Stuck out here during these economically turbulent times, everyone is looking for a way to feel more financially secure. So if you are still needlessly throwing money every month at high interest credit card debt, it's time you checked out upstart, the revolutionary online lending platform that knows you are more than just a credit score. Unlike other lenders, upstart can reward you based on your education and job history in the form of a smarter rate. You don't need a degree or diploma to apply, though.

Upstart lets you skip going to the bank because it's completely online. They offer loans from one thousand dollars to fifty thousand dollars so you can consolidate your debt into one easy fixed rate payment. The best part, if the loan is approved and accepted, most people get their funds the very next business day. SeeWhy Upstart has a four point nine and a five rating on trust pilot and her upstart dotcom slashed in. To find out how low your upstart rate can be, checking your rate only takes a few minutes.

That's upstart dot dotcom slashed and again, upstart dotcom slashed in your loan amount will be determined based on your credit income and certain other information provided in your loan application. Not all applicants will qualify for the full amount.

Welcome, Dan Levy, to really being honest about just a giant piece of shit to the big, silly Bald Eagles, a podcast exclusive that none of our bosses ask for more sports, more work, less pay.

I haven't stopped talking in a month.

I mean, I tell you, just when you thought the show couldn't be more diluted than last time I listened to this show. I haven't listened for years.

Now here's the marching band. No way am I missing something.

What am I missing? The end of the story. That phase. Chris Fallica, it's Fallica you made on the penis and the habitual liar.

I didn't ask for any of it was for all of it. The Big Suey.

I'm Chris Codi BSP and what a roller coaster ride that was for the Taysom Hill NFL Twitter experience.

You know so much and I'm fine wanting Jamous over.

And let's just all agree that Drew Brees is the worst quarterback on that roster.

I want you to know that I said he was good last year. I was like my big take. Also, I'm going to go ahead and get out in front of this. I'm going to admit I was wrong on Justin Herbert. I thought he had potential. He's good. Yeah, he's better than Drew Brees is right now. He still might end up being the third best quarterback from that draft.

You be careful with the two stuff. I've been seeing it on Twitter. A lot of people are doing this to be careful. A lot of people are doing the twist stuff. They should really, honestly be doing the burro stuff.

Yeah, we talked about yeah, we talked about that as well. And my dad was saying that the rumblings have already started from Dolphins fans that they want herbut over to.

And I'm like, what do you just know one guy tweet that they've inexplicably skipped over Joe Burrow.

In a discussion after the game last night, Ryan Clark, ESPN said pretty much said, I wonder if the Dolphins made a mistake taking Touya instead of herbut to hasn't even thrown a ball yet.

Can you give him a chance to feel strong on Ryan Clark or what?

Hubbard is one in four. I mean, he's not he's been good. You know, he wouldn't even be starting if the team doctor hadn't punctured Tyrod Taylor as long.

I like these organic starts because we've been rolling on the big screen. It just makes it seem as though like we're just big scheme heads and just huge sports fans and we love talking.

But that was a natural conversation. None of them knew that they were on on air when they were doing it. Greg, the thing that I marvel at when it comes to these young quarterbacks and we come from a different time, but usually the way that they would look after sitting for a couple of years on the bench is like they didn't know what they were doing. The idea that Herbert has come in and looked like this, where we are all looking at him and say, OK, this isn't Daniel Jones.

This is a guy who's big and strong and fast and an athlete. He knocked out a linebacker, you know, who was hitting him. He throws four touchdown passes last night. There's no disputing that. He's looked great and there's no disputing that. Mike Tanner Tennenbaum looks less silly now, saying that he would have taken Herbert over to and Berl when we were just having the conversation about two one Bororo.

Yeah, all true. But, you know, that can turn quickly. And it did for Daniel Jones, who had a couple of really big games and and then went south fast. And Herbert throws three interceptions next week and the narrative flips. I just hate the idea of second guessing the dolphins taking two before two is played. You know, the Dolphins are wary of his physical conditioning and and he's a guy who badly needed a couple of preseason games.

So they're just being extremely cautious about unfurling them. But my my thing is, let's let's wait and see to a play before we start saying, oh, they should have picked herbut that's all.

Were you going to rip Ryan Clark or not? Because Tony was trying to get you to rip Ryan Clark. The analysis was it was not you know, it was flimsy. The analysis was flimsy, right?

Yeah, sure. I'll rip. Ryan Clark is at the very least it was premature. Yeah. What he said I mean, he's saying it after you know, after Herbert has a good game, he throws four touchdown passes, albeit in another loss.

Chargers are the league and losing close game. But I nailed it. I had the Saints winning but not covering. So it was a double win for my picks. How are your picks?

How are your picks doing this year? How for those of you who do not know, Greg Cody has been doing picks for a long time. He consults an imaginary bird in order. It is the upset bird. It tells him it squawks when it feels an upset coming. That's it. To make you feel so old.

When I was like in first grade, I would look so forward to the Friday column every time with the upset bird and the squawk of a dog.

And here's how old I am. Yeah, thirtieth your picks is my thirtieth.

Your picks are older than I am partner if not play them. But I've been on a roll with my picks. I was fifty.

What is that saying I've been hearing you use. Yeah, pretty near, but not plumb, what is the urban area it's like near if not plowed, but this is one of those things that only you say, right?

What does this mean, partner of not means you don't know what it means to you. No, no. It's close to being right on the mark. My dad used to say to Master Carpenter, you know, when you're aligning two joints of wood, it has to be perfect. So, you know, if I asked him, is that perfect partner?

No, I know I know what it means just from the context that you said it. But I don't know what it means. I don't even know what you're saying. Like, I understand what it means. It means close, but what is pretty near but not plumb that spell.

The first word out, it's already near. Yeah, pretty. You said with a Southern accent.

OK, OK, fair enough.

But my getting back to your question, what is the Plomley what does the plum mean. You're thinking of the edible fruit plum as in place to be in carpentry. It means level or even I have it here.

Purt near. If not plum is a conversational phrase spoken by rural settlers in the U.S. territories and other areas in the early seventeen hundreds and hundreds prior to the availability of public education. My prior to education you are making places that are older than education.

That's right.

You were saying enough while you were saying anyway, I interrupted you.

My picks have been going very well. Two years ago I set a personal record. I was close to 60 percent against the spread. Last year I was well over 500. I think I was fifty four percent. This year I'm a few games over 500, but I'm doing well with my thanks. Yeah, I usually I usually get three or four underdog picks a week against the spread picks like the Chargers last night. So I'm doing well Thursday night.

You're killing me. But other than that, we're good. At the risk of repeating a story told on a previous local hour, I actually I don't know if you guys have heard this. I know the shipping container has Greg's picks are so old that I used to be a bookie in high school using Greg's picks at the newspaper that they used to give us for free. So I'd get the Miami Herald in my Spanish class. I go around to kids and be like, hey, who do you want in the Chargers and Bengals game?

And they say, I like the Bengals plus three. And I had an entire little booking system inside my first period. Spanish class just off Gregs picks. How old were you?

Nice entrepreneur. You have fallen very closely near your father's tree. Your father an entrepreneur as long as I have known him. And so you were doing a bookie when when when you were book in of 16.

What kind of cash exchanges are we talking about? What we're. So you how did you decide, hey, I like the math on on being a bookie because I was able to see kids and be like, hey, I know this person doesn't know about football, so they're not going to really understand the picks.

So I would have Gregs, you know, picks in my back pocket, kind of like Biff, right, where he would pull up the Sports Almanac and be like, hey, this is pretty good. So I started realizing, hey, Greg knows what he's doing. And then I would just use his picks against their picks. And that's how I would leverage it. And it would be like maybe fifty bucks a week. So it wouldn't be a ton of money.

But if fifty bucks or fifteen years old, I'd have lunch for the entire month.

Did you get any like did you take any beatings or were you just someone's given beatings. Damn. Can you guys tell me more about reading Greg Cody growing up. I want to hear more about you guys reading the um. No I can't.

Oh my my my two sons were the worst. You know, I'd have a this is back in the day when we actually had the physical newspaper on the kitchen counter and I'd have written a Marlen's column or something, and they would engage me in a conversation about what I had just written about not knowing that I had written it. And so they're asking me my opinion about something. And I'm like, well, there it is right over there. Pick up the paper and read what I've just written above.

It's a great subject. That's a great move to be able to do that. And yet still they would not read it. I know them both. They were not readers. No, no.

But nobody. My wife doesn't read me either. You know, she she says things constantly that that I've just referred to in print or on air. You know, nobody nobody cares in my house what I say.

But that was a big that was a big benchmark for the paper. Right. I remember getting legitimately excited when that column would come out to find out what the game of the week was with the dog in the week was going to be like, thank you. That was a big deal. Was like, did I get advertising in the heyday of newspapers?

Yeah, no, it's been very popular for for a long time. When you think about it, do you think everything changes constantly? Nothing is the same. Well, for thirty years, people can count on my Friday picks and I'm proud of that. I'm proud of the longevity. You know, the the results go up and down. I'm no Nostradamus, but I have fun doing it. It's one of those things where I take my pics very seriously but have a lot of fun doing it.

Hence my upset bird who makes squawking noises.

But hold on a second to a couple of things here. First, I remember being in the Miami Herald building a week. Got to go back, Greg, and count out what your 30 year record is against the spread. And overall, like, we've got to do that. Just your overall lifetime record. What happened, Billy? Why are you making a face at that? You don't think we should do that?

There's no way we're going to be able to track down those. Oh, my dad. And that's I know is so anal about stats. He has all of that.

That's probably like, oh, he could probably reach it right now.

Well, he's got a folder. He's got a manila folder. It was very accessible. It was it has reached over. It's the most competent thing he's ever done this before you, Billy, you said it's impossible. He's got it already on a piece of paper.

He's showing us what actually it's actually a scroll. There's no way that anybody. So what is your career, at least those, Adam? All right.

So we should do this right now on air. We should do this. But I what I wanted to ask you is I don't know whether my brother did the original the very first year, did the art and the bumper stickers of the upset bird. Yes. But wasn't there also like a commercial? I remember being in the Herald building and talking about a bird mascot. Did that bird mascot ever happened? Was that a thing like I thought I'm having a recollection of the upset bird having a physical form.

Right, this this is your brother's artwork and these were the upset, if you love the upset bird, that's a bumper sticker.

Who's showing us for those of you who do not consume, this is anything other than a podcast because we're not on.

Well, I'm just showing it. And but you're right, there was a there was a paper mâché upset bird mascot for a brief period of time. I don't know what they did with it. I don't know whatever became of it. But there was that thing. So it's been pretty popular for a long time.

The upset bird for those that never grew up with the Miami Herald and that Friday column when he would pick an upset of the week, it would be via the the bird. But I don't think we've really gone into exact detail. But he would write as the bird. Yes, the bird. Well, the bird. He would quote the bird is what he would do. And the bird would always say words that had. Oh, yes, I remember that.

Right. And you know how some people speak Spanglish. You know, they left from English in the Spanish and back the bird lapses from English into bird sounds. So he would be you know, he would be saying that he's going to pick Green Bay to win. And then on the second reference, it would be Green Park like that.

Wait a minute. What's that? Because that's unlikely that that's going to be the Packers, right?

Green Bay Park.

Why are you taking out the errors, though? Well, because, you know, it's the bird talking. It's not me. Every once in a while, I'll try to put the OK sound after a letter, starting with C, and it never gets past the editors.

This is this goes back as old as time. Greg Coady is forever trying to sneak one past the editors like every every right to privacy.

Brett from Greg Cody, This is not a lie. Greg Cody will write a Tear-jerker emotional column and then have a parenthetical riff that he goes for comedy in the middle of it and the editor will have to take it out. And he's just always testing that boundary with bad judgment.

Just keeping the editor honest, right? Making sure he's reading the piece.

Exactly. It's it's a private test to see if the editor is actually reading like this.

Unlike your family. Like my family. Right. Exactly. Well, when I first started at the Herald, my first job was writing a Broward County, a local bowling column, and I had to compile all the local scores of the top bowlers and everything.

And, you know, I can say this now because it's 40 years ago and nobody cares. But I used to as a joke, I would sneak in the name of a friend of mine into all the bowling AGOT. So all of a sudden a friend of mine, I did that too.

I did that for the River Cities Gazette. I would throw in a couple of names of my friends just so that they could see themselves in the AGOT. Exactly.

Yagan Agat little tiny type. Thank you for explaining that to God because all he did, that's his move. When he doesn't know what something is, he just repeats it.

I mean, look, there's a couple of columnists cutting it up.

I mean, we were talking during the local hour. We didn't have your opinion on this. You got the the hotel bed experience. How do you how do you feel about the hotel bed experience? Because I, I once stayed in a Doubletree and like the bed so much that I ended up figuring out what it was and buying a bed just like it. Because did you really. Yeah, because I like the bed so much. All right.

I like the bedding, the sheets, the pillows, the mattress. So much at a Ritz Carlton that I did the same thing that I do sell these things. But they were very expensive, so we ended up not buying it. I'm OK with it.

Like, that's the best sleep I've ever had. Is is it a is it a Four Seasons or a Ritz Carlton just because not because I don't want to sound like spoiled here. That's how it was I going to do. It's too late. But don't you mentioned those brands. Yeah.

But for those beds for some reason with my bag, which is awful, those bags are the best beds I've ever slept on period.

Don't you guys find, though, that even at these Ritz Carlton and really nice hotels, it's tough to find the combination of a great pillow and bed? Usually even at these nice hotels, you get a great pillow or you get a great mattress. It's tough to find the combination of both. Is everyone in agreement with that, because I heard you guys during the local hour and it didn't seem like anyone, anyone disputed that, I feel I don't have a lot of complaints when it comes to hotel beds or pillow the pillows.

Sometimes they get it wrong. Sometimes it's too big to flop.

No, sometimes it's the opposite. I'll have I have like five pillows to try to get the proper neck support. And it just feels like my head's hanging off the mattress. I don't understand. It's like like a wizard trick.

I want to light a mattress of clouds. I want super soft, big pillows. That's that's what I'm looking for.

Yeah. What are you gonna melt into the mattress. Right. I just want the whole thing that's around me and envelope me.

Sleeping Beauty and style that crisscross applesauce dammit. It is now these are renowned for their bedding. Applesauce.

Is your father still sleep like that, Greg? Do you still sleep with your legs crossed. Criss cross applesauce. Yeah, very much so, criss-Cross and also my hands, I sleep Cofan style with my hands, with my fingers in an actual court.

Right. And actually just getting used to it. Yeah, I was just breaking it in. I legitimately didn't know whether you whether you meant initially a coffin like Dracula sleeps in or c o u g h. I end with an apostrophe because you've been covering so much ground.

Yeah. Will ask my wife. Believe me, there was a time there when I was sleeping. Coffin.

Nail. Hey, I'm Andy, I'm still not famous, but you might remember that I started Herries because I was tired of overpaying for razors. It always felt like big brands were taking advantage of us every time they improved something. Back then, prices seemed to go up at Harrys. We take a different approach today. I'm proud to introduce our sharpest blades ever available at the same price as before, as low as two dollars each. There are new sharper version of our German engineered blades.

Guys who shave four days a week have told us that with our new blades, their eighth shave is as smooth as their first. And we stand by that with 100 percent money back quality guarantee at Harrys Dotcom, Harrys is now available almost everywhere you shop, including in-store at most major retailers near you. For those who prefer to shop online, you can get a Harry starter set with a five blade, razor weighted handle, shave gel and a travel cover, all for just three bucks plus free shipping.

Just go to Harrys Dotcom and enter three three six zero at checkout. That's Herries Dotcom Code three three six zero enjoy.

Since the 1980s, hip hop and America's prisons have grown side by side and we're going to investigate this connection to see how it lifts us up and holds us down.

Hip hop is talking about what we live trying to live. The American dream fell in at the American Dream. I'm cinematic. I'm Rodney Cormark.

Listen now to the Louder than a Riot podcast from NPR Music, where we chase the collision of Crime and punishment in America. You guys see what happened with Ian Rapoport, who got you as a perpetual scammer and mover and shaker through the bowels and the sewage system of the radio labyrinth, know what it's like to advertise things? And Ian Rapoport, apparently, you know, he's one of the most credible when you think of football, credible reporters. It's a it's a pretty short list, right?

It's Schefter. Yep, it is. Diana Ross, CNN, Arlington. It is Mortensen. Yep. And Ian Rapoport. Michael Silver, I guess, as well. But Jake Glaser. Jake Glazer. Yes, Arcady. But Ian Rapoport, are you jealous of all those names? Greg Kody, because you've been doing picks for 30 years and I didn't put you in there among the NFL reporters. But then again, the only news you've broken is the news of my engagement.

So, like, it's not you're not really a news play.

I gave you my top 10 list of all time scoops, you know.

OK, so Ian Rapoport gets suspended. Is it two weeks for for doing a without permission a man scaping with his credibility, using the credibility given to him by his job, by his network? He he you know, that's supposed to be the lines on this have really out. They've melted away because it used to be once upon a time, newspaper people did not do advertising. I'm one of the last holdouts on that. Eventually it ended up happening where everyone was doing it.

And you've wanted to do a cameo for a while. I heard the other day I heard somebody at ESPN trying to get into the cameo game and then the precedent was cited as it was cited with you. Yeah, you can't do that because then everyone's going to want to do it and they're worried about the cheapening of the ESPN brand because they don't want you out. Hey, happy birthday. You know, Uncle Dick. Sure. Like, they probably don't want you, you know, out there besmirching or anyone besmirching the brand.

I feel like it's benign to, you know, to wish someone a happy birthday or a happy anniversary. But you're right. I did see what happened with Ian Rapoport where, you know, he did social media and was promoting a product from manscape. Listen, you just as much as I want to do it and I have done it, you have to ask your superiors if you're allowed to do it. I think he should know that by now. Right.

I think most people know that.

What percentage of time do you get to know when you ask? Because you get a good amount of no's, do not?

I do. If it's one of our sponsors like they have no, they have no problem. ESPN, if I post a picture with me next to the, you know, the flowers that were delivered from one 800 flowers or something like that, I guess it's when you go with with something that they're competing against, you know, it's all subject to a you have to go through the proper protocol.

Camu is a problem because someone can you don't want Chris Mortensen unknowingly saying, hey, happy anniversary to a white supremacist group because he's Chris Mortensen and he doesn't know how the Internet works. You know, you can have the president there. But I saw Menagh did an ad over the weekend for Crown Royal. It's all subject to approval, right?

There's a vetting process with with Camilla that I understand that they are that they're concerned about. Like draft kings, I think is a perfect example. There are plenty of one day fantasy sites. I can't just endorse one on social media without asking ESPN. If I ask ESPN and I understand why they would say this, in all likelihood, they're going to say no.

I use that example because I think I remember Brett Favre actually congratulating a white supremacist group. And it was like a total mistake because he was just not researching it. And these groups were using it because he talks in code and he has no idea what the hell this means. Why am I saying something about a turtle?

Is it any objection to the specifics of landscaping and the fact that Ian Rapoport, your NFL reporter, is basically saying, hey, shave your pubes? Is it any is it any of that, like is there any other NFL sponsor? Yeah, I mean, it is a founding principle of that company.

I know I'm not. I am not. Look, the company I know you guys were celebrating all the products you got from man my pubes yesterday.

Manscape is especially in the South Florida heat.

It gets muggy. Get very swampy down there. You to let the air flow again.

But landscaping is just code. It's camouflage. It's a disguise for keep your pubes in order.

Yeah. Yeah. And you probably don't want Adam Schefter doing that. I mean.

Yeah, I mean he has pubes doesn't he. You don't think he does.

I don't think so. I think I like like a baby dolphin. I believe he's more like the Ken doll. I believe that everything is sheen and his skin is the skin of a porpoise. I don't believe that Adam Schefter has any hair except the credibility that he gets from his stubble.

I have confirmed here via Deadspin that white supremacists did indeed trick Brett for making a customized anti Semitic video shout out.

You know, I was hoping that you would say that Adam Schefter has no use by looking in his band.

I thought I wish I had said that before.

I was really. But you really don't know. You can borrow from the thought you might need it if you did. He needed more stuff out there on it. I wasn't sure. I mean, Deadspin is the source.

I think you're good. You came to my rescue. I have. I mean, it's dangerous when you trot out a hypothetical of Chris Mortensen saying something about white supremacists. I need all the support I can.

I thought you were surprised you went there to begin with, because what happened was I thought I was recalling the bread, for example. I didn't want to. You know how you once thought Ted Danson was like in a rape trial because you dreamt it once? I wanted to make sure I didn't dream up like Brett Farve was in a white supremacist cameo.

And I have a second. It's USA Today.

So now you definitely find a way to go my corroborate that thing that you thought is absolutely so. But the question I was asking you guys about Ian Rapoport, that seems like a stiff penalty for Ian Rapoport. Two weeks you basically it's an eighth of a season. It got two weeks in the middle of the football season.

Yeah, it's not really so much like the sponsor because you can apply the context and say this is harmless. But he does work for the league. It's different than ESPN. Maybe I don't know what sort of trimmer sponsorship the NFL has. If he circumvents that and puts in jeopardy an exclusive deal with the league, that is very problematic. It's not problematic for Ian Rapoport. He puts people in a very difficult position and people can lose potentially big money deals.

And even if they don't have a sponsor, it's all about precedent.

You can't have someone acting rogue like that because the next time it's a direct competitor with the NFL, the guys, would you be kind enough since you're bailing us all out here with the Internet today to tell us whether the NFL does indeed have an official pubes sponsor an official trimmer?

I will check on it. Yes, sir. Because going to be the NFL, it could be the network. It could be like I know the San Francisco 49ers. The team has an exclusive deal.

Gillette, good guess. But that's a good guess by Mike, though.

Gillette is the NFL's official rasor. There you go. So maybe an infringement. Yes, the bathing suit area is probably the domain of Gillette, but the 49ers and manscape denounce an exclusive multi year partnership. So that's one team.

No singular teams can have their own official rasor. But the NFL as a league has an official rasor and Ian Rapoport works for the league.

That league makes so much money. Nothing. The official tramer of the NFL, it's important, I know the official beer of the NFL like I bet if you looked it up, we could probably be an official something of the NFL. It'd probably run. How many deep do you imagine that that runs that official you get?

There's got to be an official your yoghourt, right.

So do you guys think, what, 20 things, 50 things like there's that they probably have reserved everything that probably. Yeah, there's probably official wireless. Yes. Yeah. Porn company.

Potato chip. I don't think porn company Chris Eataly gambling.

I mean, is that a big jump from Mandy to porn company? Yes, it's a massive jump. It's a massive job, although they are related in some form or fashion.

I mean, in the best way they share control and not in the not in the bootleg flea market version. You got you got some real situations where you need to man a vintage scattergories.

But Greg knows all about that. Yeah, right. Porn.

Cody, what was porn like in the sixteen hundred before education. Yeah before it. Pardon.

If not, I was trying to give you the opening for that to use that anywhere. You used it comedically at exactly the wrong time. You just burst it like Gus Johnson nonsensically Fox Sports. The NFLPA has sponsors, it's I'm looking at it, it's all confusing like I have. I have all three of the major credit cards being official sponsors of the NFL. Is that possible? I mean, they take a lot of money and they get a lot of raise from a lot.

They have like they have like percentages like Verizon.

Is this percentage the sponsor of the NFL, AT&T, this percentage is priced at T-Mobile is also an official sponsor, Papa John's Pizza Hut and Domino's, all official sponsors.

I mean, you know, Papa John's lost the official pizza and now you can't have football without the hut. That's right.

It is something that you have been watching for a while when it comes to money in that sport. Where when's the last time anything other than an NFL football game was the highest viewed thing of the week or the highest 10 viewed things of the week? Like any time I see a list because ratings are going down all over the place, not just because of the election, but because people are getting off the grid and they're streaming instead. You've got an interesting position here with the the NFL staying where it stays.

Its ratings may go down or fluctuate a little bit, but it's barely anything. And they always have the highest rated programs of the week. That's why all the sponsors are willing. That's why three different sponsors, competing sponsors, are willing to get in on a percentage of the pie. You've got something that's got guaranteed tens of millions of viewers.

I mean, Verizon spent three hundred million dollars even while knowing AT&T and T-Mobile are also sponsors.

Think about, yeah, Billy does a home. I'm sorry.

How did the NBA finals game six do versus the. Although very poorly it was. Yeah, it was LeBron Klensch and I think it was like six million viewers. I think I've got that right. It went down and it specifically because of that, Greg, because you're you're you've got the pie of sports fans and some of them are not going to leave football for anything. And some of them are with the baseball games you've just got. That's why that's if you didn't know before.

Now you know why these leagues have so little overlap in their scheduling, because that's not something that they don't want to be competing against each other. But as we've said a number of times around here, during a pandemic, given that they were already going without fans and without money from concessions and ticket sales and parking and everything else, they were just trying to salvage however it is they could the television money. So whatever the ratings were, would be a bonus.

But even Adam Silver said he was surprised and confused that more people, because he knows that his league is LeBron, he knows that LeBron is at the top of the food chain. LeBron in the finals going for a fourth title should have been a bigger deal than it was. And yet it's getting so hot. What does this tell you about the NFL, Seahawks, Vikings? Like I know the Seahawks are good, but Seahawks, Vikings bigger than a championship game with the biggest star in American sports.

That was over by half, though.

That game was over my head. Still, it's if that's a close game, I think. Right. Maybe people go over later. Yeah, it's almost double. It's not like it's barely burette. Tony just put it in the charts, like eleven million versus five point six.

It's it's become America's game. It just has. And there's nothing that I don't see it going away and there's nothing that can compete with it. Nothing none of the sports that we have will ever compete with the NFL.

The only thing and the only reason it would go away is the thing that Mark Cuban was predicting. And it's looking silly right now. Right. Dana White told us many years ago that UFC would be bigger than American football.

He was not right, although internationally he's got a better claim than than you would have thought at the time. And anyone saying that baseball or basketball, the only way that those guys can get into the game is if football they've had ethical calamities. It has to be a physical calamity, like they're protecting the the protecting their quarterback stars as much as they can by actually changing the rules and allowing them to play a different sport than the rest of the people on the field because they are protecting the value of that stardom.

That is not a secret. It is obvious that stardom sigurdson. I talked with Bomani about this on a recent big suhui.

It's interesting to watch the emergence of the black quarterback because it would appear that the white quarterback is a bit of an endangered species as coaches figure out how to use the killer Murray's and the Russell Wilson's and the smaller guys that don't fit the prototype six six body of, you know, Peyton Manning, although Justin Herbert seems to be saying not so fast, my friend Josh Allen as well, Josh Allen as well.

But what becomes of the league? It's not a coincidence to Godse that Mayfield is the one who gets the Hulu commercials that outside of Cam Newton getting a yogurt commercial and now Patrick Mahomes getting some. State Farm stuff, the insurance commercials tend to go to the white guys ball, Chris Paul has that insurance deal as well. I'm talking about in football at the quarterback position, like Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahoney, just throughout time, like they market it that way.

It it is it was it was Tom Brady before Peyton Manning. But when Tom Brady got hurt, they actually changed the rules. You could basically only hit a quarterback now in the torso. Like, you can't. You can't. There are some ridiculous calls every week in the league where we've gotten accustomed to it. Somebody hits a quarterback a little bit high or a little bit low. And we're like, yeah, that's a penalty. You can't hit a quarterback that way.

That is the only thing that can harm the league, as far as I can tell, is just an obliteration of the quarterback position that makes everyone a little bit too disposable as opposed to just the running backs.

What else could do it? And I don't I mean, maybe I mean, we're four years removed from us having the conversation, I don't think it's going to be right because NBA ratings were sky high. But it would appear to be wrong.

It would appear to be, yes. We're four years from having seen the league seem to be in crisis and it was under the Kaepernick stuff.

But we have a treetop view in 20/20, four years down the line. This might look ridiculous, too, because in 2016, we're like, there's no way that this kid this ever.

But what would it be other than a physical calamity of some sort, like a rash of paralysis?

Or they showed bad press because I was like the Ray Rice stuff. Was that right after the Ray Rice stuff happening and you have to use Anthem? I don't think there's anything. It was also in another election cycle which people kept trying to scream, hey, this always happens. Every four years were like this, but we're in an election cycle right now and it affected the NBA. Not so much the NFL. I have TV ratings from two weeks ago.

You had two black quarterbacks and Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson being the number one rated show. Eighteen to forty nine on cable network that includes network television. ESPN's Monday Night Football with two black quarterbacks was still number one ahead of the presidential debates.

And just from a, you know, economic standpoint, financial standpoint, their top two sponsors just last year, just two of them spent five hundred and fifty million dollars combined.

Just two sponsors, Verizon and Bud Light. I don't I mean, and I've seen Lamar Jackson actually in some ads now recently as well.

I kind of had a problem with what Bomani was saying because it's faulty. Everyone holds up Baker Mayfield to a tug of Shilowa has several endorsement deals. People try to get in on the ground floor with younger quarterbacks in Baker. Mayfield was obviously the number one overall draft pick. You see that all the time.

Historically, Mike, those ads go to the white guys.

Historically, their position was the white guys. Yeah, correct. Right. But we're seeing there haven't been black quarterbacks, not like Doug Williams was getting any of the ads like it was was Randall Cunningham getting like Michael Vick was getting a lot of the. And you're 100 percent right.

Getting that Michael Vick was a good pitchman in his heyday. It's just when we actually break it down, I think it's actually pretty comparable to the white quarterback pitchman in the league right now compared to the black quarterback pitchman. It's a certain level of status.

And also stuff like rookie quarterbacks, like you're seeing with to the NFL is so big, so impervious, so entrenched. Nothing is going to stop Kingsport and even quarterback injuries. There are so many good quarterbacks now. Dak Prescott goes down in Dallas in a minute later. The whole talk is, wow, how how lucky were they to have signed Andy Dalton?

They're not going to lose that much right now. They're still favored post Prescott injury. Dallas is still favored to win the World Series division. So there are so many great quarterbacks now that unless you get a spate of those injuries, I don't think losing one star, it's just a blip in Kingsport ploughs on and everything is the same. Yeah.

Dak Prescott actually has a national campaign with the official mattress of the NFL sleep number.

You're of the belief, Greg, that the Dallas Cowboys are not going to have a significant drop off with Andy Dalton as their quarterback. Now, there's a couple of guys vision. Their skill guys are very good. I'm not talking about winning. I'm talking about production. I'm talking about I'm talking about drop off from the position Europe, the belief that Andy Dalton and Dak Prescott are comparable.

I'm not of the belief they're comparable. I'm of the belief that Dallas has three really good receivers. They're going to get more. Zeke Elliott has not had a great first third of the season. They're going to start getting more from him and change their offense a little bit. I'm just saying that they have a qualified, proven big name backup, which most teams don't. The Jets do. I mean, you could make an argument that Joe Flacco gives them a better chance to win those two guys.

So this is what I'm talking about, though, as it relates to the endangered species list, I don't think the backup quarterbacks are going to look like that in fifteen years. I don't think they're physically going to be guys who can't move around, who are concrete footed. Joe Flacco and Andy Dalton, I think you're going to get in upcoming years, the guys who come in to replace the injured guys, I believe are going to be more flexible. They're going to be able to move around.

I mean, Vimana is a brilliant guy, but that was just like that's a shocking opinion like that the white quarterback is going to be extinct. It's also seems unnecessary. And also just it was like not factual because he was like he cited the AFC North. The only white guy that you're going to take is Joe Buhrow. Right now, the worst passer in that division, statistically is Lamar Jackson. Bowman is a brilliant man. I don't know. But but I'm not a fan of his NFL opinions all that often.

Why does why does one have to go away? Why can't there just be there some black quarterback, some white quarterback, sometimes as more black quarterbacks than white quarterbacks. Sometimes there's more white quarterbacks than. Blackwater quarterback, to me, it just seems like an unnecessary opinion, the I remember many years ago, I'm trying to remember who the players were involved because it might have been Daunte Culpepper and Donovan McNabb and Cade McNabb, the three of them. Oh, the black quarterback.

And the cover of the magazine was going to be ESPN the magazine. They didn't end up doing it. Here comes the black quarterback with Cade McNabb down in the middle of the photo. And they didn't end up doing it because it was too risky to put the white quarterback out there.

What you have happening right now that can't be disputed and why there's a shift and you might and can object to endangered white quarterback is, as you see, the older guys, age two guys, and the margin for error with them shrinks so that Drew Brees can get you to the playoffs, but he loses to Kirk Cousins at home.

And Tom Brady can get to the playoffs, but he loses to Ryan Tannehill at home. The best quarterbacks right now, most feared in the sport. And this is a first like the black.

Like, that's not something that was so before, and you're used to all of all the quarterback, some of you know, the very the very best ones, though I think Rogers is certainly in that category right now.

Yes. Yes, they're mobile. Yes. Even though Rogers has mobility has really fallen off.

So you've got you've got Russell Wilson. You've got Lamar Murray, as Greg Gumbel likes to call Patrick. You've got Patrick Mahomes.

And on top of that, two of those guys are young people can flex athleticism and mobility with black because historically, at least when I was growing up, the mobile guys outside of Steve Young were the black quarterbacks in there weren't very many of them right now. Mobile quarterbacks, absolutely. But that stuff is also being taught at the at the grassroots level right now. The position has been revolutionized. And, yes, athletically, you're more inclined to have more black people play that position now because you see the value of mobility.

I think there's something to that. But it also says that we just saw Justin Herbert and he seems like an athlete. It also closes the door like, well, white people can't be this athletic. If we went the other way on it, it would be a shocking opinion.

But Dan is right. There's never been a time watching the NFL where three of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL and maybe the top three, all three of them are black quarterbacks. Kyler Murray's right up there, by the way.

Point that there's a spot, OK, between there's no place for the white quarterback anymore. And the conversation I'm trying to have with you guys when I'm talking about specifically the way that FLOCCO and Dalton play and as the position evolves and you say, wait a minute, I need someone who can move back there. I need Josh Allen, I need Justin Herbert, I need to increase my options. So it's not just statuesque guy back there because my my my protection is going to break down once in a while.

Eagles took Jalen Hurts having Carson Wentz. I mean, they did, but because Carson Wentz was getting hurt doing the mobile stuff. But the mobility my my problem with that Bomani take was if he just says mobile quarterbacks and just the statuesque quarterback is endangered, fine. But there are plenty of athletic white quarterbacks and he's essentially saying you can't be as athletic as these other people because of the color of your skin, which fundamentally is a problematic take for me.

How many of the quarterbacks are white and athletic? It's herbut. And Young.

We love that. Deshaun Watson by Josh Allen, Thurbert in Mobile. Young, white. Like if that's what's your what's your definition of mobile? Because bakery goods like Baker Mayfield doesn't seem mobile by today's standards. But in the nineteen nineties, he's Steve Young, right.

Well no you need to slow down there. No but because Baker Mayfield runs out of the pocket and does roll out. But now Steve Young was one of the great running quarterbacks ever. We sound old I understand defending our territory. Remember Steve Young was not Baker Mayfield. I understand. Let me walk that back. But please do. But Steve Young was also not Michael Vick. If you watch some of these videos, you're like, oh, wait a second.

That was qualified as like crazy mobile. You watch Kyla Murray run and you're like, holy shit. I thought Steve Young was athletic.

I'm not putting this guy up with the elite quarterbacks, but Tannehill is a starting quarterback that is mobile enough.

Yes. Uh huh. Is yeah.

But he's not off the top of the head, which is insane because if Tannehill was in the 90s, we'd be like, this is electric.

Well, the thing about the quarterback position, though, the way that it's being played at the highest level, which was what I'm talking about, is the highest level like decs, not even in the highest level. Dak is a tier below the same way. Tannehill, I'm talking about the guys who everyone knows nationally because they're excellent.

Rodgers is old and he's the only white one among the guys at the very top where you're saying, I want that for the next ten years.

Oh, next ten years. Right. I mean, Brady's just the next five.

Yeah. We also we also overreact to things to Jared Goff would have been atop the list, but also Jared Goff had a nice run. Even the guys that are not thought of as athletic are super mobile. When you consider where the position was just, you know, twenty years ago.