Colin Cowherd Podcast - Caleb Williams, Purdy In The Postseason, Transfer Portal Problems , NBA Losing Relevance?

Colin is joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to discuss the news that Caleb Williams’ camp doesn’t want him to land with the Chicago Bears (3:00) and Colin points to the history of the franchise as to why he can’t blame them (7:30).

They look at the Chargers roster and 2024 schedule and predict a VERY fast turnaround under Jim Harbaugh (14:30) highlight Brock Purdy's postseason struggles and break down how the Chiefs should defend him (20:30). They also debate if Purdy will find himself in a battle for his job during training camp if he struggles in the Super Bowl (23:00).

They both argue in favor of overhauling the transfer portal in college football and why the current system is crushing the college coaching market (37:00). Finally, they dig into the reasons why the early part of the NBA season feels less relevant than ever and why college football could make the problem even worse (48:30).

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 1 (01:19):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
John middle Coff, his podcast At the Volume is three
and out former NFL scout. People love him. I was
at a party last two nights ago and I said
I worked at the Volume. Some guy kind of knew me,
and he goes, hey, I like the middle cough guy,
and I said, well, so do I. So we have

(01:40):
something in common and I just met you for the
first time, and so let's bring him on. We got
a lot of stuff, a lot of ground to cover
on this. I want to start with this. It's an
interesting one that not that it is that important, but
because I have a place in Chicago, John, and I
love Chicago. I could live in Chicago. Probably wouldn't want
to live there December January February, but I love Chicago.

(02:01):
My wife loves it, and so I and I know
a lot of media people there. So when I the
other day, I've always found this funny that, to some regard,
you and I are information brokers. We get information and
it changes all the time, and then we just I
give it to the audience when I get it. So
I had been told a while about eight nine, ten

(02:22):
weeks ago, and and Caleb William's dad had done some talking.
He's a big personality about some things he wanted, and
Caleb started getting kind of an entitled rep and I
think Caleb probably told us to hey, can you chill
a little? You know, so I'd said something on the airs.
I don't I don't think Caleb's in love with Chicago.
I don't think they really want.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
To go there.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Caleb's people reached out to me and said, hey, we
don't want to be painted like that. First of all,
we know we're not going to do an lay like
if we get picked. We're going to make it work.
And I think that's the right attitude to have. That said,
I was told USC has been called by five different
NFL teams doing background checks. People are going to make

(03:04):
offers to the Bears. So let's start from that premise.
Would you be surprised if multiple teams didn't call the
Bears and make offers big packages.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
They're going to get offers. I think under no circumstances.
There's not an offer unless you view the gap between
the next guy as borderline like minuscule. You could not
take him, like you have no choice. Now, listen, scoutings
in the eye of the beholder, right, it's not it's
not objective that it's not black and white that there

(03:33):
are people that view quarterbacks. I mean, they're going to
be some teams that have a quarterback that goes third
or fourth in this draft that might be their favorite quarterback. Right,
So it's there's no guarantee.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
They just got I know a team that loves Boonecks,
not Caleb level, but they think he's the second best
quarterback in the draft.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Well, Caleb, part of the reason why he's such a
fascinating prospect is because of his physical skills. What do
the Bears just do? They hired Shane Waldron, who is
a Shannon hand McVeigh. It's a very quarterback friendly, so
you could offense. So you could argue, well, if Washington
or the Raiders someone's throwing the farm at you, if
we don't have to move back that far, especially with

(04:12):
the Washington What if Washington said, hey, we want to
move up one spot. They play it pretty easily like
we're open for business. We're open to listening to anything.
We'll give you the following year's number one. You just
move back one spot, you still get the quarterback you
want or you're willing to take, and you get an
extra first round pick in that offense. I'm telling you,
what did you read the Jets story about the sala

(04:35):
and everything going on. Yes, One thing I was told
is when Robert Sawa interviewed for the job, is one
of their big pitches he brought Lafleur's brother with him,
who came from Kyle, is that in this offense, you
know there are sixty sixty five plays a game. We
want to run it for over half. That's the Shanahan way.
And then let's say there are twenty five to thirty

(04:55):
pass attempts. Ideally, half if not twenty of those thre
aready pass attempts are gonna be schemed easy passes. Then
I'm gonna need the quarterback to make ten ish plays.
Josh Allen has to make thirty of those. Mahomes has
to make a lot in this offense. It's very quarterback friendly.
So you could argue, go with the Drake May, go

(05:17):
with whoever your favorite quarterback is, and add the picks. Now,
I would not do that. I don't think. I think
the risk of having a guy with this much time
I watched him Drake May. Maybe I watched a bad stretch,
but like three straight games in the middle of the year,
I was like, God, I thought he was supposed to
be like Justin Herbert. I'm not quite saying this, bo Nicks. Listen,
I don't know, Jade Daniels. I have the Arizona taste,

(05:40):
bad taste in my mouth from years ago. You got
to adapt. I haven't watched him enough, but he's clearly
a guy a lot of people like. But I'm with you.
I think that I do people at Oklahoma and the
Caleb Williams dad thing was a really big deal when
he was eighteen. Obviously, then he transferred. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You don't get to call Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan, Belichick
and Pete Carroll and expect them to pick up your
phone when you're fire. They're a mother, all right. This

(06:01):
is the big leagues. That's why they pay you the money.
But I think Caleb made the right decision, Like you
want to stop that because there are already some question marks.
This is not Andrew Luck when you're like, this is
really you can't be that, Like he can't have the
thing on his fingernails and you know his play. He's
a really good prospect, but it was a little up
and down at moments. He can have the hero ball syndrome.
And there are legitimate questions, which for every prospect except

(06:23):
like five in the history of sports, there are gonna
be some question marks.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Well, and I think it's and I went on Chicago
radio for a couple of stations. Again, I I I
want to be friendly. Chicago's a place I spent a
lot of time, and I have I have real respect
for Chicago media. It's it's New York, LA, Chicago, Dallas, uh,
you know, Boston. There's some really good media. I mean,
there's there's a there's some really big market media that
I have a lot of respect for.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
It's an elite sports city.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
Oh it's it's I mean, the teams are a mess,
but the I mean, come on, it's big, loud, passionate,
it's it's great, and it's my favorite big city in
the country, but it's I do think sometimes you can
live in a tunnel and there is a sense. I
think there's a greater perception of the Bears. You know,
one of their bragging points is, you know, we lost
a lot of close games. Well shit, mostly in this league,

(07:12):
unless you're awful, everybody loses close games. But I tried
to implore to them, guys, if you were Caleb Williams,
think about this. Brett Faarv had eight years in Green Bay,
some of those when it was a run first league,
eight times in Green Bay, once in Minnesota. Thirty touchdown

(07:32):
passes or more. Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay had eight
of those. Jordan Love and his first year starting had
one seventeen times with those three quarterbacks thirty touchdowns or more.
The Bears have never had a quarterback that's done that. Ever,
that's great, and they've had thirteen coordinators offensively in twenty
six years. It is an es show offensively, So don't

(07:55):
be shocked if the dad eight nine weeks ago, I
had heard from the camp like they're not in love
with this place. And again Dad's saying one thing, Son
saying another. But I just think people will use this example, Well,
the Bengals were bad and then Joe Burrow, And to that,
I say, Kenny Anderson got to a Super Bowl, Boomrosias

(08:18):
and got to a super Bowl. Joe Burrow got to
a Super Bowl. Carson Palmer was fantastic, three time Pro bowler,
and Andy Dalton, Marvin.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
Marvin Lewis had some really good teams. I think I
think went to five playoffs.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
So it's like five times Cincinnati's gotten the quarterback, right,
Chicago never has. So for anybody that thinks everybody in
Caleb's camp is we can't wait. There are reservations they
don't want. They're not if you get If they get picked,
they're going. But this place in the history of the league,
the worst offensive franchise offensive is the Bears. They've never

(08:52):
had a four thousand yard quarterback.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
I don't think what people understand is I knew Matt
Naggie really really well, and I had some other buddies
that work in the organization. It's a mom and pop operation,
just like yeah, So if you think about the first
two picks, you got the Bears and then you got Washington, Well,
what's Washington, this new rich guy who is a big
progressive thinker, who's willing to be on the forefront of everything.

(09:16):
No expense is too small for him to He'll be aggressive.
He'll do whatever if Dan Quinn, Yeah, they'll pivot exactly.
They Hey, Cliff, will double your salary. What do you do,
Doc Rivers? Nick Nurse? If now Em beats her, he'll
be aggressive to do something else. The Bears are the
complete opposite. Like you've always very they were romanticized about

(09:36):
the eighty five Bears. It's twenty twenty four, guys. There's
a large gap between those two teams. So I don't
think people quite just because it's a big brand and
a big city. They do not operate like Kronki or
Jerry or Jeffrey Lourie or No. Forty. They don't have
the money that they are are. They're a team that
bought the franchise a long long time ago. So listen,

(10:00):
and I heard you say this, and it's so correct.
If they were to start with all this momentum this
offseason and these picks, what if they start zero to
three or two and five like Ibra Fluss got first
coach fired, written all over them. Well, yeah, people said
it was crazy Colin to bring him back with all
the options on the open, this was the time to pivot,

(10:23):
and they just it's classic organization. They're wired like the
seventies and eighties. It's it's insane. I thought it was.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
And I people say, well, nothing against the guy.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
He had a good he had a good second half defensively,
but come.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
On, but well and again people say, well, why do
you like the Washington space for you know, blank quarterback?
And my takeaway as because dan Quinnon is staff. It's
they're going to pay elite money to get an elite
staff and he can go one and five his second year.
He's not going to get fired, so probably got a
six year contract. Yeah, So I think sometimes and I

(10:59):
don't blame chicag. You're taking local calls. Once you move
in a market and live in a market, you do
kind of root for your local team because it makes
sure your sports cast you're show more interesting. But I
do think the idea that and Caleb's going to go
to the Bears if they pick him, But not everybody.
I mean, they've done a really good Caleb's done a

(11:19):
good job. To say, guys, there's a way to work here.
It's like Houston defensive coach. But again, Demiko came in
with a new staff, a five year contract or four
year contract. The bottom line is five games in the
Eberflus and Caleb Williams, they could be moving on to
another staff or at least want to.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
Anyway, we wouldn't have this opinion if they would have
got rid of eua Fluse and hired for Abel with
Arthur Smith, would be like, God's a that's a viable franchise.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Absolutely different, totally different ballgame I have. I have nothing
against Iberflus, but I have two executives in the league
who know him, were of interviewed with him, and they're like, listen,
he doesn't capture the room. There's an there's an argument
to be made he's a great coordinator, verdicts out if
he's a great coach. But that's okay. It's just the

(12:08):
point being is is I've got some good sourcing on
Caleb and he's a good kid. He's emotional, he's all
about winning, and he's going to go to Chicago. But
I mean, you got to take a deep breath if
you are a Bears fan or live in Chicago. This
is the worst franchise in the league historically on offense.

(12:30):
They do not have a four thousand yard quarterback ever,
which is hard to do. It's like the league wants it.
The league basically is the opposite college football. They want parody.
They don't want Mahomes dominating the league. It's just Mahomes
is great. So let's pivot to this Jim Harbaugh, who
could have never gotten a Chicago job because they wouldn't

(12:52):
pay for him and he doesn't get along with a
president who was the former Big Ten president. Could you
make I had Harbaugh on Friday, and I really like
him and I always have and I think maybe John
I just like people. I support people who are smart
and successful that the audience rallies against than Harbaugh because
he's different and a disruptor. You know, he's uber in

(13:14):
the NFL and college football can be a taxi. He
is going to shake shit up and I love him
for it. But could I make the argument he was
always a better NFL coach and he would have been.
He's built for the NFL because he doesn't play kate
and college football increasingly is about kissing butt and the

(13:35):
NFL is about winning, and he's a winner.

Speaker 1 (13:39):
When I watched him on your show and kind of
make the media rounds, you know, when I was around
Harbaugh with the forty nine ers and go into practices,
he had this like huge chip on his shoulder, which
was kind of weird, right, a lot of coaches that
all they'd ever done was coach trying to prove themselves.
He was already really famous, his brother was an NFL
head coach, yet he had this chip on his shoulder

(13:59):
like everyone had overlooked him his whole life and everyone
was out to get him. And you watch him now,
I feel like I see a different guy, definitely more mature,
and the way he used to have this huge pushback
against I think the media in a weird way, even
though he could when he wanted to put on the charm,
he could. If you watched him over the last week,
he put on the charm kind of embraced it, like

(14:20):
it's not worth it in me fighting this. I don't
have the energy. At sixty years old, he looks definitely healthier.
He's thinner than he was back back. You know, ten
years ago, I watched a guy that's just very at
peace with where he's at and kind of knows what
he's doing and isn't insecure is probably the wrong way
to put it, but just it's pretty dialed in, and
I listen, he can be over the top with the

(14:41):
way he talks about players and stuff and Herbert. But
I don't see how they don't win and they don't
win immediately.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Have you seen their schedule, Jesus no, I don't know.
The road schedule is Atlanta, Carol Liona Oh.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
He plays a South oh As the wins.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
So the road schedule in all only one game Kansas City.
Will they have the second best quarterback. They'll the best
quarterback in every game. The home schedule now Burrow, but
it's at home, Lamar Jackson at home, so they get
some tougher quarterbacks at home. John. They lost twelve games,
seven by a field goal or fewer, most in the

(15:19):
league by far. You can't tell me Staley to Harbaugh
is not a four five point swing.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
I think.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
I don't think it's crazy to think they're an eleven
win team.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yeah, I mean, I think the hardball from the forty
nine ers, where you know, for the first time in
his life, I mean, he was fired, he was basically
told you're not good enough because you're crazy, even though
that eight's pretty well on his side. And then he
went to Michigan, and remember he changed his offense midway
through to kind of this modern spread, and he clearly
hated it. And I think once he got back to
his roots, he knows his way works, so he is

(15:53):
very secure of like my old school way of football,
which ironically, Kyle Shanahan's an old school guy. Runs the ball,
play defense, still works when it matters the most. He's
proven these last three years in Michigan. I think you're
getting a guy that's pretty dialed obviously. I mean, you
just saw him win the national championship. But to me,
you get a guy who's less abrasive. I mean, there
are some stories with the forty nine ers, like damn,

(16:14):
I could understand being the owner if people got in
the checks. This is kind of a third and I
don't know if you're quite getting that guy anymore. And
this is where I would imagine the Spaniels family feels
a lot better about this. He's not gonna be fighting
them all the time.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Well, think about this, Stanford complete turnaround job, Niners, complete
turnaround job, Michigan. Complete turnaround job is part of what
you see. He's like, shit, if we don't want eleven games,
I can't coach receiver, left tackle, quarterback, back, two edge rushers,

(16:48):
high pick, high pick. Also last year's draft second and
third picks, a couple of guys front seven defensively two
lead for USC and the linebacker from the PAC twelve
Washington State. I think Jim looks at this and thinks,
how did they not win nine to ten games? For sure,
I think this is the first job he's had where
he walks it. Didn't think if I hit on three

(17:10):
draft picks and we're reasonably healthy, we can win our division.
It's not a turneriz, it's not a gut job.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
Well, here's the other thing. In the NFL, Unlike college now,
you have now GM essentially guys in college that help
you run your recruiting. You need him with the transfer portal,
but ultimately the head coach is essentially the GM in college.
You need a GM in the pros, a guy that
can you know from practice squad to college to free agency.
There's a lot going on, and during the season, your

(17:36):
only tunnel vision is coaching the team in the next
week's game, and I think harball what he went through
with Trent Balkey, he gets a harball guy, this dude
from Baltimore, which clearly he's very very comfortable with. And
John Spanos he was pretty openly talking about in the
press conference. He likes him a lot, and John plays
a role in scouting. So he's clearly very comfortable with

(17:58):
their structure, which is key because the best coaches right now,
ultimately Andy and Kyle and McVeigh. They're the highest guy
in the total. They make the most money, but they
trust their GM because they need us and you cannot
his success, he's gonna be He's gonna need to lean
on this guy. So he needed a guy they could trust.
They hired a guy like think of all the success
he's had now taking guys from his brother. It's the

(18:20):
one guy in the NFL he can really lean on.
So when he says, hey, this guy's worth it, he's
taking defensive coordinators now, he takes an assistance, you know,
scouting director to make him his GM. I just think
he's in a much better suited from a personal dynamic standpoint.
I mean that forty nine er team he took over
turned out to be pretty loaded with a lot of talent.
That team's more talent in this one, but the quarterback
situation is it's pretty hard to beat.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, all right, let's talk about a little bit about
the super Bowl. But I really want to dial in
on brock Purdy. So I saw a stat that was interesting.
I don't think you deny this. Five of the eight
playoff quarters for brock Purty have not been good, and
they've been a favorite, and they've been at home. So
brock Purty's rate of negatively graded dropbacks in the playoffs

(19:05):
has been twenty three percent. So that's bad. That would
have been the worst in the NFL of any quarterback
with two hundred plus dropbacks. He's been bad in the playoffs.
He's had a couple of great late drives Mahomes who
had a much much lower, very good negative drawback rate, right,
very few. It's been even better in the playoffs. It's

(19:28):
like six percent to Perty's twenty three percent. And he's
gone on the road twice against you know, Green Bay's
defense and Detroit's defense. I mean one's crap, the other
ones average Buffalo's defense and the Baltimore defenses especially Baltimore's
much better than Green Bay Detroit. So mahomes against much
better defenses on the road, has almost no negative dropbacks

(19:53):
almost none. Purty at home against bad defenses has an
egregiously bad negative drop back.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Great.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
So my take is I think this Kansas City's defense
is elite. Most people just don't know anybody outside of
maybe Snead and Chris Jones, but they can fricking move
if Purty struggles, and I like the under is my
favorite bet in this game. I think it's low scoring
if Pretty struggles, I mean, really coughs it up. Could

(20:22):
you argue Kyle Goes he got outplayed for three quarters
by Love, outplayed by two and a half quarters by
lousy in the Super Bowl, that Sam Donald would go
into camp battling Purty and whoever played better would win
that job.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
Well, I think that is a big swing guy for him,
because I was text with some people. Sam just signed
a one year contract a lot and the forty nine
ers love him, But so does Adam Peters, who's now
in Washington. And you know, maybe depending on who you draft,
you bring him, you pay him a little bit more money.
You kind of make him the bridge quarterback. You let
that guy kind of ease into his NFL career. So

(20:58):
that is a team to watch. When it comes to
Sam Donald, I do think the forty nine ers are very,
very loyal to this guy. They really like him. Like
one thing happened when Trey Lance was pretty bad for
them in his starts, the team never really gravitated toward him.
And when I say the team, I mean they're Star
Corps players that group like he's beloved in the locker
room and brought party and that buys you a lot

(21:19):
of juice with this team. Trent Williams, Fred Warner, Nick Bosa,
George Kittle, Deebo, Samuel Brandon, Ayuk. I mean, these guys
are not going anywhere, and they're some of the best
players in the league. The other thing is Kyle is
even in the struggles when you can run his offense.
That was the problem with Trey. He like had to
change his offense, and he's like, my whole thing is
my offense. So that's why they loved Party. And I'm

(21:42):
sure you saw the story Jed Yorke told him that.
Kyle in twenty twenty two in training camp said eight,
I think the best this is like two weeks in
the best quarterback on the roster. This guy we just
drafted the seventh round. They're like what and he was.
He wasn't making that up now, I was going to
those practices. It's hard to tell because he's running with
the threes. But they kept him on the roster for

(22:02):
a reason, like the coach really liked him. The rain
situation in Green Bay, he was really bad. I do
think the second half against Detroit, like I thought, their
defense really let him down. The forty nine Ers are
an offensive team. When you go back to the last
Super Bowl these two teams played, the Niners were a
defensive team and the Chiefs were an unreal offensive team.
Well look at this this year. The Niners are the

(22:23):
third scoring offense. They're very dependent on Brock playing well
in scoring a lot of points because their defense the
last couple of weeks it's truly been leaking oil for
a while. And the Chiefs are the number two overall
scoring defense. So this is actually a clash between the
forty nine Ers offense and the Chiefs defense. But their
offense goes as Brock play, so when he's a little off,
their defense is no longer dominant. So yeah, it's not

(22:45):
for them to win the Super Bowl. To me, he's
got to be way better than he was because I
don't have as much face on the faith on the defense.
John Lynch was just their defensive coordinator was saying they
were embarrassed by the effort in the NFC Championship game.
So the defense is going through some stuff. Now when
Deebo's healthy, they have so many options and you can
run the ball with Christian McCaffrey. They throw a lot

(23:06):
of quick screens. They just need Brocking out to turn
it over. And that's the one thing. He's got a
lot of turnover worthy place. And when he was really
humming throughout the season, when they were beating the shit
out of Dallas and Philly, he was not doing that.
So it just depends what guy you get. And this
gets back to, well you and I I'm sure when
the draft gets closed and when the draft happens, the
character of these guys, the mindset of these guys. Brock's

(23:28):
a pretty serious dude. So like he's gone through like
it's been a rough little stretch for him, but I
think they like where he's at mentally. And I have
actually more faith in him, the guy and the wiring
than I do sometimes the physical attributes. Obviously he's a
pretty good runner, but this arm, you know, can be
a little hit or missed sometimes. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
I always said Dak Prescott's intangibles are an A. His
tangibles are like A C plus B minus, Like, yeah,
he moves over. I mean he really throws an average ball,
you know. I think the other thing with brock Purty,
if I was a Niner fan, I'd be a little concerned.
Is Andy Reid and Spags two weeks is that pretty
rain struggled road not as good big games. He's been

(24:10):
a tad tight people. Also, John, they have more film.
You got a lot on Brock now, whereas with Garoppolo,
we knew his limitations. That's why I think brought Pretty
moving is essential because it doesn't matter how much film
you have. If you can move, you can move. You
don't know when it's coming. But I think I do
think Spags and I think the Chiefs have the best

(24:30):
corners in the league. I think if they can generate
a pass rush, you know, if I was facing Pretty,
my takeaway would be crowd debo, take out the bubble screens.
Be prepared for him. Don't let him run brock on
play actions to stop the run. Take your chances with
Ayuk over the top. If he beats you, he beats you.

(24:52):
But take away take those bubble screens away from Deebo
where he's a train downhill. I don't know, I don't.
I don't think San Francisco is going to generate a
ton of offense. You've acknowledged that San Francisco's pass rush
as really it's kind of hit and miss outside of BOSA.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
I think ideally, Kyle Shanahan at his core, is wired
like a guy from the eighties or the nineties, like
his dad. He wants to run the ball, and they
run the ball to do two things. Established just a
physical you know, set the tone physically and prove that
we're tougher than you. And then their entire passing game
is off that all the play action stuff that leads
to a lot of easy completions. It's why when they're

(25:36):
successful running the ball with McCaffrey, their offense can look
pretty easy because guys get wide open because you're biting
on the run. And then guys they have so much
talent with their offensive weapons. When you can slow down
the run. It throws them off a little bit. So
to me, it kind of starts with Christian McCaffrey. It's
why a lot of people are saying he was the
MVP threat the year because he is, I mean, he's
one of the best players in the league. They said

(25:56):
something on the AFC Championship game it was either nance
or that the Chiefs led the league this year and
batted passes at the line of scrimmage like their defensive line. Well,
what happened a couple times against the Lions. Hutchinson's like
six foot seven batted a couple balls down. Do they
bat four balls down? Well, if you only get twenty
eight to thirty pass attempts or you know, Kyle ideally
would be twenty five, that's four wasted passes, right, Or

(26:19):
does it happen once? Because sometimes Kyle's schemed pass is
why it's gonna work, either as a big first down
or an explosive play. If you tip that ball, and
you can with Brock because he's a shorter player, it
can throw you off. That's some little thing to keep
an eye on because they battle a lot of balls
and Brock hast some balls to get bad, and so

(26:40):
do they try. I don't ever understand why Kyle doesn't
move it. Now. His offense is not a drop back
passing game where they do right sprint options. But I
would try to get him on the move a little
bit more, but they just that's not really part of
the Shanahan, you know operation.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
So I've made the comment before John, and I'm pretty
sure sure I'm right on this that winning is second
in the NFL for owners to winning on their terms.
The spanos is, to their credit, finally said we're going
to give up some power in the building because we
got the right quarterback. We don't have a Super Bowl win.
We're going to go with hardball. By and large, Vrabel Belichick,

(27:18):
who would have wanted similar personnel say, didn't get offered
a job. They're obviously much more qualified than many of
the young defensive coordinators. Five of the eight coaches were
on the defensive side. So in twenty twenty one, of
the thirteen playoff wins, twelve were from offensive coaches. In

(27:38):
twenty twenty two, of the thirteen playoff wins twelve, again,
we're from offensive coaches. This year, Andy Kyle, both offensive
guys nine of thirteen will be offensive coaches. How surprised
were you or were you that five of the eight
head coaching hires. Again, these guys have no power, no leverage,

(27:58):
not big salaries outside of maybe dan quinn House maybe
I don't know what his is. Were you surprised they
went back to young, unproven, defensive side of the ball guys.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
Well, I don't think there was a great crop of
Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh, Matt Lafleur types. Right, there was one,
and he wouldn't leave. And there have been some rumors
Ben Johnson didn't interview. Well, he wanted a lot of money.
I heard that he is a fantastic offensive coach, right,
you watch his offense, so you would you might look
past that. One thing's pretty clear, and this goes back

(28:31):
to the Harball thing. The amount of money you're paying
these guys. What's the first time no name head coach
now making eight million? You know, if you have a
little bit of a resume, dan Quinn, you're probably starting
at twelve, thirteen, And then obviously the Harball types are
sixteen to twenty, so you're paying a lot of money.
And then a guy like Vrabel won't listen to anybody.
And I'm a Mike Vrabel guy, but I could understand

(28:51):
if you put me on the if I was running
the team, like wait, you're not even gonna You're just
gonna be a dick to me, passed me in the hallway,
not even acknowledge me. And that's more of a Belichick thing,
not listening to my GM. Ultimately, this is my team
and you're not getting along with it. Andy Reid ask
Jeffrey Leurie what he thinks of him? Loves him? Got
along with people? Was he Pete Carroll easy to deal?
You know, he's just he's nice. There is an element.

(29:13):
Even Kyle Shanahan, who can be contankerous, kind of edgy like,
does get along with Sean McVeigh. And I think part
of that. You know, once you get this kind of
you know, it kind of carries with you that you
don't get along with people at the price points, it's
not great. The other thing with Bill at seventy two
years old, Bill's not going to come in and be like, yeah,

(29:34):
just let me coach the team, hire whoever you want
to be the GM. He picks the players won that GM.
What's he gonna do tell Bill who to take. So
it was a tough situation. But how could you give
Bill the keys to the Ferrari Even though I think
Atlanta shoot a hire lessen you get a chance to
get Bill Belichick gets some buzz. But I do understand
the reservations from the other side of Like, Bill, we've
seen your drafts. You're known for not listening to anybody,

(29:57):
Like the Patriots have a draft board with really talented scouts,
and then Bill just goes rogue. So it's like, how
can we trust you to do that? In part of
Bill's deals, like you're hiring me, you gotta let me
do everything, He's not saying, well, I'll just coach the team.
You guys picked the players, So it's I guess it's
not that shocking with those two guys. I think the
defensive coaches gets back to there just wasn't a good

(30:18):
crop of offensive guys. I mean, and once Ben Johnson
didn't want in, Like who are the other offensive coordinators?
Shanahan has a bunch of young guys that he just
promoted because he's lost guys the last couple of years.
Bobby Slowick's a guy with Demiko very young. I mean,
who's working at PFF like five years ago, so we
might be two years away from kind of that crew,
the Bobby Slowick's kubiak Son, who's just getting they'll start

(30:41):
getting some jobs. But I think he kind of looked around.
I think the Washington's a good example. I thought it
would be insane for Seattle to hire like john You've
been a GM now for fourteen years, take a big swing.
And if Ben Johnson's not interested, like I understood going
with Mike McDonald, but if you're Washington, you go. So
we have a culture issue, like this franchise has been

(31:03):
just negative, we had issues. He is a positive culture guy.
So maybe he's not some superstar coach, but can't he
just get the train on the tracks? Can he help
a young quarterback and just in three or four years
we go, you know what, we have a real organization.
And then maybe you have to make a decision we
need to upgrade the coach or whatever. But you get
a guy with real experience. Josh Harris. His last two
coaches in the NBA have been guys with a resume

(31:25):
as a head coach. Clearly they valued that. I do
think that Ben Johnson though, was a pretty big kind
of wild card swing of whether it was the price,
whether it was the interview. I was told a couple
of years ago he just wasn't that comfortable. He's only
thirty seven years old. It's not like he's fifty. Maybe
he's just like, I'm not quite ready. I'm making four
million dollars. It's not going anywhere. The Lions are going

(31:46):
to be really good. But the moment he went back,
who else were you going to hire?

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeah, that's a great point.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
But it's why these it's why these offensive coordinators. You know,
Cliff looks like he's going to Washington. Waldron will see
what Seattle ends up doing. I saw that they were
interested in Ben Grubb, you know, went to Abama with Duboor.
We might see in a year or two the crop
of offensive coordinators because those offenses hit on some of
those defensive led teams. Those guys jolt up, right. It

(32:16):
happened to Shanahan with Dan Quinn. You get extra credit
because you know that that guy runs. You know, he
has so much juice in the building.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
All right. John Middlecoff joining us for those listening to
the podcast, former NFL scout, I do want to talk
about this. I think it's interesting. Harbaugh College Football rearview mirror.
Seya Saban had many good years, left Alabama still a
top three program college football. Sea Boston College head coach
Seya chip Kelly rumored to be taking a coordinator job.

(32:53):
I do think that college football is at a point
where the transfer portal needs way. I mean, listen, the
media is always going to defend the player. The media
is ohways predictable young. The media has gotten much younger
in my career. Why because they're cheaper As the media

(33:15):
is getting more corporatized. You know, that's why I love
the volume. You know, we pay what people we think
are worth. We want, We'll take older people that are
a bit more expensive. You know, we're I've worked for
big media companies. They want cheap and cheap, young, idealistic
media people. Ohways, for the player. But the truth is

(33:35):
this transfer portal is imploding the coaching industry because you
literally spend all your time not only recruiting out but
in you're recruiting your own players. And I've had Jay
Wright had another decade. He's like, I'm out. I understand.
Skrzyzewsky could have remained just I'm done. Some of it

(33:57):
is the NFL can pay coordinators a lot, but how
much of this it does feel like to me where
guys are like unless you have a Clemson Ohio State.
But then I say that in Michigan and Bama's coaches left.
Are we going to get to a point where an
athletic director now doesn't have to worry about a college job.
These guys will just take a three million dollar coordinator

(34:20):
job and not have to recruit and deal with crap.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
I went to cocktails with a guy in the SEC,
or a scout that does the SEC, and he was
going and he sat down with one of the main
coaches and he said, one thing that has changed dramatically
over the last couple of years with the NIL and
which is directly correlated with the transfer portal, it's all
one big transaction. Where before, if a guy was struggling
a younger player, it was your job as a college

(34:45):
coach one just to help the human grow, but to
help the player grow. Now the moment, even if you're
an eighteen nineteen year old freshman or red shirt freshman,
if you're getting paid four hundred grand, five hundred thousand,
it's one big I'm treating you like the NFL and
done will cut you. We want you to transfer, and
the human element of that sport, which most of these

(35:05):
guys playing college football are not going to pros. It's
the pinnacle of their life with their coaches, why they
become They form these bonds and it's all one big
giant like stock market. Now, even in the NFL, W
I have a contract with you. I can't just tomorrow
be like I'm out, Colin. That's not the way the
world works. And in college football, like Josh Allen like,

(35:27):
oh we blew it, I'm just gonna leave this offseason, right,
We're in college, Like, see, guys, I'm out. It always well,
the coaches always did it well, yeah, I mean they
didn't just leave the random programs. They usually typically upgraded
the program. So yeah, Kaylin Duboor left to Alabama.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Right, It's always funny whenever I hear that, Well, coaches,
it's college. You're a college student. That's an administrator. College
professors get tenure, college students don't. Let's they're not even
the coach in college. The players not even to a coach.
The contract not the way it works.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
I also think the nil the amount of teams that
can pay guys now at the rates in which they
have to be compensated, is dramatically smaller than the amount
of Power five programs we have. So Jeff Hafley who
leaves Boston College to go to Green Bay, if you
just look at all the people that cover college football
on the X or Twitter, I can't this is great.

(36:29):
The NIO Boston College is probably a bottom five Power
five job, like they should end up just playing like
Division IE Double A football moving forward, like they have
no shot. So if you're him, you're gonna get fired,
right because seven wins is your max. You can't pay
anyone who's available. And if you get a good player
who's young, he's gonna leave. The teams in your conference

(36:52):
Florida State, Miami, North Carol they can pay him, let
alone all the other programs. Green Bay can pay you
four or five million dollars. You go there? What a
green Bay's good a defense the next couple of years
and their team's obviously gonna be good. He's an NFL
head coach, where at Boston College, he's gonna get fired.
I would say it was a indictment on the on
the situation, which is obviously all out of whack. If

(37:14):
he left a top twenty five job, right, if the
damn this guy left the University of Miami, or this
guy left Texas or Oklahoma, he left Boston College? Right,
Ryan Day is not leaving to be a coordinator in
Ohio State, Right, He's staying there. Chip Kelly, why does
Chip Kelly want? Well, One, he knows Big Ten, I'm
probably in some trouble. And two like they're gonna fire
me slash this sucks. He never liked that element of

(37:36):
the sport anyway. Now would I hire him as my
offensive coordinator? I mean, it seems like he tried to
get one, didn't get one. But that's UCLA is not
gonna be able to compete with the ni Look at
their basketball program, it's in shambles. They can't pay with
these other programs are paying. So that's where I think
the more and more money that comes to the SEC
in the Big ten, the top programs, the nil they're paying.

(37:58):
Look at Nebraska, Dominic Riola's kid, the number one quarterback.
I played with a golf with a guy a week
ago that played football at Nebraska that lives in that area.
He's like, rumors in town is the guy got four
million dollars four million, which is pretty risky with a
high school kid. But that's that's the going rate to
get in bed with these guys. But what if he sucks? Like,

(38:20):
what if he's not good? Is that a good? Would
you pay four million dollars to a high school? This
is not basketball at Anthony Davis. It's probably a fifty
to fifty proposition. He's even a solid starter.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
Well, I think I've argued this about Nebraska football. It
is the only program that was great thirty years ago
that will never come back now. I felt Notre Dame
because of their the isolation, the academic, the religious umbrella.
But they've proven they can win when you get a
great coach Brian Kelly, and that's what he is. But

(38:51):
Nebraska lived off Prop forty eight. They lived in a
world once they left the Big twelve. That means all
those Texas recruits mom and dad can't watch them every week.
I thought that was a terrible strategy. I don't think
Nebraska is ever coming back, and I think their fan
base full of wonderful, decent people. They still view themselves

(39:13):
as this giant in college football, and I don't put
them as a top fifteen program. So for them to say, listen,
it's an offensive league NFL college football. We're gonna pivot
to an offensive coach and we're gonna have to pay
to get great quarterback play. I think the only way
Nebraska can be a ten win team, the only way

(39:34):
is to do almost a Chip kellyot Oregon, which is
we're going to do stuff different. We're going to play
a system in which we just really have all of
our talent on offense, and if we don't win, we'll
be absolutely wildly entertaining and lose shootouts to the Michigan
Ohio State. I think Nebraska it's it's and I think dead.

(39:55):
I mean, Washington's been great, disappeared, great disappear. I think
MO schools that have been great can come back.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
I'm not.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
I think Nebraska's only way is to go get a
star quarterback and a star offensive coach, and that's it.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
Totally understand why they did it. It's why, like for example, Oregon,
you could argue moving forward obviously was a really good
job over the last twenty years. Is it a top
five job in the country now? If you factor in
the resources they have for in ile.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
Yes, yeah, a top top seven at least.

Speaker 1 (40:23):
When you have that like the Cowboys, they have this
huge brand. But if Jerry signs his own guys, they
never have any free agent cap space. So yeah, Jerry
can have all this money, but who carry you can't
sign any free agents right he never has any room
where in college like Ohio State clearly spends the most.
Right now, it's a huge, huge advantage right Oregon. Like
Dan Lanning, I'm sure Alabama offered him the job. He's like, nah,

(40:44):
I can win just much here and my path might
even be easier in the Big ten. And the funding,
I have the access to money to sign these guys,
because it's outrageous now. I think one thing that I've
heard from a lot of college buddies is the power.
The good part about the portal and you're at one
of the top programs is you can improve the talent
really fast, and when you have the money to cut

(41:07):
them checks. You know, an offensive lineman a couple hundred grand,
a skilled guy maybe three four hundred thousand dollars, you
can add five six players you're already recruiting well and
mix that in and you can get good fast. That's
why I do think we'll see over the next couple
of years you'll see a team that we knew was
good all of a sudden be a national championship contender
on a given year. They may not be able to
sustain it, like Ohio State or Alabama, but look at length.

(41:29):
I just saw something on the internet today. Incredible year.
Again in the transfer portal. He could have a season
where could he win a national championship if it all
goes right now? Is he gonna be able to sustain
it for ten years? It's probably hard at that program
like an organ like an Alabama, like an LSU. But
when you can pay these guys, that drives these coaches nuts.
It's such a there has to be some sort of

(41:51):
limit of you just can't leave whenever you want. That's
not how anything in society works. And like you said,
the media celebrates it, loves it, of course they do.
That's not the way the world works. You know. Even
in college, if I want to get said coach, I
have to pay a buyout, right, you got to pay.
There's something coming back the other way. Okay, even Green Bay,

(42:12):
I want to get Jeff Hafley. I'm sure they had
to cut a couple of million dollar check to Boston College.
If there's a by that's the way it works. Alabama
had to pay for Kaylin Duboor. He has a player.
It's like, see you, I'm out of here. It's like, okay,
this is not a it's not a sustainable model.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
Yeah, And I think and that's and that's it's not
I mean, I do think college football is a buye.
I got into this discussion with somebody because I like
the business. I like sports, but I like the business.
And I'll throw this at you. I said, the next
twenty years, because I probably have about fifteen left in
this space. I think podcasting.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
We're all younger now, yes, sixteen, new forty five. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
And I said, if you told me you can bet
on four things going forward, you're a sports executive and
at volume, I kind am, what would be the four
things you had been on? And I said, NFL football,
college football, gambling, and the UFC fight. When well regulated

(43:16):
and smartly run, manage Dana White, it works. And the
person said, well, what about the NBA? And I said,
I love the NBA. It'll always have an audience. But
I said, hockey, baseball and the NBA are getting very international,
and college football is very domestic. NFL's domestic gambling. I said,

(43:40):
UFC is the fight business. I've always been a fan
of it. They'll always be able. They'll if you can
stumble every couple of years into a Connor McGregor figure,
it's just going to work. But I so I when
I said this, I like the NBA, but I've never
felt in all the years i've watched it that the
first had after the trading deadline was less relevant. I mean,

(44:02):
they're already like fifty games in. I watch those Saturday
night games, but I'm watching the numbers. It's getting international.
I'm okay with it, but Lebron and Steph they don't
have the next guy. We know what the NBA when
Michael left, they lost fifty percent of their audience. So again,

(44:22):
I'm not bashing the NBA. I'm a fan of it,
but give me the future in a league that's becoming
incredibly international. And the NFL has taken away their Christmas
Day marketing tipping point Day just said no, you're not
going to do that anymore. That's done, so they basically stole.
That was a big day for the NBA. That was

(44:44):
the They owned the biggest marketing day Christmas, four games
and the NBA just squashed it.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
What about Martin Luther King Day? They I mean they
because of the weather, they did a doubleheader. Why wouldn't
they do that? Moving forward to to two having two
games on everyone's home on Monday that there were games
doing three hundred thousand people on Martin Luther King Day
in the NBA. But that's not a sustainable model. I think. Listen,
I'm a great example. I grew up around an NBA

(45:11):
town in Sacramento. I mean everyone when I grew up
idolized Mitch Richmond. When Michael came to town, it was
the hottest ticket. You get why because you knew Michael
would play, and the Kings sucked and you knew Michael
would show up. I mean, here's the problem. The Warriors
are just not that good. I mean, Steph had sixty
last night and they lost. And the Lakers are holding
on for dear life, right. So I mean you're talking

(45:33):
two teams those guys are easily the most famous guys,
and two guys that take a lot of pride and
putting on a show. I think the sports it has
a lot of guys making a lot of money who
just aren't worth the money. And it happens in basketball
and football too. But let's think about football. Some guys
get overpaid, but within a couple of years, if they're
not worth it, they get cut. Oh yeah, in basketball,

(45:56):
I signed a guy for two hundred million, Well you
gotta do it because he's a max player, is he
He's like the nineteenth best player in the league. And
then in two years like this is a disaster. And
that started happening at a rate where and then you
start factoring in the guys not playing. The urgency of
the league. I do think the NFL, clearly for the
foreseeable future, is such a bohemoth. It's just it's just
rolling college. There's been an urgency with the regular season.

(46:19):
Games like the Michigan Ohio State game really mattered for
the last definitely the last couple of years, right, it
was felt like could be the national championship game. Now
with both of them are going to be in the playoffs,
does that game still you could argue in the NFL,
it still feels like you knew the Ravens and the
Niners the playoffs and at Christmas Night felt big, So
maybe it will be unfair.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
I've had this discussion. I think the twelve game playoff
will replace Auburn, Alabama and Michigan Ohio State to some
degree as the game because I think those guys could
play a second time. So I've argued December college football
always died the Sun Bowl.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
You're always like, what's the Holiday Bowl? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (46:59):
Now, great college football regular season? I get, I get
a playoff. So I think the sport died in December,
lost its momentum, and then you're like, in January, oh,
there's a game in three nights. I think I think
those games will replace the other big games.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
There is also if you're sitting at home on Saturday
night and you're like Penn State Michigan, whether both teams
are going to the playoffs or not, there's a pageantry
and intensity to the environment when you turn on your
TV that's hard to turn off. Yeah, you turn on
lsu Ole Miss at night in Baton Rouge, You're like,
you're sitting on the couch and watch it for a
little bit because that town, the fans care so much,

(47:37):
and that that will not be lost right with the playoffs,
won't face the regular season of the passion of the crowds,
And think about the conferences that we're gonna watch the
most moving forward, are going to be the sec in
the Big ten? Well, who cares the most those two conferences.
So part of it's the television product, right, Like part
of a couple of weeks ago, when Stephen Lebron played,
You're like, this doesn't look like the regular season NBM

(47:59):
used to watch. And I felt like, and maybe it's
just you know, romanticizing about the past and what you
grew up on, but it felt like a lot of
regular season games for a long period of time in
the NBA, people tried. And I think in society, when
you like to get my attention and to get you know,
the consumer's attention when I turn on a sporting event,

(48:20):
are you trying? Do I feel like you're giving it?
In football, you do right? In baseball, just the nature
of the sport, it's hard to tell, like you just
this is a terrible gaming turned off. It doesn't matter
in basketball, like it felt like there's an urgency of
the players beside the top couple guys that has been
mostly lost throughout the course of a season, and that
doesn't resonate with people. In twenty twenty four, when I

(48:42):
got a million options, I couldn't find a movie last
night and I got seventeen streaming services, but I eventually
find one because I'm gonna click on enough. We have
so many things to watch that I think it's never
been harder to break through. And you know, obviously people
just as you age, you get less dependent on like
I have to watch this because I don't feel it matters.

(49:03):
And the one thing football is always going to have,
whether you're a college football fan or an NFL fan,
it's just one game a week. It's three hours. It's
pretty easy to.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
Consider well, and that matters more now because we're all
more caffeinated, We're all people are working second jobs. Scarcity
was an advantage, it's now a significant advantage. People are
on their phones more. There's other I mean, the phones
replaced the television people. They're just distracted constantly. So the

(49:32):
one game a week was always an advantage. It now
feels like unattainable for any sport to catch the NFL,
and I think next year you're going to start seeing
like ten ratings nationally for some of these playoffs, well,
twelve to fifteens for the early round playoffs, eighteen twenties
for the later rounds. Those are like, that's doubling the

(49:55):
NBA finals. Those are big boy numbers.

Speaker 1 (49:58):
Yeah, I mean, I go back to being a kid
and going I remember seeing Alan Iverson score fifty and
Sacramento like that version of Allan Iverson is not playing
against a twenty win NBA team, And I think the
moment that they've really struggled with that, and I know
they've tried to put in some rules about playing when
you make fifty million dollars, I'm sorry, I'm not I'm
gonna do whatever the hell I want whenever I want,

(50:19):
and the money's guaranteed it. It's just a structure of
the contract. It's the best thing the NFL is going
for is I'm not beholden to a player for a
seven year contract if he's not good enough. If you
keep producing, we'll keep paying, but if you're not, like,
they move on. So all these free agents to sign
these big deals within a couple of years, half of
them are on a different team because they're not worth
the money.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
Finally, we wrap it up John Middlikoff. When you live
in California, it's fascinating to see how many people that
don't live in California or never have have strong opinions
about it. But I thought about you this week because
I had a friend, another friend, a family leaving California. Now,
the taxes here have always been high, but the spence

(51:00):
now is high with the taxes, and it just kind
of feels like it's endless.

Speaker 1 (51:03):
It's going up.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
The politics aside, it's priced out a lot of people.
You make a very good living, you move to Arizona,
So I was thinking about you. Arizona doesn't have the
Mediterranean weather, but it's got a lot of sun. What
is the move financially emotionally? If you'd address those, how
has it been for you?

Speaker 1 (51:25):
I would say it's been incredible. I mean it's the
best thing I've ever done. I would say this though.
About California, there are like three separate places, right There's
southern California. There's kind of the Greater Bay area, and
then there's the Central Valley. And my dad was a
tomato farmer, so you know, I grew up in the
Sacramento Central Valley area, which is a lot differently different

(51:47):
politically than the Bay Area. Even in LA. When living
in the Bay Area, the price it's not sunny like
LA or San Diego. The weather is dramatically different, so
you pay the same price as, if not more expensive price.
You could argue it's the most expensive place certain areas
in America. And it was just like, I don't like

(52:10):
being here anymore. So when I made the move one
financially what I'm doing, it made a lot more sense.
I needed kind of a jolt and a change, and
I don't regret it at all. And you know, I
live in a nice house now on right down the
street from a golf course that the equivalent in Palo
Alto or Danville, California would have been for way less,

(52:33):
way more money. It just didn't pencil any anymore for me.
And I love San Diego, Like I started going more
and more to Southern California growing up because of sports,
you like, I hate the Dodgers, I hate the Lakers.
And then as you get older you go down there,
You're like, damn this this, but the barry doesn't feel
like that and the city, you know, it just it's

(52:54):
a different world up there. I didn't like it as
much anymore. And yeah, obviously the taxes why, but there's
just a way a life part of it is. I
do think Vegas and Scottsdale just a lot of California people.
So there's an energy businesses are coming here, which it
probably didn't feel like that twenty years ago or fifteen
years ago. There's an energy that I like here that
I would imagine the Bay Area had fifteen twenty years ago.

(53:16):
I feel like the Bay Area changed dramatically. I can't
speak to southern California because I have a lot of
friends that live in San Diego and they love it.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
Well.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
You know.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
It's funny, so years ago when I was doing Local.
I don't know if I've ever told the story before,
it probably have.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
But.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
When ESPN the ESPN opening came and I left Local,
so I had told that time wife, I said, I'm
going to go National or just stan Portland. The only
exception would be KNBR and San Francisco. I love that city.
So that was like nineteen years ago. I like, I
would move there. You couldn't pay me to move to

(53:52):
the Bay Area, even though there's so much I love
about it, But it's just it's dirtier. It's different. I
went there for the Super Bowl several years ago, and
I'm like, I went to the same restaurant three times.
I'm like, they were just parts of the town. I
was in by a nice hotel. I didn't feel that.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
I'm a colin. It's dramatic. That was twenty sixteen. It is.
It's sad what happened. I mean, it's one of the
great cities in the world, and right now it's it's
falling apart. And that's yeah, and there's no putting. I
don't believe New York City is a good example. And
I lived in Philly, so I kind of know the way,
and I know you've lived out there for there's a
wiring of East Coast people, even a Democratic you know,

(54:25):
which is the majority of people in Philly or New York.
They'll draw a line in the sand, like enough of
this bullshit. I don't think that's happening in San Francisco
because there's this identity politics. The moment you say, like
the criminal's wrong, it's just it's kind of jumped the shark.
And I don't think you're getting it back now. I
didn't live in the city, you know, I lived in
the suburbs, but you could feel just the change in

(54:45):
everything that it was in a lot during COVID. It
was the most extreme. That was another thing. I came to,
you know, Arizona, think nothing changed here. And that wasn't
that I didn't see eye to eye with a lot
of people, and it was I was tired of argue
and tired of being negative about it. So I'm just like,
I'm just gonna remove myself from the situation. Yeah, And
I did, and I don't. The other thing is an
hour and a half flight. You know, if I want

(55:06):
to go back to see my mom in Sacramento, LA's
an hour away, Vegas an hour away. Everything's pretty easy
to get around out here.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
So I yeah, I know, I've been watching you and
I see your post how happy you are. Yeah, when
I went to the super Bowl in San Francisco, and
I'm and I'm socially I'm a pretty left leaning guy.
But my son now lives in Portland, and you know,
it's it's gotten. I mean, it's always been damped, but
they are parts of town I don't want to walk
around in. And I'm a six to two hundred and
ninety five pound guy that works out. I'm not somebody

(55:33):
that's bothered by you know, somebody that's you know, on
the street, Like, I'm not bothered by it. Yeah, and
I try to be compassionate. But San Francisco, when I
was at that Super Bowl years ago, I stayed at
the Mark Hotel, I think it was called. It was
up on the hill, and I'd walk around there at
night and I'm like, how does a woman walk around here? Like,
I don't get it at all. It's not safe, it's

(55:54):
not So I'm glad. I'm glad that's worked for you
because I've seen some friends leave California. My wife's not
a big fan in California, and I just was kind
of interested in your take.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
I think you did this too, you know sometimes not
that I mean everything was going well professionally, but you
almost get a jolt of energy when you make them. Yes,
and you know, I've been lucky enough through work, been
in Philadelphia, California. Do this. I feel just rejuvenated. Yes,
it's not even about you know, the taxes or the

(56:24):
politic It is just something about just waking up in
a different space that makes you just meet new people,
get new ideas. And it's incredible. And then that you
can't pay for that. You know, there's nothing you can
do to pay for that.

Speaker 2 (56:37):
I've done. I've moved cross country three times. I don't
regret any of them. There's no question I have. It's
made my life fuller and broader. I have so many friends.
I have great friends in Rhode Island, great friends in
Connecticut Northwest. You don't get it if you stay in

(56:57):
your hometown and you know Carmel, Indiana, which is a
beautiful burbon I got no problem with it. But there
is something, there is something to challenge yourself a little bit.
So I'm just glad you've I'm glad you've crossed it.
I watched your Twitter, I watch your social stuff, and
I'm like, and just I just you seem happy. Of course,
it always helps when you have an attractive person in
your life.

Speaker 1 (57:16):
She's done well. I love it. What are you going
out to Vegas, Colin?

Speaker 2 (57:23):
I'm flying in for the volume party. I'm on that treadmill,
that host treadmill. So I got to be in LA
so I'm flying out. I try to fly with the peeps.
Have to do private to get in party. Three sales
meetings cocktail back in a plane, fly out, get here
at midnight, up at six in the morning, do a show.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
So I'm just there for no shows in Vegas for you.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
No, no, you know Fox, And I give Fox credit
on this. You know when we have the super Bowl,
it's different next year New d Yeah, yeah, so that'll
be different. We'll probably go there a Wednesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
But Fox has never been Fox Sports has never been
a company that's just going to do things because other
people are doing them. And I sat down with management

(58:03):
years ago and I said, I think radio row is
played out if people want to do it. I said,
I thought at ESPN my last few years, I'm like,
it's over, it's played out.

Speaker 1 (58:12):
Half the interview is Joe Montana telling you about ARP
or something. You're like, I don't even care. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
So it's like I always I felt sometimes at the
other place they did things because they felt a need
to do them, or it was in the history. Fox
is very entrepreneurial. If it doesn't make financial sense, you've
got to talk them into doing it. And it's like
I told my bosses, I'm like, I think it's totally
played out. I said, if you go Monday, and strangely,

(58:41):
the Monday of Super Bowl week there's been major breaking
NBA trade stories, and so it's like I said, Monday, Tuesday,
do it from home if you want to do Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
I'm flying back Friday to be with my family. But
I think I'm not a believer in doing things because
Grandpa did them and Dad did them, and Fox to

(59:03):
their credit, I will say this of all the companies
I work for, and I've worked for several corporations, they
have their own path. They do not care if everybody
else is doing something. You can see it from Fox News.
They're going to do what they believe in. And as
a sportscaster, we just don't do shit because everybody else
is doing it. And I love that about Fox Sports.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
We'll see you at the party Wednesday and beer's on you.

Speaker 2 (59:27):
Yes, they are good.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
See anybody the volume.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast,
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