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Well he filled in for me last week.
Popular talk show host in Chicago, Really talented guy, Danny parkins a lot him pop his book later. Although he doesn't need my okay to do that. I thought i'd bring him on. It's you know, it's an interesting time. I sort of have a rule, Danny, you and I both do volume work or on the treadmill. When you do three and four and five hours. I mean local radio. A lot of shifts is yours four hours? Is that what your shift is?
Yeah, two to six pm Central, so four hours a day, five days a week. Yeah.
It's the opposite of Tom Ronaldi, who does a remarkably poignant piece once, you know, fifteen times a year. Sometimes I'm so jealous of these people that gotta do these master pieces on the air, and you and I are on the treadmill half the time, just trying not to fall off. But I always have a rule, don't do Twitter after a cocktail or after a tragedy because you're too emotional and it just gets You're gonna say stuff
that you're like, I'm gonna bow out. And it was interesting during the assassination attempt of Trump, I just had a lot of thoughts and I thought, I'm gonna take the day off. I just want to learn more. So I don't watch a ton of television outside of sports and occasional politics, but I you know, I was literally just watching TV the last twenty four hours, just curious getting all the information. What is sort of your tape when you're a sports voice. There's a non sports tragedy
in America, especially when you mix in politics. What did you make of it?
What was your reaction and how did you react? Yeah, So I've got a four and a two year old, so I was my mom was over for dinner, my wife was out of town, and you know, there's so there's just like pure chaos in the house, four and two year old boys. And I glanced at Twitter and saw it, and because it's Twitter, you don't even really know if what you're seeing is real, and it looks so ridiculous, and then you're trying to like play Paw Patrol with your kids and so like it's it's just
a weird headspace to be in. But then I passed my phone too my mom to show her, and she's kind of amazed at the whole thing, Like we know it's this huge moment, but we can't we don't really lock in on it because I'm with a four and to two year old, right, And so there was like the anxiety of what happened? Is it still happening, and then not being as glued to it as I would like to be until a little bit later in the evening. But you know, I think my take on opinion on
this stuff is kind of evolved. In terms of participating in the discourse, I'd rather do it in a forum like this than on the internet because tone gets lost in translation. On the internet, everyone is so heightened understandably when something awful happens like that, well then the other thing. I have dialed it back a bit because I don't think many people are having their opinions changed. And so it's like, are you if I say what I feel? And I've got a lot of thoughts on this. I
studied political science in college. I'm pretty politically active. I've got strong opinions on it. But it's like, am I either preaching to acquire? And so then who cares? You're in an echo chamber and you're saying things that people agree with or are you just pissing off your audience? And who is really changing their minds anymore? And so
what's the upside of sharing it? I have found myself more likely to have a conversation with my wife, with people in my very close circle of friends and then consume all of the content. But I have definitely dialed it back a little bit, at least on the Internet, in terms of participating in the discourse. Because I just think the upside is so limited. Yeah, you know, and
I it's really interesting. So I generally agree with you that I always I remember during a time when John Skipper ran ESPN and there were a lot of young, mostly progressive people on the air, left leaning, and they were talking a lot of politics, and I would watch the daily ratings and they would come down and down and down, and I'm thought, man, there's a lot of platforms to talk about this, probably not on your ESPN show.
And that's kind of where I come down. Is the advantage of the volume is ten minutes on something I can't get.
On the radio or FS one.
And you know, Danny, I've always said this, if I just did serious, my show would be different than it is now. If I just did television, it would be different. I have to use a radio clock on TV, which is sort of a disadvantage. But be that as it may, I do every platform. I would react differently. If I just somebody bought the volume and I just worked at the volume and did this, I would probably talk more nonsports. Is that I do believe that there's a responsibility. Nobody
turns to Sean Hannity for football picks. I do believe there's a general responsibility that to stay on the course of the people paying me a lot of money. But I do think young people feel peer pressure. I don't, but young people feel like, well, will I get respect from my peers If I'm a thirty six year old broadcaster, I don't feel that.
I don't give a damn.
But if you ever felt some pressure among other young, smart young people. If I don't talk about this, what do I look like among my kind of my my demographic.
My age. Definitely, And I mean listen, like, there's there's takes of me out there breaking that rule back in the day, and maybe some of it is or was peer pressure. I think a lot of us were learning as it went down. I mean I was on the air doing ten am to two pm. I believe at the time it might have still been nine am to
eleven am. But I was early in my career doing mid mornings mid days in Kansas City when Sandy Hook happened, and it's like you're on the air talking about the Royals lineup construction and these kids are massacred in a classroom, and it's like, well, it felt ridiculous to be sticking to sports in that moment, and then everybody was sharing all of their thoughts on with Colin Kaepernick and Black Lives Matter and that movement because it was coming into
sports right, and I did feel like it would be completely disingenuous to tap out of the conversation as a smart, educated, white dude of privilege with a platform. I was like, I got something to say on this, and I feel like I got some responsibility to say it. Yeah, you know, like, but I think that we've evolved. I think the industry has kind of evolved, and the data came in on some of that stuff, and so I don't know, Like, I'm not going to mention it much on my local
radio show tomorrow. You know, I'm not gonna I'm not going to grandstand. I'm not gonna take calls. I'm not going to do an hour on an assassination attempt. I do local radio. I live in the suburbs of Chicago. I was at the Fourth of July Parade next to Highland Parks Fourth of July Parade when there was a Fourth of July shooting, you know, two years back, and so you know, I talked about that as a parent.
I knew a bunch of people who were there during it, so like that was like a hyper local story that we talked about. But it's I don't it's it's an inexact science. Man, there's no there's no great answers. But I didn't say anything with the assassination attempt on Twitter checks my it was just one person, so who cares? Was one person? But I thought about it, so, oh, you haven't condemned this, I'm done with your radio show. Yeah a lot A second, Like I have to comment
on every single thing at all times. I don't think that's a reasonable expectation.
Yeah, that's kind of how And I do think I think we're learning a lot. I just I think with the explosion of platforms, there are a lot of places talk about a lot of things. And I thought, well, I'm gonna wait for Danny on Sunday Night to talk about it, and that'll be the place that'll be the platform to do it, you know, after I've consumed all this stuff, and I you know, listen, I've said before, I'm not a Trump fan, but I'm America and I'm an America fan, and that's that's where I land on
this stuff. And it pissed me off at the Secret services, you know, having two buildings one hundred and fifty yards away with all the you know, the rifles. Today, I'm like, what an egregious you know, lack of forecasting by this secret service? So like to me, I saw a lot of conservative voices immediately jump on. But I will say that my first reaction was I was angry, Uh, this
is not who we are. You know what I thought to myself for a second, Danny if I may I thought, have we become the country that when I used to watch CNN, I was absolutely sure we would never become the crazy country the country where there were you know, regular attempts at politicians life. And it was mayhem and I thought, no, eight, I remember Reagan and Gerald Ford, this has happened, that this has happened, We've had it. I've always been surprised and hasn't. To be honest with you, athletes,
there's mental illness issues. Guns are everywhere. I am always like when I go to games, I'm like strangely vigilant looking around at you know.
That kind of stuff.
But I think my initial my initial take was I was angry that that I mean, what was your if you had an initial take, once you knew it was true, what was yours?
So it's odd because I'm I'm not a fan. I'm not a fan, but like that all washed away immediately, you know, it's like saying, you know, right, like but it was it was relief in a weird way because obviously terrible and tragic and someone did lose their life in addition to the shooter. But man, what would this country feel like right now if it was an inch to the right, no question, you like that part of me. That's the thing that I can't shake is it would
have been broadcast on national television. We've got an election in four months. We are I hate when people say as polarized as ever. I don't believe that we had a civil war, but we are very polarized. People are very angry, people are very armed, and it would be very, very, very uncomfortable. It already is uncomfortable, don't get it twisted. I mean, the Republican Convention is seventy five minutes north of me in Milwaukee, and the Democratic Convention is in
Chicago in a month. So like it's you know, I'm very close to it. It's happening, the tensions are going to be high. But my god, like inch to the right, do I leave my house since yesterday? You know what I mean? Like, like what would we be feeling if that had happened? So it's really weird because it's not
anger is probably more appropriate, but relief. And then the only other thing I'll say to what you said, man like, I'd like to think that that's not the country that we are, but I don't have much evidence to support that statement. You mentioned Reagan, obviously, doctor King. There were plenty of threats that we know of made against Barack
Obama and his children that have come out publicly. We've had shootings at every place that should be a safe haven, from a grocery store to a college campus, to a kindergarten classroom to a movie theater. You know, So I you know, we have people marching with tiki torches. We have, we've got, we got. It's not great, like it better than it's been, you know what I mean? Like, I don't.
I don't think we're in no worst time ever. I'm not saying that, but this idea that like we are somehow totally above that, Yeah, I can't say I was shocked, Colin, I can't say I was shocked. I was angry, I was relieved, but I can't say I was shocked, which is terrible. I'm just terrible. So it's a jarring the end. I mean, I mean in my I mean, I'm thirty seven years old, right, Like, I don't I don't remember Kennedy. I don't. I don't remember Reagan. You know, I was
obviously wasn't a lie for Kennedy. But like, you know what I mean, that's that is definitely the highest profile assassination attempt in my lifetime that I have any sentient memory of. H So, yeah, it's it's scary, man, It's scary.
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Today, you know, I had a scheduled dinner. I hung out with my son all weekend up in Portland. So I went to dinner right after and had a drink with another friend and was on a plane flying home, and I, you know, I kind of looked around and thought, you know, I wonder what the reaction will be today.
And then this morning and Brian Stelter that writes for The Vanity Fair, you know, he had an interesting x Twitter post today that he said, we're not at each other's throats as much as you think we are on social media. That we're on planes together, in grocery stores together. And you know, a lot of times moments like this. I can remember right after nine to eleven, for about two weeks, people were so kind to each other. It was like whoa whoa, whoa, whoa. We are being attacked.
We it was a collective us against them. And I've thought about this a lot, Danny over the course since nine to eleven. Is that is that where we are? That assassination attempts and horrific tragedies is like the only way we're together. It's one of the reasons for the record why I love sports. It is the one unifier. I mean, like, wasn't the country pulling for the Cubs in the World Series.
That they were?
I mean, I can remember the Eagles and Nick Foles and Brady everybody wanted Nick Foles to win, and it was like, in a weird way, it was like, this is what's great, you know when you go you know, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, even though people see it as polarizing, people are so into the DOUBUNBA. Now this morning, I'm like looking at my sports on TV calendar, I'm like, Okay, Spain, England, I want to watch Caitlin Clark And I thought, Wow, what a pivot for me that is, And.
I want to move into that is that weird segue?
But I never wanted to be an eighty percent NFL show and as I've done this, the longer I've done this, the NFL now has so separated, for a variety of reasons from every other sport that there was a point about a year or two ago when college football was still very Bama dominated, that I wasn't talking college football, and I thought, God, you could put my show, it feels like, on the NFL network.
And that's not a goal of mine.
I actually the do WNBA to me has been such a breath of fresh air, not because I'm woke or not because I feel that women deserve attention in sports, because it's good. It's polarizing, it's kind of tribal, it's captivating, and it allows me to get out of the NFL bubble. Do you ever feel a little bit sometimes like, God, I'm doing seventy five percent NFL talk and I can do more than that.
Yeah, you know what, it was funny filling in for you. You know, I'm in that pitch meeting and I'm I'm pitching your terrific staff takes and I had, you know, his NFL Team USA things like that, a little bit of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese Rookie of the Year, and so I had all the takes that I wanted to do, and then I said, so, but you guys are the experts on like how Colin would structure a show. What should be like the lead, what's what's the a block?
Because it was July eighth, there's nothing going on, which is why you were on vacation. And they're like, oh, well, your DAK take should be the lead. I'm like, but nothing's happening with dead and they're like they're like, they're like, say that he took off his boot and then do your DAC take. I'm like, okay, so that's that's like enough and I and of course there's a reason for it. Everybody cares about it, a huge team, huge fan base
and all of that. But yeah, it's definitely something that if and when I'm doing more stuff in your world in orbit, I'll feel that way. But local radio baseball still matters a lot yees, so I do a lot on the Cubs. The White Sox are historically bad, and that's actually kind of interesting. Either be great or be awful. Don't be a seventy six win team. So the White Socks are historically bad and that's providing a little bit
of humor. And then the Cubs are really interesting with a huge fan base that's super engaged, and we air the games, so there's a new baseball game every day and so there is at least something there. So locally, I am not as starved for topics sometimes that have mass appeal. But Angel Reese is in our backyard here in Chicagos. Like I do think while I am not watching games first quarter to fourth quarter and like completely
locked in, people are more interesting than teams. Yeah, and these people are interesting stories that people have a lot of opinions about. So I'm all for it. And we have been doing some and frankly, we're probably going to end up doing more. You know.
I was thinking about this knowing that you were coming on today. I was walking to the Portland Airport and this is just kind of random, but I was thinking. So nineteen seventy two was the first year I watched sports on a black and white TV in my baseroom bedroom. I watched a Laker Blazer game on CBSK Musburger was the announcer.
Wow.
And then I watched the Washington Miami Super Bowl. The Dolphins won fourteen to seven. I can almost go team to team, roster to roster.
On that one.
And I was a huge fan in the mid seventies of mostly National League, but of baseball, and I can go through the Reds lineup that I was National League, Phillies, Pirates, Reds, Dodgers, first American League team I really liked. I liked Reggie Jackson of the Yankees, and then I liked George Brett
was my favorite player. I liked those Royals teams with John Mayberry, Amasotis, Freddie pot Tech, you know that, you know, yeah, Willie Wilson, Yeah, yeah, I mean those are my you know, they astro turf rounded corners, triples everywhere, if you hit it in the corner.
Bags of cocaine falling out of their pockets.
Yeah. Then, and then I was thinking about that because I had a long walk in the airport today and I was thinking about you and about Cubs, and because I had looked up some stuff from you, and I thought, I don't know if it was the emergence of the Seahawks in Seattle, John Elway, Dan Marino, but there was a point early to mid eighties because I was a triple A baseball announceder out of college. I got a
very lucky gig. I got really, really lucky. There was a point about mid eighty eighty six, eighty seven that I felt myself like was into NFL more than baseball. I was all baseball, like seventy four to eighty four. Yeah, and then I just pivoted, and I thought, why there wasn't there weren't devices to distract me. I think a lot of it was some of the personalities of baseball. Pete Rose, maybe Johnny Bench, guys I loved maybe mid
to late eighties moved out of it. In the NFL, it was more about the star quarterback than the team. It was becoming more of a passing league. But were you I was initially a baseball fan. What was your nine years old?
What were you into basketball and baseball? But like so I talk about this all the time, like that sweet spot of being ten years old. You're old enough to convince your parents that you can stay up late occasionally. You have no other real interest, like school doesn't really matter. I'm not chasing girls. But you're collecting sports cards and so you can remember statistics. And so I'm born in eighty six, and so that makes me ten years old.
That's ninety six. That's the beginning of the second Jordan three peete and that takes you to you're twelve years old. Ninety eight, Summer of ninety eight, Sammy Sosi, Mark Maguire, the home run Race. I'm a kid raised on the North side of Chicago. Before we moved to the suburbs, thirty seven hundred Lake Shore Drive. You could see out
the sixteenth floor of our apartment building. You could see Wrigley Field from the fire escape, So I'm a North Sider going to Wrigley It was the stereotype of mom and dad taking you out of school on Opening Day to go to the game. I was at the one game that Michael Jordan played in a major league stadium when he was on the Birmingham Barons, which was at Wrigley Field and a Crosstown Classic in an exhibition game.
So like, the blending of basketball and baseball in Chicago in the mid to late nineties was my main thing. And while I loved the NFL. My mom is from Kansas City and a Chiefs fan. My dad was from the South side of Milwaukee and a Packer fan. There wasn't really a Bears influence in my house, and so when the NFL Sunday ticket came out, my parents were like the first people to get it because they're like, we got to watch our teams. They're not on TV here,
this is amazing. So when I was a kid, I thought, well, the Cubs have Sammy Sosa and the Bulls have Michael Jordan. I'm gonna be a Cowboys fan. But like the early mid nineties, I was like, my team is just supposed to be the most interesting with the best player, and so I just I was a Cowboys fan. It's like Deon Sanders is the cool guy I've ever seen. And so while I loved it all, it was I was drawn more to personalities than teams supercars, and it felt like if why would you root for a bad team?
I always felt that, like, like, why would you root for an uninteresting bad team? I'm gonna root for Sammy Sosa and Michael Jordan. And it was I mean, it was a real awesome time to be a kid in Chicago or the Chicago suburbs. I'm the opposite.
All my Seattle teams were awful, and so I liked other teams because mine were unwatchable, yours were great. So you're like, I like the good teams. Mine were terrible. So I liked the good teams. I was like, I love the Reggie Jackson Yankees, not the Mariners.
Sure, and that's why I was like, I was like the Bears. I was like the Eric Kramer, no thank you, and like he's a top six quarterback in Bears history. And I was like ugh, uh yeah. So I like, I was like, why would you watch bad sports when there are good sports? Yeah? And I mean I bonded a lot with my dad. I'm like going the games, and you know, he would tell me about seeing Henry Aaron back in the day and like the or you know, Luel Cinder and like in that era. And so then like,
you want to go to a college football game. I was like, yeah, sure, but it's Chicago. There's no good college football team. He's like, no, no at all. We're going to go to South Bend and see Notre Dame in USC. I was like, oh, so you just want to go to good games too, So we did. It was just like our thing. We just we just there's a good game in a reasonable radius for us to go to. Like that was like, oh, this is your Christmas present. We're going to get tickets and we're going to go
to this awesome game. So that was a big part of my childhood.
So I always kind of roll my eyes, you know, I'm I'm kind of I am numb to kind of criticism. I think, you know, I work hard, I do what I do. I got a great staff. My staff, we just don't really you know, we do content. We don't have time to look back. My rule has always been, I have opinions. You can have opinions on my opinions. I'm not going to have an opinion on your opinion of my opinion. Like I got three hours to fill tomorrow.
But I like and I see it infrequently. I think sometimes the Internet has scared away a lot of sports hosts. Not political hosts, they don't care. But sports hosts are either more insecure, are more defensive, you know, Sean Hannity, Rachel Maddow, Oberman, they don't.
Care like I.
But a lot of sports guys are bothered by getting picked on by you know, whatever the site is, and so nobody wants to be told you have a hot take.
But the truth is, I like sportscasters who are.
Like I'm gonna lay it out here, like I don't get this, And about two years ago, this was my hot take, and I'm gonna ask for your hottest take, and my hot take was, Luca is just a much better version of Carmelo. Anthony not in great shape and after about four years, you're never going to be Steve Prefontaine, Okay, I can come.
To terms with it.
A prodigy offensively, therefore never really had to be engaged defensively to matter. In the end, his teams will be lobsided and he'll go through teammates, He'll work with some, never ideally with any. But he's a better version of Carmelo. And I don't think it's a hot take because Melo did not complain to the officials as much as Luca. Luca is much more like Magic Johnson, like it's just a constant chatter. But my take is that he's better than Mellow. I'm not and both their first belt Hall
of Famers. I mean Mello for his lack of postseason success as an all time score, He's way up the list, right, is that Luca is a better version of Mellow. He's never going to be in great shape. He was such a prodigy, like being a pianist prodigy at seven, You're probably not gonna be great at sports. You're not gonna be great at other things because you're just gonna lean into your artistry on the piano, right. And I think they're so gifted offensively, where Lebron never had a great
jumper early. He was just he was gifted physically, but he wasn't a pretty offensive player.
He really had to work at it.
Mellow at twelve could hit an eighteen foot and it looked like art.
It was a monet.
And that that's my hot take, is that Luca, we're gonna look back. He's gonna be a top five score. He may get a ring. He's never in great shape, that really engaged defensively, and he'll he'll go through a series of teammates. Somebody gets along with many he doesn't. That's my hot take. Where's yours?
It's a good one. It's a good one. Luca a better passer than Mellow, so I even like more complete all around this game, Like Mellow up your score, Luca, man, I mean I have so many that like age poorly and like immediately like you do this for a lot for long enough you do. Like if people like pick on me or get mad at me for like me just being wrong, I'm like, okay, then you document twenty hours of opinions a week and won't see how you like? You know what actually like first to sensitized me to
not caring about being wrong. Gambling like I've been. I've been gambling on sports longer than I've been hosting radio shows professionally. I started gambling on sports when I was recovering from back surgery in high school. I was fifteen or sixteen years old. It was like, yeah, you're wrong sometimes on your predictions. I mean, I said it was there was a zero percent chance, but Tony Laruss was going to get hired as the manager of the White Sox.
He was hired. Four days later. I said John Baldwin was going to be a Hall of Famer. He was an incredible bust. There are so many that are listen. I said that I would trade my dog for Deshaun Watson for him to be the quarterback of the Bears. And five days later there were sixty five accounts of sexual misconducts that came out of it. Oh God, I've had I've had some real ones that blow up my face.
But it's funny, you know, the one from your from the six hours of doing your show that I'm getting killed for the most in my group chat with Like my friends, Nick has gotten on me. You think Justin Herbert's the third best quarterback in the world to start a franchise with, Like, yeah, I do you know he has no playoff wins? Yeah, but there has to be an eye test. I have to be able to say that, yes, he has no playoff wins, he has a horrendous blown lead.
He's there have been multiple coaches that have been there. But I have to be able to trust myself that no matter what a grade looks like from a scouting service, or a yards per attempt or a win loss record, I have to say that when I watched these games, when I watch eleven hours of football start to finish on a Sunday, who's more physically talented than that dude throwing a football? Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes.
That's it.
That's the list, And my list was Mahomes won, Allan two, Herbert three, Stroud four. People like, how do you not have Stroud in front of him? I'm like, well, Stroud was amazing, but he's done it one time. He had twenty three passing touchdowns, like it was. It was an incredible year, five interceptions over four thousand yards as a rookie. No one thought Nico Collins and Tank Dell were going to be things. And now he's you know, made him
into great players. But like he did it once, no one's thrown for more yards through the first five years of a career than Justin Herbert. And I know Anthony Lynn was terrible at clock management, and I know the Chargers have been cursed with injuries, and I know he's had three different play callers or four different play callers now since he's been into the league. I'm like, at some point, I just have to trust my eyes. And there's no doubt in my mind that Harbaugh and him
are gonna win big. So I haven't sold a share of Justin Herbert stock. Like I if if the Bears would have traded the rights to Caleb Williams for Justin Herbert, I would be like, I get it, I get it. I it'd be hard for you to pound the table because Caleb is so much cheaper. But I just think that that dude's so unbelievably talented that I'm willing to go down with the ship.
Now, is there a hot take that you're proud of, I'll throw one out. I said, Johnny manziel and Zach Wilson can't.
Play a lick. Oh, good for you.
I was like, Nope, Johnny manziel And, by the way, I've met Johnny. There's qualities about Johnny that I think are great. I think he's probably a great hang and a great friend. If you had to pick NFL quarterbacks to go party within a Friday night, he'd be a blast. He'd be funny, he's cocky, he's smart, probably tells great stories. I just I said, I don't care.
What Nick Saban says. That is not an NFL quarterback.
He's not disciplined enough, his shoulders, his waist, he's too tiny, he's small. People think Baker Mayfield, but I always said Baker's overdrafted, but he can play. He's a franchise quarterback. People think I hated Baker. It's like, no, no, no, he's draftable. I just wouldn't draft him as a GM. I don't like his temperament as a twenty year old I also said Zach Wilson, and I think Joe Douglas is a
good GM. I'm like, guys, go to the three best teams he played in college he won during a COVID season.
He can't.
This is not an NFL starting quarterback. So pat myself in the back. Do you have one you took shit for? But in retrospect, You're like, I'm kind of proud of that one because I was on an island.
You know, it's so funny. I mean, like, again, there's a hundred of them, because you know what I mean, I'm so right about so many things and so wrong about so many things that I don't even really think about it in those terms. But so my wife went to Clemson and we were in Mexico and Clemson was playing Georgia and there was like a twenty inch TV on in like the sports bar and the all inclusive resort that we were at, and Clemson in their first
game of the season. They were starting fifth year senior Cole Stout. Yeah, And I was like, Okay, I don't really. We were just like dating at the time. It's like one of our first trips we took together. So I'm like, trying to. I'm watching more college football because of her. She's super into it, Like, all right, let's check out this Clemson team, Like, oh, cole stout. This guy stinks.
Three possessions into the game, they bring in a true freshman by the name of Deshaun Watson, and this guy throws a ball sixty yards in the air and it's I'm just like, who is that? And she's like, she's like, I don't know, but she's a fan, but she doesn't know that, like she's not following like recruiting. I'm like, who is that. She's like, I don't know. I'm like googling it, like that guy's your quarterback. That guy's gonna win a Heisman Trophy. That guy's going to the NFL.
He's gonna be the first pick in the draft. And he wasn't. But I ended up watching every game that he played in college. We went to Arizona to watch him in the title game against Alabama when he had four passing touchdowns a rushing touchdown and they lost because Nick Saban on sidekicked to kick the ball to keep the ball out of his hands. So it's not like the hottest take in the world. Because he was obviously a big time recruit. But I pride myself on actually
watching the games. I'd like, I'm going to watch the games, and I try not to be terribly on Twitter during the games. I try not to see everyone else's opinion on things while I'm watching the I try to watch the game, have an opinion, and then see if I'm in the majority of the minority or I'm alone on an island. And so I felt like with him. So the Bears had the third pick in the draft. They traded up, and I was like, I don't understand this. I was like, I don't get the Mahomes thing. I
don't get the Trubisky thing. Mahomes is from the Big twelve. They've never put a good quarterback into the NFL. It's the air raid. There's no way that'll work. Mitch Trubisky, he's in the ACC with Deshaun Watson. He's started for one year. And you're telling me that a guy who played Bama in back to back title games one to one, lost one and the first four thousand and one thousand yard guy in college football history. You're telling me that's
not the number one pick in the draft. And so I was just banging the drum for the Bears to take to Sean Watson and obviously he goes third. He would have been much better than Trubisky. The personal off the field stuff. Who could have known that aged very poorly. But when he had that five thousand yard forty eight hundred yard season with Bill O'Brien at twenty three years old, I was like, I told you. I was like, I told you this better than Mitch Trubisky. I'm like, I
should be the GM of the Bears. So like, and honestly, isn't that an obvious point?
Like?
What do these guys get paid for to do twenty hours a week of work? To say that a one year starter at North Carolina? How does that happen?
Listen, I'll give you an example, and I so Greg Cosel I was in great Yeah. And so Greg and I connect every off season before the draft and he'll say, Hey, I want you to watch three or four guy you know before the season this year in college football. He'll give me a list of guys to watch. He gave me Josh Allen. He said, watch this kid, he's really rising. So I watched him against Iowa Oregon, and he was
horrible in both. But he had a howitzer, he had an arm that was he looked like a pony out of a barn that nobody had ever taken the time, and he was just he was just romping wildly all over the field. And I'm like, he made a throw into the corner of the end zone and I was just like, that's not that's above the NFL. That that arm strength is serious. So he told me a few years ago. He goes, I was on vacation. He goes, watch Mitch Trubisky, tell me what you think. So I
watched him. It was against Florida State, and I called him and I said, yeah, that's not it.
Ball dies at twenty yards.
I don't that's not that's not Nope, that's a backup athletic, but a backup And he and he gave me his report. He sent me his report. He called him a front leg thrower, and he goes, you and I see this exactly the same. So uh and and a lot of times Gregil tests me, and you know, Breg knows what he's really doing. And I also lean on a lot of my GM buddies and executives I'll be like some of my strongest opinions.
You know.
One of the reasons I love Sam Darnold so much. I liked him, I knew him, but like two of my GM friends were like, he's pretty good, he's got he's got a quirky release, or he's got a slow release.
He should and he.
Could never speed that slow release up. He just never never could. But yeah, no, I I think it's pretty weird.
Like so the Jets.
Joe Douglas, I think is an excellent GM, but he missed in a left tackle on a quarterback. I'm sorry. You can't miss on those two positions, right, So exactly. Yeah, I I always think if I was a general manager, the one thing I would avoid, and I think Ryan Poles in Chicago's done a great job. I hated Velis Jones out of Tennessee because at USC, I knew assistant coaches and they said he can't track the ball. He's gotta be a punt returner. He can't track the ball
as a receiver. He just he doesn't have the feel for it. He was a speed guy out of college in Alabama, so I hated that pick. But you know, he's redeemed himself. He's made pick after pick after pick. It's been very good. But I always think if I was a GM, if I didn't do this, my favorite job would be a GM in the NFL. I do mock drafts on paper. My staff makes fun of me is that I would not dabble in free agency much. I just I would be pretty contrariant on that. I'd
be a little bit like Chris Ballard. I would wait it out and then by day five I'd get the fourth to sixth best pass rusher. I would because I think it's fool's gold. It's like buying a used car. If a team's letting somebody go, they know the odomitor, there's an issue with the car. It's like if a house is for sale, first thing I always ask is how long did they live there?
Because if it's a.
Weird neighbor and it's had two owners in five years, it's probably a neighbor issue. Like you have a crazy person right like that you know, fires off a shotgun randomly. So I think that's the one job in sports that if I didn't do this, that would be my favorite job. But I will tell you and Bill Polling and I had these conversations on and off the air when I was at ESPN Quarterback is You know Bill was known for first and second round hits. He said, boy, you start,
you start drafting quarterbacks. It's a lot of heart, it's a lot of toughness, it's a lot of cognitive discipline. He said, there's a lot of stuff here. You can't measure it anywhere. And he you know, he told me, he said, you're gonna miss you go, you just have to. He goes, We got you know, we had Peyton Manning. We didn't have to worry about it forever. He said, But I know smart guys that have missed on quarterbacks.
Oh man, it's it's so interesting, like they haven't figured out how to and they tried with the S two test, but then it looks like CJ. Stroud just broke the S two test. They haven't figured out how to really measure if a quarterback is gonna panic or like his brain is gonna speed up or slow down once the ball was snapped right. They can they can evaluate the film, they can do it on a chalkboard, they can do
the mock interview. But there's a huge difference between college, the play call comes in, you just do it, and you've got to verbalize the play call in the huddle. You've got to verbalize a second play call in the huddle. You've got to have a check with me. You've got defenses that are as best athletes in the world doing all sorts of confusing things, and then a guy comes unblocked.
What the hell are you going to do? Do you calmly hit your check down or do you panic and run backwards out of bounce like Mitch Trubisky would do. And it's like, I had a guy who scouted him. He was like, now it's true. I was like, how did you guys spend five hours with mahomes in five hours with Trubisky and feel like this guy was smarter than that guy. And he's like, he haste is on the board test. He hasted it. It's that he couldn't
do it when the bullets were flying. So it's a hard job and if you have the quarterback, it makes everything easier. And I know what I would be susceptible to. I would be susceptible to ridiculous athletic feet of strength that has nothing really to do with football, but it's just cool, like the three hundred pound guy who jumps out of a pool. I'm like, what, Joe Milton, have you seen the videos of that quarterback from Tennessee. I
think he went to the Patriots. Yes, yes, he was in the Orange Bowl and in practice he took an orange and threw it one hundred and five yards. I'm like, he should be the number one pick of the draft. Like, apparently you can't read a defense for anything. I'm like,
I'm I don't care. I would want him on the team and I would just be like, throw it to Randy Moss deep Like so I would I know I would need someone who would be a little bit and I would draft every week guy like I would every guy who failed a podcast and fell ten spots in the draft. I'd be like, there's a market inefficiency. I'm drafting you. Yeah, so I know I would have my
blind spots as a GM. I character like it. It obviously matters, But sometimes I think these guys forget that they're building a football team and you don't need fifty three choir boys. I'm like, like, why is Jalen Carter not a lion? Like I don't really understand that like, that was like the that was the most obvious pick in the world. They needed someone to put inside for Aiden Hutchinson. Outside, You've got Dan Campbell as a coach like you had your I don't like that was the
most They're like, ah, he doesn't fit the culture. I'm like, then why do we have coaches like what?
Like?
And then he goes to Philadelphia and it's of course perfect and so like I would draft the questionable character guy. I would draft the freak of nature, like ninety nine percentile athlete. But I'd also like to think that I wouldn't draft Mitch Trubisky over Deshaun Watson. I'd like to think that I got better.
You know. It's what's interesting about the character thing is I actually, and I've said this more than once, the overwhelming majority of pro athletes, at least the domestic ones that we watch in college or or you know, if somebody comes from overseas, I don't know much about their history, but I think ninety eight percent of our athletes are such good kids. You know, I'm sick. Yeah, Like, do you know how lucky we are that our star quarterbacks
are Herbert Mahomes Lamar Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow. It's like you could have a you know, just a schmuck. I mean nothing against Jay Cutler, but he was not very likeable. I knew people that were friends with him and they're like, not a great guy. You could have that, right Like you look at the NFL, go look at the NBA.
John Morant went sideways and Zion has a weight health issue. Overwhelmingly, they're all like Chet Hungern and Wemby and SGA and it's like, there's good kids right like and now they're worth one hundred million and twenty four and they're still good kids.
The Bears drafted Caleb Williams and Roman doonesday we went to to Detroit really just for like the feat are of the Mine and to paint the picture for the audience. It was it was a fun trip for the show. And the day after the Bears were cool and they both called in and it was six minutes back to back. They literally were in the same car and they Caleb handed the phone to Ropes. We did six minutes with both of them and they were both it was I know,
you know Caleb a bit. I don't know if you know Roman yeah, but in six minutes, I'm like Jesus Christ, Like it's so impressive, how mature they are, how grounded they are, how prepped they are, how like ninety nine percentile athlete, but also like somehow ninety nine percent of like polite, humble. Yeah, it's completely insane. Like the new
athlete Caleb Williams has a foundation. Everybody talks about how he made ten million dollars from nil money, Like okay, fine, like in the course of his life, the ten million he his dad made money, like in the course of his life, Like ten million dollars is going to actually be fairly insignificant. The guy has a charitable foundation as
a drafted rookie that when has that ever happened? But that's the thing that you do after you have two contracts and you're in your thirties and you're thinking about a legacy after your career. So these guys are just so much more evolved and advanced and prepped in all of it that that Yeah, it's it's a lot of hand ringing by people that are jealous and uncomfortable that they got cut from the high school team, or that they live paycheck to paycheck or whatever. These kids are
largely amazing. They really are.
So when you filled in for me, you discovered how good the staff is. And I tell the staff all the time. I said, you know, we're lucky. Our management trusts us. We do our job, and then we're home. You know, we're on the road at one in the afternoon, one fifteen, which in LA I like my staff to get in early, but leverally, I don't want you sitting around in the building and stewing. Get out of here the minute you can get out of here, go take a nap, go home, pick up your kids from school.
So I'm a big believer, and let's play the long game the show. You know, football season is like six and a half months and almost no days off. It just wears people out. It's like being an accountant and it's six months of April. Like, just guys, get out
of the building and the all. There are some quirks to doing the show, and I thought it was in interesting reading what you said about it, because I I don't think about it now, but it is incredibly cavernous and you're doing the show next to a show that ends, and I thought, oh good, hell, I should have warned him about that. So take me because Chicago's heard it.
Take the I've done it for years, so I don't think about it, but I get it when I read it for you, and you're like, oh god, I should have told Danny, like, come prepared for the first seven minutes.
Yeah, you know, and it's funny. You're you're I mean, listen like Alex and Kyle and Eric, right, Eric is your researcher. Yeah, oh my god, Yeah, oh my god. I was like, so, I mean, so the whole thing is incredible, right, Like I so they told me a lot like I had. I had a pre call before I flew out there with your two top producers, Alex and Kyle. I had a pre call with UH management and some of the management from LA. So like they gave me like a pretty good idea. The meeting starts
at six. The Carl pickie up at five forty five. You know, what do you want for breakfast? It can be in your dressing room between seven thirty and eight. Don't wear your clothes, but bring your clothes because they'll steam them and iron your shirt. Like they walked me through basically everything that was gonna happen, but you can, you're still not prepared for it until you get into
the moment. And so like I walk into that conference room and like, where do I sit right the head of the table, Okay, and there's nine people around this table. I have two excellent producers Shane Riarden and Chris Tannehill and my co host Matt Spiegel. And like I used to run my own board in Syracuse like it was a one man man. And then in Kansas City, like you had one producer who also did the updates, who
also booked the guests, like you know what I mean. So, like I've had a theory a long time in this industry that actually, like the higher that you rise up, there's obvious more pressure, there's more attention, but in some ways it's easier because you have more support. I was telling him about a thought about like rock party when just one of deebo Iyuk Kittle, McCaffrey or Trent Williams is not there, and I'm like, I know the numbers
go down, but it's pretty drastic for him. And like I said that, and then I was onto like a Cooper flag thing that I was pitching in the meeting, and Eric just like stood up, walked over to the printer, walked over to my side and like put a piece of paper down on the on the table neck for me, and he had the numbers in like eight minutes. It would take me one hundred and eight minutes to get one of them. It was incredible. And so your staff
is excellent. But then, yes, it's finally time. I'm nervous. This is the biggest show I've ever fronted by far. It's three hours of national TV. And I said this not to your face, so I may as well say it to your face. Like I do think that you have the hardest job in Sports opinion, because every other big show in sports opinion has someone out there with you, and I know that you have Jmac, But like it's first Take is a debate show, there has to be
someone to debate. Get Up is a panel show. Undisputed is a debate show. First things First is a chemistry show. PTI is a chemistry show. You're a monologue in take show. And so three hours of sol I mean, good Morning America. They got a panel. So three hours of solo TV and radio is no joke. And so you know, I am not too proud to say that I was nervous. I've done four hours of solo. I've done five hours of solo. I've done twenty four hour broadcast. It's not
the length of the time. It's just that it's different. And that studio is bleeping huge, and I have net. It's huge. It is barn. It's a barn. It's a barn. Radio studios are intimate by design, because you're funny when you're comfortable, and you're intimate and you can make eye contact with your producer and the whole thing. And so it's a huge room. And so that was disorienting. But then also I've never met Skip Bayless or Keishawn Johnson or Rachel Nichols, and so I'm a fan. I'm aware
of who these people are. And so I am sitting in your studio or in your chair, with the herd fairly powerful brand on, like one hundred lcdtvs all around me, and I'm getting ready to do this monologue into a camera. By the way, like in radio, you talk to your people on first things. First, they're like, the one note they gave me was don't look at the camera. You talk to wilds, you talk to Brussard, you talk to Nick.
You don't talk to the camera on your show. You're here, don't your monologue and do a camera and so it's all like a little different in disorienting. And then I'm like they're like, you know, there's no break between the end of their show and your show. So I'm like, oh my god, Like I'm opening with Dak Prescott. Skip Bayless is gonna hear my Dak Prescott take you know
what I mean. I'm like, I don't really care if he agrees with me or disagrees with me, but like I'd like to think I'd like him to think that I'm doing a good job.
Uh, you know.
So it's just like it's just you're just aware of it. And Skip goes like tomorrow on Undisputed DN like and then it's like right into the herd, like there is no break. It is so quick. And so I haven't gone back and put myself through the ordeal of watching the full three hours. I've watched the clips. I've watched some of it, but I was much more comfortable from
the start the second day than the first day. Yeah, because it's just and I wasn't on radio, you know, I was just on TV, so I guess you're radio producers. You normally can see them. There's a radio booth there, so I mean it was just Ashley Brewer, who was lovely, but she had never done herdline before. She hadn't been
on TV in a year. So we're like, man, they're really gonna let us take this plane off the aircraft carrier here, like like you're and I kept asking your staff and I you could cut me off or whatever if I'm rambling, but like I kept asking your staff like what's the out time? Like how long do I how long should I take this? And they're like, don't worry about it, like just we'll tell you you need to rap if you need to wrap, because frankly, I've
done some local television. Like they're so good at like when I trained, you know, you do two takes in an a block or something. They're so good at the graphic changing immediately and the b roll changing immediately, and like the video kind of following my voice as I was transitioning from one thing to the next, Like I was like, wells, like what do I need to que you guys, like you know in radio, if I want
to like fire a SoundBite. I obviously have eye contact with my sound guy, but it's like you like set up a clip in this it's video. They're just they're just following you with your voice, and so like I have trust in your people now that I didn't have on like the minute one of take one. And so it's just it's a very impressive operation that you've built. And they made a very unnatural situation, even for someone who has I have my ten thousand hours of radio time.
I do not have my ten thousand hours of TV time. But uh, they made something that is just like unavoidedly unnatural. They made me really really comfortable. They were great dark to do it again because I'd love to do it again because day three, I would imagine, would be even better than day two. So that's why that's that's my to get to do it again.
It's the opposite of baseball, where the picture, you know, they take the picture out so you don't fase the.
For the third time. We're different. You're best at bat is your you know absolutely? Oh and and I mean, oh god, so like you know, I didn't get a ton of sleep. There's jet lag, and like again I'm nervous and there's nothing going on. Con I'm waiting for the car in the lobby of the hotel and I'm just scrolling Twitter and Connor or posted twelve teams that can win the Super Bowl, and I was.
Like, Yeah, let's go Connor eating that NFL beast baby in July. Let's go, let's go anyway to talk some football.
It was, Yeah, it was. It's fun, man, it's a it's a it's a really fun thing that you have built for yourself. It really is. Well, you're I'm a huge fan. You're gonna get a lot more swings at it.
And uh, you know, I have on more than one occasion told our staff, you know, gambling digital filling in for me. In fact, it was interesting, they had said to me, and we'll wrap it up here. They had said, hey, how about you put Danny Parkins when Jason McIntyre's off, you put him on herdline. And I said, no, no, no, no, no, no. Danny's a host. He's not going to be subservient to me. I don't want him to feel like he can't. I said, you put Danny in my chair, let him go. I
don't care if he makes mistakes. He'll be great. But I said, and that's not a knock at the people who do it, but I said, Danny's a host. It's like what Michael Jordan and Charlotte did he tell like Kemball Walker, he said, take the shots, it's your team, go right like he recently. Yeah, yeah, so you know that was the thing. It's like, put him in the big boy chair, let him rip. And that's why I say, when I'm gone, Jason McIntyre, like, put him in the big boy chair, let him rip. This is not a
perfect business as a treadmill. Let the young guys go. It's the only way to get better. And you're both super talented. All right, buddy, it's great talking to you. Enjoy Bears camp because I'm gonna tell you something. You got about fifteen different angles and we'll bring you on the show. By the way, during the year. I love that. But I think you have first or second most interesting team in the league. So that and you don't say that about the Chicago Bears once in fifty years.
Yeah, Bears most interesting team in football probably hasn't been the case since the eighty five Bears. That's it, which is one of the most interesting teams ever in any sport, So if this team could even approach that in terms of interesting, Hug and A the HBO producers agree with you. We got contents coming up in August. Baby, we got Hard Knocks, Hard Knocks recaps Tuesdays in August. I cannot wait. All right, Buddy good talking to him. Thanks com the volume.
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