Ep 41-Will Colin Kaepernick ever play in the NFL again? NFL Officiating department restructured, and the art of trolling on social media.

take so an INSTACR sponsor. I like it. Yeah, I hope they're not your newest spotsor my apologies not by insta Car Instacr. So why are they terrible? Um? They at the time I can only speak to when they first came to l A. They were all about speed. So it's like you're you would not get like as good of a quote unquote rating, uh and that, and it was all built on like how fast you could check out, So you were basically forced to game the system as far as like get things altogether then suddenly

check out quickly. Uhnywhere like on one of those game shows where you had ten minutes. It was supermarket show, ye, and you had to get as much in the card as pot. That was great. I love that show. They're like filling their car with turkeys and things. I think it came back for with Guy Theory as a host,

so check it out. But also I was just gonna say they've gotten in trouble because they've screwed over workers lately because they would hide the tip ability so you would want to tip them, but then they would add like a fee and it said this helps offset cause or something, so people would think they were already tipping the driver and they were like, oh, was a mistake.

But shady there's a shady company. So if okay, if you if you were on that show and you had let's say five in your ows and you have three minutes, what ile are you going to first? In the supermarket baker, the liquorisle. Okay, I think bills weren't available, and then you gotta take away that you can't the liquor. I donything counts. But the point of the show was to try to in the final run would be to make pick this stuff that costs the most money, Like you

have the biggest total. So I think, like, you want to go to like the meat, like they were always remember turkeys and hands go to the meat. I would go to the meat section. I think that. I think that's first, that's bang for your buck there. And then if liquor was if liquor was open, then yeah, like I could go to the liquor I'd probably end up in the ice cream section too. I feel like everybody used to go to the diaper ale first. That was

where everyone I remember that's smart. Diapers is very smart wed that mindset. I'm the key. You don't have kids, yeah, but the type of that that those are expensive, man, you can get they're like I don't even pull ups and stuff. Geez. I mean Travis is eight kids. So we understand that. All right. So here's the question. Here's the question I'll post to you. Obviously, Look, the NFL

just came out and they've been UM. We talked last week about the video and the NFL employee and then Roger Goodell admitting that they got it wrong in two thousands sixteen. UM. Now the latest right, the NFL is is going to UM donate ten years fifty million million dollar fund to combat systemic racism and support the battle in terms of the historic and justices faced by African Americans.

All of this right, and obviously, look, I know we had another shooting um African American man in Atlanta that was just you know, that was picked up for potential um d u I and then was apparently running away from the police when he was when he was shot.

And uh, but if look, if George Floyd doesn't happen, um, you know, is the NFL or any any of these other organizations, you know, pledging making these statements, making these donations, doing whatever, and and does that take away from the fact that at least we're doing something, at least we're aware of it. Unfortunately had to take something like this to kick start, you know, all of this what's happening

in the country today. But does it take away for you that where some people might say, oh, this is only a reaction to what happened, and this is this is bowing the public pressure because right now, this is where the country is. At this point, I can go first and I say, yes, it's happening because of that, and it's unfortunate for that reason. But at the same time, you have to hit rock bottom and come out of it. So I think this is it's moving in the right direction.

So so it's it sometimes takes the worst to happen to find out that you have to do more. And and that's a typical Travis response. He's the glass half full guy, and he's you know, that's he's the guy to go to for positivity. Now we'll go to our our resident cynic and and Scott, who has more of a I'm not gonna say Scott's a glass half empty type guy, but Scott is going to give you a little He's a realist. He'll tell you he's a realist.

So Stott, what what's your where are you up? Well, this may shock you, but I pretty much agree with Travis, which is, uh, Dan, Travis, you're done. Stop you you said your this, You're You're absolutely right. If all this this last month doesn't happen, I think this wouldn't happen. But it is a good thing obviously that the NFL

is putting money into this. I'll be more interested to see because right now, uh, you know, the league is obviously not active, so there is a lot of time for them to say the right things and do the

right things. But when the league, when the season starts, presuming everything starts on time or just slightly delayed, it'll be very interesting to see how the league approaches things because now basically they're saying all the right things, But what happens in week four when players are still bring you know, bringing this to the forefront, and I'm you know, some owners haven't said anything. You know, it's like, are they gonna start talking? What if the president tweets stuff?

Who knows? You don't have to wait to see? Yeah, I think we do. Look, it's it's ultimately, it's it's a shame that it came to this and obviously something so shocking and so horrified that everybody got to see and just but what black people have said has gone on for them for for a very a long time. And now the white community has to see this, this

shopping event and say, oh, okay, now I'm gonna listen. Um, but at least we're listening, right, And but I think ultimately you're right in terms of when the season starts, and you know, ultimately it comes down to and this is the bigger question I've had conversations with people about this is you know, when you when you write, when you work for a company, right, we have we have freedom of speech in this country, and we have certain

rights and things like that. But the reality is when you work for a company and you enter the workplace, a lot of those rights go away and you're governed by policies and things like that of the organization. Right, you can't just go into your workplace and say whatever

you like and and there be no repercussions. So this there are some people that believe that this is this is in a way politicizing the workplace, that the players, this is their workplace, and now kneeling or making these statements, you know, is somehow politicizing the workplace. And and I understand that. I was having a conversation with a former colleague of mine and that's what kind of he was saying.

And I get that, but I think it's beyond that in terms of the platform that these athletes have and how they can affect change. I believe we have to look past you know what. Obviously we're not gonna we don't want our athletes to be you know, in terms of condoning hate messages and things like that, because they have such a tremendous platform. But I think if this platform is for good, I don't have a problem with

that in the workplace, I don't. I don't know where you guys are on that, if that even makes sense. If Dean I take the question as did this seem authentic or did this thing seem like what we kind of have to do? Is it genuine? Right? Is it? Yeah? Absolutely not? Yeah? Well I and I also think, look, I struggle with this too. And here's the reality. I struggle with being. Look, i am by no means we joke, right, I'm the C list celebrity or this the delays celebrity.

But I am I am a public figure to some extent. I'm a white man in this country, and I struggle with the the idea of okay on social media especially, and you guys know me, I'm not a big promoter and I don't like you know, I'm not out on social media all the time promoting things and things like that. But where I struggle with, and I feel like other white people in the in the public space struggle with um is not saying anything being seen as okay. Silence.

Now you're complicit to what's going on. Versus just saying something because everybody's saying something and it not being genuine, versus just behind the scenes, just trying to do what I can and having those conversations and controlling the things I can control, and and and so that's what I'm struggling with right now, to be perfectly honest, and I wouldn't be open it to you, especially Scott being Asian and being a minority, like what what what do I do?

You know, what, what's the best route for me? I've seen a lot of people posting similar things. Well, one thing that is funny is, as you pointed out, like on social media, if you have a platform, you can type something in that will ruin your life for life. But I would say I would say uh quickly to get back to a question before the one direct to me, which is you know, um, players you there, they can say whatever they want, like you said, and the employers

can decide and what they want to do. So right now, I don't think I think the discourse around it is there. Many players are using their platforms to speak out, which is great, but if it was some awful thing they were saying, you know, you do have the court of public opinion, and then you also just have like the limits of your employer and you know, not to put the NFL on blast or anything. But if you're you know, they've willingly kept people on their teams who have committed

pretty terrible crimes. So I think, like, you know, that's that's also making a public statement. If you're like, hey, we know this guy did this horrible thing, but we're not gonna fire in now. Again, that's just they take the heat or they don't. So but as far as

your question with you know, what can you do? Um, I've seen people post about this too because some people, myself included, aren't always you know, comfortable putting like our voice out there because we don't feel like it's authentic to do that, or we're co opting someone else's ideas, or we're taking away from things. So as long as you're active some way, whether it's like however you consider that you know, you're voting, you're talking with your family

and your friends. You it could be donating money. There's people who like to donate a lot of money, but they don't want to make it a big deal or make it about them. You can still be involved in it, just because you're not tweeting, like it doesn't mean you're silent. And also the difference too is like it's not like you tweet fifty things a day and then now you're just not talking about it. Sure you know, so I guess, And then I think the other thing that comes down

to the NFL. Right, Roger Goodell said that he welcomed the team signing Colin Kaepernick. I feel like there are some people that will not take the NFL seriously until Colin Kaepernick is on a team. Um. That is, some would say that Roger Goodell has some control over that. Someone would say that Roger dond has no control over that. That's up to the thirty two clubs and signing someone.

The reality is, we talked about it last week. From a talent perspective, from a playing perspective, he belongs on an NFL roster, you know, as a backup at a minimum. Um, but is a team ready to take on that that public you know, like you said that that discourse that that I don't want to use the store just just for lack of a better term, distraction. Okay, UM, that's gonna be interesting because look, the reality is, I remember when when Michael Sam. You remember, Michael Sam was the

defensive end of Missouri, openly, openly gay. He was went into the draft and there was a lot of conversation about whether Michael Sam was going to get drafted and and I don't know this for sure, but I believe and it was and and ultimately it was the Rams that drafted him. Jeff Fisher was the head coach. They took them, I think with a supper with a with

a compensatory pick in the seventh round. I believe that there was conversation with the league, from the league office to the clubs to say, um, someone needs to to draft this guy, so we needs to draft this player, and and ultimately happened, and unfortunately didn't work out for for Sam. His career didn't really go anywhere. But I think it was an important step. And so I think the league can influence UM a team into into potentially

signing Kaepernick UM. I think that would be a strong message. I like what Roger said about UM. He's open to working with with Kaepernick on these issues and having those conversations. And maybe that's more impactful UM than him just being on a club. But but who knows. And we'll we'll see.

But the last thing on the NFL, which I just want to present, considering the current environment, it's never going to get any any and for lack of a better term better than this, how much longer can the NFL continue to have the Washington Redskins as a team name at this point? At what point can can does it? Does? Does the NFL saying we're fighting for social injustice? Is it not a complete big ball of hypocrisy one of your team names? Is that offensive? I think it's got

to change. The mayor of d C has come out asking for the change again, and I think it's got to change. If it doesn't change now, when is it ever gonna right right now which seemed like the time to do it. Uh, I don't know. Can you speak about how like Dan Snyder obviously has opposed this a lot,

like how much control really have? Look? I think the league you know when it comes to this, right you look you look at obviously Dan Snyder is an out and making racist comments and doing what Donald Sterling did. But the NBA force Donald Sterling to to sell his team because of all the awful things that had happened. Um,

I think the NFL could exert influence. I think they've hid behind the idea that it isn't offensive um to Native Americans, that there have been these polls, um that that have said, well, you know, however, many percentage of Native Americans don't find the defensive. Um. Look if if one person finds a defensive and look, I'm not I'm very I'm very interested um in Native American history and

things like that. I've studied it. I understand what's happened in this country, um, you know, revolving around Native Americans. And to me, I just it's it's it's mind boggling that we still have a team name and and to me, the environment today would tell us that this this has to change. Look obviously not trying to take away from from the Black Lives Matter and and and the historical

injustices injustices there. But I don't know how the NFL could sit there and say we're serious about this when you've got one of your thirty two franchises with a name like the red Skins. I remember, I grew up in New York St. John's St. John's, which was a powerhouse basketball team right in the Big East. You remember second, Chris Mullen and and Bill Wennington and and and right, and they were the Red Men, okay, And that was and that that was changed in the nineties to the

Red Storm the nineties. And we're still sitting here in two thousand twenty with the team name like the reds. It has I'm like you, it has to change. I don't know how it continues. Yeah, I agree nothing else. I agree with speechless. All right. So then the other big news about the NFL um some Cowboys players, notably Zeke Elliott and some Texas players tested positive for for COVID nineteen. Um to me, right, that's news. This is

gonna happen. Yeah, be prepared, right if we're testing, right, the NFL saying, and LP medical director Tom Mayor is saying that we're gonna test for COVID three times a week. We're gonna isolate players who test positive. If we're testing players, if we've got fifty three man rosters, ten players on the practice squad, um injured reserve, all of that, we're testing people three times a week, We're gonna get positive tests. Right,

think about this? Yeah, sorry, I was saying. The thing about this Zeke story is that we don't know when it was. It could have been like when that party was going on at dox House. What's that you know, a month or two months ago? Already it seems like where they where, they had you know, a bunch of food and they had the video we've all seen at Zeke's their decks there, they got friends over and there's definitely more than t wish wish people there. No, I'm

you have the guy. So it's like, did he get it then or is it something recent now? If it's if it's later, you know, if it's if it's within the last week or so, then then you start to question it. But but Texas is opening up things again like everything else and and and it's it's you. We don't know when it We're going to get it. People

are gonna get it. Right. The the mortality rate though, certainly as as you have a younger, stronger, you know, stronger immune system, the mortality rate isn't isn't extremely high, um, but you're gonna have case that's and we might we might be in a world who knows. In the fall, when guess what, you know, the Bucks are playing the Saints and Tom Brady just tested positive and Tom Brady playing on Sunday, right, So this is this could happen, and that's the reality. Every week it's gonna be you

know who who's injured, who who potentially test positive? You know, and that's gonna be with all professional sports. You look at what's happening in Europe and leagues are happy. You know, they're boot whether it's bood Thisliga or other. You know, they've been playing for for several weeks and and they've been operating. Um. There have hasn't been a major major outbreak. And hopefully that's the case with all of our sports and uh and we won't have we won't have major

issues going into the to the season. The interesting thing with the NFL is I think it was Bruce Arians who said he's contemplating having a quarterback stay at home and studying from home and not being around the team because if your backup gets COVID, you're I mean, if you're started get it, you're like likely going to spread it to the quarterback room in the backup is gonna get it too. Now you're stuff with your third string corpment.

So it's interesting to bring in the strategy of everything too, which I haven't even thought about that side of it. I think that's gonna that's definitely gonna take place. You're you're gonna take special care with certain people. Maybe they don't come to the facility every day. Maybe they do things from home. Obviously, if it's a practice day and they've got to be on the field, that's different. But

it's certainly gonna be It's gonna be interesting. Even the NFL is going to be working remotely, Amazing everyone working remotely. I'm gonna stay healthy. I might get my call this year. They're gonna step in. We might see, you know, very unheralded free agent signing Joe Madrid from Dando b is stepping in for for Grounds Kelsey. Travis Kelsey isn't playing, So Mahomes is gonna be Madrid is gonna be his top target? All right? And then I don't know baseball,

what's the deal? Talk to me? What what Rob Manford was said? We were a hundred percent playing last Friday? Right now? Did I did I really say that? Did I say we're around from percent playing? Um? Look, a lot of this has to do with the Union, I think the league, right, the league keeps proposing different They keep basically proposing the same thing in different ways, and ultimately it comes down to each proposal, the players are

getting roughly one third of their salaries. However you slice it, it's still roughly a third of what the players would be making. And I think that's the the MLB p A S issue. But you know, they're probably getting that actual unemployment Dean, what's that? They're probably getting that extra six headed on undeployment. Yes, I'm sure. So it's gonna be interesting baseball. If baseball canceled the season, this would be only the second time in professional North American professional

sports that an entire season was canceled. Um. The NFL canceled the entire I think it was what season? Um, So we think about when baseball, uh, you know, canceled the rest of the season, didn't play the World Series. Montre l Expos never never recovered from that, right. The Montreal Spos went into went into debt. They couldn't afford the better players. They had to basically sell off these

players and ultimately they went to funk. So we're about stack, yeah, and you worry about you know, is that the case? Could we see a repeat of that if we cancel the season. Because owning a professional sports franchise, um, you know, at least in my experience and the people that I talked to, it's more of a vanity project than anything else.

Most of these owners have made their money in other industries and they own a sports team because because it's high profile and it's a vanity thing versus just um, you know, them making money hand over fist. I mean for for every organization like the Cowboys, are the Yankees, um that are you know, that continue to be valued at at at you know, however many billions of dollars.

Then you have others, whether it's you know, small market baseball teams, small market hockey teams, things like that that that aren't that that are kind of just breaking even and then not having a season would be catastrophic. I like how you didn't call any of those teams out by name. That was that was that was good? No, that was very diplomatic. I'm just like you can I'll take my shitty thoughts and I'll project them onto you and how you can all run through the teams in

your mind that you that you think of. All right, let's let's take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about the the NFL's officiating department restructure was something that I'm intimately intimately involved. Next on Good Call. Alright, we're back on Good Calls. Travis is having a glass of wine. I do want to say the other day I had a when what day was it, Tuesday, Wednesday? I don't know. We had a had a virtual happy hour with some friends and they're on the East Coast.

So I had like three drinks at three o'clock in the afternoon, passed out at five for like an hour and a half. So I am so out of drinking right now. Because of you would think that I'm not a I'm not. I'm kind of a homebody and I like being on my own, but I don't like drinking by myself. I'm a very social drinker, so I haven't been drinking. And I was literally wasted after three drinks and passed out on the coat on the sofa. And

that's that's how it goes with quarantine. I think I think that my wife and I have drank wine pretty much every day with dinner since since uh quarantine started. It sounds very romantic. It's not one or two year old thrown food all the time. It's to help us get through dinner. We go that the eight kids come

in ruin your your romantic dinner. All right. So in all of this, right, in all of the everything that's been happening in the world, um and in this country, you know, COVID, the social unrest, kind of what slipped onto the cracks a little bit is the the NFL has restructured their officiating department. And obviously this is a show that focuses on the NFL rules, so we thought it would be important to cover that. Um. Look, the

reality is the conversation. I've had conversations with the NFL, um ever since I left, and and they the NFL has always been a special place for me, and I've always wanted to help them, and I've had conversations about potentially, you know, getting back there, and it just hasn't worked out, Right, it hasn't worked out. I'm very happy doing what I'm doing, and I'm open to help in the NFL in any way. So the NFL restructured their efficiating department and did a

couple of things. So our Riverant, who was the senior vice president of officiating in the mold of what had happened in the past. Typically, Right, there was one person that oversaw the department. UM. Underneath that person there are officiating supervisors. There's a support staff, but that one person oversees everything is ultimately responsible UM for the structure in

the department, the day to day operations, UM, hiring, firing, training. Right, that one person and you obviously have a support staff. That job has grown exponentially, UM, even from when I had it. And uh, you know you talk about replay going into the league office, and and that's something that that person would be responsible for. There's obviously so much in terms of social media, the connecting with the media, the clubs, everything else. It's a big job. So what

the league did is they divided it up. Right, So I remember on is is no longer in charge of the officiated department. Right, It's it's basically a three a three headed approach. Um. Our river On will be in charge of instant replay. UM. This will be interesting because I love Al to death. Al has a lot of great qualities. I hired al um when I got the

head job at the NFL. UM. Al has has a particular skill set, and I'll be quite frank, replay isn't a strong suit for It's just out and we kind of saw I play out last year with past inference. We never could find um the right place. We never could find a consistent standard, and so putting Al in charge of replay to me, is not putting someone in a position to be successful. Um that's just my opinion, right. I think you take someone's skill set and you say, okay,

where can this person best be successful? That's going to help that person grow and it's also going to help the organization and replay is not hit for our river run. Now, hopefully there will be people underneath AL that will be able to help and we'll be making decisions. They're gonna have a rotating basis where they have people come in and help make decisions on game day and I will

oversee it. So hopefully that that will mitigate some of those those circumstances where we're out would just be the sole person making those decisions. Okay, because again not his strong suit. Has a lot of skill set, has has skills that I don't have, came from an on field background, just stands officiating, mechanics, understands all of those things, and I needed him because I didn't understand those things to that degreat right, but replay right, that's not his wheelhouse.

So we'll see how that plays out. UM lead hired Walt Anderson, longtime referee, had been a supervisor coordinator of officials in the Big Twelve for a long time, so has management experience, understands that part of it, obviously understands the on field part of it, had understands replay. I think Walt is a is a good higher Walton. I've known Walt for a long time. UM, Walt is as harder worker as I've ever seen, what will do, whatever

it takes, what will put in the time. He's gonna be in charge of development and training, right, so he's gonna work with the on field officials, UM implement a training system of training program to help get the officials on the field better. So I think that's good, right, wal It's gonna need direction while it's gonna need to have to communicate with the competition. Give me to make sure that, UM, what is being taught to the officials is consistent with what the committee is. You know, once

for the game. And then the third part is Um. The league hired Perry Fuel. Perry Fuel is a longtime assistant coach in the league, had been a interim hed coach with the Panthers, Um defensive coordinator, was defensive coordinator with the Giants when they won a Super Bowl, and known Perry for a long time. Smart guy obviously comes from a coaching background. I think that's good having somebody with a coaching background inofficiating is important. We did this

when I was there. We brought in coaches that weren't working that year to spend the season with us. We did it with Jeff Fisher, Lovey Smith, Ken wizzen Hunt, Jim schwartz Um. We have coaches come in because they give you a unique perspective UM that you don't have from an officiating background. They can tell you what you know, what is being coach, what that player is attempting to do, what his assignment is, where where he's trying to get to on the football field, and that can help officials

and just pay things. So I think that's great. Perry is going to be in charge of the day to day operation of the department and also going to communicate with the media and communicate with the clubs. The one concern I have about that is that Perry, while he may know football very well and and understand it from a coach's XS and O standpoint, it takes a long time to understand it from an officiating perspective. So Perry has a kind of a steep learning curve and it's

gonna take some time. It's gonna take time for him to be able to communicate with a head coach or an assistant coach on an officiating issue. So he's going to need help. I think that's where the league needs to basically provide him some resources to give him the supports, again putting people in a position to be successful. So that's the set up. All three will ultimately report to

Troy Vincent, who's the executive VP of Football Operations. So the bubble stop with Troy and and so depending on how this goes right, it's ultimately gonna fall on Troy's lap. He's responsible, and so it'll be interesting to see how that how this goes. I think ultimately, what is when you think about officiating today, what what of those three things, what's the most high profile, what's the most impactful for you as a fan watching replay. It's it's that goes

without saying replay. And it's like you still have the guy who who messed it up last season in charge of it. Like that, to me doesn't make a lot of sense. Yeah, and that and that's from the person on the outside looking in. And I'll tell you from the person who used to be on the inside. And for people that I've talked to on the inside, Um, that's the concern. Right, You've taken someone that that that was not their strong suit, right, no fault of their own.

It's just not right. Joe's Joe's not good at you know. Oh, be careful, be careful. I'm running down the list the things. You're having a hard time finding something. It's just Joe is not a great dresser, right, So I wouldn't put Joe in charge of If I ran a fashion house, I wouldn't put Joe in charge, right, dareing out clients, socializing that kind of thing. He's good with that. I would take him and say, take these these, take this group out, show him a good time, all right. Scott's

gonna handle the fashion part of it, okay. So if I had do you three, I would put you in a position to be success and that's the concern. And look, it's not to say it can't work, and I hope it does. I wanted to work because I spent too much time and too much times invested in officiating to watch it, um, you know, be like it was last year and and and and to have that type of negative negativity surrounding it, and and so I wanted to work.

I hope it works. There are smart people involved, and I just hope that we put people in a position to be successful. And it's gonna be interesting because when all of this, when COVID you know, and everything else, and we get back to playing games. Ultimately, what's gonna happen on Sunday right that that replay, We're gonna be sitting there and I'm gonna be trying to figure out

what they're gonna do. And I just don't want to be making that face like I made in that Cleveland Raider game and took that seven team when they overturned that line the game and then basically became a meme because my my face. I was shocked and I didn't know the camera was coming back to me and I had that what the f look? On my face. So IM hoping that that's not the case. Although you guys would enjoy that because everybody gets a kick out of

that type of stuff. What I think I'll enjoy is I want to hear Joe's rebuttal on him not having any fashion sense. You know, I get compliments on my wardrobe all the time, all the time. So all right, I wish you would have went with something else that I actually am not good at. But I get it. You've probably had a hard time finding that you're not good at social distancing, right, So so Dean, so Perry

will be the one taking the calls from the mad coaches. Yeah, I think that's the way it's set up, and that that's that's the thing that Look, I get it from a coach's perspective, and I love the fact of having somebody Perry like, like having someone like Perry in there.

But I can't see Perry answering a call from Bill Belichick or from you know, Anthon Lynn, or from from Bill O'Brien asking about holding call and and him being able to speak to be officiating mechanics and from a place of of knowledge at this point, not saying he can't get there. But at this point that would be difficult. It would be like me trying to go in and I'm coaching defensive line for the right. I wouldn't know initially what to teach them or what to tell you know,

my players. I would need time to learn and to grasp it and things like that. So so that's gonna be the challenge. I think the coaches will still call you, well, yeah, I still get obviously, I still get phone calls. I talked to you know, I talked to people from the club today. Um, I'll be working with several clubs on on rules and helping their rookies and and talking the differences between n c A and NFL rules and putting

together position specific tapes related to rules. So here are the rules that you know, working with with with teams in terms of here are the rules that your linebacktors need to know. Right, here are the rules that your defensive backs need to know. Here the rules that your offensive linemen need to know. What are the rules that most impact those position groups? Putting together videos and we'll

do some zoom stuff. Well, hopefully we get to visit and training camp and go and work with some clubs and help them on that. So that's you know, that's something I appreciate those relationships and the ability to do

those things. Um. But but yeah, it's it's it's gonna be interesting to see how this plays out because as you know, once the season starts, nobody's nobody's talking about officiating now in June, but I guarantee you in October they're gonna be talking about it if we're playing games. And this is gonna come to more of the forefront as to this structure and whether it's working or not. And and that's gonna be and that that remains to

be seene. Would you would you say that, I mean, it's should there almost be a different position for the like Riveran had to answer, because he's the head of officiating two mistakes, You would think they should almost create a second person almost as like the face like a PR person that's the face forward because like you said, a lot of times, you can be a you can know the rule book, you can be an XS and those guys, but if you can't communicate really well to

the media, you'll come off as a loof and then the league gets heat. Would you think the NFL would be open to creating like another position, you know, you hit the mail on the head. I think that makes perfect sense. And I think the structure. I like the idea of kind of of of creating these different you know,

these different verticals and having somebody in charge. But you have to have the right people in those verticals, right, and you have to have someone like you said, if I'm communicating, if it's my job, if I'm the head of officiating, and my job is to teach officials and to train and to do replay and also communicate with the media, there's a couple of different skill sets there, and and and it's rare that one person has the

ability to do those things right. So so I like the fact that you'd have somebody that could communicate with the media that is not necessarily making those decisions because there's a buffer and there's a separate you know, a separation. But you've got to have the right people someone whoever is communicating with the media. That that's a skill right. That was you know, my prayer was really good at that. When Mike was head of officiating, Um, you know, out

wasn't as good with that. That's again, that's not within his skill set. Um how was better behind the scenes, teaching officials, positioning, where to be, what to do, those types of things. So I think the structure and the concept makes sense. But you've got to put people in position to be successful. And and again, you you do someone a disservice if you put them in a job

that they're not suited for. I had a conversation with a head coach at the Super Bowl just about this fact, and he said, listen, it's like a player playing out a position. You know, we drafted. We draft a kid and we think he's a cornerback, and it's right away we realized he's not a corner He's not He can't play corner in this league. We gotta make him the safety. The longer we leave him at corner, right, it's gonna

hurt his development, and it's gonna hurt the team. And it's the same deal and that and that's ultimately what what we we've seen um go in the past and we potentially could see going forward if we don't put people in the right position. So that's where I'm at. All, Right, let's take a break. Can we come back. Joe is going to is going to He's got a new song and uh, and it's called if I was a troll. I'll let Joe explain it. All right, We're back on good calls, and I have a I have a a proclamation.

I have an announcement to make all right, and this, maith come as a shock to everybody. Um, but I I've not had a peanut M and M since June seven. Oh man, sorry, wait wait, I screwed that up. Sorry, no, no, what's today? No? No, wait, it gets better. I've not had a peanut Eminem since May seven. There's a bag in the cube right now. Seven I have not had

a penut Eminem. I realized I finally hit rock bottom on May seven, and I know that, and I've and and so um, I ordered to party size Eminem bags off is on in addition to a giant tub of double bubble, and I know that I ordered it was delivered on April seven. The two party size now the party size are the mac Daddy Eminem bags, right, And on May seven, I finished the second bag by myself. Right, So so in eleven days, I finished two party size

bags of Eminem's and I finally hit rock bottom. And I said, I'm not gonna eat an eminem not saying forever, but I'm not gonna eat another peanut eminem and I am going strong. Today's June sixte I've not had one since May seventh. Congratulations, that's really good. Like for for people who are listening, you don't know. Dan houses peanut butter teena Eminem's double bubble gum all day long, every day when we're in the cube, and it's it's amazing

how he can. It's amazing how he can say as skinny as he does with eating as much junk is as as you eat. And I have I have. I have increased my half baked intake to two pints a week, one a week, and I spread it out though, like I'll do I'll do a weekend so probably like a Friday night in like a Tuesday to try to spread it out so um, you know, I'll do one peanut butter half baked maybe and then a regular half baked with the peanut m and ms and and I said,

I don't miss it. So here's my question to you with with the pint of ice cream, Ony, don't you just eat like a little bit each day? What do you what? What's wrong? With just the influence of my wife. That's just ridiculous, Like, why would you even say that you can't Again, we've talked about this the half baked, right, it's very important that you get it from the store to your freezer immediately. If you cannot let it melt and then refreeze, that's a problem. So as soon as

you get home, right, you can't. I don't go buy the f baik and then run another Errand it's the last thing that you buy. It's the last thing you get at the supermarket, it's the last story you go to. You go immediately home, you put it in the freezer, you take it out ten minutes before you're gonna eat it. You let it set up, you let it start to defrost, and you'll know if you did it right when you take the top off. If the top comes off, it's kind of like it's just a feeling and you go, oh,

this is gonna be a good point. And it's creamy and you don't have that frostbite on it. Look, it's a it's like ice cream. Some oyer. You gotta let it breathe before you can eat it, and you can't like eat you can eat like part of it. You eat the wo thing, you're all in and then you go, okay, you have a problem, you have any yes, and look that's my My entire life has been sweet tooth has been my problem. Um so, but yes, the peanut eminem thing, I don't miss it, and I feel good. So let's see,

we'll see how long it goes. Um. So, today I was presented with an opportunity and I passed because I'm not a Twitter's roll. I get trolled by people left and right, especially during football season, and so I don't ever want to become one of those people. But um, you know Dez Bryant who he and I are connected for life, right because of that one faithful afternoon in in two thousand and and uh um he tweeted that he had took a COVID nineteen test and he came

up negative. Right, Um So I was just I saw it right because I followed as and there's so much I could do with that, Jerry, Like, I'll leave it to you guys with what would be the tweet? Right, because I mean it's so the easy one is you know, hey, Jes, glad you didn't catch it, But like, where where do you go with it? Just where do you like? I told you? What's that? Told you didn't catch it? I mean it's you know, I was thinking, I you know it does. I could have told you that, you know,

there's so much you go with but I'm not. So I'll do it here amongst friends. And just understand, I'm not a Twitter troll. But if you were a troll, right If you were a troll, who would you troll right now? Scott? If you were a Twitter troll, who would you be trolling right now? I feel like and I feel like Scott of all of us, is the closest to a Twitter troll. If you follow Scott Tamill at Scott Tamill on Twitter, he does tweet at people.

He does. He it's a very underrated Twitter account. I don't. I rarely tweet at people, but tweets about people. Yes, he does take shots at people. Yeah, I know whom I know who I troll? Oh would you know? We can't get too deep. But his name is Roger. Oh god, Joe is not a fan. Joe is not a Roger Goodell fan. To say he's not a fan is being very kind er. Roger is a good guy. I will be you'd have a beer with Roger, you would. I just wish, I just wish he would be more of

that guy than than commissioner guy. But you're in St. Vegas, Dave be the guy, don't. Oh he's he's he's like the troll of all trolls. His whole persona is just a troll. So by trolling him, you're actually probably doing him a favor. It would he would give him energy fights the right dude when I was just begging to run into him after about seven right drinks? Alright, sorry to bring it up. Oh no, I mean the only person I think I've ever been blocked by on Twitter

is Frank Stallone, brother brother of Sylvester. Sobody get blocked? That's the most How do you get blocked by Frank Stallon? Well, like what, he's an angry guy these days. He has a lot of opinions on how the country is being run. But this was back now, this would have been back in two six. He was going off about how all these celebrities who were uh promoting who they were going

to vote for president? Right, so it was obviously Hillary Clinton or Trump, And he said, like, uh, bon Jovi is a loser and he hasn't even be as I think he backed Hillary Clinton. And it's like bon Jovi hasn't even been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What a loser. And I tweeted at Frank because he has a recording career, does he just so people know he's released albums? I said, Frank, when are

you getting inducted? And he like, within our seconds he must he immediately block yeah, which I think is a fair. You know, it's like if you're calling bon Jovi a loser for not being in the Rock and Hall Hall of Fame as a musician, how I'm not sure. Let me check. That's a travesty if he isn't. If bon Jovi is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, that's an issue. Oh I think he got inducted in Okay, alright,

good so now his Frank's tweet is no more didn't age. Well, if you ever get invited back to this Stallone residence, please let me let me since you brought a got, since you brought it up. You know I have hung out with Frank Stallone. I've I've hung out at at you know, we we you know us friends. We call him Slide. So I spend time at Slice House. Uh Frank was there. Uh he you know, seemed like a good guy. Didn't talk much, but but he was kind of just kind of in the background. Um, you know,

and uh, you know, I don't think when I hung out. No, I didn't know you when I hung out with with Slide, So I didn't know that Frank Stallone story. You know. I wish I would have because then I would have asked him about it. Hey, you remember blocking this Asian kid on Twitter when he said that you weren't in the Hall of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But obviously you hit a sore spot. But I would like to see you go after Frank Stallone. Let's start

a Twitter beef between you guys. Let's do it from I just I would just love to apologize. You know, I want to break bread with next time I'm at Slice House. I'll face time. Did give him give Scott access to the good called Twitter? Let him you're running with that on there? Just go, yeah, Scott does. I will say that Scott is is the most active in terms of you know, what's happening in the world today in the country. He's active in the in the l A political scene, and and and in terms of your

council members, you're always tweeting about that stuff. UM, so kudos to you, um for that. Travis on the other and Travis, who would you? Who would you troll? Honestly, I've been trying to rack my brain about it. I've never I've never tweeted in it. And I just like, I don't care to bother people that much like I don't want to hear about other people's problems. So I'm not like looking at stuff on Twitter all the time, and I don't care to. There's a statement right there

on Twitter just sharing their own problems. Do you remember rememberal media is just look at me, look at me, look at me. Hey, world, don't forget about me, right you know I'm saying, Travis, I mean not not not getting from it. Well, everybody answer, I don't need anyone. He didn't remember when you remember when I got into a battle with one of your roles on Twitter he challenged me to a fight, and I get accused. I get accused of having burner accounts. I don't have a

burner account. My friends have accounts and they will. They will go after people that go after me, and it's hilarious, Like Joe and his and his is alternate ego on Twitter going at it with this guy from like Temecula who's the cowboy fan, like back and forth. It was insane for hours. I wish I want to find that exchange. We have to twelve year olds like like back and forth, trying to get the last word in. He gave me the off ramp. What freeway that we were we were

going to meet and fight? Oh my god, it's so it was amazing. I wouldn't I wish that would have happened pay per view. So I do, I do. I do think that would be a good reality show where you get celebrities and they go visit someone that has been particularly trollish towards them, and then you start interaction in person, because the interaction in person is so much different from social media. Everybody you meet in person um are gracious and and happy and they want to talk

to you. And I just feel like sometimes people get on Twitter or get on social media and they have this I don't know this this negative vive and and it just doesn't you know, they feel emboldened and empowered to uh, to make people try to feel that make

them feel bad about themselves. But yeah, and you show us the tweets that these guys send to you, and when you actually write them back and like, hey, I understand your point, and then they're like, oh, Dan, that's cool, thanks man, thanks for writing me back, and they're like really nice at that point. Well, yeah, and I had the other what a couple of weeks ago the guy apologized randomly from a tweet like two years ago. He was like, I was going through a tough time, dude. Sorry, Okay,

that's awesome. I'm glad you're doing better. Um. But the thing, the one you know, we didn't need to remember. We met this guy and we were out in hermosa one night. Joe was there and the guy like came up to me and and he trolled me in person. He when we videotaped it and he like did an impression of me on the air. He made fun of me and it was hilarious. God. Um yeah, Brian full full Fogel

Fogel art or something from from Minnesota actually big Vikings fan. Um. All right, so Scott, you were pretty adamant about this, so the McGuire Sosa documentary on ESPN sucked basically, Yeah, yeah, I mean it was. I was actually really excited for it because obviously that home run race was a real exciting time in baseball. But the documentary is just like a real fluff the like zero content doc that really spends a lot of time just online. Hey, this is

bringing America together and people are loving it. Which it was a really exciting event, I remember it. But you know, obviously steroids hang over that entire era, and you know, it's an hour and forty five minutes. They don't bring up any sort of performance enhancing stuff till about forty five minutes and then only about five minutes ten minutes right at the end of the documentary are like, oh yeah, and McGuire did steroids and Sammy Sosa probably did them,

and uh, that's about it. Like it's just a it's just a really weird way that they framed everything. And you know, just like my complaint with baseball always just like it's two obsessed with its own self importance and its own history, and it's it's just talks about like it's just it's just not a particularly compelling doc you Marry I say skipping. Yeah, I mean if it doesn't, I don't know how you talk about that time without talking about the stories and making it a central part

of the documentary. Obviously, that was an exciting time. You can't, like you think about baseball. The last time baseball was the national story probably was those those years, and and that one particularly year when when McGuire had seventy and

Sammy hit sixty six. Um, it was exciting. I remember, right, I'm not I don't sit there today and you know, if we have a baseball season for the last year, or the year before, or for the last ten years, I'm not tuning into a Cardinals Brewers game on Tuesday night. You know. Back then, Yeah, I was wild. It was must C TV, you know when the Cubs were playing, you know, the Dodgers, right, we had to watch because Sammy, you know, what is Sammy gonna do? What is what

is maguire going to do? And that race was I mean it was September. Sammy was actually ahead, and uh, you know we hadn't seen you think about, we hadn't seen a sixty home run season since Roger Maris in in nine And now we've got two guys hitting sixty home runs and uh and you know McGuire actually getting the seventy And then you think about that era in a five six years span, were you know McGuire Sosa, Bonds hitting sixty home run Sammy did it? I think

three times? Um insane And and but to not talk about the steroids and in the impact and everything that, I think that's that's leaving out a big part of the story. It's like doing a documentary about Michael Jordan and not you know, just coming out and saying he's an asshole. It's like serapa. I will say. Also, they

barely interview, so so like that, it's weird. Like the way the trailer is, you think you're gonna get a lot of air time with McGuire and Sosa, so some maybe talks like eight or nine times, but for you know, cumulatively of the one hour forty five minutes, he's maybe in five to seven minutes of It's really odd. It's interesting. It is like a Mark McGuire Center thing. And I also thought just real quick that they didn't talk. They really briefly mentioned how the Cubs to basically iced him out.

He won the m B n L m B. He hasn't been back. He hasn't been back to rigularly since. Yeah, I thought that would have been more interesting. I it sounds like they, the Cubs themselves, want him to be like I did steroids and I'm sorry and he refuses to say that. So they just have never brought him back. Well, I mean, there's no question, I don't. I mean, right, it was never proven, but he he was on something.

I mean, this is a guy that corked his back, right, remember when he broke the bath and the and the cork was in the bath. I mean, so, so this is a guy that and look, I don't think, right, does Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire have to answer for the sins of an entire era because it wasn't just them, you know? And they do say that it wasn't just them, But it's like, do they have to answer for it?

But they should probably just do for themselves. Absolutely, But they have become the poster children for for that era because obviously they were, you know, other than Bonds, they were they were hitting the most home runs. But when you have guys like right, who wasn't on the oriels that had fifty home runs that hadn't with Brady Anderson and some of these other guys that that hadn't hit more than ten or fifteen home runs in their career and then all of a sudden, they're heating thirty forty

home runs. Um. Whether it was a combination of P D S M baseball, messing with the foot with the baseball's all of that to make it more exciting. Um,

but it was definitely something going on. And uh, but the reality is it has Baseball hasn't been as exciting since um, you know, and I say that as a Dodger fan, and the Dodgers haven't been in a couple of World Series and uh, you know recently, and but it just hasn't been hasn't been as exciting, is uh, you know, football and even some of the other sports. Let's go bright and blondie, you know, all right, let's go first guy that said, pardon my french, fucking nailed it.

Who's the first guy that said that? Who's the like the guy, well, how did that start? I'm always fascinated with these saints, Like, who's the guy that dropped the f bomboms? Like part of my French and everybody was like, oh my god, what just happened? What like who who created that? And how cool? How great did that guy feel? It's like we talked about before, like the Indians that don't stick, Like how many times did not want to say?

How many times did he say part of my French before it kind of became offense, like, hey, Rick, stop saying that thing French thing, It's not gonna happen. You're just cursing the curse, like stop, the kids are around enough, and he just kept doing it. But like that, that's always fascinating to me is sayings and you know right what two birds in the hand is or one bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. And

and the grass is always greener? Like how many who came up with the idea and then they said, hey, listen, Scott, I've got this idea for saying and I want to incorporate. So at the party you say this, I'll respond, make sure people are around and then they'll catch on. Is that how it happens something like that? Right, It's like you just have to continually say it over and over. Did you say the grass is always greener? So do you mean that you're always looking for something else. What

you currently have is not enough. Is that what that means? Hey, Joe, come here, listen to this. This guy just said the grass is always greener and then they tell a friend they I think how it goes down is like I think how it goes down. It's like, oh, you know, my friend Dean, he always says the grass is always greener on the other side, and then it's like, oh, it's pretty intelligent, and then you know, just keeps going

it snowball effect. So part of my French was that, like, hey, my friend Travis, he always he curses and then he says, pardon my French. It's it's I just it's so cool, So I'm gonna start saying. Then we all say, and how did it become French? Because French is what it's just like a proper I think it's maybe it's properly proper the language of love, isn't it? And it kind of just rolls off the romantic right there, there's the romantic languages a right, French, Italian, Spanish? All right, my

French the podcast shirt? When are we gonna get some good calld shirts? Bro, I'll design it let's design. You know, you should let me design it every time. The best dressed I'm the best dressed on the podcast. I should probably do Travis. I want Okay, Travis, you have to pose for a picture. I need you to be in flip flops doing a flying drop kick and we'll take a picture of it. We'll put it on a T

shirt and it'll be a good call. Boom. On that note, this has been Good Calls with Dean bland You know. Please follow me on Twitter at Dean Blandino and the Instagram at Dean dopp Blendio. Follow the show on Instagram and Twitter, apples podcast, and be sure to radar podcast on the I heart Radio app and on the Apple podcast. Good Calls with Dean Blandino is a production of I

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