Episode 267: Pregame - My Goal for The NFL Season

is always the center of attention. Injured though we need an update on I don't want to talk about that right now. Congratulations fucks on your win. That was a good one, but big loss. We are entering week three and we are already fired up, exhausted. Now I am super excited to be joining you all from Top Golf. Aaron. This is, by the way, we might not have messed up our first live appearance. Even though we don't have a live studio audience here we are doing another pseudo live.

How close are we to being like as popular as New Heights? We're close, so about ninety nine million dollars away from being as popular, but either way, welcome to the pregame everybody. As always, we appreciate you guys writing, and I'm always surprised that, like every single week, I'm like, oh my god, I'm shocked that I didn't think of that. I'm shocked that I didn't think of that, And you guys come up with the best question, the best. Thanks you.

We will start with c Clark seventy seven. Do you set goals for the season? Something from last season you want to change. I'll start because I loved Aaron your vulnerability vote phone o hush hith vulnerability, vulnerability last week. I love that you were so open. You were like, hey, I wasn't like my best self, I wasn't whatever. And I think that at this point in our careers, it's so liberating to be like, hey, yeah, no, I didn't have it. But like even the athletes that we cover

that are like, hey, I'm gonna better next week. We are coming off the heels of the Sunday night football game and listening to Kayleb Williams, who's a rookie. We are definitely not rookies in this job, but I loved his willingness to be like, hey, I'm going to go back, look at the tape and be better and keep getting better. You were the same way last year about your Week one performance. So as far as setting goals for the season, yeah, I said at the beginning of this year that I

want to be better about my preparation. I feel like I'm always trying to do the best that i can to make sure that we read every article, we know everything, paying attention on the field in real time as things happen. But yeah, I just think that I don't ever want to become complacent. Right. You look at an Aaron Rodgers

that's in what you're seventeen. You look at a Matthew Stafford, like these guys that have been in the league for you know, fifteen plus years, even they will tell you that you've still got to prepare and you know, be on top of it. So yeah, my goals for the season are just continue to prep but also from a female's standpoint, be a better packer. You have taught me that I need to be more prepared of going. Well,

you had your first game, your first Thursday night. I did have my first Thursday night game, and as you know, I was I packed a leather outfit for it looks set humidity and eighty percent temperatures in Miami. But what was was I supposed to do at that point? You're not going to win. Whatever you do, You're not going to do exactly. It looks great. Thank you. I appreciate that. But so having two outfit options were this is the trivial part of the preparation for your twenty that we're

in or whenever we're so. Yeah, just being better about being prepared with my luggage and with I don't know articles and stuff. You were you prepared? Did you feel like you had it all? Because I always feel like the first week is really hard. You're like, damn it, I forgot the eye drops, I forgot the team. No, I felt like I was good. I felt like I was good. Mine is the choice of leather, but I had now another option and that wouldn't have worked either.

It was amazing. I also have a rose for those of you that are watching So good. I'm excited about it. It's great. My goals. I think my goal is always kind of the same as last year. Enjoy it because it's not going to last forever. Yeah, especially when your contract's up. In mine is, so I'll just say contract here huge. It's also an election year, it is all these things are bad, So contract your election year and yep,

and what else is happening? No, I just I feel like I'm always so panicked leading up, like an hour before that I'm trying to like read it all, not read it all, but recite some of it, just have it in my mind that it's easy, you know, to like say, which I'm not doing a good job of right now. So I always feel like prep is a thing that I'm always trying to be really really good about. But I feel the same think that more on the

Big Show. For those of you that are new to the Convent podcast, we always talk about think because you guys are wonderful and writing questions that induce bigger conversations

which we then get into on the Big Show. But prep as far as you can have the full report, and then things change, unfortunately, very unfortunately for on Thursday night to a tongue of Ilo, a very very very sad situation and late in the third quarter gets a concussion and that's going to obviously change the whole you know, dynamic and storylines of the shame and everything else and as it should, so just sort of like reacting on

the fly. So adding this is a cheese. If you guys think that the pre game is exciting, wait for the big show. We'll get into that later. Next question. All right, Old Thornton. Are Mac and Howie best friends? Yet we're working on it. I feel like he can't force it today, MACKI had a little bit of a swim lesson and how he was waiting for him. He swims right up and holds onto the edge, and how he was there licking him and all that kind of stuff, and Macky was But yeah, I mean they're getting there.

They don't not like each other. It's just I think Jarrett and I would like it to be a little bit more loving than it is. But at least it's not like something where you have to like, yeah, separate and then every video or every time I'm on FaceTime with you, Howie's favorite position is high chair. Mac drop something great. Yeah. Anonymous advice on starting over after divorcing

my high school sweetheart at forty years old. Anyone that is a listener of the Calm Down podcast knows my advocation for divorce, not that I want you to fail at anything, but I want you to get a step closer to happiness. So I understand that obviously, like high school sweetheart means that you've clearly been with this person for a while, but this is a new chapter. So unfortunately, like you'll feel like a failure again, it's redundant, but

I know this feeling. You'll feel like a failure, but in failing, it will get you one step closer to happiness. So at forty years old, sister, you've been with this person since what you're eighteen years old, so you've had thirty two years of the same story and it's obviously something that's probably beautiful, right, But now you get to live a new life with hopefully somebody else that you meet along the way. And even if you don't meet someone,

even if it's just a new relationship with yourself. I was looking at something today and it showed all of the success stories after the age of forty. It was from I saw that Hoda Yes okay, Quota put it on her Instagram again, Love you, Hoda, dear mark this for the big show. There is so many accomplishments of people like McDonald's KFC Sarah Blakely, like all these people that have had so much success, Like we're talking billions of dollars of success after the age of forty, So

that doesn't that's not just attached to monetary success. It also can be an emotional success. So I'm very excited for you. So look at the positive in a very negative situation that you are about to start a new chapter in your life. I love that. I love talking to Miranda Lambert about all that too. Okay, next one, Erica d Primo twenty seven. This is a good question, like behind this scene stuff we don't think people are interested in, but it's cool. Chris during the Thursday night broadcast,

where do you and the boys watch the game? Great question, Harika. So we always watch the game in a designated green room, depends on whatever the stadium is. The stadium and the teams are always so great to allocate a certain space for us. And yeah, it's what you'd expect. It's a television. It's a random setup of seating areas. Sometimes it's the couch,

sometimes it's chairs. There's a couple of makeup setup situation for touchups before we go out for pregame and postgame and then yeah, we just all sit there and watch the game. We have our researcher Rosie, who we love with us as well, So as we're watching the game and different storylines that happen, producers come in. You know,

usually the game will dictate the storylines. But halfway through the first quarter, especially beginning a second quarter, for tape operations, it's really important to sort of understand like, Okay, they're able to run the ball a lot, let's cut some tape for you know, running backs. The defense they're they're pitching a shutout, so good defensive stands. So yeah, So it's all sort of communication between what the guys and myself see and communicating with the truck so they can

cut tape for halftime. But yes, TUA goes down and what's the conversation in your green room. First of all, it's immediately it's shit. It's shit, shit, correct, And it immediately brings us back to Week two in Cincinnati from two years ago when we were a baby broadcast who have literally done one show together, and it's dealing with

something that is far bigger than football. And I will say this unfortunately now been there twice during something like this for him two of his four major concussions that have been documented, and all that matters in that moment

is it's about the person and fits. You know, working with Ryan Fitzpatrick, who's very close with Tua, we all just sort of look at him because of his personal relationship with Tua having played in Miami, but just that relationship, and you just it doesn't matter who wins and loses. It's about the individual. And then, of course, you know, knowing his family's there, and Ryan Fitzpatrick actually said it best on Thursday night. The Tua that we saw two

years ago didn't have two children. And now those decisions that obviously he's going to have to make will have a lot more consideration about, you know, not just his aspirations of being an incredible football player, which he already was, but just being the father. And Mike McDaniel said it perfectly. He is the quarterback of his family. So I know we have both separately echoed these sentiments, but without being

too belaboring of the point. We've covered guys for twenty years and football is secondary to the health of the individual, and wish him nothing but the best in whatever decision he makes. I married a guy that had multiple concussions. It's very, very difficult to deal with all that stuff and it can go away and you're there. And I thought that was such a good point that you guys made on the desk. Is Like, I think it was sure.

You're there when the lights go down, you're there when nobody's there, You're there when the trainer passes them off to you, and you're like, what do I do when there's no blueprint of dealing with that injury? So yeah, those things are very hard for me to watch, just like everybody else. I thought you posted the photo, the photo his head coach kissing him on the head, Well just got me. All right, let's turn this party up. You next, We've got I like this on Shira s

And I apologize if I always mispronounced it. I just got tickets to see Taylor Swift in New Orleans. Any tips, recommendations, or advice, all of them. First of all, congratulations, A time will be had Aaron and I, you know whatever. It was. Lauren Fenner, who's with us here today, was incredible and doing the unenviable task of making friendship bracelets. So if you have a good friend that's willing to put in the time and effort to do that. I

highly suggest that you lean into that. But no, bring a bunch of friendship bracelets, plan your outfit ahead of time, even if it was a last minute adjustment on it. Good at it. But I don't know. I just think like, soak it up, understand that, like, this is such an awesome thing, and when you get there. I know a lot of people who have went will understand this. Never in a million years do you get to go to a stadium full of people and everyone's rooting for the

same person. It is pure joy. It is happiness. And there is so much dissension in the world that we live in. Even when you're in a stadium now a sports stadium, one half the stadium's rooting for one team, one's rooting for another. But this is the only time you'll go somewhere where everyone's rooting for the same person and it's just about being happy. So soak it all up, and I wish that I could go again and again again. Comfortable shoes for me, I was really really close to

wearing heels. I was, and I was very concerned about that, even though I know you could pull them off. But I just needed my sneakers. Apparently I was a soccer mom that night. I don't care. Yes, I do it still bothers me. I bounced around. It was so much fun. Yeah, come and come with a friend that wants to dance with you and not just listen to the choreography the

words and no, I'm kidding. Actually go with your kind of person, one that wants to dance and gyrate on each other, or the one that's like, no, I'm here for the experience. No, what I will say, And if you guys get that reference, it's because I wanted to just dance Whitney Houston on the ceiling and with somebody, and Aaron was paying attention to the choreography. I would say this, You're gonna find your person in that stadium, whether it's the person you showed up with or it's

somebody else. You guys all have a common bond together and that's your love of T Swift. Carly Maroda Marada, What do you think about? What do you think about when formulating postgame questions? Question? I love this. I think about a lot of things I have said. I think I said this last week in my little Like notebook that I keep. I kind of split it up into sections what Kevin and what Tom Brady are saying, and I kind of tracked the game. And yeah, I mean

I was taught very early in my career, who what, when, where? Why? What's going on? Why is that happening? How did you deal with it? What was everybody thinking? But then again, I listened a lot to what Tom and Kevin are saying, and I kind of do my questions off of that. I think that's great advice. I didn't get the opportunity to take that. I always say, Sororowsky, it's not it was a mind ful it is say the pronunciation John Swarskski swatsky, yep, I'm rip. He was amazing. I really

fucked with how I thought in a great way. I never took that course because when I got to ESPN, I was at the kids table, I was hosting Sports Nation, and it was like, you know, telling pirate jokes like what's a pirate's favorite movie? R Ago? Like that's the shit that I learned, And that does not help me in my postgame interviews. But I will say now, I

feel very fortunate. Fred Goadelli, who is a bazillion time Emmy Award winning producer who has produced more Super Bowls than I probably even watch, is now a consultant for Thursday Night Football and me, you and I are the same. Immediately after our broadcast on Thursday, I'm like, what did I do wrong? What did I do right? All this kind of stuff, and so he's my great resource now and about what I could just continue to do better. I will say this, doesn't matter how long you've been

in your respective position, always want to be coached. And if you don't have anyone on staff that coaches, you just naturally ask for it. Because I'm telling you, the minute you stop wanting to be coached or getting advice on being better is when you become complacent. And so I feel very lucky that he is on our staff at Thursday Night. But also, you won't get better if you don't continue to grow. Can you guys hear that drilling over there? If you can, then no, it's fine.

Ryan's going like this camera. So I'm not supposed to mention that drilling, but I will say this I learned from him even in my thirst day. The cardinal sin is asking yes and no questions and two questions at one, exactly what did you think of that? How did you deal with it? Because the athlete will always forget to do I just spit on you. The athlete will always forget to do the second one. Those are the they'll choose what they want to answer. That's literally what he

wrote back. He goes, you've committed the Cardinals in you've asked yes or no questions, and you've asked two questions in one. Yeah, and it's like it's so simple. So anyway, so that Aaron has to deal with it more than

I do in that immediate postgame question situation. But yeah, I just need to constantly remind myself of things like that, don't ask yes or no questions, and don't ask it ask multiple questions in one last, but not least, don's a three childhood crush John Knight New Kids on the Box. There she is no question. Mine was, uh, what's his name? Paul Walker rests in peace? Oh my god? Yeah, what was that phase? I'm so sad, oh so sad, so sad. Yeah, and I also loved Zach from Saved by the Bell.

So what I worked with Mario. Everyone's like, oh my god, Slater and I was like loving Mario, but mind Zach. Yeah. What was his last name? Mores? Morris? Yeah, Morris? There it was all right. More of this interview is no, are we doing the anonymous? Are you join me anonymous? Hell to the yah? Yeah? Okay, so here we go. We have an anonymous follow up, which we love. Anybody who has submitted questions anonymously, please follow up with us and let us know if our advice sucked or was

right on the nose. Okay. Original question from a few weeks ago. My sister in law is a heavy breather. I hate that shit in yoga. She always mattsfy me, good, do I say something? We said you should say something. CHRISA actually suggested bringing it up in a conversation. But use someone else as the scapegoat or as an example and see if they catch the hint. Here's the update. I use the bringing up someone else as an example trick, and her sister called her out. So this bitch breathe

I love it. Wow. I'm gotta tell you I got an update too, not to take it away, but it worked like a charm and we deserve a raise. I heart hates us already, so we deserve something. No, I'm kidding. No, I think they like us. I don't know. I have a follow up. I talked about this chicken one of my workout classes, the Heavy Breather, but it also sounded like she was going through some things or like gave us like an insight of what her life was like. She's three rows down and it's still like, oh, this

class is so hard. I'm like, bitch, I just kept looking at the people next to her, going feels so bad for you, but we're really excited that your message was able to be received without having it come from you. Yeah. If that girl is listening in my gass, knock it off. It's so distracting. No one wants to hear it. Just count one, two, three, four, pullback and flung chair and it's time like this. I'd like to remind you all, from those of you watching on video, calm down, whether

you're in a yoga studio or in life. Okay, we're joining you from top Golf. I own need I say. They also have something called a sure Thing club, and we're a sure thing join us on the big show on Thursday. I could tell this girl in my class is a sure thing because of what she was doing. Calm Down with Erin and Carissa is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.