Transcript of Are Teams Selecting QBs Too High In The NFL Draft? | Local Hour New

Zyzelow, we have used you as a bit of an arbiter, a judge, an impartial person, and over the years here you haven't been here when I have broken what the people here are telling me are acceptable public social norms in that I will put lotion on my body in front of people. Are you good with that or are you not good with that?

No, no, probably if you're ashy you gotta do something about that.

Okay, but in front of people though, you gotta do something about it, but they've told me that's something you do in private. You do it in your bedroom, you do it in your bathroom. Bathroom. They've told me that also of Q-tips when I come out of the bathroom.

Oh no, that's no good.

That's no good.

No, that's no good.

It's Bond villain stuff. It's just, you're trying to have a sincere conversation with a gentleman and he starts applying lotion on his own skin. That's, it's a little strange.

No, I'm okay with the lotion. I mean, you're not rubbing it on your belly in front of me.

No, it's mostly my arms and my elbows, but it is sometimes my legs.

I'm bringing all this up for a reason, okay? Because Tony just did something that I think is more of a violation than what I've ever done. Oh, come on, Tony.

Because Tony, do you even know what you were doing?

I know exactly what I was doing, and that was a quick thing, and I put it back there, and that was it.

Okay, but to tell—

I'm not gonna get defensive.

To tell the audience what you were doing— too late, too late for that.

You're already there.

I'm not defensive.

Which is worse here, Zazzle?

You have to pick among these 3 things, okay?

And put it on the poll as well, Juju at Le Batard Show.

Which is worse to do in public? Use a Q-tip, put lotion on your arms, or floss?

Ooh, floss?

Tony, you flossed as hell.

Okay, floss is strong.

Definitely the worst.

Floss is strong. What I had was a floss stick, right? Tiny thing. I had to get one thing and then I got it out and I put it there.

What is the stick called?

A what stick?

Floss stick.

You objected to the idea that you were flossing while using a floss stick.

Yes, because flossing insinuates that I have a long-ass string tied on my fingers and I'm going like this. That's not true.

If you're flossing in public, you think you're better than me? You're not.

Tony, you're picking your teeth in front of people? Did you see it?

I wasn't here.

You were right there!

You were literally sitting right there.

Roy, weren't you a toothpick guy? No. See, you never had a toothpick hanging out your mouth?

See, this is interesting, right? Because flossing is definitely disgusting, but the toothpick is readily available at the hostess desk at a restaurant, implying it's okay to use this in public.

Thank you, Billy.

I believe that Mike Ryan just confused Roy with 1985 Royal shortstop U.L. Washington who played, uh, with a toothpick in his mouth.

Yes, he did.

I also confused him with you because you were big into that cinnamon toothpick.

You were one of those with a cinnamon toothpick.

You were Swagger Jack in Razor Ramon.

Yep.

So you're gonna say that about me knowing your background?

Oh, I don't think the toothpick is as bad as flossing.

I was using the toothpick end. There's a, there's a floss end and a toothpick end.

I believe if I said it out to the audience and I said, which are you more okay with, Somebody in public flossing or using a toothpick. That one's coming back in my favor, Tony. You're going to lose.

It has— it literally has a toothpick.

That's not the part you were using.

You were using the string, and the string had remnants on it when you pulled it out of your mouth.

This is the Dan Levator Show with the Stugatz Podcast.

Juju also put it on the poll, are you afraid of Q-tips? Because Zaslo just whispered to me that he's afraid of Q-tips, and I will say there have been a handful of times while using Q-tips that I've been afraid of Q-tips because they can hurt your ear and they can certainly—

what are you shaking your head about?

No, they say a lot of things, Dan. If you know what you're doing, if you're a sniper with it, if you're exactly where you need to be, you're fine. There's nothing wrong with it.

I'm afraid of Q-tips, but I'm not afraid of Q-tips in the way that like the woman on Maury Povich, they show her pickles and she runs out and she screams. Like, I'm not afraid of Q-tips like that. I'm afraid of using Q-tips.

I don't think there's a more ridiculous thing you could be afraid of. That's where I stand.

All right, put it on the poll as well.

Is there a more ridiculous thing to be afraid of than the Q-tip? You don't want to do damage to your ear. Tony, though, when he says he's a sniper, he's showing the Q-tip the proper respect because I only get in trouble when I'm casual about it, when I forget that the Q-tip is not to be treated casually.

It's like handling a— it's like Ron McGill. You're handling a wild animal, right? You're handling a tiger, an elephant, a bear, whatever it is. You gotta go in with a certain respect, right? You go in, Q-tip, I know your power. Your power can leave me deaf. But what I'm gonna do is go just around the rim right here, boom, I'm done.

I hate hearing about it.

All right, put it on the poll.

Dirty eye ears?

As well, @LebatardShow.

Q-tips aren't the only thing that you can clean your ear with.

Should you approach a Q-tip the way you do a bear? He's just, because I think, hey bear, this is not the way.

Ron McGill has told us don't do it cautiously.

Go in aggressively with your arms up in the air yelling hey bear and make yourself larger.

You run away, or if you're too cautious, the bear will smell your fear. So that is not how to treat a cute bear.

No, but it depends which color bear. Black and brown, you gotta treat them— Black, you do that.

No.

You try and scare it. Brown, you get down.

No, I think— No, that's not right.

It's not. Although that's a good rhyme.

Brown, you get down.

I think, well, playing dead is one circumstance that you can do, but I believe the advice is the same for all bears, which is you try at the front end to make yourself large first, and then, and then if that doesn't work, you go to play dead.

Like, if you don't successfully scare the bear and the bear keeps coming at you, then you have to go to play dead.

I have a memory of my dad at one point in my life cleaning his ear by like laying on the couch and putting something like in his ear.

He did like the candle wax?

No, that thing worked. That thing—

no way that worked.

I have no idea what it is, but just tell like, what was that? I have some memory of that.

I'm interested in that.

All right, so first of all, Please get me one of those nearby. I'd like Zaslo to do it before the end of the show today.

One of what nearby?

I'll tell you, it's a— it is an ear wax. This— there's fire involved with this. Yeah, yeah, you have to set fire to something, and what it does is, without the Q-tip and without the dangers of puncture, it lifts from your ear all sorts of insanity that you did not know was in your ear.

That's not true.

Okay, I've seen the videos.

So hold on, you're going to tell me a lit candle to my ear?

Not a lit candle.

No, no, it's like wax paper.

Yeah, you light some wax paper. It's like a cone or a tube of some sort. You light it and it pulls from your ear. Whatever the fire does, pulls from your ear. What I'm telling you is we need to go get a bunch of these and do it and compare. I want to compare. Look, we are now showing our audience the insides, the ugly insides of this company on social media. Either soon or it's already gone out, you will see our junk drawers. There are— junk drawers are going out, and you're going to find out, like in the inner crevices of what makes a house a home, you're going to find how sloppy and gross this crew is with its junk drawer. What are you laughing about?

Why would the junk drawer be in bed? Like, you're not gonna find like dirty magazines in the junk drawer. I find porn. It's stuff that you need.

Okay, but it can't be dildo in mine.

I know that you're gross.

I found a rock hard Starburst. It must have been in there for like 7 years.

I found a Christmas ornament yesterday that made me feel the same. I'm like, why is this— why is this in here? What? It doesn't make any makes sense. Why is it— why is this here? I haven't seen this in 7 years. It hasn't been on the tree. What is this doing in here?

Uh, put it on the poll at Le Batard Show. I want an over-under here. Over-under on number of items that would surprise you to find in your own junk drawer.

They're gonna say year.

What is the number that I have to put that at, uh, in order to make that competitive? 5, 4, 4.5? What— where do I have to put the number, the over-under number on surprises? You're, you're going to open your junk drawer and you haven't looked at it in a while. I'm going to tell you—

3.5—

what's in there, how much of it will surprise you. I think it's going to be—

it's going to be higher than that.

No? All right, we're going to do that.

We're going to have kind of the same things though, right? Pens and clips and this and that, and like there's other things that are going to be totally—

this, that, and the other type of thing.

Exactly right.

Well, one of our employees stunned me when she opened her junk drawer and there was very clearly a young and shirtless Greg Cody. So while Zazz says while Zazz says I'm not going to find any porn in there, shirtless Greg Cody in somebody's junk drawer is porn to someone suspicious. I'm just going to call it suspicious and leave it at that. Uh, but please, somebody out there at Metal Ark Media, before the end of the show today, find me the wax paper that we can do on air, hopefully live here, where we are taking junk out of our ears and find out what's happening there. Did you guys have any reaction to the news yesterday that the Dolphins are saying that Proctor is starting at guard? Because I do have a natural aversion—

I do, I really do— to guard play in this sport because I've watched football all my life and I never noticed the guard. And there have been plenty of Hall of Fame guards.

I'm not saying that the guard is not important, I'm just saying that when watching football, I generally don't notice what the guards are doing ever for any reason.

There there are also guards that develop into tackles. Well, that's what's going to happen here, potentially, or you can be kept at guard. I, I know, look, you may hold that as a slight against him. Mauonoa was a pillar at right tackle for the University of Miami. The Giants came out and said they're starting him at guard too.

I'm just saying that when I think of benign positions in the NFL, and I got this one wrong on safety because I generally wouldn't draft a safety in the top 10, and there are a couple of safeties that I would be wrong for all time in not doing so because Ed Reed and Palomalu were wildly impactful players, but safety would be a distant second, like outside of the kicking game and stuff in the kicking game.

Just I don't— who's the— give me the best guard the Miami Dolphins have ever had.

Go ahead.

Pete Sims.

That was first round. It was a first round guard. It's one they took in the first round like that. You don't usually take many guards in the first round because of what it is that I'm saying. One of the things that I think that's interesting is happening in the draft and Ty Simpson I don't know whether you guys thought he was a reach. I thought that was a reach.

But I think that I might be looking at what it is that McVay and some of the smarter coaches in the NFL who have to be ahead of the curve, that they're noticing something that I'm not. I told you, I've said many times before, the disposable running back, that was me getting old on television in real time where I was making the argument on behalf of you have to sign all the Gurleys of the world long term, the Dalvin Cooks. And the sport just blew past me in terms of how they were doing, where they to find value. I think the same thing has happened the last couple of years quietly in the NFL, where the guys who are the quarterback whispers, whether they're taking J.J. McCarthy or Ty Simpson, they're willing to take the second-best quarterback even if he shouldn't be drafted in the top 15, because they want to take a gamble with the most valuable thing in the sport, which is, can I get a quarterback cheap?

I'll reach on only that position because I think I can get a quarterback cheap, and there's no greater advantage that I can have than having a quarterback cheap. Don't even tell me he's good, just give me the second best quarterback in the draft, even if he's not any good. Even if JJ McCarthy has been hidden for an entire season by a Jim Harbaugh who's winning the championship by hiding his quarterback, that there's a new model in the NFL where the second best quarterback, whether he's any good or not, is going to get taken in the top 15.

I'm not even sure it's a new model, it's scarcity at the position. We kind of had a similar discussion last year when Cam Ward went number 1. Cam Ward last year was the number 1 overall pick. If he entered the draft a year before with the same kind of hype surrounding him, he might have been the 3rd or 4th quarterback taken off the board. Ty Simpson, in a weaker class, was indeed by consensus the 2nd highest-rated quarterback on the board. And usually they go in the 1st round no matter what. Even when we had— prior to rookie wage scales, it, it is the game's most important position.

Dan, is this about ego for the coaches, right? We talked a couple of weeks ago about, uh, coaches in the NFL not wanting a guy who thinks too much. Run my offense, right? That's what we talked about. Jon Gruden, you're gonna run these sets of plays, and like, this is what it's gonna be. Is that not the hubris and the ego of Kevin O'Connell, Sean McVay, of guys like, hey, I know what my offense can do. If I can get a guy who can just do what I need him to do, like J.J. McCarthy did, um, for KOC, it was like, all right, let me get him, let me plug him into my system. And now we're looking at Sam Darnold walking away for $100 million, JJ McCarthy not being that guy. Now you got Kyler Murray. It's like kind of the ego of Kevin O'Connell saying, I can do anything.

There, there's no doubt those coaches have ego. I mean, McVay— Stafford was a great player, came over there, became, uh, an MVP and a Super Bowl champion, but he proved that he could do it with Goff. He turned Goff's career around. But I don't— I'm not even so sure this was a Sean McVay call. Let's watch this, uh, footage from the NFL Draft and let's see how excited Sean McVay was to even speak with Ty Simpson. I'm gonna pass you to your new head coach, Sean McVay.

Yes, sir.

Hi.

What's up, Coach?

How you doing, buddy?

I'm great. How are you? Good, man.

Well, congratulations, man. Excited to get to work with you. It's gonna be a lot of fun, buddy.

Let's go make history, Coach.

Yeah.

No, and hey, enjoy this night, man. You earned it. Have fun. Tell your family we're excited to meet them, and, uh, can't wait to, uh, to get going with you, buddy.

Yes, sir, Coach. Appreciate you.

Okay. What history?

That last look, you always want to hear, yeah, no, after, uh, you're telling somebody let's make history. He had to overcorrect because after that call he had the press conference, which a lot of people read into because Sean McVay looked pissed about it. He has since softened his public perception of it a little bit.

Why did they lie about having never met?

I'm not, I'm not exactly sure, but what has come out since this happened was the relationship appears to be between Les Snead and Ty Simpson's father, who was a football coach, came up the ranks knowing Ty Simpson's dad.

So they're like best friends.

It was a preexisting relationship there. And as I mentioned before, when Miami was talking to Ty Simpson, he was getting tons of feedback from the NFL. If I had to pinpoint one team that pushed him into the NFL draft process, it was specifically the feedback that he got from the Rams, a well-respected front office.

Hey, it's Mike Ryan, and I want to talk to you about the random midweek hang that you have with your friends. Maybe it's an NBA game, you get a text, hey, come over, you want to watch the game? And maybe you're like, ah, I don't know, I kind of just wanted to stay home. And then you think about it after your buddy hits you up, and you know just the thing that'll make that regular hang, that regular midweek hang around the basketball game, into a special time, into a Miller time. That's right, this happened to me just last week. I grabbed a 6-pack of Miller Lite, said I was on my way, and next thing you know, we're arguing about rotations like we're on the coaching staff, yelling about a missed call, and the game's coming down to the final possession. It was one of those nights that you look around, you take a sip, and you think, yeah, this was the right call, and my friendship's stronger for it. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Lite. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com/Dan to find delivery options near you. You. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer.

It's Miller time! Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

Going for 2 when you're up by 5. Switching the zone when man isn't working. Oh, and building your new stadium in the state your team actually plays in. In sports, some things just make sense. You know what else makes sense? Drinking Jägermeister shots ice cold. Drinking it any other way would be like punting on first down! Or letting your worst hitter bat first! Or like going for 2 when you're down 3 with a second to go! It wouldn't make any sense! So don't let the team down. When it comes to Jägermeister, drink it cold or don't drink it at all! Jägermeister. Damn, that's cold. Drink responsibly. Jägermeister Likör, 35% alcohol by volume. Imported by Mast Jägermeister US, White Plains, New York.

Dan Lebatard. The Sports Avatar Show with the Stugatz.

When Zazz asks the question about lying, there are some questions around all of this that are curious because I did think he went way too high. I think he's too small, and I also think the idea of quarterback whisperer is overstated, even though if you were to assign somebody the designation, McVay would be the worthiest of those. Goff was consensus number one pick.

Like, Goff, Goff was weak class and also considered a project.

But, but a gold— he was considered a bit of a golden child.

And he was just really bad in terms of win-loss record in college, which scared a lot of people.

He was also terrible when he started in the pros. And McVay did fix that. But this was a top of the first round talent by everybody who, who saw him play in college.

And he started slowly.

You understand why I'm objecting to the idea of quarterback whisperer.

You guys, you guys think it of O'Connell and J.J.

McCarthy. Maybe it just takes a long time to learn the position. And I don't know that there are a ton of guys— well, I do know there aren't a ton of guys who can do it well because we've seen how hard it is and not many are quarterback whispers. But when you ask about the lies Simpson said after all of this, that he had secret meetings with McVay, and that doesn't appear to be true either. Like, there are people questioning how much interest the Rams actually had because Ty Simpson, I think he went on with Amber, and he was saying about a meeting, and then they asked some follow-ups about a meeting, and he sort of started to backtrack because he realized he had said something that I think sounded like it might not be true, that, that, that all of this interest from the Rams wasn't what you might think it is. And I think it might just be the combination of McVay's got an MVP quarterback that the last couple of years they've seemed like they're about to break up. Like Stafford was going to end up somewhere last year and then became MVP of the Rams.

You got an old quarterback and I have no idea how much longer he's going to play. But when I think of violence done to the body in that sport and resiliently overcoming it, I think of Stafford very high on the list just because of how he played in Detroit.

He's so tough.

And, and how terrible it was to play in Detroit when they were bad around him and he was one of their few good players. But is McVay walking a line here between respecting the guy who's actually done something and being too excited getting on the phone with someone who's talking about making history when McVay's thinking to himself, I got the MVP, he's the actual history maker?

Well, another bit of context here, Dan, is Stafford was essentially traded to the New York Giants, and Stafford himself said no, and then he ended up having an MVP season. And by all accounts, we're at the end of Stafford's career here. This may very well be the last season. And so McVay is probably looking at it. He's got a team. They made an aggressive deal for McDuffie. They got a team that most people would handicap as one of the favorites inside the NFC.

I think they are the favorites.

Who's— Ty Simpson's not going to help me capitalize and seize on this Stafford window. Super Bowls are hard to come by. I, I need someone to help me win a Super Bowl right now. And I think that that's probably where the disagreement between Sean and Les Snead was.

The Rams—

I know we love using this phrase, uh, a team is all in, as if many of them aren't all in on winning the Super Bowl that particular season. But the Rams are particularly all in on that because of how close they were last year and because of what they've done to correct what was their weakness last year, which is what are we going to get from our corners when we've got pass rush, or on the times that we don't have pass rush, what They've, they've shored up their corners in a way that suggests they're playing for this year, like that McVay's not looking beyond Stafford in any way.

The Rams, according to DraftKings Sportsbook, are the favorite to win the Super Bowl.

The, the one thing that would signal, uh, that, that is a curious move that is not about this year is the drafting of Ty Simpson. It, it drew comparisons to when Aaron Rodgers needed some help and they just kept— they, they drafted Jordan Love. That— this is not that. This is an aggressive front office that has shown they can go out and build a team around its quarterback and be aggressive there. It's the one time that you've seen the Rams and been like, well, they're forward-thinking here. They're finally preparing for a post-Stafford world.

And the Rams are very much a team that likes veterans, right? Like, you look at what they do. Sean McVay runs a complicated offense. He runs a complicated system. Stafford, one of the most cerebral quarterbacks that we've ever seen. Putting a I saw a report that said, uh, Malachi Lemon, uh, Sadiq from Oregon, that they had a couple of options to go get weapons for Stafford. And it's like, would those guys even see the field with Sean McVay trying to learn that offense in one offseason and then being ready to go? So it's like, maybe what they did is hedge their bets, play for the future, knowing that Stafford is done at the end of '27.

Maybe don't have an offense so complicated that your players don't understand it.

Well, make a verdict on this though, if you had to guess, because there are a lot of people having this reaction, right? And I don't know that it's happening necessarily anywhere else with any of the other draft picks. Everybody says they got the players they want. Everyone comes out and does all the hope trafficking. One coach, the guy regarded as the smartest in the sport, I think, or in the conversation start smartest in the sport, is not enthusiastic about it. And if you had to choose between the reasons, it doesn't have to be one, it can be both, but you had to choose between the reasons. He was doing that because he needs to respect his MVP quarterback, or he's doing that because he's genuinely pissed they didn't get him help for right now because every year is about what's our next game, what's our next game.

Don't tell me about 3 years from from now. I don't know who's gonna be hurt.

I don't know what our window's gonna be. You have to choose between the two. Which one do you think is right?

I just, I have a hard time believing Stafford is that sensitive. I mean, 2 years ago he was talking about retiring. Stafford is that sensitive?

Wasn't Aaron Rodgers that sensitive about it?

Rodgers was still winning an MVP after they drafted Jordan Love.

He did say in an interview, McVay, that he was doing that simply because he wanted to show respect to Stafford.

I know, but like, he's that sensitive, Stafford?

He was traded. He was traded to the Giants. He had to say no. I guess like that left him a little raw.

You say that sensitive. And yes, if, if I have to think of Matthew Stafford, he is somebody who has experienced the business. But at the center of what these immortals do on Sundays, like including Mark Andrews, there is a human being. And how would you feel, Zaslo, with the delicate part part of we decide your future, you don't decide your future.

I know Aaron Rodgers was viewed as sensitive as a multi-time MVP who had a relationship with that city that's a lot longer than the one that Stafford has with his city, because I think of Stafford still as a Detroit guy. And I don't know how much that hurt, everything that like physically hurt or emotionally hurt, that in Detroit they never won anything for him while he was pretty good, and he leaves there sort of broken and has to prove himself elsewhere.

I'm curious, put that in front of the audience.

@LeBertardShow, do you think of Stafford as a Lion or a Ram? Because that's where he won, right?

Won a Super Bowl and an MVP.

Yeah, I think it's a Ram.

That's funny that you guys say that.

I just, I mean, played for 3 times as long in Detroit, so I think of him as a Lion. I think of him as somebody— was it 12 years?

I close my eyes and I think of one throw. It's in a Rams uniform in a Super Bowl.

Hold on, let me close my eyes.

Yeah, I'm closing my eyes now. I I'm thinking Rams.

Oh, I just saw the bomb to Cooper Kupp in Tampa. What a throw.

Oh my gosh. And the third game, the third throw was the interception that he definitely threw that was just dropped by San Francisco that would have rendered all these other moments useless.

Give me another player.

Don't look at that one anymore.

Give me another player. I'm going to close my eyes. Give me another player.

We can do that, but let me put it on the poll differently than I did.

Tom Brady.

When you close your eyes, when you close your eyes and think about Matthew Stafford, is he in a Lions uniform?

Joe Montana.

Manna, Niner.

Peyton Manning, Colt. Well, but he won the championship in, in Denver, but he also won a championship in Indianapolis.

Colt.

Colt.

I mean, he made the ruling. Kerry Collins, Raider. Oh, he went to a Super Bowl as a Giant.

Cade McNown, Brown.

Cade McNown.

I don't know. All right, how about this one?

I don't—

Ryan Fitzpatrick. Oh, Bill, all of them.

Yeah, he's wearing a multicolored AFC East jersey.

Had some great years with the Jets though, Chris.

No, but it's just, he's just— I, in my mind, when I close my eyes, Fitzpatrick is dropping back to pass and he's got a neutral jersey that just says AFC East on it. It's not—

I think of a beard.

You know what's weird? Sam Darnold won a Super Bowl and had a huge comeback season with the Vikings, but I still think of him out indefinitely as a New York Giant.

Oh yeah, for sure. Laryngitis, or, uh, all right, my eyes are open now. We'll play the game again.

No, it's mono, my bad, mono.

Uh, no, Chris, we're not playing the game anymore with you because my eyes are open now. But when he threw Cade McNown at you, you got scared. You said, I don't know, and you said you didn't want to play.

He said Brown.

He talked about Josh McCown.

He got it wrong.

No, Cade McNown is a guy, but I meant Josh McCown.

You're right, he's a guy.

That's why I said what?

Luke McCown.

I don't want to play the game.

You want to play McCown brother games? Like, I, I don't think of those guys even as quarterbacks, never mind think thinking of them as quarterbacks dropping back to pass in a uniform.

Jeff Garcia, Niner.

Your eyes aren't closed.

Niner.

You got to get the things right.

Jeff Konine, you gotta get Oriole.

And Jeff Konine, how many teams did Mr. Marlin play for?

Royals, Marlins, Dodgers, Phillies.

He played for 7 teams, I think.

He played for the, the, the Reds. Did he play for the Orioles twice? He played for the Orioles twice. In the Yeah, he was on the Mets.

He was in Philly at one point.

He had the key to Boog's apartment just like you did for about 6 weeks when he played for the Mets. They got it. They got him for a pennant run.

Don Levitard.

I saw a post on Twitter yesterday how the Toronto Maple Leafs, that they won the division. Guess what? It's been 2 years and that's 2 years too long.

Stugatz.

You could take that ass too. Oh, we're taking 2 asses.

This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stugatz.

We've been talking the last couple of days about the University of Miami's open athletic director position.

And it's an interesting time for the University of Miami.

I don't know that at any point in the University of Miami's history I would call their athletic director job a good job just because of the things that all the ADs here have had to overcome about Miami being like a weird business town and it not being really a college town or in an area that is collegiate, right? Like, it's in Coral Gables, and the University of Miami has often felt a lack of support from its larger administration on understanding just how important the athletic program is to the University of Miami. But what a good job it looks like right now when you're talking about where the basketball team finds itself with a young coach and where it finds itself with a football who is committed to the program, is, uh, one of the few in the country that I don't think people will talk seriously about him leaving for another job, even if he's here several years doing what he's done. You've got someone who's got a real emotional connection to the program. So you're solid in two places.

Now, maybe Jay Lucas leaves, but you're solid in the two places that you want to be.

Most solid, and I think it's a better job than, uh, than Radakovich showed he can handle, honestly. Like, he leaves it in a good position, but I feel from talking to the University of Miami people the way that I've talked to them, they were wildly unimpressed by whatever was his leadership vision. They happened into the results, but I don't think they give the results to him based on some sort of merit. He did better work in getting that job with the qualifications before he got here than he did with that job before he treated it the way that I thought Larranega was going to treat the last years of his career, which is just mail it in, go to Miami. Uh, Radakovich came closer to doing that than Larranega did, from the people I've talked to.

Uh, what Dan is saying is, is, is kind of right. Uh, I do want to celebrate some of the things that Dan Radakovich got right. Now, when you think about the athletic director position, most people assume he's hiring the coaches. That's not how it worked for Dan Radakovich down here at the University of Miami. Best I can tell, he hired the women's basketball coach after Katie Meyer hired and a soccer coach. He didn't make the Mario Cristobal hire. They kind of walked in the door at the same time. He did not make the Jay Lucas hire. He did not make the baseball hire. In fact, he was overruled on the baseball.

Is that unusual though?

Typically, the athletic directors— like, you have influential boosters, and certainly when it comes to football, there's a load of opinions at big-time programs. He didn't get to make that hire, but it is a little rare that this guy, as well-respected as he came in, he was very successful.

Oh, it was celebrated when they hired him, right?

So that, that's what I think he did well. That's what he got right. When there wasn't even a search really for the athletic director when Dan Radakovich came in, he was very clearly— because he was, uh, he had ties to the University of Miami, because he was well-respected in NCAA circles— Miami wanted to send a message both with its football coach hire and with its athletic director hire that the days of Blake James and the days of underachieving and us being a punchline nationally, those are from a bygone era. We are, we are showing the world that we are serious. And that is exactly what the hiring of Dan Radakovich did. He was well respected. And what I actually think he did best, it wasn't the hiring coaches. Obviously, he did get some buildings approved, and he always fancied himself a man that got facilities built. He did so at Tompson, and he did so here. Wasn't really the relationship with the boosters because he wasn't great at engaging the boosters. Fundraising wasn't really his MO. He didn't seem to have a huge appetite for it, which is why I think many around Miami were happy to see some change there.

I think what he did best was navigate this whole ACC mess because I wanted someone way more aggressive. I hated our public stance on it, and I was wrong. I was totally me wrong.

I had that wrong.

FSU spent all the money. FSU tarnished its reputation. Clemson even a little bit tarnished its reputation. Meanwhile, Dan Radakovich, because of his pre-existing relationships inside the ACC and a guy that is pretty careful, he actually navigated that really, really well. Miami did not burn bridges. Miami benefited from this rev share that saw them get so much revenue from the college football playoff, while FSU made themselves out to look like an undesirable partner to other conferences. So I think that Dan Radakovich being careful and playing things by the, by the book actually benefited Miami there.

Roger Clemens, Yankee.

What now?

Blue Jay?

I mean, not a Red Sox.

Freddie Freeman, uh, Brave.

Uh, put it on the poll, please. Uh, Roger Clemens, uh, Yankee, Red Sox, or Blue Jay?

Blue Astro too, damn.

Him and Roy Oswald, back to back. Dude, he was really good with Toronto.

I'm not disputing that he was really good.

He got traded for David Wells.

Let me go on the record, he was pretty good on most teams he played for.

Yeah, that's correct.

That's a good point. Yeah, I stand corrected.

Let's get into the meat though of what it is that Mike Ryan is saying as to what that job is. In the history of the program, I think Sam Jankovic is viewed as the best athletic director they had because he helped build the start of it and made it a desirable position.

And then when went to the Patriots, was one of the few executives Miami has ever had who was able to go to what was that then, you know, the top of the pros right before Belichick got there and the Patriots became great.

Uh, Dave Maggard did some janitorial stuff.

He was widely respected. Paul D was there for a long time, but basically was there just to be a lawyer because they had so many problems and they needed a lawyer in the position. But what Mike Wright just said, what Mike just said about Radakovich wasn't good at fundraising. The people who criticize— the people who I talked to who say he wasn't as interested in doing the parts of the job that we needed done, I thought the job was fundraising now. Like, I was under the impression that while they like to have the power of hiring the coaches and what comes with that, that the business of that has gotten so big, strong, and important, then fundraising is the most important part of the job now.

I, I've been in those rooms when they, they try to raise funds. Yeah, I mean, I'm a booster and Dan's supposed to engage with the boosters. I barely spoke to Dan in that capacity. Like, the people that are raising the funds are the collective, and I think that that's important. Look, especially early on when John Ruiz was plastered everywhere and Miami was getting back in the game and everyone just assumed Miami was doing this in a shady fashion, Miami Miami was kept clean. And Dan Radakovich, yes, he was uncomfortable with this whole new world, but we navigated it and Miami was clean. And I think a lot of that has to do with, again, the relationships that Dan maintained and his approach to all of this, and also the fact that we have a good collective and Dan went outside of his comfort zone to trust it. Now that position definitely needs more fundraising coming out of it. Definitely needs to cultivate new partnerships. People want a track record of someone that has cultivated partnerships. But the big thing here is we're headed to a place where there's probably going to be more realignment, bigger TV deals.

What helps one of the names that is mentioned right now, Michael Yormark, is what his brother did.

Boo that man.

Brett Yormark. What Brett Yormark did.

Oh, Roy, we haven't heard your opinions on the Yormarks.

No, I gave it I hate it.

I hate it.

Yeah. But Brett Yormark, by most accounts, has done a good job in saving the Big 12 after Texas and Oklahoma went. And so the thing that Michael Yormark probably has most going for him is who his brother is.

Oh, for the love of God. I mean, like, I just think of Yormark as somebody who tricks people because he's wearing a suit. Like, he's just a suit.

He might as well be a dry cleaning bag.

He does. He does present well.

Good for you. You wake up at 3 a.m.

and go to the gym.

Yeah, he convinces a lot of people. I mentioned this yesterday, he has this reputation. I saw Gary Fuhrman wrote something about it and he's like, I think the title was "The Deal Maker at Miami's Door," and it was a very pro-Michael column.

Fuhrman.

And I don't know who this deal maker is. Again, I can't speak to who he was at Roc Nation or what he did there. I think if you lift the hood under Roc Nation, it's not as good as the reputation —suggests, but the dealmaker was not there 20 years ago when he was fully in charge of the Florida Panthers. It was a failure with the Panthers.

Huge failure. Let's bookmark it and talk with Sampson about it, because the Jormarks have gotten sports business power and I've just found their resilience to be a little bit confounding. But I'm going to ask David Sampson about it. He's got more business expertise than I do.

Brad Lidge.

Astros. Astros. Yeah.

I go Philly.

Uh, Pitch Clock will be later in the show today, and among the things that, uh, Jeremy will tackle with Ed Nan Burke and others is, uh, everything that's changing in management with the Red Sox, where they had one of the managers who was said to have power, but what's happening in sports— this seems to be happening all over the place, less so in football, I Yes, the front offices are taking over the middle management, and this has happened for a while in baseball with the managers, but Cora was supposed to be one of the guys who had actual power, and he just had the team sort of taken away from him in a fairly— I thought it was a fairly shocking fashion, and I don't get shocked very much by management displacement, but when we talk about the importance of where it is the University of Miami finds itself now, Mike was more positive on Radakovich than my information is. I've never met Radakovich.

I only know about things from From talking to people who probably aren't as close to the program— Your A.D. friends. —as Mike is.

Just people involved with the school.

Now is not the time for me to be negative. Look, get a beer in me, I can tell you his shortcomings, but he's retiring. Can we get a Miller Lite, please? He's retiring, and I think that there have been plenty of people out there, especially recently with the Jormorg thing, Dan, that have said negative things about Dan. And his shortcomings, and I don't think it's a time for that right now.

Well, it doesn't have to be the time for it for you, and I'm just framing it in what the job is today because my information is not on Radakovich, but generally my information on what the job is is what it has been, and I just think the job is changing so much now that you can put Andrew Luck on top of your organization with no skill set other than he's the guy who can go get $50 million. Like that, that the job right now is who's the guy who could go get the money, even if you have a collective, who can make the collective stronger because he's had the relationships with the boosters. That used to be the job.

All it takes with you, one beer, you're letting out state secrets? That's it?

One beer? I'm cautious to who I do it to, you know.

Yapper. Should we bring in the beer and the earwax and do both at the same time?

Do they still sell the earwax thing? Uh, yeah, like, can you get that somewhere?

I don't think it's a thing that you sell. I think it's, it's, it's like a, like a, a self-made contraption.

No, it's not a self-made contraption. It— I'm just telling you, it's a cone of paper that you, uh, you set fire to the top end of it, and I don't think we're setting fire to paper, and then it burns down, and then eventually—

David Cohn. Hey, Met.

Yes, really? Wow, not even Yankees. Wow.

I mean, successful with the Blue Jays Too.

Put the picture up, please, of the ear candle so that people can see here. It's not an ear candle, but it sort of looks like a candle.

And I'm telling you, it will be good television to, at the end of the live hour today, be able to take these out of our ears and shock the American public with what is in Roy's ear.

Roy, I'm accusing you of being someone who's got foul things in his ear.

No!

Oh, hey, it's Mike Ryan, and I want to talk to you about the random midweek hang that you have with your friends. Maybe it's an NBA game, you get a text, hey, come over, you want to watch the game? And maybe you're like, ah, I don't know, I kind of just wanted to stay home. And then you think about it after your buddy hits you up, and you know just the thing that'll make that regular hang, that regular midweek hang around the basketball game, into a special time, into a Miller time. That's right, this happened to me just last week.

I grabbed a 6-pack of Miller Lite, said I was on my way, and next thing you know, we're arguing about rotations like we're on the coaching staff, yelling about a missed call, and the game's coming down to the final possession.

It was one of those nights that you look around, you take a sip, and you think, yeah, this was the right call, and my friendship's stronger for it. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Lite. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com/Dan to find delivery options near you. Near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer.

It's Miller time! Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.