Hey, pardon my take, listeners. You can find every episode on Apple podcast, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Listen up. We've got some tea, and you all are going to be obsessed. We spoke with the Abercrombie team, and they told us that they were going to launch a wedding shop. Well, we lost it because as you know, we are both getting ready to get Abercrombie and hitched. The whole vibe of these days is clothes you wear for a perfect long weekend. And all their customers were like, Hey, we spend long weekends traveling for weddings these days. And then Abercrombie was like, We love that. Let us just give you everything you could ever possibly want and love to wear for all things wedding. So they did. It has everything. Tons of dresses, jumpsuits, pants, swimsuits, pajamas, pantsuits, and all perfectly curated for different events, bachelorettes, brunches, showers, ceremonies as a guest, and ceremonies as a bride, reception, and even honeymoon. It is incredible. Check out the Abercrombie Wedding Shop on abercrombie. Com. Go shop it now. On today's part of my take, we have a twofer for the people. We're talking college hoops with our good friend, Jon Fanta.

Jonny Fanta, Conference Championship Week. We also have Pete Prisco on to talk a little NFL free agency.

Two Italians today. Two Italians. Double dipping, the gabagool.

A lot of Italians on today's show. We're going to talk some NFL free agency. We got Hot Sea Cool Throne. We got Guys on Chicks. There's a lot going on in the sports world, and it's all brought to you by our friends at DraftKings. The thrill and excitement of March Mania is here in DraftKings Sportsbook, one of America's top rated sportsbook apps, is giving new customers a shot to turn five bucks into $150 instantly in bonus bets with any college basketball bet. That's right. To celebrate college basketball's most frenzied time of year, DraftKings is giving customers a shot to rack up some bonus bets, and DraftKings is now live in North Carolina, so join the fun, North Carolina. We got all the conference tournament starting. We got day basketball every single day. Like I said, you can turn five bucks into $150 instantly in bonus bets with any college basketball bet. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code take. New customers can bet five bucks to get $150 instantly in bonus bets only at DraftKings Sportsbook with code Taked. The Crown is yours. Go download the DraftKings Sportsbook now and get involved in all the action this March.

Gambling problem? Call 1-800 Gambler. Or in West Virginia, visit 1-800-Gambler.

Net.

In New York, call 877-8open-wired. Text Hope & Y 467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling.

Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.

Org.

Please play responsibly.

On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort in Kansas, 21 and over.

Age varies by jurisdiction.

Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng. Co/beball for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms, and responsible gaming resources. Okay, let's go. Now in the street there is violence and a lot of work to be done. No place to hang a low washing. And then I can't name all on the sun. Oh, no. We're going to wrap down to electric avenue. And then we take it higher.

It's part of my take, presented by Marshall Sports.

Welcome to part of my take, presented by DraftKings Sportsbook. Go download the DraftKings Sportsbook Look right now. Use code take. You can turn five bucks into $150 instantly in bonus bets. Today is Wednesday, March 13th. Standing on a corner, Jameis Winston down in Barea.

I got a standing on a corner, Jameis Winston, Cuyahoga. Oh, I like that.

I like that. What is that? Jameis Winston is on the Brown.

It's the river. The river that caught on fire in Cleveland that one time.

Barea is where the practice facility is, the facility is.

Yeah, I like Cuyahoga. Maybe standing on the shore of Jameis Winston, Cuyahoga. Standing on the shore of Jameis Winston, Cuyahoga.

Jameis Winston is a Brown. We got NFL free agency. We're going to get into a lot more detail with Pete Prisco.

But I think Jameis signing with the Browns, that puts a nail on the Joe Flacko discussion, right? It's like Joe. I think they brought in Jameis because they could have resigned Joe Flacko. I think Flacko was too popular. I think that they were like- Jameis is going to be the most popular. That's what they don't understand is that Jameis is... Maybe some of Jameis leadership qualities will rub off. That's probably a bad choice of terms. Maybe some of Jameis Winston's leadership qualities will motivate Deshaun Watson to be a better human being, not rub off.

I'm happy for Jameis Winston, though. I'm very happy. He wanted a place, and guess what? Dejon Watson might not play the whole season, so we might get some Jameis for the Browns. That's chaotic good.

It is. It's good. I like it. It sounds like he got a good deal, too, like 8 million for a year. Now all he has to do is wait.

He should It should have been Kirk Cousins, who has now made over $400 million in his NFL career.

Well, maybe. So he's made, what is it, 230 something million, and he's got 100 million in guaranteed money. He's probably going to eclipse 400 million over the course of his career. It's crazy. 90 million guaranteed at signing, and the other 10 million is guaranteed a year early. So I want Kirk Cousins agent.

Yeah. Incredible. I mean, whatever you want to say about Kirk Cousins as a quarterback, he has played every single thing right when it comes to free agency and the teams he picked. Because I was thinking about it. He probably could have stayed with the Vikings. They wouldn't have given him as much money, and they also would have... They've had the Kirk Cousins experience. They know they probably would have always had an eye towards who's going to be the next guy. Now he gets to start fresh in Atlanta, and it feels like he's going to be the guy for... Atlanta is basically saying, Maybe he'll take us over the top.

Yeah, I think he's going to be a good quarterback for him. I think he's a good fit for both sides. He's getting 62.5 million in cash this year. He's getting 90 million in the first two years, and he has another no-trade clause. Yeah. So the goat. He is the goat at getting paid. One play-off win. Much respect. One playoff win. Playoff win. He only has one?

I thought he had two.

Oh, no. Because that wasn't the Minneapolis miracle was what's- Keith Keenum. Yeah.

We also had... One of my favorite parts of free agency is when guys go to teams that just make sense. Derrick Henry to the Ravens just makes sense. And I'll say it, even though they're rivals, Patrick Queen is going to be perfect as a stealer.

Yeah, it's going to be good. They lost a queen, but they got a king. The NFL. There we go. That's the new tagline. Adam Schefter tweeted out the breaking news about about Derek Henry and Patrick Queen and just said, The NFL.

I feel like the Ravens have lost every player. Have they? Or they lost Gus. They lost Gus. They lost Patrick Queen. I think they lost a safety. Yeah, they lost a safety to the Bengals, which was a great pickup by the Bengals. I feel like they're getting gutded, and the dolphins are getting gutded. There's some teams getting gutded right now. We should talk about our new running backs.

We got great. We're zigging while everyone else zags Big Cat.

The two of us and Max, we all got new running backs. Deandre Swift, you got Austin Echler, Max, you got Saquon Barkley. How are we feeling about it? By the way, Tiki Barber, you're a loser, dude. Dead to me. You are a loser.

Tiki Barber is dead to us?

I don't know where... Okay.

No, we should get him on.

Let me say this as nice as possible.

Tiki Barber, you're dead to us until you come on part of my take. Well, I have a quote from Tiki Barber after you retired with the Giants.

So Tiki Barber took offense to the fact that Saquon Barkley went to the Eagles and said, You're dead to me. You can't do that. You can't go from the Giants to Eagles. Tiki Barber, after abrupty retiring, I should be able to choose when I want to leave and if I want to stay. Some people, particularly radio personalities who will remain nameless, criticize me for having a vision or a dream. That's interesting. Also, Tiki Barber, I'm not going to do the low-blow stuff, but let's just... When we talk about loyalty, you're not the guy. No. You're not the guy.

No. We can go down that road, Tiki.

But you're not the guy to talk about loyalty. That was a crazy reaction by him.

It was nuts. I get the hatred of your division rivals, but at the same time, it's like you played running back. You know that running backs aren't getting paid. How are you going to shame a guy for getting paid more money to go play? The Giants could have given more money last year.

Saquon literally said it. He's like, I wanted more. Someone gave me the money I was looking for.

It's going to be so sick to see Philly's fans, or excuse me, Eagles's fans in the stands next year wearing like, Barkley Sixers jerseys. Roon for Saquon.

And also it works because Penn State. You got a lot of Penn State fans, diehard Saquon fans, Eagles fans. So, Max, how are you feeling? We did break the mold, though, just paying runningbacks. So did the packers, Josh Jacobs, so did the Vikings, Aaron Jones. This feels like an overreaction. It feels like everyone's like, Oh, yeah, maybe that Zoom call, we should listen to.

No, it's the new market inefficiency, Big Cat. Our teams are smart. We saw every other team in the NFL wasn't willing to pay runningbacks, and we said, You know what? Now's the time. If ever, now's the time to get runningback. Now's the time.

I also saw there's something about the cap. There's a reason for that that Cap went up. Cap went up. So this is actually the amount that runningbacks are getting paid are actually in line with the cap percentage. No. That's something that I won't figure out for at least three more years.

Someone will point out that actually all these deals were very smart. I'm like, Oh, okay. And then by that time, the cap will have stayed flat and runningbacks will be having to get paid less again.

What about inflation, too? Does that help? Is Joe Biden good for runningbacks? Probably. We can make that argument. We can go down that line. Yeah. Probably. Max, I saw that you also got a fantastic new piece of memorabilia. You have the Jason Kelsi soup can.

Yeah. No, it rocks.

How much did you pay for that can of soup?

That's what was gifted to me.

Okay. Are you going to drink it?

Drink it? Yeah.

Like, shotgun it. Jason, Kelsey would shotgun that soup.

I don't think you can shotgun. I would drink it. You can shotgun anything.

Yeah, you can shotgun a can of soup.

How big does that hole have to be? A pretty big hole.

Big hole. Yeah.

I'd shotgun that soup. It's a great looking can. Great looking can.

You're never going to eat that soup.

See, that's the thing.

You got to eat it when it goes into Canton.

Yes. Actually, that's a great idea because I want to have it on my desk because it's great to look at.

Don't eat that.

Don't eat that. No, you should shotgun it. He would want you to shotgun it.

It is like a collectible. It's awesome. Yeah, shout out Campbell. Send me that soup. It's awesome.

Max just likes to sit there and look at a can of soup.

This reminds me of my favorite football player.

All right, so who else? So Saquon, you're pumped?

Yeah. I mean, I've watched Saquon since he was in college. He was so electric at Penn State. That hurdle against Iowa will always be one of the coolest plays I've ever seen. Agreed. It sucked having him on the Giants the past X amount of years because he was such a fan favorite at Penn State. Then when you get him, I've always been a, I don't want to pay a running back, don't want to pay a running back guy. But then when you the running back and the running back Saquon Barkley, you just got to watch so many fun highlights. That's really the best part of Saquon is yesterday, I spent so much time just watching Saquon highlights.

He's got great highlights, too.

Yeah, he's awesome. He's the best. I'm so excited.

I like the Swift signing, too, because Swift was awesome last year for you guys. Max, you know that. I think that this is good. If you got to pay a running back, I think he's one guy that you should pay. Saquon and Swift, I think are two great signings. Also, Austin Echler seems like a cool guy.

That's what I'll say. It's It's also like, yes, Saquon is getting older, but he's played behind the worst offensive line every year of his career. He's going to the Eagles that there's some stat that Saquon had the highest percentage of plays hit behind the line of scrimage at DeAndre DeAndre Swift had the least amount of plays hit behind the line of scrimmage. So it's like we could see a Saquan that we haven't seen before.

Do you think Saquan is going to be good for the push-push? I think he might be.

He might be, yeah.

Get him behind Jalen and have that ass start working.

I saw a picture of a side-by-side of both Jalen and Saquon's quads.

Great, great, great set of legs on those two fellows.

Quads for days.

Yeah, it's free agency frenzy. We have the chef doing the fake deals. Rapport 2, where it's just the agent, you give a little handshake deal. Hey, yeah, I'll report that this is a three-year deal for $40 million. Oh, it's actually a one-year deal for $10 million guaranteed?

There's also a weird rumor going on out there. Jamal Chase has fed into it a little bit. He said, I can't wait to tell the story. It's going to be crazy one day. People are speculating. Let the speculation begin. We all know that wide receiver's amongst all positions, have the weirdest tweets, the most cryptic tweets possible. Which I love. A lot of people are thinking, Kirk Cousins leaves Minnesota. Justin Jefferson is not going to be too happy about that.

Maybe get a little LSU. Tee Higgins is looking for a trade as well.

Maybe get a little LSU reunion.

Could you imagine Justin Jefferson and Jamal Chase with Joe Burrow? I I can't. I can't even imagine.

I can't. I don't know. I can't even.

Can't even imagine it. Yeah, we have all these deals going left and right. My approach for free agency is just if the bear signs someone, I'm like, Yes, they're back, and then anyone else signs them, it's an overpay. Yeah. That's really how I just judge every single deal.

I'm the same way. My friend J. P. Finlay in DC tweeted this out today when the commanders have added five defensive players that are all nice, maybe average, slightly above average.

$10 million, $12 million deal.

J. P. Is like, I love this. Keep hitting singles. It's right. Yeah, you're right, J. Keep hitting singles. Yeah.

Anyone who's signing for less than three years and less than $15 million, it's literally like great signing.

Great veteran depth is important in this league.

Yeah. It's fun to just what?

Patriots might have solved their QB problem.

Oh, yeah. Jacobi Rouset.

Yeah, he's a great player.

That is a good backup. That's a very good backup. I don't know. Bear's Twitter is freaking out right now because Justin Fields, let's just say that- And the Dome. Might have overrated the fact. Might have overrated Justin Fields a little bit, and his contract teams don't want to trade for him. But now there's this idea that they're going to keep Justin Fields and draft Caleb Williams. I am very much opposed to that. But that feels like a potential situation to get the most value out of Justin Fields.

I brought that up a few months ago.

I said I didn't like it.

You're going to have to. You're going to have to. I'm being consistent. Big Cat's been consistent. But Big Cat, what was my point when I did bring it up? Was that there will be an injury? Yeah, no, of course. And then his value is going to go up. It still makes no sense. By the way, did you see the player in Arkansas State who's named Caleb Fields? No. Yeah. And then there's another guy that's on, I think he's on Fairfield, also named Caleb Fields. Oh, wow. You can't escape this debate.

Got a lot of them going around.

This debate just lives.

The city of Chicago can't handle having those two guys on the same roster. It would not be good, let alone the locker room. But yeah, obviously, if Ryan Paul is like, I want to get the most value out of Justin Fields, you keep him. It's a really bad idea. I'm consistent. I remember when you said that to me, I was like, That's a bad idea because literally everyone in that locker room has said that Justin Fields is the guy. If you bring in Caleb Williams, you're basically saying, I hope Caleb Williams is so much better than Justin Fields that everyone will watch him play football and say, Oh, yeah, forget about Justin Fields. We'll put him on the bench.

Maybe two quarterback system. Didn't they do that with Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams? Everyone was like, Play It was more Caleb came in and was way better.

Oh, yeah, this guy's really good.

Yeah, the fans were like, Play Caleb.

This is just too much hand wringing, too many signings, too many trades happening, and none of them are Justin Fields.

Yeah, Hank brings up a good point, though. The Dome in Chicago. Kurt Warner is smiling. His head is spinning. He's so excited about this. Bear weather is dead. I don't like it. I don't like it all. You come to Chicago, and I want to see a bunch of linemen on the bears wearing cut off sleeves. We're tougher than the cold.

I wanted a retractable dome and open it whenever it's bad weather. That's what they should do. If I had a team, that's what I would do. I would have a retractable dome. I'd keep it closed if it was 50 degrees or rainy, but anytime it'd dip below 30, I'd be like, Open that bitch up. Let's play some bear weather.

It also just gives so much material to packers fans.

Well, they're never going to build this stadium.

Lions, Vikings, bears, dome.

Yeah, it's true.

It's tough. Packers got a leg up. They're never going to build a stadium, so it doesn't even matter.

With the winners in Chicago, it's almost like- It's also traffic. It doesn't... Yeah, it's going to be the worst. It's like bear weather might not be as impactful 10 years from now. The weather in Chicago, I think I saw you tweet about it.

The winner has been- Yeah, I had it for my cool throne.

The winner has been awesome here.

The bear weather is literally a polar bear sitting on a little ice cap with a Coca-Cola in his hand looking cute as fuck, about to eat a seal.

Yeah.

Like, Don't eat that seal. I always feel bad for the seals.

No, it said they're moving forward, though. What else do they have to do?

Who fucking knows? They keep saying that about everything. It's going to take forever, and they're probably going to change it seven more times, and it's going to cost us all a shitload of money, and it's going to be stupid, and it's going to be a joke. I But KO Williams will fix all these problems.

I think billionaires should pay for their own fucking stadium. Agreed.

That's a spicy take.

I know. Bleep that out, please. You should get a show.

Is your owner even a billionaire?

What? What did you say?

Are you guys even a billionaires? I Aren't you guys broke boys?

No. The bears are worth multiple billions of dollars. So if they are technically billionaires by assets.

But not billionaires.

No, they don't got cash in the bank. No. Okay. No. Virginia McCasky goes to the- Like she couldn't pay for her own fucking stadium.

She's got like, yeah, she's got like, 6,000 bucks in there.

Could your owner? Yeah. Did he? He spent all that money on the Lighthouse.

That's how he got the team in the first place.

Did he pay for his own stadium?

In a way.

I don't know. I'm actually asking, did he? I don't know. I don't know the answer to that.

I'm sure I don't think any billionaire has ever paid for their own property. No, they never do. But he did buy the property, which- That's right.

The way that he got the money was he bought the parking lot next to the stadium, right?

No, he bought the deed to the property. The parking lot. So that if a team was going to buy the team, they're going to have to pay him to operate the whatever stadium.

He's a parking lot billionaire.

So the NFL is like, We'd rather just sell it to you rather than give money to you.

The key to any new stadium is just two words, hotel tax. That's what you just always got to say. We're going to tax the hotels. Because no one here is like, Oh, fuck, what the hell? Yeah, right. They come in. Tax the hotels. Each hotel gets taxed. Playing monopoly now. Who the fuck knows? It's a joke. All right, what other free agencies talk? Dolphins Got Gutded?

Yeah. Are the Dolphins okay? I don't think so. I don't think they're okay. I think they're in crisis mode. Like, Brittany Spears shaving her head.

Tirek also was in another... Tirek Hill, his headlines, they're like Mad Libs now, where it's every month, it's like, Tirek Hill was at a concert and pushed a woman. Tyrie Kill was waiting in line at McDonald's and got in a fight with a seven-year-old boy. It's just, I don't know why.

Tyrie Kill is 73 kids in the last year.

Every headline, I'm just like, Okay, maybe this happened.

He's become the funniest headline guy by far. You remember that graphic of all of his ex-girlfriends and baby mamas? Yeah. They all looked exactly the same.

What was it? I got to find the most recent one.

Tyrie Kill broke the woman's leg. Onlyfans models leg in backyard football practice.

After getting beat. Yeah. In response to getting smoked.

Tyreek Hill gets cooked on a go route, breaks plus size OnlyFans model's leg in revenge drill. Yeah.

Tyreek Hill gets crossed up on a basketball court, kicks a dog in the face, being sued.

Tyreek Hill assassinates Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Okay, here it is. Here's the most recent one. Tyreek Hill in heated clash at Atlanta Comedy Gig escalates after his exit. So it sounds like it was, Tyree kill was involved in a heated confrontation at Kevin Hart's Comedy Gig, which escalated in a full-blown brawl after he left. Okay, so source is close to Dolphins Star Writers. She tells us that after Settling into a seat at the Coca-Cola Roxy Friday, a woman grabbed him claiming he had taken the seat she had paid for. How does this happen? It keeps happening to him.

So, yeah.

Unlucky guy. Unlucky guy. Any other free agency stuff? I just Yeah, it really is. Just watch the deals, and if your rival gets a deal, you're like, That was an overpay. I would never pay for a fucking center.

We've had some time to digest the Russell Wilson signing. I don't hate it. I still don't hate it. I think he's cheap.

I'm still in like, It doesn't change anything.

I think he's cheap. I think it's a good division.

And speaking of Schefter saying when he did note that Russell Wilson signed a team-friendly deal. Yeah, I like that. He had no other option. Team-friendly deal.

He's getting paid a shitload. What are the What's the Bronco's doing, by the way? Do the Broncos have a plan at quarterback?

No, I think they're going to gut it, too.

Yeah, they have got it.

What were you going to say, Max?

I was just going to say we didn't bring up Brian Burns.

Oh, Brian Burns, yes. We bring it up with Prisco, but Brian Burns, the Panthers' new regime, is just as bad as the old one. They traded Brian Burns for a second-round pick to the Giants a year and a half after the old regime was offered two first-rounders for him.

Yep. So smart. Awesome. Smart work.

Great job.

The Viking signed Sam Arnold.

How stupid is that? But just one last thing. The old regime, if you get two first-round picks for anyone, you should take it because then it just extends your job. You're like, I have the pick.

Because then you're going to see how those guys develop. There's only a handful of people in the NFL that are worth two first-round pics. Yeah.

How many first-runs pics would Patrick Mahomes be worth? All of them? Seven? Would it be seven?

Maybe. The problem with Patrick Mahomes is that he's so good at playing football that on an open market, I don't think any football team could afford to pay him to play football. Yeah.

Seven.

Seven first-round pics, and then probably give him another 600 million. Yeah, on top of that. That's probably fair, Patrick Mahomes.

On top of that. Yeah, you're saying- Sam Darnold. To the Vikings.

Vikings. Is he going to be the starter?

I think he might. Although, no, the Vikings, it feels like they're going to draft a quarterback.

The Mono-Napolis Vikings? Yeah.

That goes right off the tongue. No, they're We're going to draft a quarterback. I feel like the Raiders signing Garner Minchu, Viking signing Sam Darnold, I think that's the plan is we needed someone, if the draft doesn't go our way, to be sitting here and be like, That guy has played quarterback before.

Jimmy G could be that guy, too.

That's always a smart strategy, just to get someone in the room being like, You know, he has played. Jacobi Percet to the Patriots.

He's played pretty well. Jacobi Peret might be the best backup quarterback.

Yeah, the Vikings have the 11th pick and the Raiders have the 13th pick. That feels like that could easily be Michael Pennix, Bo Nicks, JJ McCarthy.

Yeah, right in that zone.

All right, what else? We got college basketball going crazy. Congratulations to the James Madison Duke for punching their ticket.

We're dancing Baby.

Beat the fuck out of Arkansas State.

Crushed Arkansas State. Who could root for that? It wasn't even close. Some people were saying that they were going to spank that ass before the game. No, the Red Wolves didn't stand a chance. Jmu is a really good team. Yeah, they are. That's the takeaway. If you watch them play at all this year, they had a couple of stumbles, but they have the best record in college basketball, most wins. They tried to schedule more quad one, quad two games. Fanta gets into that a little bit with us. No team wants to play them, but they won 31 games this year. Pretty good team. I'm very excited to watch my team play in March Madness because it's a treat that a lot of people get to experience year in, year out. Like Vilanova, they play in the tournament every single year without fail, and it's great for those people. You can mark it on your calendar. Vilanova is going to in the NCAA tournament. For me, it's like, I've gotten to experience this one other time in my life. March has an entirely different smell to it this year, where you get to look forward to living and dying with your team.

I'm very, very excited about that. But yeah, conference tournament week is... We're in the thick of it right now. We're balls deep in conference tournament.

I'm just watching some of the shittiest basketball get played. I was watching Taußen, I think, last night. Was it Taußen? No, no, Taußen. I was watching Taußen.

Taußen played Charleston.

Yeah, I was watching Taußen. Taußen went to the line with one and one with 20 seconds left down, too, and the kid airballed it. I was just like, Yeah, this is fucking March, dude.

It is good.

This is some good-ass basketball I'm watching.

I can't wait. I have a pre-fire fest I told you guys about, but I want to say it out loud because I'm trying to manifest against this happening. I have to be at a wedding that I committed to eight months ago. Unfortunately, it's the Friday of March Madness, which is bad timing in general to have a wedding. I'm convinced that it's going to be J. M. U. Playing during that time zone. That time slot, if it's on Friday afternoon, I'm going to be watching on the smallest screen possible being antisocial at a wedding. I'm not looking forward to that. I want to be locked in on this game. If I'm locked in, we're going to win two games. I'm rooting for you. If I have to watch it on my iPhone, we're going to lose that game. That's how it's going to go.

My pre-fire fest is, I think, and this is a little egotistical, but I do think that we've seen it maybe with the NFL scheduling when they throw what we played on Thursday night, and then I think, what, two years ago, the bears played the Patriots on Monday night. A little egotistical, but I do think they could potentially have Wisconsin play JMU in the first round, and Wisconsin would lose that game. That would be a fun stream. Without a doubt. Without a doubt.

That would be a fun stream. Is there somebody Unless you're there.

Unless you're on Friday.

Is there somebody in that room that's an AWL?

I don't want it. Wisconsin is going to lose whoever they play in the first round, so I'd rather not. Because JMU is- Although maybe that'd be a great friend move. Be like, Here, here's a buy.

Here's a win. Jmu slotted to be like an 11 or 12. Wisconsin would probably be a six.

Six, but when they lose in the first round of the Big Ten tournament, they'll be a seven. So that might end it right there. Actually, I think they will be a seven because they've just played so bad. It's really a bummer. It's really a bummer. And Max is reversing it on me. He's doing what I do to him, and I don't like it.

Did he bet on Wisconsin?

No. I was like, We're going to lose. It doesn't matter. We stink. We're playing bad basketball. Max is like, No, you'll still believe. I'm like, Shut up, Max. I won't. We have to be overdue for me to believe.

Max, you got to put a substantial bet on Wisconsin.

That would be literally burning money.

I didn't say believe. I said you were like, I just want to get it over with right away, have them lose.

11:00 AM on Thursday.

But I said it would be better to be Friday because then you get Thursday as the whole day of just watching basketball because no matter what, he's going to be a little upset when Wisconsin loses.

I'll tell you this, I won't be upset if they lose in the first round of the Big Ten tournament, which, by the way, you should watch us. We're going to be streaming from Chilly's. The schedule gods graced us with that. So we have, I think it's 1:30 Eastern. No, 1:30 Central time, I believe, is when Wisconsin will tip against the winner of Maryland Rutgers, we'll be live streaming it. If they lose that game, there will be no hope, and I will have no... That will be full get it over with, because then it's like they're as bad as I think they are right now. And We might have to put Pug on that stream. Seton Hall might be playing. Yeah. Is Pug ready for the world?

Is Pug ready for prime time?

No. Hank's saying no.

I was watching the game with... Pug is just a... He's a nice Pug, but I was watching the- He's the best Pug.Fillanova creating with them, and I was trying to fire him up and trying to get him fired up on max. He's just too nice.

I feel like Pug is like his best- He's like the anti-Max.

He's a normal fan, not over the top.

I like the idea also that it's like, choose your own adventure behind the scenes with Pug. If you're a listener of this show, you get to imagine Pug and what he would be like watching sports. I don't want to take that away from people.

Oh, could we maybe get a microphone set up? He could hold a microphone behind the cameras. He could just be like, Let's go. Good shot, Pug.

That I like a lot. I like that a lot.

All right, we'll get that set up.

He's like the Wizard of Oz. But yeah, the man behind the curtain.

Go Pirates, Pug.

Damn it, Pug.

Pug. Yeah, just over and over, Pug.

Does anybody know where the tradition of cutting down the nets started?

Probably by Jim Nance.

Yeah.

He started every March tradition.

I know it used to be sponsored by Warned, the official ladder of the NCAA, but 1947. Nc State won the Southern Conference Championship, and Wolfpack coach Everett Kase had his players hoist him up so he could cut down the net to keep as a souvenir.

Do you remember the first time that you were like, That's so cool that they have cut down the nets as a kid?

Yeah.

When was it?

It was actually Duke, when Duke won the Natty in 1991, I think.

Okay.

Yeah. I remember seeing them. I'm like, That's awesome. I want to cut down a net. Fun story. I I went a basketball game when I was six years old, where there were probably no rules, and actually, probably nobody actually won that game. Then I asked my coach if we could cut down the net. He said, No, they need it for the next game.

I cut down the net, 2019, America East Championship when Vermont won.

Oh, they let you cut down the Net? Yeah. I'll send you as a picture. I remember it was when Syracuse made the final four in '95, '96 season, and John Wallace got off the bus with the net in his head, like dangling out of his hat. That's cool. And I was like, That's fucking cool. That's awesome. Yeah, that rocks.

Jake, isn't that a bit unprofessional, though? As a journalist, you should not be cutting down the net.

You're a traveling member of the team. I think it's valid. Think about it. They get rings.

I don't know.

Where is that net?

It's in my house in Florida somewhere.

You No. I don't know? I don't know exactly. Holy shit. Come on, Jake.

But no, think about it. The voices of the teams, they get rings. I don't know.

You're a journalist.

No, that's a different-No, they're the hometown voice. They get to be... It's like Hawk Harrelson.

It's not like Jim Nantes is cutting down the net for CB Yes. I bet you he's tried.

He's definitely.

Wait, is this... No, last year was his last final.

Yeah, no Jim Nantes. This is it.

So who do we have?

Iron Eagle next up.

We got Iron Eagle. Okay.

All right.

Noah is probably going to do the NIT. No.

He's MBC.

Oh, okay. Of course. How could you? I screwed up my networks. How could you?

By the way, this show is brought to you by Uber Eats. Big announcement. Did you know that you can get almost, almost anything from Uber Eats? No, I'm not just talking about food from your favorite restaurant. Uber Eats has a full range of delivery capabilities beyond just restaurant food like groceries, convenience, and alcohol. Whether you need ice cream, batteries, two sodas, or paper towels, or maybe all four, Uber Eats can deliver almost, almost anything. Get grocery, alcohol, and everyday essentials in addition to the restaurant food you love. In other words, get almost, almost anything with Uber Eats. Order now for alcohol. You must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. I forgot to mention, too, the Chili stream we're going to be doing on Thursday, and then tomorrow, we're finally doing it, the Pancake Bet, 5:00 Central. We will be going into the Gambling Cave. You can watch it on all of our channels. We'll be live for the entire night's slate, and we will be not leaving until Memes finishes his pancakes, right? Unless someone is so bad that Memes laps them, Memes has to do 24.

So I have 12. Big K, you have 6.

Hank?light work.Zero.Zero. Remember?comedy.yeah.that's right.

That's right.

It's a wash.

Memes, you don't strike me as much of an Eater.

I can eat. Oh.

Are you going to lap somebody?

I've been watching Matt Stoney videos of him eating pancakes. He ate 118 in eight minutes. I'm a little worried, though, Memes, because I've- He might be the goat. Matt Stoney?

Joey Chestnut is the hot dog goat, but Stoneys career across Multiple Foods is undeniable.

Okay. I am not very familiar with Matt Stoney's work.

I went to a cake eating competition with Caleb once, and he ate- What was that like? A lot of cake in a strip mall.

I love it.

They're always in the worst Maybe 50 people watching.

Yeah, they're always in the worst spots. I'm a little worried, though, because I have been sensing, and this is just a little bit of a feeling. Oh, you're right. Did the water go down?

Yeah, drinking problem?

Water. Matt Stone, pound that water. Memes has lost a little bit of the dog in him, so I'm worried about this pancake stream for him.

Why do you think that? He doesn't have as much dog. You don't think? Why not?

Just based off pickup basketball, I was screaming at him on Friday. We were on the same team, and he wasn't... He was so passive. I was like, You're fucking good at basketball, dude. Shoot. Go to the hoop. He just was like, I don't know. I don't know what's wrong with me. I looked in his eyes and he had no dog left.

I think Mims might be the most underrated, unexpected athlete of all time.

He's got a great Euro stuff. Yeah. Memes, what would you say to the people saying you don't have dog left in you?

I'd say watch the stream.

Oh, calling them out. I'm just going to pound some pancakes.

How many hours? Set it over, under.

Are you going to beat Max?

Maybe.

Yes. How many hours?

I'm going to set three. Three hours.

What?

In three hours, you're going to eat 21 pancakes? Yeah. Wow. Okay.

I'm watching my calories, so I wouldn't hate taking the six hours.

Get as little-Well, that doesn't make it... Well, I guess you eat less. Yeah. That's a pussy way to do it.

I'm trying to get strong. People around here are pissed about it.

Max was in the gym crew this morning. I saw him, 8:00 AM. Oh, really? Yeah. Kb is teaching him how to lift weight.

I love that. Are we doing Olympic style?

I don't know.

Kb was teaching him how to bench press.

That's not true. I watched it. That's not true. He was teaching him how to bench press. We didn't even bench this morning. We bench yesterday.

Oh, two days in a row. Fuck, yes.

Yeah. No, I love that. I got my fit... No free ads. Jason Kelsi said that he was doing my fitness pal and counting calories, so that's why I decided to do it.

Oh, that's beautiful.

I did that once. That's great.

Hank, how's Where's Duncan going?

It's good. I'm basically started this week or last week.

You basically started this week or last week.

What does basically started mean?

I have a program, and I ordered a bunch of equipment. Some of it's here, not all of it's here. So not everything on the program I can do, but I've been going through the motion. Basically starting. A lot of jump rope. I'm talking to a trainer next week to get my baseline on what my vertical is. Cory G? I'm talking to Cory G, but I think we're getting help from Optimum Nutrition.

Okay, nice. Will we give the ad money back when you can't dunk? No. We should probably write that in the contract because I don't want to sell them something that is not going to happen.

I even forget what the terms of the bets were. How much money do you owe? It doesn't matter.

He's not going to dunk.

It's like 2,000 if I do it, 800 if I lose.

That's not right. That's not it at all.

Something like that.

I'm pretty sure it's 10 and 5. 10k and 5K?

I think it might be 20. 20 and 10? No. Yeah, it might be 20 and 10. That is 28.

But he could hit all the threes. He could hit 25 threes in a row.

That's true.

Tune in to PMTV this week. Don't tune in. Hank and I have a very bad visual.

Don't tune in.

Turns out we're not in shape, and we probably wouldn't last long. Fuck. I was going to say we wouldn't last long on a Rick Pitino team.

No, we can't say that.

Damn it. Oh, the stalker did text me. Just an update. People were wondering what happened. Let's see. Stalker, stalker, stalker. He said, Congratulations. You went over my head and right to the big guy. Don't think this is over between us. You glossed over the horrible things you said and hurt my relationship with Coach. It's personal now. You claimed to come clean, but were your typical coward self TikTok.

Tiktok, TikTok, come clean. I'm not going to say it.

He said it.

We didn't. I'm not going to say it. This guy sounds like he's a Patino hater. A little bit. He's setting us up for these jokes. Guess what? Come clean, TikTok. I'm not going to go there. We're not going to fall for it, buddy. We're Rick Patino's guys. You know what? If this guy wants us to meet somewhere because I'd like to settle his hash for apparently going against Coach. This guy sounds like he's a hater. Yeah, I agree.

How about that? Hank, you want to give us your final Patriot number 7? It's the end of the dynasty documentary this Friday, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, that'll be it. The Bill Belichick hit piece. It's got to finish in a certain way. It's going to finish just terrible for Bill Belichick.

My guess is that they're going to start by showing two minutes of the Ram Super Bowl, maybe less. It was very boring. It's going to be like, Oh, we want another Super Bowl, and then just go into drama, which is, again-The breakup? Kind of ridiculous, but it'll be very breakup-focused.

I want to know what the Malcolm Butler thing is, or whatever decision that it says, like Belichick divides the locker room with a questionable decision.

Oh, yeah, because I guess that is the next game. Yeah, it's a loss. It'll be a focus. It'll be way more time when we spent on the Eagles loss than the Rams win, which is nonsense. That's great, Max. Which is nonsense. Braided had one of the best Super Bowl performances of all time, so I'm sure they'll highlight that. In which game? That's what they're going to do.

He did.

He had like 500 yards.

How did nick Foles do in that game?

Also, nick Foles caught a pass, but he didn't.

But they're going to basically say that braided played out of his mind. He had an unbelievable performance. Except for catching the pass. The reason they is because Belichick benchmarked Butler, which might be true. Andy Fumble.

Andy Fumble.

But they're going to focus as, Listen, Max. You're not listening. Yeah, Listen, Max. They're going to shape the documentary like, Katie played out of his mind, The It's lost because of Belichick. Then they're going to be like, And we want to Super Bowl the next year. And then it's going to be all drama.

I haven't watched a single one of these. I will probably tune into that one.

Yeah, you got to. Yeah, you got to. Hank, we're going to do seven right now, so your 10 will be complete. Then they actually released these documentaries, I think, Thursday nights. We're going to be here late Thursday night. Friday will start the post-documentary Top 10.

Okay.

We're done with this.

We should do- Don't worry, AWL, this is it. We should do- We're done. We should do one where it's like Hank's biggest mistakes, leaving these people out.

All right. Go ahead, Hank.

Adam and the Terry.

Oh.

Yeah, this was the one, again, I said after watching it, I wish I probably would have changed some things. But he won the Raiders game, won two Super Bowl's most clutch kicker of all time. But if he doesn't go in the Hall of Fame as a Patriot, then that changes everything.

I got pushed back from that just because there was a Colts fan who was like, he played more games for the Colts, and he broke the record with the Colts. But if you think about why Adam Vittarry is getting to the Super Bowl, obviously, his longevity is incredible, three Super Bowl's, all that. It's the Raiders kick and the Rams kick. Those are the kicks. Yeah.

And he had a game winner against the Panthers.

Yeah, game winner against the Panthers. I think he had two kicks against the Raiders, right?

Yeah, to go into overtime and in overtime. And to win it.

Yeah, he's got the more iconic moments. But then the way that he was talking, he might be the one that- He hates him, yeah. He might have given the football. He might have told the Colts, If you get your hands on a football, keep it and measure the air pressure.

Yeah, it seemed that way.

Yeah, it seemed that way.

You got a rat on your list.

Yeah, I would change it if I could, but the list has been locked in before I watched an episode of the documentary.

That's true. So we'll get the man of integrity.

Honorable mention. Last honorable mention.

Matthew Slater.

Oh, nice. Fair. A little shout out. Okay. Good job, Hank.

Before we do Hot Seat, Cool Throne, I feel like we should talk about this now. I let you guys know a a week and a half ago that this was a possibility, and it seems like the New York Times is about to report on it, so I wanted to scoop the New York Times. So I just tweaked... Excuse me. My dead dog Leroy just tweeted it out. Aaron Rodgers might run for vice president.

I still don't understand. When you told it to me two weeks ago, I processed it, and then I was like, That doesn't make any sense. But I'm not saying that you're wrong. I'm saying, I still just don't understand it.

It's going to be hilarious if it does happen.

But how?

There's no way.

How?

So he's being considered and is considering the opportunity right now.

The answer is he won't. So the second the story breaks, he will say he's not doing it. I don't know. He just wants people to think. He wants it to be known that he was considered.

Maybe. But I'm allowing my mind to go further down the rabbit hole and think about how funny it would be.

But he's going to play football.

That's the PFT in you.

If he has to leave practice to attend a debate, or Or if he has to miss the AFC Championship game because he's getting inaugurated.

But he wouldn't do that. He would play football.

Probably, yes.

That's the part that just... He just wants everyone to know that he was being considered is what it boils down to.

What if he quits football?

I don't think he's quitting football.

Mims said no.

Yeah, I mean- He's got unfinished business.

Yeah, he almost quit for jeopardy.

But he wouldn't quit football for a bid at vice president that will never win in a million years.

He doesn't think that.

I think he has at least a little sense.

What would be the chances?

I'll just say I would consider- Like 0.0001%..

Did they say that about Trump? When he first- He's not in one of the parties. We don't have- RKK is not a party?

No.

Rkk?

Rkk, he's going to be an independent.

Yeah, he's not running.

I wish that there was a chance.

What's his middle name?

I wish there was a chance that we'd have three parties, but we don't.

It sucks. Yeah, there shouldn't be any parties at all.

The Green Party.

Ralph Nader? I think he's running on independent. I'm considering voting for RFK Jr. And Aaron Rodgers just because it would make this show so much better. It would be so awesome if all next football season, Aaron was attending campaign rallies and shit, skipping practice.

Your brain is gone on this.

I thought RFK was a factor.

What would you say the chances are, PFT? They talk about them all the time.

It's got to be- Of him winning? Yeah. Zero. He's not going to win. Yeah. It's It's a two-party system.

It gets nothing. They get nothing. They get diddly shit.

The real question would be, who would he take more votes away from?

Right.

Would he take more votes away from Trump or from Biden?

I don't know, but whoever. It's basically you just get to complain with either side.

Why doesn't he just squad up with the Repubbies?

Because Trump's running.

So? So he can't have two.

He can't have two presidents. Actually, voting for RFK, Aaron Rodgers, potentially, it would be interesting because then you could just complain no matter what happened. You'd be like, I didn't vote for either one of these guys.

Yeah, I voted for the quarterback.

Yeah.

I just don't think he's going to quit football. But then I do think it would crush Memes. Memes would lose all his dog.

Yeah, that would be so funny.

That would be the old Yeller moment for Memes.

That would be like beyond the pale for Jets fans. We finally have a quarterback.

Now I'm actually believing it. Now I'm actually believing it just because of the Jets factor.

Yeah, that would be the final boss for Jets' sadness. It's like we finally got our quarterback. Oh, shit. He hurt his foot in the first five minutes of the game. That's okay. He's coming back next year. We finally have our quarterback. Oh, shit. He's running for vice president.

Yeah. No, the Jets factor does make this a reason that it could happen.

You can't see a Roger's press conference where he gets super serious and he's like, At the end of the day, this is just football.

I have a chance to change the world. No, I'm changing my tune just because I forgot the Jets part. The Jets part, Jets are in search of eternal sadness, and this would be the funiest story Story arc. Okay, well, we'll see.

We'll see. Who knows if it's true or if it's actually going to happen, but I was just told that the New York Times is about to do it, so fuck them. I'm going to do it first.

Keep sports out of politics.

Keep politics out of sports.

No.

Oh, yeah.

Keep sports out of politics. Stick to politics. Yeah, right.

What if the New York Times doesn't report this?

Well, then we did.

Then we did. Then we mega scooped them. Whoops.

All right, let's do Hot Seat Cool Throne, and we'll get to both of our interviews. Hot Seat, Cool, Throne, brought to you by our friends Coors Light from day to day annoyances to the big stuff life throws your way. It's easy to get worked up, but there's a better way, a chiller way. Turn that canceled concert into a parking lot dance party too cold for an ocean swim, play volleyball and light a bonfire instead. That's choosing chill. When you choose chill, reach for Coors Light. When the mountains turn blue, it's as cold as the Rockies. When you choose to rise above it all, choose chill, choose Coors Light. Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door with Instacart by going to coorslight. Com. Corslite. Com/take. Celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado. Coorslight. Com/take. Hank.

How do you spell it?

Uh-oh.

Kobe Bryant. Oh, yeah. Statue honoring his 81-point game. It has on the statue engraved basically the lineups and the player stats and stuff, minutes, points, assists, everything. They spelled Von Wafer, VOM Wafer.

Oh, no.

They spelled Jose Calderon, Jose Calderson. They had two players that said they did not play for a coaches decision. One spelled decision correctly, and then directly underneath it, they spelled decision D-E-C-I-C-I-O-N. It was- On the statue engraved forever.

Yeah, the minute I saw- Tom Wafer. I was like, it would be as if Hank or Bubba had made this statue. That was what it was. They entrusted one guy and no one read it over it. When I used to send you or Bubba a synopsis or anything, and we would just fuck up and write a guest's name wrong. That's what happened.

Yeah, it was very relatable reading where it took up.

Did you not notice that there was a mistake?

Well, it circled the pictures I saw. That would be funny if I had to see a problem.

Jose Calderson would have been the one that really stood out to me.

Yeah. Von Wafer with an M is.

Also, yeah, I mean, rough decision with the two Cs.

It sounds like this guy just texted it to the engraver and then just got it all fucked up. Yeah.

I mean, my biggest thing has always been if the red line doesn't pop up. Sometimes I spell things, and that's also... But your problem- I do it a lot where I... Technology has probably made me dumber. But I don't know how to spell restaurant. I just try and get it close. But then if the suggested thing doesn't show up, I'm fucked.

Yeah, that's an impossible one, too. Restaurant, nobody has ever spelled it correctly on the first try.

You can't spell... You're so bad at spelling that the computer can't figure it out. Right. That's great. Computer is like, We're trying to help you, dude. We literally were built to help you, but we can't help you.

Suggested, nothing.

That does happen to me every now and then where it's like you got a long word and you're just like, Give me some fucking help, computer. All right, that's bad. Okay.

Then my cool throne is Chicago. We talked about it earlier. I know everyone listening to this. Different settings, different weather, different places. But I just want to say that the number one, pretty much every single conversation I had with anyone that I talked to in the months leading up to moving to Chicago. I'm moving to Chicago. They say, Chicago's great. The winners are terrible. Like, Oh, man, good luck with the winners. Oh, I would love I live in Chicago, but the winners, I couldn't do.

You're just tempting this for next winter. And also we're not out of it yet.

It's 70 degrees outside. I understand. It is 70 degrees. Me and PFT played golf a month ago.

I understand, but first of all, we're not- And Jake. We We could still get snow. We're not done. Second of all, why wouldn't you just... It's like a no hitter. It's like a perfect game. Why wouldn't you just let it go?

It's El Niño, too. Just let it go. El Niño is not going to be here next year.

We're going to flash for it this time, and it's going to be a month of zero degrees. You'll be like, Whoops.

Yeah, but I'm going to be driving- Why would you do that? I'm going to be driving a gas car, so global warming is going to really kick in next year.

You spit in the face.

No, I don't know.

It's been incredible. There was four bad days and two of them had playoff football.

I was in Dallas for all those days. I came back and it was over. I lived in Massachusetts, New Hampshire. Those were way worse. It's more people that are... I'm not scared of the winter here. That's my point.

Just put this on a clip card.

Again, it's El Niño. There's a documented reason why this winter has been awesome.

Hank doesn't believe in weather.

That's a fact. I can only speak from experience. Hank does not believe in weather. In my experience in Chicago, this winter has been delightful.

It has been incredible. It's been an incredible winter.

All right, PFT? My hot seat is Sydney Sweeney's Boobs.

Yeah.

On the hot seat firmly, Slate wrote an article about her boobs yesterday. Max, this will be a note for you, pervert. The headline was It needs to be said, Sydney Sweeney's boobs's boobs are not that big. Right now, as we speak, it's got an all-time community notes on it. The community notes just reads, Yes, they are, and it's a link to her Instagram page. Love that. Slate spent two 2,000 words talking about how they're actually not that big in the global scale of things. I don't care. Let us enjoy things, Slate. We weren't harming anyone. This was fun. We were all enjoying a good piece of anatomy, and then they have to get in and mansplain to us.

In the history of the internet, this has to be the number one lamest well, actually, of all time. It probably is. There's someone sitting in Slate and they're like, actually, fucking Sweden has bigger boobs.

Shut the fuck up. I think in the article, it said they were 34 double Ds, which I guess- That seems big. I guess you just have publicly available stats of boobs now on celebrities.

That also seems big.

It's like we all know Katie is 6'10. Everyone knows Sydney Sweeney is a 34 double D. Sure. Sure. They were like, Well, lots of women have bra sizes and cup sizes that are in the 34 double G category. I don't care. Sydney Sweeney, she's got nice boobs. That's crazy. Let us say that Sydney Sweeney has nice boobs.

Slate Socks. Put a note on Slate. We're going to give them a takey. Worst take. Worst well, actually, of all time.

Yeah, but maybe the best well, actually, actually to them. Yes, they are. And then my Cool Throne. I've got a couple on my Cool Throne. Cool Throne is the players. The players is back. Sawgrass is back. It's the players this week. I don't know. I feel like they might actually be on the hot seat because it feels like Scottie Scheffler. It feels like Scheffler season with a new putter. But But I'm going to enjoy watching the players' Championship this week.Okay.It's going to be good.

It's awesome because any player-I mean, it's impossible to watch this weekend.

I agree.

It's not impossible. With a bunch of TVs, you can. You get one on the golf.

Also, mornings. There's not going to be one on the golf on Friday. Definitely not one on the golf on Friday. Probably not one on the golf on Saturday. Mornings. Maybe one on the golf on Sunday.

Sunday is good because there's that little bit of while until Selection Sunday.

But definitely no golf Friday or Saturday.PFT.

I wish it was a different weekend. I was thinking that today. Yeah. Oh, players. I was like, I'm not going to watch any of this.

That's all I care about.

Any player who doesn't birdie 17, you can be like...

I got them. I got them right where I want them. Yeah. It couldn't be me. Not at all. Well, we talked to Pete Prisk about that. Maybe a little asterisk on it, it couldn't be me.

I have something for that. So that was my hot seat. I know you have another cool throw, but real quick because it's golf related. Jay Moynihan talked to the world today for the first time in a long time. And he's on the hot seat because this is maybe the funiest non-answer to a very pointed question. I'm going to play it for you. Let me get it up. Here it is. Hi, Jay.

At any point over the last nine months, have any of the player directors on the policy board called on you or any of the independent directors on that board to resign?

There's been a lot of good-spirited debate.

That's amongst our board. That's the most obvious, yes, everyone has asked for my job.

Yeah, just say, I'm not fucking leaving.

Does anyone want you fired? We've had a really good time just chopping it up. Talked about it. Disagree a lot.

There's been a wide variety of opinions on that very subject. I have one, and everyone else has a different opinion, but it's spirited debate. That's what this country is built on. What was your other cool thron? My other cool thron is Boeing. Boeing is on the cool throne because the whistleblower against Boeing just offed himself in the car mysteriously before giving testimony. Yeah. Allegedly. It's bad. It's bad. How does that keep happening? It's bad for Boeing. They're being investigated by the Department of Justice. We gave you the tip on part of my take two months ago, Don't Fly on a Boeing. I've flown on six Boeing since then.

I don't even know how to look up what I'm flying on.

Yeah, but Boeing's in bad shape. They got people behind the scenes. He doesn't know. I know exactly which plane's a Boeing. That's a little two-man weave right there. If it caught on fire, then it's a Boeing. If it's not, then it's an Airbus. Got it. But yeah, they're being investigated big time. There's behind the scenes videos of people that work at Boeing being like, Yeah, most of the planes, I don't really check that well. Walls are closing in for Boeing right now. Yikes. Not good. But yeah, good thing that this guy just offed himself because they might skate on this one. Yeah.

All right. My hot seat is the Yankees, the Yankees. Aaron Judges already has an MRI on his stomach.

On his abs. I was thinking about that, getting an MRI on your abs. That's a flex just to say they were able to I do an MRI on my abs.

Yeah, but that's Aaron Judge being hurt.

Also, Gary Cole.

What happened to him?

He's getting evaluated as well.

All right. So the Yankees are in the hot seat. They're fucked. Yeah, that's never good. Spring training is like, you just want spring training to happen without ever realizing it's happening. And then opening day happens. You're like, everyone survived.

They took the Mets role. So at least if you're a New York Mets fan, you can be like, it's the Yankees now. They're injured.

It's the Yankees. All right. My cool turn. I got two. One is still Blue Mugs. We got new mugs out, StellaBluCoffee. Com. If you see this one, see this? It's Max, but he's sad, and it says, My bracket is busted. We got the make your free throws, just cover. Great new mugs. Go buy some coffee. You need the coffee. You need the mugs for March Madness. So Stellabluecaffer. Com. My other one is intern season. We are going to possibly be hiring a new intern, and I really want a Cowboys fan. That's all I'm going to say.

Yeah, we've been talking- I want a diehard Cowboys fan. We've been talking about this for a while. What's the missing piece of the story? Hank is a Cowboys fan, but you don't have that same fire. You don't have that same true belief. It's already been beaten.

I made a bet two years ago, and you guys just pigeonholed me.

Well, and then you dated Tiffany Gomez.

That was a coincidence. You got so despondent over one bad Cowboys loss that there's no chance that you're a true Cowboys fan because a real Cowboys fan would be like, It doesn't matter.

Next year, we're back. But I would love a Dallas, maybe SEC. He went to an SEC school. We get a little of that. Someone who just really maybe small. Yeah. He can be very small. We can get a Timone and Pumba thing going with Max.

Yeah, it'd be good also if he was...

Ja, Ja, Tuve.

If he or she just went to... They didn't go to college. They're just nothing but Cowboys. Yeah.

Maybe Cowboys in Alabama.

Cowboys, Bama, Lakers.

Either way, we are looking for an intern. For the summer. For the summer. Jake, your hot seat, Cool Throne.

My hot seat is Novak Djokovitch.

Yeah.

He had a stunning loss at Indian Wells, which some call the fifth major.

He was minus 5,000, #DKPartner, and lost to Luca Nardi. And then afterwards, he coached Kade him at the net. I don't know if you saw this.

Yeah, he did.

A little bit. He told him that he's a good player and told him he's got great stuff going on? Not exactly. What did he say?

He was complaining that there should have been hindrance.

Well, should there have been?

It wasn't called.

But there should have been. I don't know. Okay. What the fuck is hindrance?

Hindrance is when you stop up, Narty hit the shot and then act like the point was done.

So no value. That's for you. It's hindrance.

You should be allowed to do that. But it's not in the rules. It's the okey-doke. It's not in the rules. Pretending that the ball went out and then hitting it back. I like that move.

So you're saying that Jokovitch is on the hot seat for losing, even though the other guy cheated? Doesn't make sense to me.

Well, It's not only that he lost, but also, wasn't the other guy a lucky loser? Yeah, he's literally called a lucky loser. He shouldn't even be in the tournament.

Qualify last minute. Okay, and guess what? He doesn't know how to play tennis. He was doing hindrances.

Also, apparently, Novak complained in Italian. This is according to Hubs.

Yeah, because he could speak multiple languages.

It's not fair, but well done.

Hubs speaks Italian?

No, apparently, Novak said that.

Yeah, but according to Hubs? Well, he reported it. And Hubs speaks Italian? Sure. I don't think so.

So he said it's illegal.

He's not poking holes through this whole fucking thing.

He said it's illegal, but good job. He played a- That's not fair, but well done.

He played a Joe Schmo off the streets that he shouldn't even been playing who was cheating. And then the- No, he Gusto, pero bravo. And now We're judging a guy who's bilingual? Probably more than bilingual. Bias, too, right?

This is a tough loss. Minus5,000 #DKPartner. You rarely see that.

Who cares? It's tennis in March. Who cares? He's probably wanted to watch Conference Tournament Week. Probably. If we're being honest, that was smart by the Joker.

Yeah. My cool thrown is Trace Jackson-Davis. He somehow posterized Wembenyama last night.

Did you guys see this? Yes. I don't know if that's... I feel like everyone gets posterred at some point.

But when?

Yeah. No, I know.

It wasn't just the posterization. It was the announcement afterwards where he goes, he just put the entire nation of France into the basket.

That's pretty good. That is pretty good. I'm watch it. I feel like posters, guys are just so fucking good now. But you rarely see a seven. Yeah. No, that one's worth it. It was probably his first poster, right?

Probably. They're both rookies.

Okay, so one minute ago in the New York Times, RFK Jr. Has recently approached the NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and former Minnesota governor and professional counselor-Oh, but he didn't dunk the ball. Jesse Venture about serving as his running mate. Mr. Kennedy confirmed on Tuesday that the two men were at the top of his list.

This is a layup. This is Rodgers. Rodgers doesn't... We're having two conversations at the same time.

Yeah, I don't- Wait, so what I heard, half heard was- It's exactly what I said. They've had a conversation like drunk, Hey, bro, be my confidee.

Rfk wants it to be known that he likes Aaron Rodgers, and Aaron Rodgers probably is like, Yeah, you can say that you're going to ask me. Again, I just don't know how it would work.

Mr. Kennedy said that he had been speaking with Mr. Rodgers pretty continuously for the past month. It sounds like there's mutual interest. Yeah.

I don't think it's going to go anywhere. Well, actually, no, the Jets. The Jets. Yeah, he's his running mate. It's facts.

You're right. Must credit. He had it first. No.

Leroy had it first. You told me first.

No, Leroy told me to tell you first. Got it.

You did have it two weeks ago.

Please credit Leroy.

Yeah. Okay, let's get to our interviews. Let's do Johnny Fanta, and then we got Pete Prisco talking some NFL. Pft, you got a quick word from one of our sponsors. Yes.

Before we get to Johnny Fanta, he's brought to By SportClips, your hair might grow fast, but after going to SportClips haircuts, you wish that it grew even faster. That's because SportClips has the best seats and hair. That may or may not be because they happen to be right in front of TVs playing sports all day, every day. We know that watching sports while getting a haircut sure beats watching your reflection get a haircut, which is why at SportClips every day is clippers and curveballs, high tops and hail marries, even waves and wickets if you're into that thing. At SportClips, you can check in with the pros and men's hair and totally check out with pure uninterrupted relaxation. So, yeah, come watch an endless stream of sports on TV while getting an awesome haircut. Sportclips, it's a game changer. And now, here's Johnny Fanta.

Okay, we now welcome on our very good friend. It is Johnny Fanta, the man, the myth, the legend. You can find him doing the biggies, covering the biggies tournament in New York all week. By the way, Johnny Fanta, I have to just say, we We had a Rick Pitino Stamina shooting drill two seconds ago, so that's why my brain is a little flustered, and I look like I'm breathing heavy and I'm sweating. But you are the best. You cover all college basketball, but the Big East is your thing. We're going to talk all the college tournaments, conference, Championship this week. But I want to start with the Big East, your bread and butter. Yukon, anyone beating them?

Man, I want to say no. And last year, Remember, we all were ahead of the curve here, right here on PMC, we said, Yukon could be that team that makes that run.

Yes, credit to us.

Exactly. Credit to you guys. But for the sake of being different, let's go through the potential roadmap here this week in the Big East tournament. For the record, Connecticut, in my eyes, is the best team in the country. They're the front runner for the national championship, and they should be. The three losses are at Kansas to Seton Hall, Klingon got hurt during the game, and then Creighton had another worldly shooting performance. But what's interesting about this Big East tournament is we could get Friday night at Madison Square Garden, you Cohn, provided they beat either Xavier or Butler, they will, I think, and then either St. John's or Seton Hall. If it's Rick Patino versus Dan Hurley Friday night at the Garden, that is- That's must watch.

That's must watch. I like that. And we also have in the first round, the Cooley Bowl part 2? No, part three. I know you're a friend of Ed Cooley, but Providence has floundered recently. Does Ed Cooley feel like... I mean, Georgetown has not been good this year. They don't have their guys. But there will be bad blood, and that's what the Big East tournament is about. So you got to be excited for another Cooley Bowl.

Well, Wednesday, yes, I am excited for another Cooley Bowl. I'm excited for Wednesday night because typically Wednesday at the Big East tournament involves a DePaul game, which Wednesday does, DePaul playing Villanova. It's a crowdwatching experience to the few people that wear DePaul gear. But it's Xavier and Butler. But then that coolie bulls the headliner. Here's the thing. There has never been more vitriol. There's never been more of a sideshow with a coaching move in the history of college basketball, for my money, than there is with this one here. Because you got a Providence fan that is so passionate for their friers, that is all about, you got to be one of us, you're one of us, you're either for us or against us. And on the other side, you have a guy that leaves for another school within the league that's never ever happen. And his teams won two games, two Big East wins. But guys, everything tells me this is not just going to be another Georgetown type of game where they go down losing. This, to me, is going to provide drama on day one of the Big East tournament. Providence has to win.

They have to win to stay alive. They're on the bubble. They're just on the outside looking in. They need two wins in the Big East tournament. What would it be if Georgetown spoils that for the Friars? Providence better win this game. Devin Carter has been the best player in the Big East all season. I expect him to will Providence to the finish line, get a date with Creighton, and that sets up an interesting Thursday night.

I like it, though. I like the bad blood. It's good for the sport. It's good for the league.

Yeah, It's always been good. It's not supposed to be. That's the thing with Patino, and you guys had him on. That's what makes the big East what people like in college basketball. It's good to have some dislike. We're not supposed to be soft here. March is a time... Here's the deal. No matter what side you fall on with LSU in South Carolina on Sunday, we were all talking about it. I'm okay with fighting. I'm okay with a little arguing. You're not supposed to like each other. Let's Let's get after it here this March. I don't mind it. If I see a steel chair, we see a steel chair. Let's go.

I love that. March is, yeah, it's for hard people. It's a hard month for hard people. Put your big boy pants on. Speaking of big boys and pants, Max is Vilanova Wildcats. How many games do they have to win to get an at-large bid?

Well, I'm a big boy, and I'll have pants on this week. Vilanova, Max, I'm going to tell you right now, it's now or never here.

Yeah, I don't like your body language right now.

Yeah, I know. This is like the conversation between dad and the kids when things haven't been going exactly the right throughout the week, when you come home and it's Wednesday, and somehow the whole box of Schneider's pretzels is gone by Wednesday, but they did shopping for the whole week, and you're out of food in the pantry. So here's the deal, Max. It feels like your pantry is running low right now. So it's time for those pants to get expanded here and for Vilanova to show that they've got something left in the tank. At the end of the day, for Vilanova, you got to go out, you got to beat DePaul, and you got to show up Thursday against Marquette, who still very well could not have Tyler Kolek. Kolek's got an oblique injury. If Kholik doesn't play, no excuses, Vilanova, you better win this game, or there's going to have to be serious questions asked of this coaching staff off the season. This roster was worth a couple million dollars, $3 million dollar roster. If they miss the NCAA tournament, that is an abject failure. They got to win on Thursday over Marquette, especially if Kolek doesn't play, guys.

He's got an oblique injury. I think Marquette might hold on to him for the NCA tournament. This season for Marquette was always about making a deep NCA tournament run. Fun fact, Shaka Smart has not made it to the second weekend of the NCA tournament, guys, since VCU. Really? That's it.

Wow.

That's the only time he's ever made a run. So some would argue Fade Marquette. Is Shaka going to be able to break through? He needs a healthy Kholik to do that. I don't see Kholik playing in this big East tournament. That could change. He could decide, I'm going to play and ride it out. If he does, that's tough for Villanova. But Nova better win two games in the Big East tournament.

Two games for bubble wash.

They have to win two. He threw down the gauntlet.

Because DePaul doesn't count as a win.

No. I'm I'm not sure what DePaul counts for right now.

He doesn't count for anything.

Yeah, I've been saying it all week. Got to beat Marquette. I wish we were playing Creighton. I think we match up better against Creighton. But if Kolek's not... I thought Colec was going to play, so I like you.

I told you he wasn't, Max. Listen to me. I told you he wasn't going to play.

Did you guys ever, growing up as high school or college, when you were that age, did you ever get swindled into one of those Knives presentations?

Oh, Kucko.

I had some friends that did Kutco. I was more of a show up to a time share presentation, take the free for medieval times and then just leave. Yeah, that was my thing.

This particular season, playing to Paul is like a Kutco presentation.

Yeah, it's brutal. They're very, very bad. All right, so that's Big East. Tell me what conference tournament you're most excited for outside of Big East? Because Big East is very thrilling because you not only have Yukon, the best team in the country, but you also have Providence, St. John's, and Villanova all trying to get themselves off the bubble. But what conference tournament are you like, I can't wait to watch this when I'm done covering the Big East.

Yeah. I can't wait to watch the SEC because I'm rooting for a Kentucky, Tennessee, round three.

Yes. Last year on this show was critical of Cal and said, They give me Dallas Cowboys vibes in general.

I think this is his best chance to now break through, and this can be the start of it. This week for Kentucky is big. You've got Reid Sheppard, the best freshman in college basketball. You've got Rob Dillingham. Antonio Reeves would be an All-American for me. Kentucky, this is your time. Big Blue Nation, you've been waiting for this. There are no excuses for John Calipari. None.

I like that.

This is the week. I think this could set up an SEC final. We could get Auburn, South Carolina in this tournament. Lamont Paris is a National Coach of the Year candidate, has done a great job with the Gamecox. Our guy Bruce Pearl, he's probably going to have to go up against Tennessee in the semifinals. I mean, if he advances, that's who he's meeting. That would be quite the heavyweight fight. But I like Dalton Connect. I think Connect has a chance to be the face of March Madness with the way that he is going, with the way that he's scoring the basketball. We could get Kentucky, Alabama in the SEC semis. First to 100 wins. Alabama is not playing an ounce of defense, but I love it. I want Kentucky, Tennessee, round three.

Yeah, I think that'd be good. That'd be good for the country to watch that. Is there any chance that Dalton Connect gets National Player of the Year, or is that just Zack Eady?

Well, unfortunately for everybody else, not named Zack Eady, it was locked up the moment that he said he was coming back to college.

Yeah.

His productivity is just… It's really not… You can't put it fully into perspective. Whether it's fair or not, you could call it lazy, but at the end of the day, we've never seen a guy at his size do what he's done at the college level. He is, get this, in my opinion, you guys, push back on me if you want. Jake, whoever, push back on me. I think Edy's dominance is the most over a span of time, these two years, since Tyler Hansborough.

Okay. I'm trying to think. Doug McDermott was Very good for a long time at Creighton, but that was Missouri Valley the couple of years. I love Jimmer for that.

Yeah, because if you're dominant, you don't stick around for two years. Yeah.

You don't usually stay multiple years and keep doing it. Yeah. I mean, you might be right. You might be right.

Hansborough was an all-American all four years of his college career. There are not four-year college all-Americans anymore. Nobody does that.

Yeah. Hansborough should have played for Duke. He just always gave me He's got the Duke vibe to him.

I like to tell because he just beat them.

Yeah, it's like, We got one of your own.

You know what's crazy? You know what's crazy? Hansborough hates Kentucky more than he hates Duke.

Why?

He can't stand Big Blue Nation.

Okay.

I didn't expect that nugget, but that was a great nugget.

That's the meanest thing that he could possibly do to Duke.

Yeah, that's true.

I respect that. I think he actually does hate Duke more, but he has to say that he hates Kentucky more because he knows how much it's going to piss him off.

It's the Mad Men mean. I don't even think about you. Yeah, exactly.

I want to talk more about College Hoops, but I don't know if the first time you came on the show, we did a deep dive into the history behind John Fanta. Now, I'm just curious, when you were growing up, were you always a diehard College Hoops fan, or were you a sports fan, and this is where you found your lane in broadcasting, or has it always been College Hoops?

It's where I found my lane, which Lane. Now I do some bowling.

Yes. I watched you do bowling. It was electric.

Did you like it?

Yes. Anything you do, I'm in, Johnny Fanta. You know that.

I appreciate that, Dan. I appreciate that. I got to tell you what I love about bowling, 10 seconds. I could never believe how much booze is being drunk.

Yeah. You ever try to bowl sober? It sucks. Yeah.

You're in a bowling alley.

How did I get caught on? Well, I grew up on the West Side of Cleveland and a huge Cleveland sports fan. Still am. Browns, Indians, now guardians, Cavs. I'm seven when LeBron's drafted. I remember remember when the Cavs won the lottery, but Browns. I mean, I'm a huge Browns fan. There's nothing like a Cleveland-Brown Sunday than in Cleveland, Ohio. This past season was just a miraculous season in which Flacko, the guy I hated growing up, leads us to heights I've never thought were possible to a season that... Sorry to your bears. That's one of the more unbelievable Browns wins I've ever seen in my life. Between those teams, Jim Tomey was my favorite athlete growing up.

I love that. He's a great trivia answer, too.

A ton of dingers.

Mashed the baseball out of Jacob's field. Tom Hamilton, Joe Tate, Jim Donovan, the voice of the Browns. Cleveland has great voices. So that inspired me. At the age of six, I'm looking at these guys on TV. I'm like, They get to do that. I played high school football at St. Ignatius in Cleveland. I was a left guard. When the quarterback came into the huddle, I was on scout team. We were a bad varsity team, so I'm on the JV team. When my quarterback came in the huddle, he'd call the play 27 on 2, and I was a left guard. He would audible the 44 on 1. His life would flash before his eyes. I am responsible for two St. Ignatius quarterbacks, separated shoulders. They still talk to me. Got done with sophomore year of high school football. I go into the coach's office, guy by the name of Chuck Kyle, won a ton of games, 11 state championships. He looks at me and he says, I really like you as a person. He goes, You're a lot better at talking about the game than you are playing it. That was the best. That was the most...

That was the nice... My parents were pissed. They were not happy with that news when I came home. That was the best advice I could have gotten in high school because it got me to think, I just got to do everything I can to broadcast this sport. A year later, guys, it's 25 degrees at Fawcett Stadium in Kent, where they play the Hall of Fan Game. I'm in the press box in the warmth, Ignatius wins the state Championship, and I'm on play-by-play instead of being on the end of the bench.

How about that? That's awesome. That's a great story.

Yeah. You rolled with it. At first, were you like, I really want to keep playing football, or were you like, He's right. I'm glad I don't have to do this anymore?

He was right, and I was tired of running and getting my ass kicked. I was getting my ass kicked, airborne at practice. I couldn't block a soul. It was a turnstile. It's like that video where the guy's checking people into the game. That was me as a left guard.

That's a great story. I love it. Now look at you now. I mean, this has been- You might be the most passionate man in sports media. Yeah, you love the game.

I appreciate that. When you have stories like James Madison University, when you have a conference like the Mountain West, which I wanted to get to here, I wanted to shout out the Mountain West who could send six teams to the NCA tournament this year. I'm bullish on Nevada, Boise State, San Diego State can run this back. Isiah Stevens is an All-American. That's the other conference term that I'm excited about. But when you've got Rick Patino in New York City, Dan Hurley is yelling at Providence fans like crazy. We got Purdue. Can they find redemption here? This month is awesome, and I love being a part of it.

I love being a part of it.

Did you buy it when Rick told us that he doesn't talk to the refs at all? He said that he hadn't spoken to refs in what? Years, right? Yeah. Is that true, Johnny?

I'm not buying that one. How could that be true?

I don't know. The way he explained it, he was talking to them without talking to them, where he would just say things out loud. He's not like, Hey, ref, you blew that call. He's more like talking to air, being like, These refs really got to do a better job, which I guess is not talking to them.

Yeah, but it's smart because can you get teed up doing that?

Yeah, no, you're right. He's smart. He's They're in the loophole here. That's actually a smart way to do it. You must be loving it, though, because you mentioned Danny Hurley, who's a friend of this program. But the biggie, to become a true basketball conference, again, they needed these characters as coaches, because I always think that college basketball, I love college basketball. I love, love, love it. But because of the turnover and rosters year to year, it's the characters in your coach that makes a program and that gets the rivalries going. You have those guys now all in place.

It's the characters, it's the coach. As the ACC tries to figure out Washington, DC or Greensboro, where should we... The ACC is doing their conference tournament in Washington, DC. The Big East, 42 years at Madison Square Garden. 42 years. It's an institution in New York. I'm going to make this claim with these personalities, with Patino, with Hurley. You're right, Dan. You're absolutely right in the throwback personalities. Like, Sean Miller, he was on a freight a couple of weeks ago. He's like, There's a tier system in the Big East, and I'm not in tier one. So that should tell you who gets to be in tier one, indirectly taking shots. Greg McDermott is one of the good guys. Just gets extended at Creighton. Do you know how many places would like to be able to hire him? Chaka Smart is all fired and fueled up. And Kim English is feisty. Don't forget about Shahine Hollowway at Seton Hall. I think they could be a dark horse this week. He didn't at St. Peter's. He's got another team this year. But here's my thing. In a world where Greg Sankey, the SEC, and the Big Ten, frankly, are trying to say, We're going to take control of all this stuff.

To me, the number one thing that's keeping all the football people from just saying, Basketball's ours, we're going to break it off to, we're just going to do our own tournament, is the big East. Because if you don't involve the big East in whatever you're doing, which is basketball only, they're not getting football shares, your tournament would be illegitimate. If UConn wins the title this year, that would mean the Big East would own four of the last eight national titles in college basketball.

Yeah. It's a great point. You made me think of something. Is the Big East talking at all about the fact that Shaka Smart is literally playing defense on the court? Has anyone mentioned anything? Are they going to stop him? I'm okay if they don't want to stop him, and they're just like, Hey, this is what Shaka does. We're fine with it. But he's so close to the action.

It It makes me think, should coaches be allowed to play three possessions of defense a game?

I love that. Yes. Just random three possessions.

Who would be the best defender in college basketball?

Shire would probably flop a lot. Yeah.

Shaka Smart would be... I mean, he'd be up there. Penny, you get Penny out there?

I think Will Wade. I think Will Wade could still bang with the best of them.

Yeah.

Well, Will Wade could make a strong ass offer as they're coming off the court.

Yeah. We know Juan wants to fight, so yeah, he'd get involved.

Five fouls. You get five. No. Shaka, I can report that the conference has done their part. There was a message. Now, here's the thing. There was a message sent. Now, whether or not the That's going to be translated here, he's still on the court. I don't know what you do there other than maybe we implement a rule where you can cash in money in the bank that you can jump in for a possession or two. If you want to play six on five. But I don't know how you contain Shaka Smart. When Big East Defensive Player of the Year came out, Ryan Coughrunter, three-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year, the only other two that can say that they got it three times, Patrick Ewing and Alonso Mourning. A lot of people said Shaka Smart was robbed.

Yeah, he was. I think what needs to happen is I think a player needs to just set a pick on him because then it would be like, All right, we got a problem.

Or just shove him. Just knock him over. I thought I got it more. The answer to your question, which coach would you want playing defense? I think it would be either Bruce Pearl or maybe Kelvin Samson because they would just sweat all over the floor. They wouldn't send the mop guy out there because they wouldn't fall down, and they would just make it nice and lubeed up so that all the offense players would just trip. I think that would be great. But yeah, Shaka is out there. He's like going hand down, man down on defense. It's crazy.

The guy's energetic. What can I say? Now I'm fully adjusted to Shaka Smart's hair. I've gotten fully adjusted to that. Now, here's the deal. The NCA tournament is stricter with the coaches on the floor, or at least I would think that they are. These officials... That's my one issue with this week versus next week. If I have one issue, the officials are going to call games differently next week because during the NCA tournament, they're also trying to advance to the next round. They get evaluated every round. Things get tighter. These conferences, these conference officials, they're capping off their conference season. They know these teams, the players know each other. They're going to let them play a little bit. That's why we see more and more whistles next week in the NCAA. These guys are tight as can be.

I didn't know that. I didn't know that the refs were also trying to advance, too. They got a job to do. Yeah, they got a job to do.

Some refs are sent home.

They're reffing for their job. Yeah.

Yeah, there is a 16 over a 1 for the officials, too.

I like that. You mentioned the ACC. It does suck that it's not in Greensboro. That tournament should be in Greensboro every single year. It means so much more. It's like the tradition behind it, all the good teams from that area. It's the one thing that Greensboro still had going for it. Let them keep it. It's a great place. That is Stamey's Barbecue. Two great things about Greensboro. But it should not be in DC. Nobody cares about... Outside of Georgetown, which doesn't even play in the conference, DC is not a college basketball town. You got Maryland. Yeah, Maryland, they were nice 20 years ago. But besides that, it's like they don't really care as much. In North Carolina, basketball is a way of life down there.

Yeah, it is. It should be in Greensboro. Also, it's going to be a Duke, North Carolina final. They don't like it. Guys, the ACC, Virginia's the three. They might not even make the NCA tournament. I know.

It's crazy. It's crazy. Do you think... So what was your take on the Duke, the John Shier apologizing, fans throwing stuff. Oh, we got to ask, you're pro-courtstorming, correct? Yes. Okay, thank you. That was enough of a courtstorming talk. Do we think John Shier, I know he's signing incredible classes. I think the 2025 class is the best ever Duke. But that was a tough loss for them. It feels like UNC's got their number a little bit right now.

Unc's got their number. They've got their number, and they think they've won three of the last four at Cameron Indoor.

Yeah.

But It's so weird that a coach is apologizing to students.

Yes. They're all weirdos and dorks. You can just say it. They are.

I just don't understand. The notion that a coach is going to go up to undergraduate students who are going to class Monday to Friday have zero... At the end of the day, the only attachment they have to your program is that they go to the school. And you're going to go up and apologize to them. Don't go apologize to them. You want to apologize to people. Apologize to the people who pay for your team.

Yeah. Get the boosters on the phone.

Don't owe the students anything. At the end of the day, here's the deal. At Duke, John Shier, this second year, they've won 19 of their last 23 games. But how much of that is because they're playing in a league that, frankly, is weak and that could only stand what? Four teams, the NCAA tournament. They need to make the second weekend of this NCA tournament. If they do not, where the measuring stick is at Duke, you've got to be able to make NCA tournament runs. Yeah, he's going to enter next year having real pressure on himself to make the second weekend. Because if you go three straight years and you have Cooper Fly coming in next year who, guys, is otherworldly. I know you hate that Cooper Fly is going to be a Duke Blue Devil because he is such a fun player. But yeah, the pressure's on here. They still have a really good team. They should make the second weekend of the NCA tournament. But Carolina has got their number. Carolina, to me, is no question a top five team in college hoops can get back to the national title game. Oh, I like that.

Who can get to the national title game this year? I'm assuming you said Yukon already, so we'll put them in there. Unc. You mentioned Kentucky.

Their defense, thanks.

They got Kentucky over Tennessee.

They've been playing a little better, though.

Yeah, I've got Tennessee. I would take Tennessee before I took Kentucky. Okay. I would. You know why Tennessee? Always known for their defensive ability. They've got Vescovie and Ziegler back. To me, though, now they've got a guy who can be a Doug McDermick, Jimmer for Dead type guy in Connect. Dolph Connect can be that type of figure for their team. Tennessee's Bugaboo, late in games in the past has been, they don't have a guy to go to, and Rick Barnes has crumbled offensively. Now, you're not going to crumble because you know who you're going to. You're going to Connect, and he can overcome any defense. You can't just face guard connect. He'll break right through that. He'll be able to score. So I believe that, Yukon. I believe in Purdue. I'm on the Purdue train. I'm not hopping off. I'm on the Houston train. I believe that Tennessee. I believe that Kentucky. I believe that Carolina. Beyond that, you'd have to do some convincing. I'm out on Kansas. I don't see it with Iowa State. I'm not buying Illinois upside. I believe we'll get three chalk final four teams, and I believe we will get one team that we do not expect to be there to make it to Arizona.

Okay, so not like last year. We're not going to see crazy umbrella runs.

I think we could get one with the right region. I just don't see it. Here's the thing. Connecticut has been an absolute wagon. I'd be downright shocked if they're not in the Elite 8, and I'd be surprised if they didn't make it to the final four. I think one of Houston or Purdue is going to be there. I think one of Carolina or Kentucky figures it out. From there, I don't know. I really like Creighton. I think Creighton is seven and one in their last eight games. And Scheyermann, Alexander, and Coughrunner are quite the big three. But I don't think that this is as wild, PMT, with upsets here this year just because I do think there's a whole bunch of parry. Guys, I don't think there's any difference between 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 seeds this year. I don't. I think there's a clear top. I think from there, it's a total crapshoot. If I was picking in the bracket, you'll make some money. Pick any 12, pick any 13, pick any 14, any 15. Just ride those seeds. They're going to win games.

Yeah. It's a good point on Creighton. Creighton has been a top 5, top 10 team in the last month and a half, they've been playing great ball. Real quick, out West, Arizona, obviously the class of the Pac-12. This is the time of year where I see some teams. I could count actually Indiana in this. They're playing great ball right now. It's like, I really want some of these teams. They got it together way too late, but they'd be great in tournament. Usc is another one where they got it together. They got healthy way too late, but they've been playing great ball. Do you see Arizona winning the Pac-12, and can they go deep? Because this is a team that has a A lot of hype. They've played some big games this year. They've been tested. They've won some big games, but it does feel like something's a little off, especially you saw them falter on Saturday night to USC.

I don't trust them. I have trust issues with them. I think it's all or nothing, and the nothing is bad.

That's a good way to put it.

The nothing's really bad. They lost to Princeton last year in the NCAA tournament, and I don't know if those mental demons are totally away. Tommy Lloyd has a sensational job as a regular season coach. You got to have a different set of stones to win in March. Right now with Tommy Lloyd, I'm fearful. I'm fearful. Is he Like a Brad Underwood, does he have some painter where he's always got successful regular season teams? Even a Fran McCaffee comes to mind. But then they get to the NCAA tournament. With Arizona, and Lloyd is like, It's probably not fair to him because he's still a relatively newer head coach, and he's only 49 years of age. To me, the problem with Arizona is, I don't know what I'm getting from Kyland Boswell from game to game. Caleb Love is going to be an All-American. You know what, It's a credit to Caleb because everybody said, Caleb sucks, and Caleb's terrible, and Caleb's the reason why North Carolina blew up last year. Stop. You can't put it on one player. It's on a head coach to direct his team. Caleb He's transferred to Arizona, and he's had a terrific season.

But to me, they just are inconsistent in their supporting cast. It feels like Boswell has been way too up and down at times for me to buy into Arizona. If I was going to buy a West Coast program during this NCA tournament, I would buy some stock in St. Mary's. I like Aiden Mahaney quite a bit. And guys, I'm in on that Mountain West. I really believe that the Mountain West, I don't think the six bids is fluky. I think it's a huge tournament for them. San Diego State making that final four, that gave these other teams a blueprint, an idea of what they could be. Keep an eye on Steve Alford in the Nevada Wolf pack in the NCA tournament. And if they can get in there, Richard Patino and New Mexico, if they find a way in with Jalen House and Jamal Mastren, could be in a first-four game. Yes, we could get Richard Patino versus his father, Rick, in a first-four game in Dayton. That would be juicy.

I love that. I love that little Edippus Rex action going on.

I like that a lot.

And Big Cat just started watching the Mountain West like two weeks ago.

Yeah, I've never seen a game. He's fallen in love with him hard. Yeah, it's crazy. I didn't even know they played basketball out there.

It's good. That league is a lot of fun.

No, it's a lot of fun. It's good.

And it's great. You know why? Because I like seeing a different league get tournament units. They've mastered the scheduling algorithm, the net, which I think has its flaws. Can I go to bed for one other team on Selection Sunday? Yes.

Let's do it, John.

Josh Schurz in Indiana State. I I hope you make it. You're better than all these other high majors that are just decent to okay, that are going to get in because of their schedule. You couldn't schedule to the same degree because people didn't want to play you. I want to see Indiana State get to the dance. I'm all in on a two bid, Missouri Valley conference.

I like that, too. It feels like it should happen, right? I don't think we're going to be surprised when it does.

It should because the high major bubble is weaker this year. Weaker.

Yeah. If you ask me who I want to see play in what March is about and the Cinderella stories and all these things, I would rather see Indiana State play than Virginia. No offense to Providence or Nova.

Colorado.

Iowa. No offense to these teams, but they play tough schedule. They play in big conferences, but I want to see the Cinderella story. Yeah.

Right now, if you put the four best mid-majors up against the four high majors that are on the bubble at largest. I guarantee you the mid-majors will go at least three and one.

Give me your top four midmajors. Creighton. We just love saying Creighton. Gonzaga.

No, I'll go outside the box here and get... To me, the winner of the Ivy League tournament is going to be among my top mid-majors. I hope if Princeton makes it again, just take them in the first round. They're going to win a first round game.

I like that.

Okay.

That team is back. It's not fluky. Guys, Mitch Henderson, the job he's done at Princeton is nuts. It's nuts. That team is balanced. They got a guard named Xavian Lee. When we get off, look up his YouTube highlights, or I'll send them to you. You got to watch this kid play. He's like a mid-major Curry. He's got that type of game. I'm in on McNeice and Will Wade. I believe in them. I believe in Shahada Wells. I think that they're capable. I like the winner of the Mid-American. Yeah, action can happen in the NCA tournament. If Toledo can get there, I'm in on the Rockets. Don't sleep on Enrique Freeman and Akron. Then UC Irvine and Eater's, really good defensive team, balanced enough to pull off that. You know that 9:57 Thursday night game on Tru TV. That's got UC Irvine written all over it. Okay.

I like that. I'm going to remember those. You mentioned JMU earlier, and I'm a fan of yours, Johnny. When you did a report on the scheduling issue, which I think has something to do with Indiana State, and it speaks to the imbalance in college basketball a little bit. Can you speak on that about just how it's become a thing now where big schools will not schedule a dangerous mid-major? Is there a way to get around this?

Well, the way to get around it is that you respect and look at these issues more and more face-to-face. If you're not going to be willing to schedule them from a high-major standpoint, then if these schools do everything in their power, then you give them a slot in the That's the only situation where I am okay with the NCA tournament expanding, and it can expand for me no more than 76 teams. I don't like it to begin with, but if you're going to expand, I want four mid-majors that have the same issues that JMU has because they deserve it. Here's the deal. There is no way PMC to control it. There's no way for us to tell Alabama and to tell Yukon and to tell Florida and to tell Texas that they need to schedule Indiana State or James Madison. There's no It was just not.

There's no upside for them.

Right. But you know what the upside for us is, guys? And I feel that it's our duty. I know a John Rothstein. I know an Andy Katz, people that cover college basketball.

Rico Bosco.

Rico Bosco, everybody. I'll shout it to the moon and back. Do not exclude the J. M. U.s. Of the world, the St. Peter's of the The Fairly Dickinson's of the world, the Princeton's of the world, do not exclude them from your tournament. You can change up the college football playoff. We all agree that it should be adjusted, and it is. And guess what? It's better for college football. It's going to be more fun, more inclusive. I'm all for it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. They're trying to fix this NCA tournament. It doesn't need any fixing. If you want to add a couple more teams because you got to widen your wallet, I'm not going to sit here and be against you. The more madness, the better. There is such a thing, though, as diluting your regular season so much that our bubble talk would be teams that are 500. Do we really want to be doing that this time of year? Don't significantly alter the best postseason in sports. I beg of you, college football people that want to now change up March Madness, stay in your damn lane. Yes.

Get him, Johnny. Yes.

I feel so inspired right now.

I want to salute you.

Yeah. You give me vibes. Remember when Dwight Schrute, people of the world, Unite, and he did the whole speech?

Blood turns the wheels of history.

That's how I felt right there.

I'm passionate about it. I don't want to see March Madness is the best thing college basketball has going for it. We can't F this up.

I agree. All right, so, Johnny, I got one last question for you. It's a rowback question, rohoback. Com promo code. Take 20% off your first purchase, Q-Zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts, rowback. Com promo code take. Tell me who is going to be the bubble team from these higher conferences that's going to be very disappointed come selection Sunday? The team that you're looking at, you're like, They don't have it. I don't care if they go on a little run here. Something in their resume is going to falter.

I'm going to go with Texas A&M in Iowa. They're going to be on the outside looking in of this equation. Iowa has come on here late, but I think you're going to end up with a sad Fran McCafee. They have a really, really important Big Ten tournament game to stay alive. Important Big Ten tournament game. Iowa Ohio State in the 7-10. Ohio State, yeah, Mark Titus is listening somewhere, could make the NCA tournament out of nowhere because if they beat Iowa, guys, after that, they have Illinois. If they beat Illinois, they'd have 21 wins, a win over Illinois on a neutral, a win over Purdue, a win over Alabama, and a win at Michigan State. Could Chris Holman get fired during the season and Jake Diebler make the NCA tournament? It is possible, but I do think the Hawkeyes, and I think Buzz Williams is going to be an upset buzz on Selection Sunday.

Man, I'll say it's crazy. They've gotten so hot. Their season was completely dead, and They're playing great ball right now. I like those answers, though. Those are good answers. The one thing would say for Iowa, they don't have any bad losses, I don't think. So that helps them. They're not like a Nova that lost to Penn and Drexel, that thing.

You were saying that Iowa State to you feels like they don't have a chance to be in that conversation. In NFL terms, if we're watching 10, 12 of the season, the Miami Dolphins can't beat a good team. We call them frauds. You're not I'm not saying the Iowa State's a fraud, are you?

No, I'm not saying that they're a fraud. I think they're a really good sweet 16 team that has their limitations and their ability to be able to make a final four. Typically, if I say you're a sweet 16 team, I also believe. My argument is there's like 30 sweet 16 caliber teams, 32 sweet 16. You know what I mean? There's a lot of teams we say, Yeah, there's second week of potential. Rothstein does this all the time. It's like second weekend caliber. Well, there's... How many teams are there? 45 that are second weekend caliber? That's March Madness. To me, they're in the in between. They're a good restaurant. They're good for a burger or a sandwich. But if you're looking for a medium rare steak, I'm not going to go to Ames looking for that. This particular season. I like their team. I don't love their team enough to say, This is where I'm going to propose to my wife.

Is Oldsberger going to stay? He's a good coach.

Yes, because of the contract. It's too big of a buyout.

Got it.

It's like an absurd amount of money.

He's a good coach. He's a very good coach.

Yeah, he's done a marvelous job. At a place, it's not the easiest to win. They have a great fan base, but in the Big 12, they're not top three or four in terms of the total package. He's made them really consistent, really good defensively. This year with Taman Lipsy, Keesha Gilbert, the supporting cast of guards that they've got, I'm really impressed with the job he's done. Milan Monsilovitch is one of the better freshmen in America, and he plays for the Iowa State cyclones.

I think you just like saying Milan Monsilovich. Yeah, that was good. That's a fun one to say. That was really good.

I love saying it.

Johnny Fanta. Thank you so much. Everyone, tune in. You'll see him all over Madison Square Garden getting interviews with the guys after the games. I can't wait. I can't wait.

I'm partnering up with one Jim Calhoun this week.

What are you doing?

He's going to be with me for a lot of those interviews and a lot of those breakdowns.

That's going to be love it. Tell him we say hello. Tell him we say hello.

I will tell him you said hello. And fun fact, apparently, he has not talked with Coach Patino in about a decade.

Oh, yes.

I love it. I love the rival. Grumpy old men. It's perfect.

Fireworks.

Maybe we'll get a dime back. Thanks for having me.

All right. Thanks, Johnny.

Johnny Fanta was brought to you by 3Chi. I'm not a drug guy, but I am a 3Chi guy. At 3Chi, it's the premier place for cannabis products. They've just launched its new line of true strains, vapes, and gummies that give tailored cannabis experiences. They got the best names, too. The best names in the biz. Comfortably numb, full throttle, nervada, hammer of God, and many, many more. Whether you're in the mood for a high that's soothing, energetic, relaxing, or potent, 3Chi's true strains lineup has you covered all across the board. It's all back by science. No more hit or miss with inconsistent or poorly dosed edibles. True Strains delivers consistent, potent, and personalized effects that you can rely on every time you use it. If you're ready to experience the next generation of cannabis, head over to 3ci. Com. Find the exact experience you're looking for within their True Strains lineup. Go to 3chi. Com. That's 3chhi. Com. Find your true strain today. And now, here's Pete Prisco.

And now for something completely different.

Okay, we now welcome on our very good friend, Pete Prisco. We love Pete. Pete's our guy. We wanted to do a quick, I know it's conference Championship Week, but we wanted to do a quick NFL free agency talk and see where Pete's head is at. Maybe even touch a little bit on the draft because he does watch the tape. The tape, the tape, the tape. That's what he says. But, Pete, let's start with free agency. Who has won free agency thus far? We're a day and a half in. It feels like all the big, big signings have been taken care of. Who are you like? Man, what their plan is. I love it.

Well, I'll tell you who won free agency was the runningbacks. That goes against everything that I believe in when it comes to team building. But they got paid. They went off the market quickly. I think it's a reflection of the draft not being very good when it comes to runningbacks, at least on the surface, it isn't. I'm still a big believer you can find those guys in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh round and be just as good as you would be if you got one in the first round. We've seen that play out over the course of history. I don't think that the The draft is that bad when it comes to running back, that you have to overreact to this degree. But everybody spent a lot of money and guys, kudos to the runningbacks. Even though they're really on the surface one or two-year deals, you still got paid for a year or two.

I'll tell you who lost NFL free agency was Pete Prisco because running Backs got paid and Russell Wilson got another job. Yeah. All your boys coming up, Pete.

You know what, though? I've been right about runningbacks for 20 years, and I was right about Russell Wilson going way back to when he was in Seattle, okay? I mean, he had the number one scoring defense in the league for five straight years, I think it was. I always say this, the '50s dynasty Browns were the only other team to do that. It's hard not to win when you have that defense. He was a good quarterback. He's been a good quarterback. The last couple of years, he's been a bad quarterback.

All right, so we'll get to Russ, but sticking on runningbacks just for one last question, can you rank which runningbacks moves you liked and which you're like, I don't know what they're thinking? Because we had obviously Josh Jacobs to Green Bay, Saquon to Philly, DeAndre Swift to Chicago, Aaron Jones to the Vikings. Who else? Who am I forgetting?

Pollard to the Titans.

Pollard to the Titans.

Derrick Henry is talking the Ravens right now.

Austin Echler to the Commanders.

The Pollard one to the Titans, I didn't get. You have a third down back, a quick guy in Spears that you can use him in that thing. I don't think Pollard's that much of a change up back. He wasn't good last year. That one surprised me a little bit. When you hear what What happened with the Aaron Jones situation, he had a giant cap number. He wasn't going to come off that much. So you understand why they did that. But is Josh Jacobs a better back for the packers offense than Aaron Jones is? And the answer to that question is no.

Yeah, I agree. That one was That one was a little weird to me because Josh Jacobs has had some good seasons, but Aaron Jones is younger, I believe.

I think they're the same age. Yeah, I think they're the same age. But Aaron Jones is the centerpiece of that locker room. Everybody respects Aaron Jones Green Bay.

Oh, I think actually Josh Jacobs is younger. That's my fault.

Yeah, he's younger.

I was getting my packer hate.

Aaron Jones can split out. And Jacobs is okay in the passing game, but he's not what Aaron Jones can bring to an offense. Let's be real, they're going to build that thing around love in the receiver. They have all those receivers and tight ends. They're going to build it around them. So I think Jones was a better fit for their offense. But if he wouldn't come off that number, I understand a little bit. But Jones is a better player.

Yeah. Another guy that lost free agency was Joe Mixon, because the bangles waited until after every running back was signed to cut Joe Mixon. That was a weird move. Is there something personal there behind the scenes? Because you would think that you would give an opportunity to have a go at it beforehand, right?

Well, he's going to end up in Houston, isn't he? I think that's the latest, he's going to end up with the Texans, which I think is a good situation for him. Look, if you're going to get released by the bangles, you go to the Texans, you play behind C. J. Stroud, and you want to be behind a good You want to be able to have a threat to throw the football when you run it. I think that would be a good opportunity for him.

But, yeah, they handled it poorly.

But remember, they've asked him a couple of different times about taking a pay cut. I think he's balked a little bit.

Yeah, I would, too, though. If somebody was just like, Hey, can you do the same job for less money? I'd probably be like, Can you send me to Texas where there's no state income tax? That's a good compromise to me. Austin Echler to the commanders. I I watch every Chargers game last year, but I don't watch the tape like you, Pete. So you watch the tape on Austin Echler. Streets are saying he might be a little bit slower. He might have lost a step. I still think he's pretty good catching the ball at the backfield. Is this a good signing or a bad signing for the commies?

No, I think it's a good signing. He can still catch the ball out of the backfield. He can still get you. He's not going to carry it 15 times, 20 times between the tackles, I don't think anymore. But you don't ask him to do that. You're going to get him in the passing game. Particularly, if you have a young quarterback, you want to have a threat out of backfield and catch the football, and they're obviously going to have a young quarterback. So I think that makes sense from that standpoint. Is he the same runner he was a couple of years ago? Probably not. But backs have a tendency. As you get older, they start slowing down. And what you have to do is hope they don't go off the cliff. Because we've seen backs, they get to that point and they go, oh, they're slowing down, and then they go right off the cliff.

Yeah, they get blown out. Yeah.

Right. Yeah. So you hope that's not the case. He might have a year or two left in him.

Okay.

The one Austin Echler thing, there was a guy who tweeted out Austin Echler highlights. Maybe it was a month ago being like, This guy is still different, and it was all his highlights. And then the lower bar had obviously the scores happening that day, and one of the notes was like, Kirk Cousins, 17 for 22 for the Washington Redskins. It was like, Shit.

Still got it. That was a long time ago. Still got it, man. You know what's going to be nice, though? I can't remember the last time that we had a running back that was even discussed being drafted in the first two, three rounds of fancy football. So that's cool.

Yeah. Like, premier first rounder.

And again, if you're going to have a quarterback who's a rookie, possibly starting, probably starting, Then you want to have outlets. You get the ball to the back, out of the back. That's the easiest throw for the guy to make. Check it down. Let him get out in space. I think that makes a ton of sense for Washington. I really do.

One signing I thought was really good, much to my dismay and chagrin, was Saquan Saquon Barkley to the Eagles. Saquon's dead to Tiki Barber. He's excommunicated. I think it's a perfect fit. I think that it's a good fit for the Eagles. Dream team, back on.

Yeah, I wouldn't go that far. Look, I like Saquon Barkley. I think he's a really good player, and he's been really limited by what he's had around them because teams load up against the box. I mean, the quarterback in the passing game, one very good. The receivers don't really scare down the field when you were with the Giants. So, yeah, he's a good back. He can do a lot of things. But look at the Eagles defense. Are you better off spending money on that side of the ball? That defense was horrible at the end of last year, and that's where the problems are. So, yes, you're adding a good piece to the offense, but I think they would have been better off spending money on the defensive side of the ball. And spending money on a back isn't usually what they do. That's why it's so out of character for them.

Yeah. All right. So the other big signing, which will start a domino effect, is Kirk Cousins to the Falcons. I'm very curious what your thoughts are, because I like the move in the fact... Well, congrats, Kirk Cousins. He got paid over $400 million in his career. It's incredible. I like the move in the fact that Falcons will be competitive and competent now, and they have all these guys on rookie deals, the skill position guys. But is there not a belief that you're now setting yourself up, if you're the Falcons, Kirk Cousins is a good quarterback. He's good enough that you'll never be so bad that you're in the top of the draft, and you're kicking the can down the road with trying to find a franchise quarterback.

Bingo. And like I said on our stuff yesterday, I said, well, the good news is he won't have to be playing in a lot of big games in Atlanta because we know how he's played in those games in his career not very well. He's won a lot of games. He's put up a lot of yards. But when it comes time in the crunch time and his track record shows it, he hasn't been great. And that's the concern with Kerr Cousins. He was my number one free agent. He should have been. If any team that was quarterback needing, where the Falcons are, you have to go get them. He's going to be a good quarterback for them. But does he put them over the top like you said? If you're going to go pay that money to a quarterback, you want sustainable success, A, or you want to win a Super Bowl in the short term. And can he do that with that roster? I don't think he can. I don't right now. And by the way, I still think Tampa Bay is better than them right now in the division.

Wow. Yeah. And it does. I mean, it's a really tough... Whenever you get the middle class of quarterbacks, it's just a tough decision to make, where it's like, Kirk Cousins is a very good quarterback in the fact that he will not get injured. Obviously, got injured this year. You will win games. He's somewhere in that 10 to 15 range, better than Over half the league, but can he win a Super Bowl? And if he can't, what is the long term play here?

You talk about paying a quarterback. When you look at what happened to Miami the last week and a half, that team has been picked to shreds in large part because they're in capel, but they're also readying to pay their quarterback. And that's one of those guys you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. You almost have to pay him. But what happened? Where does he take you? Does he take you into your contending every year like Mahomes and Allen and those guys do? I don't know if he does. I don't think he does. And he hasn't shown up in the big moments in certain games either. And so that's a concern. But you're right, there's only a certain amount of guys Where you pay them and you know you're going to be around for the next decade. They're going to keep you there. Kirk Cousins isn't that. And I don't know Tua. I don't think Tua is that.

Good news for the Falcons. They had the fewest amount of primetime games last year with zero. That's good. They didn't play in prime time. That might have been something Kirk circled on his pro and con list when he was deciding where to go.

But you guys are absolutely right. $400 million. He's the biggest winner of them all. He's the greatest football player. For what he's done, he's $400 million God bless him.

Yeah, congrats to him. He's a really good guy. If they're going to pay you, they're going to pay you. Who cares?

Yeah, he played the system perfectly the way that it happened. Yes, he did. He was a fourth-round draft pick, and then he got tagged twice in DC. That's He has guaranteed big money right there for just two seasons. Then he goes to Minnesota, gets another guaranteed contract. Now he's going to Atlanta. He has worked the system perfectly for a slightly above average quarterback that's a good guy to hang out with. That's his maximized What value?

Rick Spielman works with us, and every Sunday we're in there, and every time we see him, I go, You gave him that much guaranteed money? What the hell were you thinking? What were you thinking?

Yeah, it's crazy.

He's been a good quarterback for them. But like you said, is he ever a great quarterback? And the answer to that question is no.

So Kirk Cousins is gone. Russell Wilson of the Steelers. You saw, obviously, James Winston, who we think was the number one free agent signing to the Browns. What does the rest of What does the QB carousel look like? Specifically, Bear's Twitter is going nuts because we can't figure it out. I think it's a mistake if they keep Justin Fields past the draft and have Caleb Williams have to walk into a locker room and see Justin Fields there. But where's he going to go? Obviously, we've overrated his value. So what is it going to be and is it going to happen?

I think it'll happen. It's a matter of what they want to get for him now. There's no market there. They signed Garner Minchou. The Raiders paid Garner Minchou rather than making a move to go get Justin Fields. That should speak volumes about what the league thinks about Justin Fields. I think it would be a good option for him, maybe go become a backup somewhere like in Indianapolis. Minchou is out of there. You have a mobile quarterback that's there, but he was hurt last year and he's had some injury issues. So why not go there, learn that offense? And maybe that'll be something that will help rejuvenate you and show people you can in that offense if you do indeed get on the field play and then maybe you get another opportunity. I don't think right now there's a starting job for him. I thought Atlanta was a possibility if they didn't get cousins, but where's an opportunity for him to start right now?

It's the contract, too, because You got to then you get them and then you got to figure out if you want to pick up the fifth-year deal. Do you think that the bears will trade him, though, before they draft Kael Williams? Because it does feel like it's a ticking time bomb if you say, Hey, we're going to just try to hold on to him and get better value in the season. That feels like a recipe for some bad locker room vibes.

Or you hold on to them until somebody has an injury in training camp and wants to get desperate for a quarterback. That happened in the Vikings back in the day. Remember when Bridge The water went down, they gave up a first-round pick for Sam Bradford, which turned out to be a disaster. So teams get desperate. Maybe you hold on to them that way. And then you hope they can coexist if they're there together. And now, whether they can, knows that you're right. It could have factions in the locker room that think fields is better, factions in the locker room that want Williams. He caused problems that way. But that's where coaches and everybody else come into play. You got to be able to handle that.

Yeah.

I could see the logic behind that, keeping him until training camp because you're probably going to increase your trade value from a fourth to a second round pick, maybe, if you hang on to him that long. It's just a matter of how do you handle having an established guy that the locker room has gravitated towards in the past while bringing in a new guy. Is a new guy going to be set back because of that? Yeah.

I mean, Caleb Williams is clearly going to be the pick now. That's quite obvious. And should he be? Probably. I mean, there's a lot of things to like about him. And if you're a Bear's fan, you should be excited. There's also some concerns about him. I mean, he doesn't throw on time in rhythm all the time. He's got the wow play down. It takes deep drops. And then he cried after a game, which is never a good look.

Of course, Pete doesn't like that. You don't like his fingernails either. What do you think about the pain, Pete?

I don't care about the fingernails. That doesn't bother me one bit. I just don't think you should ever cry after losing a football game. I like that man, Tate.

And by the way, I apologize.

If there was a death in the family or something that week, I apologize. But if there was not, you were crying over the football game, bad luck.

Okay, so I think it's always appropriate to cry after a loss and during the national anthem.

I mean, one, Maybe during the national anthem, if you get emotional over something, okay, maybe there was something that went on in your life. I don't mind that. But after a loss, there's no way you cry after a loss.

It means he cares.

He's crying over football. No, it doesn't. No, he's crying over football. No, it doesn't.

It does. No, crying over football. No, it doesn't. Okay, then why doesn't the rest of the team cry? Because they don't care.

They probably do. I bet you a lot of guys cry privately without you realizing it. When you were shooting- Yeah, if I have a bad gambling day, a really bad one, I'll do a little tear in the shower. When you were shooting those free throws, when you were bricking free throws all over the place and couldn't get the streak though in that day, did you cry afterwards? I was close to crying. If I had missed 39 and 40 that last time, I 100% would have cried, but that would have been more out of exhaustion. Because we were up for 24 hours.

There's no way. I can tell you with 100% certainty, even when I was a kid, I didn't cry over losing a game.

He's a strong Italian man. Listen, I This is why we love having you on because you always give us at least one of these. While we're talking about Caleb Williams, can you rank your quarterbacks, the six guys that are going to most likely be drafted in the first two rounds?

Yes, and I got more work to do on them, but my preliminary ranking is, I I think Jaden Daniels will be the best of them. Oh, this hurts. He's the most improved player I've ever seen in my entire life. Wow. Most improved. And I'm a Sun Devil. I watch them at Arizona State. One very good. And now what he What he can do with the ball is his ball placement, his accuracy, his ability to run. I mean, he can run, too. That's the other thing. So I probably rank him slightly close. Him and Caleb Williams, one or two, then Drake May. And then I don't love JJ McCarthy. I don't see it. I just don't see it. I take him in the second round, but he's going to get drafted in the top 10. I don't see that. Then I'd probably go Penix right in there with him. And a guy I like is Pratt from Tulane third round.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I think he's one of those guys you got down the line guys, you might end up getting a good quality starter out of that.

Pete, I just looked it up. Tom braided cried several times after football games.

Not a winner. Did he? Not a winner.

I didn't say he wasn't a winner. I didn't say he wasn't a winner.

It's just Pete doesn't like it. That's okay. Yeah, you can do that.

I love it.

When did braided cry?

What games did he cry after? After the Super Bowl, after the Eagles Super Bowl, he cried. He's at the podium Right now, I'm watching this video after a Stealers loss. It looks like when he was on the Bucaneers, they lost the Stealers, and he was getting teary-eyed at the podium.

I don't like that either.

Okay. I'm bringing you a bust.

I I always tell guys, if the worst thing that ever happens to you in your damn life is you lost a football game, you had a hell of a life.

All right, that's good perspective. I have a question about JJ McCarthy real quick, Pete. How are war rooms deciphering JJ McCarthy? Because you have these competing things where it's like, he wasn't asked to do a lot, but what he did was good. But can he do more? We never saw it in college. That's really what the crux of the argument is. So how are guys analyzing it and seeing, okay, this is what he could do, or we've seen all of it, and there's not much more there.

Yeah. And again, when you evaluate him, there are games he stands in the pocket when he does make the throws and there's nobody near him. I mean, the offensive line was good in protection and nobody near him. So it's hard to evaluate that. But I think you're trying to take the skillset and translate it to the next level. There's a lot to like. He doesn't have a great arm. He has a pretty good arm. He can move, but he's not like Jaden Daniels. So there are some things there. I just don't... I think the league... You know what I think the league is guilty of? And just like the Twitter media and the cults, I call them the draft cult. One says it, so two says it, so four say it, then eight say it. And In the NFL, a guy will talk to a guy and go, Hey, I really like that McCarthy guy. Well, I watched them. I didn't like them. But let me go back to watch them. Hey, now I like them. I saw what you see. And then he tells him, and then he tells him, Oh, look at JJ McCarthy.

All of a sudden, they all convince themselves that he should be a high first-round pick, and that's how mistakes get made.

Do you think maybe there's a GM out there that's saying that because he knows that, and so he's going to just be like, Hey, JJ McCarthy, pretty good, knowing that people will pair it that and repeat it, knowing that JJ McCarthy is actually not that good?

Yes, it's lying season. Everybody lies to try. But you know guys you trust, and there are people in the league that trust each other, and they could go on that. There are too many guys that I talk to, they're forcing this up a little bit. And we've seen it play out over the course of the recent draughts, look at all the quarterbacks from the Trevor Lawrence draft. They're all nowhere now. So I think you got to be careful with that. Do your own work, do your own evaluation. If you like them, you like them. If you don't, don't listen to anybody else.

Yeah, there's another quarterback that's in the news today. Josh Allen restructured his deal. He got just, I guess, all the money up front. I don't really understand how that works. Great guy. You're an Italian, so you're an expert in money laundering. How does that work in terms of converting all that money that you will owe him into a signing? But why don't they just do that every year with every quarterback?

You're stereotyping the Italian man, aren't you?

I'm 2% Sicilian. I can say it.

No. What you do is you give them the... You make it bonus money so you get it right now and then spread it over the course of the contract and add on years. That's how you make it less of a cap hit. It's great for the player because you put it in your pocket right now.

Because it's a great thing. It's funny how that got framed. It's like, Thank you, Josh, for restructuring your deal. No, that's good for him.

That's great for him. It's great for him. By the way, there's an Exhibit A on what the Twitter draft cult and the NFL can do to a player. They all killed that kid for years, and nobody would ever come off of it. Even during draft process, if I remember back to that, that was criminal what they did to him.

Yep, not us. We're on the right side of history.

Not me.

It feels good to be right, Pete.

It does. It does feel good because I've had many wrong ones, so I'll be right.

I'll take that one. You always grade free agent signings. You always say, Okay, this is the best deal. This is the best player, most impact, most improved team. What would you say is the one player that you like to sign the most? And then two, which team got better? Which team do you think led the league in improving themselves so far?

Well, that's a good question. I think the Vikings defense really improved itself. And they're going to have to because they're going to have to win games because Sam Darnal is going to be their quarterback, it looks like, unless they go up and get JJ McCarthy. So I think adding Jonathan Grinard is a good signing for them. Adding Van Ginkle, who's a heck of a football player, has the same hairstyle as you, by the way. You And then they also had a Blake Cashman. With what Flores can do with those guys, they can do a lot of different things. I think they had a good free agency class on that side of the ball. Now, you lost your quarterback, so it negates that a little bit, obviously, because the quarterback is so valuable. As far as individual signings, let me think off top. I'm trying to think. You know me, I'm not going to put a running back signing up there. I like- I got- Go ahead.

I was going I like Christian Wilkins to the Raiders because I think that defensive line is going to be ferocious now with Max Crosby. Put another dude on that line.

And you know what? Everybody doubles Max Crosby, and now if you put Wilkins next to him, you can't double as much. And you're right. That's a really good sign. I also like teams that went out and bolstered their offensive line. And I'll give you an example. The Tennessee Titans had been awful on the offensive line. Will Nevis got abused. He got abused last year. Getting Cushenberry to play center for them is big for them. It really is. Now they can draft the left tackle in the first round, and all of a sudden, you have a left side with Skaransky and the left tackle. All of a sudden, you got themselves a much improved offensive line, and you got to build it around that quarterback. So I think that's a good signing. I think Carolina getting their guards. I mean, they paid a lot of money for the guards, but you have a little quarterback. You can't have pressure on the inside with a little quarterback.

Now, since you brought up Carolina, they just did it again. They just keep making the worst deals ever. The fact that they traded Brian Burns for what? A second round pick?

Maybe a second and a fifth.

Two and a five. But it was a swap of the fifth.

It's also what the Giants got for Leonard Williams. So it's like they ended up with Brian Burns over Leonard Williams for the same draft compensation.

But the craziest part about this is Brian Burns, the Rams, were ready to offer two first rounders, what, a year and a half ago? And they said no on a season that went nowhere. They just keep doing this. It's insane.

Well, this one is on them now. The other ones were on the last regime, so you can't really blame Dan Morgan and gang for that. This was one of those situations where if Okay, let's look at it from the Ram standpoint. If you were really going to give two first-round pics away for Brian Burns, that would have been a terrible trade anyways. I mean, you turned it down if you're Carolina, but if the Rams were going to do that, that would have been a bad trade because you ultimately got to pay them, too. Anytime Every time you trade and pay first-round... If you trade a first-round pick and you pay a guy, that's where you run into problems because you're giving away cheap assets and players that you build your team around. For a guy, you're going to have to pay a mega contract. I always think that's too risky. I mean, all you got to do is look at the Russell Wilson deal. How'd that work out?

Yeah. So Russell Wilson, do you think Russell Wilson is going to win the starting job in Pittsburgh?

It's going to be a competition. I'm not going to sit here and say he's just going to win it. I think he's been bad the last couple of years. I really do. His whole game was predicated on getting outside the pocket and making plays. And he wasn't as quick. He wasn't as elusive. He wasn't as one of those guys that could make those plays. And he leaves so many pockets. Talking to people in Denver, it was so frustrating because he would have clean pockets at times and never step up. He just leaves or take a sack. And you can put on a tape and watch boatloads of plays like that where I could see where it would frustrate anybody. So I'm not one that everybody sits here and says, Oh, Russell Wilson is going to put the Steelers in the playoffs. No, I think he's going to have a quarterback competition with Picket, and that tells you where Russell Wilson is as a player.

Also, Russell Wilson doesn't realize this. It obviously wasn't what he thought when signing. But the idea of Russell Wilson starting 17 games for the Pittsburgh Steelers and being the guy who breaks Mike Tomlin's over 500 streak would be... I mean, talk about the final nail in the coffin in terms of your reputation. Because Tomlin's done it with all these old big band and everything. That's a brutal division. Yeah.

Brutal division when you think about it. The Ravens, we know what they have. Joe Burrow back, you know what they are. And then you have the Browns who are a playoff team, and they're going to get Watson back. So no, that's tough to do, even if Russell Wilson is the starting quarterback. That's going to be a challenge for them.

Yeah. I don't know if Russ is going to be able to hold up to Mike Tomlin's coaching. He did not get along with Sean Payton. He needs guy that's friendly to him, needs to pat him on the back, all positive energy. I don't know that Mike is going to be that guy. I would not pencil in Russ Wilson as the starting quarterback just yet. That's what I'm getting at.

Has Russ Wilson ever left the team where everybody was just angry that he left?

Nc State.

Yeah. That's a good answer. But the NFL, has that ever happened? When he left Seattle, you didn't hear any people all upset about it. Then when he left Denver, they didn't care. I mean, He's not a great teammate. You hear the stories, he's not a great teammate.

Counterpoint, though, when he announced that he was going to Pittsburgh, his tweet that he put out was just the Renegade song. So he gets it. He bought in.

That was sick.

The Steelers love the Renegade song, and everybody's taken it and run with it all over the country now. You ever see that in any college football? In high school, they play it all the time now.

Yeah, it gets people going for sure. All right, so back to Kirk Cousins real quick, though, because I wanted to dispute one thing that you said. I actually think that this is a great signing by the Falcons because Kirk Cousins going to Atlanta, the expectation is not the Super Bowl. They had a quarterback for the past two seasons that he would take way too many chances with the ball, right? The knock against Kirk Cousins is he doesn't take chances at all sometimes, even when maybe he should. But with the dynamic playmakers that they have, having a safe quarterback, I do think makes them the favorite to win that division. I think that they're a top three, top four team in the NFC right now just because he is safe. He's like Matt Ryan Light, where you can put him back there. He's not going to turn the ball over 20 times in a year. He's not going to fumble on the goal line twice in a game. There's a lot of games that the Falcons could have won last year if they just had a guy that was competent. I think if there's one thing you could say about Kirk Cousins, he's exceedingly competent.

Yes, he's definitely competent. I just think Tampa's better. I just think they're a better football team. The offensive line in Atlanta, pretty good. Robinson can run it, so that's pretty good. Pitz is a guy that comes close to living up to the expectations. Drake London, maybe now with Kirk Cousins, he'll be better. But what about the defense? Who's the pass rushers on that defense? They don't have any real threats as pass rushers, and that's always a concern. Look, they'll be in the mix to win the division. It's going to be close just like it was last year. I don't think anybody's winning 11 games in that division. Do you?

I don't. I think the Falcons can win 11 games. Yeah, I do.

I don't. You want to bet?

Yeah. We'll bet your liquor bottle you walk around within your pocket.

A bottle of Mad Dog. Yeah. Yeah, there you go. You have to chug a bottle of Mad Dog at the Super Bowl next year.

I'm not chugging a bottle of Mad Dog. There's no conceival way I'm chugging a bottle of Mad Dog.

You can do it.

You have to finish a bottle of Mad Dog. No, I'm not making that bet.

I'll buy you one.

How about that? Okay, The deal.

The 11 games?

Eleven games. Eleven games is a lot, PFT.

Are you sure about this? I think the Falcons can win eleven games next year. Yes. A lot of games. That's a lot of games. There's a lot of games. Listen, I like Kirk. I like the fit there.

You do make a good point about the NFC, though. When you compare it to the AFC and the NFC, the NFC, there aren't a lot of great teams in the NFC. The quarterbacks are all in the AFC. The NFC is, if you got hot at the right time, you might be able to win the NFC.

You make a lot of good points. I'm looking at their schedule real quick. They play the AFC West, it looks like. No, they just have the Broncos. That's the one. Okay. Oh, no, they do. That's winable. No, they do play the AFC West. They have the Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders, Saints, or sorry, Raiders, Broncos. Yeah, I don't know, 11 games, a lot of games. It's a lot of games.

Eleven games is a lot of games. That's a lot of wins for that team. Even inside the division, the Saints are always a good game with them. That's tough. The Bucks are going to be good. That's tough to get them up.

I'm going to step in here. I think, PFT, you should just wait a second on this because this is your Kirk Cousins. I'm caught up. Kirk Cousins disease. I think he is. He is.

At least- I've got the opposite of Kirk derangement syndrome. I've got Kirk excitement syndrome.

Maybe 10 is where you want to do this bet.

Ten and a half. No, he made 11. I know. We compromised.

All right, so Pete, last question, rowback question. All Show, B-A-C-K. Com promo code. Take 20% off your first purchase, Q-zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. We should have mentioned the Texans have been... I think Texans have made some good defensive additions. Even the Lions made some good defensive additions. But I have to ask because you're here, you're Jacksonville Jaguars. I like the Mitch Morris signing. I like the Gabe Davis signing. What do you think? Have we looked at their schedule? Are they a Super Bowl team again next year? No, they're not. And the Mac Jones. You got Mac Jones.

Yeah. Look, last year was a A disaster, by the way, in large part for a bunch of reasons, one being the center. Thankfully, they replaced them. Mitch Morris can actually move people. They'll be protected on the inside better. That's good because Trevor Lawrence couldn't step up. He started getting out of there. I think getting Gabe Davis gives them a deep threat down the field, which they need. They'd like to keep Ridley. If they could keep Ridley, then I think Zay Jones might be out. Then you'd have Ridley, Kirk, and Gabe Davis, I think, which would be good for them. Defense Defensively, adding the corner, I think makes sense in derby. Not a great player, but didn't cost them a lot of money. They got to get better on the interior of their defensive line. That's one of the priorities has to be that. And so I think they'll be good. They'll be better next year. They had a winning season. They won, what, nine games, and they weren't that good at the end of the year. So I think they can still push to win that division. But the Texans have the best quarterback in the division now.

There's no doubt about that.

Credit to us. We've gone this entire time talking about the NFL. We haven't mentioned Hank's Dallas Cowboys once. That's got to be a record for any segment that you've ever done. But it feels like they haven't done anything, right?

They haven't done anything. Look, sometimes you can wait in free agency and get some margins down the road. If you look at free agency over the course of history. Everybody gets excited about these guys, and most of them are gone in two years. I think you can get some margins there. But Dallas needs to get better against the run. I mean, that's number one priority. They have to be able to stop the run. They were getting gashed at end of last year. And so I think that's something you got to keep an eye on. Do they bring in a linebacker or two and maybe get big guy on the defensive line? They have to.

All right. Well, Pete, thank you as always. You make time for us. We love having you on. Men shouldn't cry after football games. What about fans? Are fans allowed to cry after football game?

I'm expecting you guys to throw that on a T-shirt soon, and you'll be selling those.

Men don't cry. Boys don't cry.

Yeah. Wait, can you cry if you're a fan?

No.

Oh.

We have a guy that works with He does some stuff with us, and he is a big Eagles fan. When they won that Super Bowl, he had video of himself like bowling. I mean, no.

Wait, you can't cry over a Super Bowl win? When are men allowed to cry in your mind, Pete?

When bad things happen in your life. Losing a Super Bowl is not a bad thing. It's a football game.

What about at your wedding? Are you allowed to cry at your wedding?

Yeah, you could cry at your wedding. I didn't, but you can cry at your wedding.

What about when Michael has to kill Fred Dino. That was sad.

That was sad. Because you know what? When you watch stuff like that, you put yourself in that situation. Yeah, the Italians. All right, we found a place. I'm going to kill your brother.

Godfather's the only time men can cry. I like Yeah, right?

Well, you put yourself in that situation. Can I kill my brother Richie? Let me see. Would I have to put him down? Yeah.

You had to. All right. What about when Bobby Bacala gets shot in the toy train shop? That was sad.

Yeah, that was sad. But sometimes I don't understand why you have things have to be done. Things have to be done.

Oh, Calvin Ridley is a Patriot. This is Breaking Moves. Oh, wow.

There you go.

So they don't... So everything you just said, throw it out.

They wanted him. It was just a matter of whether they would go to his price, and I guess they got near it. Oh, wait, no.

I'm reading it wrong. New England is pushing to sign free agent Calvin Ridley, but sources believe that he currently prefers to return to Jacksonville, and he's been discussing a deal with Jaguars. That wasn't phoneworthy, Jake. That was- By the way- Because I read it, and I was He's like, Oh, he's a Patriot. He just wants to stay in Jacksonville.

Well, here's why he wants to stay in Jacksonville. Let me tell you, he had trouble learning the offense last year, and so he doesn't really want to go somewhere else and have to learn another one. Got it. That was serious. He even said that.

That's very relatable. I'm not going to Jake, that was a Schefter dupe. Schefter tweeting basically that Calvin Ridley hasn't gone anywhere but put the name Patriots in there. That's a weird tweet by Schefter. He duped us all.

He knows that he's got- Well, the Patriots are trying to get him.

Right.

But that was- Schefter knows that people have notifications set on their phone for him. So a lot of times, he'll bury the actual story behind the dot, dot, dot. And we got dot, dot, dotted by Schefter.

We got dot, dot, dotted. All right.

Well, Pete, thank you as always. We got to see you soon. We miss you. All right.

Yeah. I thought I'd see you guys at the Super Bowl or something, but I didn't even see it.

What did you do in Vegas? What was the Prisco Lounge?

You were at the White Rhino all week. I saw your office. Spearmet Rhino. Spearmant Rhino. White Rhino.

You guys were there. You had VIP. You had throwing money around with a little gun shooting the hundreds out into the crowd. I know how you guys operate.

We should go to a strip club.

Peter, you're a strip club guy?

No way. I haven't been in a long time.

I mean, a Florida guy. I assume everyone from Florida was like, that's where you get chrissened in a strip club.

He's a brothel guy.

No. Back in the day, we used to go to the strip joints all the time down here. I mean, there was a Wild Wild West back in the day. Back in the day. I'm a married man now.

I don't go to strip joints. I was down in Florida a month ago, and my buddy was like, Yeah, we shouldn't go to a strip club while we're down here because it's not nude. Apparently, you have to wear pasties down in Florida. Is that true?

No, it depends on where you're at.

That's not true. That's a regional one.

Yeah. No, that's not true. Some of them, yes, some of them, no. What city were you in?

Just south of Jacksonville. I was in Ponteviedra.

Yeah, Yeah, Jacksville. Yeah, that's true. That's exactly right. What were you doing in Pontiviedra? Look at you, high fluten in Pontiviedra.

I was drilling the 17th green at Sawgrass is what I was doing.

And what did you do?

I got a birdie.

I did that once We got a birdie on there. It was being filmed.

That ruins the entire thing. We're editing this. Pete Prisco and PFT commenter, two heavy hitters in the golf world.

I hit like three. It was like for a thing we filmed for TV, I put it right next to the pin made the birdie. Then we played around. After we were around, got to the 17th and plunked about four of them, I think, in the wall when nobody was watching.

That's fine. No, you got a birdie. We both got birdies. Two great golfers. Yeah, I got a birdie.

No, I'm not a good golfer, but I did birdie that one. Are you good?

No, I'm terrible. No, we're not good. I'm horrendous.

This guy takes lessons twice a week. I've seen him.

Who are you talking about?

You.

Me? I've never taken a lesson in my life. I'm I'm not going to let another man- I don't do anything. I'm not going to let another man teach me how to swing a golf club.

Hank, you're thinking of Hank.

Hank takes lessons.

I'm going to take lessons because I'm getting frustrated with my game, so I'm going to take lessons.

Yeah, it won't fix anything. You'll still suck.

No, it's You know what stinks about the game is if you don't start playing until you're older, you're never going to really good at it. Did you play as a kid? Did either of you play as a kid?

No. We got Derrick Henry to the Ravens.

How much was the money?

20 million, including 9 million fully guaranteed in the first year. So it's probably a one-year deal for 9 million.

Yeah, that's a good, decent deal for them.

Yeah, I like that for them. But the problem is, will they run the ball? You have the running back, you got to actually run the ball.

I agree. But also, he started breaking down a little bit the last couple of years. He doesn't have the same pop he had a couple of years ago.

I'm concerned with the speed in which Adam Schefter has these photoshops ready to go. We were talking about the other day. He probably has Derek in three different uniforms just in case, and then he tells them which one to put in his tweet, right?

Or he knows it's coming and just puts it out and waits for it.

So you're saying that there's tampering that happens before the legal tampering went on? You kidding me?

Back in the day, they did the- You kidding me? Remember when the Pro Bowl used to be in January in Hawaii, the whole thing, every agent in the world went out there and tampered in Hawaii. They had deals done in January. You kidding me?

I just love the idea. You kidding That the NFL was like, Okay, you guys tamper so much. We'll make it legal to tamper, but there's still tampering that happens well before that.

Yeah, exactly. All these deals are done and the free agency period hasn't even started yet.

Yeah, it's crazy. All right, Pete. Thanks so much, man. We'll talk to you soon.

Pete Prisco is brought to you by Proper 12 Irish Whisky. St. Patty's has almost arrived. Proper number 12 is here to remind you Practice makes proper. Proper 12 is brought to you by a true Irishman, Dublin 12's own, the notorious Connor McGregor. Proper 12 pays homage to Connor's Irish hometown roots. It's a rich and smooth blend of golden grains, single malt aged four years in bourbon barrels. Anything else just wouldn't be proper. Pour the roar this St. Patty's Day with a proper green tea shot made with smooth and rich proper Irish whiskey. Create your own St. Patty's lure when you pour the Roar. Pete Prisco was also brought to you by our great friends over at Dave & Busters. Dave & Busters is the best place to watch basketball this March. Eighty-six % of American employees will spend at least some time at work keeping track of March basketball. Also, if anybody out there puts out the productivity stats when it comes to the tournament and how much time and money is being wasted by American employees, that person is a cop. They're an arc. Don't listen to them. Just keep it moving. It's okay.

It's okay to duck out. It's okay to watch basketball on TV. Stop pretending to work. Watch the games at Dave and Busters on March 21st. Dave and Busters Nationwide will have an all-day happy hour to celebrate the first full day of games. I love Dave and Busters. Babe, you love Busters. You love it so much. Go back. Go back. Stop pretending to work. Come to Dave and Busters on March 21st for all day happy hour and all day basketball. I can't think of a better place in the world to watch that first week in the games than that Dave and Busters. It's the best. The games, the TVs, the food's really good. Great drinks, Dave and Busters. Check it out.

Okay, let's wrap up. We got guys on Chicks, Henry, Read it.

Hey, Big Cat, PFT Hank, Jake Memes, Pug, and Burrito Boy. What are your thoughts on how common it is for women to get Botox/filler/plastic surgery nowadays? I am 26 years old, and I'm one of the only ones that are my friends who has not gotten a lip fill or some injection yet. Do guys like the big fake lips? And what plastic surgery Botox injection would you guys all get done to yourselves if you could?

Is this Kate Middleton?

Might be. She's dead. She's getting divorced, actually. The woman that is cheating on Prince William.

Prince William. It's the most British title of all time.

Yeah, so here's her title. Lady Rose. She's Lady Rose Hanbury, marchanaise of Colmage Colindelli. Yeah.

If you look her up, she looks like the ultimate mistress. She looks so prissy. The article that they wrote yesterday about her, which was very clearly planted by somebody who's in the know about this, made several references to the fact that her husband is very old and that she lives right down the street from the royal family. Yes.

Lady Rose Hanbury.

The question is, is it okay to get plastic surgery? Thoughts. Okay. Yeah, go for it. I think lip fillers are similar to my chapstick take.

It's like once you get it and then you get addicted to it, then you always need it. It's a dangerous path to go down.

I am really bad at noticing any type of plastic surgery or anything. If I can notice it, then it's too much. You know what I mean? I think a A lot of girls do this. They get the Botox, they get the lip fillers. I don't even know. I can't tell any of that shit. But if you're walking around and your face looks like wax, then yeah, that's probably a problem. There's in limits. If I could get it, I don't know, what would you guys get?

What plastic surgery would you guys get done to yourselves if you could? Liposuction? I got an implant.

Where?

Your ass? Chin implant.

Oh, that would rock.

You should do it.

I've looked into it.

I don't know if it's a chin implant. Wouldn't they have to just break your jaw and then reconstruct it?

I don't know. It can be done. I'm just not that self-conscious.

I'd get a breast reduction for sure.

I'll get calf implant. You remember that guy in True Life?

What about the... You can grow. They can give you five inches. Yeah.

They break your legs. Yeah. When that news article came out, I got tagged a million times, and it thanks everyone. But yeah, they can give you five inches of height, but they break both your shins. Then every couple of weeks, they just Unscrew your bones further and further apart, and then your bone heals in between and you grow. Yeah, I'd probably do that. I'd probably be able to dunk before Hank.

Yeah.

It's like a two-year recovery time.

I'm dunking. You're ready to go in no time.

Hey, gang. My boyfriend and I just moved in together, and sharing a bathroom has already become a huge problem. He constantly misses the toilet, and the next time I walk in, drops of piss are always on the seat. I'm always the one who has to clean it up, and I'm tired of it. He says that he is trying to execute the silent piss. Do all guys try to pee as quiet and as hard as possible? Sure, I'd be concerned. I'm a huge silent pisser.

Yeah, you got to piss on the toilet, the rim, without hitting the water.

Unless I have to pee really bad, and then I like to feel the power.

Hear the power. For the first couple of seconds, and you're like, Wow, that's like a jet engine on my dick.

You could do what I do with my son, just put a cheerio in there and be like, Hit the cheerio.

That's a good target practice.

It's so easy.

I always used to try the X in the urinals in school, and it pops back up.

Splashes, yeah. There's a couple of moves you can do that probably lead themselves to sprinkling on the seat a little bit. One is like what Big Cat said, where you aim for the side of the porcelain so it's not making the big splash on. The other is timing the flush to coincide with the end of your pee. Oh, yeah, do it all the time. Which is so much fun to do. But a lot of times you end up convincing yourself that you're already done peeing. You start to back away, and then you get a little on the rim.

Yeah, it's efficiency. You could also offer him the sink. I think that's the problem solved.

I never noticed it in our other bathroom. Really, other bathroom I've been in, but there is a lot of leakage.

It's Brandon Walker. It's crazy. He copped to it. He accidentally- It's crazy. We were having the conversation a few days ago, and we were like, Yeah, there's a lot of piss on the ground in front of the urinal. He's like, Yeah, every time I dribble, I'm like, Wow, there's a lot of piss on the ground. I was like, What did you just say? He was like, That's him. It's him.

I would suspect if there's a significant amount of liquid on the floor in bathroom, it would be Max, given his recent history.

Yeah, no, it's Brandon.

Yeah.

It's Brandon. You remember when you're innocent.

Remember that one person that was putting their boogers on the wall at the old HQ in New York? Did we ever find out who that was?

We thought it was Mantis, but then it kept on going. I can't be mad at Mantis. Mantis has my heart for life with what he did for the free throw challenge.

Yeah.

Threw in heaven.

He could still be in this office.

He's doing a livestream that's not going to end until he hits 100 in a row.

Whoa. Where's he doing it?

Pro Young Mantis YouTube. Okay. What's up, PMT boys? I'm an AWL in college. I broke up with my boyfriend of three years before I left for college, but we are still friends. I met a guy at a party here. We hooked up and are now friends with benefits. I like him, but don't know if he wants something serious. He takes me on dates, but we also go out and party a ton with our friends. Sounds awesome.

This sounds like dating. This sounds like just being single in college. The question is like, I'm single in college. Your comments. I don't believe...

Yeah, this is so... You couldn't fake this. I don't think if you tried. I still talk to my ex, and he says, That's crazy because he broke up with his ex at the same time as me, and they don't talk.

Why are you doing that with your hand?

I'm talking like she's writing it.

Okay, keep going.

Is this how women speak In your experience, Hank?

Do you think he's into me? Should I ask him if he is?

All right, so I don't understand the question. From what I understand, she broke up with her boyfriend, went to college, hooked up with a guy at a party, goes on dates with him sometimes and parties with him some other times. Pretty crazy story. Then he broke up with his girlfriend, and they don't talk.

No. I still talk to my ex, and he says that's crazy. He being the friend benefits. Yeah.

Oh. But they're not dating.

I think she's asking, Do you think her ex is into her? No. No. No, wait. I'm confused. I got to finish. All right, let me finish the whole thing. I'm confused. Let me finish the whole thing. I think it'll clear it up. Do you think he's into me? Should I ask him if he is? Also, his roommate asked to run a two-man with my roommates, which is crazy, and I don't think any of us are into that. Thanks, guys. Love the pod.

I think if the question is, do you think he's into me and he's hooking up with you? Probably.

Yeah. Well, he's technically, yes.

At times- We don't know what hooking... He's into you and then out of you really quickly. Yeah. And then back into you again.

Sounds like you should just be single and maybe do the threesome thing.

No, two-man.

Two-man, the two-man. Two-man Tuesdays. What are you going to say, Max?

I think that the guy likes her, but The guy also wants to fuck other girls. Right.

Then just be single yourself. Yeah, be single yourself.

It sounds like this is- You're in college. This is a great relationship that you're in right now where it's not really dating him.

Also, the roommate that asked to run the two men was also just the guy telling his roommate to ask because he wants to probably bang your roof.

Right. So stay single because you're going to get your heart broken if you fall for this guy. Yeah.

If you end up liking him, just know that he's the guy that wants to share you with his roommate.

No, share her roommate with his roommate.

There's a lot going on in this question.

Yeah, there was a lot going on. All right. That it? Yeah. All right. Good show. Andrew Santino on Friday. We'll record late after the games as well. Remind Here's your Pancake stream starting at 5:00 PM central on all of our channels, and then Chilly stream starting at 1:00 PM central on all of our channels on Thursday. Pancake stream tomorrow, or today, Wednesday. Okay. All right. Numbers. 8, 40, 20, 3.

77, 18.

Ball's still up top.

Where's Pug?

He's at a doctor's appointment.

Again? Another vet? Yeah. The fuck? This guy okay? 92. 92.

Love you guys.

I don't know what to say or say it anyway. Today is a hot day to find you. I'll be coming for your love of pain, your love of big. Take me off. Take me off. I'll be gone. I'll be blessed to say I'm all set in, but I'll be stumbling away. Slightly learned, life is okay. Say up to me. It's no better to be safe inside. To be safe inside. Take me on. Take me on. Take me on. Are we on? Are we on? ♪ But after long, too ♪ ♪ Suddenly, suddenly, I won't send it ♪ It's funny, it's done right away ♪ Still, then life is okay, say up to me ♪ It's a better two than say, tell me, say, tell me, say, tell me, say, tell me ♪ Don't need to call me ♪.