0:02

Welcome everyone to the SI Media Podcast.

0:05

I am your host, Jimmy Train, and thank you for

0:07

listening. I hope you all had a great Thanks

0:09

to Giving and a enjoyable long weekend.

0:12

We've got might to week go along the pod.

0:14

This week, the voice of Sunday Nights foll on NBC

0:17

continue a little run here of lead

0:20

NFL broadcasts. We've had Kevin Barkhardt

0:22

last week from Fox, Joe Buck a couple

0:24

of weeks ago from ESPN

0:27

Money Night Football, and we had Jim Nance from

0:29

CBS a few weeks ago as well. All

0:31

those interviews and the archives you can check them

0:33

out. Subscribe to the SI Media podcast, leave

0:35

review uh. Following Tariko

0:38

and speaking of Nance, we uh.

0:40

Salakota joins me as always for the Train of Thoughts

0:42

segment. We get into Nance dropping

0:44

my name during the Thanksgiving Lions Bill's

0:47

game all because of this podcast, and

0:49

I know a lot of you got a kick out of that. I appreciated all

0:51

the tweets. It was fun so talking about that with sal and

0:55

uh. This Training Thoughts segment will come after

0:57

the interview with Tariko about his first

1:00

years the lead voice for Sunday Night Football. Ting over

1:02

all Michael's and what the schedule looks

1:04

like the rest of the way for Sunday Night and NBC and the flex

1:06

scheduling. Great gambling

1:08

story too about Brent Musburger from

1:10

Tariko, And like I said, we've

1:13

had some great guests. You guys have done

1:15

a great job listening to the pod. Burkhart,

1:18

Joe Back, Kevin Clark, Jim Nance, Chris Russo,

1:20

Dan Let all recent guests on the podcast,

1:22

so dip into the archives if you missed any of

1:24

them. Listen, subscribe, rate, and review.

1:27

All right, let's get to this week's

1:29

show Mike Tariko, followed by train

1:31

of thoughts with Salokatta right here on

1:34

the SI Media podcast. All

1:37

right, joining me now we continue our great

1:39

run of NFL lead play by

1:41

play broadcast is on the podcast. The

1:44

Voice of Sunday Night Football, Mike

1:46

Tarko, Mike, how are you and

1:49

Jimmy? Our things in my old home area

1:51

of New York. Things are good, very

1:53

very rainy and dark and dreary here

1:55

today, But you know what, that's what the winter is supposed

1:58

to be. So it's funny. It was,

2:00

gosh, we're somewhere on the East Coast after

2:03

the time flipped and it just got dark.

2:06

And that's

2:08

why I grew up in New York and they lived in the East

2:10

Coast. Gosh, you know for

2:13

twenty seven years, twenty eight

2:15

years of my life and maybe more than

2:17

that. And just that four thirty

2:19

dark for the first time for

2:21

that month of late November early December. It's

2:23

just crushing and that we are in

2:25

that phase. It's it's when

2:27

it's dark here. But it turns out in

2:30

December twenty one. It always turns. It starts

2:32

getting a little bit later, a little bit later, so you're,

2:35

well, it's funny. I had Kevin Burkhott

2:37

on last week and I had mentioned that

2:40

he's doing the Christmas Day game in Miami,

2:42

and I'm like, Christmas, Miami,

2:45

that's not you want. You gotta have a

2:47

little bad weather on Christmas. I mean,

2:50

so I don't mind all this right now. It

2:52

will you know. It's fine, and we

2:54

have Christmas in Arizona, the

2:56

same things, which which

2:58

looked a lot more promised then

3:01

it will turn out to be. Although the

3:03

Bucks and Brady, the way they're playing, they're gonna

3:05

need it, you know, the way they've

3:07

been scuffling through the middle part of the season,

3:10

the Arizona things fascinating. A matter of

3:12

fact, I'm just getting set after we get

3:14

done to watch the Hard Knocks in season

3:16

and the Cardinals get caught up on that. I'm I'm

3:18

fascinated to see how much

3:21

of what's really going on is on

3:23

TV, because that one's a little

3:25

hard to figure right now. Yeah, for sure,

3:28

um essentially because I

3:30

I have your schedule,

3:32

the Sunday night schedule for the next few weeks here,

3:34

and it's fascinating

3:37

to me. NFL fans

3:39

are very into the flex is

3:42

I don't know if you guys as the broadcasts

3:45

is the play by play, guys get a feel free

3:47

because I know a lot of you, you know, don't check social

3:49

media, which is smart, but you know we

3:52

do. You know when there is a flex

3:54

will you know s I and we'll post stories

3:57

about it and they get traffic like people love

3:59

this the whole thing with the and I had

4:01

tweeted, you know we're taping this on Wednesday.

4:04

On Tuesday, you got NBC announced that

4:06

next week December. I

4:09

forgot what it is, twelve maybe or something. No,

4:12

Kansas City, Denver, You're gonna do Miami,

4:14

the Chargers, And I

4:16

had tweeted when that news came out, I tweeted,

4:18

like, wait till next year when ESPN

4:21

gets Flex for Monday Night. And

4:23

I was shocked because the response

4:26

I get was, Oh, the response I got,

4:29

we're fans who are overwhelmingly not happy

4:31

about that, just from logistics in terms of if

4:33

you have tickets. Um Mitchell

4:35

Schwartz, who's a former offensive lineman,

4:38

responded that the players won't like that that not

4:40

knowing now, I don't know if the

4:42

ESPN deal is gonna be the same as you guys with the

4:44

in certain terms of how much time

4:47

out. But let me ask you, is the Sunday

4:49

night played by play guy? Are you

4:51

you know? I've talked about this, I know with with Al

4:53

and Nance, they're all about the schedule.

4:55

Where do you stand on following it and

4:57

being into the schedule? You just show up where they

5:00

No? No, I'm into it. I mean

5:03

you can't really see it, but it's on my board

5:05

here, so I kind of lived with it on a on

5:07

a pretty regular basis. Uh. You know

5:09

a lot of it is logistics,

5:12

of course, right. You want to know where you're gonna be, you know

5:14

what's going on in your life and when you

5:16

have to get to other events during the week where you're coming

5:18

from, especially on the holidays. But

5:21

but I will say that the

5:23

interesting thing I think for us is teams show

5:25

up on your radar a few weeks before,

5:28

so you start paying attention to them a little

5:30

bit. And now that work towards the end of the year, where

5:32

we see teams two or three times, it's

5:34

not as big a deal. But if somebody jumps up, like

5:36

the Jets are giants, if they jump up on

5:39

the schedule or Washington and you haven't seen

5:41

them at all, you haven't really been focused on what

5:43

they've been doing. That that's where it

5:45

kind of impacts me the most out

5:47

of all of that. So yeah, you know, doing

5:49

the Monday Night for ten years, the

5:52

story was always with the league. Monday

5:56

Night was too hard to flex because of logistics.

5:58

So I don't I'm curious

6:00

to see what they'll do if it will be two

6:03

weeks out, like Sunday Night football can be on

6:06

the flex, if they'll have to give more time because

6:08

you are talking not

6:11

just the teams and the team logistics

6:13

are hotels and travel and what

6:15

happens on the back end of the week and all that but

6:18

you're talking a lot of fans,

6:20

people who plan to come in on a Sunday,

6:22

right, Like, I know folks who have planned. But

6:25

if you're gonna play out at the Raiders, uh,

6:28

fans like, hey, we're gonna take our guys trip

6:30

to Vegas for the weekend from the East coast,

6:32

or we're gonna do a golf trip around a game in Arizona

6:35

or something like dango see our team. That

6:37

that will mess with that a little bit. So I would

6:39

hope that there's a little more runway

6:42

for the league considering the fans to

6:44

make those changes. But uh yeah,

6:46

the flex deal is fascinating because

6:48

people speculate what games is gonna

6:50

get flexed, where where do you flex

6:52

into? And I don't know all

6:55

the parameters of it, but each

6:57

network can protect a game here along the

6:59

way. So once they do that and the

7:01

flex options come up, and um,

7:03

I know we're gonna see the Chargers in Miami, which

7:06

early in the season you wouldn't think is a game that would

7:09

be of interest for a Sunday night window, but

7:11

it will be. I mean, with and

7:13

Herbert and the way both teams matter

7:15

in the playoffs, that would be a really fun game coming up

7:18

in a in a week and a half of us. It also

7:20

the flex Also, if you're a sports media nerd,

7:22

or if even just someone who who wants to learn

7:24

about the league, you you can learn

7:26

things and and learn stuff

7:29

about the TV situation for exam for example,

7:32

there is nobody in the country

7:35

who wants to watch the Colts on prime

7:37

time for a second week and row no offense. You have the game,

7:39

but the Cowboys are in the game, and the Cowboys

7:42

will never be flexed under any circumstances,

7:44

and rightfully so, I mean I've written about

7:46

this. I mean every highest rate of game. I mean the

7:49

season started with the highest rate of game of the year was Cowboys

7:52

Bengals. Then they got the game on Thanksgiving.

7:54

There was another Cowboy game in there that drew

7:56

a monster. Have you have you had

7:58

the Cowboys yet on something? You have had them? I think twice

8:02

twice. We had them against Brady

8:05

on the opening Sunday night

8:07

and then we had him in Philadelphia, so

8:10

you know that that big games coming on Christmas Eve,

8:12

we had the first game and Philly beat him, beat

8:15

him, beat him at the link. So we've

8:17

seen Dallas twice and yeah, you're right. If you look

8:19

at the list of all the games Cowboys,

8:22

Cowboys, Cowboys, Cowboys, every most watched

8:24

game is a Dallas something somewhere.

8:27

The one thing I would say about flex

8:29

is you've got to flex the Tuesday

8:32

a week before. So you got this

8:34

Sunday night, that's Sunday before, then

8:37

you got a flex by that Tuesday.

8:39

Well, if Indianapolis would have won,

8:42

they would have managed the clock properly, which they screwed

8:44

up against Pittsburgh. Win that game, and

8:47

then Tennessee loses to Philadelphia, which

8:49

is very plausible. The Cults may played to be a

8:51

half game out in their division,

8:53

so all of a sudden, would it looked very different.

8:56

You gonna sit there Sunday night and not remember where

8:58

the decision was made. But you're

9:02

right about the Cowboys. They just rate

9:04

against everyone, and there's something

9:07

about them that is magical, no

9:09

matter that it's been twenty five

9:11

years or so since they last won a Super

9:13

Bowl. It's amazing. I'm gonna

9:15

put you on the spot here. I probably shouldn't ask this,

9:17

but do you wish they

9:19

would have flexed that of Cults Cowboys?

9:22

And here's why I asked, because I know well of you guys

9:24

want the best game, and you can make

9:26

the argument there's six games

9:29

that are better this week. Now, I know that something

9:31

that are protected. But you have Chief Spangles,

9:34

Dolphins, Niners, Jets, Vikings,

9:36

Commanders, Giants. As

9:39

the play by play guy, what do you would have happened?

9:41

I don't know how the chess

9:44

can work. In other words, you're never gonna lose

9:46

Dallas appearance, right, but can you get another one

9:48

later in the year. So if you're gonna lose

9:51

Dallas, totally no. But I

9:53

think for the viewers, which

9:55

is what flex should be for. It should be for the people

9:57

at home, so you have good games

9:59

in the primetime window. I think that

10:01

Miami San Francisco game not

10:04

at four oh five, you know, in a

10:06

CBS doubleheader weekend, and

10:08

that game on Fox doesn't go to a lot

10:10

of the country. That's the game that

10:12

that for the football fan they should be seeing

10:15

in that primetime window that Sunday

10:17

night. But having said that, Hey, to see

10:20

Dallas the third time. He is great for

10:22

me. I'm super happy to see them and

10:25

I'm gonna live by you how to make the decision

10:27

at that moment and at that moment the Colts

10:29

had come off the one win for Saturday. Figure they will

10:31

lose to Philly, they would beat in Pittsburgh in

10:33

two and one under Saturday. That's a pretty

10:36

good story. They lose to Pittsburgh and here

10:38

we are, but we'll still have the Cowboys, so people

10:40

still be watching. Do you get

10:43

kept abreast as NBC is

10:45

trying to make their decisions. The reason I ask is,

10:47

I'm just curious if I

10:49

would imagine, and you can help me

10:51

confirm, I would imagine that next

10:53

week was a little tough from BC

10:56

because you don't want to lose the Mahomes game, and the Chiefs

10:58

are another team that America loves

11:00

to watch. Homes is the best

11:02

quarterback, best player in the league. You want him. The

11:05

Broncos are unwatchable. So I'm just wondering

11:07

if that was a tough decision for NBC or do you

11:10

think that was a pretty easy decision because obviously,

11:12

like you said, Dolphins Chargers is a great game,

11:14

and and the Dolphins are a very fun team

11:16

to watch, and the Herbert to a thing

11:18

because of the same draft and all that stuff. It's

11:20

gonna add to that, I think a little bit. Um

11:23

Yeah, you don't want to you want to leave my home.

11:25

So, in terms of keeping a breast, our

11:27

producer Rob Highland keeps

11:29

me up to speed as he

11:32

hears what's going on, the conversations with the league

11:34

back and forth, how all the pieces are

11:36

gonna work with the other networks with us with a number

11:38

of appearances and all that. So I

11:41

have a sense as it's coming down the

11:43

line, which game or couple

11:45

of games are possible for FLEX

11:48

And so probably this week when I talked

11:50

to Rob, we'll be talking about, Hey,

11:52

what's the next couple of weeks look like

11:54

a Christmas We're staying with Tampa

11:56

Bay Arizona. Those Christmas games are locked

11:58

in, but those the weeks around and obviously

12:01

have a little bit of fluctuation. I

12:03

think that comes with Jimmy. One of the big stories

12:05

of the year this year in the league. There are a lot

12:07

of teams that we thought would be really

12:09

good that aren't. And they've got

12:11

a common thread, and it's the veteran quarterbacks.

12:14

It's the older quarterbacks. You know, you have Brady

12:16

and Tampa, You've got Rogers and

12:18

Green Bay and Matt Ryan with Indianapolis

12:21

and Russell Wilson with that with Denver, those

12:23

teams have not been as good

12:26

as we thought. And when you're trying to

12:28

make a schedule, you gotta imagine

12:30

that Mike North and Howard Kats and

12:32

those guys the league, they're looking at the

12:34

surest things that you can put in those windows

12:36

late in the season and spread them around evenly,

12:39

and when those teams start to

12:41

play poorly, now you gotta start jumbling

12:44

things. So good for the league for having the flexibility.

12:46

UM I sat on a bunch of Monday night games

12:48

that were just bad matchups

12:52

and it's frustrating the Thursday winter

12:54

you can't do anything about the Monday

12:56

window. We'll see how that goes, see if they're

12:58

able to change the couple of bad games.

13:01

Um Sunday Night has been the beneficiary and that

13:03

and I think the fans are the real winners because

13:06

at the end of the day, you get to see a good game and that's

13:08

all that matters. The league does do

13:10

a very good job of giving you the best

13:12

game to the biggest audience. It does seem

13:14

Mike each week when they can, but it almost seems

13:17

like, and I know they can't do this. This is like Pollyanna

13:19

World. But like, it almost seems like they shouldn't schedule any

13:22

times after week eate, like put

13:25

out the schedule for the first eight weeks and

13:27

then after week EATE reevaluate

13:29

and then put the times on in the slots. But

13:32

I guess they can't do that with tickets and travel and all.

13:35

I think it would be hard, but it's not the worst idea.

13:37

And we've seen the mess with that with that week

13:39

where we have five games and three of them end

13:41

up on NFL Network on Saturday,

13:44

and then a couple go back into the hopper on Sunday

13:46

to get moved around. That's really

13:49

cool and I'm sure that

13:51

they'll be feedback from the teams,

13:54

the players, the fans. Is

13:57

that a super inconvenience And if it isn't, maybe

13:59

we'll see the league do that one other weekend

14:02

so you get that couple of weekends and then obviously

14:05

Week eighteen is everything's everything's

14:07

on the table, but you don't have a Thursday and a Monday

14:09

to deal with in that situation, which makes

14:11

it different. Right you are,

14:13

you are a scheduler. Why don't you go work for the league

14:16

and scheduling? Man? I wish I could here's

14:18

what I want to do. This is what my dream job would

14:20

be. Make the schedule and be

14:22

the person who organizes the TVs and

14:24

bars, because there's nothing

14:26

worse. I've had this problem a couple of

14:28

weeks where I go into the bar and like, there's you know,

14:31

three game three the same game and they got the

14:33

wrong TV. I could be very good at organizing

14:35

the games in sorts. Are

14:38

you not a Sunday ticket guy? So

14:40

it's a long story. I was a Sunday ticket

14:42

guy for twenty years. Literally

14:45

it was twenty years, which one Ciliano

14:47

or Hanson. Oh no, no Sunday ticket,

14:49

not red zone Sunday ticket. Okay,

14:52

okay, Sunday ticket, go ahead, okay twenty

14:54

years. Had some issues

14:56

with my TV system and Direct TV.

14:58

They came here to fix it. A very

15:00

long story short which I've told on this podcast

15:03

before. The guy who came to fix it put

15:05

thirty plus holes in my roof,

15:08

had leak, had rain leaking

15:10

into my kitchen. And when

15:12

I called Direct TV, they came

15:15

to do like a whole evaluation and they claimed

15:17

they have no proof they're the ones who did it. Because

15:20

I like to go on my roof and play and

15:22

put holes in my roof. So it was it was me So

15:25

when that and I am not one of these people that's

15:27

like based on principle and this that

15:30

was one where I'm like, I can't give this company any more

15:32

of my money. So canceled

15:34

Direct TV. And I'm

15:37

the only person in America that hates the red zone.

15:39

So I go to sports bars every Sunday. What do you

15:42

because for a few reasons.

15:44

One, I'm

15:47

a football fan. Okay, I don't care about fantasy.

15:50

I care about the games. So to me, last

15:53

week, for example, if you have a good game, now,

15:56

I'm not going to be able to think of what the games are last week.

15:58

But to me, a game game with two good

16:00

teams in between the twenty yard

16:02

lines is important to me more than this

16:05

shitty game someone's kicking a field

16:07

goal. There was a game, what

16:09

was the game three? It was two or three weeks ago

16:11

when the Bengals beat the Panthers like fifty to nothing,

16:14

and and red zones showing me fourth

16:16

quarter field yeah and red

16:21

and then the red zone showing me a Panther's field goal

16:23

in the fourth quarter. What are you doing? What

16:25

on earth are you doing? So I

16:27

know, and I know this is me. I know everyone

16:29

loves the red zone and this is my own thing. I

16:32

like to watch him, so I go to sports So what

16:34

was hard was for two years I didn't go to

16:36

sports bars because of COVID, right, So

16:38

this was my first year back at the sports bars, and

16:41

I gotta get them organized. So

16:44

is it a New York driven audience?

16:46

You get the New York game on three, and then you're

16:48

trying to find the other good

16:50

one o'clock game somewhere. Yes,

16:53

and here's some always

16:55

come home because the best game is always

16:57

on. The best game is

17:00

aways on. Never problem,

17:02

it's just the one o'clock. But there's this big

17:04

controversy here in New York, more scheduled

17:06

stuff because the Jets and Giants are now always

17:08

playing at the same time at one o'clock. Now, I'm not

17:10

gonna bash the leak for that, because the Jets

17:12

have been an embarrassment for twenty years and the Giants

17:15

haven't been that good. So now

17:17

both teams are I would say decent. Every everyone's

17:19

carried away. They're not good, they're decent. You're

17:25

emotionally and if you're a fan of either because

17:27

it's been so long you're emotionally

17:30

invested, right, But like

17:32

you said, you hit the nail on the head, like for this week, for instance,

17:35

if there was one game I could watch, it's

17:37

the Miami San Francisco game Like that to

17:39

me is the game during the day

17:41

that I want to walk in on and you can watch

17:43

it. Right. Well, there

17:45

are illegal streams, but I'm not gonna I will be

17:47

able to watch it, but we don't want to. I'm not gonna say

17:49

that to the voices here nothing,

17:52

So listen. So did

17:55

you grow up a Giants fan or a Jets fan? Jets

17:57

fan, but I'm not a Jets fan now I I

17:59

Now I just root track because

18:01

of this business, this players. I like,

18:04

yes, you know so, I I always

18:06

tell people that I grew up a Jets

18:08

fan. Gripper Chase Stadium. Do you go to shape

18:10

to Jet games? I did

18:13

not often. I

18:15

grew up in the upper decking section nine going

18:18

to Jet games. Loved it. Uh

18:20

save money for season tickets, which were

18:22

like, you know, a hundred bucks to get a season ticket

18:24

for the eight games, like twelve bucks a game. And I saved

18:26

my money from you know, your little

18:29

jobs and all that, right, it's crazy, and the

18:31

stands on the bottom of the field level used to bounce

18:33

because they rolled them out from behind home plate out

18:36

to create the state the football's construction

18:39

of the stadium and all that uh

18:43

there, And you know this from New York.

18:45

There aren't many fans

18:48

of both, but it's not

18:50

like you you hate the other

18:52

team right now. The man,

18:54

the Giants were really good when I was a kid, so I

18:57

I treated like an allergy. I've outgrown

19:00

Jet fandom, right, it's the same thing. It's

19:02

professional, you're in the industry, you're

19:04

neutral to teams and all that, and so

19:06

I've kind of outgrown the Jets thing. But

19:09

it was always a pain if you were in New York

19:11

because you got a one o'clock game and a four o'clock

19:13

game that was one Jets, one Giants, and if they

19:15

were both bad, you had

19:18

a bad day of TV. And for the last

19:20

five years that should have happened. Now

19:22

it's interesting. I think people would actually like to

19:25

see both because both have

19:27

been bad. So nobody's like, oh man, my team

19:29

stinks, well, the other team that's the co tenant

19:31

here is having seventy

19:33

thousand and a big playoff implication

19:36

game every week, so it'll be interesting

19:38

to watch the last few weeks if

19:40

they get separated so they're on at separate

19:42

times. Yeah. And you

19:45

know, if you would have told younger me and when

19:47

I was a kid that the Jets and Giants would be playing at

19:49

the same thing, it would have blown my mind away because it was just always

19:51

that one and four, one and four, one and four.

19:53

Absolutely. This is also why

19:56

I say this all the time in this podcast.

19:59

If I go by I,

20:01

my friends, family, people on

20:03

Twitter, just all the football fans I know and

20:05

what I hear. The thing football fans are more

20:07

interested in than anything right now

20:10

outside of you know, who's gonna win the Super Bowl, is

20:12

what's happening with Sunday Ticket because it's

20:14

it's off to a TV after this year, and

20:16

fan is it gonna be Apple? Is it gonna be Google? Like

20:18

fans are dying to know. Sunday Ticket

20:20

is a very very big

20:22

deal for the people who like to watch

20:24

the best games each week. So I

20:26

I live by that. I know you didn't

20:28

ask you, you you don't care, but I'll say anyway what my Sunday

20:31

is like, Can I wait,

20:33

wait, wait, I just want to say something on

20:35

my list of notes. I don't write questions. I said,

20:38

how do you watch games on Sunday afternoon?

20:40

So I was gonna ask I

20:43

feel better now, No, no

20:45

no, I wanted to know. But on

20:47

Sundays we do a production meeting in the morning. I get

20:49

to work out and come back to the room and

20:52

open my computer and start doing my notes, just

20:54

to go back over everything that we're

20:56

really ready for at that point for the game. And

20:59

then you're in the market,

21:02

so I look at the website. It's

21:04

five or six sports, so I

21:06

like to know what games are gonna be on in

21:09

whatever city we're in. So you watch

21:11

one game and then I

21:13

will usually put on my iPad

21:16

um Red Zone channel, and

21:19

I'm a Direct TV subscriber, so I

21:21

get sicilianos. It's cool

21:23

both both both Scott Hanson

21:25

and Andrews Ciciliano both Syracuse A loves so

21:28

I've taken care of the family business. No matter what Siciliano.

21:32

I know Andrew really well, so I

21:34

love he does an unbelievable job, but it does

21:36

a great job. Time tweet out Andrews

21:38

doing a great job. Or if I do like

21:40

what about Hanson, I'm like, I'm sorry, I don't get I don't

21:42

get Hanson, but I know he does a great job too.

21:44

Can I just tell you one thing. It wasn't until I

21:47

after twenty years of having direct TV and then

21:49

I cancel it. And then that first season I

21:51

started to try to get into Sunday ticket

21:54

and I'm in this business. Had no idea

21:56

there were two different red zones. I had no idea.

21:59

It's crazy, it's great. I

22:01

was an idiot and they're

22:03

they're both great, but you're right, they're both called the same

22:05

thing. Um. So I will

22:07

watch that on my iPad and then the game that's

22:10

on in our market wherever we are, and

22:13

depending on who we have the next week

22:15

or in two weeks. Uh, then

22:17

you go, oh, I'm gonna pay more attention to this when

22:20

we're in l A. A A few weeks ago for Chiefs

22:22

Chargers, Bill's Vikings was

22:25

on the local Fox station, The

22:27

Great Diggs, the Great Justin

22:29

Jefferson catch and back and forth with Digji Jefferson

22:32

in that game. So I ended up watching

22:34

that game more than the red Zone

22:36

channel because I was getting ahead on Buffalo

22:39

in Minnesota for that one. So I'll do that

22:41

and then usually we'll leave for the stadium somewhere

22:43

after the early games end and right around

22:45

when the late games are starting, and then I'll watch on

22:48

the phone or iPad on the drive to the

22:51

game. And then when we get to the booth,

22:53

once you get settled in, Chris and I will

22:55

put the games up and we'll watch the four four

22:57

box at once of the last four games.

22:59

And usually in the stadiums too, they

23:01

have Red Zone channel playing

23:04

for the people who are early in. I love watching

23:06

guys come out for the early early warm ups,

23:08

even the players, and they're looking up and they're watching

23:11

what's going on in the other games. It's just a reminder

23:13

that like the league happens in

23:15

fourteen places usually on a Sunday

23:17

or thirteen places on a Sunday, depending

23:19

on buys, but it's so interconnected.

23:22

It is really cool to go sity to

23:24

city to city and watch the same deal play

23:26

out all across the country. It's amazing.

23:28

And and the the popularity

23:31

of the Red Zone is amazing. People

23:34

love the Red Zone. It is it's it's

23:36

really remarkable what the league hit on

23:38

there with that. Oh my gosh, and colins Worth has

23:40

a great line. It's like you feel like you watch everything,

23:42

but you've seen nothing, and that's

23:46

that's your what you were saying before, that's yeah,

23:48

yeah, exactly. You know. He

23:50

has a perfect example. It was on Sunday

23:53

Jaguars Ravens. I had

23:55

seen the Ravens get a touchdown very

23:58

late. The next thing I see that Hadguars

24:00

are going and I'm like, well, how did that happen? Like if you're think,

24:02

you want know how that happened, not just to see the score,

24:05

but I I would never ever

24:07

disparage the Red Zone in terms of the success,

24:09

the popularity it's and and those guys

24:11

to do that for eight hours or whatever it is, or

24:14

eight more than that, maybe that is

24:16

not easy at all. I give him a lot of credit for

24:18

that. Yeah, I've I've seen video

24:20

of Andrew Siciliano doing Red Zone

24:22

on direct TV and standing up at the

24:24

monitors and just your all

24:27

in. And Andrew jumps in and does

24:29

a little more play by play, a recognition of the guys

24:31

and one game, two games, three plays

24:33

at once. I just love I love the energy

24:36

of it. The energy of it is great. And

24:39

you do walk away going okay, I need to rest for

24:41

a little bit after after you watch, so it's it's

24:43

really cool. Look at the league is

24:45

the most amazing entertainment vehicle

24:47

in our country when you talk about

24:50

you know, however they estimate the numbers forty

24:52

million, thirty five million, thirty million people.

24:55

There's nothing nothing close to it.

24:57

And uh, to be a part of it every

24:59

week a fan and then to jump in

25:01

and then be a part of it presenting to

25:03

those many millions of people is just the coolest

25:06

thing. Yeah, Thanksgiving

25:08

was really something. It was I think it was thirty

25:10

one thirty two million for Bill's Lions,

25:12

and they got the forty two million for Giants Cowboys,

25:14

and then you guys with a very

25:16

good Patriots Vikings

25:19

game was twenty seven million. I think

25:21

close to that. So just just

25:24

you know that we are the NFL

25:26

runs the country. Basically, we are

25:28

we are, we are NFL Nation. We we

25:30

are and uh, it's it's

25:32

a fun time of the year because it

25:35

kind of feels like it's winding down after Thanksgiving,

25:37

but we still have six

25:40

games to go. The it's a little

25:42

bit later on the calendar with the start of the season. Just

25:44

usually get either early September

25:47

start a little bit later that plus

25:49

the extra week. Uh, there's still

25:51

a lot of ball to be played. It's uh. And

25:53

you know what's weird, Jimmy, look at the standings and

25:56

you know, I was looking at them this morning. Somebody's

25:58

gonna win like four games in a oh and get on

26:00

a heater, get in the playoffs as a three

26:02

seed, and just just wrenk everything. And

26:05

it's just really cool to sit

26:07

there, go who's that going to be? You know? And I don't

26:09

know, I don't know, but it's fun to watch. Absolutely.

26:12

Um So about you for a second. This is

26:14

your first year full time lead

26:17

voice of something night football. Now you've been

26:19

a number one or a

26:21

crew whatever you want to call it before, because you did

26:23

Monday Night for ESPN for

26:25

a lot of years. Any

26:28

big differences, little differences between

26:30

between doing Sunday Night Football is the lead guy

26:32

FROMBC and doing Monday Night Football as the lead

26:34

guy back then for ESPN, or just

26:37

you call on a game and that's it. Yeah, No, I'd

26:39

say little differences. Obviously,

26:42

your production crew, who you're

26:44

working with, all of that stuff.

26:47

The pace of a Sunday

26:49

compared to a Monday is a little bit different. But I've

26:51

done in terms of in terms of

26:53

what like sun well, Sunday when

26:56

you're doing Monday night. When when we were doing Monday

26:58

Night, we'd get in Saturday and meet with the team. Uh.

27:00

Then Sunday you're watching games all day

27:03

and you go do a meeting with the team when

27:05

they arrived, like at five o'clock local

27:07

time, the road team when they got in town. And

27:09

then you come back and watch the Sunday night game. So the whole

27:11

NFL plays out for you all day,

27:14

right, and then you've got the whole next

27:16

morning to focus on your game to do

27:19

it at the end of the busy long NFL

27:21

day, you just want to have a good grasp

27:23

of what's happened. So if

27:26

there's uh, if there's a roughing the passer

27:29

in the Commanders

27:32

Giants game, that is a big play

27:34

that makes is a deciding play in the game,

27:37

and then boom, you get a roughing the pastor

27:39

at a key moment in your game. You

27:41

want to reference that. So you say to the

27:43

audience, hey, you know, those of you who watched

27:45

the Washington Giants game, you

27:48

saw that too, Because you know that people

27:50

how do they sample? They sample their game game

27:54

if it's not their game and then come to Sunday

27:56

night, so you want to just have the

27:58

broad perspective on the league, which

28:00

is different on the run as opposed

28:02

to having all Monday morning

28:05

and watch it all day play out the day before.

28:07

So that's a little bit different. But like for

28:10

the doing the job No.

28:12

Ten years, on Monday night, you're getting a certain

28:15

rhythm and routine of your week of doing

28:18

your prep. You know, I kind of break it up

28:20

that one day is one team, one days the other

28:22

team. So this week, Tuesday

28:25

was Colt's Day and Wednesday was Cowboys

28:27

Day, and then you start to put

28:29

all the pieces together on Thursday and you travel

28:31

and get to Arlington for Friday.

28:34

So other than just shifting on the

28:36

calendar one day for that stuff, it's

28:38

not different. And when when you're on the air, you know whether

28:41

it's Monday night or Sunday night, whether you're doing Notre

28:43

Dame on Saturday, you know, it's

28:46

work with your production team, your partner in

28:48

the booth, in the game in front of you. So not

28:50

not drastically different, just adjusting

28:52

to everything, and it's been it's been an

28:54

easy adjustment because of the time spent at

28:57

NBC having done twenty

28:59

some odd games with Chris Um. All

29:01

of that has made it super super

29:03

easy. I don't know if you check Twitter all, but

29:06

any any difference in response by

29:08

fans do you find it um

29:12

mostly positive? Anything different in terms

29:14

of your Monday night days, anything, or

29:16

just you don't check it, you don't care. I

29:19

don't, I don't. I don't live on it. I'll peek at

29:21

it from time to time, just as I do for

29:23

for interest and what's going on around the league. Uh.

29:26

You know, people have been very positive

29:28

and very nice, and I appreciate that,

29:30

you know, I think I think when when Gruden

29:32

was making uh smoothies

29:34

up in the booth with a blender and doing

29:37

that crazy stuff was a little bit different. But Chris

29:39

says something crazy or funny or

29:41

we have a laugh there. You know that that gets the attention.

29:44

And by and large, you know, there's always a few people who

29:46

aren't happy with you, and that usually directly

29:49

corresponds with the team that's losing, where

29:51

you said something about the team that is

29:54

true, but they don't want to hear it. So that's that's

29:56

fun. It's that's all. That's all part of the public square

29:58

that this has become, but know it. I mean,

30:00

I feel like it's been really

30:03

positive from everybody who I've come across

30:05

and the folks in the league to getting back

30:07

every week in the building and seeing coaches

30:10

and owners and gms, it's been it's

30:12

been a great reception to be back on a full

30:14

time basis. Were you surprised

30:16

at all at the reaction that there

30:19

was when the colins Worth slide didn't

30:21

happen this year and were legitimately

30:23

upset the things we live for

30:25

on TV. I I kind of knew because

30:27

it was a viral thing, right, So it was

30:30

it was it was a way to do stuff, and it was simple.

30:33

You know, you can spend the three and a half hours with us. I'd

30:36

rather start the game with Chris and give him

30:39

truly ten or fifteen more seconds in that

30:41

little tight window to open up the game,

30:43

you know, so I can, he can, he can

30:45

expand on a second point. And it was just

30:48

just my my comfort of that. But it

30:51

was I surprised, of course, not because people are. But

30:53

the good thing is it's it's always

30:55

in the bullpen, so at any moment

30:57

we could bring it out. So if you're not there at twelve

30:59

when I podcast starts, you might

31:01

miss a live slide, so be carefus. But at

31:04

some point somewhere along the way, we'll

31:06

just test to see the the infrastructure

31:09

of the internet and see if we can break it by having

31:11

Chris slide back in for a game. We'll figure that. Yeah.

31:13

I was kind of glad he stopped doing this because

31:15

I felt like the slide was an Alan Chris thing.

31:17

You guys have to create your own thing. You don't want, you know. I mean

31:20

it's like I wasn't the Mike and the mad

31:22

Dug for twenty years. I don't want them with like a new partners

31:24

doing the same state like you've got you know, you gotta

31:27

do different things with different partners. That's

31:29

yeah, that's exactly right. And it's it's

31:31

not it's not that it's not it wasn't good. It's

31:33

just it if it's what we're doing right now. And

31:36

if there's a if there's a week that there was a week

31:38

actually uh with the hurricane

31:40

UH that that came through South Florida came

31:43

through Florida. We were in South Florida, which

31:45

was spared most of the damaged on the west

31:47

side of the state, but that week we did it

31:50

and I opened up the game just set what happened

31:52

while the game was being played, and then then Chris

31:54

slid in. But because it was not fun,

31:57

it was a serious topic, we didn't make a big deal. The

32:00

slide is back, so it has

32:02

happened. For the record, there has been one slide this year.

32:05

PFF has a has a slide.

32:07

Stats are wanting and Chris Chris graded

32:09

highly slide. He still

32:11

had its good excellent. Now

32:13

you've you've been doing this a long time. Like I mentioned,

32:15

you did Monday night football, You've done Sunday

32:18

Night over the years pan full of games.

32:21

The versatility is off the charts.

32:23

You've done Olympics, golf, car

32:26

racing, horse racing, studio. At

32:29

this point that do you is

32:32

there anything you want to improve on? Like

32:34

do you ever? I don't know if you rewatch a

32:36

game, but do you feel like you know what I should?

32:38

Maybe this needs to I I can't

32:40

improve might not be the right word. I mean, you're but

32:43

like, do you what's the evaluation? Like when

32:45

it's you've been doing it for so long,

32:48

that's a good question. I watch every game back. I

32:50

watch every game back, and there's a perfect

32:52

game out there somewhere, and at some point

32:54

I'm gonna get it. When I do, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm

32:57

gonna have a party or

33:00

it or whatever. But you always

33:02

look, we have fifty different

33:04

choices to make. Uh.

33:07

In a segment of a game, do I ask

33:09

the analysts this? Do I point out this

33:11

part of the play? Do I mention the tackler?

33:13

Do I not mentioned the tackler? You

33:15

never get it right, But when

33:17

you're doing it, it's really hard

33:19

to know. How's it coming

33:22

through the TV? How is the person who's sitting

33:24

there a feeling

33:28

about what they're hearing? So I

33:30

try to go back and watch the game.

33:32

I've I've been almost perfect on that.

33:34

This year. There's been maybe a quarter I haven't been able to go

33:36

back and watch. We had three games in a row,

33:39

uh Sunday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday.

33:41

But I love going back to listen

33:43

because it helps me communicate

33:45

with Chris better, helps me communicate with

33:48

Rob Hyland, drewscoff in the truck better.

33:50

You know, Melissa's doing a story on the sideline?

33:52

Am I at that point

33:55

asking my spot? Or Hey, have you

33:57

seen the left tackle. You

33:59

know, did you see him go over to the sidelines?

34:01

That kind of stuff. You want to make sure

34:03

that you're not missing what's happening.

34:06

Uh So I love going back to try to

34:08

listen to those things to make sure

34:10

that I'm doing the best. We're only

34:12

there for the audience, We're not there for ourselves.

34:16

So are you giving the audience the best?

34:18

So I go back and watch that and try to improve

34:20

on that every day. And that's

34:23

that's the fun. When when I when when

34:26

I think that I've got this down, then

34:28

then I should stop. You know, there's

34:30

an old Bill Walsh line that that Gruden

34:33

would bring up to us. All the time, you

34:35

get better or you get worse. You never stay the same

34:38

every day. And what are

34:40

we doing to put on a better show

34:43

this Sunday in Dallas the following Sunday? It's

34:45

so far. That's that's the way I'm kind of wired.

34:47

And I work with a bunch of people who are wired

34:49

like that as well, So I think it kind of fits pretty well.

34:52

I should know this, and I and I feel

34:54

bad that I don't. But do you where do

34:56

you stand on mentioning

34:58

in roundabout ways? Not directly when

35:00

there's an over under cover points

35:03

spread. Do you stay away from it completely? I

35:05

don't. I can't recall you doing a little

35:07

like you know, oh it was you

35:10

know, this is important to people.

35:12

Sure, I think about I've done about six

35:14

times this year. I'll tell you why.

35:17

When I was working at ESPN and ABC, Musburger

35:20

was doing college football and I would

35:22

always have fun figuring out, you know, where what Brent's

35:24

interest was in the game. And I

35:27

remember talking to him about it and he said, hey,

35:29

you know, those are the people who are

35:31

watching loyally. Those

35:34

are the folks who were watching when the games are blowout, right,

35:37

there's something on the line. So always having

35:39

awareness of it and that that said

35:41

a lot to me. That that makes a ton of sense, because

35:44

you know, if there's one thing we need to do, and I've learned

35:46

from people over the years and try to share with the

35:49

whether it's the students at Syracuse or young people who

35:51

are coming in, it's no your audience. So

35:53

who's your audience at that point? And now

35:55

with betting being legalized

35:57

in so many ways and being advertised, that's

36:01

a lot of the audience. It's more than it used to be.

36:03

Even people have ten bucks in their fan Douel account

36:05

whatever. So I'll

36:07

do it in that. You know,

36:10

slide Away not being the al

36:12

is certainly the rascal of doing it, which was great,

36:14

and now that it's a public warrior, there's

36:17

less rascal to it, as he has said. But so

36:19

we're we're going to a a halftime the Green Bay Philly

36:22

game, he scores twenty

36:24

and on the toss back to the studio, I

36:26

say, game already

36:28

higher scoring than some people thought it would

36:31

be. Then the total was forty six and a half

36:33

and the touchdown got it seven. You

36:35

know, I

36:38

didn't hear you say that because I had the under

36:40

in that game, and I think I didn't

36:42

want to hear any anything at that point. Yeah,

36:45

Burkhard had a good one. That Burkhard had a good one

36:47

this week. I don't remember what he said, but the Chief Rams game

36:49

was coming down to the over under, and he did in

36:51

the roundabout way. I'll tell you Twitter

36:53

is mainly bad and horrible, but my god,

36:56

it used to be so fun when Brent would do a college

36:58

football game on ESPN. In within five

37:01

minutes, all the tweets were who is Brent on?

37:03

Who is Brent Half tonight we we would all try to

37:05

figure out where Brent was on the game. I

37:07

missed that with Brent not doing the games. Yeah,

37:10

same, So you can tell

37:12

if you don't know, or you probably know. My allegiance

37:14

and love from my alma bat Syracuse. So

37:16

they're playing at Michigan in the late nineties

37:19

and I live in ann Arbor now and must

37:21

Burger's doing the game, and it was a big

37:23

game. Circus. Circus gave

37:26

misually one of the worst defeats in the Big

37:28

House. It was tremendous performance by Donovan McNabb

37:30

started his senior year beat a good Michigan

37:32

team coached by one of my favorite people,

37:35

Lloyd Carr. Was a tremendous game. So

37:37

Syracuse takes the ball. I think they must have

37:39

been UM seven

37:41

point dog or something like that. Syracus takes

37:43

the ball and walks down the field. This beautiful

37:46

eight play drive, passes, freeze, options,

37:48

runs all that. Syracus

37:51

scores and Brent going to break says,

37:53

Syracuse walked it down the field, takes

37:55

a seven, only it almost feels like they're up

37:57

two scores time out. Brent

38:00

just thinking there, Hey, I'm fourteen nothing three

38:02

minutes into the game and I am dying.

38:05

I'm like, I'm sitting by myself in Connecticut

38:07

watch it. I am dying that it's like

38:10

as as only as only Brent could. That's

38:12

a perfect way to do it. One of a kind.

38:14

Yeah, perfect way to do it. Um,

38:17

let me ask you. I would assume because you

38:19

are a veteran at this and you

38:22

have the experience when listen,

38:24

no matter what happens, there's always these controversial

38:26

things that are going on in the NFL. For whatever reason,

38:29

I think I had written a piece because you guys had the first

38:31

game when TWA came back after

38:33

the concussion. I said, that's a tough spot for you guys

38:35

there because you can't ignore it. And

38:38

I know you can't say it, but the league doesn't want

38:42

to his concussion to be the talk of a three

38:44

hour broadcast and whether they

38:46

should have been put And you know what I'm thinking

38:48

about this Sunday. I

38:51

don't know who has the game. I should check, but

38:53

whoever has that game for CBS Browns Texans,

38:55

they're in a tough spot that is way

38:58

harder than the two A thing. Do

39:00

you embrace those challenges? Do you

39:02

wish you didn't have to deal with the

39:04

controversies. What's your approach

39:06

wan at all? So so go back to the TA

39:08

thing. And you had said that, and we

39:10

had we had planned and we did talk

39:13

about not just the concussion part, but

39:15

the Brian Flores part of it and

39:18

the return of Steve Ross the owner. UM.

39:21

It's it's an odd situation

39:23

in a game, and you have

39:26

to make the decision how do you approach it? Because

39:29

there's a fifty yard play? Then

39:31

what do you do? Right, there's an interception,

39:34

there's a turnover, something happens in the game.

39:36

How do you pivot from a serious conversation

39:39

so you really get like one quick bite at the apple.

39:42

In situations like that, Um,

39:44

in other situations where the crowd

39:46

may be reacting to a player on the

39:48

field, you

39:51

you sense what the crowd is doing and let people

39:53

hear it, document the event, and then you put

39:55

it in context and then and

39:57

then you move on. Now you are

40:00

you there for the game? Yeah? Are you there there for

40:02

the storyline? Yes? But

40:05

the storyline is best handled with proper

40:08

time to do it the right way

40:10

invariably. You know, we've seen

40:12

more examples, We've lived through examples

40:14

going over the years to do a Monday Night and other

40:16

games and basketball games too, where

40:18

if you try to get into um

40:21

a large scale conversation, it's

40:24

gonna get derailed by what's happening in front

40:26

of you. So those are best done

40:28

the proper way in pregame shows,

40:30

halftime or after the game.

40:33

And you know, if it involves the

40:36

announcers that are at site, even better.

40:38

Right to be a part of the conversation, but

40:41

to think that you can get into a game and properly

40:44

unpack everything that would

40:47

fit into a balanced conversation

40:49

of the issue, presenting both I like you're talking to to

40:51

a concussion thing. You

40:54

say what happened, You document

40:56

what happened. Here's what he told us about it, Here's

40:59

what the says about it. Then do you start

41:01

getting to what medical experts say, You

41:04

start getting to what people at home say. Right,

41:06

there's a lot of things, and all of a sudden, you're

41:08

six plays down the road and

41:10

people have gotten that talk the whole week. So

41:13

if it's happening in front of you and it's part of the atmosphere,

41:16

the atmosphere tells the story. You put it in context,

41:18

at least from where I sit. But I

41:20

think it all it's all a conversation beforehand

41:22

with your producer, with your exacts, with

41:25

your analysts, Hey,

41:27

how are we going to do this? I know when we

41:29

we did the Olympics in China,

41:32

and that was a lot

41:34

of sensitive stuff. We

41:36

spent weeks talking

41:39

about how to approach it, how

41:41

to do it, and we have to

41:43

address it because it's

41:45

a big part of the backdrop for the games, and

41:47

it impacted the athletes who were at the

41:49

Olympics, and it

41:52

was a story that when they

41:54

had one of the weaker population part

41:56

of the ceremony to light the

41:59

flame for the ceremony,

42:01

they embraced it. So if we hadn't talked

42:03

about that earlier, it

42:06

wouldn't have made significant impact

42:08

to the people watching. That's at an Olympic

42:10

opening ceremony, which is very different from

42:13

a game. But you're trying to call so

42:15

it's never easy, but you've got to You've

42:17

got to address it and deal with it. I

42:19

think. But put you guys, all

42:22

of the people who all of the play

42:24

by play, an analyst who had to do Dolbin's

42:26

games. What made it tough is I think you

42:29

can't now the average Joe

42:31

Fans sitting at home the two weeks

42:33

before when he's playing the Bills. Right

42:36

now, you can't go on the air and say he

42:38

was concussed. An average person sitting

42:41

at homes can say he was concussed. The guy couldn't

42:43

stand off, his teammates had to hold him. He felt twice he

42:45

was concussed. Maybe he's not. Now you're

42:47

not a doctor. Maybe it's not concussed. Maybe there's

42:49

another word for it. But something happened in

42:51

that Buffalo game that was not kosher. You

42:54

can't go say that, And then that's what makes it

42:56

tough, I think, because we all saw with our eyes what happened

42:58

in Buffalo. And you want to say that doctor clean him.

43:00

Well, the doctors an't always right, and that's what you guys

43:03

can't get into that. So let me let me let

43:06

me give you one relate to that. Jimmy. So,

43:08

last week, the Packers are playing the Eagles,

43:11

and it's pretty apparent the Packers are

43:15

injured. To stop the momentum

43:17

of the Eagles, right, guy goes down, stretch

43:21

out his calf, and he gets up. I

43:24

remember two specific instances

43:26

instances of watching games where that

43:28

was happening, and then the announcer said,

43:31

oh, here's so and so he's

43:33

faking an injury. This is and the guy was out

43:35

for the youth, right, So you

43:38

get one shot at blowing

43:40

your credibility. So you gotta

43:42

be accurate. So you're

43:44

right. You can't say, you know what, I think he's

43:47

got this injury right there. Uh,

43:49

but you have to lean Here's

43:52

what we saw, here's the replay,

43:54

here's what it looks like. We don't know.

43:57

It sounds like you're trying to play both sides

43:59

of the fence the reality he is until you

44:01

know, you can't. There have been more injuries

44:03

that we thought it was one. It turned out to be

44:05

another. In our game last week. C

44:07

J. Gardner Johnson the corner who leads

44:10

to the NFL and picks lacerated

44:12

kidney. There's no way on planet Earth you

44:14

can guess what his injury is,

44:17

right, So you just don't know it. More

44:19

times than not you're right. But

44:22

for the few times you're wrong, you know, just

44:24

kind of be patient.

44:27

But to your point, you'd like to be able to

44:29

be sitting on the couch and say exactly what you

44:31

said. Hey, guys, that's that's that looks like a

44:33

concussion to me, So I just

44:35

saw it's it's Spireaudidas and Jay

44:37

Feely who have Texans Browns

44:40

on Sunday. If you were doing that game, would

44:42

you be dreading it or would you just

44:45

be like, this is my job. I'll cover what I

44:47

gotta cover. You take on assignments,

44:49

man, You take on assignments, and you do do your

44:51

best like we you know, like I said with the World

44:54

Cup, with the the Olympics,

44:56

you you take on whatever.

44:59

You're a sa mind and you try to do the best job you

45:01

can. And you you know,

45:03

if if it's if it's an important issue, you

45:06

take extra inordinately imbalanced

45:10

time on that compared to what you would

45:12

some other games, just so you know, you go in and here's

45:14

the plan, and here's how we're gonna try to execute the

45:16

best we can within the context of the

45:18

game. I don't understand how the

45:20

NFL sus spends them for eleven games

45:23

and then brings them back for a game against the Texans,

45:25

like just to spend them twelve games and avoid the circus.

45:27

I don't expect you to wait on that, but I just had to

45:29

get the number. The numbers

45:32

were imbalanced. It didn't make sense when you saw

45:34

it. You saw this coming for three months

45:36

and now here it is. Yeah, you

45:38

had the Packers this week with the Eagles. I'm just curious.

45:41

Yeah, how's Aaron Rodgers with you

45:43

in in pregame meetings? Because he's obviously

45:47

it's Aaron Rodgers has become a thing now with

45:49

the way he speaks, in his um

45:52

personality and now when I have

45:56

play by play guys and analysts and they all say

45:58

he's great in the in the meetings, I'm just curious

46:00

what your experiences. He's fabulous.

46:03

He's fabulous. Uh. With me, I

46:05

enjoyed talking to him. I've

46:08

I've known him, you know, for many years here doing

46:10

this. Uh. I've always

46:12

had an appreciation for

46:14

somebody who doesn't give

46:16

you a pablem doesn't give

46:18

you the same vanilla stuff. There's depth

46:21

there. If you ask a good question, you get a really good

46:23

answer out of Aaron. It's unique, it's different. It

46:25

may take your places as if you watch them

46:27

on the McAfee show, you know it.

46:29

It takes you to places that you don't normally

46:32

get to with other quarterbacks.

46:35

And I kind of I kind of like that. I like

46:37

that. He has a life outside of football that

46:40

is a little bit different. You know, we've run into Aaron

46:42

at the derby multiple times um

46:45

in May, so you get to get to see

46:47

him there away away from it. Um.

46:50

He he has been really

46:52

interesting And it was a really interesting situation

46:55

on Sunday when he got hurt, because

46:59

you know, you don't want to put him out for the season. You

47:02

know, I've seen Aaron Rodgers go up the tunnel and come

47:04

back out and play. Uh.

47:07

But he came out while we were recording that he's

47:09

playing Sunday. Just yeah, right right, And

47:11

and he told McAfee yesterday that he was playing

47:14

on Sunday, so that the scans

47:16

were okay, But the interesting stuff is all

47:19

right there. You know there four and seven

47:21

now four and eight whatever they are? Four and eight? Um,

47:24

yeah, could they win out and get a wild

47:26

card? Yeah, they could do that. I wouldn't

47:28

put it past them. But

47:31

there's a salary cap football

47:33

issue to this if you're Green Bay, because

47:36

you've got to make a decision in May on Jordan's

47:38

Love's fifth year option

47:41

because he's through three years and you've seen him

47:43

play one game that was the COVID

47:45

Rogers miss in Kansas City last year.

47:49

He came in this game and looked a heck of a

47:51

lot better than he did at any point

47:53

that we've seen him in a game that matters, Right, So

47:55

you've got to make a twenty million dollar decision

47:58

or so somewhere in that neighborhood on that guy in

48:00

May. Are you gonna do it without having

48:02

seen him play at all? Probably

48:06

if Rogers keeps going. So that's

48:08

one of those do you speculate that he's gonna be out for

48:10

the year because he's doing up the tunnel or

48:12

do you start to get into that conversation, Um,

48:15

you know, Aaron. Aaron's interesting because

48:17

I think Aaron's already thinking about what's next year

48:19

gonna look like in Green Bay. Are they going

48:22

to bring the band back

48:24

and say this is a bad year, let's go or

48:26

they're going to start peeling off some

48:28

of their veterans and go young and

48:30

what does that mean for him? So he

48:33

kind of hinted at that that that

48:35

process that's gonna be interesting to watch in

48:38

this offseason. Uh, it's too early

48:40

to start asking him, Hey, what are you gonna do next year?

48:42

Because there's still this year left but when

48:45

you ask him that he gives you a good response

48:47

as opposed to well, we'll wait and see, right,

48:51

Listen. I hope he I hope he decides to

48:53

go somewhere else just for the content and

48:55

the anarchy, and it's

48:59

gonna be hard, hard with his contract, I

49:01

know, I know thinking about that. Yeah.

49:04

Um. I ask every single play

49:06

by play person and

49:09

anyone who does games, I always ask them when they come

49:11

on, how do you think Brady will do as

49:13

an analyst for Fox? If and when he ever? I

49:16

I mean, I was all along assuming he's going

49:18

next year, because it didn't look like he was having

49:21

much fun this year. Then Joe buck him on here a couple of weeks

49:23

so and said that there are some people who don't

49:25

think he's doing one game at all, which I

49:28

was shocked. But what do you think about in

49:30

your meetings with Tom? Knowing him over the years, how do you

49:32

think I do? I

49:34

don't have a read on what

49:37

what what he's gonna do. If it's next year, if

49:39

it's the year after, if it's never, I don't

49:41

know. Um. I

49:43

think Peyton, Aaron,

49:47

Tom, I think all those

49:49

guys would be as good as

49:51

they want to be if they want to work at it. Um.

49:55

You can go in that first year because

49:58

you've had this granular knowledge and

50:00

you know most of the personnel of the league. You can

50:02

go in your first year and crush it. But

50:05

then it's the after that, right

50:07

And it's also when you are the

50:09

quarterback, you are really focused

50:12

on one side of the ball, on their

50:14

defense. Now you've

50:17

got to worry about it all four sides of the

50:19

ball and special teams and

50:21

coaching and have an opinion on

50:24

uh, the GM's decisions over the

50:26

last five years, and on ownership

50:28

metally, you've got to have opinion. That doesn't mean these

50:30

guys don't, but you've got

50:33

to be at that

50:35

level of all of that stuff. And

50:37

that's that's a lot of work. I will

50:39

tell you that what

50:42

would amaze people is the amount of

50:44

work somebody like Chris Do's Collinsworth

50:47

on a week to week basis. I mean, it is, you

50:50

know, it's it's NonStop. It's

50:52

you know, I walked out of the booth in Kansas

50:55

City and there's a little area back behind that's

50:57

part of the rest of the press press area.

51:00

We get on off the elevator and they're in

51:02

a couch next to that area. About

51:04

two and a half hours before kick off,

51:07

Chris was watching video of

51:10

Tennessee Titans like he

51:12

was cramming to get a little more study

51:14

because he saw something he wanted to make

51:16

sure that's what he saw, and then when it happened in the

51:18

game, he nailed it. Like Chris,

51:21

Chris is on almost everything that happens

51:23

in a game as well as

51:25

any analysts I've ever heard doing

51:27

any broadcast anywhere, and it's because

51:30

he works his ass off. He

51:32

works at it a lot. And

51:34

for Tom or if Peyton ever did

51:37

it full time or Aaron like they

51:39

put in the time, they would crush it because

51:42

they're they're brilliant, they've experienced

51:44

it all. They're great on camera. They've

51:46

got a great personality. You're right, Aaron Rodgers.

51:49

He's a funny guy. You know, he's low key funny.

51:52

He's good humor. We're not funny, Peyton

51:54

is. Tom can be funny. We've seen more of his

51:56

personality on social media the last couple of years,

51:58

so they can have some fun. They've

52:00

got unbelievable credentials. They've got

52:02

more been there and done it than anybody

52:05

because the longevity and the success that

52:07

they've had uncommon amongst

52:09

quarterbacks. So if they

52:11

put the time in, I think any

52:13

one of those three, if they did it on a

52:15

full time basis, would be right

52:18

at the top of the list. And I

52:20

I think they all know how to how

52:22

to work. Yeah, I think they're

52:24

all really prideful of

52:27

their work ethic. So I think

52:30

that's what would bring them to a

52:32

high level in the booth on a regular basis. Yeah,

52:35

I can't wait to see it. I've said that many

52:37

times, just because you know, everything

52:40

you said there is so dead on about what you need

52:42

to know as an analyst and the work you need to depend in. But

52:45

he's also the greatest quarterback of all times.

52:47

So like that alone, just

52:49

to hear him. You know, we saw

52:52

win Romo his first year how he saw everything.

52:54

Can imagine Brady like that would

52:56

be another level so that that you know,

52:59

maybe he fizzles out day after a few years or something

53:01

like that. But um, I mean

53:03

I did say to Joe, I eat, I would never

53:05

expect Tom to do the ten years of his contract.

53:07

The thoughts, I think that's stretching it. But

53:10

um, you know, I

53:12

I just just to hear him do

53:14

a game I think would be fascinating. And

53:16

the people who don't know about

53:18

his personality, I think once he got out of

53:20

jail a k A New England, we

53:23

we've seen what's happened. We

53:25

met with Joe Tuney, who's the guard

53:28

on the Chiefs, who was with the Patriots,

53:31

and he had a good run into England as having

53:33

a good run protecting mahomes. So we

53:35

thought it was a neat meeting. That's why Chris. Chris

53:37

is always good about this. Let's meet some offensive linement.

53:39

Talk to those guys because they're they're characters,

53:42

but they're also really smart dudes. And

53:44

uh, Tuney was fabulous and

53:46

he told us this year

53:48

that you know, I got here in Kansas City

53:51

and one of Andy Reid's big big things are,

53:53

hey, let your personality show. You be

53:55

yourself in the game, let your personally show out of the

53:57

field. And Joe Tuny was like, we

54:01

can do that. We're allowed to

54:03

do that now. It's funny, it feels

54:05

like emation that But you know what, we

54:07

shouldn't criticize New England because it worked pretty damn

54:09

well for them for twenty years. So absolutely

54:12

just just what what whatever whatever makes

54:14

the meal perfect. You don't know what the ingredients

54:16

are, but if you cook a good meal, you

54:19

cook good meal. And they have for a long time

54:21

up in Foxborough, for sure. It's funny

54:23

you tell that story because you talked about

54:25

Chris saying, let's talk to the offensive lineman because

54:27

they have some good things, you mean, and then you talk about

54:30

Kansas City. I've said this, I've written

54:32

this in my column a bunch of times. I said on the podcast. I don't

54:34

know if you've listened it all, how often you listen.

54:36

But the new podcast with I mean,

54:38

I'm here plugging another podcast, which is ridiculous,

54:40

but the new podcast with Jason and

54:42

Travis Kelsey is a mustle

54:44

listen. It is so good. You

54:46

know, you have the brother is the chemistry, but Jason

54:49

Kelsey is Derek.

54:52

He's great. Uh we uh.

54:55

You had the Philly you have the Phillies that you had the Eagles this

54:57

week, so I don't know if you have the Eagles, and we've have

55:00

the Chiefs twice already,

55:02

yeah twice, maybe three times, three

55:05

times and Philly twice. So

55:07

I've listened every week that I

55:09

was doing their games, and then listened to a couple of

55:11

weeks afterwards. Uh, they were

55:13

fun. I think it was

55:16

I it was Travis gave me a shout

55:18

out for because I said, Jason

55:21

had a mistake in the game and

55:23

he like jumped all over it, and I said, all

55:26

right, well, I know Travis is gonna ask him that in the podcast

55:29

when they that they do in the next day or two, And

55:31

sure enough he did right away, right, So it was it

55:33

was fun, fun to listen to. They are good

55:35

that those are guys who will be, you know, terrific

55:38

if they choose to go down any any route

55:41

with the media. I think that's

55:43

interesting right now we got more guys

55:45

in the league who are dipping

55:47

their toe into that in the podcast face

55:50

while playing like von Miller set

55:53

looks like it's a professional set what he doesn't

55:55

show, you know, and and it's

55:57

interesting. I think. You know, for broadcasters

55:59

that's one of the biggest challenges right now. And

56:02

I could spend every hour just

56:05

on Cowboys stuff between now and Sunday

56:07

at and not consume

56:09

all of it. You know, how many people have Cowboys

56:12

podcasts or um the

56:14

cow the Cowboy message boards, or or Cowboy

56:16

articles or any of the stuff that's been done all

56:19

year. The content is endless,

56:21

and I think for those of us

56:23

who broadcast, that's the hardest part right now

56:26

is I find that myself too. It's

56:29

I don't know how people keep up with everything. It's it's

56:31

it's wild. And the hard part

56:33

is, let's let's say you're

56:36

a big Yankee fan, right, so

56:38

you you've got every night of the Yankees,

56:41

whether it's watching Michael on Yes or listening

56:43

to John and Susan, You've got the

56:45

Yankees every night. So somebody comes

56:47

in to do a national Yankees game and

56:50

they didn't see the game on

56:52

a Wednesday night in Seattle.

56:55

You know when Booney mis mismanaged

56:57

the bullpen, right, and here he's doing it again.

57:00

So it's really always a challenge. So

57:02

I always find the balance of that is you

57:05

can never be the local play by play

57:07

person, but what you can do

57:09

is bring a national perspective to

57:12

your team. I can't tell an Eagles

57:14

fan more than Mirror res Ken,

57:16

who's seen as the radio voice the Eagles,

57:19

seen every Eagles game for the last forty years or

57:21

something like that, right, I plus

57:23

years. I I can't do that, But

57:26

what I can do is compare

57:28

your offensive line to the offensive line

57:30

I saw with Minnesota three

57:33

days ago, or I can tell you that

57:35

a coach who just had them

57:38

says this about your team. So you've got

57:40

to find the national perspective

57:43

and make that what you do

57:46

as opposed to try to be the every

57:48

morsel local broadcaster. And

57:50

so many fans don't get it because

57:53

they want the announcers. They think every

57:55

announcer on the national level, they think

57:57

the announcers are all against their teams, which they

57:59

don't understand that there's a national

58:03

it's a national broadcast. They're not gonna go in

58:05

depth on into the weeds

58:07

on your backup offensive lineman, which you local

58:10

radio telecast. I do it every time I watch

58:12

a Syracuse game. That's when I become a fan.

58:14

When I watch, like come on, you're

58:16

gonna tell me that again, or you're

58:18

you're missing that point, or that's not what happened,

58:21

but but it but it happens. And that's

58:24

why I love trying to stay a fan. Uh

58:26

you know, living in Michigan now that

58:28

sports I don't cover, I like to

58:30

watch the Red Wings play kind

58:33

of root root for them and

58:36

that or Syracuse or the Tigers

58:38

not doing a baseball like I

58:40

will have that fan experience.

58:44

And if you get a national game and you hear

58:46

a reference that is not right, you're

58:48

like, you know what, that's how people feel when we do national

58:51

games. So you kind of commiserate, but it also

58:53

inspires you to to make sure you're you're

58:55

unturning every proper rock.

58:58

You can't turn every rock in the rock garden. Let's

59:00

get the big one. Let's get the big ones overturn

59:03

and make sure we're getting all those details at least somewhere

59:05

in our brain. My biggest

59:07

criticism I think of NFL announcers, and this doesn't

59:10

hold true for the for the A guys like

59:12

you and Joe and Nance, because

59:14

you guys are always doing the best game. What

59:16

what annoys me probably more than anything,

59:19

is when it's a crap game and the announcers

59:21

are screaming at the top of their lungs and trying to Now,

59:23

I get they have this is their job, They're

59:26

into it. They gotta sell it.

59:28

But like you know, you

59:30

don't have to scream on every single play

59:32

at the top of your lungs when it's three and six versus

59:35

two and seven. That's all. That's that's

59:37

my biggest And if you want to keep me happy, the only way

59:40

I'm very easy to keep happy as a viewer. Reference

59:42

the points spread and it's over under in

59:44

some way. And kill the refs when the refs

59:47

deserves to be killed. Nobody does that except Troy

59:49

basically because the refs are and

59:51

it's gets worse every week. That's

59:54

the longest you've ever talked without killing NFL

59:56

afficiating Jimmy, Yes, it gets

59:58

worse every week. Yeah, I think

1:00:00

we're approaching December in the holiday season. You're

1:00:02

kinder and gentleman. It's very nice. I'm

1:00:05

impressed. So you know, you know, it's interesting

1:00:07

if you want to talk about I think

1:00:09

a lot of us would do this. Are nerds of

1:00:12

our industry, and we kind of, you know, study

1:00:14

it if you think about it. There

1:00:18

was always the layout

1:00:21

after a big moment or you know, just

1:00:23

kind of minimal words

1:00:25

Pat Summer, all right, and that was

1:00:27

a standard. But now

1:00:30

with the Internet and highlights

1:00:33

and replaying big moments,

1:00:35

like people want to hear a great call. Did you hear the call?

1:00:37

I remember the call of this or that? Right?

1:00:40

So which is it? And I think it's

1:00:42

it's kind of transitioned over the last ten or

1:00:44

fifteen years of played by play guys too

1:00:47

minimalized to make

1:00:50

a great call and then lay out. But

1:00:52

what's a great call? Is it four words? Is

1:00:54

a twelve words? What's the stamp

1:00:56

on it for the highlight? What's

1:00:58

the stamp on it for the moment in the game? All

1:01:01

those things. I think it's kind of involved a little

1:01:03

bit, and it's fun to be a part of

1:01:05

watching that happen, and it's it's fun

1:01:07

to make that choice on the fly for a lot

1:01:09

of us. Yeah, I mean everyone,

1:01:12

like you said it. Everyone always says less is more.

1:01:15

I think you know you

1:01:17

need the moment. You can only do so

1:01:19

much. You need the moment. And then

1:01:22

that's why there's no real answer to that question. It's

1:01:24

it's how how the moment's playing

1:01:27

out. Um, but where it's playing

1:01:29

out and where it's playing out. If you've got a great

1:01:31

crowd, that's different than if you

1:01:33

have an amazing play by a visiting player,

1:01:36

uh in a stadium that's got this stunned

1:01:38

murmur going on. It plays

1:01:40

out a little different of when you jump back in, how

1:01:43

do you lay out or the analysts you're working with.

1:01:45

Is their exuberance from your analysts right

1:01:47

on top of the play which kind of stamps it as well?

1:01:50

Right? Yeah? And and I

1:01:53

don't know if you think, I mean, I guess would

1:01:55

you say would pressure be the word? Would you say,

1:01:57

okay, Thanksgiving? Vikings page

1:02:00

it. You've got twenty seven million people watching.

1:02:03

Do you feel pressure in a way

1:02:05

to make sure you have a great

1:02:07

call on a big play or you can't think about

1:02:09

that? Focus? Yeah?

1:02:11

Focus. I never think about you

1:02:13

know, I don't ever think who's watching, because you

1:02:15

can have a huge moment happened

1:02:18

in a game where very few people are watching, and

1:02:20

it goes via like, do you think when

1:02:23

you just Joe Starkey just retired, the longtime

1:02:25

voice of Cal football on the radio

1:02:28

and a legendary Bay Area sportscaster,

1:02:30

do you think in

1:02:34

two as Richard Rodgers

1:02:36

is there laterally and the band's coming

1:02:38

on, do you think he thought for a second

1:02:41

this call is gonna be replayed a million

1:02:43

times a million times,

1:02:46

not for a second. Yet it's a

1:02:48

great call. And what's the

1:02:50

greatest part of the call? Two things, the

1:02:52

band is on the field, and then at

1:02:54

the very end when he can't get the words out

1:02:56

after saying the Bears, the Bears

1:03:00

just for the col Golden Bears.

1:03:02

Like, the best parts of the call are

1:03:04

raw, they're in the moment, and

1:03:07

they're based on focus and if

1:03:09

when I do get talked to a lot of the young broadcasters

1:03:12

in Syracuse who are the next generation

1:03:14

of of us in the business, and I I always tell

1:03:16

them about that preparation and then

1:03:19

focus on what's right in front

1:03:21

of you, whether it's on the program monitor, out the window,

1:03:23

or courtside, right in front of you. That's

1:03:26

that's where you're If you feel

1:03:28

any pressure, you don't

1:03:30

have space for that. All your attention

1:03:33

and all your energy has got to be on the focus on

1:03:36

right number, right place, right geography,

1:03:38

right words, right moment. And

1:03:40

sometimes like in that case, there's no amount of preparation

1:03:42

that can prepare you for the band running on the field.

1:03:44

So you and those are probably the best calls

1:03:47

when it's all that you. I think when

1:03:49

you use the word about row maybe and not I mean

1:03:51

that that's when it's uh, that's and if

1:03:53

becomes memorable for sure, correct, Mike,

1:03:56

I appreciate it. We'll be watching Sunday nights

1:03:59

NBC You've uh Colts

1:04:01

Cowboys, so you know everyone will be watching. And then

1:04:03

you've got Chiefs not Chiefs, Chargers,

1:04:06

Dolphins, which will be a good one. And then you have the Patriots

1:04:08

Raiders. I wonder well the NFL

1:04:11

and NBC flex out the Patriots.

1:04:13

That will be an interesting one interesting

1:04:15

conversation. You you now know

1:04:17

my interesting conversations for the next four

1:04:19

or five days. Let's figure out what happens. But either

1:04:23

either way it works out, all right. You gotta there only

1:04:25

two hundred seventy two of these every year, and somehow,

1:04:27

some way, almost two hundred fifty of

1:04:30

them mean something, right, It's crazy, but

1:04:32

yeah, and in the last couple of weeks, you guys

1:04:34

really take center stage because you get that last game

1:04:36

on that last Sunday night. That always we don't know what

1:04:38

it is, but it's always the playing game

1:04:41

basically, So that's always. That's right. That that reminds

1:04:43

me of doing a Blazers playoff

1:04:45

game with hughbie Bryan in Portland and

1:04:48

the Blazers won the series on a Damian Lillard

1:04:50

shot. Three was the first time they won a playoff series

1:04:53

in fourteen years. They won

1:04:55

the series over Houston and

1:04:57

they hit the shot and then we play.

1:05:00

It goes crazy, we do it, We get off the air, and

1:05:02

then we're coming back live on Sports Center.

1:05:04

We're gonna do the first hit sports Center and

1:05:07

keep me and I look at you go. Where we going

1:05:09

Sunday? We had no idea where we're going on Sunday as

1:05:11

we're doing the cutting for sports Like, we're going to Toronto.

1:05:13

Like okay, we're going to Toronto. So

1:05:16

that's uh, that's that's the fun part of it.

1:05:18

You sit around, wait, where are we going? What are we doing?

1:05:21

And uh, you never know when you're gonna fall into

1:05:23

a great game. So we're looking forward to that. I

1:05:26

appreciate it. Thanks to the time, and thanks

1:05:28

me the rest of the season. We'll see you soon YouTube.

1:05:32

Thank you all right.

1:05:34

Joining me now for our weekly Train of Thoughts

1:05:36

segment my buddy Salacatta from w

1:05:39

FAN Radios and y TV in New York.

1:05:41

Sal how is your Thanksgiving? Uh?

1:05:44

Not bad? Um? It was

1:05:46

nice to be off, nice to be home watching football,

1:05:49

hang out with the family. Who good you know it

1:05:51

was? It was? It was a good, solid

1:05:53

Thanksgiving. Did you watch the night

1:05:55

game vikings pages? Because I remember you getting

1:05:57

very mad that they have a night game on Thanksgiving.

1:06:00

I actually did not, and it wasn't because

1:06:02

I couldn't. I got home and

1:06:05

I forget what tom. But it was first half

1:06:07

of that game, and I started watching a little bit. My wife

1:06:10

was shot. She went up to sleep, and then

1:06:12

I followed suit. A matter of fact, did

1:06:14

you text me that night? Because I went to bed at like nine,

1:06:17

I did text you that night? Actually, yes, yeah,

1:06:19

I woke up that next morning. I was

1:06:22

out maybe it was maybe it was tenaclock. I went to

1:06:24

bed before half time. Put it that way. That game, I was shot,

1:06:27

but you watched Lions

1:06:29

Bills. I watched almost

1:06:31

all of Lions Bills. By the time I got to my

1:06:33

mom's house. It was maybe fifteen minutes into

1:06:36

that game. Watched that game, and I

1:06:38

got to here there shouted out,

1:06:40

yes, so we gotta stroke my

1:06:42

ego now a little bit. So well,

1:06:49

it was wild because once that happened,

1:06:51

my phone went nuts. And then like that

1:06:54

was about a half

1:06:56

hour before we maybe like thirty

1:06:59

minutes before we said down to eat. So it was complete

1:07:01

anarchy for that whole period of

1:07:03

time. So jim Nance came

1:07:05

on the pod a few weeks ago. I

1:07:08

said, it's enough with the Lions and Thanksgiving.

1:07:10

It's not funny, it's not cute. The tradition needs

1:07:12

to end. Nance was very adamant that it's

1:07:14

tradition, and

1:07:16

then said he wanted me a root for

1:07:18

the Lions. So he said he would mention my

1:07:20

name if the Lions lead

1:07:23

the Bills, because at three weeks ago, I thought the Bills

1:07:25

would win by forty and Nan

1:07:27

said, if the Lions lead the Bills

1:07:29

at any point in the fourth quarter, he was going to

1:07:31

get in some kind of mention. So

1:07:34

then about a minute and ten

1:07:37

seconds into the fourth quarter, Lions

1:07:40

down nine, they

1:07:43

score a touchdown. Now they

1:07:45

got I think like inside the five.

1:07:47

They may have even been at the one at the

1:07:50

end of the third quarter. So that's so that's

1:07:52

when I alerted some people

1:07:54

like you might wanna the

1:07:57

sound is on. Yeah,

1:08:00

and then uh, this

1:08:02

happened. And coming out of commercial

1:08:05

after the Lions touchdown, shall they

1:08:07

you were all it felt

1:08:09

here in Detroit, right in the heart downtown

1:08:12

Detroit. Tell you when today they'll get the

1:08:14

attention of a lot of folks, not only

1:08:16

around the league, but the national media. I've

1:08:18

been talking up about how this Lions

1:08:20

resurgence was coming and why they get to play on

1:08:22

Thanksgiving Day. I was on a pod with your pell Jimmy

1:08:24

Training, and I said, they they that is the tradition

1:08:27

goes back to I like tradition.

1:08:30

Now you also have Okay,

1:08:32

so you

1:08:34

you know what I liked about that clip when he

1:08:37

says to Romo, your pal

1:08:39

I did a podcast or your pal Jimmy Trening and Tony

1:08:41

is U. Tony gives a sound there

1:08:44

like an affirmation. That's what

1:08:46

I was. And when you and I didn't text, you text a little bit

1:08:48

before it, didn't text much after it, So

1:08:51

like I don't understand. Let me into I know you've

1:08:53

been talking Romo up forever, as I mentioned

1:08:55

last week, ok, but have you

1:08:57

had him on recently? He came

1:08:59

on him on one Slash,

1:09:02

so there's a whole

1:09:05

back story. We had ten minutes into Romo's first

1:09:07

game ever. I said, this guy is really good, and

1:09:09

that sort of became a thing. I've met Tony

1:09:11

in person at like CBS Media Days,

1:09:14

and then he came on the pod last year,

1:09:17

so he knows who I am,

1:09:19

and I think NANCE was selling it there. Now,

1:09:23

you would have to be the

1:09:26

biggest asshole in the world

1:09:28

if you offered any criticism of

1:09:30

that or even downplayed in any way.

1:09:32

But I'm gonna be the biggest ass

1:09:35

in the world. I would have loved just a

1:09:37

little mention of S. I like S, I S Jimmy

1:09:39

Traina SI media po. That's all. But

1:09:41

it's all. I'm not complaining, So I'm

1:09:43

not I'm saying a perfect world. That's why people

1:09:45

could have found the pod. But it

1:09:48

was well, but if people look

1:09:50

up Jimmy Traina, it's going to be the first thing

1:09:52

that comes up. Right. Well, but a

1:09:54

lot of people spell my name with an E er and o

1:09:57

R at the end. But it's fine,

1:09:59

it's fine. It would have been would

1:10:01

have been happy to hear. But right,

1:10:04

yeah, I'm just saying this to make the busses happy. Um

1:10:07

right, your family didn't give a shit about

1:10:10

that, by the way, neither good mind. I'm like, oh,

1:10:12

hold about, shut up. He's about to mention my friend Jimmy's

1:10:14

name. Oh Jimmy, how's he doing here? Shut up and listen

1:10:16

to It's a funny story about that.

1:10:19

We're in We're at my aunt's house, and

1:10:21

the whole family is in my aunt uncle's living room

1:10:23

watching the game. When

1:10:26

the Lions got sort of into the

1:10:28

red zone. I went off into my uncle's den.

1:10:31

My cousin was in there. My cousin

1:10:33

a J. Was in there by himself. My dad was

1:10:35

in there, but he was taking a nap. My dad's snoozing on the

1:10:37

chair. My cousin a J. Is in there by

1:10:39

himself. I go in there and I leave

1:10:41

the other ten or twelve lunatics

1:10:44

because I knew I wouldn't

1:10:46

be able to hear it. I knew it. I just knew

1:10:49

it. And right before during

1:10:51

the commercial, my uncle comes in and says, why

1:10:53

don't you come in the living room. I go, you think I'm going in there

1:10:55

with those loud mouth crazy people so I can miss

1:10:57

this? You're out of your mind. So he leaves.

1:11:01

The thing happens. I hear them screaming

1:11:03

and yelling and clapping from the other room.

1:11:06

My aunt comes in and goes, we missed it. Everyone

1:11:09

started screaming and yelling. I say, see, I told

1:11:11

you that was gonna happen. Unbelievable.

1:11:13

Now did you text with nance after? I'm assuming

1:11:15

you did? He sent me a very nice

1:11:18

text. H Well,

1:11:20

I didn't want to text him because he's doing the game. I

1:11:23

was going to text him eventually, but I was gonna

1:11:25

wait. But he had texted me, I think

1:11:27

shortly after the game ended, maybe

1:11:30

because I was already watching the next game. Um,

1:11:33

and you know, I thanked them and all that and thanks

1:11:37

give me. It's not just like if that would have happened

1:11:39

on any football broadcast, I

1:11:41

think it would have been awesome. Thanks Giving

1:11:44

Again, it's like everything, everything

1:11:47

is a gift and a curse because here's the thing.

1:11:50

Million people are watching it. It's like this cold, crazy thing.

1:11:54

I want to go stuff my face with the turkey

1:11:57

and the mashment has and stuffing, and my phone's going

1:11:59

crazy everyone

1:12:01

and and you know, Twitter and text and the

1:12:03

families talking about it. It

1:12:05

was like I couldn't relax and enjoy the meal. In

1:12:07

a way. It was but it was. It was fine. It was

1:12:09

good, poor you exactly

1:12:13

to do exactly. It was fun though. It was

1:12:15

fun. It was fun, you know, it's fun. It was

1:12:17

fun that a lot of people who are listening right now sent

1:12:19

me a tweet knew was you know, knew about

1:12:22

it. There are a lot everyone who I've said

1:12:24

this before, the people who listen to podcasts are outstanding.

1:12:26

They're really nice. They always send me nice stuff. I rarely

1:12:29

get I get criticism

1:12:31

for the column. I really get criticism for anything

1:12:33

on the pod. And there are a lot of people into

1:12:35

it, and here it comes and I'm rooting for them,

1:12:38

you know. And that was really cool that people

1:12:40

would send me that, you know, and I wanted it right back to people, but

1:12:42

it was just and I would have, but that was a tough day. I couldn't

1:12:44

really respond because, you know, spending time with

1:12:46

the family and stuff. I think that's the fun part. I

1:12:48

mean, I think it's cool too if you're just somebody who knows

1:12:50

you and happens to hear that and you're like, holy sh it, Jimmy

1:12:53

Trada. But the fun part, at least

1:12:55

for me, and I would assume others was waiting

1:12:57

for it, knowing it was coming coming back from

1:13:00

break, hearing him set it off and then

1:13:02

it's like here he comes that. That that's

1:13:04

what was fun about it on Twitter for sure. Um

1:13:08

so yeah, so that was good. Now I try to get

1:13:10

back in the groove after the long weekend. It's hard,

1:13:13

man, because I you know, the weekend, I'm

1:13:15

not really I'm watching all the games, so I'm not paying

1:13:17

attention to Twitter, so I don't know the

1:13:19

stories that go on and all that stuff. So you

1:13:21

know, I took mon day off to get an extra day in there. Um

1:13:25

I thought of you on Tuesday,

1:13:28

when I don't know if you saw it, stephen

1:13:30

A. Smith showed up to first take twenty

1:13:32

five minutes late. No,

1:13:35

what I said, I said, seals off the hook. He's

1:13:37

not the biggest start now to show up late to the show.

1:13:41

Yeah, he was. There's a great

1:13:43

video of him. They had video first take of him

1:13:45

running down South Streets Sport trying

1:13:47

to get into the studio. But I said, I gotta make

1:13:49

sure I mentioned this to sal that you have a partner in

1:13:51

crime now with you know, missing the opening to your show.

1:13:53

Luckily I only had to run downstairs and sign

1:13:56

on sign on to my computer my basement. But

1:13:58

that is the worst feeling in the world, being late

1:14:00

for an on airship. There's video from

1:14:02

today on Wednesday of russo berating

1:14:05

stephen A for being late. I'll send it to you

1:14:07

when we're done taping this. Thirty

1:14:10

years, I've never missed a show a second. I'm sorry.

1:14:13

He's always Oh he was going nuts,

1:14:15

I wrote today and train of thoughts on SI

1:14:17

dot com. I wrote today about Charles Barkley

1:14:20

gave this interview to Taylor Rooks. Does a great

1:14:22

job in interviews about his fallout

1:14:24

with Jordan, which we all knew about. Everyone knew

1:14:26

the story that they were friends. They're not friends because

1:14:28

Barkley Chris drunk. But he revealed something

1:14:30

in there that I had never I had not known that

1:14:33

I found fascinating. He said, it's

1:14:35

been ten years since they've spoken, since the friendship

1:14:38

is ended. Barkley told Taylor

1:14:40

Rooks him and Jordan have probably

1:14:42

been in the same room with each other five

1:14:44

times over the last

1:14:47

ten years, have never spoken and walked past each other so

1:14:49

here. So when I saw that, I said, I

1:14:51

don't know if I could

1:14:53

do that. Like if I was in the same room with someone who

1:14:55

used to be my friend five times, I don't

1:14:58

know if I would not be able to not

1:15:00

say something. How would you be

1:15:02

able to ignore someone you were best

1:15:05

friends with in the same room. That's

1:15:07

hard to do, yeah, But but would

1:15:09

you even be in that situation to begin with,

1:15:12

where you were best friends with somebody to

1:15:14

a point where then you don't acknowledge

1:15:16

them at all period like that. Yeah, I don't know

1:15:18

how you do that me neither. I

1:15:20

think it says a lot about Michael

1:15:22

Jordan's I love

1:15:25

Barkley. I can't imagine Barkley being in the worm

1:15:27

lot because he criticized for Jordan's give me a

1:15:29

freaking break. Nobody's ever criticized Michael Jordan's.

1:15:32

Barkley does because his team is lousy

1:15:34

and and and Jordan's gonna be ultra sensitive

1:15:36

to end a deep, long

1:15:39

term friendship, to just end it and

1:15:42

not talk at all. That that, to me

1:15:44

says a lot about michaeljo I don't think it's a good guy. You're

1:15:47

right, because Jordan's the one who stopped

1:15:49

speaking to Barkley. So it's arm Jordan's

1:15:52

to go up to Barkley first and

1:15:55

to say, listen, enough time has passed, let's

1:15:57

move on the other thing. I do think I will say this if

1:16:00

it's you or I where we have a falling out with someone

1:16:02

and then we were in the same room, and I

1:16:04

don't know how we would avoid speaking to someone. They're

1:16:06

different, they probably have an entourage and all these people

1:16:08

around them, so it's easy for them to maneuver and navigate

1:16:11

and all this and get at You know, I can see them

1:16:13

being in the same room but not being near each other at

1:16:15

any point. I just if I was best friend to

1:16:17

someone for like twenty years and then I'm in the same room

1:16:19

with them five different times and never once.

1:16:23

That's hard to do. And I agree with

1:16:25

you. I think it's Jordan needs to go out to Barkley. That's

1:16:27

It's ridiculous, and I really do hope

1:16:30

that there is a resolution to it at some point.

1:16:32

It's sad. Come on, they were great friends. You're

1:16:34

really gonna hold hold that against

1:16:37

him all that time? Hold on to that rudge.

1:16:39

It's life, man, it's hidden short, Like, come

1:16:41

on, it's not worth it. He didn't do anything

1:16:43

that badulous, Can I Can

1:16:45

I just add a side note to that about Taylor Rooks?

1:16:48

Sure? So, I you know, I'm friendly with Taylor

1:16:51

Rooks to work with at the

1:16:54

right now. It ties into a story that we told

1:16:56

months ago about Burkhard, where I texted Burkhard,

1:16:59

who I was really good friends with dating

1:17:01

back to two thousand and three or four at

1:17:04

w f A, and he never texted me back until

1:17:06

you brought it up to him, I get a good text and we

1:17:08

start having a conversation whatever. So

1:17:10

I text Taylor Rooks last Thursday

1:17:12

night during her Thursday Night football segment,

1:17:15

just saying, hey, so happy to see you shining

1:17:17

whatever it may be. So

1:17:20

no, so listen to So there's there's a there's

1:17:22

an end to the story. Nothing back. Two

1:17:25

days ago, I'm driving into work, my phone's

1:17:27

ringing, Who is it? Taylor Rooks?

1:17:30

So now not only did she not text

1:17:32

me back, but she called. So

1:17:34

I guess my question then would be and

1:17:36

I was like, I gotta go see you later,

1:17:38

Taylor. So my question would

1:17:41

be, does the call

1:17:43

after a text that goes unanswered

1:17:46

for you know, five days, whatever it was, does

1:17:48

that make up for it? It absolutely

1:17:50

does. And because you I

1:17:52

have to blame you a little bit here because you said you texted

1:17:55

her on Thursday, Yeah, which I know that

1:17:57

there's no working. Yeah, she's

1:17:59

working, So she's working on Thursday.

1:18:02

I was watching her. That's what made me think of her, and I

1:18:05

just wanted to you know, if I don't do it, that I may forget

1:18:07

whatever. I'm just saying. I think if you text

1:18:10

someone while they're on air, I

1:18:12

mean, if someone texts you while you're doing your radio show you

1:18:14

right back. I texted you Thursday. You didn't write

1:18:16

me back. Well, I fall asleep and then I

1:18:19

wait, was the Thursday? Yeah, you tell me Thursday night?

1:18:22

Right, I fall asleep. And I do think the phone call

1:18:24

offsets the non response on the

1:18:26

text. It did for me. I

1:18:28

I've asked this question a couple of the people that like to

1:18:31

get back, So

1:18:33

that's twice. I had a bad time text because with

1:18:35

Burkhard it was in the middle of a media storm for

1:18:37

him and the Taylor was Anyway,

1:18:40

when I told Burt So Burcott was on the

1:18:42

pod last week and before we started the interview,

1:18:44

I told him about you calling him

1:18:47

out of the pod for not right back. He legitimately

1:18:49

had no idea you texted him, had no clue.

1:18:52

It wasn't like he didn't say like, oh, I never got back

1:18:54

to him, Like he didn't even realize you texted because his phone

1:18:56

that day was probably going blissing, right,

1:18:58

And then he said trade and told my completely like

1:19:00

Ani and I'm so sorry, Like I said, I was shocked

1:19:02

because he and I have boys real quick, you know who's

1:19:05

excellent returning text probably even during

1:19:07

a game by an eagle. Yes,

1:19:09

Ien is a good texting? Is a good texting?

1:19:12

I for ships and giggles for

1:19:15

ships and giggles. I texted Russo

1:19:17

I think maybe on Friday, And

1:19:20

I said, by the way, did

1:19:22

you hear Nance mentioned my name? Because Russo

1:19:24

gets all into that, you know, and he gets all into

1:19:26

that stuff. He said, I didn't

1:19:28

film me in all, I said, Nan

1:19:31

said he would mention my name. The lines he

1:19:33

writes back, good boy, Jimmy,

1:19:38

go out there. Oh

1:19:41

that is hilarious to hear it. Thought you would

1:19:43

have follow off his chair Thanksgiving? Oh I know?

1:19:46

Um two of the well

1:19:48

three of the things. Did you see this Aaron Rodgers thing

1:19:50

with nine eleven? No? Oh

1:19:52

god? What now? Okay, so some

1:19:56

former Packer player I forgot who it was. Deshaun

1:19:58

Kaiser did it podcast.

1:20:01

The host ask him about his time in Green Bay

1:20:03

interacting with Aaron Rodgers, and he said, when he met

1:20:05

Aaron Rodgers, the first thing that Aaron Rodgers said

1:20:07

to him was do you believe in nine eleven?

1:20:10

Oh? My god? And then Kaiser says, I'm

1:20:12

like, oh yeah, and Rogers

1:20:14

says, research it. Now. I don't

1:20:16

know if he's trying to be funny. I don't know if he's

1:20:19

kidding, but I am sure. So this

1:20:21

story came out on Tuesday, it's not Wednesday,

1:20:23

and I don't think one reporter has asked Aaron Rodgers,

1:20:25

like do you think nine eleven

1:20:27

isn't the real story? But I don't

1:20:29

know if people don't want to go there, but

1:20:32

like I'm not, let's not go there,

1:20:34

and I'm just I disagree. I want

1:20:36

someone to ask him because if he thinks eleven

1:20:39

it's like some conspiracy, then like we can confirm

1:20:42

that he's alone and move on. Well,

1:20:44

I think we're training in that direction anyway. But

1:20:47

why why would Sean Kaiser

1:20:49

say that at this particular point, Like certain

1:20:51

things that are said like that in the locker room, off

1:20:54

the air, off the room. That's why I don't know if

1:20:57

Rogers was kidding or serious. And I think he should

1:20:59

clear that up because nobody,

1:21:02

nobody's asked him about it. And I'm sure I have a feeling

1:21:04

people don't want to go there and get involved in Aaron Rodgers

1:21:06

being a night living truth. But you know, Aaron Rodgers

1:21:09

is the smartest person in the world that knows everything, so

1:21:11

he probably does have some theory on what happened.

1:21:15

No, it's enough. Have

1:21:18

you watched any of the World Cup? No

1:21:21

me either. Last thing, Um, do

1:21:24

you have a subscription

1:21:27

to Spotify? No? I

1:21:29

do not. I do. Um, we are

1:21:32

Apple Music all right too.

1:21:36

I have Apple Music. I don't have Spotify, but

1:21:38

I will never forget when

1:21:41

I returned to Sports Illustrated in so

1:21:43

we're talking almost six years ago, and

1:21:48

it was a totally different, different atmosphere. When I returned,

1:21:50

I was like the oldest person they had that all these young people working

1:21:52

there after I had gone for a few years, and

1:21:54

some Spotify came up and I mentioned

1:21:57

that I don't have Spotify, and these

1:21:59

young people, my buddy Chris Shaves

1:22:01

specifically, and Danny Rappaport,

1:22:05

they acted like I

1:22:08

basically was the

1:22:10

biggest piece of ship on the planet because

1:22:12

I don't pay for spot I apparently everyone

1:22:15

under like I don't know spot

1:22:17

We're old. The problem is we're old Fox and we don't have

1:22:19

Spotify. And apparently

1:22:21

if you're under like thirty

1:22:23

five and you have Spotify, you're a monster. And

1:22:26

now I asked that because everyone

1:22:28

on Twitter and Instagram are doing their Spotify wrapped

1:22:31

for two do you even know what that

1:22:33

is? I can tell you don't buy your face. I have no idea

1:22:35

what that is. So I so. So

1:22:38

Spotify keeps track of

1:22:40

every single thing you listened to during the year, and

1:22:42

then it gives you a little report at the end of

1:22:44

the year of your most listened to stuff. But

1:22:48

if you don't have Spotify, you don't get a report obviously.

1:22:51

So and every music has I've noticed Apple

1:22:53

Music has it like most played in most

1:22:55

played songs in something like that, they

1:22:58

do like you was played?

1:23:01

Yeah, I have to check that out. Okay, I didn't know that.

1:23:03

I didn't know that. But there

1:23:06

is a little bit of fomo when you're on Twitter

1:23:08

all day and people are posting their Spotify

1:23:10

wraps and you can't do it because you're a loser and don't

1:23:12

have Spotify. This may sound really

1:23:14

bad here, Well, what exactly

1:23:18

is Spotify? Like? Is it just the music service?

1:23:20

You need to pay for it to get podcasts?

1:23:23

Is it? What do we talk like? Five bucks a month? What

1:23:25

do we look? I think? What you you? So you pay

1:23:27

for access to every single song

1:23:29

in the Spotify library with no ads?

1:23:32

Okay, right?

1:23:35

But they and they have podcasts as

1:23:38

like anyone. There are people listening to this right now

1:23:40

on Spotify for free. Like, so

1:23:42

I I

1:23:44

can listen to my podcast, I can listen to this I meet

1:23:46

a podcast on Spotify for free. What you're paying for is

1:23:48

the music, right,

1:23:50

Okay, see what we're saying. So it could be a free service.

1:23:53

But if you want the music, all right. So but let

1:23:55

me ask you. We're old. We don't get Spotify.

1:23:57

But isn't Apple Music the same exact thing.

1:23:59

Yes, it, it's not as cool. We're not in the cool club.

1:24:01

We don't have Spotify. Well,

1:24:04

my thing is I don't really listen to that. I

1:24:06

don't listen to that much new music anymore.

1:24:08

I listen to some new music because of my nieces and

1:24:10

I know what's going on. And you know,

1:24:12

I've said many times a mute Shaw Mendees fan,

1:24:15

But like, I don't listen to a ton of new

1:24:17

music. So the

1:24:20

argument I made to to the my coworkers

1:24:22

is that I have Apple Music, so I don't need Spotify. But

1:24:24

it was like, oh, you're gross. You have Apple Music instead

1:24:26

of Spotify. Yeah. I

1:24:28

love Apple Music. Yeah me too. They're

1:24:31

both a ripple. I mean, I don't know what Spotify, Apple Music

1:24:33

is like a month though it's absurd,

1:24:35

But I have a package with Apple TV and the

1:24:38

and the storage, so it is a discount

1:24:40

on it. Bam. I think I have the family plan so my wife

1:24:43

can get it as well. It's even a little bit more than it's they

1:24:45

get you every which I know Disney plus one

1:24:47

up. I actually got to look into that and see if I could just get

1:24:49

on the package now. But what do you

1:24:52

listen to new music? Um?

1:24:56

Very rarely, which is sad. Sometimes

1:24:59

I'll listen to like Day's pop hits. I like that

1:25:01

if I'm gonna if I'm in that type of mood. But

1:25:03

I used to be one of these guys that would be at

1:25:06

the Whiz or whatever your local

1:25:08

record store was waiting for the release dates

1:25:10

for certain CDs that I would want,

1:25:13

And now I couldn't tell you with

1:25:15

new music. And even if it's artists that I like, I

1:25:17

don't necessarily like their new music. I'm listening

1:25:20

to their old stuff that I grew uppliciting too, so

1:25:22

I do, but it's very rare the

1:25:25

world. We are old. I mean, that's the freaking

1:25:28

problem here. Yeah, I wish I was

1:25:30

still twenty three and you're

1:25:32

falling asleep during the Vikings and the Patriots,

1:25:34

and I know I stay

1:25:37

about wife and baby and they're out there

1:25:39

both sleeping. I had the night to myself, and I

1:25:41

can't even stay awake for this. That's that's

1:25:43

amazing. I crack up when I think about

1:25:46

what you said. A couple of weeks ago, someone sent me a funny tweet.

1:25:48

I got a couple of funny tweets about, um,

1:25:51

you're not drinking coffee. And then you said on the

1:25:53

pod when I said what do you do for energy? And you said you

1:25:55

eat peanuts. People people got

1:25:57

a kick out of that. That was great. Need

1:25:59

you he did some peanuts Thanksgiving night? You're

1:26:02

not watch the Patriots.

1:26:07

I had a Turkey Day teaser. I still

1:26:09

had action on that game. I could. I didn't even

1:26:11

care. I just went to bed. If you have

1:26:13

a wager and you still fell asleep,

1:26:15

that's bad. That's bad. That

1:26:18

is bad. I trying to

1:26:20

think if I have any good wager stories. Not

1:26:23

really ad mission Ohio State. I

1:26:25

was pissed though, because you know when that happens,

1:26:27

you oh, why don't I bet money? Line? But whatever I

1:26:30

had the Turkey Day teaser was good. But I

1:26:32

had the parlay always back up a teaser with the Parley

1:26:34

Cowboys minus ten, the back door cover

1:26:36

from the Giants Room. That was a bad one. Yeah, that

1:26:39

was a bad one. That was a bad one.

1:26:41

Trying to I had the under in the Eagles Eagles

1:26:45

Packers game forty thirty three. So I went

1:26:47

to bed early Sunday night. I got a good night's

1:26:49

sleep on that. I

1:26:51

tell it was always We'll see you

1:26:53

next week. Alright, alright, well,

1:26:57

alright, my thanks to Mike Terko and Sal

1:27:00

Kada for joining me this week. If you've missed

1:27:02

any recent episodes of the SI Media Podcast,

1:27:04

going to the archives check them out. Kevin Burkhardt

1:27:06

was on the pod last week. Joe Buck two

1:27:08

weeks ago, Kevin Clark three weeks ago, Jim Nance

1:27:11

four weeks ago, Chris Russo, Dan Labratade

1:27:13

also recent guests, so give him a listen. Rate

1:27:16

the pod. Review it on Apple. If you leave a

1:27:18

review on Apple, we'll read it on an upcoming episode

1:27:20

of the SI Media Podcast. All right, have

1:27:22

a good one, stay safe, We'll see you next

1:27:24

week, and take care.