September 10, 2026 • 38 mins
Stugotz and Company take calls. Stu and the guys welcome former NFL quarterback Brock Huard onto the show to get his reaction to the Seahawks' win Wednesday night. Tennis analyst Patrick McEnroe joins the program to talk everything U.S. Open.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to Stugatz and Company live podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from 3 to
5 p.m.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Eastern, noon to 2 p.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Find your local station for Stugatz and Company live at
foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio
app by searching FSR.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Now let's get this party started.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Brock Ewer going to join us in about 10 minutes
or so. Patrick McEnroe, I finally get to talk some tennis.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
U.S.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Open has been great. Taylor and Mikey A. will not
indulge me. So therefore, I had to go to my
friend Patrick McEnroe to talk some U.S. Open tennis.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
We do have a call here, 877-99 on Fox. Again,
Brock Ewer, Patrick McEnroe coming up later this hour. Taylor
just said to me in my headphones right before we
got started, if Cooper Rush starts for the Falcons... I
am not turning that game on.
Speaker 5 (00:59):
If my two options were watch tennis or watch Falcons
with Cooper Rush against the Steelers.
Speaker 6 (01:04):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
Then I'm with you, Stu.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I'm choosing tennis every time.
Speaker 6 (01:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
The only reason you're tuning into the Falcons because they
have a talented team and good players at the skill position.
And Bijan Robinson was on with us earlier this week.
But you want to see if Tua could turn it around.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Right?
Speaker 5 (01:19):
Yeah, I have no interest in watching Cooper Rush try
to keep them afloat.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
A rush to change the channel.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
That's what it would be.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
No, he's flatly saying it's never landing on his television.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Period.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
Won't even get quad box consideration.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Let's go out to Michael, who's in Virginia today. Michael,
go ahead. You're on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 7 (01:39):
Hey, Steve Dodge. First time caller. Just want to appreciate
you're doing a very good job. I love the show.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Thank you, buddy. Appreciate it.
Speaker 7 (01:46):
So, this backup... One of the reasons why he's in
the Hall of Fame, not the reason why, there's many
reasons why he was above it, but one of the
reasons why he's in the Hall of Fame was because,
and this guy is Steve Young, he was backing up
Joe Montana for like one or two seasons before he
became the starter. And he got a ring.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Right, but I don't recall Young ever coming in as
a true backup. I feel like Young was just waiting
his turn until Montana left.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Is that fair?
Speaker 7 (02:14):
Yeah but it was like one or two maybe three
seasons he was just there as backup and he also
he was the highest paid backup and at the time
when he was backing up the you know the all-time
great Joe Montana if we count.
Speaker 5 (02:27):
Steve Young it feels like we would almost have to
count Aaron Rodgers backing up Brett Favre for a couple
of years.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Or Brady backing up Bledsoe for that first season right
It's got to be a true backup, a guy who's
just not good enough to start, but when he comes in,
he gets the job done.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
A backup quarterback's name has to make you laugh a little,
like Charlie Batch.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Perfect. Yes, yes, Charlie Batch. Jason Garrett.
Speaker 8 (02:51):
I mean, who's benefited more from being a backup quarterback
with the Cowboys than Jason Garrett?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Nobody has.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
He parlayed it into head coaching jobs and a position
at NBC Sports.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Taylor feels like Jason Garrett. Do you agree with this, Dan?
Why don't you give him your Jason Garrett take here?
It's laugh out loud funny.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Jason Garrett reminds me of an alien who's dressed in
a human suit.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And when he gets back to the hotel, he unzips
his skin. What a long day.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
You really fooled the humans today.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Dan, as a professional broadcaster, and you are one, the
only one on this show, How'd you feel about Tomlin's
performance at.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
NBC last night?
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Solid.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I think he's good.
Speaker 6 (03:36):
Really?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yep. Okay.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I have him coaching the Jets by week five. Brock,
you are going to join us coming up next.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Be sure to catch live editions of Stu Godson Company
live weekdays at 3 p.m. Eastern, 12 p.m.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Pacific.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Very excited to have Brock Eward with us. This man
is a monster in Seattle. Brock and Salk, they have
the biggest radio show going. They just had a conversation
with Seahawks head coach Mike McDonald. The big show in town, man.
Gets the head coach the day after the game. How
was that conversation with Coach McDonald, Brock?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
You know, Stu, it has come a long ways.
Speaker 8 (04:15):
So we had had coach Carol for like a dozen
years and you know, coach Carol, easy to him up
and he loves to go and maybe over shares like the,
the president of communications, Dave Pearson is always in that
room with us. And there'd be many times you look
at Pete and like, And coach McDonald kind of the inverse.
(04:41):
Everything stays in there. We've had upwards of 17 second
pauses on live radio. So a very thoughtful thinks through
everything processes. You see it on their sideline demeanor as
well between Pete and Mike. Couldn't be any more different.
But over the years, we've gained, I think, a little
bit equity and trust with Mike. And now, and you
(05:02):
felt him on Hard Knocks, right? Y'all got to see
him behind the scenes and just the most genuine, vulnerable,
like just authentic guy there is and super comfortable in
his skin now communicating.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And he was pretty pumped for that. Finding a way.
Speaker 6 (05:17):
Right.
Speaker 8 (05:17):
I mean, last night was finding a way when it
looked a little bleak at times when it was hard,
when there's backups playing and backups in the secondary and
backup a quarterback. But man, they got proof of concept.
They believe in their ready squad mentality. And I think
it came to life last night.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Brock, what did coach have to say about about Sam Darnold,
about that injury and about how long he's expecting Sam
to be out?
Speaker 8 (05:42):
Yeah, so I think on the scale of most horrific news,
Bo Jackson, broken hip, career-threatening, that's a 0% chance. On
the chance of it's just a hip pointer, a little
tweak muscle, he's back next week, that's probably also like
a 0% chance. But there's nothing structural. There's nothing fractured.
(06:05):
Adam reported that last night, Schefter. And then he's had
the MRI this morning, and Coach just kind of shared
with us that he's It is more muscular, kind of
ligament muscular, and you don't really know. But as far
as like worst case, they dodged that. And that's good
news for Sam and the team. Now it's like, okay,
how quickly does the swelling, the pain, the functionality, how quickly.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Does all of that resolve itself? You just don't, with
that joint in particular, you just don't know.
Speaker 8 (06:35):
I probably doubtful for 11 days from now with Arizona,
but I don't think it's going to be something hopefully
that stretches into the month long period.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
Brock, I didn't think we were going to see a
repeat from the Super Bowl with Drake May just because
of the moving pieces that Seattle had on defense. What
is it about Mike McDonald's defense where every time Drake
May drops back? it seems like he's second guessing what
he's seeing out there.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Because everything is hard. Like everything is hard.
Speaker 8 (07:02):
Unless you're Matthew Stafford for every other quarterback, like everything
is like pre-snap post-nap.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Like, what am I looking at? What am I seeing?
Speaker 8 (07:10):
You know, we had kind of a fun exercise this
off season through some relationship with Phillip rivers and Kirk
cousins to get them to come onto our show and
try to like bring to life how difficult it is
to play Mike's scheme. And Philip was amazing. I mean,
he was so funny as a little Southern deal, like, man,
(07:31):
they then just don't give you anything.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Like you just don't, you know, there's no tail.
Speaker 8 (07:34):
There's no, you know, usually somebody gives you something on defense.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Maybe it's the safety, but they don't.
Speaker 8 (07:42):
You know, they're disguised and it's so hard on a quarterback,
even ones with decades of experience. And then you get
someone like Dre that is still in this system, right?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
One year under his belt and they had answers in
the first half.
Speaker 6 (07:57):
Right?
Speaker 8 (07:58):
I thought Collinsworth did an awesome job of like, here,
they're going to throw into the pressure. McDonald talked to
us this morning about it. Like, yeah, they made adjustments.
You know, they, they handled their protections differently. They made
some adjustments. They had answers in that first half and
it forced Mike and staff to then change. And when
they adjusted Drake and staff could not adjust because they're just,
(08:20):
were not answers. And you started to see the same
look in his face and, the same demeanor in his
body that you saw in that super bowl of holy crap.
I don't know what I'm looking at. And I'm making
like juvenile mistakes. I'm throwing late in a double coverage.
I'm throwing late down the seam. And then the final
interception was just, I mean, inexcusable for any level of
(08:41):
football and quarterback play.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
You mentioned any level of football. I'm going to play
some sound for you. I just want you to break
it down after you hear it. This is post game
after the Patriots Seahawks game. talking about high school football
and Drake May's play. Listen to this. This is how
you do it locally, okay? After your team has made
it to a Super Bowl, Drake May has taken you
to a Super Bowl, but you start the season 0-1
(09:03):
and lose a game you probably should have won.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
This is how you do it. Play it.
Speaker 9 (09:07):
They tried to hide him all night long with high
school plays, with the Zavarian playbook, high school, swing pass,
little runs, roll outs to nowhere, high school football. The
second he had to make NFL plays or throws, he
was screwed.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
He couldn't do it.
Speaker 9 (09:24):
He made one NFL throw all night. That was to
Hollins on one of the third downs. That was a
little bit deep on an ink cut.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Nice timing.
Speaker 9 (09:32):
He made high school plays all night long. That's what happened.
And he could not step up. And that throw to
end the game was disgusting. That was incomprehensible and disgusting
to even put the ball with that much air under it.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
That situation, it was befuddling. That was a joke. You
cannot do that.
Speaker 9 (09:52):
He blew this game and he was bad all night.
I thought the only thing he produced all night was
high school level place, high school, science class, chemistry.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
It was awful. I see you laughing, Brock Ewing.
Speaker 8 (10:07):
Speaker 0 1, the Hasselbeck brothers who went to the
very end brothers, like they're pissed about that.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
We didn't do that.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
It's a very end.
Speaker 8 (10:16):
So don't throw us under the bus there, Paul. That's
number one. Number two, that kind of channels Paul Allen
from the Minnesota radio and far through that interception, the
NFC title game.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Remember he lost his ever loving mind.
Speaker 8 (10:32):
Couldn't believe that throw a Brett Favre in that moment.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
So those two things come to mind.
Speaker 8 (10:38):
And I would say this like Drake Mays legs were
a big reason why they controlled the first three quarters.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yes.
Speaker 8 (10:44):
He ran seven times for 47 yards. He scrambled on
a fourth down. He beat a third down edge. He
made Seattle a little bit uncomfortable with his legs and
he deserves some credit for that because that slowed the
guys down. But then, as I said, when Seattle adjusted,
when they kept them in the pocket, when those check
downs turned into collisions, when there's people now covering the
(11:06):
little screens, which they didn't do in the first half, well,
once that happens, then the wires got busted. Then the
game again, sped up on him in a way where,
Hey man, if you play the position and I have,
there's games and moments where it just blurs where like,
I have amazing clarity. It's slow down. And now it's like,
Holy crap. everything is a blur it's sped up on
(11:28):
me i don't know what i'm seeing and yeah you
lead to some decisions in that fourth quarter that were
incomprehensible how much.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Do you love tucked away there in the northwest making
the city of boston that angry.
Speaker 8 (11:40):
Well you did it twice in seven months right you
know a little payback for freaking malcolm butler because he
made us a little miserable for both i don't know
10 years. So it took the Superbowl 60 and seven
months later, this one to kind of wash that taste out.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Of our mouth.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Brock with how competitive you would imagine the NFC West
is going to be with, with the Seahawks, the 49ers
and the Rams. Where's your level of confidence. If Sam
Darnold is to miss an extended period of time that
drew lock can keep this team afloat and in playoff contention.
Speaker 9 (12:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
You know, it's, it's, it's funny guys.
Speaker 8 (12:15):
Cause I actually thought also of my older brother, Damon, Damon,
you know, played 12 years in the league. He backed
up Marino Marino goes down and I think they went
five and one with Jimmy Johnson and that great defense.
And then Damon later on was in Kansas city when
Trent green, like almost died on the.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Worst, most gruesome.
Speaker 8 (12:37):
He was like unconscious on the field. Like it was catastrophic.
And I think miss the rest of the year. And
then Damon came in and played unbelievable ball. Like he
was a second rated QB in the league that year.
And he would say to you, you know, it made
it nice. Tony Gonzalez and priest Holmes and will shields
and Dick Vermeule. And like, he got to play in
(12:58):
some freedom that he never like experienced. Like, this is
really cool. And I think, you know, for a drew lock,
this is the first time now in his seven years
where I got JSN.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Like I can throw him a hitch route and he
takes it 50.
Speaker 8 (13:11):
I got a defense that can give me the ball
over and over again and field position. And I just
thought you felt Drew's confidence in that second half is just,
you know, now the play calling the operation, trying to
spit it out, trying to read his wristband that looked
like the cheesecake factory menu. Like he wasn't doing too
good on some of that, but I think there's a
(13:32):
confidence level, both both personally for drew and then collectively
for the team, like, man, this is kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Like I don't have to do a million things.
Speaker 8 (13:41):
If I make five or six great plays a game
and I don't turn it over, we have a chance
to win. And so yeah, short term, I don't think
a big deal if it was a fractured hip and
it was a long-term conversation, then sure. You're talking about,
you know, Matthew Stafford and Brock Purdy and Shanahan McVay.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
And we'll all get to watch them in Australia tonight.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Does it bother Seattle fans, the callers to your show,
the fact that all we're doing this offseason is talking
about the Rams and not talking about the team that
beat the Rams to get to the Super Bowl?
Speaker 6 (14:10):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
I think hard knocks helped. But I think hard knocks helped, right? Like, yes.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
I think through March and April and, oh, Miles Garrett, oh,
Aaron Donald, oh, blah, blah. Like, great.
Speaker 6 (14:22):
Yes.
Speaker 8 (14:23):
But then, and I knew this, what happens to, I
knew this and I chat with Salk about, I'm like,
you know, what's going to happen once the world gets
to see and gets a taste and gets a reminder
of Leonard Williams, JSN, Sam Darnold, Mike McDonald, John Schneider
inside the walls, you know, what's going to happen. And
(14:43):
sure enough, it did all of a sudden Pat McAfee's like.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
See our super bowl team.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
Like, yeah, Pat.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I know like they won it last year. They're really,
really good.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
You know, Nick, Nick, right.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Oh yeah. But it takes that exposure.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
It does.
Speaker 8 (14:58):
It takes seeing it, feeling it, watching it like, oh yeah,
those are some bad dudes up in Seattle and man,
are they connected with one another too?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Mikey, go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Mike.
Speaker 10 (15:11):
Brock, I was just curious, you know, with all that
good Seattle energy, what would you say to somebody who
maybe picked the Seahawks, not only to not repeat a
Super Bowl champion, but to completely miss the playoff?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
That was me, Brock. I was doing a sports radio thing.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I was hot takes before the season.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
You know, you got to take a team, you know, you.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Know, not all the teams that made the playoffs last
year are going to make it this year. Teams that
missed it are going to make it this year. You
know that it's like six per season. And I just
went out on a limb and I said, the Seahawks
not making it. It actually looks good now with a
Darnold injury.
Speaker 7 (15:43):
Sure.
Speaker 8 (15:43):
Yeah, I'm sure if I plays in, you took a shot.
We're like, yeah, I am smart.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, I got this one right.
Speaker 8 (15:51):
Make sure, Mike, you got that audio of me.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I was right on that.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I knew it. Are you saying I was celebrating Darnold's injury?
Speaker 8 (16:00):
I mean, Speaker 4 0 1 0, but it looked
a little bleak in that moment.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
I would say here's the thing.
Speaker 8 (16:08):
And this is something that like, it's not for great
for sports radio. It's not possible for national television. I
understand it. Like it's impossible to know the teams nationally
as well as we all do locally live and breathe
in all of it. Like we know the 70th man
on the roster, like who knows that? Well, we do
because the Seahawks preach that like that's where, you know,
(16:32):
when it, when Pete Carroll went to USC, you guys
remember this way back when the early two thousands, he
changed the college football landscape.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Cause he said, you know what we're going to do?
We're going to play freshmen. And I don't care.
Speaker 8 (16:44):
You know, in my era, the 90, we, we went
with 23 year olds with hair on their chest, not
18 year olds out of high school. So we registered
everybody we develop. And those are the programs that win
national titles. And Pete was like, heck with that. If
this 18 year old's better and he's ready to play,
we're playing them. And we may take a few lumps,
but we're going to win and develop.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
And it changed it.
Speaker 8 (17:06):
And it really did. And everybody went, man, that's pretty good, Pete.
That's pretty good genius. And I would say that John
is in John Schneider and the Seahawks and Mike are like,
we're going to shift this practice squad, this taxi squad,
these backups.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
We don't have that. we like got the ready squad.
If you're one of 70, you're ready.
Speaker 8 (17:25):
And you look last year at those 17 Wednesday had,
it was chock full of players, 53 through 70 who
made significant plays week to week 10 playoff games, George Halani,
third straight running back. You're going to be ready last night.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Drew drew.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
You're going to be ready last night. Nehemiah Pritchett, Rodney
Thomas starters for us didn't there. You guys are going
to be ready. Like, and they believe that it's not
just top, like they really substantially believe it. And in
an era where it's all about attrition with who's left standing,
who's not hurt at the end of the year, when
you have 70 instead of 53, it gives you a
(18:03):
little bit more margin than the rest.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
Brock.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
I know one thing that Seattle fans weren't happy with
last night was the, the offsides call on the tush push.
Because when you look back at the replay, it didn't
look like anybody was offside, but Do you think this
is just foreshadowing the NFL trying to legislate the tush
push out of the game? Because if so, I'm kind
of a fan of that and getting it out of
the Eagles.
Speaker 8 (18:25):
You know, Taylor, that's exactly what I tweeted. And I
think my mind went with not just Seahawks, but I
think a lot of folks like, okay, if the competition
committee didn't want to do this, which I get, I
don't really want the competition committee to be voting on
this and coaches, whatever, like, that this is a way
to say, you know what, let's really study every nitty
(18:46):
gritty little blade of grass. And if that player is
in any part in that neutral zone, like we're going
to find a way to flag it and take them
out of it. So yeah, I think this will be
worth watching with Philly and Seattle and some of the
teams that have started to major in that a little bit.
Cause that's one way to do it. Like you ain't
running that on fourth and six. If you want to
(19:07):
on the field, hold it to the very end degree.
And every last little blade of grass, that might be
a way for them to do it.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Brock, we'll get you out of here in a second.
I love the way the team operates. Schneider has so
much confidence. Kenneth Walker wins a Superbowl MVP. They're like, Hey,
You're good. You're a great player. Thank you for the contributions.
Off to Kansas City. We'll take Jadarian Price. And that's
where I was headed with Mikey A before, before he
embarrassed me. And I'm glad that he did. Mikey really
(19:35):
was impressed with Jadarian Price. I was impressed with Jadarian Price.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
He needs to get the ball more, no?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
He does. Yes.
Speaker 8 (19:42):
Yeah, I asked Coach to fill in the blank because
we did it with some listeners and Mike and our producer. Like,
Jadarian Price was. fill in the blank. And for me,
it was like powerful. There was not a run. He
was knocked on his butt. There was not a run
that he didn't carry somebody forward. There was not a
run that was a little murky and he made more
out of less.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
So he was a lot of power.
Speaker 8 (20:04):
Our producer Morris said the exact same thing that Mike
McDonald did when he answered and he said decisive.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
He was just decisive.
Speaker 8 (20:11):
Like it was the first time getting hit in the
NFL game to the ground, right? That's the first time
playing at that speed on a primetime game with the
whole country watching the NFL. And he was right. They
have landmarks on outside zone, man. You got to hit
the outside, but cheek of the tight.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
End, he was right on his landmark foot in the ground. Go.
Speaker 8 (20:29):
He's got to catch a ball, you know, on a,
on a hot, he caught it. He's got to run
into darkness and make a two yard game instead of
a negative one.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
So Yeah.
Speaker 8 (20:38):
10 for 52. I think it was purposeful to kind
of limit some of that early. They were not going
to put the big burden on him, but yeah, he
did nothing to, to not be worthy of that 32nd
pick in the draft and instill some confidence in the
people around him.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
It looked really good. What'd you make quickly on the
way out here? of McCready's national Anthem. What'd you make
of that?
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Solid.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Oh, solid.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I mean, it wasn't Jimmy, right.
Speaker 8 (21:01):
It wasn't Jimmy. That was an ode to Jimmy back
in the day. You know, it wasn't Jimmy, but he, yeah,
even up there in some years, he's pretty good. And
so was sound garden at halftime, by the way, they
kind of brought it to.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
No, they're awesome.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Taylor wants vocals for the national Anthem. How do you
feel about that? He doesn't like the electric guitar.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
I understand it. I understand it.
Speaker 8 (21:18):
And frankly, you know, I thought Stapleton pushed Whitney Houston,
like all time greats I thought Stapleton Super Bowl was,
I wouldn't mind hearing that a time or two.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
All right, Brock and Salk, biggest show going in Seattle.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
We appreciate the time.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
All right, you betcha.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsportsradio.com. And
within the iHeartRadio app, search FSR to listen live.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I finally get to talk some tennis around here. I mean,
Lord knows I have tried. I'm doing it with two
guys who don't care about tennis because football has started. Yes,
Mikey A, what are you going to say before I
bring on Patrick McEnroe?
Speaker 10 (22:03):
I just want to ask Patrick McEnroe if he thought
Drake May should have made that throw.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
At the end of the game. What did you think
of that throw by Drake May? I'm certain he was
watching it.
Speaker 6 (22:11):
That's a no-brainer, that one. That was horrendous. That was horrendous.
You know, I thought the Pats weren't going to be
as good this year, but now after that, I mean,
that was a disaster last night. Disaster.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Thank you for the football question, Mikey. You got it
in there.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Patrick, help me out with this, and I apologize for
doing this to you. But Adnan, on a scale of
1 to 10, because I asked him to go seek
you out and ask you if you could introduce him
to Roger Federer. So I'm wondering here, scale of 1
to 10, how annoying was Adnan.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Virk at Roger Federer's Hall of Fame induction ceremony?
Speaker 6 (22:48):
Oh my God. I mean, welcome, welcome, welcome to the
crowd of people that, you know, could you get me
a picture with Roger? Could you get me this? I'll
tell you, that was an unbelievable weekend. I mean, this
guy's like, he's like a rock star. I mean, Roger
Federer is like, he's like, he's like the king or
something when he shows up. It's he's almost more popular
(23:11):
now than when he was playing, which is, which is
saying something, but you know, we sold the thing out and,
less than 60 to 90 seconds, you know, for the,
for the induction weekend, which has never happened before. But
when he walks into a room, it's pretty, it's pretty amazing.
You know, he could, he pretty much stops the place.
And I interviewed him probably, Stu got probably three or
(23:32):
four times over the course of the 48 hours. And
each time the guy was just phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. So he's,
he's a, he's a rock star. I mean, that's just
the way it is.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
He really is.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
It's amazing because when the tournament started, the U.S. Open,
and your coverage, all you guys, you have been fantastic.
But with Sinner out and Djokovic knocked out early and
Alcaraz coming off an injury, you're thinking to yourself, is
this going to be a great U.S.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Open? It hasn't been a great U.S.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
Open.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
It's been one of the best U.S. Opens I've ever seen, Patrick.
The level of tennis has been amazing.
Speaker 6 (24:06):
Yeah. I mean, not only is the level of tennis
been amazing, but, you know, I think the buzz around
the tournament's been been pretty electric. And, you know, the
tennis has taken a lot of shit in the last
couple of week or two about, you know, the influencers
and the celebrities and all that stuff. And listen, I've
been around tennis my entire life. I mean, I started
going to the U.S. Open when I was a little
(24:26):
kid back when it was at Forest Hills. And all
we've ever wanted is in tennis is to get like popular,
like to be happening, to be, you know, a thing
above and beyond just being a great sport that we
all in the tennis, all our tennis bubble love. And
it finally starting to happen. And then they've given tennis
shit for that. Right. You know, like, Oh, you're becoming
(24:47):
too popular. I mean, there's too many people there. Oh,
there's too many celebrities. Really? I thought that's what it
was supposed to be. So, but, but, but the tennis
on the court has been amazing. And listen, I, I
picked Ben Shelton to win the tournament before it started.
So I'm looking fairly smart at the moment.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (25:04):
You know, I'm so sick and tired of hearing that,
you know, getting the question, when's the next American man
going to win a major? You know, it's Andy Roddick,
2003 at the U.S.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Open.
Speaker 6 (25:15):
And, you know, I just want to see it happen
because I think we've got to We, meaning the U.S.,
have a great group of really good players. We haven't
been able to say we have a great player because
they haven't been able to win a major. But I
think Ben Shelton's got the it factor. He's got the
monster serve. He's a great athlete. He loves being out
(25:36):
on the big stage. He's got a lot of moxie. Now,
Alcaraz wasn't at his best, but he was still pretty
damn good. And to beat him the way he did
in five sets was a huge effort. Now, it's not
going to get easy because Tiafoe is going to be
tough to beat. So there will be an American man
in the final no matter what. I lean towards Shelton
(25:56):
in that one because I think he's just got a
little more firepower, a little more variety. But Sasha Zverev
is going to be damn tough to beat in the final.
This guy's won a major. He's going to go in
still as a favorite. Um, but I think if you're
Ben Shelton at this point, or even if it's Tiafoe,
you got to say to yourself, I mean, this is
my chance because sinners hurt, you know, Alcaraz came in.
(26:18):
I expected that he was going to have a match
where he wasn't quite right. And that's what happened again. Shelton, he, he,
he didn't do that throughout the first four rounds. So
this is a moment where you've got to say, man, I,
I got, I got to take this opportunity because I,
you know what, it may not happen again because center
and Alcaraz are that good when they're both on and they've,
they've been dominating the game for the last two and
(26:39):
a half years. So this, this is the moment we've
been waiting for to see if it can actually happen.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
The most impressive thing for me about Shelton and that
match and the way he's played here in the U.S.
Open is normally against Alcarez, there were times where he
would fold, right? And Alcarez would just steamroll him.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
He didn't. He fought, Patrick.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
That was a different Ben Shelton I saw on the
court against Carlos Alcarez.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
He was fighting.
Speaker 6 (27:03):
Yeah, I would slightly disagree with that. He's always been
a fighter. He's always been a competitor, but he didn't
have all the tools. So what's improved about his game
is that he's a better returner. He's getting more balls
in play. He's playing defensively when he has to, because
to be at the top of the game, you've got
to be able to play defense and offense. And he's
(27:24):
able to slice the backhand. And he's using his serve
a lot better. You know, he's not just a fastball pitcher.
He can hurt you with five different pitches. So, yes,
he competed really well in that match, Dugat. But part
of the reason he was able to win it is
because he had more tools in his toolbox. He's improved
his game steadily over the last couple of years. And
(27:46):
that's what came to fruition against Alcaraz.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Where does that match rank for you in terms of
all-time matches? Because it's right up there for me, man.
It was fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
I was up until 3.30.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
Yeah, it was great. Yeah, there were a couple 6-1 sets,
so the level wasn't consistently epic, like the Sinner Alcaraz
at the French Open a couple years ago, and obviously,
you know, the matches with Federer, Djokovic, Djokovic, Nadal. I
don't put it in that category. I don't put it
as a top five, even a top ten all-time match
(28:15):
for the level, but it certainly had the drama. It
certainly had, you know, with the, you know... Let me
ask you guys this, because you guys are, you know,
your buddies, I noticed, you guys don't care about tennis.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Right.
Speaker 9 (28:26):
But.
Speaker 6 (28:27):
You sort of do a little bit. A little bit.
But tennis is getting a lot of heat about the
late starts. Do you think that as a sports talk
show crew that you guys are, you would be talking
about it as much if it hadn't gone until 3.33
in the morning?
Speaker 1 (28:44):
No, I think the fact that it went until 3.33
in the morning, the match was such high quality.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Both players, the last set was so good.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
I stayed up the entire— listen, it wasn't ideal, but that's
part of the charm of the U.S. Open is you're
going to have matches that end at 1.30 to 2.30
in the morning.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
It's just the way it is. I like it.
Speaker 6 (29:01):
Yeah, and I agree with you. And, you know, I've
made this argument a couple of times, and I'd be
interested to hear what you think about it. You know,
tennis doesn't rate that highly in television. It just doesn't.
Not in this country. It does in other countries, in
Australia and in Europe. You know, like the Australian Open,
when I go there with ESPN, it's the highest rated
show of the year in Australia. Not just in sports,
(29:22):
the year. So my point is this. If you played
that match in prime time, Shelton and Alcaraz, would more
people watch it? Yes. Would more people get to see it?
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (29:33):
But it would still be way less than, like, the
worst NFL game of the week. Like, it wouldn't even
be close.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Right.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
And jokovic playing huge matches at wimbledon you know it
moves the needle a little bit but you're talking about
like you know from a million two to a million
eight or two million that's a crappy nfl game yes
a crappy college football game so to me it it
makes the lore of sort of tennis better Because people
start paying attention, like, holy shit, can you believe that
(30:01):
match went until 333? How can they do this? How
can they do it in tennis? And here's where tennis
makes most of its money, professional tennis, from ticket sales,
from sponsorships. from corporate hospitality, you know, merchandise, all that stuff.
And the U.S. Open has exploded in the last few
years in that. The TV ratings are only a very
(30:21):
small part of it. You know, football, it's all about
the TV ratings. They make so much money from TV revenue.
Tennis has never been like that and arguably most likely
never will be.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
Patrick, if you worked a nine to five job in
New York City and you went to this match as
a spectator and it ends at three thirty, what would
be your plans? Would you just stay out until you
had to go to work or try to go home,
get a little power nap in?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I mean, that place was packed, Patrick. It really was
at three thirty.
Speaker 6 (30:47):
You know, with my schedule and I just took one,
I've perfected like the twenty eight to forty two minute
power nap. And I literally just took one, which is
why I asked you guys, can I start? Can we
start this 15 minutes later?
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:02):
So that's what I would have done. I would have
gone home and taken a power nap. And I actually
saw some video just earlier today of people waiting for
the subway to go back to the city at like
415 a.m. And again, that's sort of the lore of
what makes it cool. And you know what? The buzz now,
I'm glad they got it right with the schedule for
(31:23):
tomorrow for the men's semis. They put the Tiafoe-Shelton match
at 7 p.m. in prime time. So that's going to
be a monster rating for tennis in television because in
the past, tennis might have put that match in the
day because Zverev is played every night and they want
to be quote-unquote fair to the players.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Right.
Speaker 6 (31:43):
But they got this right because he's got a full
day off. He finished kind of early last night. So
I'm glad to see that the U.S. Open put the
schedule out and will put that match because that's going
to that match will move the needle for the for
the casual tennis fan. I think the Tiafoe Shelton semifinal.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
How'd your brother handle that? Like being done at three
33 in the morning.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Did you, does he sleep?
Speaker 6 (32:03):
Yeah. When I saw him yet, when I saw him
the next day, I said, what time do you get
to bed? He goes, you know, about six, five, four, five, six.
And he didn't even play it. So he was fired up,
but he went, you know, he slept a few hours and,
He went to our tennis academy. He hit some balls
and he comes out there. We're ready to go. That's
what we do, you know, particularly at the U.S. Open,
(32:25):
which has made night tennis famous. Now they have it
in Australia. It often happens the same deal in Australia.
I remember years ago, I don't know if you remember this,
you guys, you may as a tennis fan. Leighton Hewitt
played Baghdadis, Marcos Baghdadis, and it started well after 11 p.m.
The match finished well after 4 a.m. in Australia. And
(32:46):
I remember, because in Australia, the beauty of the tournament
is you can walk from the stadium like 10 minutes
back to the hotel. It's downtown. It's right by downtown.
That's where they're playing the football game tonight, literally across
the street from the tennis facility. So I walked back
to my hotel room, and it was light. it was
late outside. I'm walking back to my hotel. And when
(33:07):
I got to my, my hotel door, I heard that,
you know, the newspaper had been delivered back when we
read newspapers, the newspaper had been delivered to my door.
That's how, that's how late.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Early it was.
Speaker 6 (33:17):
So this has happened before in tennis.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
So great.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Who do you like in the women's semifinals tonight? It's
two great matches. Primetime.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Who do you like in these matches?
Speaker 6 (33:28):
I'm calling the first match alive on ESPN. I hope
Pagula wins because I think she's been– she sort of,
to me, deserves to win a major. She's been knocking
on the door. She's three in the world. She's got
the most wins on tour. But if I were betting,
which I'm not, I would bet on Sabalenka, who's just
got more firepower. more overall game than Pagula has. But
(33:51):
Pagula's beaten her a bunch of times, but she's lost
to her. It's 9-4, head-to-head. So I think Sabalenka should
win that. She's looking for the three-peat and to win
a major this year, which she hasn't done. But my
heart's pulling for Pagula. I think Coco's going to find
a way. Rabakina, who's now taken over number one, having
won her quarterfinal and won the Australian this year, is
(34:14):
the best pure ball striker in tennis, in women's tennis.
She hits the ball massively big off both wings. She's
very quiet. I mean, she's very mild-mannered, so she doesn't
create a lot of buzz outside. I mean, not even
in the tennis world she doesn't create the buzz. But
if she's playing well, she could beat Coco comfortably. But
Coco's been incredibly finding ways to just win matches when
(34:37):
she's not at her best. And I think she thrives
in the open crowd. The place will be buzzing tonight.
So I'm picking Coco to win, and I'm actually picking
her to win the tournament now.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Do you think we've seen the last of Novak Djokovic?
Speaker 6 (34:50):
I don't think so. I think he'll play again. I
think he wants to go out his last tournament win
puking on the court and feeling like crap, which is
the same way he felt in Cincinnati, which is the
only other match he played since Wimbledon. And he's playing
well enough this year to be a factor in majors.
I said at the end of 23, 2023, when he
(35:12):
dominated that year, I was asked in the beginning of 24,
how many more majors would Djokovic win? And do you
know what I said then, Stugac? No.
Speaker 9 (35:20):
No.
Speaker 6 (35:22):
I said none. And I've been proven correct. Not because
I don't like Djokovic. He's the greatest of all time.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Of course.
Speaker 6 (35:30):
But because I saw the storm that was coming.
Speaker 7 (35:33):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (35:33):
That was Alcaraz and Sinner. These guys are so freaking good.
Speaker 9 (35:36):
Right.
Speaker 6 (35:37):
I said, I don't think he can beat both these
guys in a major, which has proven to be true.
He has beaten one. He beat Sinner at the Australian,
which to me was one of his greatest victories of
all time.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
That he beat Sinner. But I don't think he can win.
But I don't think... I don't think he's playing now
just to try to win a major. I think he's
playing because he just loves it. He loves the battle.
He's loving the accolades, which he's deservedly getting now that
the other two guys are long gone, Federer and Nadal.
And I think he loves to go out there. So
I think he'll give it one more shot, one more year.
(36:09):
Australia is still the place where he's had the most success.
So I think we see him again down under in Melbourne.
In Melbourne, Australia, down under.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
I know the McEnroes love football.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
I'm wondering.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
How do you navigate calling the tennis this weekend and
watching and paying attention to the opening weekend.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Of the NFL season? How are you going to do that?
Speaker 6 (36:28):
You know, we have the TV. We have the TVs
on the games. Like someone was saying, well, you're going
to miss the game tonight. I said, well, I'm calling
the first match. So I'll come home. I'll pop a
little Dos Hombres right here. My new sponsor, the Mac
Daddy Show.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Love it.
Speaker 6 (36:41):
And I'll have a little sip of that and I'll
watch the football and I'll watch the tennis. So I'll
go back and forth. That's what I do. That's what
we do on Sunday during week number one. And then
when the U.S. opens over, we take a little breather.
We get into the football. Because for us at ESPN,
not for the rest of the tennis world, but for
us at ESPN, the season's over at the end of
(37:01):
the U.S. Open. For the players, you know, they go
on and on for months. They go to Asia. They
do an Asian swing. They go to Europe. So they're
super busy. That's what it was for us when we played.
But now we get to sort of like, be like
the regular fans, take a break from tennis and get
pumped up for football season. You know, pumped up for
my J E T S jets, jets, jets, baby. Let's go.
Let's win four games this year.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Come on. Four's too many. I mean, that might not
get us the quarterback we want, you know?
Speaker 6 (37:27):
Yeah. I appreciate you guys having me on. I got
to go because I got to go do another show
with my buddy Adam Shine over at Sirius. Love him.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Oh, he's great.
Speaker 6 (37:41):
But you guys, let's get me on every week. We
could do a little picks. We'll have some picks. I
got the Bills over the Rams to win it all.
Just FYI.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (37:50):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
I would love to do this every week. Let's make
it a date. I'm tempted to ask you to bring
John on. I'll bring a doubles partner on. All four
of us will make picks, and we'll have a wager
on it.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
What do you think?
Speaker 6 (38:01):
Yeah, that could be a little more complicated to get
him to do that, but I get your drift.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
I get your drift. All right. We'll talk to you
next week. We'll make picks. We'll make them official. All
the best, guys. Tell Sean I said hello. Thank you, Patrick.
Speaker 6 (38:14):
All the best, guys. Enjoy the season.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
All right.
Speaker 6 (38:16):
Take care.
Thanks for listening to Stugatz and Company live podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from 3 to
5 p.m.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Eastern, noon to 2 p.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Find your local station for Stugatz and Company live at
foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio
app by searching FSR.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Now let's get this party started.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Brock Ewer going to join us in about 10 minutes
or so. Patrick McEnroe, I finally get to talk some tennis.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
U.S.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Open has been great. Taylor and Mikey A. will not
indulge me. So therefore, I had to go to my
friend Patrick McEnroe to talk some U.S. Open tennis.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
We do have a call here, 877-99 on Fox. Again,
Brock Ewer, Patrick McEnroe coming up later this hour. Taylor
just said to me in my headphones right before we
got started, if Cooper Rush starts for the Falcons... I
am not turning that game on.
Speaker 5 (00:59):
If my two options were watch tennis or watch Falcons
with Cooper Rush against the Steelers.
Speaker 6 (01:04):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
Then I'm with you, Stu.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I'm choosing tennis every time.
Speaker 6 (01:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
The only reason you're tuning into the Falcons because they
have a talented team and good players at the skill position.
And Bijan Robinson was on with us earlier this week.
But you want to see if Tua could turn it around.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Right?
Speaker 5 (01:19):
Yeah, I have no interest in watching Cooper Rush try
to keep them afloat.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
A rush to change the channel.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
That's what it would be.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
No, he's flatly saying it's never landing on his television.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Period.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
Won't even get quad box consideration.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Let's go out to Michael, who's in Virginia today. Michael,
go ahead. You're on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 7 (01:39):
Hey, Steve Dodge. First time caller. Just want to appreciate
you're doing a very good job. I love the show.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Thank you, buddy. Appreciate it.
Speaker 7 (01:46):
So, this backup... One of the reasons why he's in
the Hall of Fame, not the reason why, there's many
reasons why he was above it, but one of the
reasons why he's in the Hall of Fame was because,
and this guy is Steve Young, he was backing up
Joe Montana for like one or two seasons before he
became the starter. And he got a ring.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Right, but I don't recall Young ever coming in as
a true backup. I feel like Young was just waiting
his turn until Montana left.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Is that fair?
Speaker 7 (02:14):
Yeah but it was like one or two maybe three
seasons he was just there as backup and he also
he was the highest paid backup and at the time
when he was backing up the you know the all-time
great Joe Montana if we count.
Speaker 5 (02:27):
Steve Young it feels like we would almost have to
count Aaron Rodgers backing up Brett Favre for a couple
of years.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Or Brady backing up Bledsoe for that first season right
It's got to be a true backup, a guy who's
just not good enough to start, but when he comes in,
he gets the job done.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
A backup quarterback's name has to make you laugh a little,
like Charlie Batch.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Perfect. Yes, yes, Charlie Batch. Jason Garrett.
Speaker 8 (02:51):
I mean, who's benefited more from being a backup quarterback
with the Cowboys than Jason Garrett?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Nobody has.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
He parlayed it into head coaching jobs and a position
at NBC Sports.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Taylor feels like Jason Garrett. Do you agree with this, Dan?
Why don't you give him your Jason Garrett take here?
It's laugh out loud funny.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Jason Garrett reminds me of an alien who's dressed in
a human suit.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And when he gets back to the hotel, he unzips
his skin. What a long day.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
You really fooled the humans today.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Dan, as a professional broadcaster, and you are one, the
only one on this show, How'd you feel about Tomlin's
performance at.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
NBC last night?
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Solid.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I think he's good.
Speaker 6 (03:36):
Really?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yep. Okay.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I have him coaching the Jets by week five. Brock,
you are going to join us coming up next.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Be sure to catch live editions of Stu Godson Company
live weekdays at 3 p.m. Eastern, 12 p.m.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Pacific.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Very excited to have Brock Eward with us. This man
is a monster in Seattle. Brock and Salk, they have
the biggest radio show going. They just had a conversation
with Seahawks head coach Mike McDonald. The big show in town, man.
Gets the head coach the day after the game. How
was that conversation with Coach McDonald, Brock?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
You know, Stu, it has come a long ways.
Speaker 8 (04:15):
So we had had coach Carol for like a dozen
years and you know, coach Carol, easy to him up
and he loves to go and maybe over shares like the,
the president of communications, Dave Pearson is always in that
room with us. And there'd be many times you look
at Pete and like, And coach McDonald kind of the inverse.
(04:41):
Everything stays in there. We've had upwards of 17 second
pauses on live radio. So a very thoughtful thinks through
everything processes. You see it on their sideline demeanor as
well between Pete and Mike. Couldn't be any more different.
But over the years, we've gained, I think, a little
bit equity and trust with Mike. And now, and you
(05:02):
felt him on Hard Knocks, right? Y'all got to see
him behind the scenes and just the most genuine, vulnerable,
like just authentic guy there is and super comfortable in
his skin now communicating.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And he was pretty pumped for that. Finding a way.
Speaker 6 (05:17):
Right.
Speaker 8 (05:17):
I mean, last night was finding a way when it
looked a little bleak at times when it was hard,
when there's backups playing and backups in the secondary and
backup a quarterback. But man, they got proof of concept.
They believe in their ready squad mentality. And I think
it came to life last night.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Brock, what did coach have to say about about Sam Darnold,
about that injury and about how long he's expecting Sam
to be out?
Speaker 8 (05:42):
Yeah, so I think on the scale of most horrific news,
Bo Jackson, broken hip, career-threatening, that's a 0% chance. On
the chance of it's just a hip pointer, a little
tweak muscle, he's back next week, that's probably also like
a 0% chance. But there's nothing structural. There's nothing fractured.
(06:05):
Adam reported that last night, Schefter. And then he's had
the MRI this morning, and Coach just kind of shared
with us that he's It is more muscular, kind of
ligament muscular, and you don't really know. But as far
as like worst case, they dodged that. And that's good
news for Sam and the team. Now it's like, okay,
how quickly does the swelling, the pain, the functionality, how quickly.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Does all of that resolve itself? You just don't, with
that joint in particular, you just don't know.
Speaker 8 (06:35):
I probably doubtful for 11 days from now with Arizona,
but I don't think it's going to be something hopefully
that stretches into the month long period.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
Brock, I didn't think we were going to see a
repeat from the Super Bowl with Drake May just because
of the moving pieces that Seattle had on defense. What
is it about Mike McDonald's defense where every time Drake
May drops back? it seems like he's second guessing what
he's seeing out there.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Because everything is hard. Like everything is hard.
Speaker 8 (07:02):
Unless you're Matthew Stafford for every other quarterback, like everything
is like pre-snap post-nap.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Like, what am I looking at? What am I seeing?
Speaker 8 (07:10):
You know, we had kind of a fun exercise this
off season through some relationship with Phillip rivers and Kirk
cousins to get them to come onto our show and
try to like bring to life how difficult it is
to play Mike's scheme. And Philip was amazing. I mean,
he was so funny as a little Southern deal, like, man,
(07:31):
they then just don't give you anything.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Like you just don't, you know, there's no tail.
Speaker 8 (07:34):
There's no, you know, usually somebody gives you something on defense.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Maybe it's the safety, but they don't.
Speaker 8 (07:42):
You know, they're disguised and it's so hard on a quarterback,
even ones with decades of experience. And then you get
someone like Dre that is still in this system, right?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
One year under his belt and they had answers in
the first half.
Speaker 6 (07:57):
Right?
Speaker 8 (07:58):
I thought Collinsworth did an awesome job of like, here,
they're going to throw into the pressure. McDonald talked to
us this morning about it. Like, yeah, they made adjustments.
You know, they, they handled their protections differently. They made
some adjustments. They had answers in that first half and
it forced Mike and staff to then change. And when
they adjusted Drake and staff could not adjust because they're just,
(08:20):
were not answers. And you started to see the same
look in his face and, the same demeanor in his
body that you saw in that super bowl of holy crap.
I don't know what I'm looking at. And I'm making
like juvenile mistakes. I'm throwing late in a double coverage.
I'm throwing late down the seam. And then the final
interception was just, I mean, inexcusable for any level of
(08:41):
football and quarterback play.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
You mentioned any level of football. I'm going to play
some sound for you. I just want you to break
it down after you hear it. This is post game
after the Patriots Seahawks game. talking about high school football
and Drake May's play. Listen to this. This is how
you do it locally, okay? After your team has made
it to a Super Bowl, Drake May has taken you
to a Super Bowl, but you start the season 0-1
(09:03):
and lose a game you probably should have won.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
This is how you do it. Play it.
Speaker 9 (09:07):
They tried to hide him all night long with high
school plays, with the Zavarian playbook, high school, swing pass,
little runs, roll outs to nowhere, high school football. The
second he had to make NFL plays or throws, he
was screwed.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
He couldn't do it.
Speaker 9 (09:24):
He made one NFL throw all night. That was to
Hollins on one of the third downs. That was a
little bit deep on an ink cut.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Nice timing.
Speaker 9 (09:32):
He made high school plays all night long. That's what happened.
And he could not step up. And that throw to
end the game was disgusting. That was incomprehensible and disgusting
to even put the ball with that much air under it.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
That situation, it was befuddling. That was a joke. You
cannot do that.
Speaker 9 (09:52):
He blew this game and he was bad all night.
I thought the only thing he produced all night was
high school level place, high school, science class, chemistry.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
It was awful. I see you laughing, Brock Ewing.
Speaker 8 (10:07):
Speaker 0 1, the Hasselbeck brothers who went to the
very end brothers, like they're pissed about that.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
We didn't do that.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
It's a very end.
Speaker 8 (10:16):
So don't throw us under the bus there, Paul. That's
number one. Number two, that kind of channels Paul Allen
from the Minnesota radio and far through that interception, the
NFC title game.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Remember he lost his ever loving mind.
Speaker 8 (10:32):
Couldn't believe that throw a Brett Favre in that moment.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
So those two things come to mind.
Speaker 8 (10:38):
And I would say this like Drake Mays legs were
a big reason why they controlled the first three quarters.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yes.
Speaker 8 (10:44):
He ran seven times for 47 yards. He scrambled on
a fourth down. He beat a third down edge. He
made Seattle a little bit uncomfortable with his legs and
he deserves some credit for that because that slowed the
guys down. But then, as I said, when Seattle adjusted,
when they kept them in the pocket, when those check
downs turned into collisions, when there's people now covering the
(11:06):
little screens, which they didn't do in the first half, well,
once that happens, then the wires got busted. Then the
game again, sped up on him in a way where,
Hey man, if you play the position and I have,
there's games and moments where it just blurs where like,
I have amazing clarity. It's slow down. And now it's like,
Holy crap. everything is a blur it's sped up on
(11:28):
me i don't know what i'm seeing and yeah you
lead to some decisions in that fourth quarter that were
incomprehensible how much.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Do you love tucked away there in the northwest making
the city of boston that angry.
Speaker 8 (11:40):
Well you did it twice in seven months right you
know a little payback for freaking malcolm butler because he
made us a little miserable for both i don't know
10 years. So it took the Superbowl 60 and seven
months later, this one to kind of wash that taste out.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Of our mouth.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Brock with how competitive you would imagine the NFC West
is going to be with, with the Seahawks, the 49ers
and the Rams. Where's your level of confidence. If Sam
Darnold is to miss an extended period of time that
drew lock can keep this team afloat and in playoff contention.
Speaker 9 (12:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
You know, it's, it's, it's funny guys.
Speaker 8 (12:15):
Cause I actually thought also of my older brother, Damon, Damon,
you know, played 12 years in the league. He backed
up Marino Marino goes down and I think they went
five and one with Jimmy Johnson and that great defense.
And then Damon later on was in Kansas city when
Trent green, like almost died on the.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Worst, most gruesome.
Speaker 8 (12:37):
He was like unconscious on the field. Like it was catastrophic.
And I think miss the rest of the year. And
then Damon came in and played unbelievable ball. Like he
was a second rated QB in the league that year.
And he would say to you, you know, it made
it nice. Tony Gonzalez and priest Holmes and will shields
and Dick Vermeule. And like, he got to play in
(12:58):
some freedom that he never like experienced. Like, this is
really cool. And I think, you know, for a drew lock,
this is the first time now in his seven years
where I got JSN.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Like I can throw him a hitch route and he
takes it 50.
Speaker 8 (13:11):
I got a defense that can give me the ball
over and over again and field position. And I just
thought you felt Drew's confidence in that second half is just,
you know, now the play calling the operation, trying to
spit it out, trying to read his wristband that looked
like the cheesecake factory menu. Like he wasn't doing too
good on some of that, but I think there's a
(13:32):
confidence level, both both personally for drew and then collectively
for the team, like, man, this is kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Like I don't have to do a million things.
Speaker 8 (13:41):
If I make five or six great plays a game
and I don't turn it over, we have a chance
to win. And so yeah, short term, I don't think
a big deal if it was a fractured hip and
it was a long-term conversation, then sure. You're talking about,
you know, Matthew Stafford and Brock Purdy and Shanahan McVay.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
And we'll all get to watch them in Australia tonight.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Does it bother Seattle fans, the callers to your show,
the fact that all we're doing this offseason is talking
about the Rams and not talking about the team that
beat the Rams to get to the Super Bowl?
Speaker 6 (14:10):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
I think hard knocks helped. But I think hard knocks helped, right? Like, yes.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
I think through March and April and, oh, Miles Garrett, oh,
Aaron Donald, oh, blah, blah. Like, great.
Speaker 6 (14:22):
Yes.
Speaker 8 (14:23):
But then, and I knew this, what happens to, I
knew this and I chat with Salk about, I'm like,
you know, what's going to happen once the world gets
to see and gets a taste and gets a reminder
of Leonard Williams, JSN, Sam Darnold, Mike McDonald, John Schneider
inside the walls, you know, what's going to happen. And
(14:43):
sure enough, it did all of a sudden Pat McAfee's like.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
See our super bowl team.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
Like, yeah, Pat.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I know like they won it last year. They're really,
really good.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
You know, Nick, Nick, right.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Oh yeah. But it takes that exposure.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
It does.
Speaker 8 (14:58):
It takes seeing it, feeling it, watching it like, oh yeah,
those are some bad dudes up in Seattle and man,
are they connected with one another too?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Mikey, go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Mike.
Speaker 10 (15:11):
Brock, I was just curious, you know, with all that
good Seattle energy, what would you say to somebody who
maybe picked the Seahawks, not only to not repeat a
Super Bowl champion, but to completely miss the playoff?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
That was me, Brock. I was doing a sports radio thing.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I was hot takes before the season.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
You know, you got to take a team, you know, you.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Know, not all the teams that made the playoffs last
year are going to make it this year. Teams that
missed it are going to make it this year. You
know that it's like six per season. And I just
went out on a limb and I said, the Seahawks
not making it. It actually looks good now with a
Darnold injury.
Speaker 7 (15:43):
Sure.
Speaker 8 (15:43):
Yeah, I'm sure if I plays in, you took a shot.
We're like, yeah, I am smart.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, I got this one right.
Speaker 8 (15:51):
Make sure, Mike, you got that audio of me.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I was right on that.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I knew it. Are you saying I was celebrating Darnold's injury?
Speaker 8 (16:00):
I mean, Speaker 4 0 1 0, but it looked
a little bleak in that moment.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
I would say here's the thing.
Speaker 8 (16:08):
And this is something that like, it's not for great
for sports radio. It's not possible for national television. I
understand it. Like it's impossible to know the teams nationally
as well as we all do locally live and breathe
in all of it. Like we know the 70th man
on the roster, like who knows that? Well, we do
because the Seahawks preach that like that's where, you know,
(16:32):
when it, when Pete Carroll went to USC, you guys
remember this way back when the early two thousands, he
changed the college football landscape.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Cause he said, you know what we're going to do?
We're going to play freshmen. And I don't care.
Speaker 8 (16:44):
You know, in my era, the 90, we, we went
with 23 year olds with hair on their chest, not
18 year olds out of high school. So we registered
everybody we develop. And those are the programs that win
national titles. And Pete was like, heck with that. If
this 18 year old's better and he's ready to play,
we're playing them. And we may take a few lumps,
but we're going to win and develop.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
And it changed it.
Speaker 8 (17:06):
And it really did. And everybody went, man, that's pretty good, Pete.
That's pretty good genius. And I would say that John
is in John Schneider and the Seahawks and Mike are like,
we're going to shift this practice squad, this taxi squad,
these backups.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
We don't have that. we like got the ready squad.
If you're one of 70, you're ready.
Speaker 8 (17:25):
And you look last year at those 17 Wednesday had,
it was chock full of players, 53 through 70 who
made significant plays week to week 10 playoff games, George Halani,
third straight running back. You're going to be ready last night.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Drew drew.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
You're going to be ready last night. Nehemiah Pritchett, Rodney
Thomas starters for us didn't there. You guys are going
to be ready. Like, and they believe that it's not
just top, like they really substantially believe it. And in
an era where it's all about attrition with who's left standing,
who's not hurt at the end of the year, when
you have 70 instead of 53, it gives you a
(18:03):
little bit more margin than the rest.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
Brock.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
I know one thing that Seattle fans weren't happy with
last night was the, the offsides call on the tush push.
Because when you look back at the replay, it didn't
look like anybody was offside, but Do you think this
is just foreshadowing the NFL trying to legislate the tush
push out of the game? Because if so, I'm kind
of a fan of that and getting it out of
the Eagles.
Speaker 8 (18:25):
You know, Taylor, that's exactly what I tweeted. And I
think my mind went with not just Seahawks, but I
think a lot of folks like, okay, if the competition
committee didn't want to do this, which I get, I
don't really want the competition committee to be voting on
this and coaches, whatever, like, that this is a way
to say, you know what, let's really study every nitty
(18:46):
gritty little blade of grass. And if that player is
in any part in that neutral zone, like we're going
to find a way to flag it and take them
out of it. So yeah, I think this will be
worth watching with Philly and Seattle and some of the
teams that have started to major in that a little bit.
Cause that's one way to do it. Like you ain't
running that on fourth and six. If you want to
(19:07):
on the field, hold it to the very end degree.
And every last little blade of grass, that might be
a way for them to do it.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Brock, we'll get you out of here in a second.
I love the way the team operates. Schneider has so
much confidence. Kenneth Walker wins a Superbowl MVP. They're like, Hey,
You're good. You're a great player. Thank you for the contributions.
Off to Kansas City. We'll take Jadarian Price. And that's
where I was headed with Mikey A before, before he
embarrassed me. And I'm glad that he did. Mikey really
(19:35):
was impressed with Jadarian Price. I was impressed with Jadarian Price.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
He needs to get the ball more, no?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
He does. Yes.
Speaker 8 (19:42):
Yeah, I asked Coach to fill in the blank because
we did it with some listeners and Mike and our producer. Like,
Jadarian Price was. fill in the blank. And for me,
it was like powerful. There was not a run. He
was knocked on his butt. There was not a run
that he didn't carry somebody forward. There was not a
run that was a little murky and he made more
out of less.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
So he was a lot of power.
Speaker 8 (20:04):
Our producer Morris said the exact same thing that Mike
McDonald did when he answered and he said decisive.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
He was just decisive.
Speaker 8 (20:11):
Like it was the first time getting hit in the
NFL game to the ground, right? That's the first time
playing at that speed on a primetime game with the
whole country watching the NFL. And he was right. They
have landmarks on outside zone, man. You got to hit
the outside, but cheek of the tight.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
End, he was right on his landmark foot in the ground. Go.
Speaker 8 (20:29):
He's got to catch a ball, you know, on a,
on a hot, he caught it. He's got to run
into darkness and make a two yard game instead of
a negative one.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
So Yeah.
Speaker 8 (20:38):
10 for 52. I think it was purposeful to kind
of limit some of that early. They were not going
to put the big burden on him, but yeah, he
did nothing to, to not be worthy of that 32nd
pick in the draft and instill some confidence in the
people around him.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
It looked really good. What'd you make quickly on the
way out here? of McCready's national Anthem. What'd you make
of that?
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Solid.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Oh, solid.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I mean, it wasn't Jimmy, right.
Speaker 8 (21:01):
It wasn't Jimmy. That was an ode to Jimmy back
in the day. You know, it wasn't Jimmy, but he, yeah,
even up there in some years, he's pretty good. And
so was sound garden at halftime, by the way, they
kind of brought it to.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
No, they're awesome.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Taylor wants vocals for the national Anthem. How do you
feel about that? He doesn't like the electric guitar.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
I understand it. I understand it.
Speaker 8 (21:18):
And frankly, you know, I thought Stapleton pushed Whitney Houston,
like all time greats I thought Stapleton Super Bowl was,
I wouldn't mind hearing that a time or two.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
All right, Brock and Salk, biggest show going in Seattle.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
We appreciate the time.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
All right, you betcha.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsportsradio.com. And
within the iHeartRadio app, search FSR to listen live.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I finally get to talk some tennis around here. I mean,
Lord knows I have tried. I'm doing it with two
guys who don't care about tennis because football has started. Yes,
Mikey A, what are you going to say before I
bring on Patrick McEnroe?
Speaker 10 (22:03):
I just want to ask Patrick McEnroe if he thought
Drake May should have made that throw.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
At the end of the game. What did you think
of that throw by Drake May? I'm certain he was
watching it.
Speaker 6 (22:11):
That's a no-brainer, that one. That was horrendous. That was horrendous.
You know, I thought the Pats weren't going to be
as good this year, but now after that, I mean,
that was a disaster last night. Disaster.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Thank you for the football question, Mikey. You got it
in there.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Patrick, help me out with this, and I apologize for
doing this to you. But Adnan, on a scale of
1 to 10, because I asked him to go seek
you out and ask you if you could introduce him
to Roger Federer. So I'm wondering here, scale of 1
to 10, how annoying was Adnan.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Virk at Roger Federer's Hall of Fame induction ceremony?
Speaker 6 (22:48):
Oh my God. I mean, welcome, welcome, welcome to the
crowd of people that, you know, could you get me
a picture with Roger? Could you get me this? I'll
tell you, that was an unbelievable weekend. I mean, this
guy's like, he's like a rock star. I mean, Roger
Federer is like, he's like, he's like the king or
something when he shows up. It's he's almost more popular
(23:11):
now than when he was playing, which is, which is
saying something, but you know, we sold the thing out and,
less than 60 to 90 seconds, you know, for the,
for the induction weekend, which has never happened before. But
when he walks into a room, it's pretty, it's pretty amazing.
You know, he could, he pretty much stops the place.
And I interviewed him probably, Stu got probably three or
(23:32):
four times over the course of the 48 hours. And
each time the guy was just phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. So he's,
he's a, he's a rock star. I mean, that's just
the way it is.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
He really is.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
It's amazing because when the tournament started, the U.S. Open,
and your coverage, all you guys, you have been fantastic.
But with Sinner out and Djokovic knocked out early and
Alcaraz coming off an injury, you're thinking to yourself, is
this going to be a great U.S.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Open? It hasn't been a great U.S.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
Open.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
It's been one of the best U.S. Opens I've ever seen, Patrick.
The level of tennis has been amazing.
Speaker 6 (24:06):
Yeah. I mean, not only is the level of tennis
been amazing, but, you know, I think the buzz around
the tournament's been been pretty electric. And, you know, the
tennis has taken a lot of shit in the last
couple of week or two about, you know, the influencers
and the celebrities and all that stuff. And listen, I've
been around tennis my entire life. I mean, I started
going to the U.S. Open when I was a little
(24:26):
kid back when it was at Forest Hills. And all
we've ever wanted is in tennis is to get like popular,
like to be happening, to be, you know, a thing
above and beyond just being a great sport that we
all in the tennis, all our tennis bubble love. And
it finally starting to happen. And then they've given tennis
shit for that. Right. You know, like, Oh, you're becoming
(24:47):
too popular. I mean, there's too many people there. Oh,
there's too many celebrities. Really? I thought that's what it
was supposed to be. So, but, but, but the tennis
on the court has been amazing. And listen, I, I
picked Ben Shelton to win the tournament before it started.
So I'm looking fairly smart at the moment.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (25:04):
You know, I'm so sick and tired of hearing that,
you know, getting the question, when's the next American man
going to win a major? You know, it's Andy Roddick,
2003 at the U.S.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Open.
Speaker 6 (25:15):
And, you know, I just want to see it happen
because I think we've got to We, meaning the U.S.,
have a great group of really good players. We haven't
been able to say we have a great player because
they haven't been able to win a major. But I
think Ben Shelton's got the it factor. He's got the
monster serve. He's a great athlete. He loves being out
(25:36):
on the big stage. He's got a lot of moxie. Now,
Alcaraz wasn't at his best, but he was still pretty
damn good. And to beat him the way he did
in five sets was a huge effort. Now, it's not
going to get easy because Tiafoe is going to be
tough to beat. So there will be an American man
in the final no matter what. I lean towards Shelton
(25:56):
in that one because I think he's just got a
little more firepower, a little more variety. But Sasha Zverev
is going to be damn tough to beat in the final.
This guy's won a major. He's going to go in
still as a favorite. Um, but I think if you're
Ben Shelton at this point, or even if it's Tiafoe,
you got to say to yourself, I mean, this is
my chance because sinners hurt, you know, Alcaraz came in.
(26:18):
I expected that he was going to have a match
where he wasn't quite right. And that's what happened again. Shelton, he, he,
he didn't do that throughout the first four rounds. So
this is a moment where you've got to say, man, I,
I got, I got to take this opportunity because I,
you know what, it may not happen again because center
and Alcaraz are that good when they're both on and they've,
they've been dominating the game for the last two and
(26:39):
a half years. So this, this is the moment we've
been waiting for to see if it can actually happen.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
The most impressive thing for me about Shelton and that
match and the way he's played here in the U.S.
Open is normally against Alcarez, there were times where he
would fold, right? And Alcarez would just steamroll him.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
He didn't. He fought, Patrick.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
That was a different Ben Shelton I saw on the
court against Carlos Alcarez.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
He was fighting.
Speaker 6 (27:03):
Yeah, I would slightly disagree with that. He's always been
a fighter. He's always been a competitor, but he didn't
have all the tools. So what's improved about his game
is that he's a better returner. He's getting more balls
in play. He's playing defensively when he has to, because
to be at the top of the game, you've got
to be able to play defense and offense. And he's
(27:24):
able to slice the backhand. And he's using his serve
a lot better. You know, he's not just a fastball pitcher.
He can hurt you with five different pitches. So, yes,
he competed really well in that match, Dugat. But part
of the reason he was able to win it is
because he had more tools in his toolbox. He's improved
his game steadily over the last couple of years. And
(27:46):
that's what came to fruition against Alcaraz.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Where does that match rank for you in terms of
all-time matches? Because it's right up there for me, man.
It was fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
I was up until 3.30.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
Yeah, it was great. Yeah, there were a couple 6-1 sets,
so the level wasn't consistently epic, like the Sinner Alcaraz
at the French Open a couple years ago, and obviously,
you know, the matches with Federer, Djokovic, Djokovic, Nadal. I
don't put it in that category. I don't put it
as a top five, even a top ten all-time match
(28:15):
for the level, but it certainly had the drama. It
certainly had, you know, with the, you know... Let me
ask you guys this, because you guys are, you know,
your buddies, I noticed, you guys don't care about tennis.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Right.
Speaker 9 (28:26):
But.
Speaker 6 (28:27):
You sort of do a little bit. A little bit.
But tennis is getting a lot of heat about the
late starts. Do you think that as a sports talk
show crew that you guys are, you would be talking
about it as much if it hadn't gone until 3.33
in the morning?
Speaker 1 (28:44):
No, I think the fact that it went until 3.33
in the morning, the match was such high quality.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Both players, the last set was so good.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
I stayed up the entire— listen, it wasn't ideal, but that's
part of the charm of the U.S. Open is you're
going to have matches that end at 1.30 to 2.30
in the morning.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
It's just the way it is. I like it.
Speaker 6 (29:01):
Yeah, and I agree with you. And, you know, I've
made this argument a couple of times, and I'd be
interested to hear what you think about it. You know,
tennis doesn't rate that highly in television. It just doesn't.
Not in this country. It does in other countries, in
Australia and in Europe. You know, like the Australian Open,
when I go there with ESPN, it's the highest rated
show of the year in Australia. Not just in sports,
(29:22):
the year. So my point is this. If you played
that match in prime time, Shelton and Alcaraz, would more
people watch it? Yes. Would more people get to see it?
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (29:33):
But it would still be way less than, like, the
worst NFL game of the week. Like, it wouldn't even
be close.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Right.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
And jokovic playing huge matches at wimbledon you know it
moves the needle a little bit but you're talking about
like you know from a million two to a million
eight or two million that's a crappy nfl game yes
a crappy college football game so to me it it
makes the lore of sort of tennis better Because people
start paying attention, like, holy shit, can you believe that
(30:01):
match went until 333? How can they do this? How
can they do it in tennis? And here's where tennis
makes most of its money, professional tennis, from ticket sales,
from sponsorships. from corporate hospitality, you know, merchandise, all that stuff.
And the U.S. Open has exploded in the last few
years in that. The TV ratings are only a very
(30:21):
small part of it. You know, football, it's all about
the TV ratings. They make so much money from TV revenue.
Tennis has never been like that and arguably most likely
never will be.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
Patrick, if you worked a nine to five job in
New York City and you went to this match as
a spectator and it ends at three thirty, what would
be your plans? Would you just stay out until you
had to go to work or try to go home,
get a little power nap in?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I mean, that place was packed, Patrick. It really was
at three thirty.
Speaker 6 (30:47):
You know, with my schedule and I just took one,
I've perfected like the twenty eight to forty two minute
power nap. And I literally just took one, which is
why I asked you guys, can I start? Can we
start this 15 minutes later?
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:02):
So that's what I would have done. I would have
gone home and taken a power nap. And I actually
saw some video just earlier today of people waiting for
the subway to go back to the city at like
415 a.m. And again, that's sort of the lore of
what makes it cool. And you know what? The buzz now,
I'm glad they got it right with the schedule for
(31:23):
tomorrow for the men's semis. They put the Tiafoe-Shelton match
at 7 p.m. in prime time. So that's going to
be a monster rating for tennis in television because in
the past, tennis might have put that match in the
day because Zverev is played every night and they want
to be quote-unquote fair to the players.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Right.
Speaker 6 (31:43):
But they got this right because he's got a full
day off. He finished kind of early last night. So
I'm glad to see that the U.S. Open put the
schedule out and will put that match because that's going
to that match will move the needle for the for
the casual tennis fan. I think the Tiafoe Shelton semifinal.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
How'd your brother handle that? Like being done at three
33 in the morning.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Did you, does he sleep?
Speaker 6 (32:03):
Yeah. When I saw him yet, when I saw him
the next day, I said, what time do you get
to bed? He goes, you know, about six, five, four, five, six.
And he didn't even play it. So he was fired up,
but he went, you know, he slept a few hours and,
He went to our tennis academy. He hit some balls
and he comes out there. We're ready to go. That's
what we do, you know, particularly at the U.S. Open,
(32:25):
which has made night tennis famous. Now they have it
in Australia. It often happens the same deal in Australia.
I remember years ago, I don't know if you remember this,
you guys, you may as a tennis fan. Leighton Hewitt
played Baghdadis, Marcos Baghdadis, and it started well after 11 p.m.
The match finished well after 4 a.m. in Australia. And
(32:46):
I remember, because in Australia, the beauty of the tournament
is you can walk from the stadium like 10 minutes
back to the hotel. It's downtown. It's right by downtown.
That's where they're playing the football game tonight, literally across
the street from the tennis facility. So I walked back
to my hotel room, and it was light. it was
late outside. I'm walking back to my hotel. And when
(33:07):
I got to my, my hotel door, I heard that,
you know, the newspaper had been delivered back when we
read newspapers, the newspaper had been delivered to my door.
That's how, that's how late.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Early it was.
Speaker 6 (33:17):
So this has happened before in tennis.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
So great.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Who do you like in the women's semifinals tonight? It's
two great matches. Primetime.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Who do you like in these matches?
Speaker 6 (33:28):
I'm calling the first match alive on ESPN. I hope
Pagula wins because I think she's been– she sort of,
to me, deserves to win a major. She's been knocking
on the door. She's three in the world. She's got
the most wins on tour. But if I were betting,
which I'm not, I would bet on Sabalenka, who's just
got more firepower. more overall game than Pagula has. But
(33:51):
Pagula's beaten her a bunch of times, but she's lost
to her. It's 9-4, head-to-head. So I think Sabalenka should
win that. She's looking for the three-peat and to win
a major this year, which she hasn't done. But my
heart's pulling for Pagula. I think Coco's going to find
a way. Rabakina, who's now taken over number one, having
won her quarterfinal and won the Australian this year, is
(34:14):
the best pure ball striker in tennis, in women's tennis.
She hits the ball massively big off both wings. She's
very quiet. I mean, she's very mild-mannered, so she doesn't
create a lot of buzz outside. I mean, not even
in the tennis world she doesn't create the buzz. But
if she's playing well, she could beat Coco comfortably. But
Coco's been incredibly finding ways to just win matches when
(34:37):
she's not at her best. And I think she thrives
in the open crowd. The place will be buzzing tonight.
So I'm picking Coco to win, and I'm actually picking
her to win the tournament now.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Do you think we've seen the last of Novak Djokovic?
Speaker 6 (34:50):
I don't think so. I think he'll play again. I
think he wants to go out his last tournament win
puking on the court and feeling like crap, which is
the same way he felt in Cincinnati, which is the
only other match he played since Wimbledon. And he's playing
well enough this year to be a factor in majors.
I said at the end of 23, 2023, when he
(35:12):
dominated that year, I was asked in the beginning of 24,
how many more majors would Djokovic win? And do you
know what I said then, Stugac? No.
Speaker 9 (35:20):
No.
Speaker 6 (35:22):
I said none. And I've been proven correct. Not because
I don't like Djokovic. He's the greatest of all time.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Of course.
Speaker 6 (35:30):
But because I saw the storm that was coming.
Speaker 7 (35:33):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (35:33):
That was Alcaraz and Sinner. These guys are so freaking good.
Speaker 9 (35:36):
Right.
Speaker 6 (35:37):
I said, I don't think he can beat both these
guys in a major, which has proven to be true.
He has beaten one. He beat Sinner at the Australian,
which to me was one of his greatest victories of
all time.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
That he beat Sinner. But I don't think he can win.
But I don't think... I don't think he's playing now
just to try to win a major. I think he's
playing because he just loves it. He loves the battle.
He's loving the accolades, which he's deservedly getting now that
the other two guys are long gone, Federer and Nadal.
And I think he loves to go out there. So
I think he'll give it one more shot, one more year.
(36:09):
Australia is still the place where he's had the most success.
So I think we see him again down under in Melbourne.
In Melbourne, Australia, down under.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
I know the McEnroes love football.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
I'm wondering.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
How do you navigate calling the tennis this weekend and
watching and paying attention to the opening weekend.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Of the NFL season? How are you going to do that?
Speaker 6 (36:28):
You know, we have the TV. We have the TVs
on the games. Like someone was saying, well, you're going
to miss the game tonight. I said, well, I'm calling
the first match. So I'll come home. I'll pop a
little Dos Hombres right here. My new sponsor, the Mac
Daddy Show.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Love it.
Speaker 6 (36:41):
And I'll have a little sip of that and I'll
watch the football and I'll watch the tennis. So I'll
go back and forth. That's what I do. That's what
we do on Sunday during week number one. And then
when the U.S. opens over, we take a little breather.
We get into the football. Because for us at ESPN,
not for the rest of the tennis world, but for
us at ESPN, the season's over at the end of
(37:01):
the U.S. Open. For the players, you know, they go
on and on for months. They go to Asia. They
do an Asian swing. They go to Europe. So they're
super busy. That's what it was for us when we played.
But now we get to sort of like, be like
the regular fans, take a break from tennis and get
pumped up for football season. You know, pumped up for
my J E T S jets, jets, jets, baby. Let's go.
Let's win four games this year.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Come on. Four's too many. I mean, that might not
get us the quarterback we want, you know?
Speaker 6 (37:27):
Yeah. I appreciate you guys having me on. I got
to go because I got to go do another show
with my buddy Adam Shine over at Sirius. Love him.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Oh, he's great.
Speaker 6 (37:41):
But you guys, let's get me on every week. We
could do a little picks. We'll have some picks. I
got the Bills over the Rams to win it all.
Just FYI.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (37:50):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
I would love to do this every week. Let's make
it a date. I'm tempted to ask you to bring
John on. I'll bring a doubles partner on. All four
of us will make picks, and we'll have a wager
on it.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
What do you think?
Speaker 6 (38:01):
Yeah, that could be a little more complicated to get
him to do that, but I get your drift.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
I get your drift. All right. We'll talk to you
next week. We'll make picks. We'll make them official. All
the best, guys. Tell Sean I said hello. Thank you, Patrick.
Speaker 6 (38:14):
All the best, guys. Enjoy the season.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
All right.
Speaker 6 (38:16):
Take care.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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