Colin Cowherd Podcast - USC Stuns LSU, 49ers In Trouble? Big Ten>SEC? Expectations For Eagles

Colin reacts to a huge opening win for the USC Trojans and head coach Lincoln Riley over the LSU Tigers. (3:00) He points to several changes that have transformed the culture of the program, and explains why this win wasn’t a fluke. 

Then, he’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to further break down the USC win (17:00), and they debate whether the Big Ten’s new additions of Oregon, Washington and USC will make it better than the SEC who added Texas and Oklahoma (32:00).

They pivot to the NFL and discuss whether the 49ers could be in for a rude awakening this season (41:00), and how the NFL’s restrictions for team owners could impact Tom Brady’s broadcasting career as he pursues an ownership stake in the Raiders (45:00).

Finally, they make their projections for the Philadelphia Eagles (59:00) and Colin shares stories from his trip to London (01:05:00).

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, John Middlecoff, your buddy and mind
former NFL scout, is about to stop by. But before
we start with John, I want you to grab your smartphone,
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(00:50):
We're going to have an hour podcast with John Middlecoff.
He's going to join me in about fifteen minutes to
talk some college football and the NFL opening weekend, Tom
Brady's Day ABU obviously with Fox the Cleveland Dallas Cowboy
game highlights an incredible weekend jet San Francisco. But I
want to talk about USC's twenty seven to twenty win
over LSU. The line was four to four and a half.

(01:13):
The late money came in on USC, and I'm always
I'm not suspicious, but when I see late money moving
toward a team, you know, I always feel like, is
there an injury report that's not out yet? So the
late money came in on USC. And my two takeaways
are you know, I've said this for years, the NFL
doesn't need three preseason games, and the LSU USC game

(01:36):
is a prime example. So USC has no preseason, no
inner squad games like the NFL has. The players are
much younger than the NFL, they have limitations on practice
hours in college. And USC's offense is three top sophomore receivers,
a quarterback that's never started a regular season game of note,

(01:57):
Miller Moss. An offensive line with a left tackle Elijah
Page as a freshman. Alani Noah, a right guard, was
a freshman. It's an incredibly young offensive team, and they
had a meticulous opening game in a high leverage situation
against the top SEC program. You're telling me you need

(02:18):
three NFL preseason games.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
I thought.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
My first takeaway is how meticulous the game was. Offensively
seven and a half yards of play for USC. Twenty
four first downs, only six penalties, no turnovers. These are
nineteen year old. That USC offense is freshman sophomores, very
few upperclassmen. Mannheim, the center, who's probably a top three
center in college football, is their real experienced guy, who's

(02:42):
you know, he's moved up and down that offensive line.
He was left tackle, very good at it would have
been drafted second, third round. Who is a left tackle.
He may be the first center off the board this year,
first or second in the NFL draft. Outside of him,
it's kids. It's Mason Murphy att right tackle, who's been
a finger crossed for years. He's going to finally hopefully develop.
I thought he played very well, So I just thought

(03:05):
it was incredible to ask a young young There were
certainly more NFL talent veteran season NFL talent on the
LSU side than the USC side, And for the Trojans
to play that well speaks really well of Lincoln Riley.
So I want to talk about that. It's you know,
I just roll my eyes at the clickbait crowd. Jim
Harbaugh can't coach, you know, I defended him for like

(03:28):
seven years at Michigan it's you know, Lincoln Riley's overrated.
He's averaged eleven wins per season. The one thing that
is true is that he was handed a program, a
winning program at Oklahoma, and he'd never truly built one
from the ground up at USC. And there's a lot
of things that matter. It's not just your IQ. He's
a very smart play designer and a play caller, and

(03:50):
he can develop quarterbacks overnight. We've seen that like five
different times. But can he build a staff? Can he
build a culture? He didn't have to he was handed
wanted Oklahoma, So the question has always been can you
really start from scratch? After they got rid of Alex
Greench and the defensive guys, can you start from scratch
and build a defensive staff well past the Flying Colors?

(04:13):
So you know, I will tell you this about Deanton Lynn,
the defensive coordinator. He is USC's top NFL prospect outside
of their center. Had an NFL general manager tell me
that he will USC will be fighting to keep him
for the next two years. He's very, very highly thought

(04:36):
of as a defensive mind. He did a great job
for Chip Kelly at UCLA and Lincoln Riley, to his credit,
stolen and they assemble. It's the first time since Pete Carroll.
And this is not a shot at Clay Hilton, Lane
Kiffin or Steve Sarkishan the latter to sark and Kiffin
are excellent offensive minds and very high end coaches. But

(04:58):
this is the first time since Pete Carroll feel like
we have a staff with multiple all stars, where we
got a defensive coordinator who could be a head coach.
We have a top head coach, We have sharp coordinators,
position coaches. This is a real staff and you saw
it on display. Special teams were good defensive alignments. You know,
that's not a small thing.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
I thought.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
I was kind of watching social media after USC one
and it was remarkable how many people mentioned how good
the tackling was a basic in football. Think about that.
If you if you were building a house and you
asked somebody, you know, any construction people, and you said, yeah,
I got these guys. They are so good hammering nails.

(05:43):
They are the best guys at hammering nails, and you'd
be like, well, that's that's just the basics they can
they USC hasn't tackled well for a decade. I'm not joking.
Social media and they were right. Was all over this.
The tackling was exceptional, secondary linebackers exceptional, the alignment of

(06:05):
the pre snap stuff, the adjustments. They didn't get any
cheap stuff. LSU didn't with Nussmeyer, who's a very good
quarterback by the way, they didn't get cheap stuff over
the top. LSU had to earn everything.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Now.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
USC did not generate a great pass rush, but that
was pretty predictable because USC's d line is you know,
does Bear Alexander has a pro body? But I think
he's been a big disappointment. I thought last year he
played well, but there's real concerns in the program. NFL
scouts are really looking at him. In games like the
LSU game or the Michigan game. Those will be huge

(06:40):
games because the Trojans don't play USC and Oregon, so
these Penn State games, notre Dame in games, Michigan games,
LSU games are huge for Bear Alexander because he's going
up against NFL bodies and NFL players and he didn't
do anything. He had one tackle in this game. Big
concern for him. Thankfully, Brandon Shelby, who was a top
recruit last year defensive end play a lot of snaps

(07:01):
and played very well. He's an ascending player on that
defensive front. Nate Clifton Gavin Meyer, a transfer from Wyoming,
played pretty well and had a very good fall camp.
But so you know, LSU has more NFL players, and
I thought USC looked like an extraordinarily well coached team
pre snaps. They didn't have a ton of motion Offensively,

(07:23):
they kept it fairly simple. Again, you have limitations on
how much you can practice, but they kept it fairly simple.
They did not run the ball terribly well, but they
ran it situationally well in the red zone. There were
a couple of big third downs in the game they
ran well, and they ran well near both end zones.
Of course, sealing it with that touchdown at the very
end with eight seconds left, But you don't have to

(07:45):
run for one hundred and twenty yards to have an
effective run game. It comes down to third downs or
fourth downs or red zone rushes for touchdowns. And I
thought USC had a couple of moments that shine very
bright for their offensive line, which again is going to
be much better in six weeks than it is now.

(08:07):
The other thing that I should be shocked by it,
but I'm not because this is what I've seen Lincoln
Riley do now four or five times. So Miller Moss
has played two games. What's a remarkable. In both the
games he threw in the Holiday for six touchdowns and
three hundred and seventy two yards, he threw for three
hundred and seventy eight yards against LSU so, a bowl

(08:29):
team and a top ten college football program. And in
none of those games, neither one did he have a one
hundred yard receiver. Well, that is really important. That is
telling you that Miller Moss is seeing the field. He
is not reliant on any one receiver. That's a big thing.

(08:49):
I can remember, and I like Lane Kiffen, but I
can remember Robert Woods or Marquise Lee. It felt like
they were the offense. There was one receiver getting the looks.
They are spreading it around. McCree, the tight end, had
a really, really noticeably good game and he was very
much a part of the early game plan. It was

(09:09):
as if USC went into the game a little concern
potentially with their youth on the offensive line in the
pass rush of LSU. So, they got their tight end
very involved, very quickly. They got one of their running
backs involved very quickly in the past game. Then they
started to get their feet under him. Feel pretty good
about it. Then Miller Moss deeper drops, throwing the ball
down the field multiple times. Big catch by Deuce Robinson,

(09:33):
who was a high school tight end baseball star, but
now you know he's a wide out for USC. So
my big takeaways are, Miller Moss was a and I
met him years ago, not that he was thinking of transferring,
but it was really tough. He was a high school star,
He's been a great quarterback in Southern California forever. And
he knew that Caleb Williams was dynamic. But you just
sit there and you just wait for your turn, and

(09:54):
I think he was really frustrated. And he and I
had a brief conversation once and I'm like, listen, dude,
if you're ever going to stay in a pro and
sit Lincoln Riley's a really guy and Caleb Williams really
got to sit behind, You're gonna learn a lot. And
I think you saw it. Same with Nussmeyer. By the way,
he could have transferred, didn't. He sat in his program
and said, you know what, I'm gonna sit here with

(10:15):
this program. Brian Kelly's had some good NFL quarterbacks, or
I mean certainly made the NFL. Like I'm gonna sit
around with Brian Kelly. He knows what he's doing, and
Miller Moss did that. I thought his accuracy was excellent.
I thought he mixed the ball up all over the field.
He's clearly seeing the field. He is not one dimensional.
He's not zoned in on specific receivers. And like a

(10:37):
Jordan Love with the Packers, He's young, and all his
receivers are sophomores, Jacoby Lane, Deuce Robinson. I think Hudson
may be a red shirt sophomore or sophomore Lemon, I
think the sophomore. So it's a young offense. It's not
a young defense. It's not a lot of those guys
are gone next year. A lot of these transfers are seniors.

(10:57):
Bear Alexander will be gone, Gavin my Nate Clifton, A
lot of these guys will be gone. I think go overall.
If you're a USC fan, it's not just about winning.
It's not that USC scored a lot of points with Lane, Sark, Clay,
and Pete. But Pete's teams looked different. The staffs were great.
You always felt you had an advantage like Belichick in

(11:19):
his prime. You always felt like Andy Reid. You felt
with Pete at USC, you had the better staff. They
were worth a field goal. They would adjust better at halftime.
They would come in, you know, down the stretch, two
minute drills. Did you notice the end of the half?
You know, two minute drill by USC end of the game.
So many times in that USC game they were so
intentional on these big drives. They had a complete game plan.

(11:42):
They were a little conservative with play calling early. Don't
blame them again. I think it all goes back to
the offensive line and concerns upfront about keeping Miller Moss upright.
Once they got confident in that, they opened things up,
and I thought, you know, second quarter, middle, second quarter on.
I liked their play calling. I thought everything was intentional,

(12:02):
everything was smart, everything had a purpose. It just wasn't
random play calling. They were setting stuff up. And I
think you have to be really happy. You can crap
on LSU, but their next four a LSU is going
to roll through the next month beating teams. By thirty
they face South Carolina, Nichols, UCLA, South Alabama. They don't
face Georgia. This year they get BAM at home, so

(12:23):
they have a fairly favorable SEC schedule and Brian Kelly
wins ten games a year, They're gonna win a bunch
of games. That's a good football team. They made silly mistakes,
they were immature. There was a towning penalty, a head
hunting penalty. They beat themselves at the end of the game,
but that's football. USC had the better staff, the better
game plan. Late, they were more efficient situationally, and they

(12:46):
hit on a couple of big plays over the top.
Boy do they have good Receivershi USC got dudes. I
mean they're all coming back and they are young, and
you know, going into this game, I didn't even think
Hudson was going to start, and he made the two
biggest catches of the football game. I thought he was
like third or fourth in their rotation. He was the star.

(13:09):
So in branch, special teams needs to be noted. You
get to a twelve team playoff, you're gonna have attrition.
You're not gonna have full rosters. Some of these games
are going to be won by special teams. Block kicks,
kick returns, branches. There's nothing else like branch in college football.
It reminds me of when Dion Sanders played for Florida

(13:29):
State and they played those big rivalry games with Florida
or Miami, and all the speed in the country felt
like it was in those three programs. It was the Gators,
it was the Knowles, it was the Hurricanes, and I
mean all the corners receivers felt like four to three
guys and Dion was another level, like he was another
gear of speed. LSU's got world class athletes. They wanted

(13:51):
no part of him in open field situations. That kid
is just it's just different. It's just he's different. And
his brother is a decent safety, but I I just
he doesn't look like anybody else on the field. He
just looks he's got a different gear. So he's gonna
become He listened that kick return was so valuable. He

(14:13):
had a couple of big plays underneath that he turned
into big plays. Do not in a twelve team playoff.
It's just like the NFL. Once you go to a playoff,
attrition becomes part of it. You have to win multiple
ways because you're gonna be missing starters. You've got to
win games by special teams. You've got to win games
on you know adjustments there's gonna be so you're not

(14:34):
gonna get your best game in a playoff system. It's
not one big goal bowl game where you have three
weeks to prepare for it or a month to prepare
for it week after week after week. You're playing really
good teams, you have less prep time. These are young players.
You're gonna have to find multiple ways to win in US,
he could win with special teams. I do think they
will generate a better pass rush. LSU's got, I believe,

(14:59):
top of my head, three multiple year starters. I think
both their tackles are Sunday players. So USC's got to
feel great about it. And with more on that game.
John Middlecoff, former NFL scout who's been critical of Lincoln
Riley on more than one occasion, let's bring in John. So.
One of the things John that really jumped out to me,
and I said this to start my rant, is that

(15:20):
unlike the NFL, these are young kids, practice limitations, no preseason.
I would be completely okay to watch a sloppy first half.
I thought USC six penalties, great situational football in the
red zone, very good two minute drives, handled timeouts, well,
no turnovers again, very few penalties, two freshmen on the

(15:42):
offensive line, no real breakdowns. Alignments were great. I thought
USC more than anything. I thought they looked tight, really
buttoned up. John. The whole offense is freshman and sophomores.
I thought they looked great.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
Colin, you get to take a victory lap for the
next seven days, loud and clear pound that table. To me,
two things really stood out first and foremost the size
of the defenders. I would say over the last decade.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
They felt small.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
They've had a guy or two here on defense, but
for the most part, they've had too many guys that
look like me, you know, on the Pete Carroll Heyday
and all these SEC teams. The visual they showed of
the transformation of the body types during the game, I mean,
guys going from two thirty to two sixty in an
offseason was evident. Because the LSU team has come. They

(16:34):
got a top fifteen tackle, they got another guy who's
pretty raw, who's gonna go.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
In the top thirty.

Speaker 3 (16:39):
The wide receiver, the number two looks like an NFL guy.
I mean, they had NFL guys everywhere USC tackled physically.
They didn't get shoved around. And I think what really
changed is last two years with Caleb, and rightfully so,
they wrote him like he was Steph Curry or Lebron James.
It was kind of like an individual, not a team,
and it worked two years ago. You're a backfire because

(17:00):
the defense was so terrible. Didn't they feel like a team? Then?
They just feel like a group of guys that there
wasn't one necessary. I mean everyone was making place that
they felt like a total unit. And listen, you were
hammering this. I didn't believe Miller. Moss clearly is pretty good.
He's definitely tough, and Lincoln had the boys ready and

(17:21):
they they could have folded there in the second half,
and it was LSU that folded in this white Brian
Kelly kind of snapped after the game.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, No, I think one of the things I had
heard inside the program and they really they really were
in awe of Caleb is a guy and as a player,
he was their superman. And as they were rebuilding this program,
they didn't have the right defensive staff, they didn't have
enough big bodies. They had to ride him. But inside
the program, I kept hearing this is a really unified team.

(17:49):
There is no great individual. It's it's a very It's
a much more complete roster, for sure.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
It's a deep.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
It's a deeper roster with more B to B plus players.
In fact, I think their secondary act is actually really good.
They got length and transfers and this is the best
secondary they've had in a long time. They have different
body types. The Mississippi State corner six three, two hundred,
Jalen Smith, who's a corner, is a smaller guy who'll
be a nickel in the NFL. I know a couple

(18:16):
of NFL gms text me they're big fans of Jalen
Smith and Mannheim the center. But I think this feels
like it's not as quarterback centric. And that's not a
knock on Miller Moss, but this is something I kept
hearing from USC, which is, listen, you get one Caleb Williams.

(18:38):
Even at USC, you may get one of those. In
twenty five years, Stanford's had great quarterbacks. You get one
l way Right, Pitt got one Marino. They've had quarterbacks
Miami as great as Miami was, Michael Irvin, Warren Sap.
You're not getting a lot of those guys at big
programs and so herschel Walker at Georgia. So I tend

(19:00):
to think that they knew they had something special, but
they felt their roster was better and the staff was better,
and I think they sold that to the players, that
it was a more cohesive group. And it wasn't a
knock at Caleb. They really love Caleb Williams Kay. Let's
be honest. They won eleven games that first year and
it was a garbage roster.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
They were good that year because of him and at
Jordan Addison. You know one thing in football that's so
much different than obviously basketball and definitely baseball, is when
you add We talked so much about the head coach.
I mean, those two guys are making a combined over
two hundred million dollars. But when you add the right
coordinator at a spot where you're struggling, wow, and you
get it right. It's like adding three or four players,

(19:38):
isn't it. I mean de Anton Lynn he basically came up.
You know, he coached for the Ravens, so there's a
toughness culture. What he did last year at UCLA. I
know a lot of people around the country aren't locked
in on UCLA football. They were really good on defense
and that group. I mean, this guy, if they win
nine to ten games and their defense looks really good
all season long, is he not just a lock college

(20:00):
head coach? And I would imagine a ton of NFL
teams would hire him immediately. The lineage his dad's a
really good coach. That was really, really impressive because you
and I have watched way too many snaps of USC.
They can't tackle Colin forever for years. I mean, this
is going back post Pete Carroll. They look like a
Mountain West team on defense. And last night open field tackles.

(20:21):
The physic they were how many times last night did
they hit someone and the guy went backwards? It's like,
is this when's the last time this happened?

Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, Ramsey the safety came up and knocked a running
back backwards.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
And so by the way, when they when they I
was talking to Jen Cohen, the athletic director, when they
were trying to get Deanton Lynn and I called and
I said, hey, where's your progress und your defensive coordinator
and she says, well, I'm not going to tell you
who it is, but she says we are in a
dog fight, and he could change the program defensively. They

(20:58):
were incredibly high on him, and she had said, who
were pursuing We've been watching for a year and we
got our fingers crossed here. We're doing everything we can.
I mean, he was a bruin. He's across town. That's tough.
There's a lot of politics in Los Angeles, so he's
terrific and beloved in the program. But no, I think

(21:20):
you know, John, it wasn't the USC one. It was
how they won. And it does matter. If you look
at the history of USC, you can argue there's more
great defensive players. I mean, we remember Bush and liners,
but all four linebackers Pete Carroll had Remember it was
Mala Luge, was Rivers, it was Clay Matthews. All four

(21:41):
of their linebackers went pro, all of them. I mean
it was linebacker. You with Penn State for years, and
I just think I was following some people and some
people that cover USC, and it was esthetically it mattered.
It wasn't just hey, we if they don't want thirty
eight thirty one and the defense was a slide up grade,

(22:01):
you wouldn't feel good about this.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
If I take is in the second half when it
looked like they might lose the game. I was like, listen,
I was wrong on this team. They're definitely more like
an eight win team. And then they win the game
and you look at their schedule and you go, well,
Michigan's quarterback. I was locked into that game because the
bull they were playing the Bulldogs. Their quarterback situation dramatic
drop off from JJ McCarthy, Notre Dame. I mean that

(22:25):
kid is a great physical runner, not a passer. The
Big Ten, the middle of the Big Ten. I watched
way too much of them. Minnesota's not that great, Wisconsin
can't score, Michigan State's not great, Penn State's If that
quarterback's better, they're going to be a problem. But USC
doesn't play Ohio State this year, right, So is it
crazy to say that if they just if they have

(22:46):
a really good defense, they could be compete to win
ten games.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
They're a playoff team.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
And the other thing is, and I said this last
night in the reaction, that if they both go nine
to three, because LSU is probably not as bad as
everyone's overreacting, they have so much talent, Well, if that's
between the eleventh or twelfth spot, like there's only one
spot and they're both nine and three.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
USC beat them. I mean that's right.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
That's a huge swing game, right if they end up
with the same record.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, in LSU does not face Georgia and gets bam
at home.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
In the next four weeks, LSC schedules not very good.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
I mean they're gonna win nine.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
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Speaker 1 (24:54):
So the Big Ten went seventeen and one, and this
is something I thought about Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC,
especially Texas and the way they can recruit that state.
It makes it a better conference. But adding Washington, Oregon,
and USC to the Big Ten is not a slight upgrade.

(25:15):
I could argue that after Ohio State, now that Harbaugh's gone.
After Ohio State, if I said the next five years,
the second, third, fourth, and fifth best teams in the
Big Ten were Oregon, USC, Michigan, Washington. Like, I don't
think it's crazy to suggest that adding three of the

(25:38):
best four programs in the conference, if Utah always counts,
I think in that foursome, but with the right coach USC, Oregon, Washington,
those are playoff teams. Every time Washington's had a good coach,
Don James, Rick Neuheisel, Chris Peterson, Kaitlin Depoor, they vy
for a national championship. So it's like, I don't think

(26:00):
people understand it's Texas Oklahoma make the SEC thicker. You
added three on any given year top twelve programs to
the Big Ten, May it be a better overall conference? Now?

Speaker 3 (26:14):
I think over the course of time, I think this
year there's gonna be a lot of reaction to the SEC.
Their quarterback play Colin. I mean, I'm gonna give Oregon
a little bit of a pass. I mean that game
was really weird. It was played boys. They played boys
this week. They better kick their ass and kind of
get after it because that was that was bizarre. The
quarterback play. I didn't know that much about him. I'm

(26:35):
sure you heard his name, the Nico kid from Los Angeles.
That's Tennessee's quarterback. I got news for you.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
That guy's pretty special.

Speaker 3 (26:42):
Jackson dark Ole miss They're pretty good obviously, the two quarterbacks.
The quarterback Dylan Gabriels at Oregon because they told him,
you're not gonna start. Jackson Arnold's gonna start. He's pretty
good too. Their high end teams with their quarterbacks are
pretty obviously, Carson Beck and Georgia. Over the course of time.
I think, you know, USC is only going to get

(27:02):
better if they keep looking like this over the next
two or three years. Oregon's not going anywhere. But I
got a lot of question marks about Wisconsin, about Minnesota,
like the four or five, six seven group of Yes,
Penn State, you feel pretty good at Penn State could
be a major problem. I was texting scouts all week
and long. I mean, they're front seven's full of NFL guys,

(27:23):
and if that quarterback takes a big step, that game
got like delayed for twenty five hours, but they could
be a serious factor, I mean a serious.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Factory this year.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
So I think the high end of the big ten
in the SEC. It's pretty clear that though Miami I
would still kind of red flag.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
The quarterback can be up and down, but they're pretty talented.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, cam Ward I watched. I watched a lot of
cam Ward at Washington State. Cam's a lot of fun.
I don't know if he's an NFL guy, but he's
a lot of fun. He kind of just slings it.
It's got an almost seven on seven field to it.
He's slinging stuff and they just have been so inconsistent
a quarterback. I think he's a playmaker, so I think
he makes some interest. I think they can beat almost
anybody and lose to a lot of teams. I still

(28:04):
don't love Mario crystal Ball as a situational coach. He's
got a little Dan Campbell.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
I like the.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
Physicality, I like the culture. I don't know if I
love the game management munch he can recruit.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
One thing that really jumped out to me, and I'm
sure you would agree, is did you see the ratings
on some of the games on Saturday just gonna bring
it up. And I talked about this last night, the
synergy of the NFL, the draft in college football. It's
all under this umbrella now right, So you're watching, You're like, wait,
who's this quarterback? He might be a first rounder. Colorado

(28:37):
and North Dakota State doing five million people on Thursday night.
And one thing I think and listen, they've never had
a czar or a commissioner of the NCAA is a
laughingstock to everyone at every individual program. No, we need
to play real games. I have no problem like Michigan
playing Fresno State, or Oregon playing Boise State, or some

(28:58):
of those teams in the South, like the one Dilford,
Like those are power five or non power five whatever
they consider it, but their Division one. You should not
be allowed to play the And I got a lot
of respect for the Montanas and stuff. You should get
one of those games, and then everyone else in non
conference should be a Power five program because and the
more and more TVs. Power because they're cutting the bills.

(29:19):
We got to wipe that out because how good that
felt like.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
An NFL ight game last night.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
The physicality in Notre Dame and A and m a
M's quarterbacks got some serious issues, but the hitting of
that game, it felt like how many NFL guys are
on this field? And then you go to some of
these other games and I understand, like Ole Miss they've
been recruiting or scheduling these games forever.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
They're a joke.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
I mean Missouri's Missouri, Ole Miss. When these teams are
beating teams sixty to nothing, like what are we doing?
And then they get mad fans don't show up, play
real games, play real teams, and everyone is zoned in.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Well, I'm glad you brought this up because the ratings
were spectacular this weekend and people could say, well, there's
nothing else on the other WNBA is getting big ratings
with Caitlin Clark Major League Baseball races. Don't tell me
nothing was on. There was plenty of on. Plus, it's
the summer. People aren't watching TV rights Labor Day and
it's Scottie Scheffler's golfing. There was plenty on TV. It

(30:14):
got ratings because I think John it's almost like have
you ever been asked to go to a party and
you're like, well, who's going to the party, And it's like, oh, oh,
there's two couples. Yeah, let's go to the party. It'd
be a fun party. I think college football got so
regional and so southern that big. I saw some research

(30:34):
on this about a month ago that the Northeast and
the west didn't feel included and those are population centers
and they just didn't watch. And now with a twelve
team playoff, you're like, it's a party. You're asking, well,
who's in the party, and you're like, well, there's gonna
be twelve teams in the party. I think when USC
was rolling, LA was getting ratings, the West Coast was

(30:57):
getting ratings, they felt represented Notre When Notre Dame and
Penn State are good, then the Northeast feels represented. But
when it's LSU and Georgia, you know, Southern guys like
college football is great. It's not it's regional. It's tribe.
I stopped talking about it on my radio show.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Well it's four programs. It was Bama clems in Georgia,
Florida State.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Wild State. So so the bottom line is it's now
a party that everybody like. If you're a Notre Dame fan,
you're like, we can lose two games and get into
the party. USC's like if USC beats Michigan, you look
at that schedule, they can lose to Penn State or
Notre Dame. They're getting into the party, and I think
it's just a part. It feels like, finally, all these
years of this nonsensical scheduling where SEC teams are playing

(31:39):
Citadel four times, it feels like, now I'm going to
I'm willing to emotionally engage on Labor Day weekend because
there'll be a payoff at the party later, a more equitable,
reasonable payoff with more people included.

Speaker 3 (31:54):
I've always thought, and my thing was with the SEC,
is that Nick Saban was almost a Tiger Woods Steph
Curry like figure. Even if you didn't you know, you
could live in California or live in Washington, to live
in the Northeast, you kind of paid attention. You might
not watch the games, but he was just such a
big figure and his presence forced all these other programs
and the money he brought in then it forced the Oregons,

(32:16):
the Ohio States, the Michigan's, really Florida State, Clemson to
up their game, and it's benefited everybody. And I think
you really see that with I mean Colin. How many
Southern California kids are playing all over the country. When
I was in high school in the early two thousands,
there were the occasional Tom Brady to Michigan or DJ
Williams went to Miami, but for the most part, you

(32:38):
went to USC UCLA, probably Oregon or Washington right.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
It was very rare to and.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
Now the overlap of the recruiting is like, oh, I
can relate to this guy. All these teams are good.
It's just really and I think I'm more likely to
watch the SEC now because they have Southern California guys
or CJ. Stroud. It's like, oh, he's LA kids starting
quarterback for Ohio State. I'm in And I think the
world is so flat now in college football. The other

(33:04):
thing is with the transfer portal. I watched this quarterback
in my team. If I'm an Oklahoma fan, what's Dylan
Gabriel doing in Oklahoma? It's really added think if you're
a Washington State guy, you're keeping an.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
Eye on Miami.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
There have been so many just factors of the streamline.
It's so connected now to the NFL. It's just it's
what college basketball used to be in the seventies, eighties,
and nineties, right, it felt like one A and one B.
And now college football is like that. You feel like
you're watching the minor leagues, but it feels big leagues
because how cool are these games?

Speaker 2 (33:36):
Right?

Speaker 3 (33:36):
Because of the ambiance and the vibe of the stadium.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
How awesome.

Speaker 3 (33:41):
I think one of the best things to happen in
football was the Raiders going to Vegas because it created
the stadium and now they have all these huge events there.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
It's great.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
It was also good.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
It was so good. Okay, let's pivot to the NFL.
I had said this is that we all know this
that there's seven new playoff teams every year, and there's
always a good team that pulls back. And I think
there's an argument to be made that San Francisco's concerning
Trent Williams said this week, I'm unhappy they don't win
without Trent Williams and McCaffrey playing. So Trent's out. McCaffrey's

(34:13):
coming on back to bat years where he carried the ball,
touched the ball four hundred times. You look at his
history when he does that, those heavy use years. The
next year, Christian gets hurt. Trent Williams you just signed.
Still not sure he's happy? Ricky Piersall gets shot. Thank
god he's okay. And I think the Rams are a
super Bowl team. I think they're in the super Bowl bubble.

(34:35):
I think Arizona played their ass off last year at
the end and is competitive. And I also think Seattle's
a total wild card. I think my take is and
this is no shot at Pete Carroll. I think they
kind of underachieved the last two years. I like their
draft picks, I like their players. I'm sitting there thinking
to myself, is New York? Are the Jets going to

(34:55):
walk in to Santa Clara and kick this team in
the head. Are they in trouble?

Speaker 3 (35:01):
Well, all we ever did was talk about Ayuk and
he wasn't the most important player not signed right or
having a contract issue. That's Trent Williams, and every day
that goes by, if he doesn't play against the Jets,
that's a major problem.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
Who knows what the Jets are going to look like.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
But we know they got a lot of players up front,
and I would imagine asan Reddick has fifteen million reasons
to show up this week so that they got pass
rush the Ricky Piersoll thing. I don't see how that
doesn't rattle. I mean, John Lynch is at the hospital
two nights ago or whatever. I mean, he easily could
have died. How many people have you ever heard of
that get shot in the chest and lift goes to

(35:35):
their body and it's by the grace of God he's alive.
And I think his mom tweeted out something essentially saying
that now from a playing standpoint, he had been banged up,
they weren't depending on him, so getting Brandon Ayuk. I
think people are over correcting a little bit on the Niners.
McCaffrey said three weeks ago he would have played if
they had real games. They really they're very careful with McCaffrey,

(35:57):
Bosa and Trent when he's around in these in these
fall games, it comes if perty's playing well, they're going
to be a problem because they still got Debo that
Kittles healthy. If McCaffrey comes back, you gotta have trenton
there because their offensive line isn't exactly loaded with first rounders,
and defensively, Colin, I think they're gonna be pretty good.
I think their secondary is going to be awesome. Tarvarius

(36:18):
Ward is a high end player. Leonor this guy they
drafted a couple of years ago has become really, really good.
Their safety play John Lynch might miss on some first rounders,
but that guy knows safeties. I mean they go about
four deep of guys that will light you up. Fred
Warner still, if not the best, him and Rokuwan one
of the best middle linebackers in the league. Their defensive line,
when that gets rolling, they're always good. I think people

(36:40):
are over correcting a little bit, but I'm with you.
My thing goes back to Seattle is how often first
year coach excellent defensive coordinator. It's a big transition, though
We've seen a lot of elite coordinator struggle in that
spot and not saying he will, but until he does it,
we don't know. Their quarterback is still a guy that
no one would pick in the top fIF.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
If you were getting a draft.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 3 (37:02):
If you told me Dak Prescott was their quarterback or
some cousins healthy, I'd be like, oh shit, But I
still Geno and the Niners have beat him like five
straight times. So you think McVeigh and Stafford are intimidated
by him now their talent, they get Byron, they get
one of the best defenders in a draft. They're draft
in the middle of the first round, so they are
a huge wild card. Look at the forty nine ers schedule.

(37:24):
If they beat the Jets, they're probably more likely to
start four and one than struggle. So I'm not as
down on the Niners. But it is not debatable. They
had the craziest training camp of it. I mean, they
had a player gets shot. They have multiple holdouts of
high end pro bowlers and all pros and health concerns.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
But I still like them against the Jets.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
Collen So, I think that Tom Brady situation is fascinating.
I had people asking me in the airport about this.
I went golfing and I had a couple of people
ask me about the story that he's going to be.
You know, he's trying to be a raider's owner, and
if you're a raider's owner, there are limitations on what
you can do in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
And had you heard about had you heard about that
before like in the hall, No, no, and so, And
it's one of those things that that's above my pay grade,
that's management.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
But so for people that don't know. He can't criticize officials,
he can't be in certain meetings, production meetings. I don't
think the production meetings is a big deal. I think,
have you been watching this stuff? That Brady is allowing
people to see the binders he has from every single season,
everybody he ever faced. His preparation is even compared to

(38:29):
people who spend a lot of time preparing, is literally
next level. And he just got off the field. I
don't worry about any of that. The only part of
it that concerns me, and it only may happen once
every two weeks, eight times a year that you may
have to call the officials and go that's a blown call.

(38:49):
Now replay helps reverse a lot of miscalls. So again,
it's not the seventies eighties. But when I read all
the stuff, I thought, do you view it as credibility dinged?
If he can't rip officials? And I'm not saying rip,
but be question officiating.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
Listen. I like my announcers.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
I think once everyone started getting on Romo, Troykman kind
of got his swag back and he'll light into somebody,
and I like that. Now some people maybe like more
Rosier glass, but here's the one thing. There's twenty thirty
million people watching this game when stuff screwed up. Now,
at football, you have a pretty good idea, and people
don't like to hear rose colored glasses when stuff's pretty obvious.

(39:32):
I thought, it's not only officials. This isn't like certain
things like with teams. To me, the restrictions that I
read feel like god part of my big question mark
with Tom because heard him on your show.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
He's awesome. I mean his ability to speak very.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Complicated stuff, but I was like, let his true personality
come out that he's known as the great teammate. Part
of that is being one of the guys obviously ribbing
some people.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
I think that's pretty difficult.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
It will not be difficult for him to get the
coaches in the players on the phone, right, Maybe him back.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
That doesn't feel like a deal, That doesn't matter at
all that way.

Speaker 3 (40:06):
Peyton talks about that sometimes. On Monday night, I talked
to Sean McVeigh on his drive home. They can go
him and Peyton get anybody on the phone in the
NFL in five minutes, right. I do think him not
being able to do that, if that's really serious, couldn't
you argue and listen. I'm as pro capitalism as anybody,
but this feels like it's going to be pretty tough
if you one day. Actually, he's just never allowed to

(40:27):
do that. It is pretty difficult to do your job
if there are legit restrictions. Because it's easy this year,
but what about five years from now when you have
some coaches you know nothing about. Those production meetings do
hold some value, right, And that's one thing I'm not
saying to like divest from the Raiders because that's pretty
good investment investing in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
But it feels pretty difficult. Fox is given him almost
four hundred million dollars.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
Yeah, and again, I rent all the restrictions and listen.
I'm I'm a corporate opinionist, so essentially, I have strong
opinions for companies ESPN and FOCK that have rights with everybody.
And my take has always been I can say pretty
much everything and anything, but I don't make it personal.

(41:08):
I'm not going to go after Roger Goodell personally or
Adam Silver, even now that we don't have the NBA.
I try to be fair with people, even when I'm
critical of people, like for a year. Even with Baker Mayfield,
I've said he is a top twenty quarterback. I think
he's a great guy. He and Emily are wonderful people.

(41:29):
I root for the guy. I thought he was immature
when he came into the league. So I try to
qualify stuff. I don't want to. I don't want to
be a sledgehammer. I don't want to be an anvil
because I'm in these relationships too. I see these commissioners,
I see these coaches. I don't want to be a jerk.
I want to be somewhat respected as a generalist or
an opinionist. But the one that did jump out to
me was the officiating because and again Tom's such a

(41:53):
prep monster. I don't worry about the other stuff, but
that one I think. I think what it would be.
It wouldn't affect him, but it would mean a lot
of bad press for him and Fox, and I think
corporations don't like that.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
My theory was when I read the headline and kind
of read I think Florio wrote a long thing on
it was, think how many owners over the last twenty
years he's cost money? Playoff victories knocked him out Because
this feels like pretty inoculate. What's he doing going to
your practice and telling Antonio Pierce, who beat him in
a Super Bowl, to steal some guy with a practice squad, Like,

(42:29):
what is really going to happen? But I bet some
owners or maybe they're vps or people that know the truth,
because this feels pretty deep on the rule book for
someone to dive and word gets out and they all
kind of you know, a group of three four, and
then it just kind of grows. Is not that they
have anything against him personally, but from a competitive business standpoint,
because the NFL is kind of unique that they're all

(42:51):
independent entities worth billions of dollars, but they benefit as
a unit. So sometimes they are I would say fractured
and sometimes on because this doesn't gain steam without a
group of several guys coming together and making a stink.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
Right.

Speaker 3 (43:06):
I don't think Roger's just saying you can't do this, right.
I think it's some owners And think about he's beat
a lot of people in big games. That the difference
how much what were the Patriots worth twenty years ago
before they started rattling off Super Bowls? They were worth
a lot more now because of the history all tied
to Tom and think the Colts might have three or
four Super Bowls, The Ravens, the Steelers. I mean, there

(43:28):
are a lot of teams that the difference of the marketing,
the obviously what you make when you're a Super Bowl
champion getting to the Super Bowl. That just have an
axe to grind. And we saw it forever with people
going after Bill on.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
Some of this stuff.

Speaker 1 (43:41):
How about deflate Gate. That was the Cols. Yeah, I
mean that, the I mean theflate Gate. The irony of
deflate Gate is Brady after deflate Gate was a more
efficient quarterback. His numbers went up once we knew. It's
almost like harbought Michigan once the Connor Stallions story came out,
and now Harbor couldn't coach, and they played They played

(44:01):
their toughest games of the year late when all the
Connor Stallion stuff was out, they beat people worse. So
it was like deflate Gate and Hardbaugh. We know Tom's great,
we know Michigan was great, but it let's be honest.
If flate Gate came from the Colts tournament, I.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
Think I think you can look at the Colts, you know,
the Jets with Mangini, right with the spygate. I think
you could just go to their division. I can't imagine
the Dolphins think that highly of Tom him kicking their
ass forever. The Bills, the AFC North Teams, the Steelers,
the Ravens. And this isn't like we're going to ruin
your life. This is we have certain rules. This is

(44:39):
really deep in the rule book. Doesn't seem necessary. But
you know, screw you. We're gonna make this a little
more difficult on you. And it's like, Okay, you want
to join our country club. We're not just letting you
right in because remember Mark Davis tried to almost let
him buy in at a number not equal to the
actual value, and the owner said no, no, no, no no.

(45:01):
If your team is valued as X, Tom needs to
pay this, even for a tiny percentage. So they have
made it I would say, pretty difficult on Tom to
get into this. What would you consider the NFL one
of the top five country clubs in America and it's
got to be one of the most might be the
most difficult thing to get involved in currently.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
Yeah, I mean it's the number one TV show on
every network it's on. I mean I always say this,
every business ever started in America is looking for marketing
and has to pay a fortune for it. I mean,
think about how much Stephen A. Smith, myself, Scott Van Pelt,
Mike and Tony nick Wright, all these shows, how much

(45:39):
free publicity the NFL gets every day for six months,
hundreds of millions of dollars on all of these talking shows, radio,
TV free. Every business looking for a free ad. So
it's yeah, it's it's it's the best once.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
It's one of the great businesses tail in the world.
We're in, right, I mean, we can make a lot
of money just talking about football because of the amount
of people that want to listen and watch. Obviously they
consume these games. That's back to Tom. You're right, it
can get weird if he has to tiptoe about things
that are pretty obvious, right and that, and maybe he

(46:15):
won't care, But I think any like any human being
on a new job, you don't want to start.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
It's a weird spot to be in that there's no
debating that.

Speaker 1 (46:39):
Give me one team or one situation. I'll give you
mine first, so I'll give you a couple of seconds
to think about it. One team that you don't know
what the hell they're going to look like and so

(46:59):
I can't get my arms around Philadelphia. So I'm not
in love with a coach. Take Out Nick Sirianni. One
guy is a different football team. Take Out Nick Sirianni
calling plays. Jalen Hurts a different quarterback. I think they've
upgraded coordinators. Jason Kelsey's gone. They are a bit top heavy.

(47:26):
I will say they've paid both receivers, but I mean
they've They've got a lot of money at the high ends.
I think there's heat on Sirianni. I think Philadelphia has
proven they'll bail on a super Bowl winning coach. They'll
bail on Carson Wentz after they pay him. It's always
been an intense, somewhat combustible city because of the relentless
nature and the aggressive nature of the media and the fans.

(47:48):
I love Philadelphia. I don't know what I think. I
think because the division is still wonky. I like him,
but if you told me they want seven and ten
and Syrianna got fired the week after the Thanksgiving I
wouldn't argue. What do I make of Philadelphia.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
I have a hard time seeing them not being pretty
good because of the talent they have, and I think
the coordinator upgrades are massive. I think Fangio has been
one of the better defensive coordinators. If he gets the
two defensive linemen they drafted, Georgia playing well, they draft
multiple corners, they still got Sleigh. I think the talent
they have on offense, Kellen Moore's proven to be a
pretty good offensive play caller. Nuss Meyer LSU's quarterback. His

(48:31):
dad's the quarterback coach. He coached Dak forever. I mean,
they got a real coach. Sirianna doesn't really. They just
they kind of want him to stay away, but he's
gonna get all the heat of.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Think about these two games Thursday and Friday.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
To me, there's a ton of pressure on the Ravens,
not because anyone's jobs in jeopardy. Yeah, are you a
real team? Can you hang with this team? Because this
team win or lose that they don't care, Like they
don't see in January. They're not worried about you. You
need to to me on Friday night. It's like the
pressure's all on the Eagles because you'll lose a game.

(49:06):
The Packers are good, But like you just said, the
pressure all the weird stuff with Sirianni the relationship with
him in the quarterback. They've paid a lot of money
to Jalen, and they like Jalen I think more than
Carson in terms of the guy.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
He's just an easier guy to deal with.

Speaker 3 (49:23):
He's focused his football, the work ethic, the teammates. But
part of it it's a production based business, like they're
gonna need, you know, thirty plus touchdowns here and the
dynamic there. Their division sucks. I'm not into Washington. I
just don't think they're gonna be They don't have the talent.

(49:44):
New York's the quarterback situation is just terrible. I don't
think they got the talent either. And the Cowboys I
don't think are gonna be the twelve win team. They're
still but them in the Eagles, basically it feels like
split most years. I think anything less than ten and
being in the playoffs, obviously Heirianni would get fired. But
then it just gets weird, like you just stick with
Jalen because, like you said, they that city moves quick.

(50:07):
That city moves quick, and that's the thing with young quarterback.
We just saw these all these guys get drafted a
couple of years ago. Three years later, they're all on
different teams. These guys get huge contracts now because the
NFL is making so much money. It's like, yeah, we
already paid him a seventy million dollars to get him
out of here. Will twenty million a dead cap? You know,
Russell Wilson. But it's not even just quarterbacks. It happens
all sorts of players. So the pace in which everything

(50:29):
happens has never been faster in the NFL. And you
could argue no one operates faster in terms of pressure
and urgency than the Eagles, So it's gonna be fair.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
I don't know either.

Speaker 3 (50:39):
I wouldn't bet that game Friday night because who knows. Like,
if you tell me the Eagles come out firing, I'd
believe you. If you tell me it's weird, the game's
in Brazil, what you're doing, does that make any sense
to you? I'm pro expansion and pro growth.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
Now.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
I text a couple of people with the Eagles.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
I'm like, you're going. They're like, oh, thank god, I
don't have to go. I'm doing something else. It's like that,
that is that's one of your Roger has been incredible
the league office over the last the Internet age. The
money they've made everybody most of their ideas work. That
to me is pretty idiotic. I mean, that's that's unnecessary.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
I would say, yeah, I feel like it wasn't it
a few years ago the Yankees open in Japan or
something and they were baseball.

Speaker 2 (51:24):
It's easy for.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Like maybe the Mariners or the you know, the the Giants,
But no, I mean I like the games in Mexico City,
which is an amazing city. I have friends that have
been there. They're like, oh my god, you got to
go in your life best food city, maybe in you know,
our our region of the country. And I like European Games.
I was just over in London. There are NFL You'd

(51:47):
be amazed. There are not just English Premier there are
NFL caps all over London. You'll see them.

Speaker 3 (51:53):
Should have just gone there. To me that field, if
you are going to go, just go across the pond.
Don't go to Brazil, where I saw aj Brown said,
you know, we went over the rules and they say
no phones on the streets. So he's like, yeah, I
think I'm just gonna stay in.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
My hotel room.

Speaker 3 (52:06):
Like if that, the parameters probably should cancel my team.
I thought about pretty strong picking this team over the
summer to win the division. I'm not I'm gonna pick
the Texans, but the Colts, who I think they're pretty
good and I like you, I love their coach. Watched
the Anthony Richardson a couple times in the preseason. Incredible talent.

(52:27):
The ball flies all over the map, though, So it's hard.
Could they if he's pretty good and stays healthy, win
ten games?

Speaker 1 (52:34):
For sure?

Speaker 3 (52:34):
But if he is just wildly inaccurate and against good teams,
you're gonna lose a lot of those games. So it's
like their margin from being to me, they could be
seven to eight or they could be ten to eleven.
It all comes down to him, and obviously he's gonna
be rocky. But as the season goes, like what Shane
did with Jalen, can he just get him under control?
Jalen doesn't have He throws with more touch because he

(52:58):
doesn't throw as hard. Yeah, it's really hard for this
guy to not throw like one hundred mile an hour fastball.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
So it's incredible when the guy's.

Speaker 3 (53:05):
Seven feet away from him. So it's it's hard to
play like that in the NFL if your team is
not incredibly loaded. They're good, but I don't know if
they could overcome some games where he's like fifty percent
because the balls.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
Are all over the map.

Speaker 1 (53:18):
John Middlikoff Three and Out podcast, former NFL scout, the
first of about twenty some weeks.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
In a row.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
When you generally, we will generally do these on Sunday night,
you know that. But I just got back from for
the record, John, I told my wife a couple of
years ago, I said, we're going to do a European
trip at least once a year for the rest, you know,
prior next fifteen years. So we went to London for
four or five days. And I don't care what anybody

(53:46):
tells you. My wife is not a foodie, but her
family's in the food business. She said, it's almost sacrilegious.
She goes, I would take London food over Italy, and
I said, just don't say it out loud. We had
and we were at everything from pubs the hole in
the walls to high end lunch places. Don't listen to anybody.

(54:06):
London may not have good weather, that is a sensational
Maybe it's not New York, but it is a sensational
food city. And if you like architecture and parks like
I love to go on jogs or walks in like
overcast days. I'm a Northwest kid. God London. London is
spectacular and they have their cab system for anybody listening

(54:28):
is fascinating. It takes three to four years to get
a cab license. They're called black cabs. Their cab system
is a complete game changer for anybody that is not
from the country and for those who live in the country.
So the pound is stronger than the dollar, so ten
pounds is probably eleven and a half dollars. But if

(54:49):
you go to if you go to England and you
go to London and you just first thing you do
is you exchange or you take out, you know, ten
pounds three hundred in tens. There's ten dollars or ten
pound cab rides all over and taxi drivers in London

(55:11):
make Uber and Lyft look like such ripoffs. There is
no surge pricing. They are tour guides and cab drivers.
You have to know it takes four to five years
to be a cab driver or a taxi driver in England.
You have to know every street in the city. Everyone.
The testing is tests. Oh it's grueling, it's it's a

(55:34):
multiple year to become qualification. Are taxi drivers in London?
My wife and I were laughing, we're like zigzagging back
ways to find like a weird nightclub at eleven at
night that some causedier said, hey go try this place.
It's a it's called uh Froggies, and we're and we're thinking, uh, okay,

(55:58):
we couldn't find it in a week if it had
dropped us off down the street. So if you go there,
just know the transportation. You can take their version of
a subway. That's fine. The transportation and the food if
you can get over overcast guys is sensational in London.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (56:17):
So as a guy that has a large, shit pretty
good sizeable position in uber, do they just not exist there?
Do we have no presence? And then just the taxis well,
they're going to school like they're medical, they're going to
be doctors.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
I mean, how do you compete with that?

Speaker 1 (56:34):
Well, you can't compete with it. So I never used
those service.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
You didn't use left when you were there?

Speaker 1 (56:41):
No, No, My concierge at my hotel is he said,
we can get you a driver for one hundred pounds
an hour, which is probably again probably about one hundred
and twenty bucks. I think the pound is stronger than
the American dollar right now. So or you can do
a taxi. So my wife and I are you know,
we'll just take taxis. We love. And they're fascinating people.

(57:01):
I mean, they've just got these British accents. They're they're
just regular people, but these are careers.

Speaker 2 (57:07):
You know.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
You you buy that taxi, it is yours. These people
are incredibly proud. They're tour guides. So if you're going
to go over there, it is so wonderful. It really
elevates the experience. They know the city like the back
of its hand. It's you know what it's like. It's
it's like a bigger Chicago with even greater architecture. So

(57:27):
it's a it's a bigger Chicago with roads are tighter,
but the architecture is even more dramatic. And I think
Chicago's is a remarkable architecture city in North America. So
it's it was it was cold over there, like you
weren't pain No, No, it was I lie, you know again,
I like cold weather. It wasn't, but it's not Spain, Greece.

(57:47):
It's not Paris. You're not going to get the mugginess consistently. No,
you you get seventy degree days all the time.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
What was your best meal?

Speaker 1 (57:57):
My my, Well, I went to a place called at
twenty two and had a dinner with Anne that was
it was like a house that had become that had residences.
That was remarkable. I went to a place called one
o eight Brasserie and had a super food salad with shrimp,

(58:18):
and I told my wife three bites into it, this
is the greatest salad I've ever eaten in my life. Now,
the portions in London are not American portions. They joke
about it over there, you know, they joke about you know,
we're fat. This is not Houston. You don't get a
plate of brisket. It's not the way it works, but
just the quality. They take it serious. Gordon Ramsey has

(58:39):
a footprint all over the city. I mean you can't
turn a corner without a Gordon Ramsey restaurant. And he's
helped elevate the culinary experience. But I just think if
you're if you and your wife, you know, there's no
language barriers, tradition, architecture, it's civility, and the pubs are
fricking incredible, John, Any part of town, any part of

(59:01):
town in London. You walk in a pub, you grab
a beer, you're standing out in the street talking to
a bloke about your favorite football team out in the
street in Alley's. It's just the best, is it?

Speaker 3 (59:16):
You know? It's kind of there in New York City, right,
I mean, but it doesn't have that vibe of craziness.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
Twenty four to seven.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
Well, I would say I like London.

Speaker 2 (59:29):
Listen. I love.

Speaker 1 (59:30):
Chicago's my favorite big city in the United States. I
like La Chicago, Vancouver, BC. I love. I don't love
a lot of big cities, you know, Boston's okay. I'm
not really a Dallas, Atlanta, Houston don't do a lot
for me. I don't like to be in my car.
I want to walk Chicago, New York. I can walk Vancouver,
I can walk London. You can walk everywhere. A Covenant Garden,

(59:54):
by the way, a bit of a tourist trap, too
crowded for my taste, a little young. If you're young,
go to Covenant Garden. Not my scene. But I would say,
compared to New York New York's bigger. I think London's
easier to get around. Both have great parks, central parks,
you know, terrific. But I'm a London fan.

Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
I'm a London Did you did you hold your own
bs and about soccer over some beers with random people
in pubs? Or it wasn't pretty intense? Are they talking
to like SEC people?

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
If you're in Alabama, you better know your shit.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
No, you're not going to fool anybody. No, No, eighty
six mile an hour fastballs get past anybody.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
I can't imagine. All right, Bud, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
The volume. Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed
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