Bromance with T.J. Rives

hours a night are not enough. We do this eight days a week from the Mallard Podcast studios deep at a secret location in the north Woods. And we thank you for spending some time with us and finding the podcast. If you know somebody that might enjoy the nonsense that we do in the Fifth Hour, let them know. Get the word out, word of mouth advertising. That is the only advertising budget we have on this podcast. You will

not see a billboard at all. There will be no commercials for the Fifth Hour Podcast, no TV commercial campaign, none of that, no Internet campaign. All we have is listener helping listener, growing the audience. And you have obviously found the podcast and for that. We are grateful. We are excited. I'm excited to talk to this guy. Just met him for the first time. I've known this gentleman for many, many years, over a decade I have known of this person. He is a broadcaster for the Tampa

Bay Buccaneers. He works the sidelines, he does the pregame. He is the host of the official Nothing But Bucks podcast on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers website and also there their app as well. He's also a college football broadcast or at Compass Media Networks. He is part of the Fox Sports Radio Alumni Association. Who is he? That would be none there? Then t J Reeves joining us on the horn from his home in Tampa. And before we

look at TJ, welcome in. Let us let us start with the Buck game against the Rams, a game we were both at. What is your initial impression of SOFI Stadium? First of all, it is fantastic to be with v Ben Mallor. We should let we should pull the curtain back just a little bit. We should let the audience in on a couple of things. You and I have done a bunch of projects together, a bunch of co hosting on Fox Sports Radio, a bunch of times that we have talked off the year. We had never met

in person. However, reunited and it feels so good. At SOFI Stadium, you and I finally hooked up in person. It was great to see you. I feel like I've known you for like fifteen years, but it was great to see you. Uh. And the only thing that I can say about Sophi and that comp what is wow.

It is so expansive, so massive, so spread out. I mean, then we started after we finally got parked Sunday morning, we finally started walking and I thought we were gonna have to have a short put guide that help us get to the complex to the Boot, but we did get there. It's an amazing five billion dollar property. The stadium is unreal. They'll have the Super Bowl later in

the year. And big kudos to Big Ben because on Buccaneers Radio, with what we do broadcasting the Tampa Bay Buccaneer games, we were trying to get the Hall of Famer, mean Jene dekker Hoff from the complex, the expansive parking lot, into the stadium and into the boot. Who saved the day? Who was Superman? But Big Ben, because you found Jean Decker Hall before we did that helped him get to Tampa Bay Buccaneers radio. So you were a hero before the game ever began. Well, DJ, listen, thank you, and

it was it was great meeting you. It is odd, you know this radio thing and we've done stuff together over the years and I've never actually met you in person. Through the magic of broadcasting, we've always had this this back and forth. But yeah, so I I were trying

to connect and you have a lot of responsibilities. You are a broadcaster for the team, and you do a lot of the pregame stuff, and you have different times you have to be on and I, you know, I was there as a media guy, but I was mostly just checking out the stadium, trying to get the vibeh place.

But I didn't want to meet you. And I remember last time the Bucks were in town at the Coliseum, I tried to go to the game at the last minute to see you there when Jameis Winston was still the quarterback and I got denied, and so I the RAMS would not allow me possible. Do the legend that you are of the Fox Sports radio overnight airways based in Los Angeles, How did the Rams say no to Ben Mallard. I can't foundom that. I'm glad they said yes to you though for Sunday and we could see

each other. Well yeah, and it was one of the life's great great mysteries. They have a massive press box too at the new stadium in so Far So and look, I've never been there, so there's a lot of room and I was able to go. And we were trying to work out the schedule logistically because I didn't want

to interfere. You're you're they're doing the broadcast back to Tampa, and I didn't want a message so any but I wanted to check out the stadium and I had seen the RAM sent out a message saying, you know, before the game, you have pregame field access, and I'm like, well, I gotta check it out. I mean, I gotta take advantage of that. So I went down on the sidelines and kind of was soaking everything in trying to get

the vibe. And it was there's a buzz in the in the stadium with the Bucks that after glow of the Super Bowl and with Tom Brady and all that playing the Rams. It was a big deal. So anyway, um, we had agreed on a time. So I'm I'm making my way up back through the bowels of Sofi Stadium. I have no idea where I'm going. I've never been there before. And so I finally find the right elevator. I'm going up and next to me there's this this older gentleman and a couple other people in the elevator.

And I don't think anything of it, and I usually donna pay an attendin So I'm in the elevator and then the gentleman, the older gentleman asked where the Bucks radio booth is and and so so t J. At that moment, you know, I have here's another example, like, I've never met Jean Deckerhoff in my life. I've heard him call, you know, back when Florida State had the Great Teams, Uh, Jean Decker have a legend with the

Seminoles and obviously with the Buccaneers over the years. And so I had this Eureka moment where I recognized his voice and I was like, wait a minute. And then I put two of you together. I'm like, well, I'm walking to where I think the Buck's booth is because that's where t J is and so I I did

something which is very tough for me. T G. I'm an introvert, and I introduced myself to jean He was very nice and I told him I was gonna I dropped your name, of course, and he's, oh, yeah, yeah, he knew you and obviously worked on the broadcast and so and then and then I immediately called you t J and say, hey, I guess who I found and uh and on our errand just for the audience here on the podcast, we've been trying to find Jeane for

ten minutes, fifteen minutes. We can't find him. But Big Ben, the biggest of Shopper Guides, has found Jeanne to get him to the radio booth. Again. You get the save of the day for that to get him where he needed to be. So you're calling me and you're saying, hey, I'm coming to you, and I've got Jane Decker off with and I'm looking at our radio boss going okay, Gene is good. He's on the way, he's coming, he's got an escort. So it was fantastic that you were

able to do that. The other thing that I will share there was a slight disappointment for me as the game went on and the l A RAMS video production crew continue to show all of the celebrities, all of the A listers from Lebron to Mike Tyson to the crew of Ted Lasso to Larry David uh dr Dre who's back to back to help and was at the RAMS game? Where was the celebrity sighting shot of Ben

Mallor in that game? It's so fast, toy? How how did they neglect to publicize that one of the A listeners, the man that that Jane to our radio booth, the man with the velbo Ropes card. They didn't show you once. I was disappointed that you weren't hopknopping with Magic Johnson and and some of those other actresses. They were showing as they panned around the crowd and kept showing that during the commercials. Big then yeah, clearly in oversight, a bad job by the people at the at Sofi Stadium.

Did you notice t J now he let me ask you this. Now you're you're walking down You had to walk through the same tunnels I had to walk through to get to the field at Sofi Stadium. Did you see all the v I P parking underneath the stadium. Yes, that that was I I've not been around you've you've

traveled the NFL circuit. Is that normal? Now? Do they have that in most of these new stadium Not common, but at a lot of these bigger ones like Jerry's World at a T and T stadium, And I'm trying to think there's one or one or two others at the new ones where yes, Like for example, at the new Soldier Field in chicag though, the player parking is under the stadium for the Bears players, So in other words, you're outside of a visiting locker room, you're in the

tunnels trying to get to the media press conference room, and you might get run over by a Chicago Bear who's trying to leave in their vehicle because the party under the stadium. And kind of similarly in Dallas, Uh, they have a fleet of vehicles under there. So yes, I did see what you were talking about and that and there's so much room underneath and around here for the audience that yes, that is something that some teams

take advantage of. But it's still impressive because you've got all these high end SUVs, limousines, different things that are that are sitting there and you're thinking, am I at a party? And that's one thing that are people on the trip, not just from a broadcasting standpoint, but buccaneer fans have related to me they can't get over all of the nightclub asque atmosphere, different different little venues they

had in and around that property. Beside it's the football game within the battle of the stadium or within the upper bowl of the stadium. You had a real nightclub type field in l A. Glitz Field. I mean, they have definitely gone all out with the design of that stadium. Gun. Yeah, no, it was crazy. And you know, t J, I'm I'm a bit of a cynic and I even for me, I was like, I didn't expect much. I'd seen it on television and I was like, I could not believe every every turn I took at so Fi Cinema and

I can't believe this. This is this is especially after being at the Colisseum in l A, which you've been at a few times doing Guys, and what it dumped that place is uh in in comparison, I know this history at the Colisseum because the first Super Bowl was there and all that, but it's it's my goodness, It's unbelievable. What's what's going on there? All the traffic. I you're fortunately because you had to do the post game stuff, but you did have to make the flight, you know.

Oh no, oh no oh, Probably you left. You left later the game after the Buccaneers probably wiped out. Yeah, with with sun leading, we noticed people had begun to leave late in the fourth quarter of the game. Was to I did to bou up the traffic. We left, being probably about an hour and fifteen minutes after the game.

We're off the aar um and we had a long time before our nighttime red eye flight back to Tampa in the middle of the night in the Eastern time zone, flying commercially there out of l a X. It still took us close to an hour, my friend to get to the car, get out of the parking lot, get around the complex, and get towards l a X. We we were two hours after the game, still sitting in the traffic, and I said to my colleagues, I said, hey,

welcome to big city Los Angeles. Huge crowd. You know a lot of people left that game and probably went entail get it a little bit outside after it's over. With and then get in their car and the and the the traffic is everywhere, so uh that that is something that but yes, I mean you'll take that because it's better. It's better than having a team that's not

interesting in a half full stadium. And then the wild and ironic card I kept it to our audience is they had no fans at any of the games last year. There was never a problem obviously getting in or out of broadcast the game last year, and no one was there, and so you go from net extreme of no one there, and that was a loud Rockets environment that clearly bothered the Buccaneers. Last week's end would being able to see you change the playing fall starts, the crowds all over you.

It was definitely advantage for the ramp. So that was that was some scene right down to the traffic trying to get out of there. Then yeah, yeah, And that's the one if I if I have one complaint, that

would be it. I I don't know who the civic planners are in Inglewood, but it's gonna be even crazier t J because the Clippers are building an arena right across the street from there, and I imagine There'll be some Sundays where the Clippers are playing in the Rams and the Charges are playing, And I can't imagine adding another twenty thousand people to the seventy thousand that we're leaving. Now now clarified for me, are they gonna leave the

Forum standing? And again for the audience that we're talking at the Los Angeles But I was fascinated to be around the Forum, having watched all of those Laker games in the eighties, especially against the Celtics that never having been around that building, much less in that building. Are they gonna leave that standing? Because I know they have concerts there and that kind of stuff. Are they tearing that down to build the Clipper building? We weren't sure

about that. Yeah, So as I understand it, the plan is to keep the Forum as a concert venue. Uh. And I don't know how much demand there's going to be for that with the new arena right across the street. But Steve Bomber, the famous story, the owner of the Clippers worth nine billion dollars with the bet t J he was he wanted to build the arena in Inglewood, and he had talked to the city of Englewood. But

as I heard the story. The people the Forum sued that they were owned by the Knicks owner James Dolan, and there was a lawsuit. So Steve Bomber just bought the Forum to end the lawsuit and to build the arena, to get that underway. And I believe that the plan is to keep the Forum all you know, how plans changed. I would hate to see that place turned down. There's

a lot of history there. That's one of the problems I have t J with a lot of like American sports, Like you go to Europe, not that I've been, but I've seen on the internet, and they have these old soccer the pitches that are hundred two hundred years old in some cases, and they don't tear him down, they just keep him around. But here, I mean stadium. You know how it goes. The stadium gets five years old and this time to take the wrecking ball o tear.

We have rare exceptions with what you're saying, like Finlay Park or Wrigley Field that are still there seventy five hundred years later. But they tore down the Yankee Stadium. To your point, they they tore down old Dallas Cowboys Texas Stadium the same with Three Rivers Stadium for the Steelers. You're mentioning the l A Colosseum, but it's been iconic for like seventy five, what eight ninety years, going back to the middle of last century in Los Angeles. So

maybe we'll just getting old. Maybe we're just being get off my long guy. I'm not sure, but I I kind of agree with you. But it was it was neat. We were trying to find one of the parking lots, which again it took us about fifteen or twenty minutes to find the parking lot that we were supposed to be in, so far right there by the Forum, and I said to the people in the car, I'm like, that's where Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar are ruled

today in the eighties. That is. I'm not a Laker fan, but I've never been I'd never been on that property. I've never been inside of it. It was neat to see that Sunday morning, just for a second. Yeah, no, listen, I had not been in that area and I not hadn't any reason to be in Inglewood for for some time. And so but when I first start I'm very lucky TJ. Because when I first started in a station in San Diego and I started covering the l A sports scene,

that was before Staples Center. So I'm I'm, I am old, I guess and uh. And so that the Lakers are still playing at the Forum, the Kings were there, the Clippers worth the l a Sports arena which has been torn down, which is I have no problem with that. There's a soccer stadium there now. But I do. And I remember when I was when I started going to

the Forum. And I'm not, obviously I'm a Laker, hey, t J. I take shots at the Lakers all the time, but still walking through that arena, in the bowels of that arena, it was pretty crazy thinking about all the legends of basketball that had played there, and both for the Lakers and against the Lakers. So I think that's gonna stick around. But you know, you know how these

things are. If they feel like that, you will, if you have any input, if you have any influence, which you obviously do, Yeah, you're gonna say the floor must stay, the four must stay. But I don't know what they're consulting, Big band, No, No, I don't know, They're not I have I have no I have no power. I have no power. You know it's funny, I on on fs

are They ran a promo. I talked about this in the year the other night, but they ran a promo of Colin Coward, my colleague there, and and he was talking about some story that he was a party with Stan Cronkey, the the Rams owner, and I'm thinking, like, you know, we work at the same place I am. I'm hanging out with the hot dog vendors, you know, That's who I'm hanging out with. And he's hanging out with the collas, hanging out with Clunky. Meanwhile, Benny is

trying to help Jane Decker Hall fight. What is wrong with this picture? Yes, yes, a slight, slight dichotomy between the two of us. But but you've been doing these Buck games for a while, t J. You mentioned that this year is different because of the COVID stuff. You've gotta travel on your own, and how big and how big and inconvenience is that, and and how difficult is it to line up the flight schedule with the Buccaneers schedule, especially now because the Bucks are one of the glamour teams.

So you guys are gonna be playing a lot of prime time games with Brady and all that, and so you're gonna have to really work to get out of certain cities. I would think, yes, you are correct on all of those fronts. And first let me say at the outset, I appreciate the question. These are first world problems. I mean, we get to broadcast these games and whatever it takes to get there. I'm not gonna go so far on the model on the Mallar podcast here on the fifth hour to say that I would walk to

do it. I would not walk to do these dames one way to walk to Los Angeles or only wing to walk to Foxboro, Massachusetts from Tampa. But being able to travel and get there is a minor thing when you're talking about the magnitude of playing the Rams in l a or playing the Patriots in Foxboro, which we're talking more about in a second. So in our world, we're now having to do that commercially like a lot

of the other media has always done. We're not on the team plane for the COVID guidelines and the COVID reasons they've restricted how many people can be on the plane because of social distancing. So For example, we were just like everybody else at L a X the other night, trying to get out of Los Angeles late night red eye flights. There were a ton, a ton of buccaneer fans that were in the Delta terminal at l a

X because they had come to the game. I mean by a ton, I'm talking about easily a thousand of them that we're walking around everywhere trying to get on those flights because Delta had in this case free plug

for them on the Malar podcast. They had six or seven flights Sunday night that we're going either to Dallas or Atlanta or even the NonStop we were on Tampa in the middle of the night that could get you out of Los Angeles, gets you back to Tampa and get you back to work, for example, if you're going

back to work on Monday. So that's all world now, and so to fast forward for later this weekend, I am actually getting the privilege of working the national broadcasts of Oldness and Alabama on Compass Media, one of the national outlets it does college football. I'm working down on the radio uh Saturday with Steve Burline, the former Calgary, the former in l A Raider, the former Carolina Panther,

the former Notre Dame and quarterback. So Burlie and I are working on Miss Alabama on the radio Saturday afternoon. Within Sunday morning, I've got to make my way to Foxboro, Massachusetts, flying commercially out of Alabama through Atlanta and up to Foxboro. And it's a Sunday night game, so that would be easier with the time to be able to get there.

But just like all the other business travelers and commuters, you do the game Sunday night, it should be a wild uh scene in situation, but we're right back on a Monday morning flight trying to get back to Tampa to have the work name Monday and everybody get on with their lives. So yes, it is definitely different and a challenge, but they're an awful lot of people that have resumed traveling, have to travel for their career, have

to travel for their broadcasting or their media career. So chalk chalk us up as those that are right there and mother, I'm trying to fight to get the good airline seat, get the aisle seat. Ben Mallard and I like and be able to get to these gids. Yeah, and then you had to come back right after the red eye, and right you had to put the podcast. I've read that nothing nothing but Bucks podcast. You did you? Did you even go to bed or did you just

start working right? I actually slept for about an hour on the plane an hour and then got here and the first priority was get here and get my daughters. I've got thirteen year old twin daughters. Get them fully out the door, get them in the car, line for middle school, drop them off as we peeled the curtain

back more. I love this on the Mallard podcast. So I get them dropped off, I get back home, I put the podcast together, and the pot cast was literally up and ready to go about probably eleven thirty am eatern time, literally about four hours after I was off the plane. So I was impressed with myself being able to get all of that done. Again, I appreciate you complimenting me off the year that you enjoyed the podcast. I'm not really sure how coherent and what I actually said.

If it made sense, you tell me then that it made sense, And I appreciate the beat, the professional critique, but I'm not quite sure if I gave away, like my bank account information. What I was actually saying on the podcast, no, I hear you know it was it was good. I you you had you played the highlights of the game he had Bruce arians you you replayed the interview you had with Bruce. He gave a good description of how many Bucks fans. There were a lot

of Bucks fans. I was surprised by that that number. I didn't realize there were that many Bucks fans in l A I know is the Bucks didn't do very much in the game, but there were two or three moments, especially to the TV left the left of the Bucks bench, when the Bucks scored in the first half on the Godwin touchdown run. There were probably three or four thousand buccaneer fans in the lower bowl and in that end

zone level that erupted. Not not loud enough to where TV would maybe pick it up very much, but I looked around and went, wow, this is not twenty five people or a hundred people. There's easily two or three thousand or more Buccaneer fans here. But again credit to the Rams. They didn't get the Bucks or their fans much to cheer about for much of Sunday, for sure. So take me behind the scenes here, t J. What's it like dealing with Tom Brady? Are there special media

rules being around Tom? And he's a sports royalty in America. He's become bigger than life here over the years. So what's it like since he showed up to town? This is why you listen to the Mallard podcast. Are you ready for this as we talk at the end of the week number three and get ready to head to this massive game with the New England Patriots. I have not had the occasion and may not have the occasion to do a one on one interview with Tom Brady as of yet. That may be stunning to the Ben

mallor into the audience. In my normal duties on Buccaneers Radio, I would typically interview the quarterback before and after all of the games. I've done this in the past with the likes of Jamis Winston. You can go all the way back to other quarterbacks like Josh Freeman recently, back to Jeff Garcina, you know that name in the data, veteran quarterback that played with the forty niners and with others.

Go all the way back to Brad Johnson who helped win the Buccaneers Super Bowl constantly interviewing the quarterback before and after the game. But two things. The first thing is Tom Brady does not do a lot of individual media for anybody. Never get in New England. It's not in Tampa Bay in terms of one on ones with anybody, doesn't do much of that. It's mainly on the podium UH one time during the week UH and and something

after the game is usually on the podium. There's not a side interview for TV outlets, radio outlets, et cetera. So I have not And then you coupled that with the COVID nineteen madness that it's still It's tapered some, but it is still in place in terms of guidelines. I've not been around him to one on one interview.

Now I have been around him, but I could I confess I don't think he really knows who I am, and I'm then I am fine with that because for the first twenty years of Tom Brady's NFL career, he didn't know who ke J Reeves was. Then in New England. This is no different then for Tom Brady a couple of years later. I don't really think he knows who I am. But in terms of winning games and winning a Super Bowl last year, I'll treate it that off for not having the one on one conversations with Tom Brady.

All right, well, fair enough, that is I'm trying to remember when the comp would be I guess Jordan's, but I do remember Jordan's doing some media one on one. But maybe I'm wrong on that. Maybe he didn't do that at the comparison that's valid. And and for the elite of the elite, it is rare that you're going to get that chance to be around them one on

one because they just they don't have to. I mean, yes, if ESPN is broadcasting the game or Fox, like with Joe Buck and Troy Antman and Aaron Andrews, you've got a good possibility of talking to them, uh, you know, as part of the duties to get ready for the game. Television of different world. As I've often said, and you can appreciate this, and you identified with me, television rules the world. That's why we're in Radio Bay. We're down at the lower level. So TV does rule the world,

and they get one on one interviews. I mean, you didn't ask me about this, but just real quick, as an aside, if you're watching the Manning Brothers on the Monday night broadcast, look at the guests that they are able to get because of who they are and the access they have with TV. I mean the roll call of people from Brett Farve talking about a Packer game or Nick Saban on the Monday night game with the Eagles and the and the Cowboys. Those guys aren't gonna

do that stuff basically for almost anybody. But but you you have that cloud with TV, it's the Manning its ESPN. It makes a difference. I will just say this is one more aside. I've been around Tom body. He is fantastic with all the Buccaneer personnel. He has been tremendously cooperative with the business side of the Buccaneers where he didn't have to be um again he is he is bought fully in figuratively to being part of the buccaneer organization.

That's great to see. And there was a moment in the battles of so Far Stadium on Sunday when it was all over, if he had done his media he was trying to get to the plane, trying to get to the buses to get to the plane fight, d l A traffic et cetera. Where they had him on

a golf car. They have all these uh different ram players on golf When they had Brady on the golf car trying to get into the buses, and he literally had a driver and an armed guard with him as he's riding riding by, he do get to the buses. I saw that from a distance about thirty ft away as he as he zoomed on. So there you go. There's another aside. Do you have your own armed guard when you were making your way out of Inglewood? Normally I do not have to have on personnel around me.

There's not an occasion for that. However, if I do need it, I may instill the help of the Mallee Militia that you have in the middle of the night, and in whatever city I'm in, I contact you. The Malone Militia has my back. If I need that, I may come to you for that. Well, we will listen, t G. We will form Voltron, the Mallet Musia, will get hollering James in Minnesota. We'll get Lance, the bus driver. We'll get them all together and it'll be quite the

whack pack. But now what what do you what's your vibe on Brady? How many more years do you think he plays? And do you think this is the last uniform? I think he stays in Tampa the rest of the way or does he go somewhere else. So on all those questions, the first one is do not doubt that the man's gonna play in two. I believe he is going to play next year. I believe this is beyond Again, all things are are predicated on how long then? And you know this, does his shoulder hold up? Does his

elbow hold up? Because you can talk about the t V twelve method with training and eating avocado toast and you know whatever else you're gonna eat, and and and but you're all your forty four, your arm, your shoulder. How long does it last? He he is playing still a in a lead level. He can make the throws and we believe that will sustain. So I believe he will be back for a third season, depending I mean if then if they roll on and win another Super Bowl.

There was a lot of thought, would he just would he walk away after last year after winning the Super Bowl? If you do it again, if you are somehow able to repeat, what else do you have to prove to put your body through this? Is you've proven to your point? Uh, he's He's obviously got tons and tons and tons of money and accolades. I don't know, but I believe he believes he can still play for two and maybe even beyond. The Bucketeer contract is four more years, um, three more

years after this one. He signed up for a four year extend, and when they rework the salary cap, I don't know if you can play that long. So we'll we'll see a physically at this position, if he can still make the throws and play that way. Speaking of Payton Manning, you watch Peyton Manning breakdown physically at the end of his career. You watch his final year in Denver. He couldn't throw the ball fifty yards down the field anymore at the end of that Super Bowl winning season

when they beat the Pampers. Well, yeah, not the case right now with Tom Buddy. Will see how long it lasted. No, I don't believe he'll go anywhere else. I believe this will be it, that he will ride it out with the Buccaneers this season, probably next season, and then that will that will be the end of his career wherever he's done in Tampa back. Yeah, and Drew Brees also at the end with the Saints had some issues and he seemed like his arm wore down as the season

went on. By the playoffs, he would have have some issues with that. Yeah, I'm not. I mean everyone said Brady until fifty. He wants to play until his fifty Uh hey, I I said he was done a couple of years ago the t J when I was doing filling stuff at e I and Boston and and Brady's numbers were not particularly good in the offense wasn't really clicking for the page. It's even though they ended up in the Super Bowl one of those years, but Brady

was kind of in the middle of the pack. And then he goes to Tampa and you live in Florida, TJ. The fountain of youth, right is is there pots de leon in in Florida? And yeah, yeah, I think for he and for Grog too. And I know Grog took a big shot on the chest and the ribs in that game. But Grog has been rejuvenated, revived out of youth PP twelve method, whatever you want to call it, that they have found it and let's see if it can sustain and it's a long season. Can they sustain it?

Can they continue it? UHG had so many injuries with his back, with his hip at the end of his New England career, yet he played every game, all twenty of them a year ago in the regular season, in the playoffs and the best that we understand that they're not broken ribs here for him coming out of a Rams game, so you know he would have the like that line from Days the Funder with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman where the actor Michael Rooker is playing Routy

the dayload of hard white character. He says, I I've riched with my legs, broke, with my eyeballs on frings, I've raised all kinds of that's broadcasting. He's gonna play in that game Sunday night with the Patriots even if his eyeballs are on the frings. Here, well, let's get to the main event this weekend. You will be in the eye of the storm, the belly of the beast t J on the sidelines there in Foxborough. It's being billed as the greatest regular season game in NFL history.

So what are your expectations t J from the buck side of things being there. How great is that? I'm so I'll look for you when I'm watching the game on TV. But what are your expectations here? I believe that this is going to be one of the most hyped regular season games that they have had in NFL history. I don't know if we can look back on at years from now as as one of the great moments. Maybe. I mean, this is going to be likely. You can't

never say never rightly. The only time Tom Brady plays there in a regular season game as the visiting quarterback because the rotation of the schedule, the Buccaneers would not be back there for another eight seasons. I mean Tom Brady would be fifty two years the quarterback eight years from now. So yes, the hype is going to just build and build for It's gonna be some scene. I mean, the tickets were five and six thousand dollars apiece in

the off season. I can only imagine on the secondary market. It will build and it will grow Friday to Saturday, Saturday to Sunday to try to get in to see this. Uh, and you just you hope that the game will live up to all that's gonna be said and written and shown about it leading up to it, and New England is struggling. I mean I watched some of that game in the in the press box. I probably saw about it.

With the Saints, they played poorly again, And as you play this thing out, as it builds up, of course, the storyline is gonna be Brady is a Super Bowl winner last year with the Bucks without Belichick, and now if he comes in and plays well or plays outstanding and the Buccaneers get back on the winning track and dropped the Patriots to one in three and dropped the Patriots to oh and three at home on a narrative that will set into motion for the rest of this

year about who misses whom here? So what's the build up? I am anxious to be there and to be around it, and I will report back, uh to bed an hour and everybody else that wants the update, that wants the intel on what that scene is like at Gillette Stadium

something night. Yeah, and it's not. I mean, you're gonna be there on the field, but it's gonna be Also the pregame, right, does Brady and do Belichick and Brady cross paths before the game, and then after the game, depending on you know this, do they shake hands, is there any kind of embrace there? Does Brady run to the locker room? Does Belichick run to the locker rooms?

So there's all these subplots to the game, and isis and just the football part of it the other part of it, and then what happens after the game when they address the media and they talk about it. So it's gonna be it's gonna feed our you know, doing the radio show t J and you do the podcast stuff and all that. It's gonna feed our content for the next week at least after that and probably a lot longer. Yeah, they're gonna talk about this day and night.

I don't know that Rachel Ray is gonna be talking about it on the Food Channel, but maybe they're gonna talk about it everywhere coming up for this for this game, and rightfully so, because the man won six championships with Gil Belichick in New England and now here you have him coming back as the conquering hero from Tampa Bay. And I believe this is just me and my speculation. I believe you'll see like a pregame handshake or something.

I mean, they they had such a long relationship with so much success, and at some point, you know, you put all the bitterness of whatever happened with they don't want me anymore, that'll appreciate me anymore aside, you go shake hands before it's like black saying, touch gloves, touch them up, and now here we go, and let's see what New England has, because again, uh, they have not

looked good at it. And you can disregard being the dysfunctionate New York Jets in the middle of those two losses to the Dolphins and then this past Sunday to Jamis Winston and the Saints were Matt Jones through three interceptions in that game. If New England is a is a stinky poo in this game? You use stinky poo sometimes,

don't you? Stinky poo in this game? And Brady is fantastic U Boston Sports Radio, the Boston media will be relentless and immediate on how how in the world did it did it come to this that New England is finally again while Brady is living it up and succeeding with the Buccaneers. Yeah, and I have you know, friends in Boston to do the radio and this is they're treating this like a super Bowl. They're gonna have their their afternoon guys doing the pregame show, and they're they're

they're wasting. It's the one topic that will be discussed, and you know it has been discussed ad nauseum. But there it's Tom Brady and Belichick. It's it's that's it. That's all they've talked about on the radio in Boston leading up to this. And I predict t J if the Bucks do, if this goes the way it's looking with the way the Patriots are playing that as good as the Bucks are offensively, and this turns out to be a blowout, then they'll be calling for Belichick to

be fired right after the game. I mean, you know how this works, right, That's how this is going to go. My Belichick's lost it. They gotta get a new coach, they gotta start over. Uh. And so that's that's how that's gonna go. But you are part of the Fox Sports Radio Alumni Association TV are you dudes? Are your dues paid up in full? Have you paid your dues? I have really up for another year and just let us know whatever we get the free T shirt or

whatever it is. If we've got from Fox Sports Radio as part of the alumni association, I would I still I have not done Battling Night on Fix Sports Radio, uh since twenty fIF I was there for five years, not five free years during Saturday nights from eleven through and I got that freelance opportunity and then I kind of got installed as the Saturday night guy doing a lot of College football Er in the college football season.

I still have people the power of FS are and what Big Ben brings to the table, and obviously Colin Calherd and uh Dan Patrick and all the different shows, the Odd Couple that's now on and Jason Smith it's on at night and we can't believe got my man Jonas Knox, theos did two pros and a couple of Joe right now are and with with Brady Quinn in the mornings and Big Band overnights. Much love from my

Fix Sports Radio brethren. I still have a lot of different friends and acquaintances that I've worked with on the year and off the year that are there. So you guys keep knocking on the other people still talk to me about doing Saturday nights on five Sports Radio. Yeah, I for what I'm hed on. I haven't done that since Donald Thore Donald Trump became the president, and a little while people think that I just stopped doing it, like last year or two years ago. So it was

a neat time. I'm thrilled. One of the relationships I got was getting to be around Ben Mallow and do things on the air and be on the Malar Show, and you and I co hosted some different times on some different projects, and we finally got to me. It was not quite the macho man and whole hogan at the Superpowers with the big handshake and the nineties remember that form with the Superpower. Oh yeah, with the handshake.

It was not quite to that level, but it was still need to be around Big Ben and be around you at the Rams game. And it's neat to reflect back on being on Fox Sports. Yeah, listen was fun. I remember those those Saturday nights and you know I had I got let go. I was let go by the company brought me back, and then I remember I was on when I came back, I was doing the weekend overnight show and I was your post game show.

You were on and I was my lead in and then I would come on after you and rant and rave like a lunatic. And usually I didn't kill all of your audiences. No, no, no, no you did. You did a great job. And so just to kind of wrap this up, t J, how can people follow you? I know you're on Twitter, You're on all the social media, You've got your your Bucks podcast, you working. You mentioned Compass Media Networks, right, you do. The Bucks sidelines are all over the place, t J. I am all over

the place. I have met myself two or three different times, coming and going. Thank you for the ploug follow me at buck buc Buck sideline guy. I appreciate you sharing out the photo. You even tagged me on that. So if you want to see what I'm up to on Twitter at releasing you when you find me there, find me through buccaneers dot com and their mobile app. The podcast, as you mentioned, is nothing but plots. It's a postgame recap podcast with interviews with highlights. We'll have one up

on the Monday. God willing after this Patriots game this week, and after you did a Buccaneer games all the way through and I but wong it lasts love that and yeah, Compass Media Networks again, as a national outwork. The games will be on over the year on Compass Media Network, dot com and other outlets as well the different college football games they have every week. I'm doing a selects I believe six total game package. One of those games is this week old Miss Alabama at the time that

we're taping. Later in the year, I'm getting the chance to do in Oklahoma Texas Tech game. I'm also doing an Ohio State game later in the year. So Compass Media Networks is good and I full around with various other podcast projects and internet and web and web stuff. You can find me there and still do a bunch of where your appearances here in Tampa Bay, etcetera. So I appreciate the invite to be on the fifth hour. If you'd be on the Mallow Pod. Yeah, I love

listening to you. I hear you a lot in the middle of the night when I'm traveling or coming back. I love the video clips. I was rooting you on as you were ranting about Matt Stafford when I saw that video clip from the Mallow Show overnights, So yeah, it was. It was great to hook up with you. I wish have been a better outcome for the Buccaneers, but credit the Rams. They looked really good on Sunday. And we'll see now if the Bucks can regroup in

New England and if they can look out. Yeah, and we need the Bucks to play the Chargers next year in l A or something so we can can hang out again. So we'll have to make that happen. We played, So here's the schedule on that. We played the Chargers at home last year, so the next Charger game in Los Angeles would be about three years from now. Are we checking our social calendars? We're both married men. You

have to check with the wise. We gotta check on three years from now if we have a reunited at that so far, but who knows, the Bucks could end up playing the Rams again at so Far again next year. We played the Rams now three years in a row, we could end up playing them again in Los Angeles, so maybe we hook up. Then we'll see perfect all right, tak you t J. Good luck with the travels and the broadcast, and I'll be watching on TV and then we'll see what happens. Thanks for coming on. Much love

for the Ben Mallard. I love giving the chance to catch up. We did with meeting with you and this was a lot of fun. Thank you for the inn by Big then