Ep 41-Will Colin Kaepernick ever play in the NFL again? NFL Officiating department restructured, and the art of trolling on social media.

Will Colin Kaepernick ever play in the NFL again? NFL Officiating department restructured, and the art of trolling on social media. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Good Calls with Dean Blandino, a production of
I Heart Radio. Hey, what's going on? Dean Blandino? Another
episode of Good Calls on your host boys. I'm joined
by Travis Hands and Joe Madrid on audio and again
what is this three weeks in a row? Scott Tamil

(00:22):
Scott wearing the instacr T shirt. Scott did you work
for instat car at one point? I did for a
few months, and that was it was horrible. It's a
terrible company. And if you need groceries delivered, don't use
take so an INSTACR sponsor. I like it. Yeah, I
hope they're not your newest spotsor my apologies not by

(00:47):
insta Car Instacr. So why are they terrible? Um? They
at the time I can only speak to when they
first came to l A. They were all about speed.
So it's like you're you would not get like as
good of a quote unquote rating, uh and that, and

(01:09):
it was all built on like how fast you could
check out, So you were basically forced to game the
system as far as like get things altogether then suddenly
check out quickly. Uhnywhere like on one of those game
shows where you had ten minutes. It was supermarket show, ye,
and you had to get as much in the card
as pot. That was great. I love that show. They're

(01:31):
like filling their car with turkeys and things. I think
it came back for with Guy Theory as a host,
so check it out. But also I was just gonna
say they've gotten in trouble because they've screwed over workers
lately because they would hide the tip ability so you
would want to tip them, but then they would add
like a fee and it said this helps offset cause

(01:54):
or something, so people would think they were already tipping
the driver and they were like, oh, was a mistake.
But shady there's a shady company. So if okay, if
you if you were on that show and you had
let's say five in your ows and you have three minutes,
what ile are you going to first? In the supermarket baker,

(02:15):
the liquorisle. Okay, I think bills weren't available, and then
you gotta take away that you can't the liquor. I
donything counts. But the point of the show was to
try to in the final run would be to make
pick this stuff that costs the most money, Like you
have the biggest total. So I think, like, you want
to go to like the meat, like they were always

(02:37):
remember turkeys and hands go to the meat. I would
go to the meat section. I think that. I think
that's first, that's bang for your buck there. And then
if liquor was if liquor was open, then yeah, like
I could go to the liquor I'd probably end up
in the ice cream section too. I feel like everybody
used to go to the diaper ale first. That was
where everyone I remember that's smart. Diapers is very smart

(02:58):
wed that mindset. I'm the key. You don't have kids, yeah,
but the type of that that those are expensive, man,
you can get they're like I don't even pull ups
and stuff. Geez. I mean Travis is eight kids. So
we understand that. All right. So here's the question. Here's

(03:21):
the question I'll post to you. Obviously, Look, the NFL
just came out and they've been UM. We talked last
week about the video and the NFL employee and then
Roger Goodell admitting that they got it wrong in two
thousands sixteen. UM. Now the latest right, the NFL is
is going to UM donate ten years fifty million million

(03:42):
dollar fund to combat systemic racism and support the battle
in terms of the historic and justices faced by African Americans.
All of this right, and obviously, look, I know we
had another shooting um African American man in Atlanta that
was just you know, that was picked up for potential
um d u I and then was apparently running away

(04:05):
from the police when he was when he was shot.
And uh, but if look, if George Floyd doesn't happen, um,
you know, is the NFL or any any of these
other organizations, you know, pledging making these statements, making these donations,
doing whatever, and and does that take away from the
fact that at least we're doing something, at least we're

(04:27):
aware of it. Unfortunately had to take something like this
to kick start, you know, all of this what's happening
in the country today. But does it take away for
you that where some people might say, oh, this is
only a reaction to what happened, and this is this
is bowing the public pressure because right now, this is
where the country is. At this point, I can go

(04:49):
first and I say, yes, it's happening because of that,
and it's unfortunate for that reason. But at the same time,
you have to hit rock bottom and come out of it.
So I think this is it's moving in the right direction.
So so it's it sometimes takes the worst to happen
to find out that you have to do more. And
and that's a typical Travis response. He's the glass half
full guy, and he's you know, that's he's the guy

(05:11):
to go to for positivity. Now we'll go to our
our resident cynic and and Scott, who has more of
a I'm not gonna say Scott's a glass half empty
type guy, but Scott is going to give you a
little He's a realist. He'll tell you he's a realist.
So Stott, what what's your where are you up? Well,

(05:32):
this may shock you, but I pretty much agree with Travis,
which is, uh, Dan, Travis, you're done. Stop you you
said your this, You're You're absolutely right. If all this
this last month doesn't happen, I think this wouldn't happen.
But it is a good thing obviously that the NFL

(05:54):
is putting money into this. I'll be more interested to
see because right now, uh, you know, the league is
obviously not active, so there is a lot of time
for them to say the right things and do the
right things. But when the league, when the season starts,
presuming everything starts on time or just slightly delayed, it'll

(06:17):
be very interesting to see how the league approaches things
because now basically they're saying all the right things, But
what happens in week four when players are still bring
you know, bringing this to the forefront, and I'm you know,
some owners haven't said anything. You know, it's like, are
they gonna start talking? What if the president tweets stuff?

(06:39):
Who knows? You don't have to wait to see? Yeah,
I think we do. Look, it's it's ultimately, it's it's
a shame that it came to this and obviously something
so shocking and so horrified that everybody got to see
and just but what black people have said has gone
on for them for for a very a long time.

(07:01):
And now the white community has to see this, this
shopping event and say, oh, okay, now I'm gonna listen. Um,
but at least we're listening, right, And but I think
ultimately you're right in terms of when the season starts,
and you know, ultimately it comes down to and this
is the bigger question I've had conversations with people about
this is you know, when you when you write, when

(07:24):
you work for a company, right, we have we have
freedom of speech in this country, and we have certain
rights and things like that. But the reality is when
you work for a company and you enter the workplace,
a lot of those rights go away and you're governed
by policies and things like that of the organization. Right,
you can't just go into your workplace and say whatever

(07:44):
you like and and there be no repercussions. So this
there are some people that believe that this is this
is in a way politicizing the workplace, that the players,
this is their workplace, and now kneeling or making these statements,
you know, is somehow politicizing the workplace. And and I
understand that. I was having a conversation with a former

(08:06):
colleague of mine and that's what kind of he was saying.
And I get that, but I think it's beyond that
in terms of the platform that these athletes have and
how they can affect change. I believe we have to
look past you know what. Obviously we're not gonna we
don't want our athletes to be you know, in terms
of condoning hate messages and things like that, because they

(08:29):
have such a tremendous platform. But I think if this
platform is for good, I don't have a problem with
that in the workplace, I don't. I don't know where
you guys are on that, if that even makes sense.
If Dean I take the question as did this seem
authentic or did this thing seem like what we kind
of have to do? Is it genuine? Right? Is it? Yeah?

(08:50):
Absolutely not? Yeah? Well I and I also think, look,
I struggle with this too. And here's the reality. I
struggle with being. Look, i am by no means we joke, right,
I'm the C list celebrity or this the delays celebrity.
But I am I am a public figure to some extent.
I'm a white man in this country, and I struggle

(09:13):
with the the idea of okay on social media especially,
and you guys know me, I'm not a big promoter
and I don't like you know, I'm not out on
social media all the time promoting things and things like that.
But where I struggle with, and I feel like other
white people in the in the public space struggle with
um is not saying anything being seen as okay. Silence.

(09:39):
Now you're complicit to what's going on. Versus just saying
something because everybody's saying something and it not being genuine,
versus just behind the scenes, just trying to do what
I can and having those conversations and controlling the things
I can control, and and and so that's what I'm
struggling with right now, to be perfectly honest, and I

(09:59):
wouldn't be open it to you, especially Scott being Asian
and being a minority, like what what what do I do?
You know, what, what's the best route for me? I've
seen a lot of people posting similar things. Well, one
thing that is funny is, as you pointed out, like
on social media, if you have a platform, you can

(10:20):
type something in that will ruin your life for life.
But I would say I would say uh quickly to
get back to a question before the one direct to me,
which is you know, um, players you there, they can

(10:43):
say whatever they want, like you said, and the employers
can decide and what they want to do. So right now,
I don't think I think the discourse around it is there.
Many players are using their platforms to speak out, which
is great, but if it was some awful thing they
were saying, you know, you do have the court of

(11:05):
public opinion, and then you also just have like the
limits of your employer and you know, not to put
the NFL on blast or anything. But if you're you know,
they've willingly kept people on their teams who have committed
pretty terrible crimes. So I think, like, you know, that's

(11:26):
that's also making a public statement. If you're like, hey,
we know this guy did this horrible thing, but we're
not gonna fire in now. Again, that's just they take
the heat or they don't. So but as far as
your question with you know, what can you do? Um,
I've seen people post about this too because some people,

(11:48):
myself included, aren't always you know, comfortable putting like our
voice out there because we don't feel like it's authentic
to do that, or we're co opting someone else's ideas,
or we're taking away from things. So as long as
you're active some way, whether it's like however you consider

(12:10):
that you know, you're voting, you're talking with your family
and your friends. You it could be donating money. There's
people who like to donate a lot of money, but
they don't want to make it a big deal or
make it about them. You can still be involved in it,
just because you're not tweeting, like it doesn't mean you're silent.
And also the difference too is like it's not like

(12:32):
you tweet fifty things a day and then now you're
just not talking about it. Sure you know, so I guess,
And then I think the other thing that comes down
to the NFL. Right, Roger Goodell said that he welcomed
the team signing Colin Kaepernick. I feel like there are
some people that will not take the NFL seriously until
Colin Kaepernick is on a team. Um. That is, some

(12:56):
would say that Roger Goodell has some control over that.
Someone would say that Roger dond has no control over that.
That's up to the thirty two clubs and signing someone.
The reality is, we talked about it last week. From
a talent perspective, from a playing perspective, he belongs on
an NFL roster, you know, as a backup at a minimum. Um,

(13:16):
but is a team ready to take on that that
public you know, like you said that that discourse that
that I don't want to use the store just just
for lack of a better term, distraction. Okay, UM, that's
gonna be interesting because look, the reality is, I remember
when when Michael Sam. You remember, Michael Sam was the
defensive end of Missouri, openly, openly gay. He was went

(13:40):
into the draft and there was a lot of conversation
about whether Michael Sam was going to get drafted and
and I don't know this for sure, but I believe
and it was and and ultimately it was the Rams
that drafted him. Jeff Fisher was the head coach. They
took them, I think with a supper with a with
a compensatory pick in the seventh round. I believe that
there was conversation with the league, from the league office

(14:02):
to the clubs to say, um, someone needs to to
draft this guy, so we needs to draft this player,
and and ultimately happened, and unfortunately didn't work out for
for Sam. His career didn't really go anywhere. But I
think it was an important step. And so I think
the league can influence UM a team into into potentially

(14:22):
signing Kaepernick UM. I think that would be a strong message.
I like what Roger said about UM. He's open to
working with with Kaepernick on these issues and having those conversations.
And maybe that's more impactful UM than him just being
on a club. But but who knows. And we'll we'll see.

(14:44):
But the last thing on the NFL, which I just
want to present, considering the current environment, it's never going
to get any any and for lack of a better
term better than this, how much longer can the NFL
continue to have the Washington Redskins as a team name
at this point? At what point can can does it? Does?

(15:08):
Does the NFL saying we're fighting for social injustice? Is
it not a complete big ball of hypocrisy one of
your team names? Is that offensive? I think it's got
to change. The mayor of d C has come out
asking for the change again, and I think it's got
to change. If it doesn't change now, when is it

(15:29):
ever gonna right right now which seemed like the time
to do it. Uh, I don't know. Can you speak
about how like Dan Snyder obviously has opposed this a lot,
like how much control really have? Look? I think the
league you know when it comes to this, right you

(15:49):
look you look at obviously Dan Snyder is an out
and making racist comments and doing what Donald Sterling did.
But the NBA force Donald Sterling to to sell his
team because of all the awful things that had happened. Um,
I think the NFL could exert influence. I think they've
hid behind the idea that it isn't offensive um to
Native Americans, that there have been these polls, um that

(16:12):
that have said, well, you know, however, many percentage of
Native Americans don't find the defensive. Um. Look if if
one person finds a defensive and look, I'm not I'm
very I'm very interested um in Native American history and
things like that. I've studied it. I understand what's happened
in this country, um, you know, revolving around Native Americans.

(16:33):
And to me, I just it's it's it's mind boggling
that we still have a team name and and to me,
the environment today would tell us that this this has
to change. Look obviously not trying to take away from
from the Black Lives Matter and and and the historical
injustices injustices there. But I don't know how the NFL

(16:54):
could sit there and say we're serious about this when
you've got one of your thirty two franchises with a
name like the red Skins. I remember, I grew up
in New York St. John's St. John's, which was a
powerhouse basketball team right in the Big East. You remember second,
Chris Mullen and and Bill Wennington and and and right,

(17:15):
and they were the Red Men, okay, And that was
and that that was changed in the nineties to the
Red Storm the nineties. And we're still sitting here in
two thousand twenty with the team name like the reds.
It has I'm like you, it has to change. I
don't know how it continues. Yeah, I agree nothing else.

(17:37):
I agree with speechless. All right. So then the other
big news about the NFL um some Cowboys players, notably
Zeke Elliott and some Texas players tested positive for for
COVID nineteen. Um to me, right, that's news. This is
gonna happen. Yeah, be prepared, right if we're testing, right,

(17:58):
the NFL saying, and LP medical director Tom Mayor is
saying that we're gonna test for COVID three times a week.
We're gonna isolate players who test positive. If we're testing players,
if we've got fifty three man rosters, ten players on
the practice squad, um injured reserve, all of that, we're
testing people three times a week, We're gonna get positive tests. Right,
think about this? Yeah, sorry, I was saying. The thing

(18:21):
about this Zeke story is that we don't know when
it was. It could have been like when that party
was going on at dox House. What's that you know,
a month or two months ago? Already it seems like
where they where, they had you know, a bunch of
food and they had the video we've all seen at
Zeke's their decks there, they got friends over and there's
definitely more than t wish wish people there. No, I'm

(18:44):
you have the guy. So it's like, did he get
it then or is it something recent now? If it's
if it's later, you know, if it's if it's within
the last week or so, then then you start to
question it. But but Texas is opening up things again
like everything else and and and it's it's you. We
don't know when it We're going to get it. People
are gonna get it. Right. The the mortality rate though,

(19:05):
certainly as as you have a younger, stronger, you know,
stronger immune system, the mortality rate isn't isn't extremely high, um,
but you're gonna have case that's and we might we
might be in a world who knows. In the fall,
when guess what, you know, the Bucks are playing the
Saints and Tom Brady just tested positive and Tom Brady

(19:25):
playing on Sunday, right, So this is this could happen,
and that's the reality. Every week it's gonna be you
know who who's injured, who who potentially test positive? You know,
and that's gonna be with all professional sports. You look
at what's happening in Europe and leagues are happy. You know,
they're boot whether it's bood Thisliga or other. You know,
they've been playing for for several weeks and and they've

(19:48):
been operating. Um. There have hasn't been a major major outbreak.
And hopefully that's the case with all of our sports
and uh and we won't have we won't have major
issues going into the to the season. The interesting thing
with the NFL is I think it was Bruce Arians
who said he's contemplating having a quarterback stay at home

(20:08):
and studying from home and not being around the team
because if your backup gets COVID, you're I mean, if
you're started get it, you're like likely going to spread
it to the quarterback room in the backup is gonna
get it too. Now you're stuff with your third string corpment.
So it's interesting to bring in the strategy of everything too,
which I haven't even thought about that side of it.
I think that's gonna that's definitely gonna take place. You're
you're gonna take special care with certain people. Maybe they

(20:29):
don't come to the facility every day. Maybe they do
things from home. Obviously, if it's a practice day and
they've got to be on the field, that's different. But
it's certainly gonna be It's gonna be interesting. Even the
NFL is going to be working remotely, Amazing everyone working remotely.
I'm gonna stay healthy. I might get my call this year.

(20:49):
They're gonna step in. We might see, you know, very
unheralded free agent signing Joe Madrid from Dando b is
stepping in for for Grounds Kelsey. Travis Kelsey isn't playing,
So Mahomes is gonna be Madrid is gonna be his
top target? All right? And then I don't know baseball,

(21:16):
what's the deal? Talk to me? What what Rob Manford
was said? We were a hundred percent playing last Friday?
Right now? Did I did I really say that? Did
I say we're around from percent playing? Um? Look, a
lot of this has to do with the Union, I
think the league, right, the league keeps proposing different They

(21:37):
keep basically proposing the same thing in different ways, and
ultimately it comes down to each proposal, the players are
getting roughly one third of their salaries. However you slice it,
it's still roughly a third of what the players would
be making. And I think that's the the MLB p
A S issue. But you know, they're probably getting that
actual unemployment Dean, what's that? They're probably getting that extra

(22:01):
six headed on undeployment. Yes, I'm sure. So it's gonna
be interesting baseball. If baseball canceled the season, this would
be only the second time in professional North American professional
sports that an entire season was canceled. Um. The NFL

(22:23):
canceled the entire I think it was what season? Um,
So we think about when baseball, uh, you know, canceled
the rest of the season, didn't play the World Series.
Montre l Expos never never recovered from that, right. The
Montreal Spos went into went into debt. They couldn't afford

(22:44):
the better players. They had to basically sell off these
players and ultimately they went to funk. So we're about stack, yeah,
and you worry about you know, is that the case?
Could we see a repeat of that if we cancel
the season. Because owning a professional sports franchise, um, you know,
at least in my experience and the people that I
talked to, it's more of a vanity project than anything else.

(23:07):
Most of these owners have made their money in other
industries and they own a sports team because because it's
high profile and it's a vanity thing versus just um,
you know, them making money hand over fist. I mean
for for every organization like the Cowboys, are the Yankees,
um that are you know, that continue to be valued

(23:29):
at at at you know, however many billions of dollars.
Then you have others, whether it's you know, small market
baseball teams, small market hockey teams, things like that that
that aren't that that are kind of just breaking even
and then not having a season would be catastrophic. I
like how you didn't call any of those teams out
by name. That was that was that was good? No,

(23:50):
that was very diplomatic. I'm just like you can I'll
take my shitty thoughts and I'll project them onto you
and how you can all run through the teams in
your mind that you that you think of. All right,
let's let's take a break. When we come back, we're
going to talk about the the NFL's officiating department restructure
was something that I'm intimately intimately involved. Next on Good Call. Alright,

(24:30):
we're back on Good Calls. Travis is having a glass
of wine. I do want to say the other day
I had a when what day was it, Tuesday, Wednesday?
I don't know. We had a had a virtual happy
hour with some friends and they're on the East Coast.
So I had like three drinks at three o'clock in
the afternoon, passed out at five for like an hour

(24:52):
and a half. So I am so out of drinking
right now. Because of you would think that I'm not
a I'm not. I'm kind of a homebody and I
like being on my own, but I don't like drinking
by myself. I'm a very social drinker, so I haven't
been drinking. And I was literally wasted after three drinks
and passed out on the coat on the sofa. And

(25:14):
that's that's how it goes with quarantine. I think I
think that my wife and I have drank wine pretty
much every day with dinner since since uh quarantine started.
It sounds very romantic. It's not one or two year
old thrown food all the time. It's to help us
get through dinner. We go that the eight kids come
in ruin your your romantic dinner. All right. So in

(25:38):
all of this, right, in all of the everything that's
been happening in the world, um and in this country,
you know, COVID, the social unrest, kind of what slipped
onto the cracks a little bit is the the NFL
has restructured their officiating department. And obviously this is a
show that focuses on the NFL rules, so we thought

(26:00):
it would be important to cover that. Um. Look, the
reality is the conversation. I've had conversations with the NFL,
um ever since I left, and and they the NFL
has always been a special place for me, and I've
always wanted to help them, and I've had conversations about potentially,
you know, getting back there, and it just hasn't worked out, Right,

(26:22):
it hasn't worked out. I'm very happy doing what I'm doing,
and I'm open to help in the NFL in any way.
So the NFL restructured their efficiating department and did a
couple of things. So our Riverant, who was the senior
vice president of officiating in the mold of what had
happened in the past. Typically, Right, there was one person
that oversaw the department. UM. Underneath that person there are

(26:44):
officiating supervisors. There's a support staff, but that one person
oversees everything is ultimately responsible UM for the structure in
the department, the day to day operations, UM, hiring, firing, training. Right,
that one person and you obviously have a support staff.

(27:04):
That job has grown exponentially, UM, even from when I
had it. And uh, you know you talk about replay
going into the league office, and and that's something that
that person would be responsible for. There's obviously so much
in terms of social media, the connecting with the media,
the clubs, everything else. It's a big job. So what

(27:26):
the league did is they divided it up. Right, So
I remember on is is no longer in charge of
the officiated department. Right, It's it's basically a three a
three headed approach. Um. Our river On will be in
charge of instant replay. UM. This will be interesting because
I love Al to death. Al has a lot of

(27:47):
great qualities. I hired al um when I got the
head job at the NFL. UM. Al has has a
particular skill set, and I'll be quite frank, replay isn't
a strong suit for It's just out and we kind
of saw I play out last year with past inference.
We never could find um the right place. We never

(28:08):
could find a consistent standard, and so putting Al in
charge of replay to me, is not putting someone in
a position to be successful. Um that's just my opinion, right.
I think you take someone's skill set and you say, okay,
where can this person best be successful? That's going to
help that person grow and it's also going to help
the organization and replay is not hit for our river run. Now,

(28:30):
hopefully there will be people underneath AL that will be
able to help and we'll be making decisions. They're gonna
have a rotating basis where they have people come in
and help make decisions on game day and I will
oversee it. So hopefully that that will mitigate some of
those those circumstances where we're out would just be the

(28:50):
sole person making those decisions. Okay, because again not his
strong suit. Has a lot of skill set, has has
skills that I don't have, came from an on field background,
just stands officiating, mechanics, understands all of those things, and
I needed him because I didn't understand those things to
that degreat right, but replay right, that's not his wheelhouse.

(29:11):
So we'll see how that plays out. UM lead hired
Walt Anderson, longtime referee, had been a supervisor coordinator of
officials in the Big Twelve for a long time, so
has management experience, understands that part of it, obviously understands
the on field part of it, had understands replay. I
think Walt is a is a good higher Walton. I've

(29:32):
known Walt for a long time. UM, Walt is as
harder worker as I've ever seen, what will do, whatever
it takes, what will put in the time. He's gonna
be in charge of development and training, right, so he's
gonna work with the on field officials, UM implement a
training system of training program to help get the officials
on the field better. So I think that's good, right,

(29:55):
wal It's gonna need direction while it's gonna need to
have to communicate with the competition. Give me to make
sure that, UM, what is being taught to the officials
is consistent with what the committee is. You know, once
for the game. And then the third part is Um.
The league hired Perry Fuel. Perry Fuel is a longtime
assistant coach in the league, had been a interim hed

(30:15):
coach with the Panthers, Um defensive coordinator, was defensive coordinator
with the Giants when they won a Super Bowl, and
known Perry for a long time. Smart guy obviously comes
from a coaching background. I think that's good having somebody
with a coaching background inofficiating is important. We did this
when I was there. We brought in coaches that weren't
working that year to spend the season with us. We

(30:38):
did it with Jeff Fisher, Lovey Smith, Ken wizzen Hunt,
Jim schwartz Um. We have coaches come in because they
give you a unique perspective UM that you don't have
from an officiating background. They can tell you what you know,
what is being coach, what that player is attempting to do,
what his assignment is, where where he's trying to get
to on the football field, and that can help officials

(30:59):
and just pay things. So I think that's great. Perry
is going to be in charge of the day to
day operation of the department and also going to communicate
with the media and communicate with the clubs. The one
concern I have about that is that Perry, while he
may know football very well and and understand it from
a coach's XS and O standpoint, it takes a long

(31:20):
time to understand it from an officiating perspective. So Perry
has a kind of a steep learning curve and it's
gonna take some time. It's gonna take time for him
to be able to communicate with a head coach or
an assistant coach on an officiating issue. So he's going
to need help. I think that's where the league needs
to basically provide him some resources to give him the supports,

(31:41):
again putting people in a position to be successful. So
that's the set up. All three will ultimately report to
Troy Vincent, who's the executive VP of Football Operations. So
the bubble stop with Troy and and so depending on
how this goes right, it's ultimately gonna fall on Troy's lap.
He's responsible, and so it'll be interesting to see how

(32:03):
that how this goes. I think ultimately, what is when
you think about officiating today, what what of those three things,
what's the most high profile, what's the most impactful for
you as a fan watching replay. It's it's that goes
without saying replay. And it's like you still have the
guy who who messed it up last season in charge

(32:23):
of it. Like that, to me doesn't make a lot
of sense. Yeah, and that and that's from the person
on the outside looking in. And I'll tell you from
the person who used to be on the inside. And
for people that I've talked to on the inside, Um,
that's the concern. Right, You've taken someone that that that
was not their strong suit, right, no fault of their own.
It's just not right. Joe's Joe's not good at you know. Oh,

(32:48):
be careful, be careful. I'm running down the list the things.
You're having a hard time finding something. It's just Joe
is not a great dresser, right, So I wouldn't put
Joe in charge of If I ran a fashion house,
I wouldn't put Joe in charge, right, dareing out clients,
socializing that kind of thing. He's good with that. I

(33:10):
would take him and say, take these these, take this
group out, show him a good time, all right. Scott's
gonna handle the fashion part of it, okay. So if
I had do you three, I would put you in
a position to be success and that's the concern. And look,
it's not to say it can't work, and I hope
it does. I wanted to work because I spent too
much time and too much times invested in officiating to

(33:32):
watch it, um, you know, be like it was last
year and and and and to have that type of
negative negativity surrounding it, and and so I wanted to work.
I hope it works. There are smart people involved, and
I just hope that we put people in a position
to be successful. And it's gonna be interesting because when
all of this, when COVID you know, and everything else,

(33:54):
and we get back to playing games. Ultimately, what's gonna
happen on Sunday right that that replay, We're gonna be
sitting there and I'm gonna be trying to figure out
what they're gonna do. And I just don't want to
be making that face like I made in that Cleveland
Raider game and took that seven team when they overturned
that line the game and then basically became a meme
because my my face. I was shocked and I didn't

(34:15):
know the camera was coming back to me and I
had that what the f look? On my face. So
IM hoping that that's not the case. Although you guys
would enjoy that because everybody gets a kick out of
that type of stuff. What I think I'll enjoy is
I want to hear Joe's rebuttal on him not having
any fashion sense. You know, I get compliments on my
wardrobe all the time, all the time. So all right,

(34:36):
I wish you would have went with something else that
I actually am not good at. But I get it.
You've probably had a hard time finding that you're not
good at social distancing, right, So so Dean, so Perry
will be the one taking the calls from the mad coaches. Yeah,
I think that's the way it's set up, and that

(34:58):
that's that's the thing that Look, I get it from
a coach's perspective, and I love the fact of having
somebody Perry like, like having someone like Perry in there.
But I can't see Perry answering a call from Bill
Belichick or from you know, Anthon Lynn, or from from
Bill O'Brien asking about holding call and and him being

(35:21):
able to speak to be officiating mechanics and from a
place of of knowledge at this point, not saying he
can't get there. But at this point that would be difficult.
It would be like me trying to go in and
I'm coaching defensive line for the right. I wouldn't know
initially what to teach them or what to tell you know,

(35:42):
my players. I would need time to learn and to
grasp it and things like that. So so that's gonna
be the challenge. I think the coaches will still call you, well, yeah,
I still get obviously, I still get phone calls. I
talked to you know, I talked to people from the
club today. Um, I'll be working with several clubs on
on rules and helping their rookies and and talking the

(36:05):
differences between n c A and NFL rules and putting
together position specific tapes related to rules. So here are
the rules that you know, working with with with teams
in terms of here are the rules that your linebacktors
need to know. Right, here are the rules that your
defensive backs need to know. Here the rules that your
offensive linemen need to know. What are the rules that
most impact those position groups? Putting together videos and we'll

(36:26):
do some zoom stuff. Well, hopefully we get to visit
and training camp and go and work with some clubs
and help them on that. So that's you know, that's
something I appreciate those relationships and the ability to do
those things. Um. But but yeah, it's it's it's gonna
be interesting to see how this plays out because as
you know, once the season starts, nobody's nobody's talking about
officiating now in June, but I guarantee you in October

(36:49):
they're gonna be talking about it if we're playing games.
And this is gonna come to more of the forefront
as to this structure and whether it's working or not.
And and that's gonna be and that that remains to
be seene. Would you would you say that, I mean,
it's should there almost be a different position for the

(37:09):
like Riveran had to answer, because he's the head of
officiating two mistakes, You would think they should almost create
a second person almost as like the face like a
PR person that's the face forward because like you said,
a lot of times, you can be a you can
know the rule book, you can be an XS and
those guys, but if you can't communicate really well to

(37:33):
the media, you'll come off as a loof and then
the league gets heat. Would you think the NFL would
be open to creating like another position, you know, you
hit the mail on the head. I think that makes
perfect sense. And I think the structure. I like the
idea of kind of of of creating these different you know,
these different verticals and having somebody in charge. But you

(37:53):
have to have the right people in those verticals, right,
and you have to have someone like you said, if
I'm communicating, if it's my job, if I'm the head
of officiating, and my job is to teach officials and
to train and to do replay and also communicate with
the media, there's a couple of different skill sets there,
and and and it's rare that one person has the

(38:14):
ability to do those things right. So so I like
the fact that you'd have somebody that could communicate with
the media that is not necessarily making those decisions because
there's a buffer and there's a separate you know, a separation.
But you've got to have the right people someone whoever
is communicating with the media. That that's a skill right.
That was you know, my prayer was really good at that.

(38:35):
When Mike was head of officiating, Um, you know, out
wasn't as good with that. That's again, that's not within
his skill set. Um how was better behind the scenes,
teaching officials, positioning, where to be, what to do, those
types of things. So I think the structure and the
concept makes sense. But you've got to put people in

(38:56):
position to be successful. And and again, you you do
someone a disservice if you put them in a job
that they're not suited for. I had a conversation with
a head coach at the Super Bowl just about this fact,
and he said, listen, it's like a player playing out
a position. You know, we drafted. We draft a kid
and we think he's a cornerback, and it's right away

(39:18):
we realized he's not a corner He's not He can't
play corner in this league. We gotta make him the safety.
The longer we leave him at corner, right, it's gonna
hurt his development, and it's gonna hurt the team. And
it's the same deal and that and that's ultimately what
what we we've seen um go in the past and
we potentially could see going forward if we don't put

(39:38):
people in the right position. So that's where I'm at. All, Right,
let's take a break. Can we come back. Joe is
going to is going to He's got a new song
and uh, and it's called if I was a troll.
I'll let Joe explain it. All right, We're back on

(40:13):
good calls, and I have a I have a a proclamation.
I have an announcement to make all right, and this,
maith come as a shock to everybody. Um, but I
I've not had a peanut M and M since June seven.
Oh man, sorry, wait wait, I screwed that up. Sorry, no, no,
what's today? No? No, wait, it gets better. I've not

(40:37):
had a peanut Eminem since May seven. There's a bag
in the cube right now. Seven I have not had
a penut Eminem. I realized I finally hit rock bottom
on May seven, and I know that, and I've and
and so um, I ordered to party size Eminem bags

(40:59):
off is on in addition to a giant tub of
double bubble, and I know that I ordered it was
delivered on April seven. The two party size now the
party size are the mac Daddy Eminem bags, right, And
on May seven, I finished the second bag by myself. Right,

(41:23):
So so in eleven days, I finished two party size
bags of Eminem's and I finally hit rock bottom. And
I said, I'm not gonna eat an eminem not saying forever,
but I'm not gonna eat another peanut eminem and I
am going strong. Today's June sixte I've not had one
since May seventh. Congratulations, that's really good. Like for for

(41:44):
people who are listening, you don't know. Dan houses peanut
butter teena Eminem's double bubble gum all day long, every
day when we're in the cube, and it's it's amazing
how he can. It's amazing how he can say as
skinny as he does with eating as much junk is
as as you eat. And I have I have. I

(42:05):
have increased my half baked intake to two pints a week,
one a week, and I spread it out though, like
I'll do I'll do a weekend so probably like a
Friday night in like a Tuesday to try to spread
it out so um, you know, I'll do one peanut

(42:25):
butter half baked maybe and then a regular half baked
with the peanut m and ms and and I said,
I don't miss it. So here's my question to you
with with the pint of ice cream, Ony, don't you
just eat like a little bit each day? What do
you what? What's wrong? With just the influence of my wife.
That's just ridiculous, Like, why would you even say that

(42:46):
you can't Again, we've talked about this the half baked, right,
it's very important that you get it from the store
to your freezer immediately. If you cannot let it melt
and then refreeze, that's a problem. So as soon as
you get home, right, you can't. I don't go buy
the f baik and then run another Errand it's the
last thing that you buy. It's the last thing you

(43:07):
get at the supermarket, it's the last story you go to.
You go immediately home, you put it in the freezer,
you take it out ten minutes before you're gonna eat it.
You let it set up, you let it start to defrost,
and you'll know if you did it right when you
take the top off. If the top comes off, it's
kind of like it's just a feeling and you go, oh,
this is gonna be a good point. And it's creamy

(43:30):
and you don't have that frostbite on it. Look, it's
a it's like ice cream. Some oyer. You gotta let
it breathe before you can eat it, and you can't
like eat you can eat like part of it. You
eat the wo thing, you're all in and then you go, okay,
you have a problem, you have any yes, and look

(43:52):
that's my My entire life has been sweet tooth has
been my problem. Um so, but yes, the peanut eminem thing,
I don't miss it, and I feel good. So let's see,
we'll see how long it goes. Um. So, today I
was presented with an opportunity and I passed because I'm
not a Twitter's roll. I get trolled by people left

(44:15):
and right, especially during football season, and so I don't
ever want to become one of those people. But um,
you know Dez Bryant who he and I are connected
for life, right because of that one faithful afternoon in
in two thousand and and uh um he tweeted that
he had took a COVID nineteen test and he came

(44:39):
up negative. Right, Um So I was just I saw
it right because I followed as and there's so much
I could do with that, Jerry, Like, I'll leave it
to you guys with what would be the tweet? Right,
because I mean it's so the easy one is you know, hey, Jes,
glad you didn't catch it, But like, where where do

(45:01):
you go with it? Just where do you like? I
told you? What's that? Told you didn't catch it? I
mean it's you know, I was thinking, I you know
it does. I could have told you that, you know,
there's so much you go with but I'm not. So
I'll do it here amongst friends. And just understand, I'm

(45:23):
not a Twitter troll. But if you were a troll,
right If you were a troll, who would you troll
right now? Scott? If you were a Twitter troll, who
would you be trolling right now? I feel like and
I feel like Scott of all of us, is the
closest to a Twitter troll. If you follow Scott Tamill

(45:45):
at Scott Tamill on Twitter, he does tweet at people.
He does. He it's a very underrated Twitter account. I don't.
I rarely tweet at people, but tweets about people. Yes,
he does take shots at people. Yeah, I know whom

(46:09):
I know who I troll? Oh would you know? We
can't get too deep. But his name is Roger. Oh god,
Joe is not a fan. Joe is not a Roger
Goodell fan. To say he's not a fan is being
very kind er. Roger is a good guy. I will

(46:32):
be you'd have a beer with Roger, you would. I
just wish, I just wish he would be more of
that guy than than commissioner guy. But you're in St. Vegas,
Dave be the guy, don't. Oh he's he's he's like
the troll of all trolls. His whole persona is just

(46:54):
a troll. So by trolling him, you're actually probably doing
him a favor. It would he would give him energy
fights the right dude when I was just begging to
run into him after about seven right drinks? Alright, sorry
to bring it up. Oh no, I mean the only

(47:14):
person I think I've ever been blocked by on Twitter
is Frank Stallone, brother brother of Sylvester. Sobody get blocked?
That's the most How do you get blocked by Frank Stallon? Well,
like what, he's an angry guy these days. He has
a lot of opinions on how the country is being run.

(47:35):
But this was back now, this would have been back
in two six. He was going off about how all
these celebrities who were uh promoting who they were going
to vote for president? Right, so it was obviously Hillary
Clinton or Trump, And he said, like, uh, bon Jovi

(47:56):
is a loser and he hasn't even be as I
think he backed Hillary Clinton. And it's like bon Jovi
hasn't even been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame. What a loser. And I tweeted at Frank
because he has a recording career, does he just so
people know he's released albums? I said, Frank, when are

(48:17):
you getting inducted? And he like, within our seconds he
must he immediately block yeah, which I think is a fair.
You know, it's like if you're calling bon Jovi a
loser for not being in the Rock and Hall Hall
of Fame as a musician, how I'm not sure. Let
me check. That's a travesty if he isn't. If bon

(48:40):
Jovi is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
that's an issue. Oh I think he got inducted in Okay, alright,
good so now his Frank's tweet is no more didn't age. Well,
if you ever get invited back to this Stallone residence,
please let me let me since you brought a got,

(49:00):
since you brought it up. You know I have hung
out with Frank Stallone. I've I've hung out at at
you know, we we you know us friends. We call
him Slide. So I spend time at Slice House. Uh
Frank was there. Uh he you know, seemed like a
good guy. Didn't talk much, but but he was kind
of just kind of in the background. Um, you know,

(49:22):
and uh, you know, I don't think when I hung out. No,
I didn't know you when I hung out with with Slide,
So I didn't know that Frank Stallone story. You know.
I wish I would have because then I would have
asked him about it. Hey, you remember blocking this Asian
kid on Twitter when he said that you weren't in
the Hall of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
But obviously you hit a sore spot. But I would

(49:43):
like to see you go after Frank Stallone. Let's start
a Twitter beef between you guys. Let's do it from
I just I would just love to apologize. You know,
I want to break bread with next time I'm at
Slice House. I'll face time. Did give him give Scott
access to the good called Twitter? Let him you're running
with that on there? Just go, yeah, Scott does. I

(50:06):
will say that Scott is is the most active in
terms of you know, what's happening in the world today
in the country. He's active in the in the l
A political scene, and and and in terms of your
council members, you're always tweeting about that stuff. UM, so
kudos to you, um for that. Travis on the other
and Travis, who would you? Who would you troll? Honestly,

(50:29):
I've been trying to rack my brain about it. I've
never I've never tweeted in it. And I just like,
I don't care to bother people that much like I
don't want to hear about other people's problems. So I'm
not like looking at stuff on Twitter all the time,
and I don't care to. There's a statement right there
on Twitter just sharing their own problems. Do you remember

(50:50):
rememberal media is just look at me, look at me,
look at me. Hey, world, don't forget about me, right
you know I'm saying, Travis, I mean not not not
getting from it. Well, everybody answer, I don't need anyone.
He didn't remember when you remember when I got into
a battle with one of your roles on Twitter he

(51:12):
challenged me to a fight, and I get accused. I
get accused of having burner accounts. I don't have a
burner account. My friends have accounts and they will. They
will go after people that go after me, and it's hilarious,
Like Joe and his and his is alternate ego on
Twitter going at it with this guy from like Temecula

(51:35):
who's the cowboy fan, like back and forth. It was
insane for hours. I wish I want to find that exchange.
We have to twelve year olds like like back and forth,
trying to get the last word in. He gave me

(51:56):
the off ramp. What freeway that we were we were
going to meet and fight? Oh my god, it's so
it was amazing. I wouldn't I wish that would have
happened pay per view. So I do, I do. I
do think that would be a good reality show where
you get celebrities and they go visit someone that has
been particularly trollish towards them, and then you start interaction

(52:17):
in person, because the interaction in person is so much
different from social media. Everybody you meet in person um
are gracious and and happy and they want to talk
to you. And I just feel like sometimes people get
on Twitter or get on social media and they have
this I don't know this this negative vive and and

(52:38):
it just doesn't you know, they feel emboldened and empowered
to uh, to make people try to feel that make
them feel bad about themselves. But yeah, and you show
us the tweets that these guys send to you, and
when you actually write them back and like, hey, I
understand your point, and then they're like, oh, Dan, that's cool,
thanks man, thanks for writing me back, and they're like
really nice at that point. Well, yeah, and I had
the other what a couple of weeks ago the guy

(53:00):
apologized randomly from a tweet like two years ago. He
was like, I was going through a tough time, dude. Sorry, Okay,
that's awesome. I'm glad you're doing better. Um. But the thing,
the one you know, we didn't need to remember. We
met this guy and we were out in hermosa one night.
Joe was there and the guy like came up to

(53:21):
me and and he trolled me in person. He when
we videotaped it and he like did an impression of
me on the air. He made fun of me and
it was hilarious. God. Um yeah, Brian full full Fogel
Fogel art or something from from Minnesota actually big Vikings fan. Um.

(53:43):
All right, so Scott, you were pretty adamant about this,
so the McGuire Sosa documentary on ESPN sucked basically, Yeah, yeah,
I mean it was. I was actually really excited for
it because obviously that home run race was a real
exciting time in baseball. But the documentary is just like

(54:04):
a real fluff the like zero content doc that really
spends a lot of time just online. Hey, this is
bringing America together and people are loving it. Which it
was a really exciting event, I remember it. But you know,
obviously steroids hang over that entire era, and you know,

(54:28):
it's an hour and forty five minutes. They don't bring
up any sort of performance enhancing stuff till about forty
five minutes and then only about five minutes ten minutes
right at the end of the documentary are like, oh yeah,
and McGuire did steroids and Sammy Sosa probably did them,
and uh, that's about it. Like it's just a it's

(54:48):
just a really weird way that they framed everything. And
you know, just like my complaint with baseball always just
like it's two obsessed with its own self importance and
its own history, and it's it's just talks about like
it's just it's just not a particularly compelling doc you
Marry I say skipping. Yeah, I mean if it doesn't,

(55:11):
I don't know how you talk about that time without
talking about the stories and making it a central part
of the documentary. Obviously, that was an exciting time. You can't,
like you think about baseball. The last time baseball was
the national story probably was those those years, and and
that one particularly year when when McGuire had seventy and

(55:31):
Sammy hit sixty six. Um, it was exciting. I remember, right,
I'm not I don't sit there today and you know,
if we have a baseball season for the last year,
or the year before, or for the last ten years,
I'm not tuning into a Cardinals Brewers game on Tuesday night.
You know. Back then, Yeah, I was wild. It was
must C TV, you know when the Cubs were playing,

(55:52):
you know, the Dodgers, right, we had to watch because Sammy,
you know, what is Sammy gonna do? What is what
is maguire going to do? And that race was I
mean it was September. Sammy was actually ahead, and uh,
you know we hadn't seen you think about, we hadn't
seen a sixty home run season since Roger Maris in
in nine And now we've got two guys hitting sixty

(56:15):
home runs and uh and you know McGuire actually getting
the seventy And then you think about that era in
a five six years span, were you know McGuire Sosa,
Bonds hitting sixty home run Sammy did it? I think
three times? Um insane And and but to not talk
about the steroids and in the impact and everything that,

(56:37):
I think that's that's leaving out a big part of
the story. It's like doing a documentary about Michael Jordan
and not you know, just coming out and saying he's
an asshole. It's like serapa. I will say. Also, they
barely interview, so so like that, it's weird. Like the
way the trailer is, you think you're gonna get a
lot of air time with McGuire and Sosa, so some
maybe talks like eight or nine times, but for you know,

(57:00):
cumulatively of the one hour forty five minutes, he's maybe
in five to seven minutes of It's really odd. It's interesting.
It is like a Mark McGuire Center thing. And I
also thought just real quick that they didn't talk. They
really briefly mentioned how the Cubs to basically iced him out.
He won the m B n L m B. He

(57:21):
hasn't been back. He hasn't been back to rigularly since. Yeah,
I thought that would have been more interesting. I it
sounds like they, the Cubs themselves, want him to be
like I did steroids and I'm sorry and he refuses
to say that. So they just have never brought him back. Well,
I mean, there's no question, I don't. I mean, right,
it was never proven, but he he was on something.

(57:42):
I mean, this is a guy that corked his back, right,
remember when he broke the bath and the and the
cork was in the bath. I mean, so, so this
is a guy that and look, I don't think, right,
does Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire have to answer for
the sins of an entire era because it wasn't just them,
you know? And they do say that it wasn't just them,

(58:04):
But it's like, do they have to answer for it?
But they should probably just do for themselves. Absolutely, But
they have become the poster children for for that era
because obviously they were, you know, other than Bonds, they
were they were hitting the most home runs. But when
you have guys like right, who wasn't on the oriels
that had fifty home runs that hadn't with Brady Anderson

(58:26):
and some of these other guys that that hadn't hit
more than ten or fifteen home runs in their career
and then all of a sudden, they're heating thirty forty
home runs. Um. Whether it was a combination of P
D S M baseball, messing with the foot with the
baseball's all of that to make it more exciting. Um,
but it was definitely something going on. And uh, but

(58:47):
the reality is it has Baseball hasn't been as exciting
since um, you know, and I say that as a
Dodger fan, and the Dodgers haven't been in a couple
of World Series and uh, you know recently, and but
it just hasn't been hasn't been as exciting, is uh,
you know, football and even some of the other sports.
Let's go bright and blondie, you know, all right, let's

(59:07):
go first guy that said, pardon my french, fucking nailed it.
Who's the first guy that said that? Who's the like
the guy, well, how did that start? I'm always fascinated
with these saints, Like, who's the guy that dropped the
f bomboms? Like part of my French and everybody was like,

(59:29):
oh my god, what just happened? What like who who
created that? And how cool? How great did that guy feel?
It's like we talked about before, like the Indians that
don't stick, Like how many times did not want to say?
How many times did he say part of my French
before it kind of became offense, like, hey, Rick, stop

(59:50):
saying that thing French thing, It's not gonna happen. You're
just cursing the curse, like stop, the kids are around enough,
and he just kept doing it. But like that, that's
always fascinating to me is sayings and you know right
what two birds in the hand is or one bird
in the hand is worth two in the bush. And

(01:00:11):
and the grass is always greener? Like how many who
came up with the idea and then they said, hey, listen, Scott,
I've got this idea for saying and I want to incorporate.
So at the party you say this, I'll respond, make
sure people are around and then they'll catch on. Is
that how it happens something like that? Right, It's like

(01:00:35):
you just have to continually say it over and over.
Did you say the grass is always greener? So do
you mean that you're always looking for something else. What
you currently have is not enough. Is that what that means? Hey, Joe,
come here, listen to this. This guy just said the
grass is always greener and then they tell a friend
they I think how it goes down is like I
think how it goes down. It's like, oh, you know,
my friend Dean, he always says the grass is always

(01:00:57):
greener on the other side, and then it's like, oh,
it's pretty intelligent, and then you know, just keeps going
it snowball effect. So part of my French was that, like, hey,
my friend Travis, he always he curses and then he says,
pardon my French. It's it's I just it's so cool,
So I'm gonna start saying. Then we all say, and

(01:01:18):
how did it become French? Because French is what it's
just like a proper I think it's maybe it's properly
proper the language of love, isn't it? And it kind
of just rolls off the romantic right there, there's the
romantic languages a right, French, Italian, Spanish? All right, my

(01:01:41):
French the podcast shirt? When are we gonna get some
good calld shirts? Bro, I'll design it let's design. You know,
you should let me design it every time. The best
dressed I'm the best dressed on the podcast. I should
probably do Travis. I want Okay, Travis, you have to
pose for a picture. I need you to be in
flip flops doing a flying drop kick and we'll take

(01:02:02):
a picture of it. We'll put it on a T
shirt and it'll be a good call. Boom. On that note,
this has been Good Calls with Dean bland You know.
Please follow me on Twitter at Dean Blandino and the
Instagram at Dean dopp Blendio. Follow the show on Instagram
and Twitter, apples podcast, and be sure to radar podcast
on the I heart Radio app and on the Apple podcast.

(01:02:26):
Good Calls with Dean Blandino is a production of I
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