Transcript of Dan Replaces Hawk with Jimmie Johnson | Hour 3

You sounded nervous. Is it because Richard Petty's in the room? Dale Earnhardt's in the room? Because you've got a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series winner. He concludes his career in February in Daytona, always has been a great ambassador for the sport. I was just talking to Jimmie Johnson off of the air. Greg Cody suggested, as an idea, that we do this entire segment just asking you about the 1985 University of Miami hurricanes. He thought that would be a good idea.

Yeah, what do you think of Michael Irvin still talking about the White House? I mean, you know, you could have strong opinions about that.

Do you think of yourself as, uh, do you put yourself in the class of Earnhardt and Richard Petty, giants of the sport? Because you won all the titles between 2006 and 2010.

I'm getting better with it. You know, it never was, um, I wasn't chasing the greats. And then I found myself, you know, there with them and honored, proud of what we've accomplished. But I've been a guy that's always looked out the windshield and trying to tackle what's next. So, at 51, being inducted in the Hall of Fame, there have been these moments that have helped me kind of acknowledge and realize I did some cool shit and, uh, starting to let it in.

Were you able to enjoy it as much as you should have while it was happening?

Not a chance. Nope.

Too competitive.

Too competitive. And the grind of our season, we have 38 races in 39 weeks. 36 of those are championship points races. And, you know, it's just a long year.

And being inducted into the Hall of Fame allowed you to slow some of that down and look back with some appreciation?

It really did. I was able to go into the hall with a hero of mine, Bobby Allison, and then also my partner in crime all those years, Chad Canals. And so after the announcement was made, there was a year before we were inducted. And that year, you know, just started to slowly creep in. And then the week of the Hall of Fame induction was beyond special.

You said before we came on air that you're busier now as an owner of the Legacy Motor Club than you were as a driver. That sounds impossible to believe.

Different ways of being busy. You know, as an athlete, all the training and prep and teamwork that took, you know, that was required, had me, you know, very busy and focused in a certain way. But now we have 215 employees at our company, incredible partners and sponsors, investors. And not only are we trying to win races and championships, but also help motorsports evolve in this space of sports and entertainment, how they're becoming one. And NASCAR is, you know, trailing behind in some of those respects.

What's your preferred windshield wiper speed? The guy across from you, Greg, he's my dad. I grew up, he would always have the windshield wipers so slow. It could be pouring and it would be like one every seven seconds. Where I'm a guy, if it's raining a little bit, we're going full bore here.

Man, I go slow to none. And if you get some rain acts and hit the windshield with rain acts, it just rolls off.

There you go. That's an answer for you right there.

What is the number of times that you've been pulled over for speeding on regular roadways?

Couple times.

Get off without a ticket?

Been successful. Handing my NASCAR credential is a pretty strong move. Just in case they don't recognize me or my name, that's worked well.

Do you have any interest in driving fast when you're not actually on the track? Like, do you have any other adrenaline fixes?

Yeah, big time into skiing, mountain biking, motocross. So I'm definitely active and like to take risks. On the streets, I'm not bad. I don't know why people sit in the fast lane, like under the speed limit. That's something that really irritates me.

Where does that come from, though, the idea that you want to be a risk-taker?

Just the way I grew up. My grandparents owned a motorcycle store in the San Diego area. And we just grew up riding dirt bikes. And then when it was too hot to ride dirt bikes, we'd go to the local rivers and lakes and had boats and jet skis and just always with an engine, doing something.

Jimmie, I'm a basketball guy, so whenever I watch basketball movies, it irritates me. I'm like, that's not what basketball's like. Other than Semi-Pro, that one was really good. Did you watch Talladega Nights and think, oh, this is just a mockery of what we do? Or did you really appreciate what they did?

I freaking love that movie. It's the best.

Oh, it's awesome.

The best. The actors, writers, everybody spent a lot of time in our sport. And every interview they did, and the ones that I did, they were so serious. I thought it was going to be a hard-hitting, like on-the-mark movie. And it was hard-hitting. I mean, they spoofed us so well. It was phenomenal.

Do you feel the same way about Days of Thunder?

That one felt more on the nose and legit, especially in that era of time. And to have, you know, the second one coming out, Cruise has been to the racetrack already. It's going to be a good moment for our industry.

What do you believe makes you great? Like, what is it that you think is special about you that makes it so that you're in the company of these people that are the all-time legends of the sport?

I think timing plays a good role in things. The platform of car that I drove, my early days racing in the dirt really crossed over and applied well. Now the way the cars are built and the aerodynamics that they have on them, it doesn't fit my driving style. So that was a big part of it.

They're laughing at me because they feel like this has turned into a South Beach session a little bit too intimate. They want to ask you about windshield wipers. Why don't you go ahead and ask him if he's ever pissed himself in the car? Why don't you go ahead and do that?

I have not.

Really?

Wow.

I'm not going to ask that.

Preemptive answer.

I have a more important question. What's the hardest part of the life? Losing, you know? Put so much into it. And in car racing too, like a killer year, you might have a 5% win ratio, 10% win ratio. So motorsports is pretty unforgiving in that respect.

Jimmie, when you're out driving your car, like us regular people, when do you fill up your gas tank? Because I wait until the line is all the way on the other side of the red. Like, I don't care that the light's on. I wait till the line is totally cleared the meter to get gas.

Yeah, it's BS. There's more to go.

So much more.

Yeah, much more to go.

So much more.

Yes, I'm in the same camp and I've run out of gas multiple times and had to phone in for help.

That's a little embarrassing, though.

It is.

Yeah.

Yes. I picked someone new each time, but they all spoke and everybody knew about it. But yeah.

What kind of car do you drive on the street? Because I would love it if it was like a Volkswagen Beetle or a Toyota Corolla, something like that.

We've collected a few cars. My wife has a '59 Beetle Bug that I'm around in occasionally. I drive a Land Cruiser and I have a '67 Camaro, a '51 Merc.

Oh, wow.

What else do we have? My wife has this '86 Rolls-Royce, a silver Spur. I don't know if you remember the Royal Tennant bombs. It was like a maroon car. So we've got a blue version of that. It's like riding your couch down the street. It's awesome.

What do you think about when you think about the last three months of this? This is the things that you've been working toward all of your life. You're still going to be in ownership, but you're not going to be competing the same way you have. These next three months, what do you expect for them to look like before Daytona?

Excuse me. We have so much growth going on within our race team that I think February is going to show up and I'm going to be like, oh my God, I got to jump in the car and do this. But we're expanding to a third operation and hiring all those individuals. We've now grown our facility and have had to move business ops into a kind of rental office space while we're building a new facility. So there's so much work to do this off season.

How is the pressure different between racing and having 215 employees? And one, you're just responsible for yourself, right?

Yeah, it's different. It's different. You know, they're your people, you know, them, their families. It's a different reason to lie awake at night trying to make sure I make the right decisions.

Jimmie, what is it like when you're driving around, your wife is the passenger? Does she point stuff out to you? Because like with me, when I'm driving and my wife, if there's a car in front of me and the brake lights start to come on, she always points it out. And if she didn't do that, I thank her for that. Because if she didn't do that, I would crash into all the cars.

How do you get around otherwise? You know, when she's not with you. Yeah, I'm in the same boat. She refuses to ride with me anymore. She just, unless she has to, she just does not want to ride with me.

I'm really thankful for my wife. I would crash into all of them.

But wait a minute. Because?

The right seat driving or back seat driving, whatever it's called. I mean, and then the fake brake pedal that she'll hit. It's like, yeah.

Yeah, my wife's like that as well. It's annoying.

Wait a minute, though.

Terrible.

Dan, jump in.

But I mean, he's a little more qualified at driving than anybody else is at driving.

I'll be married 23 years this December and I've tried for years and it doesn't matter.

So you never looked at her and said, baby, I'm a NASCAR champion. I think I'm good here.

I have. And I did that just once.

Another time. I mean. What happened that time that you had to pull that out?

It was cold in the house, to say the least. Another time, I reminded her that she's had the only on-road accident in the family. I've had plenty on the racetrack, but she's the only on-road member of the Johnson family.

You're not kidding when you say she simply refuses to drive if you're driving. Does that mean that you're ever the passenger?

You're going to love this. I get carsick. I have a terrible time riding with people. And so I won't ride. She'll sometimes drive separately or just be that right seat driver.

So is that actual car sickness or is that a control freak? I need to have the wheel.

I believe it's more control. Yeah.

And you look back at the entirety of your career, Jimmie. You have to have exceeded your every expectation, your every dream. I don't know what the dreams looked like at the beginning of this. It couldn't have been this.

No, not at all. My dad was a heavy equipment operator and spent his spare time building the local motorcross track that I grew up racing at. My mom would run the snack bar there. And we just loved racing. It's what we did. It was our family thing. And for it to turn out, even when I'd maybe see a little door opening and opportunity opening, I thought, man, if I could win a cup race, that would be it. And I was able to win in my rookie year and then, you know, we harnessed lightning in a bottle and off it went.

People who insist in backing into parking spaces all the time, jerks.

Yeah, I mean, it takes a little talent, but I'm with you. It seems like a lot of extra work.

People who don't put the shopping cart back in the shopping cart parking lot, how do you feel about them people?

The bin?

It's just, it's not respectful. And it's like the scooters too. Like scooters and e-bikes and stuff parked like litter all around the place. Like park it orderly.

Can you put into words what the emotion for you is going to be like as the Daytona 500 is about to start? Because I can, I don't know.

It sounds like it's going to sneak up on it.

I don't know whether you're a guy who cries at all, but to me, that would be a day so momentous, I don't think I could hold in my emotions.

Yeah, COVID was my first attempt at retirement. So I think I'm in my third go-around here. You know, COVID really affected that final year. And I haven't felt the closure to stepping away from cups. So I'm thankful to be back and I've been in the car now, I have a team and really get to have that moment in February. And the thing that hits me first is the nerves before a race, especially the Daytona 500, to know that I get to do that one more time. I have no clue what the outcome will be. And I think we'll be quite competitive.

If you're still an owner, though, are there things about this that you will miss that you know right now as you sit here, my life is never going to be the same without this?

Being under the bright lights, you know, those game time moments. I always dreamed of being in them. And then I got into them and I could do well at it. And so those moments, those are going to be tough to miss.

Are there any things about the sport and what it does to your body that people don't know and have no idea about what the cost of this has been for you to care the way you do about being great?

I would say safety has come so far. Now, I mean, it's obviously a significant issue, but concussions are largely the extent of injuries. When I first got started, we didn't have soft walls. We didn't have the Hans device. You know, we'd have fatalities. Fire was an issue at one point. Broken bones. The seats now support you through your shoulders. And I can't tell you how many ribs I've broken over the years because the seats used to surround your rib cage. And it's backed the wall good and two or three ribs.

Jimmie, how realistic is Mario Kart?

Not very, but it's an awesome game.

Bananas aren't that slippery?

I've never tested that out.

An excellent way to end all of this. Jimmie, it is lovely to see you. It is disappointing or disappointing.

Disappointing.

I'm disappointing that you're going to end your career here in February, but it's going to be nice to watch whatever it is that comes next for you.

I appreciate it.

It sounds like you're wearing the weight of responsibility of ownership when you talk about being kept up at night.

For sure. No, I love every bit of it and appreciate you guys having me on the show and hope to come back and get some better questions.

Dan Le Batard.

What is the worst part of the life?

Jonathan Sassolo.

The worst part of the life of what?

This is the Dan Le Batard Show.

What do you do when the black guys are telling you that this is the blackest show? You go and get the NASCAR guy.

Yeah.

And you make everyone feel a little bit better about what it is that's happening around here. You kick Hawkins out of the room.

Yep, yep. Diversity.

Let the NASCAR guys sit in the seat.

I said, I'll show you talking race, all right.

I want to get to some Greg Olsen sound here because I found this story to be strange, OK? I don't know how soon after this game, Malik Neighbors was complaining about a New York Post article that quoted Greg Olsen as saying Malik Neighbors was being a bad teammate by wanting the ball more during the Eagles-Giants game. But Greg Olsen says that he didn't say bad teammate and this sound doesn't seem to indicate that he's saying bad teammate.

Yeah, I played with a lot of really good wide receivers or a lot of really good players. There's never been a great wide receiver who hasn't demanded the ball. But there is a very fine line between being demanding, being a competitor, and all those great things. That's great. It just can never cross that it feels like it takes away from the success of your teammate. So when your teammate catches a wide open touchdown, you need to be the happiest guy on the field. You can't still be worried about your target. So that's the fine line. He's a talented, young, really good player. They just got to keep it in check.

Are you hearing anything there, Hawk, that suggests to you that Malik Neighbors should be bothered by that?

No, I'm not. And I get it as a player. You know, we have to make these things as personal as possible. I was the same way. A writer would say anything about me and it would piss me off to the uptink degree. And I would have beef with these people. But even when I hear that, like from Greg Olsen's perspective, this is a former player who's given contest because he's not wrong. He's just given the audience more information on what locker room dynamics look like and things that have happened from his experience. And so, again, I was in the middle.

Is he saying it on top of what he believes is Malik Neighbors not seeming like a good teammate?

Of course. Of course he is. And what I would tell Greg Olsen in that moment is there was a game where I played against, I think it was the Pittsburgh Steelers, and we beat them. One of the few times as a Brown, we ever won. It was like 31 to 10. Whoop their ass. But I had a specific play that we had worked on all week. I ran it beautifully and then I dropped the ball. And so what happened was the rest of the game, I was sulking. I was doing my job. But even though everybody was happy and this game went so well, I was pissed at myself because I didn't play and execute to the level I expected for me.

Is Greg Olsen related to G-Reg from the 7th Floor Crew?

Yes. They are.

They are related?

Yes.

He hates that. Greg Olsen hates that he is associated with the 7th Crew.

Is that like his family member or something?

No, no, no. I'm sorry. I thought he was asking if Greg Olsen was part of the 7th Floor Crew and he is.

Oh, he is?

Yes.

Oh, the white guy, right?

G-Reg is Greg?

Yeah, that's not King Dingaling.

Oh, no. That's another guy.

Are they still putting out albums?

Greg Olsen hates that he's still associated with that. He's trying to get away from that association while he tries to get the Monday night football.

G-Reg with a third leg?

The one and only. What are you talking about?

That's not King Dingaling. That's another guy.

So you don't think that would help him get that ultimate job that he's after?

What do you make of the idea that Malik Neighbors, because Andrew Hawkins is saying this might be personal, but I want to talk about the idea that the wide receiver always wants 17 targets. Every wide receiver.

Hawks, you didn't say that.

Did I say it might be personal? Is that what you took away from me?

That's what I heard.

What the hell?

Well, that you're saying, you're saying it's personal because Malik Neighbors is personally thinking he might have dropped the football and didn't do his job and therefore is mad at himself and is lashing out at Greg.

Is that what you're saying? Is that what you're I took from that that you were saying that Greg Olsen, it might be personal for what he's saying about Malik Neighbors.

No, that Malik Neighbors was taking personally something that both Greg Olsen was saying and the way that he played. So he was up in his feelings about I'm more interested in sort of examining every wide receiver wants 17 targets, correct? What is the fine line between the receiver wants the ball 17 times and bad teammate?

What is the fine line? The fine line is when it becomes more about you wanting the 17 targets than the team winning. That is the fine line. Now, I'm not saying Malik Neighbors crossed it. I'm not saying Greg Olsen was saying that he crossed it. I don't even know if that's what Malik Neighbors was sulking about. But the fine line is always, do you give a shit more about yourself than you do about the team?

But here's why it's not we've been asking this question, I'm going to say for 15 years. Michael Ervin actually told us the story of chasing Alvin Harper during the Super Bowl, yelling at him, that's my touchdown. That's my touchdown you're running with. We've been asking for years, would a wide receiver rather have 12 catches for 150 yards and a touchdown in a loss or three catches for 11 yards in a win? What's the answer to that question?

150 yards. Easily.

So then what's the fine line? What's the fine line? Every guy, you got to pretend? You got to fake like you're happy for your teammates? You got to.

No, you are happy though. You should be happy that your team is winning because it gives you more opportunity. Winning teams help you make more money as a player. But you want to contribute like every competitor. You're there because we want you to contribute because the trade deadline comes. And if you're not contributing and we're having success without you, the DLS Show is putting you up for trade against another podcast. You understand? If I don't need you here at DLS, then we're telling the ringer you're available.

So Dan, like we talk about it in basketball all the time, like what a player is like. Like number one is money. People don't want to hear that, but the reality is you have a small window of time to earn as much.

Good job.

As much money as you can for the rest of your life because you're not going to be working at 50 or 60 years old like a regular job. But number two is want to win, but 2A is I want to be the reason of the winning, right? And the reason of the winning means I don't want to be kind of on the bench and we won the thing or won the game, won the championship. I want to be like, yeah, they won because he did this. And so that's a lot of times when people say, oh, so-and-so got traded to such a great situation. Like, well, it's not a great situation if I'm not playing much or if I'm playing a smaller role. Let's make it about last night though. The Vikings are six and two.

No, and he doesn't even pretend to look like it.

But why would he? Like, why would he be enjoying himself? Because they're six and two?

I mean, he did say last week, like he said all the right things. Or two weeks ago when they were still undefeated where I don't care as long as you win. Like, he was saying all the right things.

And that's something that, by the way, a lot of guys do, which is as long as we're winning, I'm cool. But the moment the winning stops, my mouth is going to be jabbering again. Like Andre Guadala, that was the thing when they moved him to the bench in Golden State. He was like, all right, if it works, it works. But if it doesn't work, best believe I'm going to be up your head on it.

So what's in the equation besides ego and self-confidence and all that stuff? Because is the incentive clause part of it or is everybody making so much money that they don't worry about whether they reach 85 perception?

Stan Van Gundy started a telecast the other day talking about the NBA Cup saying, hey, everybody here who's playing, if they win the championship, they get $600,000. That's enough money to get anybody's attention.

Yeah, it would get my attention if you want to put that out there. I think, look, as players, there's also just levels. Like the money matters, OK? This is a job. And if you're playing football, it's a violent job, which we talk about on this show frequently. So you better get as much as possible. But then there are levels of players. They're really, really, really, really good ones. They don't want to just play and make money. There are competitors and like they're not wired all the right way. And I don't think it's a bad thing. You want them on your team because they want to be included with the very best in the sport. When you hear Jamar Chase, as great as he's played, he gets pissed off when you say JSN is the best receiver in the league.

Dan Le Batard.

Can't wait for 39.

Yeah, I can't either. 40 comes first.

Do you know what 40 is yet?

Not yet.

See, what are we doing here?

Greg, did you just laugh? Did you just laugh out loud at something Lewis said in your ear?

Greg Curty.

Yes. I couldn't help it. It was funny. Thanks, Lewis. Gagging the goose.

Of course.

Choking the frog. I mean, there's a million of them.

Of course.

Half of them would sound dirty if we keep doing it.

This is the Dan Le Batard Show.

What happened to the over-celebrating diva wide receiver? AJ Brown got a lot of this last year, but it used to be that there were a bunch of guys out there. Have they sort of sanitized the position where the worst you're going to get is Neighbors kind of not really getting ripped by Olsen because maybe he wants to be targeted more? Like that's, is that where we are now with the diva wide receiver sort of being scrubbed out as a personality type?

Man, I never even thought about that.

There's not any celebrations anymore from the receivers, right? Like we were just talking about when I think of, for example, let's say Ed McCaffrey, who used to wear aerodynamic pads that were thinner than all the others because he wanted to be this much faster. And then Justin Jefferson's running out there with chains on his neck. Like that's the most diva that you're getting these days is Justin Jefferson wants to wear jewelry or AJ Brown wants the ball more. It's not Terrell Owens. It's not they're showing Randy Moss yesterday on the sidelines again and again.

I think it democratized. I think that's the problem. I think the whole look at me that is the celebration doesn't have enough sting to it anymore because we get so much football and you get to celebrate in college. They're doing dances in college now. Back in the day, they would have suspended him for four games for anything other than handing the ball to the ref.

I'm wondering if they scrubbed it out with the penalizing of the celebration.

I feel like there's more celebration in total of football though. And before, it was only the receivers who were catching touchdowns who could celebrate. Now, the five-year-olds are going viral for it.

Is it the same at the cornerback position though? Because I can't think of a Deion Sanders or a Darrell Revis. Like who's the cornerback who's over.

Travis Hunter is the one that has the most personality, but he comes in, you know, the resume is from college more than it is. The pros will scrub some of this stuff out of you. You're entering military school.

Unless you're like a defensive line, right? Like then those guys are just celebrating.

Well, this is what Hawk was saying is I was actually surprised by this during a break. Hawk said to us, do you guys know who wears the most jewelry outside of the wide receivers and the guys who hang out with the wide receivers? And he's like, it's always the defensive linemen.

Defensive line is like they act like wide receivers. They don't hang with the O line. I mean, you would think the big guys. No, they're more with the wideouts.

I would have guessed DBs.

DBs, yeah. Well, I said receivers and DBs and then it would be defensive linemen.

I mean, the sack is the sexiest play in football other than the touchdown, right?

I mean, are you laughing at him saying the word sexy? Is that what you're doing? It's just simply Cody talking about something being sexy?

The sack being sexy.

The enunciation.

Sexy is the sexiest part.

Am I wrong about that?

Sexy.

Sexy.

Yeah.

I think the diva wide receivers, they're still out there. It's just that the stoic wide receiver has made more noise in recent history. So the kids, they look at TV and they see, oh, damn, this is how JSN, OK, he trained with Malachy Toney and they do it like this. Versus if they saw Odell Beckham still doing Michael Jackson dance moves, it'll still be hitting. It's just that the era has changed in that regard to me.

When you look at the Packers and the Bears, OK, because what just happened last night and this happens fast. The Vikings were undefeated two weeks ago. They were the last undefeated team. Now they're going to be at the bottom of the division in regard. Like you're just simply looking at them and you're like, yeah, would prefer the other three teams in the playoffs because nobody actually wants to have the team that has a defense and no quarterback.

Number 10 in the ZFP.

When you look at the Packers and the Bears, the Packers have something that no one else in the sport has. No one else is playing the way that they're playing of just will break it open by throwing it 40 yards every time.

The Bengals. The Bengals are playing that way. I think they're in that vein of offense. I think there's a couple of them that if you have two dogs on the outside, I would say the Cowboys, that their defense wasn't so bad. We've seen them over the last two years do that, but where they're like, to hell with the run. We're going to go pass first. If you can stop our two number one receivers, then you win. And they can't.

So we were talking yesterday about the fact that as this trade deadline approaches at 4:00 p.m., you've got the Rams, the Seahawks, the Rams, the Seahawks, and the 49ers in the same division are all looking for a wide receiver. Seattle would prefer a number two wide receiver. Obviously, they don't have one of those. You would think that a number two in Seattle would eat because of all the attention on the number one in Seattle. So they should be looking for a receiver. Brandon Ayouk has just walked into the 49ers facility. And it's not just them.

Yeah.

The 49ers players, if you were one of them, would you welcome him back?

No. Not because I wouldn't welcome them back. It would point to me that the front office isn't serious about winning because it's like I only care about, you know, what is said on a stat sheet versus what it does to the locker room. Not only would I think the 49ers wouldn't do it. I don't think the players, they've been already vocal about how they feel about the whole saga and what's gone on with the things we know about and don't know about, that there's no way he could walk into there and they expect that he's going to be a part of that team. And not only that, I think any of the contenders are taking an incredible risk, not worth it, if they put him in their locker room, not because I think he's a bad guy.

And you just cannot reward that type of behavior. Like that sends a message to the rest of the players. Like you can do this, this, this, and we still going to make sure you get your money and get some playing time. I don't think that's how they should go about it.

See, and you're the expert on this, but when I look at Ayouk, I see a guy who's still young, who averages like 15 yards a catch in the NFL. And you're seeing a guy who's like poison to the rest of the league as well?

I have no idea of like the details of what the riff is, how it went sour and all the things, but it's bizarre. And again, typically when you hear the players talk about it, they will give you a sentiment of what the locker room feel is. And nobody's come to bat for Brandon Ayouk. Nobody has been like, man, he's, you know, you know it's a misconception of him being this or being a bad teammate. Nobody's done that. And that's typically as loud as it's going to get.

And remember during the off season, he was saying, I'm signing with the Commanders, wearing Commanders hats, while talking down on Jalen Daniels and his mom. So it's like it's all pretty goofy. And if you welcome that into your organization at this time of year, that could be the thing that derails your whole season.

Yep.

Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe has tweeted, the music at Celtic shootaround, why can't we be friends? And quote, that is not an accident.

I thought you were going to give us some trade deadline news.

Me too. I thought for sure.

That's a good song.

Celtics so lame, bro. I'm so happy to be up out of there's ass. Thank God, man. Celtics lame as hell.

Why can't we be friends? Meant to troll Jalen?

Jalen Brown, yeah.

That's a great song.

Jason Tatum is, I'm not upset. And Jalen Brown is like, it's lamb chops and gravy, but it ain't no beef or whatever.

You guys didn't hear Greg Cody mutter under his breath. Great song.

It's a great song.

It's a great song.

It's a good song.

Yeah, it is a good song.

So let's talk about this practically though. When you say sour a locker room, it sounds nice. What does it mean? Like what does it mean in real terms?

Honestly, exactly what Juju just talked about, right? It's rewarding bad behavior. Not like, hey, you better be. No, there are guys that are putting a lot of stock in doing things the right way, doing what's asked of them, being considered of their teammates, while also on this quest for a championship. And this is a team who has been very successful, hasn't quite hoisted a Lombardis in the Kyle Shanahan era. And it's like every little thing has to go right. And you're bringing in something that is a clear distraction. Not only has it been a distraction, you have no signs to point to that this is a solution to what we're trying to do in a world where everything needs to go right.

We got three minutes left. What gives you guys enthusiasm about a transaction here before 4:00 p.m.? Jacksonville has revealed to you that they're not fooling around. The Chicago Bears have revealed to you that they're not fooling around. And now the Vikings need to keep up with the Chicago Bears. So everyone's assuming a quarterback play from the Vikings is in the next four hours, which is crazy and means it can only be Kirk Cousins or Daniel Jones, correct? Like that's what you're looking at if you're looking at a stopgap measure in Minnesota because they've fallen from the top of the division to the bottom of the division overnight.

Yeah, I mean, Indy has an overt fire sale going on. And Kirk Cousins, I would think, is really, really available only because Mendoza's ready to take off.

Really, really available.

Yes.

Really, really available.

Really available. In other words, yes, we're waiting for a phone call on Kirk Cousins.

What gets you guys excited? Because what Jacksonville's doing will be exciting for Jacksonville, but it's not going to move the meter with anybody else because it's star players, it's skilled players. You got five hours, four hours left of transaction. People love the transaction. They love the transaction in this sport. What do people need over the next four hours that's going to get anyone here excited about football made a move or is it over? Is Jeffrey Simmons the biggest that it's going to be?

I think to what you said last week about the Buffalo Bills needs to happen. I know I'm a homer, but at the same time, you said Josh Allen is in his prime right now. And the Buffalo Bills are not acting like it. If the Buffalo Bills would make one move, and I'm not talking about Elijah Moore of the world. Salute to Elijah. Salute, bro. But we don't need that. I saw Justin Jefferson last night being a great teammate in the mud. Do what you can to get that brother to Buffalo. Do what you can to get Garrett Wilson to Buffalo.

Justin Herbert getting traded would excite me.

To the Vikings?

Sure. Not happening.

Yeah, there'd be a fool to trade him.

Yeah, I don't. I just don't. I think they've put too much money in them and they wouldn't want to eat that failure. I like 10 Day Tony to the Kelsey podcast.

Ooh.

They get a man on the street. He has kind of the Kelsey, the Travis Kelsey look. Those guys are always remote and doing things.

Like a fourth?

Kelsey can get in the streets with the people. You probably got to talk to Wave and maybe you get a Kaz.

We'll take his guest booker.

From Carmelo's podcast. You bringing Kaz here? He's a, you know, basketball guy.

Does he bring Henny Pelusa with him?

You have to bring Henny Pelusa. You're not giving up 10 Day Tony without Henny Pelusa.

Chris Cody is applauding himself back there because he whispered in my ear, Tony for a guest booker is perfect.