Best of Outkick the Coverage: 06/18/2020

Frank Isola is in the house to set the scene in NYC and talks the return of MLB, NBA and the start of NFL. Clay had a COVID-19 test done in Nashville because he’s talked about it on the air so much that he wanted to see what it’s like for athletes to get the test done... he shares his experience. Animal Thunderdome takes a bite out of your Thursday with a stud tortoise and two spectacular Florida stories. Plus, Florida Senator Marco Rubio joins Clay Travis to talk about a new Name, Image & Likeness bill that he’s trying to push through, discusses his favorite sports teams/memories, Colin Kaepernick, and more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of out Kick the
Coverage podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
morning from six to nine am Eastern three to six
am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for OutKick the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every morning on the I Heart
Radio app by searching f s R. This is the
best of OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis on Fox

(00:22):
Sports Radio. Frank Is Sola joining us now at the
frank Is Sola. Frank, I feel like I've asked you
this a ton over the past several months. Now. We've
now been a hundred days since Rudy Gobert walked off
the court, which feels, by the way, like about a
thousand days in terms of in terms of how long

(00:45):
it has felt too. Pretty much everybody out there, what
is the vibe in your part of New York, in
your area of New York City today compared to the
past hundred days kind of looking back now, Oh, I
think the vibe is definitely a lot of people want
to get on with with their lives. But I would
also say this though, Clay, I think because a lot

(01:05):
of us we're basically in quarantine or lockdown for for
three months, and for the most part, everywhere you went
in this part of the country, if you were, you know,
on the street, a lot of people had a mask on.
Obviously if you went to a store, people War one
and people are still kind of doing that because I
think people now are the believe, what if we put
all this time in like that, Nobody wants to have

(01:28):
some kind of setback where we got to do it
over again. But there's definitely this this feeling of the
weather has been great. People are definitely out and about
and people are ready to get on with their lives.
Maybe sit outside of the restaurant. Maybe you hope that
sports comes back. You definitely get that feeling. How important
in your mind is sports coming back for an area

(01:48):
like New York is The reality is everybody in many
different parts of the country experience the coronavirus differently, right
at least so far. The difference between the way let's say,
people in New York City and the boy people in
Texas or California or Florida have experienced things is quite
a bit different. I'm just throwing those out because those

(02:09):
are the four biggest states but certainly the difference between uh,
let's say, New York and South Dakota is a massive magnitude.
Between Montana and Georgia is probably a huge difference. Right.
You really kind of notice the scope and width and
breadth of this country in looking at the way that
we basically had fifty different country outbreaks inside the United

(02:32):
States as opposed to one sort of uniform experience that
everybody had. But given what you guys went through in
New York, do you believe it's even more important to
New Yorkers to have sports back than it might be
to have people in North Carolina or people in Utah.
I definitely think so. And also, you know, the one
thing about New York if you look at our winter sports,

(02:53):
if you want to include football, you know, the two
NFL teams weren't anything this season. You know, the Knicks
were terrible. You know, the hockey teams were okay, but
it doesn't look like they were gonna be champions of
The Nets are going to be a playoff team, where
they should be, but they're not a championship contender. You know,
the Mets always generate a lot of interest in the
Yankees are a World Series champion, So those were kind

(03:14):
of the teams that everyone's going to focus on. And
of course that's a crazy NFL town, and I think
that's what a lot of sports and the worry about
here in the New York area. They were hoping that
baseball will be back by now, and now they're worried
about the NFL. I mean, I would think the NFL
will be okay, but going to games obviously isn't gonna happen.
It's huge and as part of the country, especially in
New York, where teams haven't really been that could the

(03:35):
only team really is the Yankees, and they'd get to
step on the field. All right. So you've covered sports
for a pretty decent amount of time. Now, can you
remember a players union and an ownership group looking worse
when you consider all of the circumstances than Major League
Baseball right now? Because look, I know there have been

(03:56):
labor disputes and money disputes in sports a lot over
the last thirty forty years, but given where we are
as a country, forty million unemployed, middle of a pandemic,
I'm not sure. In fact, I'm very confident that I
have not in my life seeing anybody look as bad
as Major League Baseball looks right now. Now. I hope

(04:17):
they finally got the framework for an agreement, but the
fact that it took this long is frankly inexcusable. Yeah,
they always become a little tone deaf because you know,
it does feel like the NFL and college footfol you
could throw in there. It's kind of like the national
pastime now and baseball for a lot of reasons to
pace in the game. I I enjoy it, but I
understand why a lot of younger people they're not that

(04:40):
attractive to it. But I remember thinking, this cliff, you
go back to when all the trouble was happening with
the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox with the
cheating scandal. Yes, and the guys that got fired were
a j hinge and you had you know, Karlos Beltran
lost his job in New York and uh Coral lost
his job in Boston. Remember, players were involved in that scandal,

(05:02):
and none of them got hit. Yeah, their reputations might
have taken a hit, but they didn't get suspended or anything.
Because their union is so strong. It's like baseball didn't
even want to mess with these guys. In fact, they
basically gave them immunity. That's why whenever there's a labor dispute.
The baseball players are a lot different than these than
these other unions in sports, their union is tough to crack.

(05:23):
I think the owners made a big mistake care because
I think originally when they went to them, they did
tell them they were going to give them appropriated salary.
I know the language. Then said well, if there's no
people in the stadium. But once this was going to happen,
the players union in baseball has always been like this.
They don't they don't mess around either, and eventually, in
a lot of ways, they end up winning. And the
whole thing was a complete mess, and the commissioner looks

(05:43):
bad and come on, Clay, a sixty game season. It's
almost like, if you get a one game season, you
play half the game, there's something legitimate about that. But
fifty or sixty games, that's two months of baseball. Yeah,
I think it's gonna be entertaining because it it, you know,
knocks out a hundred ish games of of the season.
But to me, ultimately, like when you kind of break

(06:06):
it down, it's lunacy that they haven't been playing in
June and July now exactly. And I think that's what
most people believe out there, regardless of whether you're a
huge baseball fan or not. Let's go into the yeah yeah,
well let me just say this too. I think, right,
you know, if you're playing in June, July, and August,
that's baseball. Once you get to September, let's face it, Uh,

(06:29):
September baseball is exciting from the standpoint that there's Pennant races.
But once college football and the NFL start up baseball
in that month, in a way, it kind of disappears.
And then people are thinking, I'll see in October in
the playoffs start. That's right, and and look depositive. If
you want to take anything away from this hundred days
of of of no team sports is it does appear

(06:51):
that starting about mid July, if baseball can work things
out all the way through in theory the Super Bowl,
we're gonna have the most packed schedule that we have
ever seen for sports fans, right, I mean, there there's
gonna be It's gonna be like Thanksgiving every day. You know,
when you look at that whole stack table full of
food that there's gonna be a cornucopia buffet of sports,

(07:14):
the likes of which we've never seen. That's why guys
like you and myself who watched sports a lot and
I've never had a chance to watch a lot of
these shows. On Netflix, we're able to watch shows like Dark,
which I think and like listen, I everybody talks about
all these great shows, and I always feel bad because
I felt like I was watching sports most of the time.
But this break that we've had allowed us to do that.
But you're right, starting from July to the Super it's

(07:36):
gonna be insane. I mean, even the Kentucky Derby and
and uh, the Masters is gonna be going on during
all this stuff. It's good. By the way, what do
you think of Ozark? I really enjoyed it. Yeah. I
never understood what binge watching was, and then I started
watching that, and then that I understood it. I mean
I couldn't I couldn't stop watching. I really enjoyed it
was The music was great too, and the acting was terrific.

(07:59):
I liked it was like a really evil, crazy show.
Have you watched anything else? Because you are right that
people people might think that it's a uh you know
that we're definitely complaining about something. Oh, you guys gotta
watch too much sports for your jobs. But you know,
like every average guy out there might be, like, it's
Monday night football, I'm not gonna watch it tonight. I

(08:19):
know that on Tuesday morning, my lead is going to
be what happened on Monday night football? Right? So, uh,
most of the are even the NBA playoffs, you know,
Like I I, I would say the downside of doing
early morning radio is I don't sleep very much a
lot of times when it comes to late night sports
going on. But I know what my leads are gonna
be on the day after, So I'm like you, I

(08:41):
don't necessarily have the time that the average person would
to binge watch television, So I have watched a lot
of shows that otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see.
Have you watched anything else? If you had to give
people one tip from your quarantine inspired television viewing, what
would you say is your favorite thing that you've been
exposed to? Well, Ozark was terrific that I watched Succession

(09:04):
I used to work at the New York Succession I
think is the is the one of the funniest shows
that's out there. It's tremendous. And when I worked at
the Post, you know Rupert Murdoch, Yeah, obviously still is
the owner, and I was young at the time. I
would think I was, you know, just out of college,
and there were times when he would walk in the
office and you know you really felt his presence, say,
like everything would stop in the newsroom. So I mean

(09:24):
Succession is you know, loosely based on him. And I'll
tell you the one that I really liked was Fauda
f A U d A about Uh. It's it's tremendous.
It's about you know, the massade in Israel and the Palestinians.
It's it's intense. You you would like it. It's intense. Yeah, No,
I love Succession, um and Uh. I like Billions, which

(09:48):
is on right now. Um. And but I've been kind
of keeping up with that one. But I would say
Ozark is the one where I think there's thirty episodes
through three seasons, and the third season just came out,
and oh I caught up on that. I'm I'm sampling Bloodline,
which my wife told me I would love and I
think I'm gonna like it. Anyway, So we're in a
little bit different of a of a world maybe to

(10:10):
be able to to watch some of these shows in
the past because there haven't been sports going on. What
do you think You've covered the NBA for a long time.
What do you think about the whole bubble protocol, the
hundred and thirteen pages that have come out. Is this
going to work? Or do you think ultimately we're gonna
see some sort of hybrid where maybe the NBA finishes

(10:31):
their season and plays let's say the first round, and
then they ultimately end up going back to empty arenas,
but at least back to the cities. Because here's why
I'm bringing it up. It seems like Major League Baseball,
if they get back, is going to be playing in
their stadiums in the cities. They're not gonna quarantine uh
college football in the NFL, it doesn't appear are going

(10:54):
to quarantine their players h mls Eventually, it seems like
their quarantine is gonna end. Feel like the NBA is
being hyper hyper protective of its players in a way
that we're not seeing NASCAR, UFC, or golf or any
other sport. None of them are requiring a bubble yeah,

(11:14):
and I think if you look at the hotel breakdown,
you know clearly the higher seat of teams are all
staying together, so it's a way to kind of keep
them apart from probably the teams that they feel like
will be eliminated. That's always been my thought, why can't you?
And I was kind of hoping that's at some point
someone will ask Adam Silver about that, because I think
that is one of the biggest issues with the players.

(11:34):
It's not the fact that they have to go down
there maybe play some games, the fact that you could
be down there two and a half to three months.
And I get it, you know, the average person, tough
luck can make a ton of money. I understand that,
but you know, for the most part, everyone has been
shut down for three months, and now you're asking the
players to shut down for another three months. My my
thing has always been, why don't just go down there,
have your training camp, play your eight games, maybe played

(11:58):
the first round, and then move on, because they least
there's a light at the end of the tunnel. And
I think the players, you know, could probably accept that
and understand that a little bit more because even a team,
for example, like the Phoenix Suns aren't gonna make the playoffs,
but they're going down there. They're still gonna be there
for five weeks. Five weeks and they're not even they're
not even gonna make the playoffs. So if Jillian Anti's
top end teams like the Lakers, the Clippers of Milwaukee, Bucks, Toronto, Boston,

(12:23):
you know two of those teams are gonna be there
for three months. You know, these guys, the NBA players
to their conditioned that at this time of the year,
you know, they're off. The NBA Draft is scheduled from
that was supposed to be next Thursday. NBA players who
used to be up in July, August, in September, it's dead.
Not only they're gonna be playing, but you're sending them
away somewhere to play. Maybe things would change, And then

(12:45):
an NBA owner last week tell me that it's not
at the roma possibility that things could change, and maybe
at some point they could play games back in their
home arenas well. The reason why I think it's it's
an adjustment that would make sense is they're gonna look
ridiculous if we have fans present for many different NFL
and college football games, and I believe we will, and

(13:06):
that begins in basically September, and then the NBA is
still playing with no fans present for the next six weeks. Again,
amusement parks are open, You've got casinos open. I don't
believe that this virus is just gonna disappear, because it's
almost impossible to just eliminate a virus, right, It's always
out there circulating. But the positive is if you look

(13:29):
at the trend lines overall, they continue to move in
a positive direction. And I think we're likely to end
up in a better place by July four, and certainly
by uh September one or Labor Day than we are
right now. Could I be wrong, Certainly people have been
wrong a ton, But that's gonna make the NBA situation

(13:50):
look even more ridiculous. Like I've been saying ever since
this plan came out, it seems like an April plan
that's not being implemented until August. Yeah, I think I
think there's some truth to that. And again that's why
I would think that maybe the NBA should be open
to the idea of trying to adjust on the fly
if things were to change a little bit. You talk
to a lot of NBA coaches. The one thing they

(14:12):
worried about with the players, it's not even so much
physically what kind of condition they're gonna be in, because
the serious players all be in good shape. You know
that those are the guys. You know. There's only gonna
be a handful of guys that probably don't take themselves
or their profession seriously enough. It won't be in good condition.
The big thing they think is going to be having
guys mentally engaged too, you know for something that that's

(14:33):
gonna be this long. Think about it, Clay, in the
first round of the playoffs, Let's say you've already been
there for about five six weeks and your team falls
behind O two in the first round, Well, what do
you think the routing cry is gonna be? We can
do this, or it's gonna be you know what, if
we look two more games, we can get the heck
out of here and go home. You know that that's
because I'm not saying that's going to be the case

(14:53):
in every playoff series, but I think early on it
certainly could be the case. Yeah, it's gonna be like
Survivor NBA Playoff Edition, which Atlee would be a great
reality show. You know you're gonna extinguish everybody's uh, everybody's
torch like they've been doing for twenty years or so,
however long that Survivor has actually been going on. You
are a big soccer guy. Um. The English Premier League

(15:14):
is back. Credit to them, the ep L for being
able to get back for people out there that might
be starving for daily sports. And maybe they're not. Korean
Baseball organization is not getting their their cup of team.
Maybe the Bundese League is a little bit too far removed.
The English Premier League is pretty outstanding entertainment. What would
you tell people out there who are desperate for sports

(15:36):
and listening to us right now about why they would
and should sample the English Premier League and might like
it if they did well, I'll say this though they
started off yesterday. The first game was Aston Villa, who
was one of the worst games in the league, against
Sheffield United, which is a good team but not really
a popular team. It would almost be like the NBA
through all this time off coming back and having Keen
explained the Washington was in the first like national game.

(15:58):
That probably as a mistake, but I think people enjoy
it like Liverpool this weekend plays Everton and the two
stadiums are basically separated by a part. They're both in
the same area. And this is, you know, incredible rivalry.
I think the one thing that soccer has going for it.
And listen, I understand people who don't like the sport,
they're gonna roll their eyes. But if it's a great

(16:20):
game or a terrible game, it's only going to be
a two hour experience, you know, like baseball. Can't say
that baseball. If there's a bad baseball game, it could
be three and a half to four hours, and so
if a soccer game is terrible, it'll go quick. But
the English Premier League is the best league in the world.
It's a it's a physical league, it's fast. They usually

(16:42):
is a lot of scoring. I think the games will
get better now that the team's are finally getting back
and playing. But watch Liverpool against Everton on on Sunday
because that's a rivalry game and even without fans of
the building, it'll be intense. Outstanding stuff is always Frankie Solo.
We will talk to you next a week. Have a
good weekend, but that's at the frank Gei Solo we

(17:02):
come back more on Major League Baseball, potentially returning a
little bit of updates out there, and then at the
top of our two I did something unique. I went
and got tested for the coronavirus. Not because I'm afraid
that I have it, but just because We've spent so
much time talking about it, I wanted to know what
a test was actually like. And so I'll talk to

(17:25):
you about it at the start of hour to what
that process was like and what the experience was like.
Probably some of you out there also wondering what it's like,
and I'll explain my my rationale. This is out kicked
the coverage with Clay Travis. Major League Baseball. The latest proposal.
For those of you waking up right now, you just

(17:47):
heard a little bit of the details, but potentially a
sixty game season would start July nine. In September, Baseball
players would make thirty seven percent of their full seas
and salaries. That's based on playing sixty games out of
a hundred and sixty two. Baseball players probably want more games,
but at least we are working towards a conclusion. If

(18:10):
I were predicting anything, and God knows that predicting anything
in this Major League Baseball negotiation has been fraught with peril.
My best approximation would be that we are likely again,
we are likely if you look at the overall data,
I think we are likely to end up in a
situation where we end up with like around sixty five

(18:31):
games being played, because right now Baseball is proposing sixty
games in seventy days, and I would think Baseball the
players will probably come back, Hey, we want seventy games
in seventy days, and Major League Baseball say how about
sixty five? And my bet would be that that we
end up around sixty five before all is said and done.

(18:52):
But it should be over, it should be back done,
and they should be playing now. So we'll see. Hopefully,
My hope is that we can have a deal worked
out in the next couple of days and officially be
back to work. One of the things that will happen
if Major League Baseball players get back to work is
we'll have a lot of tests going on of athletes.
And let me explain what I mean by testing being

(19:14):
a good thing. Testing is a good thing because by
and large, we are catching more people who otherwise would
not know they have the coronavirus as we are expanding
testing and that includes athletes. So one of the reasons
why I'm not sitting around like, oh my god, look
at how many people at the University of Texas or

(19:36):
the University of Alabama or Ohio State or wherever it
is are testing positive for the coronavirus is because all
of those players that are testing positive when they returned
to campus are guys that would have been sick and
never known by and large they were sick. Same thing
with NFL players like Ezekiel Elliott. But for the testing

(19:56):
that is taking place, and so the PGA's getting players
tested all the time major League Baseball would be doing
at the NBA, will NASCAR, I imagine, is doing it,
the UFC is doing it. And when you increase testing,
there are going to be a lot more people who
are testing positive. And look, one of the challenges we've

(20:18):
got in the media today is the media grabs the
most sensational, fear porn laden facts and they broadcast it everywhere.
For you guys, That's why I say all the time
my goal with you, and I think the reason why
our audience is surging is you may not agree with
everything that I say opinion wise, but you trust that

(20:39):
I'm going to get the facts right. And the facts are.
Let me talk about the state of Florida. For instance,
we're gonna talk to Marco Rubio, is a senator from
the state of Florida, about name, image and likeness in
our three live on this program at A twenty. But
the facts are according to Governor Ron de Santis, who
put these out a couple of days ago, and they
got almost no attention. While the number of people testing

(21:02):
positive in Florida is increasing, the average age of people
testing positive is plummeting. It used to be that the
average age of a person who is testing positive in
Florida was sixty five. Now it's down to thirty seven.
And you might be out there saying, why does that matter?
If you are under the age of fifty. According to

(21:22):
the Wall Street Journal over this past weekend, you are
more likely to die in a car driving to work
in much of the country than you are to die
of the coronavirus. That's a stat that hardly gets any
attention because it doesn't terrify people. But if you are
under the age of fifty, which is by the way,
like two thirds of the people who live in the

(21:43):
United States right now, if you are under the age
of fifty, you are more likely to die in a
traffic accident in many parts of this country. Then you
are drive driving to work, then you are to die
of the coronavirus. State of Florida put out a bunch
of data since April. The number of people hospitalized in Florida,

(22:05):
even as the number of cases continue to rise, is down.
For I see you, I should say the number of
people that are on ventilators is down fifty in the
state of Florida, and the number of people that are
dying continues to decline. You might say, well, how can
you have more cases and fewer deaths. It's because young people,

(22:30):
by and large are asymptomatic or they have very mild cases,
and that is who is testing positive. Now as many
people are going back to work, they are getting tests
and they are testing positive, which means that suddenly they
find out they had the virus. They didn't even know
that they had it, which is the way the vast

(22:50):
majority of people experience if you're young and healthy, this coronavirus.
So that's why I've been arguing that the policy that
should have been in place for months. Is we protect
people who are in nursing homes and who are elderly
and in severe danger, and we let everybody else go
back to work. And so instead of losing forty million jobs,

(23:14):
we should have just locked down nursing homes and kept
everybody else working, and we would have been in a
much better place. And actually, if you look at the data,
around half of all the people who have died in
this country of the coronavirus have been in nursing homes.
Nursing homes represent point six percent of the overall population.

(23:37):
The state of Florida, the governor put out, doesn't have
a single person in the entire state who is under
eighteen years old that has died of the coronavirus. In Pennsylvania,
more people over the age of a hundred have died
of the coronavirus than people under the age of forty.
The average age of death is older than the average

(24:00):
age of death life expectancy wise in this country. That's
the stat that hardly gets any attention. Let me repeat
that the average person dying of the coronavirus is older
than the average age of death in this country. All
that stuff is wild. So I've talked a lot, because
it's been at the very essence of sports being shut

(24:24):
down for a hundred days. I've talked a lot about
the coronavirus, and we've talked a lot about testing. And
around five hundred thousand, roughly tests are going on every
single day in this country. And I can't speak for
what the particular testing rules are in every state out
there right now. So people are listening to us right

(24:46):
now in all fifty states, and I can't speak in
specific terms for what the rules are in your state.
But I decided, I've been thinking about doing this for
a while. I decided to actually go get a coronavirus
test here in Tennessee where I live in the Nashville area.

(25:06):
And so my wife looked it up because I was like,
I want to do this as efficiently as possible, Like
I don't want to sit in in a in a
in a you know, testing center, in a waiting room
for some long time. And she was like, Okay, they
have drive through testing. So I live in an area
of Nashville full disclosure, called Franklin, Tennessee. It's a little

(25:29):
town about twenty miles roughly outside of downtown Nashville. It's
in a county called Williamson County right south of town.
If you've ever driven through the Nashville area on sixty five,
as soon as you go south of the city, you
run right into the county that I live in. UH.
And so I was like, okay, where do I go?

(25:50):
And they have it's really pretty smartly designed. They have
a an area of fair grounds area in Williamson County
where they would have like the state fair, County fair,
whatever you want to call it. And they have a
live stock UH arena I guess you would call it.
I'm not sure what you would call it, but you
know how you can walk in livestock and then there's

(26:11):
a bunch of seats that surround kind of that arena. Well,
that's where they're doing the testing, the agg Expo, the
Agriculture Expo. And so at ten am in Nashville they
start to drive through testing and it goes from ten
to two every day at least right now, and so

(26:32):
I showed up right at ten am. There was a
line of cars waiting, not a very long line, but
you just pull right up. You never have to get
out of your car. There are two lines and you
there's a state trooper there who's kind of directing traffic.
There are a bunch of workers there in their PPE gear.

(26:53):
They walk up, you roll down your window, you give
them all your information. They write it down, put it
on your windshield, and you drive through. And then uh,
somebody comes up in the PPE gear and they they
tell you to close your eyes and think about something else, which,
by the way, when somebody tells you to close your

(27:14):
eyes and think about something else, not a good sign.
But then you tell it your head back and they
have these long like nasal swabs. I guess they're probably
called but it's probably I don't know. I mean, it's
a it's it's probably god, I don't know, twelve inches,
ten inches something like that. That they're holding it. There's
like a wand you know, like if you watched Harry Potter,

(27:35):
it's like they're holding a wand except its skinnier than that.
And you tell it your head back and they swab
all the way up, way up in your nasal passages.
By the way, they ask you to blow your nose
right before you do it. Uh, they go all the
way up to the you know, it feels like the
very top of your nasal passage with one of these, uh,
one of these probes, and then they do it with

(27:56):
the other one. The way that I would describe it
is if you've ever gone and jumped in a swimming
pool or a lake and you your nose was wide
open and you just sucked up water and your nose
like the water went all the way up your nose.
That's kind of what it felt like. It's unpleasant, but

(28:18):
it's super short in terms of the duration. I would probably,
if I had to choose, I would rather get a
nasal swab then I would, I think, give blood. Right,
kind of put it into context for people out there,
if you I would rather get a nasal swab certainly
than get my finger pricked. I hate getting my finger pricked.
I'm kind of a whits about that. Uh. And I

(28:40):
don't really like needles, so I don't like getting my
blood taken for you know, a physical or anything like that.
I'm still kind of a whiz around needles. So I'd
probably rather get my nose swabbed. But then they just
they put the nose swab in there and they tell you, hey,
you're gonna get your results. They now they did the
one day. On side I would say, is they said, hey,

(29:02):
your results They could take up to a week. You
can give them your cell phone number, you can give
them an email address and they just call and tell
you or that they can't get you on the phone.
They will email your results when they come in. So
I did it. So I have been tested. I feel fine,
I feel a perfect I didn't want to get tested

(29:23):
when there was some sort of mass shortage of tests
because I didn't feel like it was it was in
any way necessary. It still wasn't. But I feel as
if we have talked about this so much on the show,
and all these athletes are gonna be getting tested as
well on a daily basis, that I thought, why not
go do it? Oh and the other thing is it

(29:45):
only took me fifteen minutes, so I didn't have to
leave my car. And again I can't speak to any
other state, but in the state of Tennessee, I didn't
have to leave my car. It took fift een minutes
for me to go through the drive through basically and
get the testing done. It couldn't have been any more efficient,

(30:09):
it couldn't have been any more smooth. And again I
can't speak to how everybody is doing when it comes
to conducting this testing. But all of the employees there
were moving super fast. It was sudden, it was it
was just very well organized. It was very well done,
and I was kind of stunned by how fast it was.

(30:32):
So that's my story about getting tested. You guys have
any questions, because I don't think anybody else has been tested.
I'll start with you, Danny g any questions about what
my coronavirus. It's obviously different than what athletes will have
because they'll have their own, you know, team of doctors
or nurses that will be doing this for them. But
it felt super, super smooth, and I wouldn't be nervous

(30:56):
about it. Like if you told me that I had
to get I wouldn't want to do it. I wouldn't
want to get tested every day. But if you told
me I had to do it in order to make
millions of dollars to do my job, I'd be like, sure,
this is no big deal. And now we know you're
scared of needles. I'm not a needle guy. I've talked
about that on the show before. I don't like getting
my finger pricked, like I have a lot of sympathy
for my kids. When we go to the doctor and

(31:17):
they're like, Dad, are we gonna get shots? I'm like,
I hope not. I hope. I don't get it. I
don't hope. I don't have to get blood drawn either.
But you couldn't get a tattoo then, Oh, I don't know,
you would cry. I had a chess tattoo done a
couple of years ago. It was five hours of intense
just and I have a high threshold for pain. I
think I would rather have pain and an uncomfortable feeling.

(31:38):
You're saying it's uncomfortable. I hate when a doctor says,
all right, this is gonna be uncomfortable. Yeah, but it's Yeah.
There's a zero percent chance that I would ever get
a tattoo, for instance. I just think the purpose of
it is it makes no sense to me, and I
would like, why would I let somebody put a needle
on me when they don't have to? So yeah, I
have zero interest in getting a tattoo. How uncomfortable was

(32:00):
a scale of one to tend. I mean, for me,
it wasn't as uncomfortable as getting blood drawn. But I
think it depends on everybody's different, right in terms of
I mean, the the swab goes way way up your
nod feel like they were like poking the your brain almost.
I mean, I don't think, I I don't know. I
never knew that you could push a swab that far

(32:20):
up a nose. I mean, I guess it makes sense,
but yeah, it definitely felt like, uh, like it was
way up there, and it's an uncomfortable feeling. But it's
not like um, I mean I again, I would easily
do it if you told me right now, hey, in
order to make millions of dollars a year. And I
don't even know that they're going to use the nasal
swabs for every player. I think there are also other

(32:43):
tests where you could get your finger pricked or you know,
other aspects. But to me, it wasn't that bad. And
what blew me away was I mean fifteen minutes. Like
when you think about the amount of time that you
usually spend when you go to the doctor's office, how
much time do you spend in the weight room, how
much time do you spend when they bring you back
to that next room. I mean, to me, it's almost

(33:05):
impossible to go to a doctor's office and not spend
at least an hour there. Right, it doesn't matter what
you're going for. But it's very rare that these places
are so efficient that like you go in and your
back out in fifteen minutes. That's what blew me away
about this process was just how efficient it was. Flashback
to when this all started in March, it was so

(33:25):
hard to get a test, even for those that had
symptoms need a huge difference. Yeah, I think that, And
again I can't speak for all fifty states, but at
least in Tennessee, you can just get in your car,
drive up, get tested, and you don't have to have
symptoms at all. By the way, no cost, Like there's
zero cost at all, so it's completely free. Uh, dub

(33:46):
any questions from you about this. No, But it's funny
you mentioned this because I was on the phone with
one of my friends the other day and he is
planning on going to see his grandparents this weekend, so
he wouldn't he wouldn't got a drive through test. He
lives in Joy, Georgia. He said he went to a
CVS pharmacy, got the test through the drive through pharmacy window,
and he did the test himself. In his car, went

(34:08):
back around, handed it to him, and they're gonna give
him his results in like two days. So it seems like,
you know, at least in Tennessee and Georgia, this drive
through testing options seems pretty readily available for pretty much everybody. Yeah,
I mean you don't even literally have to get out
of your car. I mean you just roll down your window.
I mean, and again, there are a lot of other
ways to be tested. So I'm not saying you can't

(34:30):
go to a diagnostic center. And I'm not saying specifically
what the testing possibilities are in your state or city.
I'm just saying where I live in the Nashville area,
this drive through testing was super simple to do. And uh,
and I'm glad you mentioned that we're talking about going
back down to Florida for July four h for that week,

(34:52):
and my wife's dad and her step mom are potentially
going to be joining us there. They're up in Michigan,
and so if we're gonna be staying with him for
the week, I was also like, well, there's no harm
in getting tested because I can at least it's not
like I am getting exposed very often to people like
by and large. I work from home, you know, like

(35:12):
my kids are out and about, but it's not like
we're interacting going to you know, massive events. We might
go to a restaurant, but it's just us. So uh
that's also a positive. I'd like to get antibody testing too.
If somebody out there in uh, in the audience is like,
is doing that. I would be curious just to get
tested because, you know, prior to anybody even realizing the

(35:33):
coronavirus was there. Uh. I, for instance, was at the
Super Bowl where they think it might have been circulating,
and I was shaking hundreds of hands a day, so
uh so I might have been exposed to it. I
might have already had it, who knows. Um, But I
wouldn't mind getting an antibody test as well, just to
see how that goes. H any questions from you about
this process, Brian Finley, You know, Clay, it's interesting that

(35:57):
you pointed out that just because there are more cases
that are being announced doesn't mean that the percentages of
more people are getting it in the sense of the
rate of infection based upon more tests are readily available.
And you pointed out, Clay, that it can be convenient
for some who were commedia to just point out the
amount of cases and just go buy that and run

(36:18):
with it. Yeah, we've basically stayed for the last couple
of weeks right between a four and five percent rate
of positivity. And what that means is, even as we're
now doing roughly five hundred thousand tests, the numbers of
new daily cases have somewhat stayed steady, but the number

(36:38):
of people that are being tested has increased massively. So
we're talking about on average nive or nineties six percent
of all people being tested across the country right now
are coming back negative. And what we've done is we've
started to catch more people, like in the state of Florida.
I was giving you an example of younger people, because

(36:59):
a lot of people are getting tested as a precondition
potentially to go back and restart their work. And what
we're finding is a lot of these asymptomatic cases, people
who would have never otherwise known they had it. Maybe
I've got it. Maybe maybe my test is gonna come
back positive and I never even had a single symptom,
and I'll find out that I that I have it,

(37:20):
you know, I mean, it's possible, and uh, and I
think that's what's happening with a lot of younger people
out there who are getting tested that would have never
gone in to get tested otherwise. The number of cases
is staying around the same, but the severity of those
cases is diminishing because we're finding out this is far
more prevalent than maybe a lot of people thought from

(37:40):
the get go. Any questions from you, Roberto, Uh, when
they're when they're doing that thing, putting it up there
that you said, it's uncomfortable with that, like, uh, I
feel like you're you're breathing has been Uh no, because
you know, because it's so fast, like it's not as
I like, I I didn't have my phone out to
time it. I mean, that would have been an interesting idea.
I was the only thing that they said not to film,

(38:03):
so I was trying not to be on my phone,
uh very much while I was waiting in the in
the in the fifteen minute line. But they said that, uh,
you know that it's gonna be you know, uncomfortable think
about something else while they're doing it. But it was
pretty fast and and uh and I would say it's
a good question, like how long does it seem you know,
when something. When something is painful, it seems like it

(38:25):
might be longer, but I think it was no more
than five or ten seconds at most for each nostril
for them to go all the way up, swab around,
and then pull back out and put it into to
allow the testing to occur. I'll open up the phone
line so I bet there's a lot of you that
are curious about what is involved in this process. Eight
seven seven six six three six nine. We're scheduled to

(38:48):
have Marco Rubio, Senator from Florida, on an our number
three at a twenty a m. Eastern. Also, we've got
some audio Donald Trump was asked about Colin Kaepernick coming
back to the NFL. Will play that for you as well.
I appreciate all of you hanging out with us again,
opening up the phone lines UH for the Thursday edition
of the show for the first time eight seven seven

(39:10):
six three nine. If anybody out there wants to ask
me questions about that testing, I thought it would be
interesting to do. I did it, and now I know
what the athletes will be going through UH and what
the testing process is like, at least to some degree.
This is outkicked the coverage with Clay Travis. We'll see

(39:35):
what happens with Major League Baseball. I was texting with
the buddies yesterday and then about the latest ring around
the Roses here uh proposal, whether or not something's gonna
happen or it's all so much of a lot of
fluff and a lot of smoke and mirrors. That seems
so far, So I said, look, I'll believe that Major

(39:56):
League Baseball is coming back when they officially announced that
they are coming act. There's been too many twists and
turns to this story so far. But so far, the
latest proposal from the Major League Baseball owners is for
a sixty game season that would start July nine, it
would end September. Players would be paid their full pro

(40:20):
rated salaries, UH that's thirty seven percent of their full
season salaries, and they would get a few other of
the details that they have been seeking. That is the
latest proposal that has been put together by anyone out
there in the universe of the uh major League Baseball.

(40:40):
So potentially that returning I teased by the way, we
were going to do an animal thunder Dome an hour two.
It didn't happen, So we're gonna get to that, and
I'll spend more time I promise talking about this list tomorrow.
But in counting down the ten most valuable sports media
people according to the list at out kick, I would

(41:03):
encourage you guys to go check this out out kick
dot com. Go read it. Adam Schefter number ten, Scott
Van Pelt number nine, Colin Cowherd number eight, Charles Barkley
number seven, Mike Tarico number six, Joe buck In the

(41:25):
fifth spot, Stephen A. Smith number four overall, Tony Romo
number three overall. By the way, I had nothing to
do with this list at all. Bill Simmons number two overall,
and uh they gave Dave Portnoy at Barstool the number
one rank. I wouldn't have had that exact same top

(41:46):
ten myself. But you can go check it out at
out kick and you will be able to able to
check it out. So having said all that, we're gonna
be joined by Marco Rubio here shortly. But first it's
animal Thunderdome time. What do you got for me? Danny
g We haven't done an animal thunderdome a lot, ladies

(42:13):
and gentleman. I'm just glad I was scared boys and goods.
I thought he thought I was like this genormous piece
of chicken. Dim times I had to my Space. This
is Animal Thunderdome. By the way, what do you think
Marco Rubio thinks about his leading being the Animal Thunderdome

(42:34):
Like his people are probably listening right now, like hey,
let's go monitor and see what they're talking about. And
I'm about to say, Okay, straight from the Animal Thunderdome,
we go to the United States Senate. But fire away.
I'm sure he would love it. Because I have too
Florida stories to Let's start with Diego though Diego. A
few months back, I did a story on Diego, the
world famous stud tortoise, as he was preparing to retire. Well,

(42:57):
as seen on OutKick dot Com, Diego's back in the news.
His retirement is now official now he saved his giant
tortoise species. If you don't know about his story, he's
gonna go down in the record books for fathering around
of the entire species around fifty years ago. He's the
Genghis Khan of Turtley. Yes, there were only two males

(43:19):
and twelve females of his specific species in Spain, but
they were too spread out to reproduce, so they brought
in Diego to get busy. Literally, he is responsible for
more than two thousand giant tortoises. He saved the species
by having sex. That's like a lot of men's dreams
out there. What, by the way, if you had to
pick two people to repopulate the earth, what would be

(43:42):
the best male and female? That we didn't do a
whole hour on this, Let's save that one. Who would
be the best male and femal? Open up phone lines?
Best male and female to repopulate the earth? Who do
we want to be our Diego? You don't need an answer,
Just think about it, all right? That that I was
going to go straight to the to the female choices
there all right. By the way, scientists say that Diego

(44:03):
is a straight to the point kind of guy who
was quite aggressive, active and vocal in his mating habits.
Good for Diego, job well done by him. He is
going to be on a deserted island in Thelapagus. Yeah,
now those were Darwin went and found the theory of
evolution the Galapagos. You're right, and it's in the Pacific
Ocean west of the coast of Ecuador. He's ready to

(44:26):
just retire. Yeah, he's gonna kick it by himself. Hopefully
they put some fine female tortoises there on the island
for him. How does that work, Clay, Because he's responsible
now for all of those giant tortoises there. So, like,
you know what I mean, is he hooking up with family?
That's a that's a dark turn. I hope the tortoise
population isn't filled with incest. It's like ancient, It's like

(44:49):
the royal kingdoms back in the day. All right, let's
let's go to Florida. Gotta love this headline. Florida man
fistfights alligator to save his dog. There. We Oh, I
didn't know. I haven't heard about this. Yeah, here's News
eight with the story. The gator grabbed the dog by
the front arm and dragged him into the water. There.
Trent to Adele and his dog Loki are recovering after

(45:12):
a Monday morning walk on his Wesley Chapel farm turned
vicious dog at his front Paws in the river here
that swelled after after all the rain, and the dog
was attacked by a gator. According to tw Adele, in
the blink of an eye, a nearly thirteen foot gator
had it scripts on his six year old rescue pup. Twadele,
a former Army staff sergeant, quickly reacted and found himself

(45:35):
in a tug of war with the large reptile. I
grabbed the dog's collar to try to pull him back, uh,
and I ended up in a tug of war match
with this gator, and the gator was not letting go.
So I let go of the collar and I got
about knee deep into the water and UM started pounding
on the gator's head until he eventually let go. Twadell

(45:56):
got away with minor scratches, but Loki had to under
go emergency surgery after his front leg was nearly severed.
In the meantime, Twiddele tells w f l a dot
com he won't rest until he catches their attacker. With
the help of Florida Fish and Wildlife, he set a
trap for the gator on his property. Trapper did not
have any baits, so I grabbed one of my roosters

(46:18):
and we we used him as bait for the trap.
We haven't had any luck yet. Third Team foot alligator.
I mean, that's a huge alligator to get into the
water and fight with it over the dog. Don't mess
with former US military gator punched it in the head.
No kid. Also that dog was named Loki, like the

(46:40):
like the superhero. By the way to what Else says
he has six more roosters in his freezer that can
be used as bait. I mean, I kind of I
want a live cam of this guy in the thirteen
foot alligator. I mean a third teen foot If it's
truly a thirteen foot alligator, that is a monstrous size
alligata and it's on his property. See that's the thing,

(47:03):
besides the humidity and all that, I would not want
to share my property. Well, there's a lot of things
about Miami and Florida that I love, but I would
not want to share my property with alligators. I mean,
a thirteen foot alligator is a monster size alligator to
go into the water fighting over. And how about the dog?
I don't understand. Like the part of this story that
doesn't make sense to me is the alley. I would

(47:25):
think how big was the dog? It doesn't say, but
I would think that if a thirteen foot alligator comes
out of the water quickly and grabs the dog, that
it would be almost impossible too, for a man to
grab the dog and not have the like, how does
the how does the gator not immediately get the dog

(47:46):
and get back in the water. You got one of
the dog's legs which back on. Yeah, you're right though,
I mean, I guess the gator just didn't open up
wide enough, because I would think that the alligator would
just be so strong that what I'm getting at is
that you wouldn't be able, like he says he grabbed
the dog's collar and played him back. Yeah, Like, how
can you pull? How can you be stronger than a

(48:07):
thirteen foot alligator if he's trying to pull the opposite direction.
I guess the gator was just trying to get a
nibble on the dog at first. But a bad mistake
by the gator. He picked the wrong guy to mess with,
You did, alright? Another Florida story here, a python hunter
in Florida said he might have a new record on
his hands after bagging a seventeen foot snake that put
up a fierce fight. Martin County trapping and wildlife rescue

(48:30):
owner Mike Kimmel, known as the Python Cowboy, posted photos
and videos to his i G account showing his struggle
with his python and the injuries that followed the successful capture,
Kimmel said the snake left him bleeding from his arm.
This ain't good. I think she got an artery, he says.
The hunter's injury was treated, and the Burmese python, captured

(48:53):
on Everglade Spoil Island in the Francis S. Taylor Wildlife
Management Area, was euthanized. The snake, measuring more than seventeen
feet long and weighing about a hundred and fifty pounds,
maybe a new record. Kimmel says he's waiting to hear
back from state officials on whether it is a record. Yeah,
that I mean seventeen feet. That is longer than what

(49:15):
is a free throw line? I think that's I think
if you lined up, I've forgotten how far it is.
But I think a free throws like a my right,
sixteen feet double lookup how far a free throw is?
I think this allt I think this python is longer
than the entire free throw link. If you're contemplating how
big that is, fifteen feet even, Yeah, so that that

(49:40):
python would extend almost all the way to the three points. Yeah,
So basically where shack stood way behind the old the
old college three point line is is almost that's how
long that that python would be. It sounds like. But
by the way, one of the worst jobs ever would
be a python hunter. I hate snakes. But nineteen foot

(50:01):
or with seventeen foot or whatever the heck it was,
that's that's that's and this guy couldn't get the bleeding
to stop on his arm. Cool job, all right, last
one here. Police in Australia got involved in a really
strange chase on Tuesday when a pair of race horses
escaped from a training facility and went running through busy
roads in urban areas in Australia. Authorities say that the

(50:22):
horses escaped Tuesday morning from the lark Kill Thoroughbred training facility.
Apparently they were spooped by nearby kangaroos. The horses bucked
their riders and uh then one of the horses was
soon caught on this video that's gone viral running down
the grass median of a busy road with a police
car chasing it. The horse was captured about five miles

(50:43):
away from the scene of the video. The second horse
was captured by police at the city of Rockingham when
it approached a shopping center. The horses were returned to
the training facility uninjured. But imagine just driving down the
road there in Western Australia and you see a race
horse is being chased by a police car. No, and
it's perfect Australia story that somehow the racehorses were spooked

(51:05):
by kangaroos, right, I mean that you know you you uh,
that's that's vintage Australia. All we needed was like a
crocodile to uh to make an appearance, and it would
have been perfect. Maybe a quala bear. Everything would have
been fantastic. All right, when we come back, we're gonna
be joined scheduled to be joined by Senator Marco Rubio
of Florida. He is introducing legislation on name, image, and

(51:26):
Likeness that would theoretically allow college students, particularly in the
world of college football and basketball, to be paid. What
is the purpose of this legislation? Does he think it
will pass? And we'll dive into some other questions as well.
Among them, does he think Kyle Trask I believe I'm
correct that Senator Rubio is a big Florida Gator fan.

(51:47):
Does he think that Kyle Trask can be the version
of Joe Burrow. We will discuss that more. Be sure
to catch live editions about Kicked the coverage with Clay
Travis week days at six am Eastern, three am Pacific.
We are joined now by Senator Marco Rubio from the
great State of Florida. Senator Rubio, thanks for coming on

(52:07):
with us. Up the morning is going well, Hey, good morning.
It's only eight o'clock so I think it happened. But
so far, so good. All right, join the club there. Uh,
let's talk a little bit about before we get into
this name, image and likeness. Bill, you are a big
fan I believe I'm correct of the Miami Dolphins and
the Florida Gators. I think that's true. All right, let's
start with the Miami Dolphins. What do you think of

(52:29):
the to a draft pick and how do you think
he's going to do as a member of the Dolphins.
Do you expect him to play? What kind of optimism
do you have in the Brian Flores regime as we
get ready for year two? Well, I'm very optimistic about
coach Flora's you know, it's being a little bit around
the franchise. I mean, he's a leader. Everybody raves about that,
and even the guys who have left the team and

(52:50):
and gone to different places. And uh, as far as
the two, I don't know him obviously, I've watched him
as a fan of the SEC and look, he's a
special kid. I mean when you see a guy come
in at half time at eighteen years of age in
the national championship game, you know, in front of the
entire you know, country, and and take a bad sack, right,
I think it was on a second down and overtime,
and then just come back like if nothing happened on

(53:11):
third down and look a safety off and hit this
guy down the sideline to win the national championship. He's
eighteen years old, so you know, it gives you some
some confidence about his what's what's inside him? And actually
it's a guy I've watched since high school. I'm a
big fan of high school, so I remember him and
the Elite eleven and all the quarterback deals. So he's, uh,
he's got the real quick release. He's scary accurate. Obviously

(53:34):
that he I think he'd be the second pick in
that draft, maybe the third, had it not been for
the freak hip injury. So My understanding is he's in
the building or it was yesterday for the first time,
so they'll have a better assessment of it. But I
think when he's ready to play, he's gonna play. They
didn't draft him to hold the clipboard, so it'll just
be up to that, all right. So you're also a
Florida Gator fan. Florida Now, Dan Mullin seems to have

(53:57):
things going pretty well last year due to the injury
to Frank's incomes a guy Kyle Trask not a lot
of expectation about him. He played fantastically. Well, how good
do you think he can be now that he's got
the team? He's had the entire offseason. What do you
expect from him now this year? You know, it's funny.
I used to hear about him all the time from

(54:18):
guys that were coaching there, had coached there, and they'd
all say, you know, this guy is good. I mean
he's very good. Obviously, always with the caveat that Felippe
was going to be the starter and so forth. But
then he gets a chance to play and you could
just see, you know, there's a lot of things working
for him. He's a big, strong guy, he's very smart,
he's mature. You know, I think he's a grad student
now at this point, and I think it might be
twenty two at this point one, and he's got that

(54:39):
season under his belt, and you know, they continue to
you know, Florida now has playmakers across the field. And
you know, Dan I think is one of those guys
that has been one of the innovators from his time
back in Utah. A sort of this position lest football
right where you basically are putting five guys on the
field that are they're basically playmakers and no matter if
you line them up wide or in the backfield. And
what you really need is a guy to kind of

(55:00):
distribute that accurately and smart and and and that's what
I think they have. So defensively, you don't think they're
young obviously, especially back in the secondary, but they've got
some guys to play. Florida is gonna be in the mix.
It's just the SEC. I mean, it's like, you know,
it's a very tough place to get out of. You know, uh,
when you look at l s U and Alabama and
and teams like that, that that and and some of

(55:21):
the other programs that I think are on an up
swinging on Kentucky and stuff and so forth. So but
I feel good about floor. I think the program is
back on the right track and a very good positive direction.
So I'm excited about that. We're talking to Senator Marco
Rubio of Florida. How important is football and sports in
general being back to the country, retaining and regaining a

(55:42):
sense of normalcy given what we've been going through. Well, look,
I mean it starts out with the fact that just
because you're a football player, you're not. It's not to
make you sort of a Roman gladiator, right, I mean,
your life it has to be you know, your safety
issues have to be taken into account, and not not
just for the players, but for the coaches, officials and
everybody else that's working in these things. So I think
you we've learned a lot over the last few months

(56:02):
about how the spreads and how it could be prevented,
and who it hurts the most and so forth. You
have to have right protocols in place. That said, if
you look at the state of our country, okay, and
the divisions that we have, there are increasingly less and
less places that become sort of a shared experience among Americans.
I mean, increasingly we get our news from different outlets
that tell us what we want to hear. Uh. You know,

(56:23):
politics seems to have infused itself into our identity as
individuals to to a point where there are people that
have been longtime friends even family members that stopped speaking
to each other after the twenty sixteen election. But the
one place where you kind of see people have continue
to have sort of a common interest where on Saturday
afternoons uh in the fall, or Sundays across the NFL,

(56:44):
you have people or any sport for that matter, you
have people of all kinds of backgrounds and political views
have a common experience, and that is they are a
fan of a team and they want that team to
be successful. So it really is important not to distract
us from the problems. There's no doubt these problems need
to be confronted. They're serious, they're real, They've been ignored
for far too long. But to sort of continue to

(57:05):
give us the sort of unifying experience as a country.
So I don't want to overstate it, but I do
think it matters, especially given everything that's gone on this year.
Would you take so I'm a season ticket holder, for
the Tennessee Titans. I've said on the show, and we're
talking to Senator Marco Rubio, that I would take assuming
that there are protocols in place and that fans are
allowed to go to games. I know you have kids.

(57:25):
I've got three young kids. I would take my kids.
I'd go with my wife to a football game this fall.
Would you go into a Florida Gator game or two
a Miami Dolphin game if there are protocols in place
to allow fans, would you take your family? I would?
And obviously we're gonna wear a mask. You know. Some
people say, I don't know that, you can't make me.
I would. I would wear a mask. It's like we
were a seatbelt, you know. I would make sure that

(57:47):
we're taking all the safety protocols because ultimately the bottom
line is that we we cannot look. This virus is
a serious virus obviously is going to kill some people,
unfortunately and tragically, you know, and so we have to
take it very serious. But as long as there's no vaccine,
as long as there's no cure, it will remain a
threat and we will have infections. And so what we

(58:08):
have to do is we have to mitigate the risk.
We have to prevent the spread. We have to do
things to protect ourselves and to protect others, But we
can't and definitely shut down the economy of our lives.
It's just not it's not a reasonable proposition, and people
won't comply anyways. So I think the obligation that we
have is to continue to put money towards developing the
vaccine and the treatments that we need to diminish and

(58:30):
or eliminate the risk, but also to take steps to
inform the public of how they can protect themselves, and
and mass gatherings to try to enforce to the extent
possible or encourage those practices. But um, but sure, I
mean I would obviously, but it would be a different
kind of experience, right, It wouldn't be you know, I
don't think you can be about to pack you know,

(58:50):
people that are not from the same households right on
top of each other. So there's no doubt that the
season this year is going to be different. It's gonna
be different up and down from high school all the
way up to the NFL. I mean, it's and and
and and all the other sports. We're talking to Marco Rubio,
senator from Florida. You can find him on Twitter at
Marco Rubio. I saw your staff, UH notified and they
also sent out tweets. We're talking about the importance of

(59:13):
sports coming back. I believe you had a phone conversation
with Rob Manford, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, about
the importance of Major League Baseball coming back. What can
you tell me about that conversation. Are you optimistic as
someone in the state of Florida, certainly there are teams
in Miami and in Tampa Bay major League Baseball? Are
you optimistic that Major League Baseball will be back this summer?

(59:34):
And what did that conversation with the commissioner? What was
it like? Yeah, and I called him, you know, I mean,
I reached out to Major Baseball. I told him, you know,
I was gonna so I'll be saying something about it
pretty soon, but I wanted them to know. And then
I was able to speak to the commissioner on the phone,
and basically, you know, I got from that conversation that
he wants there to be a season that he sees
a pass forward that obviously, you know, players have to

(59:54):
agree and you have to have anything in place, but
he felt, you know, cautiously optimistic, and so you know,
I want to are in that optimism. And again, look,
I mean I think it is important to do it
in a way that the players are protected and so forth.
But by the same token, you know, I think that
that um, you know, we have people whose jobs I
mean people think there's just about the players, and we
have people who work at these stadiums down at Marlins

(01:00:15):
Park over where the Rays play, and and they're not
working right now. I mean whether the event staff, the
concessions folks, and and all the suppliers to that that
are being hurt by it, so that there is a
spillover effect beyond simply the fan base and the sports. So,
like I said, I'm cautiously optimistic. I think the players
want to play. I think the owners want to play,
and I think the question is whether they can agree,

(01:00:36):
obviously on the terms of how that will look like,
whether it's you know, sixty games or whatever it is
that they're debating right now. We didn't get into the
details of that conversation, but he didn't go into detail.
I don't necessarily want to be involved in the labor negotiation.
It's not it's not what my job is, but I
but I do know that. I just wanted to reiterate
how important it is for the country to be able
to have events like this, if it can be done

(01:00:57):
safely and in a way that that everybody agrees to
do it. And so I left that conversation consciously optimistic.
I hope they'll be good news in the next few days.
We'll find out here pretty soon. I guess Marco Rubio,
senator from Florida with us, so you we talked about
college football in the fact that you're a Florida Gator fan.
One of the challenges that's going on right now is
we are starting to see a patchwork of state legislation

(01:01:20):
dealing with players rights to profit off their name, image
or likeness, the ability to sign autographs, the ability to
get an endorsement, maybe to post on Instagram or Twitter.
Uh and as a result that could be a little
bit complicated. The state of Florida has passed a law
that would go into effect next year. You, I believe,
are planning to introduce or or have already introduced, you

(01:01:41):
can give us the latest on this, a name, image
and Likeness bill that would allow college athletes to profit
off of their name, image and likeness. What exactly are
you introducing and why is it important for federal legislation
to be involved. Well, let me say selfishly, it's just
from a fans perspectives, I wouldn't do anything because it's Florida.
Allow California now have an advantage, right And that is

(01:02:02):
the beginning. And at the end of June and next year. Uh,
and if an athlete comes to the University of Miami
or comes to Central Florida, or comes to the University
of Florida FSU or South Florida, what have you um,
They're they're gonna be able to be able to make
some money on their name, image and likeness. And that
even if it's not a booster not doing it, but
just the fact that that's in place is going to

(01:02:22):
be a recruiting advantage. The problem we have is college
football at particularly the monetize sports or college football basketball.
The guys with the TV contracts, these sports are not
gonna be able to survive long term if you have
fifty different states and and recruiting becomes impacted and by this,
so we need to have a national standard. I don't
think Congress should write the national standard. Frankly, I think

(01:02:43):
the n C double A needs to. And so what
the bill does is a basically says the n C
double A has until the end of June of next
year to come up with what that standard looks like.
And and it it puts some senses around that. You know,
they have to allow them to have professional representation. You know, UM,
again the subject to the to the laws that that
regulate agents, and and and and and so forth. They

(01:03:05):
have to require disclosures so that to both the university
and and the n C double A, so we know
who's compensating players and so forth. It has to preserve
their amateur status. It has to UM has to have
appropriate measures in place to make sure that it's not
part of recruiting or that boosters are not getting involved
in this at the front end going after high school athletes.

(01:03:25):
But other than that, it's up to them to design it.
If they do not design it by June thirty, then
the Federal Trade Commission is empowered UH to UH to
authorize rules under the Unfair Deceptive Practices Statutes. So, UM,
you know that that is and it but it would
preempt the state laws so now you would have a
national standard across the board for all fifty states, as
opposed to this patchwork, which I think would be, you know, devastating.

(01:03:48):
I just say this to people that debate about whether
or not athletes who are amateurs should be able to
earn some compensation for their name, their image, and their likeness,
that that's no longer the issue. That that's happening state
to state, Two big states, two of the three largest
states in the country, have now passed a law allowing
that The only issue now that remains is are we
going to have fifty different laws out there about how

(01:04:10):
it's regulated, or are we going to have a uniform
and even playing field. And if we don't have a
uniform and even playing field, I think it will severely
damage college athletics up and down to all the sports,
including the ones that may not generate a lot of
revenue but depend on the revenue from the other from
the other sports. What are you hearing from Democrats Republicans?
Does this seem to be a part is an issue
or is it one that many different Democrats and Republicans

(01:04:32):
agree with you on. Well, I don't think it falls
along partisan lines. I do think it falls along a
couple of lines. The first is there are people that
still believe college athletes should not earn any compensation for
their name, image and likeness, or that they're amateurs, that
they're getting a scholarship and that that's benefit enough. And
my argument to them is that that debate is over
once these states started passing these laws, that's not the

(01:04:52):
issue any longer. And unless they want to pass a
bill that that bans at which I don't think would pass.
So then the second question is, if that debate is
no longer gone on, what should it look like, you know?
And and then I think you get into areas where
some you know, want to encourage the ability of student
athletes to organize the unions and so forth. You know,
with that that again, I don't believe that that is

(01:05:13):
what the scope of our legislation should be about it. It
It should basically be something that sort of strongly encourages.
Put it to you that way, the n C double
a to put in place these rules that they know
they have to put in place. What we don't want
to see is a five year delay, a three year delay,
you know, the sort of put off on the back
burner kind of deal. So, you know, I think it
falls along those two lines. And but there are some

(01:05:33):
that are still resistant to the idea of college athletes
being compensated. But I think that that argument is no
longer relevant because states are already making that decision. I
saw the President weight in on this yesterday. Colin Kaepernick
in the NFL has become a big flash point once again.
What do you think about the idea of Colin Kaepernick
playing in the NFL after not being in the league

(01:05:54):
the last three years. I think that's a football decision.
I mean, look, I've said this before. I don't know
what condition he's in now. It's I think he hasn't
played since seen but at least when I was asked
about this a year and a half ago. I just
find it hard to believe that there are sixty four
better quarterbacks in the country than he has, given his
background experience. I mean, we've you know, they're people are

(01:06:16):
being signed you know, off the street in their forties
last year, I believe, or a couple of years ago
to come in his backups. So obviously I don't think
that the fact he has the reason he hasn't been
signed is not just football. I mean, obviously, it's the
everything that comes with it. I've also said that I
obviously I agree on the message of racial inequities and discrimination. Um,

(01:06:36):
you know, I don't personally agree that kneeling is the
right way to protest it, but I defend his right
to do it. He most certainly, as an American, has
a right to do it. And I don't think you
forfeit that right because you're a professional athlete. And I
think you forfeit that right because um, you played for
an NFL franchise, and um, I think that's where the
league has now arrived. So the the issue he points

(01:06:59):
to as a legitimate on You don't have to agree
with the methodology, but I agree he has a right
to do it. And ultimately, you know, I think if
you're again, I can't appine this to where he is
today compared to the people that are in the league.
But at least, you know, a couple of years ago,
and certainly as the last year, I didn't feel like
him not playing in the league was solely a football
decision because you see some of the guys that are

(01:07:20):
their backup quarterbacks in the NFL, and you know, Kaepernicks
want a lot more games than some of those guys
have and played in the Super Bowl and so, um,
you know, there's more to it than just um, than
just football. Last question for you, what's your favorite football
game that you have ever watched, either as a Florida
Gator fan or as a Miami Dolphin fan. What do

(01:07:42):
you think about when you go back and kind of
as all fans do, relive fond memories involving your favorite team,
what do you think about? Ye and the Orange Bowl,
the Dolphins against the undefeated Bears. And it was an
atmosphere like any others who were called the Bears, you know,
or they had not lost the only game they lost
that season. A bunch of the old seventy two Dolphins

(01:08:02):
are on the sideline, and uh, you know, and on
Monday night football, huge pack crowd, I mean, the the
it was electric that night in that place. And um,
and that was I mean, I don't think it'd be
hard to top at the Orange Bowl was a special
place to play and watch football. And and that game
itself just set up perfectly, you know, and the and
the Dolphins obviously went on to win that game, and

(01:08:23):
um and the Bears went on to win that Super Bowl,
But but that that there. I mean, there are a
lot of other great memories, but that one stands out.
I think in my mind it would be hard to
match that. I hope. So I hope there'll be some
some great to a memory here soon that my kids
will get to share with me. But as a right now,
that five game in the Orange Bowl stands out of
my mind. Do your kids understand how good Dan Marino was,

(01:08:45):
like you that they met him, you know, and to
do with a lot of guys trying to replace Dan Marino.
But when you sit down and talk to your kids,
like I was talking to my kids about Jordan. We
watched the documentary, but I would imagine as a Dolphin fan,
trying to explain to your kids what Dan Marino meant
to South Florida is almost impossible, isn't it. No? Yeah,
I mean, thank god for YouTube. Right, So, like I remember,

(01:09:05):
you know, I've I've played, you know for them some
of the incredible, you know games that the things that
he was able to do. I recall when he came
back from the Achilles I think it was season and uh,
you know, and he's it was I think there was
like a fourth and whatever and and and he sort
of instead of going for the first down, just let's
it go down the right sideline. Irving Fryar makes a

(01:09:26):
catch that they beat the Patriots in this shootout that
he had with Drew Blood. So you know, moments like that,
And I want to be honest with you as a fan,
I think he sort of we took it for granted,
you know that that we had that in front of us.
And um, so yeah, they actually met Danny and they've
been around him a couple of times and so forth,
and that they know that I was a really good player.
I just think it's hard, um to to sort of

(01:09:46):
capture that if you didn't live it in the moment.
I think a lot of us took it, took that
for granted, you know. And my only regret, as damn
Render didn't play in this NFL. You know, where you
couldn't hit a guy over the middle, where you couldn't
touch the quarterback. I mean, I I don't know what
kind of numbers he would have put up, but it
would be right up there with whatever anyone else is
doing right now. Yeah, And I know I said last question,
but now that you mentioned that, how excited were you

(01:10:07):
when Tom Brady left? I know he's with the box,
and I know you have to be like, hey, I'm
excited that he's in the state of Florida. But as
an a f C East Dolphins fan, you had to
be ecstatic beyond belief when you heard that Brady was
finally leaving Belichick. Yeah. So the only time the Dolphins
have won this division um in the last you know,
in the Brady era, was the year that he went
down with a knee injury. So I don't wish injuries

(01:10:27):
upon anybody, So to me, it was a two fer, right.
I mean, he's in Tampa Bay playing for a great coach,
He's surrounded by a bunch of talent, and that that
that team is a legit contender obviously assuming they can
hold it all together and make it happen. And so
he's in Florida, So he helps a Florida franchise, but
he's out of the a f C East and I
and and that's very good because I think that really
opens it up, you know, for for the Bills in particular,

(01:10:48):
I think are a little ahead of the other teams
in that division, right, now and and um and so
it's good. You know, well, I think it's a two
for one. I have no problem saying that I'm legitimately
happy for the Bucks because we don't now, we don't
have the plays guy twit no kidding. Marco Rubio, I
appreciated good luck with the legislation. Thanks for coming on
with us this morning. Thanks for having me, that is
Senator Marco Rubio. At Marco Rubio, thank him for coming

(01:11:09):
on