3 & Out - New NFL Billionaire Owners, Gruden’s Broadcasting Ambitions, Matt Miller’s Wild Story & Mailbag

On this episode of 3 & Out, John Middlekauff breaks down the latest changes in NFL ownership as a new wave of billionaire owners enters the league. What does the increasing value of NFL franchises mean for the future of the sport, and how could these ownership changes impact teams on and off the field?

John also reacts to Jon Gruden expressing interest in calling NFL games as a play-by-play broadcaster. Would Gruden make the transition from the sidelines to the broadcast booth, and what kind of impact could his personality and football knowledge have on a game telecast?

Plus, John shares his thoughts on Matt Miller's wild story, discussing the latest buzz surrounding one of football's most talked-about personalities and why the story has captured so much attention.

To wrap things up, it's the Middlekauff Mailbag, where John answers listener questions on the biggest topics around the NFL and offers his insight into everything from roster building to league trends.

From ownership changes and broadcasting news to behind-the-scenes stories and fan questions, it's all covered on this episode of 3 & Out.

Follow John on Twitter, and Instagram for the latest. 

All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume What is going on Everybody, John Middlecock three
and OW podcast. Hopefully everyone is doing well out there

(00:22):
living life, and this will be the last podcast of
the week, so make sure you go. We've done podcasts
the last three days. I did a separate golf podcast,
Go Low Getting ready for the British Open. I'll be
on with colin Thursday and Friday down in Los Angeles

(00:42):
and then back in Arizona for the weekend. So that's today.
We're gonna talk a little football. I wanted to spell
a myth John Gruden wants to become a play by
play guy. One of the craziest stories you'll ever see.
And then we'll do some mailbag questions as well. Other
than that, I got my friends at Netflix. Quarterback just

(01:05):
came out and this year it's Baker Mayfield. We talked
about it yesterday with Baker's injuries, Jadon Daniels, cam Ward
and Flacco. I was texting with Jackson earlier. He watched
the first couple episodes. He's like, actually, it is good.
It's good. I watched the first season. I'm gonna I'm
gonna bang a couple out when I'm in the hotel
room tomorrow or Thursday for sure. But so go check

(01:27):
that out on Netflix. They do a good job. I mean,
you've seen some of the clips with Baker and his
wife and kind of a cool group, you know when
they first came out swinging with My Homes. But this
is this is a little bit different group, some young
quarterbacks Baker. So Netflix, go check that out. And you
guys know the Drill subscribed to three and now podcasts
if you listen on Collins Feet appreciate every one of
you guys. All of our content is on Netflix probably

(01:51):
once football gets going here in a week or two.
I think the forty nine ers in Rams report here
in like four or five days because the Australia game.
But for the most of the teams it's like veterans,
like July twenty third through twenty six range, So we
still got a ten ish days. I bet some of

(02:12):
the young guys probably starting to get societies. I'll tell
you that, much like am I really ready for this? Well,
we're about to find out. So we'll do a bunch
of stuff on the YouTube channel as well. Once football
starts or just when I say it starts, like camps
just opening, get going and stories start popping out, but
let's just dive into to the league. One consistent theme

(02:37):
the media often chimes in with, as these franchises have
sold for these record valuations, And I would say in
all of sports, but definitely with football, is will these
guys that pay enormous sum of money? Right even going back,
it's like, well, the last sale was six billion dollars,

(02:58):
that's a lot of money. Where I come from from
Josh Harrison and the Commanders to what Temper paid, I
think four billion in Carolina. So obviously Seattle nine point
six or nine point eight. I mean, they did just
win the Super Bowl and have if he was a
free agent, both the GM and the coach. I would say,

(03:19):
well over half the league would fire their GM and
coach to hire the guy. So it's very very unique market.
It's an intense sports area. Right when I think the Northwest,
I think Oregon football, I think the Seattle Seahawks when
I was a kid, Gary Payton and Sean Kemp and
the Trailblazers have definitely had their moments. It's it's a

(03:41):
pretty unique area. It's not viewed as like Chicago or
New York City or Los Angeles but they like their
teams up there, and specifically Seattle. I mean, their fucking
fans have a nickname because when that thing's rolling, it's
it's intense. And I've heard a lot of media people say,
will these guys buy these teams and start running it

(04:04):
like a business essentially? Will they start will they go cheap?
Will they pinch pennies? Will they just look at the
spreadsheet and make decisions? And I think this is just
one all these guys. When you look at Temper, I
mean I google it today, David Temper is worth like

(04:25):
twenty five million dollars. Josh Harris, depending on where he looks,
like twelve to fifteen. This guy Venode is worth a lot.
You know, I hope they run it like they've been
running it because they have been extremely successful doing that.
And when you look at and here's the other thing
in football that is different from baseball and basketball. Your

(04:48):
most expensive, like your most your basic expense with a
football team or any professional organization when it comes to sports,
are your players right? And in the NFL, the salary cap,
which has risen dramatically. I remember when I was a kid.
You know, you'd sign like a four year fifteen million

(05:10):
dollar contract in the mid to late nineties. Like this
guy is rich. This guy hit the bank. Now it's
like this guy didn't even get one hundred guaranteed loser.
It's like Brandon Ayuk was pissed off when he got
seventy five million dollars. That's a whole nother discussion. Can
we stop talking about Brandon Ayuk. It's it's like a
Bravo reality show. I don't know what to believe. I
don't know what not to believe. I simply do not care.

(05:33):
Comes off like a loon. But if you're a general
manager Mike Adam Peters, I would stay away. But is
it all performative? I don't know, But that is a
I ain't touching that with a ten football. These wide receivers,
I mean, god, they can go to the Looney ben fast.
But these owners that are getting involved over the course,

(05:55):
especially just the last four or five years, the amount
of money needed to get involve means that you have been,
if not the most successful guy in your industry, one
of the most successful guys in your industry in businesses
that are worth billions of dollars. So when I look

(06:15):
at teams around the league that are considered cheap. Most
of them are organizations that have been owned by the
same family when they got the team literally for pennies.
How long have the Bears been in mccaskey's the Hollis
fit like that family one hundred years? How long have
the Browns owned the Bengals? Even the Chargers? When did

(06:40):
the Spanos family purchase them the early eighties? Even Jerry Jones,
who bought the team in nineteen eighty nine said, last
year I watched the Brian shott Nimer press conference and
he had he had a comment that if I knew,
because remember Jerry played college football, Jerry played at Arkansas
with Jimmy Johnson. It's not like Jerry was just some

(07:01):
oil maverick that was a jocksniff. Like he played on
a team that won a national championship. I wouldn't say
they were playing, you know, the Nick Saban Alabama team
or the Joe Burrow LSU team in the sixties. Probably
competition is a little different, but it's all relative. Like
they clearly for their time were really really good. And
I think back then Arkansas was not in the SEC.

(07:24):
But Jerry made a comment that if I knew how
much coaches were going to make, Maybe early on in
my career I would have chose to be a coach.
Think about what Jerry in nineteen eighty nine when he
bought Jimmy Johnson, Jimmy was probably making good money. They
probably had assistance on the squad making ten twenty thirty grand.

(07:44):
And now wide receiver coaches in the NFL, if you're good,
make nine hundred thousand dollars. Running back coaches in the SEC,
if you've been doing it for a while, make eight
hundred and fifty grand. Let alone, you got four or
five coordinators, O line coaches, special teams coach making seven figuers.
So for some of these owners and ownership groups, I've

(08:06):
said this forever. When you're frugal and cheap, that is
a disease that you do not shake. It's not like
alcoholism or some of these things that people battle and
they go to rehab and they just go cold turkey.
I have never met in my forty years of life
someone who was once considered really cheap that all of
a sudden said, you know, that guy's the best tipper,

(08:26):
That guy takes care of people. It is a badge
that you carry with your whole life and a lot
of time it's ingrained in you when you're young. It's
not even necessarily your fault. Now. I'd also argue once
you hit a certain point, you know when the story
comes out the Tiger Woods takes the Marines out for
cheeseburgers when he's in the peak of his powers making

(08:47):
fifty sixty million dollars a year twenty years ago, and
doesn't pick up the tab like, come on, Tiger, like this.
It's called being a grown up. There's a difference between
being cheap and being a grown up. But the Chargers
this season, they have a quarterback who is viewed as
one of the most talented guys in the league. Got
to pick it up in the playoffs. But I think

(09:07):
we'd all agree most teams in the league would love
to have Justin Herbert, and he is considered a max quarterback,
a guy that you build your franchise around. No team
in the NFL this year will spend less cash than
the Chargers, And all I've heard forever is like, well,
they've built this new facility at El Segundo. My entire

(09:27):
life up until Jim Harbaugh when it got so bad
they didn't have a choice, and Jim Harbaugh basically wanted
to come to them because they had Herbert. They went
the cheap route with coaches. Look at the Bears up
until Ben Johnson. They were always going out of their
way to get someone who wasn't gonna cost a lot
of money. The Browns have battled this forever, not just

(09:48):
with the coaches but the players as well. Part of
the reason I'm so high on the Bengals this year,
they already had good players. They've spent a lot of
money on adding some free agents. They have some young
up and coming players like and the division's kind of influx.
Like they got a chance to be really, really good.
But historically the Bengals kind of found ways to circumvent that.

(10:09):
Of course, and Palmer once quit on them because he
thought they were always full of shit and refused to
spend money. Now, you might not be good at owning
the team hire the wrong coaches, David Tepper. You would say,
up until last year when they went eight to nine,
made the playoffs, it's been a disaster. But it's not
because the guy didn't try. His first big move was

(10:29):
who we're gonna get as a coach. He started going
after big names. A lot of people had tried to
hire Matt Ruhle, and he gave him a ton of money.
It blew up in his face. Who was his general manager?
Well hired one of John Schneider's guys. Can't go wrong there.
It just did not work. But he attempted to do
the right thing. Jimmy Haslam beside Jeffrey Lurie and Jed

(10:50):
Yorke and depending on the year, spent as much cash
on his team over the last four or five years
as anyone. Now you can argue they medal and all
this stuff, But in terms of these new owners that
have got involved in recent history will do anything when
it comes to spending cash on their team. Why because
they are used to billion dollar deals they have. They

(11:13):
don't come into this with the mindset of, well, once
upon a time, we bought this team for thirty five
million dollars back in nineteen sixty eight. We got a
loan and we got the thing and we financed it,
putting the putting leverage against our seven tractors and the
one building we own. No even get a seat at

(11:34):
the table. What did Mark Davis just do? Because Mark
Davis is an example with those other guys. His dad
is on the team since what late sixties, early seventies
I think is when he became the controlling owner. Maybe
it must have been the late sixties, because in the
seventies he maddening all those guys. Well, they just didn't
have the cash. Why because they don't have these outside
businesses they can't compete with. Like when a guy like

(11:55):
Paul Allen gets into the league, or David Tepper or
Jimmy As he doesn't have the outside businesses funneling cash
to like oh I can overspend on a coach, it
doesn't exist. So he gets Brady and his two big
money guys. So like, what do you guys need, Well,
more cash, we need to have bigger signing bonuses. And

(12:17):
they change their mentality. Part of the reason the Raiders
once traded Khalil Mack because they could not have financed
the contract like the Chicago Bears were able to do.
You know. And and again I'm not saying all these
teams don't have examples where they have tried. But the
least of my worries is these new owners coming in

(12:39):
and getting cheap now where they could get involved, and
they have in recent battle is getting very meddlesome and
getting very involved. And when you do that and you
speak a language like football, that is extremely foreign because
whether I invest in Square, or I invest in Facebook,
or I in in Costco, at the end of the day,

(13:02):
they're all doing somewhat something similar, right, trying to make
money either selling products, getting fees on you know you
making purchase it, whatever the industry might be. We're in football,
it's simple, do we have the best coach, do we
have the best quarterback? And do we have a guy
that can build a team around those two guys? Cause

(13:23):
and you're not gonna be able to speak their language
because in business, whether it's fucking AI, whether it's a restaurant,
there's always gonna be some common language. In football, when
you're running a play against a certain defense and you
don't know football, it's gonna sound like Chinese. I say
it all the time. I do this for a living.
I worked in divisional on college football and the NFL.

(13:44):
I could not the seth Wickersham article on Sean Payton.
If I sat there on their game plan meetings, I
wouldn't know what they were talking about. I would have
no clue on a lot of the stuff they're talking about.
Why because it's completely over my head. And I've dedicated
my adult life to being around football, talking to football people,

(14:04):
talking about football, studying football, and making football my life
when it comes to making money, and I don't know
what those guys are talking about. It's why a lot
of general managers and the head coach butt heads on
stuff because they speak a different language. Often. It's why
often a lot of general managers speak more of the

(14:24):
coach's language, because it's be like we or I mean
the owner's language. We think this guy is worth this.
We think this is the bonus structure. That's what those
guys are comfortable talking about. So when I see these
new owners getting involved and I'm speaking football, the owner
with the new Blazers owner who signed the coach to
a one year contract with rolling team options, that's an

(14:47):
embarrassment like that, that's a joke. I can't take you seriously.
And I understand. I watched the press conference. I think
the guy used to be on the Timberwolf staff. He's
bounced around, he's a Mike Malone guy. He seems like
a really high level guy. And I don't blame him.
He's tried to get head coaching jobs before and he
couldn't get one, and this guy offers him with these
weird you know, contract stipulations. What's what's supposed to do?

(15:11):
Not take the job? I mean the team was actually
in the playoffs last year. It's worth the risk, but
you shouldn't have to risk it with that. Remember a
couple of years ago, the Lakers tried to hire Tyron
lou but Jeanie Buss wouldn't give him a long term contract.
It's like, well, this is the cost of doing business. Now. Now,

(15:31):
when when these new owners go cheap on coaches, then
you can have an issue with them. But if you
look around the league, the teams consistently that pinch pennies,
even outside of the players. Because again, if your salary
cap is two hundred and fifty million dollars and you
get a four hundred and twenty five million dollar check
from the NFL, that means your biggest expense is completely

(15:55):
taken care of. Now, how you saved that money and
invest that money the extra money so you have money
to invest in bonuses and stuff to be more competitive
and to be more aggressive. Yes, we can have those arguments. Clearly,
the Jeffrey Lewis, the Stan Cronky's are more aggressive than
certain owners, right, there is no disputing that. But the

(16:19):
get in price now is so crazy that that's the
least of my worries. Now, if something economically changes and
the league starts going the other way, then yeah, I
think everyone would have problems those guys, the long term owners.
But all these guys, I think the only question you
should have if you're a fan of a team that

(16:40):
gets a new owner is like, is this guy going
to try to get too involved in the football stuff.
I'm not talking the marketing of the team, the team's website,
season tickets all. I'm talking specifically gonna tell my general
manager who to draft, because that was always the book
on Daniel Snyder. They would have a draft board and

(17:01):
he would come in the day of the first round
and tell you who you're taking. It's like, what we're
taking the other guy? No, I want you to take
this guy. And when you start doing that, you're gonna
have problems. Or Jerry Jones, who always has to be
the star of the show. Who's the star of the
show in the NFL? Non player it's the coach. Well

(17:23):
why and I'm pro Brian Schottenhammer. I'm probably gonna pick
the Cowboys. We'll see how training camp goes in injuries,
but I think I'm gonna pick him to win the division.
I really do long way to go, but I think
defense is gonna be dramatically improved. I think Caleb Downs
is gonna be Rookie of the Year defensively. I think

(17:45):
they got a chance to take an enormous step on defense.
We already know their offense is good. And listen, it's
not like Brian some totally random I mean, fifteen years ago,
a lot of people thought he was gonna be a
head coach right then, and then things got derailed. But
there is no disputing no one knows else was highiring
Briden Scheine I would be their head coach. And from
a financial standpoint, Jerry got cheaper than he would have

(18:05):
Ben Johnson, who the Bears finally had to give a
guy twelve thirteen million dollars a year, never been a
head coach. Just like a couple of years ago, the
charge like you want Jim Harbaugh. Not only does he
cost fifteen million, his defensive coordinator's gonna cost you two
or three, like that's the cost of doing business, where
before Brandon Staley was making three or four. And again,
I don't ever blame Brandon Staley or eber Flus or

(18:27):
any of these guys for taking these jobs even if
they're making nothing relative to some of their peers. Why
because it's still more money than they were making, and
it's still becoming a head coach in the league. And
if you do a good job, your value speaks for
itself and they can't lowball you. But it's a pretty
big risk because it does go bad, no one's ever
hiring you again. And I think those two examples, like

(18:50):
no one's hiring those guys. When it goes bad with
the chief organizations, they become kind of untouchable. Look at McCarthy,
he's got three jobs now and he's one. So it's
not an apples to apples comparison. But if I go
work for the Ravens, if I'm Jesse Mentor and I'm
not John Harbaugh and we never make it to a
super Bowl, but I prove I'm pretty solid, like you'll

(19:11):
get another shot, Like he'll be fine, Like even Brian
dam I'll work for the Giants. If things go pretty
decent in Tennessee, he'll be head coach in a couple
of years. Whether he'll end up being good at or not,
I don't know, but he'll definitely get another shot. Why because.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
Do you work for the giants'll be okay.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
So I think we got to be very very careful
about thinking that these guys are going to come in
and like tear the organizations down to the studs. If anything,
if that's what makes Seattle so unique, I just don't
think it's very often that you get to purchase something
in sports and the team is just loaded and the

(19:53):
two management positions that matter the most have like elite
people out there. John Schneider's going to the Hall of Fame.
Mike McDonald, I think we'd all agree from his work
as a defensive coordinator in Baltimore in his two years
in Seattle, like is a hall of fame talent at
coach pretty special, you know, And if you just watch,
like when you watch his interviews with Dan Patrick and stuff,

(20:15):
like his demeanor, he's got the right demeanor to last.
And he's just very self assured, I would say, and
kind of who he is. He's not trying to pretend
to be something he's not. So I I think the NFL,
at least for the foreseeable future, like these new guys,
is going to have zero impact. Today's show is brought

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(22:43):
John Gruden, who is out of football, pretty good on
the Internet. You gotta give John. I mean, he's kind
of made for the Internet. Wouldn't mind if he just
stays on the Internet and does you know viral videos
the rest of his career. The Vinti testaverdie count snap

(23:03):
count is truly one of the greatest football pieces of content.
And I'm like on the field that the internet has
seen the last like four or five years, it's I've
watched that thirty times. It's I'm gonna watch it once
I finished recording. But Gruden said recently that he desires
to do some TV again, but not as an analyst,

(23:26):
like not as the seat where you're kind of breaking
down what's going on, but the guy doing the play
by play. Like he wants to be Mike Rico. He
wants to be Joe Buck, you know, he wants to
be Marv Albert. And one time in college at cal Pauly,
I the head SID who's kind of in charge of

(23:51):
for those of you that don't know, I don't even know,
like media guides dealing with the coach and the media,
and at Cal paul this isn't exactly Alabama football. Me.
He's like, we want to do an internet stream? Could
you do the play by play? Shit? I love sports.
I've been watching it. Yeah, I got like two batters in.

(24:11):
I'm like, this is impossible. Now, obviously Gruden has sat
in the Monday Night football booth for almost a decade
and the majority of it next to Mike Ico. For
those of you that don't know, a part of a
huge part of the reason he came back to the
NFL was he hated Sean McDonough. He hated working with him,

(24:34):
and part of that was the reverence he had for
Tariko and their chemistry and everything. He despised going to
work and you know, teams were after him, so it
was an easy way to pivot. But yeah, I'm not
sure he goes back to football if Tarico had never
left NBC and and I think Sean McDonough can be
all he's I have like a I like dislike relationship

(24:58):
with him. Some moments I like him some It's like, bro,
it is a little much like you're like running a
podcast sometimes when you're calling a game, I don't need
all your opinions on everything going on. Just call the
game because that's the play by play guy's job. It
is also extremely difficult. This is no shot at any
analysts because clearly all of us watch games, and especially

(25:23):
on Saturdays and Sundays. Saturdays can be a little different.
You can actually find random games with like random young guys.
They're like, God, this guy's not bad. Right in the NFL,
because there's only so many games on Sunday, it's pretty
clear who's good and who's bad. And when you're watching
a game and if your team is bad, you are

(25:44):
getting like the fourth and fifth crew. The analyst can
be horrendous. So it's not like just because you played football,
I put you in that seat and you're just good. Hell,
Tom Brady's first year was terrible, which is understandable because
he's literally never done any broadcasting. Was a player the
entire time, which has no understanding or comprehension of what

(26:06):
the fans think because his number one goal every single
year was to play football and to win the Super Bowl.
So it's been a transitional period and he's kind of
found his footing a little bit, for sure, But it's much.
It feels like it should be easy. It is not.
I would say calling the game in one of my
best friends, guy who married me, I was best man

(26:28):
in his wedding. We hosted a radio show before he's
been on this podcast. Guy Haberman does play by play.
He last year when Greg Papa got sick, he became
the voice of the Niners. He's done Major League Baseball
games and games for the Kevin Durant Steph Curry Warriors,
like he's been doing it his entire life. We went
to high school together. When I played high school football,

(26:50):
guy called our games. It is one of those professions
that most guys that you see on television have been
doing it at minimum since they were like a freshman
in college. I would say the majority of them were
doing something around it, like when they were in junior high,
high school, even if it was just for themselves. And
this is before the internet, so recording stuff into a

(27:12):
recording device. It is very, very difficult because you have
to not only call the game, but then basically be
Magic Johnson or John Stockton, throw an assist to your partner.
So John Gruden, it was reported today, not only wants
to do this. I don't know if he's gonna do
it on NFL network on ESPN local television because that's
you know, preseason games for Tampa Bay. He's going to

(27:34):
call a game this preseason for play by play if
he can be decent, I mean just decent, not after
like the first drive, just be overwhelmed, flubbing his words
and just just a disaster. I will be stunned and
give him a standing ovation. And I know people that

(27:55):
work for him with the Raiders. John Gruden's a grinder,
like it's it's it's been a public story for his
whole career, how hard he works and what time he
gets up. But I have firsthand knowledge of a good
buddy of mine that was on a staff. The guy
can fucking go now. He also said, you know, I
know he gets there at the crack of dawn at
like three or four in the morning. John Gruden's not

(28:15):
there until midnight. So it's like once it gets like
eight or nine, Gruden's pooping out, which is very understandable.
But like in terms of grinding, once he gets there
till the moment he leaves, like the foot is on
the gas. So I'm not gonna act like he's not
gonna try, He's gonna mail this in. I just think
it's impossible. I don't think this is going to work. Now,
you can make the argument like I'm a I would

(28:38):
say I was. I don't even care anymore. I love
the San Franco Giants and one of their main play
by play guys they have like a rotation is Dwayne Kiper,
who played Major League baseball, and he can do play
by play guy. He can do the analysts. It's pretty rare.
Most of the guys calling baseball games in the big
leagues are like John Miller, Vincy, Joe Davis. They are

(29:01):
just the play by play guy. Pat Summerol when I
was a kid with John Madden was a kicker. It's
pretty rare. You're not gonna find typically a coach who's
been an analyst just be able to do a game
on play by play. If he's able to pull it off,
it's like one of the great upsets we will ever see.
But I know this, and this is I I'm assuming

(29:24):
Tampa's gonna have him do it for local television. I'm
gonna watch that fucking thing and they're gonna be viral
clips going. It's you're gonna get some eyeballs, which I
think it's more that than it is, like this guy
could be the next Pat Summer All because you're typically
not gonna pick up that vocation in your sixties. That's

(29:44):
not really the way it works. Uh. Last, but not
least before we do some mailbad questions. My dad used
to tell me this because like any kid, you're always like,
this is the craziest thing I've ever seen. He's doing
all with sports, Like this guy's the best player I've
ever seen. This is the most insane. You know, when
life things are happening, like societal things, you're like, this

(30:05):
has never happened before, and he'd be like, yeah, it
happened three times so rough out the course of my life.
And I think once you put perspective, and this is
social media, it's hard to do it because everything feels
like the craziest thing ever. It's like, now we've been
in some wars before that, there will be more wars
later that. There have been crazy political things that happened.

(30:26):
There have been crazy you name it inserted. But sometimes
something happens you're like, I don't think i've ever seen
that before. That Matt Miller, who was NFL draft scout
on Twitter. I followed him. I feel like my entire
time I've been on the application, I've probably met him
a time or two at the combine, but I don't
pretend to know him personally. I just this guy's passionate,

(30:49):
guy loves the draft. Wanted to be like mel Kiper
and started from nothing and went to Bleacher report to ESPN,
saw him at the combine, gave him a head nod,
walked by him when me and Jackson were doing content.
And the story that came out a couple weeks ago
that he got into a car accident, was ejected from
his bronco and lost his arm. My job hit the floor.

(31:11):
I'm like, that's the craziest thing I've ever read. This
guy who was just on TV for the draft got
ejected from his car, lost his arm, and fucking tore
up his knee, broke his ribs. Like Jesus, guy's lucky
to be alive. And then within a couple of days,
stories are coming out that he's been running like a
birdie madeoff Ponzi scheme with fantasy football for like a decade,

(31:33):
running all these leagues with fake names, taking in money,
not paying out, doing the same thing, running scouting classes,
claiming he was gonna, you know, teach you how to
do stuff, and then not show up or do a
five minute class, and you're like, what did I just
pay for? And then today they the video came out
of the accident of him basically just driving into a

(31:54):
semi You know, I don't know. I don't even want
to speculate on what was going on in the car,
but it did not go well for him, obviously, and
I think a couple of days ago he tweeted out
he was on a leave from ESPNAKA this thing's gotten
out of control. And it just shows you, you know,
the longer you live, you just never fucking know you

(32:17):
have no clue what the hell's going on with anyone.
I always say this, like, maybe this is equality I've
developed as I've gotten older, because when I was younger,
I definitely thought and worried what other people thought and
were doing. I truly do not care now, but like,
I don't try to overanalyze what people are doing behind

(32:40):
closed doors because you just do not know. I was
around Diana at the combine. She was like, goy, this,
she's cool as shit. I was bsing with her and
Silver and we're like, where are you guys going? And
I'll meet you guys out like we just shut down
the bar with Mike Frable. You don't even think anything
about it. And then a couple of weeks later, her
whole career gets derailed, and then a situation like this,

(33:02):
You're like, you can't even make this up. I actually
stumbled upon I think we were up in Tahoe and
I was kind of sick. We had been drinking during
the day for like four straight days. Your boy it
doesn't quite have it anymore in his early forties, and
it's you know, you're in the sun. It's it's it

(33:23):
was like eighty five degrees. You got the altitude, You're
starting your mornings off going on like crazy hikes or walks.
In my body after like four days, just like I
don't know if I got a stomach bug. I definitely
didn't quite get the parasite, but I was and I
wasn't hungover because it hit me way later in the day.
I don't know what it was, but it knocked me

(33:45):
on my ass for like three straight days. To make
it to this wedding that I attended, I had to
go back to back days to the to the IV
station just to survive. Like I am not doing well.
But I don't even where was I going with that
talking about I was being older. Yeah, you just don't know.

(34:08):
I don't know where I was going with that story.
Shows you I haven't been podcasting in three weeks, and
my thought processes are just or not firing on all cylinders.
But I guess my overall point is you just you
just don't know. You get older. Oh oh, I know
where I was going with it is I was better ridden,

(34:28):
but you know you're in that state. I see this
with a little jack. You're like tired as hell, but
you can't sleep. And for whatever reason, my YouTube algorithm
knew that, like, oh, this guy should watch Playmakers. And
my freshman year in college, ESPN came out of the
show Playmakers. Me and my college roommate Ryan Frye, we

(34:49):
loved that show. You know why, I understand because I
rewatched it. It was incredible, Like the starting running backs
doing crack, you got the old guy who's hanging on
doing steroids. You got another guy who's like committing suicide.
I mean, it's all over the map, and you know what,
it's exactly the NFL and and I think it was

(35:09):
Tagliabou at the time, they got so mad, like this
is so bad, that's football. Honestly, rewatching that, I rewatched
about three hours then I kind of skipped through it.
Paralleled a lot of situations that happened over the course
of the next ten years. After they canceled that show.
And look at this. You have a guy that covers

(35:30):
the draft for ESPN, a partner of the NFL, getting
ejected from his car, which again I don't want to
speculate how the collision happened. I got some ideas, but uh,
guys missing an arm, so I'm gonna give a little grace.
And now the Missouri Attorney General is looking into him
for running. And this guy on Reddit that I read

(35:52):
did the math. I mean, you're talking hundreds of thousands
of dollars of potential scam and just on a personal note,
like obviously murderer and pedophilia and all those crimes. Like listen,
I'm a capital punishment guy, so like fucking there are
certain things, see you, I know, certain states, certain places,
certain individuals aren't in agreement, but there are certain things

(36:15):
like what are we wasting a painty sending this fucking
guy to jail. And then you get into the white
collar crime. If you steal people's money, whether it's at
the levels of the Birdie Madeoff types or the end
Ron types even lowers, when you're talking hundreds of dollars consistently,
you are a criminal, scumbag so I'm not assuming anything.

(36:37):
You never know. I've never been a big fantasy football guy,
so who knows. Maybe if I was, I would have
got scammed. But what a fucking story. I mean, you know,
the Rasini thing is like salacious. This one is just
like this feels a little like playmakers. Let's do some

(37:09):
mail back questions at John Middlecoff at John midle Cooff.
Is the Instagram fire in those dms? Shows you don't
podcast for a little while. You know your brain sequencing
of a show and just talking isn't quite firing on
the same pistons. Uh, mail back question at John Middcoff
at John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in those dms.
Get your questions answered here on the show. Longtime listener,

(37:32):
love the pod football takes, but also appreciate your down
to earth stories about your marriage and being a dad.
I know you got married started having kids a little
bit later in life. I'm getting married in two months
and will be a few days shy of thirty five
on the big day, meaning I'll have my first child
at thirty six. Not that it really bothers me. I've
stayed in pretty good shape and taken care of myself.

(37:52):
I don't feel thirty five, but just wondering if that's
ever something that bothered you being in a life milestone
that probably a lot of your friends went through years ago.
It didn't really hit me until recently when I was
on my bachelor party and some of my core friends
whose weddings I was in couldn't make it because of
being busy with kids and family. Totally understood. That just

(38:14):
made me realize we're at different places in our life.
Is that ever something you went through. I'm gonna give
you a story that I over when we were on
vacation in Newport on the fourth of July. I got
a good buddy that lives down there and a former
neighbor of mine who I grew up around in the

(38:35):
late nineties early two thousands, and then when I went
to cal Poly in two thousand and three, he moved
to Sacramento, and over the course of the last twenty
years he was in the trucking business. So his business
is basically I think he does a lot of mainly agriculture. Right,
if you harvest tomatoes, he'll come pick him up and
take them to the cannery or wherever you need to

(38:57):
do it. I think at this point in time he
might even be in other industries. But at the time
I felt like a normal guy. Well, currently in twenty
twenty six, to say he's successful would be a major understatement.
And he's got a sweet pad in Newport Beach on
the water, and we have a lot of mutual friends.

(39:20):
My brother knows him really well. I haven't seen him
in twenty plus years. So I go over to I
take Maria Jack to his house. They having a bunch
of people over and they're just boozing and we're just
having a good time. And right before I left, I went, oh, yeah,
this guy some advice. So I grabbed Maria and I
call Dave over and I said, before we leave, can
you just give me the best advice, your advice you

(39:43):
would give someone on either your experience of you know,
gaining success or being successful, or just things you see
that really stick with you. And the thing he said
is he serves on some different boards and he's seen
it before. He's a People get so consumed what other
people are doing and they try to match them, whether

(40:08):
it's financially keeping up with the Joneses, or they get
consumed with being I don't know envy or jealousy of
other people's lives because of pictures they see, especially now
on social media. He said, that's the biggest fucking waste
of time. And obviously compare comparing yourself to others like

(40:28):
the Thief of Joy, but the amount of people, he said,
even successful people he's around that worry so much about others,
don't do that because if you just worry about running
your own race and focusing on yourself and what you're
doing well or things that are happening in your life,
you will be much happier. It was pretty simple, and

(40:49):
I was like, I've never really had that problem. Part
of it like when some of my friends in their
late twenties or early thirties had kids. Those people had
more stable incomes than me. They were I couldn't have
financially afforded having a kid when I was thirty. I mean,
I technically, I guess could have figured it out, but
I would have like I had asked my parents for money,

(41:10):
I would not have been able to do what I'm
doing now. It wasn't even possible, let alone. I'd never
met someone that I wanted to procreate with. So you're
getting married. I would imagine you love her so the
way you met her at thirty five instead of twenty eight.
I know a lot of people that got married also
in their twenties. Some of those people are now divorced,

(41:30):
have had miserable divorces, and like are financially beholden to
that person. So I would just not worry about it
at all. We all don't. There is no handbook to
life at twenty eight you're supposed to do this at
twenty nine or thirty, you're supposed to do this at

(41:51):
forty fucking nouns who cares. Just be happy for your
friends and ideally they're happy for you, And it's just
a good motivation to stay in shape and be healthy,
to be technically a little bit older. But it's never
crossed my mind once. And part of it I think

(42:12):
goes back to like I couldn't, Like there was no
way it could have. I guess you just kind of
figure it out. But to me, even before the kid,
you gotta if you're getting married at thirty five, unless
you've been dating her for ten fifteen years, if you've
met her within the last three or four years, like,
what were you supposed to do if you didn't know her, Like,

(42:33):
things are meant to be the way they're meant to
be and things just happen. That's kind of the way
life works. But I would not worry, and clearly you
haven't if you're at this point comparing yourself to others,
you know what other people are doing, and especially social media,
you talk about a scam. I mean some of the
stories sometimes I've heard about other people. We all hear

(42:56):
these stories about friends of friends. It's like, what are
they doing? They always seem like they're doing this, Like yeah, there.
I heard a story a couple of years ago at
a buddy's birthday party. This guy there was like thirty
people there, different couples. I didn't know the majority of them.
And one of the guys I went to college with,
we were he's he does well and we were, you know,

(43:18):
having a few cocktails over at the corner, and he's
in the financial world. He's like, you know, like eighty
percent of Because if you see and I follow them,
I feel like on Instagram or definitely see a lot
of their stuff. I'm like, God, these guys are fucking all.
These people are ballers, and these are people are my
age so at the time, you know, late thirties, mid thirties,
early forties, it's like, yeah, a couple of them are,

(43:40):
but a lot of them are on tilt every single month.
And that country club membership, that mortgage, they got those
you know, couple overpriced cars they're driving around that if
one thing goes wrong, they're on a house of cards.
But if you just look at their Instagram, you'd think,
like Jesus, these guys are fucking hanging out with bezos

(44:04):
or something. It's like, no, it's a little fake. So
I think you gotta be careful with that. But congratulations.
Curious your take on the US men's soccer team. To me,
it's pretty simple. Soccer is the fourth or fifth most
important sport. Our best athletes play different sports. Compare that
to most of other nations who eat, sleep, and breeze soccer.

(44:24):
We simply don't care. It's Christian polistic. Even a top
hundred athlete in the US, no chance top hundred. You
wouldn't be a top hundred athlete in like college football. Uh.
I think here's the main problem, because I was thinking
about this earlier when Jack took a nap on me

(44:44):
around lunch and I was just I was taking some
of these screenshots to read later on the show, and
I was thinking about this question because I went to
Pioneer Elementary. It was I don't know, ten minut bike
ride from my house, and we used to have incredible
recess football games, basketball games. We used to duct tape

(45:07):
the bat and play baseball and stuff. But like when
we play those games, who would if we were playing
you know, touch football or whatever. You know, back in
what year with this man, like ninety five ninety four,
someone wanted to be Brett Favre. Someone wanted to be
Jerry Rice, someone wanted to be EMMITTT. Smith, Barry Sanders.

(45:29):
If we played baseball, it's like you wanted to be
Barry Bonds, Ken Griffy Junior, Nolan Ryan, you know, you
name it right, Basketball, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley. It's like
that's who you and if you ever just played whatever,
that's who you thought about. I remember in Little League
trying to do a batting stance like Jay Buhner of
the Seattle Mariners, which is might have been a precursor

(45:51):
because I ended up kind of looking like him with
no hair. And there's like the greatest video I've ever
seen you, Seattle Mariner would know it on Ken Griffy
Junior's night of retirement in Seattle. I don't know when
this was within the last five ten years. All his
former teammates are sitting behind him and he and he
gave this speech and he was like in tears. He

(46:13):
said the best thing I could say about Jay Buner
that if anything were ever happened to me and my wife,
I'd want Jay to raise my kids. And it's like
God just hit you kind of like deep, and it
makes you emotionally, You're like God, I want to be
like Jay Buner. So I was on the right guy.
But my point is, if you grow up in Spain,
or in England, or in Argentina or in Brazil, you

(46:37):
aspire to be Harry Kane or Ronaldo or Messi or
whoever your favorite player is on the soccer team. So
enough of those people. Some of those people are gonna
be great athletes and they're gonna play soccer their whole life.
Where when you turn on this fall LSU playing Clemson,

(47:00):
those guys playing in that college football game ten years
ago dreamed of being Tom Brady, of being Aaron Donald
of being whoever. So since they were little kids, well
before high school, they have been aspiring to be that person.
So when I hear this argument, which is huge this

(47:21):
time of year, it always is like, culturally, we don't care. Yeah, culturally,
our youth looks up and dreams about forever. It was
Michael Jordan, then it was Kobe Bryant, and then it's
Lebron Steph, you name it right. So I think that
impacts it enormously. Now, if we could ever get which

(47:44):
I don't know how, we would our own messy, I
think that would help, but it sure doesn't feels like
we are remotely close to having that. I think that
matters a lot. Can you imagine over the last fifteen
years how many people Steph Curry has influenced in the

(48:04):
sport of basketball? Literally everyone under like thirty five on
the PGA Tour says they idolized Tiger Woods the internet.
Rory McElroy said, I wanted to be a pro golfer
when I watched Tiger Woods when I think it was
like the British Open or the US Open. When when
Rory was like five years old, the Nike did a

(48:24):
commercial on it. So you want you admire, like that's
kind of what you chase in life. And obviously, you
know in sports, a lot of those people just aren't
gonna have the talent to keep moving up. We're in
business or you know, other I would say walks like

(48:47):
different industries, walks of life. You can kind of figure
it out even if you don't have quote unquote the talent,
like you either the baseline of talent you have to
ever play on a national team and these sports is
it's through the roof. But all those kids, I would
imagine majority of them shared in common, like they got

(49:07):
into it very very young. It's pretty rare. Like the
dude the Warriors drafted y Axle from Michigan, I don't
think you played high school basketball. That's abnormal. So I
would say, I people arguing with Alexi Lawless about how
much it costs for you themes, I can't even pretend
to know anything about that. I think it starts way

(49:29):
before that starts about idolizing people at the top. Now,
if maybe because of the World Cup people start, you know,
do people gonna ard idolize like Harry Kane and Messi
and Bape. Probably not, because it's not like we watch
those guys consistently on television, But you know who's on
TV for the last twenty years, Lebron, James, Tom Brady,

(49:51):
Aaron Rodgers. Why is it so widely accepted that slot
corner is less valuable than outside corner? Seems to me
that slot corner is a way harder and thus a
good one should be more valuable. Uh. I would imagine
if we broke down the numbers, if I'm Patrick Tartan
or Darryl Reeves or Richard Sherman, the majority of the time,

(50:14):
your best wide receiver, the best wide receivers in the
league are going to line up outside Jefferson, Chase, Ceedee, Lamb. Now,
all all those guys are versatile players. They can bounce inside,
but you're just going up against a higher priced guy
more consistently. So it's just an economic exercise. So the

(50:35):
slot corner, which matters big time, and obviously the slot
wide receivers tight ends line up in that area, and
depending on how you run your defense, maybe that guy
covers the tight end, maybe does not. But I think
it has to do more with more consistently you're gonna
play better players on the outside. Now that act could
change over time, but like close your eyes and think

(50:56):
of a lot of the big plays of Puka. Of
a lot of these, it does come when they're lined
up outside. Again that maybe that statistically changes over time,
but it's also a different skill set right. As a
slot corner, you need to be a couple things. One,
you gotta play the run because you are basically on

(51:20):
the edge. So a good quarterback if your slot corner
will not tackle, we'll check into runs and come your way.
The other thing is you're changing direction, your short area quickness,
you're kind of moving in a phone booth. So the
outside corner skill set is often different. It's why great

(51:43):
players can do it all, but a lot of times,
like you have a guy designated for that spot, you
gotta be tough as shit. It's it's you don't necessarily
have to be a great tackler to play corner. You
do have to be a good tackler and a physical
player to play slot. Another USA Soccer question. Because the

(52:07):
World Cup expanded to forty eight compared to thirty two,
unfortunately we still lost the same spot as the past.
The skill level may be there, but mentality it doesn't
look to be a part, or the pressure is still
too much. They played timid and showed early. It may
seem like we caught up, but in reality we're still
behind the big dogs. I had mentioned this before the

(52:27):
thing even started. I said, I Am not going to
get fooled. I've seen this song and dance as a
non soccer guy every four years. This is the year.
And then a guy dm me he said, this is
the most talented team we ever had, John. And then
you're watching the first couple of games like eeah, guys, right,
and then you watch that last game and you're like,

(52:49):
that's exactly what it looked like. It feels like every
every time. I think the bigger issue this time was
it was so evident throughout this tournament of I know
France actually lost earlier today, but the elite guys in
this tournament, it's like, god damn. It's like I'm watching,
you know, Michael Jordan, like on four or five different teams,

(53:12):
and you watch us, You're like, well, we don't have
that guy. So if you don't have that guy, because
like the crazy thing about soccer, like in football, it's
pretty rare. If you're getting your ass kicked that you're
down like ten to nothing after half. If I said,
if I just said, we're watching an NFL game, I

(53:32):
just get to describe it to you. You're gonna watch
an NFL game. Quarterbacks gonna throw multiple interceptions, they're gonna
miss a ton of tackles. It's gonna be one of
the worst performances offensive and defensively of the year, and
they're just gonna the other team is outgained them by
two hundred plus yards. What would you guess the score

(53:54):
would be Conservatively, you'd be like seventeen nothing, twenty nothing,
twenty four to three. We're in soccer, you can get
worked and it'd be like one nothing. So you're like
still in Like at twenty four to three, you're not
really in the game, like you got to make a
couple of things happen. Like at one nothing, you're just

(54:16):
you're right there. Thing with soccer, you're never really out
of it unless you're getting absolutely trounced. But even if
it's like two nothing in the first half, well you're
just an early goal. In the second half, all of
a sudden, it's two to one. And I think that's
where soccer can kind of mess with you. Can we
end close. The NFL is obviously the biggest it's ever

(54:43):
been before. What do you think is the biggest factor
contributing to that? Why do you think the NBA, for example,
has fallen behind? Do you think the NFL's success and
the NBA in WNBA's constant blunders show that having a
sound commissioner matters a lot. I think the WNBA, I mean,

(55:06):
give me a fucking break. You know the Dan Patrick
went viral because he called out the commissioner. Do you
know what hit me on the call out of the
commission Everyone that plays in the Tahoe Tournament. If you're
a football player, camp starts in a couple weeks. If
you're a baseball player, you can't play because your season's
going on. Unless you're retired basketball players, they can play, right. Actors,

(55:28):
comedians obviously, if they don't got stuff going on, they're available.
Charles Barkley's available. Why NBA season is over? If the
playoffs were going on in the NBA, Charles Barkley would
not be available. I'm pretty sure that the WNBA commissioner
is the only celebrity in that grip. I wouldn't even
call her celebrity by all accounts. She feels like completely

(55:51):
overhead and most industries would have got shit canned a
couple of years ago. Her league's going on, like shouldn't
you kind of be working, like you know who's probably
not playing in the celebrity golf tournament in October. Goodell, so,
I part of what made David Stern really good and

(56:11):
again the world was different, is like he would make
a decision, he would be aggressive. The Kawhi Leonard story
that broke whatever was it last week earlier this week
free agency started, he got traded as this investigation was
going on, and then like a week later they're like, oh,
the thing's on hold. You either put the thing on

(56:33):
hold before free agency starts, like he's not available, or
you don't do anything. What they did is an embarrassment,
and that's a reflection of Adam Silver, who just feels
like he's terrified to ever make decisions. And I think
the one thing, Goodell, listen, it hasn't been perfect, and
at the end of the day, these people work for

(56:54):
the owners, but like, sometimes he's got to make a decision.
But relative to all that, NBA basketball games don't matter
in the regular season. It's literally a different support. The
Knicks didn't just win seventy games, they became dramatically better
team when the playoff started. They did not look like
that in the regular season. If they did, they would
have been the one seed in the heavy fairs. But

(57:16):
the regular season no longer matters. It's literally kind of irrelevant. Hell,
majority of teams are tanking were in football because of
the and part of the reason it's irrelevant is there's
eighty two games season too long, so the players don't
care well, a ton of teams don't even try. Even
healthy players get sat for games, and it's just it's

(57:38):
not a great product. I mean, this year, the product was,
by all accounts, I think universally agreed upon, the worst
season the history of the league. The regular season, So
the worst NBA regular season in modern history. I mean,
I can't speak for like the sixties and the seventies,
but like since Magic and Bird came in the league,
that's the worst season in the NBA. And that that's

(57:59):
on Adam Silver or started getting shoved around in the NFL.
The one thing that benefits them is like if a
player can play, they're playing. Baker Mayfield had pretty major
knee injuries and just kept playing throughout the season because
that's what you do. That's not what you do in
even in baseball you get a little injury, it's one thing.

(58:20):
If you get a major injury, like what Aaron Judge,
he break a rib or something, something happened internally, like
he's been out like three months, clearly he can't play.
But in baseball, like you know, kind of banged up, like, hey,
just take the series off. No one's like, hey, it's
Week four against the Steelers. I'm just I'm just gonna
take the day off, coach. It's not the way the

(58:40):
thing works at all. So I think that I think
the urgency of the games, the importance of the games.
I also think there are some parallels to the sports
and society, or the sport in society. Like most human
beings are not the boss, someone's telling you what to do.
That's kind of football. Every player kind of gets yelled at,

(59:02):
gets disciplined, held accountable. It's kind of the way we operate.
Right if you don't perform, guess what happens. A lot
of places, you get fired. Most of our jobs are
not the government. You're not just on a scholarship Obviously
there's some big corporate America where people hide, but for
most of us, if we do not perform, we will
go under, you know. And if football player like you

(59:24):
don't perform, you will eventually get cut or replaced or benched.
I just think it's the most relatable operation everything going on.
And obviously in twenty twenty six, attention spans, if you're
a diehard, you pick the team Miami Dolphins, New York Giants,
Arizona Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys. You really just need three hours

(59:47):
a week, not a question, just a bit of elaboration
on your Monday pod. On the Node Kolsha, I think

(01:00:08):
I'm saying his name right at the risk of being nerdy.
I think there are three distinct types of rich finance guys.
The Node Seattle owner is a venture capitalist, a key
premise of which is betting on the people. If he
backed Google and Amazon, those founders are household names. Josh

(01:00:30):
Harris Commander's owner. Roots are an LBO guy, and a
big part of LBO are turnarounds, So he buys the
Commanders and cleans house and installs the right people. Tepper
is a hedge fund guy and an activist. He looks
at screens, picks companies to bully, but he doesn't actually

(01:00:56):
execute anything. He just buys low and he sells high.
Small sample size, But clearly Harris had a better start
to his ownership than Temper. I think an interesting question
is how much of the record setting price the Node
paid is just scarcity and how much is paying a
premium for a premium organization. It would have been interesting

(01:01:20):
if the Cardinals or the Jets came at the on
the market at the same time as Seattle Phoenix. Obviously
New York are bigger markets, but the incumbent ownership in
both places are clown shows. That's a great education. I'm
trying to think of the Temper. What's the guy's name,

(01:01:43):
Gordon Gecko, I think was about him. He bought the airline.
I watched an HBO documentary on the guy. But I
hear what you're saying. And Silicon Valley's full a lot
of injure capitalists in Silicon Valley, obviously that invest in
these companies. It's actually how Joe Lacob made his money.
They got in I was playing golf with a guy

(01:02:04):
kind of in the industry who's older, very successful guy,
and was you know. I think one of Lacub's he
was a partner in a firm of like two or
three guys. One of their big bets was like I
wanted I almost had Facebook, but it might have been Google.
It was like when Google was in the garage. I
feel like it wasn't Google. It was like Google. Facebook

(01:02:27):
definitely wasn't Apple, but it's one of the top like
five or six companies. But it was like when they
were at the garage stage, it's like, oh, you need
two hunder Grant. It's a game changing for the business. Uh.
I think everything depends the New York Jets because of
the New York market, their massive fan base. I think

(01:02:49):
would go for like the same price, would go for
like nine or ten billion dollars. I think the Cardinals
would go for dramatically less, even though this is a
growing market. In ten twenty thirty years, the greater Scottsdale
Phoenix market is going to be infinitely bigger. It's got

(01:03:09):
a lot of outer towner's fan base. This isn't LA.
I think that number would be dramatically different. The stadium
situation sucks. And again when I say dramatically different, I'm
five or six, and who knows, maybe it would go
higher just because, like you said, of scarcity. By all accounts,

(01:03:30):
this guy bought the team for his kid. I was
texting with Haverman today about something, and he's like, do
you think that's the greatest gift a father has ever
given a son? And I was thinking about that, not
like advice, you know, not like life lessons. I'm talking

(01:03:52):
just a tangible gift. But there have been a lot
of rich dads that gave their kids money. But this guy,
the Node got rich in like the early eighties, So
if his kid's like forty forty five years old, I
would imagine he's somewhere around my age dad's seventy one,
maybe a little bit younger. He's been filthy rich his
whole life, so just leaving him money like it's now

(01:04:15):
his money, but he's probably been living like a king
for a long long time. But Vanode's kid worked interned
and did some work for the forty nine ers in
their football office years ago, So clearly the guy really
likes football, and then your dad buys you a team.
I remember begging my dad for a sega when I

(01:04:37):
was probably like between the ages of ten, and twelve.
I really want to sega Genesis so bad. And then
one morning we used to probably put up the tree.
A couple weeks before Christmas. They had a little Christmas
tree lot kind of right around the corner from my
house that's now actually a car wash. One of my

(01:04:58):
brother knows the guy that it owns a car wash.
I think that things a cash cow a little bit
better than the tree lot. It was just an empty
dirt lot. But he uh, I want him to say Genesis.
And I saw the box wrapped him, like, oh my god,
he got it. Well, you know back in the night
and Asia boy would kind of go over to the
Christmas tree when your parents are either out of the
house or at work or whatever, and I did you

(01:05:21):
little scissors, little razor, and peek at what it was.
It was this like electronic geography map. I I don't
remember if I cried. I was devastated. It's like this
thing you put these like you know Spain or Europe
or China, and it like you. My dad wanted me

(01:05:45):
to be smart so bad, In said, I just became
a podcaster, but all I wanted to do was play
like Sonic the Hedgehog and that did not happen because
I did not get a Sega. I got a geography map.
It was electronic. That's I don't think I ever used it. Jack.
I want to do that to you, but I don't
think your mom's gonna let you be a gamer, So

(01:06:05):
I don't know what we're gonna do. Uh love the
pod random Baseball thought I had with all the All
Star Game happening. If Baseball got rid of twenty five
percent of their teams, would the league actually be more popular?
The talent would be more concentrated to every roster laneup.
See again, this is the thing that these other sports
battle is not. Obviously they are shitty teams. You know,

(01:06:28):
they are loaded teams, But like when you play every
day in the way our society is currently constructed, it's
just not gonna work for us. I mean, if you're
a diehard baseball guy, I'm sure you're paying attention, like
a Yankee fan or Dodger fan, you have the game
on in the back. But it's just I don't think

(01:06:50):
it's about the amount of teams. I don't think it's
an amount of the talent spread out. I just saw
Jim Tomay's kid got drafted the White Sox fyll accounts.
You know again, I've had a lot of time on
my hands recently. Draft. They're in first place, they have
the number one overall pick. They drafted dude from UCLA,
which I just saw got the biggest signing bonus in
the history of baseball, ten and a half million dollars,

(01:07:12):
and'd be like, ten and a half million dollars, that's
not that much, And I started thinking about it, Like
in basketball and baseball, if I draft aj Demasa or
Fernando Mendoza, obviously the bonns is gonna start immediately for
the Wizards. You know, in theory Fernando is too, but
like you draft him to be a franchise quarterback, play
early on, maybe not Week one, but like the rest

(01:07:33):
of his career. In baseball, there's no guarantee that the
number one overall pick ever makes it the big leagues.
That's the shitty part about baseball. It's like, it's why
the draft doesn't matter. It's like I'm supposed to get
excited about a guy that I might never see remember.
It's like, what's Kyler Murray gonna choose? Well, do you
think that's the number one pick? For the Arizona Cardinals.
That basically makes him the immediate starting quarterback. Or you

(01:07:54):
think he's gonna go ride a fucking bus from New
Mexico to North Dakota to play a game in front
of seventeen people, I'll promise you this, he's gonna choose football,
and he chose football, and financially it's the best decision
he's ever made. And also, if you can't at the curveball,
he wouldn't have made it pass like double a wind
on this again, a lot of like personal questions here.

(01:08:16):
Finally introduce my wife to my NorCal neck of the
woods between Sack and Tahoe. Question out of curiosity for
the dds, I think that means the dad diaries, not
the designated drivers. Did you or your wife get a
full blown physical prior to getting pregnant in order to
have better peace of mind before hand for the baby's

(01:08:37):
potential health question mark, I take health and hygiene seriously,
but my wife is on another level. She's new to
this country. While I'm familiar with having classmates in middle
school pregnant growing up, been there, buddy, not me personally,
but I agree with you. I say we'll be fine.
She insists it's a must. It's a good concern to have.

(01:08:58):
But curious question for football all, should the Niners sign
a second pass rusher outside of Bosa? I take it.
I bet my guys from like fulsome fulsom or Plasterville
would be my guess. We did not. We just got married.
A month later. Boy hadnter Burtain knocked up? Uh? You
know she was pretty dialed in though on the app.

(01:09:19):
I just it shows you how little men know. I
assumed you could just get pregnant. I mean, basically I
had some idea certain times of the month, but for
the most part, like the majority of the month. I mean,
if you're fertile, you're fertile. That is not the way
it works at all, according to I guess science. So

(01:09:41):
there are certain times when you got to be a
little more active. It actually becomes a little bit more
I would imagine if you had to do it for
a long time, it would be a little weird. But
I don't know. We just we just got pregnant. And
just the weird thing is is that first time you
go to the doctor where they check like the limbs
and how the heart is and if the baby's gonna

(01:10:02):
make it. It's kind of exhilarating. I remember sweating. I
remember like I was like, I gotta can I leave
the room and pace. So we did not do that. Now,
I don't know if the thing you're talking about is
able to figure that out, because obviously, once you get pregnant,
they can within I forget the exact however, many weeks, months,

(01:10:25):
a couple of months, they can get some basic things
and know right away the health levels, certain other things.
But we did none of that. No, I'm a little
bit more of a wing it guy, Like if you
gave me that option, I think I just like, well,

(01:10:47):
it's out of my control, so I'm gonna let it
be because I'm with you. It's like, if it's meant
to be, it's meant to be. If it's not, it's not.
I'm not talking about like fertility struggles and stuff. I'm
just simply talking about, like, I don't know, if you
just so much unknown, I would just try to get
pregnant see what happens. But that's me. I mean, it's

(01:11:10):
not every Maria was dead set. I'm like, we got
to see pictures, so we went to this. I think
I told this story the secondary, you know, ultrasound place
where they try to take pictures. It's like he wouldn't
even move his head so we couldn't see his face.
I like, that's the biggest waste of one hundred and
fifty dollars in a thirty five minute car ride I've
ever had in my entire life. But I never would
have done that. But again, the baby's not sitting in

(01:11:32):
my belly, and it's a different relationship. So I mean,
if it's not, if it means a lot to her,
I don't think it's the craziest thing to acquiesce to
those demands. But I also me personally, I don't think

(01:11:52):
it's I wouldn't do it. Niners pass Rusher. You know.
It's funny. Deebo just opened up this it's called like
nineteen Problems. It was like, I know that was his
nickname and like his Twitter handles. I don't know if
i'd call my bar nineteen proms. But down in like
old town Scottsdale. And Maria asked probably like a week ago,

(01:12:15):
because she saw some on Instagram that I don't know
if it was opening night or they were having a
party there. They're like, it's Deebo on a team, Like no,
She's like, what do you mean he's not on a team.
It's like it's like almost football season. I'm like, well, yeah,
some of these older veteran guys, you know, they're getting
They're used to making a lot of money. These teams
are offering them nothing. It's it's worth their while to

(01:12:37):
wait a little bit into training camp. Hopefully they're basically
rooting for someone to like shatter a lake, you know,
or tearing acl or tarn Achilles, and then they get
a call and they'll be like, you know, I know,
remember when you offered me two million, I'm gonna need six.
But I think there are a lot of quote unquote
names Bosa. I think I saw a rumor, I feel

(01:12:58):
like it within the last month that he might retire.
Someone say that, you know, Keenan Allen, I don't think
he's on a team. Debo's not on a team. So
you see a lot of these guys that I think
will end up places over the course of my guess
would be early August. Some of them will have to
go work out for teams to make sure they're in shape,

(01:13:19):
but then they will they will sign for a lot
less money than they're used to making more than likely,
But I don't really think. Sometimes you kind of gotta
get lucky, you know. Part of turning your franchise around
is like starting to hit on some random guys, you know,
for as great as how he is. I was watching

(01:13:40):
a couple of nights ago they had like a there
was nothing on television. I mean it was bad. So
I watched the All Star Game, like Ryan Howard versus
Jimmy Rawlins, And on Ryan Howard's team they had Jordan Mylotta,
who Ryan Howard is massive. Jordan my Lotta makes Ryan

(01:14:01):
Howard look like a normal human being.

Speaker 2 (01:14:04):
Like they found Jordan my Lotta in the seventh round,
like the forty nine ers found Rock Purty in the
seventh round. Like sometimes it's like where'd you find some
of these d linemen? Well, we traded for this guy
during training camp for a seventh round pick. We drafted
this guy in the sixth round, and they're just really
solid players all of a sudden, a couple of years
after drafting, it's like where did you're?

Speaker 1 (01:14:22):
Like the Rams, where'd you get this guy? Byron Young,
Puka Nakua, like Landman, It's like you start, you just
got to hit on. Not everyone's gonna be a top
ten pick that everyone knows about. You're gonna have to
hit on some random guys. It's why I don't get
that caught up during the draft. And like I love
the fifth and sixth and seventh round, you have no clue.

(01:14:42):
But some of those guys are gonna be studs. That
is a lock. And some of the guys that we
talk about endlessly in like the teens, are going to suck.
Relative to suck, I mean they're better than me and you,
but relative to NFL players are not gonna be any
good and are gonna get lapped by the dude that
was drafted in the fourth round at the same position.

(01:15:04):
It's like we drafted his guard in the first and
we drafted a guard in the fourth. Two years later,
the guard in the fourth is a stud and the
guy the drafted in the first is injured a lot
and turns out he's not that good. Happens at all
positions all the time. So I think the forty nine
ers are gonna need their last two drafts uh to
be impact players, and some of them they're not gonna

(01:15:26):
be household names, especially last year. They had a lot
of promise with a lot of the guys. They're gonna
need Mikeel Williams to come back off the ACL and
be a good player, and they're gonna need some of
the guys in this draft class to be impact players.
They don't need stribbling to be Poka Nakua, but like, hey,
can you catch sixty balls? You know? They don't need

(01:15:48):
the dude they took from Texas Tech to get fifteen sacks,
but like, can you get us eight or can you
just be a top ten rookie pass rusher and pressures?
You know? So that's what you need. That's part of
building a team. And if you can't, you kind of
got it. Like you're signing some of these guys that
are still available, it's like more than likely it's not

(01:16:09):
gonna go that. Well, Joey Bosa was really talented player
and when he was healthy early in his career, I
mean he was he was a big time I don't
think he's been good or healthy in a long time.
End on that audios, I will see everybody. Well, I'm
doing a podcast I think Thursday with Colin but you

(01:16:31):
can check out. We will be as in we mean
me with Colin on the Herd on TV on Thursday
and Friday, and then uh yeah, back at Scotts Sale
Friday afternoon. Makes it easy not It's like an hour
twenty minute flight, but we will talk soon. Have a
great day. Audios. The volume