters. Yeah. From my reporting of just looking at this, I think 80% of these are still people trying to get us to come to their bachelor party.

00:43:46

There's so many bachelor party emails.

00:43:49

We got to start a new email for the tips and tits. I like sticking it with the bachelor party. It makes no sense. Okay. All right, Zack, last one.

00:44:00

This last one is from Hayden Ostrog. The Hall of Fame changed the coaching eligibility rule from five years to one year. A lot of voters weren't happy about it, so they used Belichick as protest. Basically, we don't like this new rule, so Belichick is an example. He can wait.

00:44:15

Okay. It's bigger than Belichick. Yeah.

00:44:17

That's another one deciphering the internet for us. Appreciate that.

00:44:20

There was 152 emails total, 28% of which were breasts. Bring up one of the breasts.

00:44:25

Just one breast?

00:44:26

So we can fact-check Zack.

00:44:28

We'll describe the breasts the listeners. All right. That's just Jerry O'Neill. Okay, that's Bill Pullian with Sydney Sweeney's body.

00:44:39

Kind of hot.

00:44:40

Okay. We're going to need some breasts here, Zack. What's going on? Zack just I'm saying anyone with an attachment is dressed. Oh, so these weren't... That wasn't a good one. These weren't great breasts. That wasn't a good one. Okay. Oh, Christina Hendrix. Heavies. Big time.

00:44:57

Milkers.

00:44:59

Oh, All right, now we're looking at breasts and nipples.

00:45:03

Now this is...

00:45:03

We're looking at porn.

00:45:05

Okay. Hard on my take.

00:45:06

Good job. Oh, that person sent their resume. If you're going to send a resume, you might as well send the breasts, too. Oh, okay.

00:45:14

These are good. These are good tips. Oh, a couple of boobs. It was Hank and Bill Pulling.

00:45:19

A couple of boobs, Hank and Bill Pulling, and hugging each other.

00:45:22

Hank, has there been any discussion about a formal protest?

00:45:27

I think Dave is talking about potentially building his own Hall of Fame in Florida with Jimmy Johnson.

00:45:32

Yeah, at a strip club.

00:45:33

Yeah.

00:45:33

Yeah. Okay. Oh, wow. Those are some good breaths. Memes is fist-pumping, double fist-pumping. Good job, Zack. We'll clean this up and figure out how we're going to do this going forward. But I think an off-season every couple of weeks, Zack's Rumor Corner would be good.

00:45:52

I got a question for Memes. Memes, what's the status on hostile work environment? How have things been?

00:45:59

It's been good.

00:46:01

Still hostile, but- I feel like you haven't been here. Have you been a little sparse this week? What do you mean? Have you been showing up solely for work? Yes. And not any extracurricular? Nope, just PMT, and then I leave. Because there is- Sometimes you need a personal day. We like to hang out. We like to shoot the shit with the boys. You're not into that? No, not this week. What about next week when we're spending every hour together? No, I'm mentally embarrassing for next week. Okay. I might just get into a fight. You should just drug yourself. Just take Nyquil every day during the day.

00:46:41

Who are you afraid of fighting?

00:46:42

I don't know.

00:46:43

Patriots fans coming up to me.

00:46:45

Seahawks fans rubbing in my face that Sam Donnells, their quarterback. That's fucked up. You got to go incognito.

00:46:50

I'll fight a Seahawks fan with you.

00:46:52

You got to go incognito next week. Fake mustache?

00:46:55

Yeah, I got to switch it up.

00:46:57

Yeah.

00:46:58

Who do you think gets the worst ricochet shot? Jets fans if the Seahawks win or Titans fans if the Patriots win?

00:47:07

Probably Titans fans. Yeah.

00:47:09

Do you mean that? I feel like you would take the Sam Donnell thing pretty hard.

00:47:14

No, because we sucked with him. It's not like he had 14 wins with another team. Also, you got your own shit you're dealing with right now because Aaron Glenn doesn't seem like he's really got any plan. No, there's no plan. We didn't talk about it because the Jets are not looking for a new head coach. But from everything I understand, Aaron Glenn told everyone they're coming back, and then three weeks later, after a bunch of jobs have been filled, was like, Ha ha, just kidding. I'm cleaning house.

00:47:42

Yeah, he did do that.

00:47:43

The circus is back in town, unfortunately.

00:47:46

If the Seahawks win, does that become the Sam Darnal draft? Because right now, it's the Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson draft. I think it might be. I think it would have to become the Sam Darnal draft. I think it might be. It might be.

00:47:56

It might be right. What are the odds? It's crazy. To think about. Okay, let's get to our interview. We're going to talk some more ball with Mike Florio, and then we're going to finish up with Firefest of the Week.

00:48:07

Before we get to Mike Florio, he's brought to you by the UFC on Paramount+. It continues with UFC 325 Live from Australia. You can catch featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in a rematch of his epic title fight against Diego Lopez. The always dangerous Dan Hooker throws down with a dynamic finisher, Benoît-San Denise, in a high-action lightweight showdown. Ufc fans, pay-per-view just got knocked out. Stream UFC 325 live on Saturday, January 31st, only on Paramount+, the new home of everything UFC. Check out full-length replays, pre-fight docuseries like UFC Countdown and UFC Embedded, and the UFC library that's filled with epic events from years past. Catch all the action from the octagon. Stream every fight live with one subscription. Visit paramountplus. Com/ufc to get started today. Florio is also brought to you by our great friends at Microsoft Copilot. Picture this. It's Monday morning. You open up your laptop. Outlook hits you with 87 unread emails. Your calendar looks like a game of Tetris played by a toddler. Your boss wants a report. Your team wants a presentation. You want an app. Enter Microsoft Copilot. Copilot summarizes your emails, so boom, you're all caught up. It draughts your report in word.

00:49:25

It builds your slides in PowerPoint. It even pulls insights from your Excel data. Suddenly, Secondly, you're the office hero. People think you're organized, responsible, maybe even promotable, all because Copilot did the stuff you didn't want to do. So if you want to reclaim your time or at least pretend you have your life together, try Microsoft Copilot. Copilot, because sometimes the smartest move is letting AI do the work. Learn more at microsoft. Com/m365 Copilot. And now, here's Mike Florio.

00:49:54

Okay, we now welcome on one of our favorite guests, very, very, very special guest, distinguished It is Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk. You can see him all the time, everywhere. He's going to be on the Super Bowl broadcast. He's going to be part of the Super Bowl broadcast, so we're excited for that. And we wanted to have you on to talk a little coaching, hiring, some processes, some weird shit that's gone on, but also the Hall of Fame, and maybe get to the bottom of this whole thing. For people who maybe missed Wednesday's show or haven't been online, the Hall of Fame has basically shown their ass because they have elected Mike Florio into the West Virginia Academy of Distinguished Alumni, and he's being awarded tomorrow or today as you're listening to this, this is bullshit. This Hall of Fame is a joke.

00:50:42

That's all the evidence you need that there's a problem with any and all voting processes to the extent that it would bubble up with my name for anything other than Florio of the Year. My new good friend memes.

00:50:58

So what is this? You actually are, I was half joking, but congratulations, I think. Did they make a special Hall of Fame just for you?

00:51:06

No, that would be nice. I guess we should all aspire to not win an award named after someone, but to be the person the award is named after. But no, no. West Virginia University has had since, I think, 1988, an Academy of Distinguished Alumni, and some of the people in there. It's like Sam Huff, Hot Rod Hundly, Jerry West, Dawn Nautz. What a party that would be. Throw me in the mix and let's go. Do they give you a jacket? You know what? I don't know if there's a jacket. Maybe it's the jacket that the mountaineer wears.

00:51:40

Or a camo jacket?

00:51:42

Coonskin cap. Yeah.

00:51:43

I get the Coonskin cap and the leather jacket with all the... And maybe a musket, a muzzle loader. It's a muzzle loader, not a musket.

00:51:51

I feel like West Virginia Hall of Fame, you got to get a camo jacket from Bass Pro Shops and a Mountain Dew.

00:51:58

Yes. I'll see. I'll find out on Friday night what the award is. But it really is two things. It really is a big deal, and there's no way in hell that I should be getting it. But you go, Okay, fine. If you wanted to demean the award by giving it to me, I'll take it.

00:52:20

Yeah. What was the call like? Did somebody knock at your door? Was it the old David Baker?

00:52:24

No, God. If David Baker shows up at your door, shouldn't you run away? Whatever happened to David Baker, and why isn't there a David Baker now? Isn't that weird?

00:52:32

I'll tell you this. Isn't that weird? With David Baker in charge, this Bill Belichick thing doesn't happen. He whips that room into shape.

00:52:38

That's a fact. Let's talk about it. Congratulations. That is awesome. You are going into the Hall of Fame at West Virginia, which is very cool. I expect you to thank us in your speech at some point, and you will, right?

00:52:55

Oh, I will. I absolutely will. Okay.

00:52:57

All right, great. So let's talk about the Cee Canton. Let's talk about the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Belichick being snubbed as a first ballot Hall of Famer, which is utterly ridiculous. Can you tell us first, what the hell is the process? I've been trying to read about this whole voting thing in that some of these people might not have voted against Belichick. They just voted for the old guys, but maybe also in a weird way, that's them saying, Hey, it's not my fault. I was just doing the right thing for the old guys, but really, they're voting against Belichick.

00:53:28

This is funny. This reminds me of the time that you called and asked me to explain something to you like you were in first grade, and then I did, and you busted my balls for doing it.

00:53:41

Yeah.

00:53:42

How about I explain this to you like you're in fifth grade?

00:53:46

Okay. Okay. I like that.

00:53:48

Look, here's the problem. They used to have a process where when you got to the finalists, however many there were, five, eight, nine, whatever, however many finalists there were, there It would be a vote, yes or no, for each one, up or down, in or out. If that person got 80% of the vote, they were in. But it's isolation. One person, does this person belong in the Hall of Fame? That's how it used to be. For some reason, they've changed that in recent years. Now, maybe this is just their way of trying to make it harder to get in. Maybe they've heard the criticisms of people like Deion Sanders who says too many people get in. I person, they don't think it's fair to all of a sudden raise the bar because you got a lot of people in there under the old procedure. So they have a new procedure, and here's how it works. I'm going to focus on it as it relates to the candidates who aren't from the class and group of modern era players. That's a separate universe altogether. When you get to Belichick, he's in a bucket because he's the coach's nominee.

00:54:56

He's in a bucket with the contributor nominee, Robert Kraft, and the three senior committee committees, the players who never got in when they were in the modern era category for whatever it was, 15, 20, 25 years. It came down to Belichick, Kraft, Ken Anderson, former Bengals quarterback, El C. Greenwood, former Stealers defensive end, Roger Craig, primarily a member of the 49ers who were great in the 1980s. You got five, and they're all basically competition with each other because you don't have a vote on each of the five. Each voter picks three of the five.

00:55:38

Okay.

00:55:39

What happened here is when it was time for the 50 voters to put So we looked down the names, not enough of them included Bill Belichick among the three of the five. I think if we look at those five names and we picked the three Hall of Famers, how is Belichick not the first one? Right.

00:56:00

So what I understand is that I saw there was a Kansas City Chiefs reporter who wrote a long article being like, Here's my explanation. I didn't vote for Bill Belichick. And he essentially said that the three old timers were going to get basically They were going to disappear in the coming years because there was going to be new guys coming in. And so he did the calculation of, I'm not going to vote for Belichick this time because I know he'll get in next time. I need to vote for these guys because it might be their last shot. That still feels a little a hollow of like, maybe I'm doing this because I'm not voting for Bill Belichick.

00:56:34

And he also said if it was a straight up or down vote on Bill Belichick, he would have said, yes. This process they've created allowed people to bypass for whatever reason. If it I want to give Ken Anderson, Elsy Greenwood, and Roger Craig their opportunity, okay, fine. But it's to the detriment of Bill Belichick. Or if it's just, I don't like Bill Belichick, I'll pick three others instead. The whole thing is a mess. They should have forced the voters to say yes or no on Bill Belichick. And they need to go back to what's the easiest fix here? Go back to the system where the finalists each have an 80 % up or down yes or no vote like it used to be. It's fundamentally unfair to all. And it's going to create a ridiculous logjam. It's going to reduce the size of the class. You're going to have fewer parties in camp. You're going to have a smaller parade. You're going to have fewer people show up. Why would the Hall of Fame even want to make the classes smaller? If anything, They want to make them bigger. That's been one of the problems.

00:57:32

So they've overreacted, and they've made the bar too high. And I think the proper reaction now is to go back to the way it used to be.

00:57:39

Be interesting to see if that writer from Kansas City, if he has voted against other deserving players or contributors in the past just so that he can get the old guys in, or if this is just a Belichick problem that he's got, because I think that would tell us a lot of whether or not he truly believes those convictions that he wrote out, or if he's just holding against the Patriots, which is also a It's a possibility.

00:58:00

He said in his piece, he said that when he first became a Hall of Fame voter, he made the mistake of not voting for the old guys and having them disappear, and he's course-corrected here.

00:58:10

This year? Yeah. This year, he's discovered.

00:58:14

Eric, I mean, PFT comment. Oh, wow.

00:58:16

Government names. Eric's brother.

00:58:18

Michael. Sorry. I think that they've only been doing the current procedure for a couple of years. Last year, when they did that, that five-person bucket, Sterling Sharp, was the that made it out. So maybe the guy did the same thing last year. I don't know. But it used to be if you emerge from the committee process, because for the coaches, the contributors, and the seniors, there's a separate committee that identifies the candidates who are going to be teed up for the full membership to vote on. And there was a time where it's a no-brainer. If these folks who are specifically focusing on who are the best of the best from these categories, they take the time to serve them as the ones who should get in, okay, fine. At least four out of five of us are going to put them in. But now it's been hopelessly complicated, and it's kept out Belichick. It could keep out Kraft. It could keep out all of them. I haven't done the math, and I'm not going to, but the current procedure. I mean, it could, in theory, prevent any of them getting to 80 %.

00:59:19

What about Bill Polian? Do we believe him? Because he is now in very Bill Polian fashion. The report came out that he essentially said that he has to Bill Belichick should wait a year. Then he came out, Bill Polian said, I 100 % voted for Bill Belichick. Then he said, I'm 95 % sure I voted for Bill Belichick. Then he came out and did a radio hit where he had a pre-written speech that he gave that he read off a piece of paper. What's going on with Bill Polian?

00:59:50

Well, and he said that the Hall of Fame's auditors told him that he did indeed vote for Bill Belichick. His comment that he doesn't remember 100% certainty whether he voted for Bill Belichick was one of the most shocking developments in this entire thing, because how could you not remember failing to vote for? Because that's what you would be remembering, not voting for him. You'd remember if you didn't vote for one of the greatest coaches of all time. But I thought the most interesting wrinkle came from his comments to espn. Com that he was aware that some of the other voters were kicking around the idea of making Belichick wait a year because of Spigate, and that he neither agreed nor disagreed with them. There's a lot of work that can be done within those confines. Oh, you guys are making a pretty good point. I don't agree or disagree with you, but you got to vote your convictions, whatever you think. The ultimate conspiracy theory here would be he knew that at least 11 were not going to vote for Belichick, so he could go ahead and vote for Belichick and cover his ass. Now, I'm not saying it's true, but that would be impressive I would give him another bust in the Hall of Fame if he intended to pull that off and made it happen that way.

01:01:06

Yeah, his fingerprints aren't on it. He made a couple of phone calls, rallied the troops, and then he said, Okay, my work here is done. I've whipped the votes, so now I can get away scotfree if I have to. There was another statement that was, I think it came out yesterday, last evening, from the Hall of Fame saying that they are looking into, and I guess, reminding members of the selection committee that if they violate the bylaws, they can have their their vote's taken away in the future. It seems to me like either one, the Hall of Fame is trying to say the big crime here is that the news leaked. That's number one. Then also something about Belichick violating the NDA for disclosing the results of the vote that he was told that he would not be moving on. Is the Hall of Fame, are they actually saying, Hey, Belichick might be punished because he violated the NDA?

01:01:59

Well, when I heard that the candidates are required to sign an NDA so they don't disclose whether they got in or whether they didn't, because the reality is, even though we're not going to find out until next Thursday who got in at the NFL honors ceremony, the people already know. The candidates know that they got in. They know that they didn't get in. Belichick knew he didn't get in. And if you read the story at espn. Com, it's obvious Belichick disclosed to someone because he said in the presence of other people, What do you have to do to get in. He's not supposed to say anything. And when someone told me that they signed an NDA, I said, What are they going to do? Sue him? I hate NDAs generally because I hate anything that tends to try to scare someone into not talking because that's all an NDA is. They're just trying to scare you into not talking. But the leak itself, it didn't come from any of the voters because the voters don't know who got in. All they know is who they voted for. They don't tell the voters ahead of time.

01:02:55

They find out when everyone else finds out unless one of the candidates tells to the voters. If I'm the person who presented the guy who got in, then that person may call me and thank me. It's like, Why are you thanking me? I got in. Oh, now I know. But I think the concern as it relates to that statement, because that was a stupid thing for the Hall of Fame to do. If you got a concern about the voters complying with the bylaws, send them an email. You put out a statement and people are like, What does this even mean? Some people thought that it meant they were going to take away voting privileges for people who didn't vote for Bill Belichick, and maybe they should. But here's what I think they talking about because I got the bylaws. I think the one thing that they objected to, there's a rule, there's a statement in there that says that the voters aren't allowed to disclose publicly the confidential discussions that happen in the room before the voting when the person is presented and comments are made. The guy who presented Bill Belichick, Armando Salgaro, he was on a Dan Patrick show on Wednesday, and he talked about what was said in the room.

01:03:58

That probably set a red flag up at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and they want to make sure people understand. I see nothing in the bylaws that prevents people from saying who they voted for or didn't vote for. You're not allowed to talk about, for whatever reason, I think it's stupid, but you're not allowed to talk about what went on in the room.

01:04:15

Which is crazy because I made the point on Wednesday's show, the NFL televises everything. We've made a night out of the schedule release that we already know. Let's televise this thing. Let's make the writers and the voters stand behind their words. Why not?

01:04:33

Transparency is critical. When you don't have it, when you have secrecy, extreme secrecy, that will prompt the Hall of Fame to send out a finger wagging, huff and puff statement, warning the voters to keep their mouth shut, it makes people think something fishy is going on. Then when you get a weird result, that justifies thinking something fishy is going on. Someone's out to get Bill Belichick. There was some cabal of voters and Robert Kraft pulling everyone's strings to try to keep Belichick out and get himself in. There's all sorts of crazy theories that respond by the fact that they insist on keeping this secret. And I think they need to take a step back and they need to ask, why the hell are we treating this thing like the paper conclave?

01:05:18

Yeah.

01:05:18

We'll get back to Florio in a second. He's brought to you by DraftKings Sportsbook, the number one sportsbook for live betting. They're making every snap, every drive, every moment of Super Bowl 60 count with DraftKings Live Millions, featuring over $5 million in prizes just for betting live. Here's how simple it is. Head to DraftKings Sportsbook, opt in, and receive a promo token. You place a live bet of $1 or more on the Super Bowl, and you're automatically entered. That's it. Every live bet means another chance to hit. Place a live bet, stack your entries this Super Bowl 60, because once the game wraps up, we'll randomly select our prized winners, and there will be more than 100,000 winners. Will you be one of the top prized winners? Jump in, bet live, and let the entries roll for a share of over 5 million in prizes. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app, use promo code take. That's code take. Bet live for your share of $5 million dollars in prizes with code. In partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours. And now, more Mike Florio. Gambling problem?

01:06:18

Call 1-800 Gambler. New York, call 877-8 Hope & Why or text Hope & Why.

01:06:22

Connecticut, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.

01:06:27

Org.

01:06:27

On behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas, wager A tax pass-through may apply in Illinois.

01:06:31

21 and over in most states. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply.

01:06:34

No purchase necessary.

01:06:35

Opt-in required. Minimum odds minus 500. Prizes, either bonus bets or a single-use 20% profit boost. Max bet, $20 that expires in 30 days. See official rules at sports Booked at draftkings.

01:06:46

Com/promos for entry period and free method of entry.

01:06:48

Sponsored by Crown Gaming Inc.

01:06:50

All right, Mike, I got another topic I want to hit you with. It's the whole saying, Don't shoot the messenger, shoot the message. I like to shoot the messenger, and you, unfortunately, are the messenger in this. You are floating out the idea that the NFL is going to get to a place where conference championships are at a neutral site in a dome. I hate it so much, and fuck you for saying it.

01:07:17

Thank you. Let's be clear on this, because I understand that in this day and age, people are going to put whatever interpretation they want on the message. You can shoot the messenger just Just make sure you're interpreting the message properly. I'll tell you the whole story. Here's what happened. Because more people watch the conference Championship Games than to watch a Monday night game in October between the Bucaneers and the Falcons. I was getting text from guys I've known since I was 6, 7, 8 years old, and we're talking about the games. And one of my buddies said that his mom, who's in her 80s, once the snow started and the offenses weren't able to do anything and the game just completely bogged down and we couldn't see the lines on the field, she said, These games should be played indoors at a neutral site. And when he texted that, it reminded me that three years ago, remember when the DeMar Hamlin cardiac arrest, screwed up the season. And there was that one fewer game between the Bengals and the Bills because they never finished it. They came up with this weird formula as to how the playoffs would unfold.

01:08:25

And if the Bills and the Chiefs met in the AFC Championship, the game was going to be played in Atlanta. And they sold 50,000 tickets in 24 hours to this neutral site game that never happened because the Bengals beat the Bills. At that time, that's when I became aware that there are people in the league office that do want to play the Conference Championship Games at a neutral site. Lamar Hunt, the late Chief's owner, the Chief's founder, he used to bring it up all the time. It never got any traction. But what happened on Sunday caused me to remember that. And I just put out there, I'm Here's the question, do we want to have the two teams able to play to the best of their abilities under ideally pristine conditions like we do in the Super Bowl, or are we fine with whatever crazy weather pattern may pop up during in the game and make it harder for the two teams to be at their best? Yes. That's the question. I don't care how it's resolved, but that's the question.

01:09:23

I don't like the idea of doing a neutral site. I think if you get the higher seeds should be rewarded for playing in the regular season. Part of the snow and the elements and the wind and the cities that the teams are based in, it's a good addition. You have to account for that. Good coaches will figure out ways. Mike, if Russia had built a dome, they'd all be speaking German right now. It needs to mean something. We've got to add in some of the chaos. Chaos is good. We don't need a sanitized version of sports. We don't need a sanitized, 72-degree, zero-mile-per-hour wind version of these games. Football is an outdoor sport, fundamentally. It should be played in the wintertime. It should be played in the elements. I don't think that having every game in the snow would be a good idea, but you get a couple of magical snow games a year. I think that's great for the sports. Think about NFL films. Nfl films, the snow game replays that they have from games that were played in the '80s, '90s, 2000s. They're iconic. It's good for marketing the sport, too. I disagree with your idea and your friend's mom's idea.

01:10:30

No, it's your idea. It's not my idea.

01:10:34

Hey, let me respond. The Super Bowl, I mean, would you support having home field advantage for a Super Bowl?

01:10:42

No, it's a Super Bowl.

01:10:43

No, it's a Super Bowl, dude. What are you, a dummy?

01:10:45

Okay.

01:10:47

I just think- This is what Mike doesn't take into account. He can bring up a great logical point, and we'll just be like, no.

01:10:53

Yeah, we're just going to argue with you like we're fifth-graders.

01:10:55

I think the only reason to consider it is was the stakes of the... I'm not saying it should happen. I'm just saying to the extent that you were watching the game on Sunday, whether you're a Broncos fan, Patriots fan, neutral observer, and it just got frustrating. It was a frustrating viewing experience. They put up those giant numbers that made it look like they were playing on an electric football field. Unfortunately, they got rid of that. We couldn't tell what was going on. I feel like we didn't get the best of both teams.

01:11:25

What about the first half? The first half sucked offensively outside of a Jared Stidham big pass, there was no offense. The Patriots scored after Jared Stittam threw the ball backwards. It wasn't like we were lighting it up. I'm a big believer, too. If you put everything in a dome, then there's only one way you build a football team, and that's the fastest players, and that's it. When you have to deal with the weather, you have to build your football team to do everything. You have to build your football team to run the ball, to stop the run, situational football, punting, all these things come into play. Otherwise, we're just playing flag football.

01:12:03

The other reality is, Sports Business Journal had an item about this a couple of weeks ago. You've got more and more of these teams that are ditching the elements for domes. Remember that great Jameis Winston, Snow globe game against the Steelers the third day night? The Browns are building a dome. The bears want to...

01:12:19

I know. I don't like it.

01:12:22

And Bronco's owner, Greg Penner, said yesterday, they're building a stadium with a retractable roof, and if they had a retractable roof, it would have been closed on Sunday.

01:12:32

I love that. Lincoln's design a new limousine, and it would have been closed for the parade in Dallas.

01:12:38

Jesus. 17 teams are going to be playing in dums within the next 10 years the way things are currently going. The Chiefs are moving into a dumb.

01:12:47

I know. It stinks. You were at the Ram's Bear's game. I was there. Or were you at the Packer's one?

01:12:54

Which one were you at? I was at the Ram's Bear's.

01:12:57

Yes, it was cold. Cold. The weather was an element, a factor. But it adds a different... The Rams are an incredible offense. When they play indoors, they can light everyone up. Now you got to deal with this. And guess what? The Rams figured it out in the second half. They had to run the ball, and they figured it out. And it's like a survival of the fittest element that should come into play with football.

01:13:19

I don't disagree with any of that.

01:13:21

Stop spreading the message, dude.

01:13:23

But it's just a conversation, man. It's something to talk about until they screw Bill Belichick out of getting into the Hall of Fame, and then we got something else to talk about. I mean, sometimes right after the regular season ends, the fruit just falls right out of the trees and the struggle to get it off the ground before it rots. Then you get to this dead week before Super Bowl week. You need something to talk about. So I had to shake the tree a little bit to come up with something to talk about. But the synapses connected after my friend's mother made that point. It's like, that was only three years ago. There were forces in the league office that were trying to make this happen. It's never going to happen. That's the the rest of the story. The owners are never going to do it because I don't think any owner wants to give up that one in 16 chance, hosting the game and keeping all the money that flows from hosting the game.

01:14:14

There's a couple of people that work for the NFL that are like, This would be cool if we could do this. And then in reality, nothing's going to get any traction whatsoever.

01:14:23

Well, no, you forgot one piece of that very important.

01:14:25

And a friend's mom.

01:14:26

It's a bunch of people in the NFL are like, This would be cool if we do this. Let's text Florio. He'll float it out for us.

01:14:32

But that didn't happen this time. That happened three years ago. A high-level executive at the NFL shared with me the story three years ago of Lamar Hunt annually pushing for it and it not going anywhere. And the idea came to the fore because we were one game away from having it happen. And here's how the NFL often does things. You get forced into a situation by accident or by circumstance. And what if they had played that game? Let me ask you this. What if they do Bill's Chiefs in Atlanta, and it looks and feels like a college bowl game, a big time college bowl game, with half the stadium in Bill's Kellers, half the stadium in Chiefs Kellers, the reaction shots of the sad fans after the big plays that go against their team. That was part of it, too. They thought that this would feel like a big... Because the Super Bowl is too sanitized. It's too corporate. Now I know there's plenty of fans there for both teams, and it can get loud, but it doesn't have the same feel as one of those big-time college bowl games. I think they were intrigued by the possibility of that happening.

01:15:44

If the Bengals don't beat the bills 27 to 10 in a snowstorm in Buffalo, we would have at least gotten to see what it would have looked like and felt like. That'll probably never happen again because it was a crazy set of circumstances that even had us within one game of it unfolding the way it could I think it would have looked like and felt like the Super Bowl, and there's only one Super Bowl.

01:16:04

I don't think it would have been good. I know what you're saying. If it's played at the Rose Bowl and you've got the crowd divided and people make the trip out there, I think there should be more home games. In the playoffs, it should mean something if you get the higher seed. And I love the weather. That's my final piece. And you are Mike Florio, mouthpiece for the League office. Who would have thought?

01:16:23

Yeah, who would have thought?

01:16:24

Addicted to Dome.

01:16:27

But look, 20 minutes of content. You You're welcome.

01:16:31

Yeah, great point.

01:16:32

Yeah, good point. Great point, Mike. Mike, all right, next topic. Is this the most Brown's hire ever in the way that they bundled this thing? Essentially, from all I understand, you could tell me I'm wrong, they spent two weeks interviewing up and coming offensive guys and saying, Hey, if you come, Jim Schwartz is part of this, and that's what you have to deal with. Then everyone said, No, I don't want to do this because you're basically saying there's an interim head coach waiting to take my job if I screw up. Then they get Todd Munkin and Jim Schwartz is like, I don't agree to this. I'm out. So they basically screwed it up every which way, if I'm correct.

01:17:08

Somebody told me last week when it first became a thing on the grapevine that Jim Schwartz was a favorite to get the job, that the Browns have to choose between promoting him or losing him. And I think even the Browns, even the highly dysfunctional Browns, and they kindly ask that you not call them dysfunctional, and only a dysfunctional organization would actually say out loud, Don't call us dysfunctional. They had to choose between those two things, and they must have thought, Hey, if we hire somebody else, maybe we can get Schwartz to stay. How did they not know that Schwartz was going to want out if he didn't get the job. If I'm the new coach, if I'm Todd Munker, and I'm going in there with this defensive coordinator who put together a defense that led the league in 2023 in total yards allowed per game, was only one yard per game behind the Texans this year for the lead. That gets overlooked. Schwartz has done a great job. As a first-time head coach at the age of 60, do I want Jim Schwartz to be in the locker room and have a natural divide among the defense and the offense?

01:18:15

You're going to have certain players aligned with him, certain players aligned with me. I'm trying to take over the team. I just think the Browns mishandled this everywhere. I think at the end of the day, when you had the three final candidates, I think Todd Munkin ended up being the compromise between Nate Schelhaus and Jim Schwartz. I think Haslem wanted Schwartz. This is my hypothesis. It hasn't even bubbled up to a theory yet. I think Haslem wanted Schwartz, Barry wanted Schelhaus. I figured out how to spell it. I'm still not sure how to pronounce it. And the compromised candidate was Todd Monken.

01:18:46

Okay. Yeah. I haven't heard anybody that's super excited about it. I guess Ravens fans. Ravens fans are pumped.

01:18:52

Well, I mean, there's no Lamar Jackson. Todd Monken did okay. It wasn't spectacular. This past year was a disappointment. It was enough to get the head coach fired. Todd Monken, he's been around. He was a head coach at Southern Miss for three years, so it isn't like he's got no head coaching experience. But what are you going to do in Cleveland? Deshaun Watson, Shidera Sanders, Dylan Gabriel, who's going to be your quarterback? That's the problem. I think the-Pro-ballers.

01:19:19

Yeah, that was two out of three of those guys are pro-ballers.

01:19:21

Pro-baller quarterbacks.

01:19:23

If there's any logic to this, I think the Browns decided, Our offense needs more work than our defense, and our defense is more about players than scheme. If Schwartz leaves, we'll find another coordinator who will do a good job because of the players we have. We need someone to improve this offense, and that's why they skewed away from Jim Schwartz. But who knows? With the Browns, who knows? I'm fairly confident they'll be looking for another coach within two or three years.

01:19:51

Yeah. And then what about the Bills? Because the Bills is a little bit of a weird one, too, where they get in front of the media and Terry Pagula says, Hey, the message had run dry here. We needed to change. We needed to do a different direction. I think Joe braided is going to be a good head coach. There's no shot at Joe braided. But then they say, we're going to pick a guy who's been in the building for the last four years.

01:20:14

It really is strange when you think about what Terry Pagoulas said. Initially, at that press conference from last Wednesday, he said he had no inkling that he was going to fire Sean McDermott until he walked into the locker room after the overtime loss in Denver. Then he later said, We've hit the proverbial playoff wall. I think that's the real reason. After seven straight years in the postseason, not getting to the Super Bowl, he decided it was time for a new voice. But Joe braided has been part of the coaching staff that's been unable to break through the proverbial playoff wall for the last four years. The end result, think about this, you lose in the division around. The head coach gets fired, the offensive coordinator gets promoted, the GM gets promoted. It's just a weird thing. It may be, and it's not like they're going to come out and say it, it could just be that they had gotten to the point where it wasn't working the way it needed to between Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane. That happens from time to time. Now, some owners will say, I'm getting rid of everybody. Other owners will say, I'm going to keep one, I'm going to get rid of the other.

01:21:19

It's been clear from everything the bills have said in the aftermath of the McDermott firing, that they believe the team is talented enough, and they believe the problem has been coaching. It's going to be interesting see what moves they make this offseason to make the team better. Because if they do too much, what are we going to say? Oh, the talent must not have been there. Look, they did this, they did this, they did this. They're trying to help Joe braided. I thought the team was good enough. It adds, I think, a compelling storyline to the free agency process, the draft, and any other moves that the bills may make before the trade deadline.

01:21:51

Yeah, I agree. In New York, you've got John Harbaugh going up there. I don't know what the relationship is going to be between him and the rest of front office, but I assume it sounds like they're both in parallel reporting to ownership. Am I way off on that?

01:22:07

No, you're absolutely right. What happened was when Harbaugh became available, he had more leverage than any coach has had in years. When you have teams that haven't fired their current head coaches, calling Harbaugh's agent and expressing interest in Harbaugh, you're in a position to dictate terms. It was a late Wednesday night when word broke that Harbaugh and the Giants were working on a contract, and it took two and a half, three days to get it done because Harbaugh was flexing his leverage. For 50 years, the Giants have had a structure where it's owner, then GM, then coach, and the coach works for the GM. Harbaugh, he wanted separate tracks. He reports to ownership. Gm Joe Shane reports to ownership. Then we instantly saw other changes made. Long employee like Kevin Abrams, who's been there 27 years, he's just gone. Roni Barnes, I'm not sure what they ultimately did. He's been with that team forever as the head trainer, but they're hiring a new head trainer. Roni Barnes is still there, but Harbaugh wants to bring in the people that he knows will get things done his way. And the Giants, to their credit, they understand they need to do significant things in order to become a consistent contender.

01:23:27

So they are all in with John Harbaugh Harbaugh. I don't think that's the guy Joe Shane would have hired because you put someone in that situation where they say to the GM, you go hire the coach. You're going to look for somebody that isn't going to threaten your turf or maybe your job, because look, what if they make it to the playoffs this year, but they can't win in the postseason? John Harbaugh just has to pick up the phone and say to one of the mayors, We just need a little more here and there, and maybe we need a better general manager. It creates potential drama moving forward when you've got the coach and the GM completely separate, both reporting up to ownership.

01:24:02

I was going to say staying in the NFC East, the Philadelphia Eagles have struggled to find an offensive coordinator. There's a lot of reports out there that some guys just don't want to coach them.

01:24:11

Well, I was going to say, Max isn't here yet, so you can speak freely. So he's not going to get upset with whatever you say. I am here. I am here.

01:24:17

I like Max.

01:24:19

Max is cool. Is this a Philly problem? Do coaches just not want to work in Philly?

01:24:24

Well, and hello, Max. I like Max. Max is cool. I think Max and I have found a common ground.

01:24:33

Is that something you want? If you had to put that on a quote card, Max is cool, Mike Florio. That hurts, Max. No, that's an honor. That's my pie zone right there. Max is cool.

01:24:44

Here's my take. It's all rooted in the report from Derek Gunn that came up during football season. Gunn has been reporting on the Eagles for a very long time. When he said that there's a certain amount of frustration within the coaching staff and within the locker room because they designed the offense, they designed the plays, they call the plays. Then when it's time to go out there, Jalen Hertz, the quarterback, plays his game. He went a step farther and said, Hertz understands he can do it because based on the structure of his contract, there isn't a damn thing they can do. They use these option bonuses in votable years, and it smooths out the cap number as long as you keep the guy. If you If you trade him, it's a disaster. So he's got a ton of power over the franchise right now. If you're going to be the offensive coordinator, I think there's three ways you could play this. One, you design an offense to do exactly what Jalen Hertz wants to do. Two, you bring in your system and you hope you can talk him into buying in. Or three, and this is an organizational issue, you tell Jalen Hertz, Hey, the offense is what it is.

01:25:58

You draft a guy in round two or three and you get that guy ready to play quarterback if Jalen Hertz refuses to go along. But it's not an attractive destination for people with options. I think you always want to be able to hire the guys who have choices. Whoever the equals hired to be the offensive coordinator is not going to be a guy who has other choices. It's going to be a guy who says, All right, I want to be an offensive coordinator, and this is the place where they want me, and I'll go deal with all of the potential issues that come from this situation. Even though we don't know the full extent of it, it's clearly not great. And they'd already have an offensive coordinator if it was.

01:26:36

It's got to be bad because they won a Super Bowl. They've got dynamic players on offense. They've got one of the best offensive lines in football, too. For offensive coordinators to not want that job does tell me there's... When you were saying that Hertz is not running the offense that they're practicing, what does that look like?

01:26:55

I just think once they're in the games, he holds the ball too long. Maybe once in a while, you'll see a play unfold where he throws it very quickly on time and it works. And there's a lot of padding of the ball, not throwing to guys who are open, not going the way that maybe the coverage would dictate. There have been plays this year where A. J. Brown is wide open and the ball doesn't go to him. Based upon what the play is and the way the play unfolds, it's a no-brainer that that's where the ball should have gone. But I view it, if I'm an offensive coordinator who wants to be a head coach, Because they've had four coordinators the last four years. Two of them became head coaches after one year with Jalen Hertz. My approach would be very simple. I'd say, I'm going to do exactly what Jalen Hertz wants. I'm not going to get into a tug of war with him. I'm not going to try to fit a square peg into a round hole. Jalen, tell me what you want to do. We're going to design the offense to do what you want to do.

01:27:51

We're going to stay away from the things you don't want to do. We're going to let you play your game. Because if you make it work, you're going to be a head coach in a year. So that's why I think it's attractive. That's why I don't understand this. If you're confident in your skills as an offensive coordinator, I think you take that job and you redesign, because they all have their system. This is my system. Oh, it's my system. Screw the system. I'm going to design a new system to get the most out of Jalen Hertz. Yeah.

01:28:15

Okay, Mike, I got one last question for you. It's always great having you on. Roback question, robackkwestion, robackk. Com, promo code, take 20% off your first purchase, Q-zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts, roback. Com, promo code, take. Do you have a pick for the Super Bowl? Can you give us Not yet.

01:28:31

Come on. I haven't even thought about it. I haven't even thought about it. It's still 10 days away.

01:28:35

You're a liar. You just lied to us. No, I have not thought about it. You haven't thought about who's going to win the Super Bowl.

01:28:39

I have not thought about who I think is going to win.

01:28:41

Man card. Take his man card.

01:28:43

Yeah, that's crazy. Have you thought about like, Hey, if you took out the good teams from the Seahawks schedule, they actually haven't played anyone.

01:28:50

Well, you said the same thing about the Patriots, right?

01:28:52

Well, no, you could just say the Patriots haven't played anyone. But with the Seahawks, you could say if you take out their games against the Rams, the Niners, and a few others that they played.

01:29:03

Yeah, they actually got to stink.

01:29:05

I know a lot of people are going to think the Seahawks will win the game. I'm extremely impressed with Mike Vrabel, and there are specific moments from the AFC champion relationship that bear that out. When Sean Payton chose to go for it on fourth and short, the way he explained it... Now, look, I think we all believe he should have taken the points and gone up two scores. But if you have a play that you really think is going to work, then, okay, let's go get the first down and try to go up 14. The way he explained it to Seth Wickersham of espn. Com, they thought they were getting a defense that they didn't get, which means Mike Vrabel knew. Mike Grable saw what was coming, and they disguised what they were going to do, and they called a defense in that moment that stymied the Denver Broncos. When you look at, and this is a point that Sims caught in real-time, the interception at the end of the game, the Christian Gonzales, when they just keep the ball down the field, and that was that. If you go back and watch that, the Broncos were substituting, and the Patriots exercised their prerogative to lollygag their players off.

01:30:11

You can see a couple of linemen just had taken their time to get off, and the umpire is standing over the ball. By rule, that's required. Meanwhile, the play clock is running. You got a young quarterback in the biggest moment of his life, and the play clock is running down, and the urgency, and it's just All those factors. And what does he do? He rushes the throw and it gets picked off. Little things like that. There's a genius to the way that Vrabel coaches. And I think that could make a difference in this one. If they don't get blown off the field by a talent differential, I think Vrabel is going to be in position to make the right move at the right time. And it's not going to look like a big deal, but when we go back and look at it afterwards, it's going to be like, that's where they won the game.

01:30:54

That's a really good point, and I have not heard anyone make that point, so I appreciate that.

01:30:59

I think I think of Vrabel the same way that I think of Dan Campbell. It's like two guys that get labeled as meatheads, but they're secretly very smart. Mike Vrabel will be like, Oh, I'll cut my dick off for a Super Bowl. Then everyone's like, Oh, yeah, there goes meathead Mike. He's a very smart coach. He stole time from Bill Belichat.

01:31:16

We're going to play this clip for Hank because he's nervous about the game. Him hearing that would be- The substitution. Yeah, the substitutions. No, Hank actually said all this, and we made fun of him for it. No, but you said it well.

01:31:29

I wonder why you smile after you said it.

01:31:31

The Christian Gonzales one, I didn't know that. Hank said the substitutions, which we laughed at inappropriately because then you, John Gruden, Greg Olson all back that up. I didn't know it was that specific play. That makes sense. Mike Verbal is a really good coach.

01:31:45

Think about this. Let me give you another example. Will Lutz, the kicker for the Broncos, he admitted the day after. And if you watch the film, you can see it. The ball was about six and a half yards back on the snap.

01:31:56

Is that a penalty? It could have been marked.

01:31:58

It should have been eight yards. So that makes it easier to block the thing. You think Mike Vrabel would let that happen? No. Do you think there's any scenario where Mike Vrabel is not going to stay? You make damn sure you walk it off. Here's the tape measure. Whatever it takes, you make sure you're eight yards back because what a shock. They can't see the markers on the field. Of course, you're going to catch that if you're a coach. Now, the Broncos didn't, apparently. But there's no way... Because I love Vrabel's style. He It looks like a guy who's supervising the crew of a moving van. He's so involved, and he's moving around, and he's still like a player. It's the perfect blend of guy who has been in the middle of it, and now he's a guy on the periphery, and he understands the emotion, he understands what the players are thinking, and he understands all the little nuances, all the little rules. I think he's able to outsmart, arguably, any coach in the league right now. That's the biggest thing the Patriots have going for them in the Super Bowl.

01:32:59

Hank, is this a situation, the old Onion headline, Worst Person You Know, makes great point?

01:33:05

No, I love Florio. I love Florio. He's always made great salient points, and this is just another example of that.

01:33:12

He's a max guy. I don't know if you knew that. Look at that.

01:33:14

You got Hank, Memes, you've mended fences with the entire booth, Mike.

01:33:20

I don't think Memes was receptive to my overtures in Chicago.

01:33:23

No, it's a hostile work environment.

01:33:25

I don't think he appreciated that I hugged him.

01:33:28

Memes isn't a big touchy feely guy, so that's not on you. Everyone has the same reaction with memes. All right, Mike, you're the best. Hopefully, we see you in San Francisco. Thanks always, and everyone, tune in. You'll see him on Super Bowl Sunday.

01:33:40

Yeah.

01:33:41

Can't wait. It should be a fun week. Hope to see you guys. You always say we're going to get together in San Francisco or wherever the Super Bowl is.

01:33:48

Well, you get up early. You get up at 4: 00 AM to do your show.

01:33:52

Well, no. Our show, actually, Product Placement, we're on next week, live from noon to 2: 00 Eastern time. Because You're not going to get any guests at 04: 00 AM. We're going to be on live noon to 02: 00 Eastern, Monday through Thursday on Peacock. Then Friday show is going to be tape because we're going to be at the stadium rehearsing for the pregame extravaganza on Super Bowl Sunday.

01:34:14

Okay, so maybe we'll see you this time. All right, good. All right. Thanks, Mike.

01:34:17

Bye, Mike. See you, guys.

01:34:20

Mike Floria was brought to you by Microsoft Copilot, the AI assistant that actually helps you get stuff done. We spoke about it earlier, but it's truly a lifesaver. Copilot works across Microsoft 365, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook. It turns chaos into productivity. Need a presentation? Copilot builds it. Need a summary of a meeting that you definitely zoned out in? Copilot's got you. It can analyze, it can rewrite emails, it can brainstorm ideas, it can even help you sound like you know what you're talking about, which frankly is a miracle. So stop pretending that you're going to circle back or touch base or whatever corporate phrase you've been faking. Let Copilot do the heavy lifting. You just take the credit. Learn more at microsoft. Com/m365copilot. Florida was also brought to you by Twisted Tea. It's perfect season for Twisted Tea. It's great for the playoffs. It's great around the Super Bowl. It's great if the weather gets cold. Nothing like an ice cold twisted tea. I really enjoy it. I like to start my nights with a twisted tea. Also a great bevy to end the night with a twisted tea because it doesn't fill you up.

01:35:23

Twisted tea is a refreshing hard ice tea made with real brewed tea and 5% alcohol. It's the perfect drink to keep the good times going all day, all season long. Whether you're hanging out at a friend's house, if you're catching the game at a stadium, maybe you're watching at the bar, you're day drinking with friends, twisted tea is there to turn your day up a notch and make a good time a great time. Grab a refreshing Twisted Tea today.

01:35:46

Okay, let's wrap up. We got Firefest of the Week. Henry, we have Oldie here as well. He's got a Firefest for us. Got to go. Got to go.

01:35:53

Busy, busy.

01:35:55

Henry.

01:35:57

You just can't have a Firefest in a week like this. We're a week away from the Super Bowl. We're going to San Francisco playing golf with one of my best friends, potentially going to win $80,000. Life is good. Life's really good. That's it. Life is good. No Firefest. No injuries. I was very worried about that this week. Made it out unscaved. No firefest. No firefest.

01:36:22

There will be no firefest this week.

01:36:23

No. The internet hates me. Everyone says I'm dumb and is rooting for my demise, but that's all right.

01:36:31

But you love that.

01:36:32

You love being that position. I can't affect those people's emotions.

01:36:36

You thrive in this setting.

01:36:38

I can just do what I do. You want them. And that's continuing to be dumb.

01:36:41

Yeah, you want them to hate you.

01:36:43

That's a super healthy way.

01:36:44

I don't want them to hate me, but it doesn't bother me that they do. I don't think anyone wants to be hated, but I'm just going to keep being myself, which is very hateable.

01:36:53

Yeah, you can't control what other people think about you.

01:36:55

No.

01:36:55

Great way to look at it.

01:36:57

I mentioned our friends at WDBE and Randy, he actually mentioned it when I was on the show today. He's like, I hate Hank. He's like, something about him, that smirk, just everything about him. I just hate him.

01:37:14

The only person I care about is me. He hates me. He'll never like me, but that's all right.

01:37:19

Yeah, that's a situation. I feel bad. I don't like that.

01:37:23

You put it that way.

01:37:24

But he's right.

01:37:26

Yeah.

01:37:26

Well, he said that he likes me, and then I hate him.

01:37:28

So we're at a crossroad.

01:37:30

Is that spot to lie?

01:37:33

You're right.

01:37:34

And that makes him hate you more.

01:37:37

Yeah.

01:37:37

I want you to hate back, but the fact that you're not is making it worse. Yeah, the hate is going up. You've been in this. You love it. You said it in the cave on Sunday. You're like, I love how much I feed off of the people who are just so mad at me.

01:37:54

It just, yeah- You play the heel well. It makes me... Well, it's just you can just tell that people... It's misguided feelings.

01:38:00

People have other issues going on if they're getting as mad as they are at me. Yeah, it's really directed at themselves.

01:38:07

I'm a nice innocent guy.

01:38:08

I like Hank. I fucking hate Hank, too, at the same time. I like you. I really do. You're a good friend, but I fucking hate your guts, and I want the worst things to happen to you, but I love you.

01:38:19

It's actually not Sunday, though. Patriots. What do you mean? We're aligned.

01:38:23

Yeah, but as I've said, I would gladly pay $40,000 to have the Patriots lose the Super Bowl.

01:38:30

I don't think that's true.

01:38:31

That's worth it. A hundred % worth it.

01:38:35

I don't think that. I think you're going to be rooting for the Patriots.

01:38:37

I will not because that's how much I do not want the Patriots to win. If that's the cost of doing business, if that's a sacrifice I have to make, I will take that upon myself. As everybody that doesn't like the New England Patriots, I will gladly write a check for $40,000 if they lose a Super Bowl.

01:38:55

Also, I've had some schemey AWLs who are like, Hey, you can hedge and bet the TEOX, man, I'm not doing that. No, you can't. There's a 0. 0% chance. Yes, I could make guaranteed money. No, I do not care about that. No, I will be not.

01:39:08

Just say Jersey Jerry texted you. That's something he would definitely do.

01:39:12

Colin Gaspia.

01:39:14

Yeah. He definitely would do that. The opposite of love is not hate. It's apathy, Hank. I think that you are... Because I love and hate you. That's a great place to be.

01:39:25

I just love you guys. I've got nothing but love in this heart.

01:39:30

That's true. That's very true. You are. That's what we always say about you.

01:39:32

Exactly right.

01:39:33

Big Teddy bear. Pft? Well, Hank and I have had a tumultuous relationship this week because Hank thinks that everyone's out to get him. When he's like, I'm feeling good, I don't necessarily think that's true. We've been talking about this round of golf that we're going to play, and Hank is very much nervous about playing golf against me on Saturday. It's not even against me. Fulse. We're going to be playing together. So false. So excited. Max, fact or fiction, Hank lashed out at you yesterday. Lashed out at me? Yeah. For what? The golf stuff.

01:40:03

Sounds like fiction.

01:40:06

Oh, yeah, yes. Because I kept saying that it was going to be a competition against the two of them, and Hank keeps saying no, but I am making it yes. Yes. I would also like to make it yes. Yes. Not a competition. He was like, No, we'll just work together and try and get a certain score. I was like-I didn't say that.

01:40:26

I said, I'm worried about me.

01:40:28

We're going to be playing cooperative golf. Hank left-handed. We're doing a video.

01:40:32

Yeah, video. We had the best vibes ever at Spy Glass. That's a banger title. Nope.

01:40:41

Two best friends played around in golf. They'll never forget because they're enjoying each other's company. Banger. Banger video. No. Banger. Banger video. But my real firefest is that we did have the three-on-three basketball tournament this week. Won't spoil anything, but I did hurt my calf in warmups before the first game started. I just feel old and I feel like it keeps happening with my calf, and I'm just deathly afraid that the next one is the big one. I was attempting to dunk. I was doing some dunking practice, and jumping off it, it popped again. This time it's lower in the calf, and I feel like I can say it now, my Firefest, I don't think I'm going to dunk again. I think I'm going to have to learn how to play below the rim. I'm calling it quits on attempting to dunk anymore in my future. But yeah, I'm going to be on a scooter, I think, for most because San Francisco is a very hilly city. But if we go to an amusement park, we could get to the front of the line together. I'll be just scooting around that city. Scooters are back.

01:41:42

We had scooters in 2016. This is like, remember us in 2016?

01:41:46

Look at us. Look at us now. If you had told us that 10 years from now, we'd be scooting around dealing with a foot injury, I would say, Yeah, that sounds awesome. Good for us. That makes sense. But we do have the electric wheelchair around the office. I've been going I found a lot on that, and it's pretty fast. I don't know how to take the compliment, but I've had so many people come up to me and say, Dude, you look like you were born to be on that electric wheelchair. It sounds like they're saying I'm cool, but I don't think they totally mean that it looks like I'm cool.

01:42:18

I think it might be the mullet.

01:42:19

It might be the mullet, but it's a vibe. I just want to get a speaker system on there. I want to get a cup holder. I want to get it all tricked out, pimp my ride style. But yeah, it's been not the best Last week for my personal health. I did park directly next to that substation that we have across the street the morning that I hurt the calf. So more to come on that. It looks like maybe the Niners are in trouble. But yeah, just something I'm going to have to get over. But you know what? If I don't dunk again, that'll be fine. I had a solid 41-year round of dunking. Yeah.

01:42:50

Okay. I have two Firefests, but before I do that, I did receive the best birthday gift I think I've ever gotten in my entire life. It's still free ads, but I'm going to do it anyway. I was gifted an actual MVP trophy. Wow. Look at that.

01:43:08

That's cool as shit.

01:43:09

I think they're doing something for the Super Bowl, Slime Time. I have an actual MVP trophy with my name on it. Let me look through it. It's heavy and it's awesome. Basically, the greatest thing I've ever gotten.

01:43:20

Oh, yeah. You got the kaleidoscope in here? Yeah.

01:43:22

I'm so pumped. That rocks. I mean, an Oscar, an Emmy, a Golden Globe. Fuck all of that. Hell, yeah. I have an MVP.

01:43:31

Did you get slimed?

01:43:32

I do have slime. Slime is one of those things that kids love it, but it's not fun to have in the house. I got to figure out if I'm going to bring it home for my kids.

01:43:41

If you get the MVP trophy, you have to get slimed. I might have to get slimed. That's part of the deal.

01:43:45

I do have the slime, so we might have to do that. We might have to put that in a video. But yeah, I have the MVP trophy. Now, I have two firefests. The first one is we, Hank, PFT, and I almost died on Monday because we have officially, finally, the van that never died, we have finally given it away. It is Vanny Woodhead, and we had to drive it to McCormick Place because it is going to be featured in the Chicago Auto Show, which is pretty cool. If you're going to the Chicago, if you're attending the Chicago Auto Show, I think it starts February seventh. Very cool. It's all the new cars and everything's out there. What?

01:44:27

Meves.

01:44:28

What? Look at the picture Meeps just sent. What did he send? He sent it. Oh, it's BFT of Stephen Hawkins.

01:44:36

Disavow. Disavow. Disavow.

01:44:40

That's a very good meep. I've never been- You're going to have to tweet that.

01:44:42

I've never been to Little St. James.

01:44:44

February seventh through 16th, McCormick place. Vanny Woodhead is going to be on display. Memes you're so mean for that.

01:44:52

Disgusting.

01:44:54

Vanny Woodhead is going to be on display. It's going to be on display. People can take pictures with it. People can go in it. There's be a video that accompanies it. It's pretty cool. We're pretty pumped that Chicago Auto Show was like, Hey, these guys have a van that's famous enough that we'll put it on display. But getting there, Hank, all credit to Hank, he got Vanny Woodhead running again. The engine is completely exposed in the middle of the van, and it was 5 degrees, and we just sucked fumes for an entire 20-minute drive.

01:45:26

Yeah, it was all carbon monoxide.

01:45:27

All carbon monoxide.

01:45:28

It was rough. We We had the windows down, so that took it off a little bit. But at the stop signs and the red lights, it got pretty gnarly inside that van.

01:45:37

Yeah, it was actually perfect that we did it because I think we all get a little sentimental about Vandy Woodhead. For people who don't know, we bought a van for $600 on Long Island in 2017. Did Barstool Van Talk out of it, did Grit Week out of it. We got more than $600 out of it, so we were a little sentimental But driving to McCormick place and almost dying and realizing that this van can barely move anymore. It was a good goodbye. It's going to get a final beautiful send off being displayed in the Chicago Auto Show. We have Vanny 2 already. I bought it a few months ago. It looks exactly like Vanny 1. That one will be able to drive around, go to the combine, all that stuff. It was a good send off for Vanny Woodhead.

01:46:24

It was a great send off for it. Something tells me-It would have been a good send off for all of us. That's true. What a way to Oh, yeah.

01:46:30

If we just died.

01:46:31

What a way to go. Something tells me we might not have seen the last of that van. Yeah.

01:46:36

We're actually trying. We're in talks to take it to the crusher and get it into a 2,000-pound cube.

01:46:43

Yeah, the size of a dishwasher.

01:46:44

That we can then put into the studio.

01:46:47

Yeah.

01:46:47

So we might do that. But yeah, it was cool. So go check it out. Vanny Woodhead, The Chicago Auto Show. My second Firefest. Max, this one I hate saying out loud, but it's a problem when you You have a dream and you wake up and you're like, Was I really just dreaming that? And Max, my dream last night was a very vivid, extensive dream that you and I signed up for a 10K, and then the entire dream was how we get out of the 10K race. I woke up and I was like, Did I just really dream about me and Max not wanting to run a 10K? That's what's going on there. We got out of it, though.

01:47:27

How did you get out of it?

01:47:28

We just didn't go.

01:47:30

Okay, yeah, that's a great way to get out of it.

01:47:31

Yeah, but Max, I don't know what to say about the fact that I'm dreaming about you. In my dream about you, it's us trying to avoid doing any physical activity. See, the thing is I would just never sign up for a 10K. Yeah, we did. But It also was-The realism in that dream is so far fetched because of not me trying to get out of the 10K. It's me ever signing up for a 10K, ever. It was also in high altitude. Yeah, now. I don't know why. I can't do a 1K high altitude. The 10K was in Aspen.

01:48:04

It's not that far fetch. We have been talking about doing the 10K in the booth. I didn't sign up for it. That's probably it. I didn't sign up for it. That's what I talk about fitness around here.

01:48:11

Yeah. I saw the 10K anywhere guy that Hank mentioned, I saw the one he did in the dishwasher. That was crazy. Yeah, Max, I dreamed about you vividly, and it was just us scrambling, being like, We can't run this 10K.

01:48:26

We can't do this. Is that the meanest thing you could ever do to somebody sign them up for a 10K, like a charity 10K?

01:48:32

We should sign up for one just to cancel it.

01:48:35

Now you're making your dream a reality.

01:48:37

Why are you looking at Zack? What are you looking at Zack for, Max? I'm not. Zack, what are you going to say?

01:48:44

I don't even think he was looking over here. He might not have been looking over here.

01:48:47

He was looking directly at you. What's going on?

01:48:50

I didn't see him do it, but I could feel him do it. I don't really know.

01:48:53

What did PFT just say before?

01:48:57

I said a lot of things.

01:48:58

He said the 10K. What's the meanest thing someone can do?

01:49:00

Is sign somebody else up for a 10K. Oh, got it.

01:49:03

Yeah, which Zack did.

01:49:05

I should have read anything else on the list.

01:49:07

The list was great, by the way, Zack. Everyone, I had a lot of people reaching out. Sassy Legos. Could be fun. It's going to be great. It's going to be great. Okay, Oldie, what's your firefest? Good to see you, Oldie.

01:49:19

Great to see you, boys. Love being back in the barn. Love you guys. Yeah, Buzzy, busy, busy. I was fired up to come here Monday. I had all my pack All the luggage, all the snacks, candies, ready to rumble in the jungle, get to security, fired up. Too excited. Go through, go to the security or the border patrol, guys. How are you doing? Good, good. Got to go. Be back Thursday. Get in, go and grab maple syrup. Go and run to the end and try to get some donuts and Timbits. It's closed because everything, all the flights and stuff canceled. So I couldn't go past the international domestic thing. I'm trying to pay the lady 50 bucks. I got How do I get behind there. I need Timbits. I need donuts. You don't understand. So I'm buzzing around. I can't do that. I go back to the duty free where I had all the maple Syrup and everything, and I'm looking, oh, no, my luggage. So when I carry my carry, rolling bag, luggage is half close to the tickle trunk stuff, and the other half zipped up is all the Canadian treats.

01:50:23

The tickle trunk?

01:50:25

Yeah, like all my all my swag that I wear. It's called the tickle trunk. That's all a little and stuff. So I'm concerned that I don't have my luggage. And I'm not worried about the tickle trunk stuff. I'm worried about the candies. Yeah, what candy? From my family. We had some, can I say? Yeah. We had some coffee crisp there, some KitKat, some Smarties, some arrows. I had some fuzzy peaches. I had some Swedish berries. And I'm scared. I'm thinking, oh, no, I can't do this. So I run, go to my gate. I'm sweating. I'm wearing the big coat. Now I'm perfusively sweating. So hot. B-o is at an all-time max.

01:51:00

All time.

01:51:00

And I'm freaking out. I'm like, I can't lose this luggage. So I go back. The lady helps me, escorts me out. And I have to go do my decolation again because I have to leave the country because I'm inside the airport. I already crossed. Boom. She helps me out. I'm freaking out. I'm like, I don't know where it is. She finally gives me the security guy, the guy at the gate. Security is like, what are you doing here? Did you not go in? I go, Yeah, I did, but I forgot my luggage. I can't find it. So we go, we work away. We go to security. Thank goodness it was there. I go back into the border. She's like, Did you not just come into the country 25 minutes ago? Yeah, I did. I know. I forgot my suitcase luggage. Anyways, got my luggage, came back into the airport, super excited. And that was my fire I almost didn't have candies and treats for everyone at the office. Oh, my God. You guys are my family, and I love you. That's the only thing I was concerned about was the treats.

01:51:51

You do bring the maple syrup from my family every single time. It's awesome.

01:51:55

Every single time.

01:51:56

That could have been your Kendall Jenner moment where you go up to Customs and border, and you just leave them with a little bit of coffee crisp, and then everything's good from that point on.

01:52:06

Just smooth sailing right through.

01:52:07

Yeah, there you go. You also had our good friend Mike Kadek, our employee here at Barstool Sports. He slept in the same bed as you last night at the hotel?

01:52:18

Yeah, he has residencies here himself in Chicago.

01:52:21

Yeah, he lives here.

01:52:22

Yeah, the key in his own place to go into in and out whenever he feels. We ended up going to the bar, having a couple of lollipops there, and And he ended up losing his keys in the, I guess, Betz's car. Okay. So we're all about to leave, and Deutsch is the three of us. And we said, Okay, later. And as we're leaving, I got a phone call, Kadek, Hey, I don't have my keys. Can I stay at your place? Absolutely. Come on over, honey. I got the king size ready to go. And he came back to the house, and then he ended up sleeping on the couch. And I said, you can sleep on the bed? He said, No. I don't know. I guess three hours later, at three in the morning, we were face to face on my bed. So I don't know what happened. He's thinking I dragged him into the bed because I kept trying to help him get in my bed. But I think he just got a little excited and wanted to come sleep with the big man.

01:53:07

I love that. He's like, How am I in this bed? You definitely brought me in here, Oldie.

01:53:11

I'm bringing the big unit in there, the big center There's zero chance. I'm heavy guy myself, and I ain't banging them over there. Then he had no socks in the morning, so I woke up at 6: 45. Got to go. I only got my cowboy boots. I don't have any of my luggage. I left all my clothes here because you know how I do with my luggage.

01:53:28

You come back and forth.

01:53:29

Yeah. And then we went to the bar and had a few. So I didn't have my stuff, so I had no boots. So I threw on my camp bar still shorts, the white one see-through. And I went up to the 14th floor and went and jumped in the pool at like quarter seven in the morning. No shoes on shirt, went and got breakfast, no shoes. Walking like the guy in the NFL who wears no shoes to the games. He's back home. Yeah. And I'm feeling like this guy walking in. I'm stepping on salt pellets all over the place going in there. But I got my food, went back up seeing Kadek 8: 45. He had a shower. He's like, You got an extra pair of socks? I go, Unfortunately, I don't have any of my clothes in my hotel room right now. All in the office. We got to go back to the barn. He rinsed up. I gave him 10 minutes in case he had to do what he got to do. Now you're here. Now we're here.

01:54:10

I heard somebody ask Oldie this morning, Hey, did you shower this morning? He's like, No, but I did jump in the pool.

01:54:15

That counts.

01:54:16

Yeah, quick little rinsy.

01:54:17

That's water. Yeah, a little rinse. Okay, Zack, finish this off.

01:54:21

My favorite first. It was going to just be how worried I was about how much porn was in that email, and then I thought there was going to be an issue there. But I think I think we're past that. Shout out to Pete. Hope that at Braves County is going well. Secondly, I had a big package coming in this week. I made a decision to give myself an at-home PC. I was super excited. It was probably one of the bigger purchases I've ever made. So more games. I was so amped. Yeah, but on a different tier. So access to way more games.

01:54:52

Which... Okay.

01:54:55

You know what I'm saying? He had a problem with gaming too much, but the new computer, he's going to be to game even harder. Yeah.

01:55:01

But even if you game at the same level, it just opens up the options as far as you download steam. There's just so many different ways to do so. I was very excited. I was emailing back for this guy. We're planning it out. We're getting the build together. I'm rambling, my bad. No, that's important. The day came where it was like, It's going to deliver today. It was wet. Okay, let's go. This is going to be awesome. I can't wait. Get the delivery text, 5: 35. It's coming in. Bang. 5: 36, I'm in the elevator. I'm Ready. I'm going down. Where's it at? We're putting on the car. We're putting in the apartment. Get there, no computer. I check the status. It says, Sign for front desk. I asked the front desk. I'm like, Sign for. Did you accidentally take a computer that was not yours? Or did someone else maybe take a computer that wasn't theirs? He goes, I don't know what you're talking about. That guy doesn't work here anymore. He hasn't worked here for two months. Whoever signed the seat or the receipt. I was like, Well, somebody's got this computer. It's not me.

01:56:00

I owe the front desk my apartment callbacks an apology because I thought they were conspiring against me.

01:56:06

Do you have the computer?

01:56:08

I do have the computer now.

01:56:09

Where was it?

01:56:10

It showed up the next day.

01:56:11

Oh, interesting.

01:56:13

But I was pulling tape. I was I was admitting footage. Ups told me, pretty much, Suck it. There's nothing we're going to do. I thought I was going to have to burn down the UPS facility. I was legitimately ready to riot.

01:56:24

I haven't seen you in that mood before.

01:56:27

I felt like I was done such a disservice.

01:56:29

It sounds like maybe because you brought it up, they gave it to you.

01:56:33

Yeah, they're like, He's on to us. Yeah.

01:56:35

Yes.

01:56:35

That could be it.

01:56:36

Because you said it was signed for by somebody that doesn't work there anymore, right?

01:56:40

Devian hasn't worked there three months, two months.

01:56:42

Right. Then word got around to Devian, Hey, Zack Cornelius is on to you. He's like, Oh, fuck, I better bring it in.

01:56:49

I hope that's not the case. I hope we live in a safer world. But I did finally get the package received. But I worked up in my head that the entire building was against me, and that's probably the worst part of my week.

01:57:02

Yeah, and then have you set it up?

01:57:04

I did set it up, but I thought I had a mouse. I got a magic mouse. The magic mouse only works on a laptop. It doesn't work on the PC.

01:57:12

You got to get a mouse.

01:57:13

I ordered a mouse, but then I didn't use it because we had a show this morning. He didn't want to open that flood game.

01:57:19

Wait, Max. There's more to that. He realized he didn't have a mouse. He got a mouse off Amazon. The mouse was supposed to get here today. Then yesterday, He really wanted to get onto the computer last night. So he Uber-eats a mouse to his apartment last night, but then realized how much trouble he would be in if he started the game This is good. He had two mouses get there last night without using either of them because he thought he was going to stay up all night. Okay. That's actually really smart, Zack. Yeah, that's mature. Yeah, because you would have.

01:57:58

I really would have.

01:57:59

And now tonight, You can stay up all night.

01:58:01

Now we're going to rip double mouse, maybe. Yeah, double. Triple peripheral.

01:58:05

Did you regret Uber eating the mouse yesterday, even though you got a new mouse that was also coming today?

01:58:11

Yeah, because I don't know how returns go with that. Now, I just haven't... I might just become a desk mouse guy. I might just keep a mouse on me close here.

01:58:18

It's fun to have one. Keep that thing on me. It feels like you're doing a little extra. You're a little more serious when you have a mouse.

01:58:24

Yeah, a little bit more professional. I've stepped in this new tier of work ethic, and that's with a second With the second mouse. Mouse having, yeah.

01:58:31

Mouse having, yeah. And it was not wet.

01:58:33

The package is not wet, no. Good. And all those wet meals, gone. Never again. Okay.

01:58:38

All right. You and Mr. Portnoy should get together. You guys have the exact opposite problem. You got wet mail, he's got burn mail.

01:58:47

Yeah, add them together. It feels like that- Perfectly dry mail.

01:58:50

The Goldilocks zone.

01:58:51

We could combine for perfect delivered mail.

01:58:54

Yes. Okay, good show, boys. Let's finish up with Lottery Ball. Jack pocket. Today's Lottery Ball segment is brought to you by Jack pocket, the number one app for ordering lottery tickets on your phone where numbers, people on this show, stats, scores, spreads. Right now, the only number that matters are the Jackpots. Mega Millions and Powerball are getting bigger every week with Jackpocket. You can pick your lucky numbers or use Quick Pick. Even better, new Jackpocket customers will get $5 in free lottery credits when you opt in and use code PMT2 at sign up. That's code PMT2 only on Jackpocket. Gambling problem?

01:59:33

Call 1-800 Gambler. In New York, call 877-8 Hope & Why or text Hope & Why. 18 or older, 19 or older in Nebraska, 21 or older in Arizona. Jackpocket is a lottery courier and not affiliated with any state lottery. Elengibility restrictions apply. Void were prohibited. Opt in for $5 in non-withdrawable lottery credits that expire in seven days. Ends 2: 126 at 11: 59 PM Eastern Time. Terms at jkpt.

01:59:55

Co/jp5.

01:59:56

Scratch off tickets subject to availability. Sponsored by Jack pocket.

01:59:59

Based on 2025 iOS download data collected by Center Tower.

02:00:03

Okay, we're down. I think we have four more lottery ball guesses on this machine, and then we're getting the new machine. I personally do not want to get it. I don't care. I don't care about this number. I don't care about this number. Me neither. Yeah, I don't want to. I will guess 91. I would like Colton to get it.

02:00:21

He's the only one I would like to get it. I'll guess seven.

02:00:23

I would like to get it. Okay. I'll get 100. 61.

02:00:28

60.

02:00:30

53.

02:00:31

It's five.

02:00:33

If I get it, I beat PFT.

02:00:35

17.

02:00:36

8. I don't care if I get it.

02:00:38

Four.

02:00:40

I don't think that's true, man. That's also not true. I guess it for you. You got it wrong. No, that doesn't get... You got one. No, you're getting the cuff check. It's sad that you're up to your old tricks.

02:00:49

87. 87. Anyone? 87? Anyone? Anyone? 87. 87. 87. Okay.

02:00:55

Love you guys. Happy birthday. To Big Cat.

02:01:02

Happy birthday to you.

02:01:04

Happy birthday to Riggs.

02:01:07

Yes.

02:01:07

Happy birthday- Chuck.

02:01:09

Chuck. Chuck Naiso.

02:01:11

Happy birthday to Steu Fiener.

02:01:12

Steu Fiener. Living legend. Happy birthday to PFT.

02:01:16

Happy birthday to Jackie Robinson.

02:01:20

Is he your birthday?

02:01:21

I think he's 31st. Oh, okay. Nice.

02:01:24

Jackie Robinson. What? Is Jackie Robinson not 31st? Don't do this. Don't do it. Not my birthday. 31st, bitch. Oh, in your face. Hank. Hank. Bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Bitch.

Episode description

The boys turn 41 today and tomorrow. We talk Browns finding a coach finally and doing it Browns fashion. Joe Brady to the Bills, Steelers fans all in on McCarthy (00:00:00-00:23:39). LeBron played his last game in Cleveland (maybe) (00:23:39-00:31:16). Zac digs in on the anonymous tips and does some journalism work on how Belichick didn’t get into the HoF (00:31:16-00:48:39). Mike Florio joins to talk HoF, football indoors, coach hirings, Super Bowl and more (00:48:39-01:32:24). We finish with Fyre Fest of the week (01:32:24-01:59:27).You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Netflix. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/pardon-my-take