Episode 29: Super Bowl Week with Brian Baldinger

Chris talks Super Bowl with his NFL broadcast partner Brian Baldinger, who shares stories from his NFL playing days and a tale of creativity, curiosity, and resiliency.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey, what's going on? This is the Voice of the
ATS Podcast. I'm Chris Corrino, and yes, I do have
a little bit of a cold as I record this
opening and closing to our interview with the great Brian Baldinger.
More on what it's like to have a cold when
you're a play by play announcer on the post game show,

(00:29):
make sure you want to stay tuned for that. As
many as you know, I have a little side hustle,
and that is I am a radio play by play
voice national radio for an outfit called Compass Media Networks.
Our courageous and fearless leader is Peter Ksani, so great
to work for, and our general manager Michelle Salvatore, equally

(00:53):
great to work for. And in two thousand and nine
they paired me up with Brian Baldinger to do their
NFL games. And Brian and I just completed our fourteen
season together calling NFL games for Compass Media Network. So
who better to have on during Super Bowl Week then
Brian Bauldinger. There are very few things that I enjoy

(01:16):
more than spending my NFL Sundays in a booth somewhere
in America with Brian Baldinger. Calling these games, and I
thought I'd bring that experience to you here on the
Voice of the Nets podcast. And just as we don't
just talk about the Nets and basketball in the Voice
of the Nets podcast, we're not just gonna talk about

(01:38):
football with Brian Bauldinger. We are going to talk about football.
We're gonna talk about his career as an offensive lineman
with the Cowboys, playing for Tom Landry, the Colts, the Eagles,
talking about having a couple of brothers that played in
the NFL. He's got some great stories. How the pinky
got bet. We're gonna get into that a lot. You

(01:58):
know about Baldy's finger, and if you're one of the
over a million people that follow Brian on social media,
you're following for the Baldy breakdowns. These little bignettes. They're
so simple, but they're authentic. So many people try to
do breakdowns on the Internet. But Brian's knowledge of the NFL,

(02:20):
his humor, his way of turning a phrase, just being
authentically Brian Baldinger is white. People love it. But when
I see it, there's more than just football. There is resilience.
The story of how Baldy Breakdowns came to be is
a story of resilience and resolve, and that's what a

(02:45):
lot of this podcast is going to be about. Here
on the Voice of the deads we break down Baldy,
Brian Baldinger. We'll also get to know it makes him laugh,
cry and think at end, as we always do, and
we'll have a little post game. We're all tying my
cold to some of your songs to listen to, like

(03:08):
I always give you at the end of these so
so if you want to stay tuned for that, and
as always, if you don't want to miss an episode
of the Voice of the Nets, subscribe and give us
a good rating if you like. Thank you very much. Now,
without further ado, here is my partner for the last
fourteen seasons on the NFL on Compass Media Networks. It's
Brian Baldinger. So, Brian Baldinger, I'm gonna admit this to you.

(03:35):
Maybe I haven't admitted it to you before, but you
and I started doing games in two thousand and nine
for TRUMPUS. Right we're at the UH in Tampa doing
a Cowboys Buccaneers Remember that day, like who's yesterday? Chris,
you were a year removed from the last time you've
done a Fox game NFL game, and it was my

(03:55):
you know, big opportunity for me to work with you
and and to be in in an NFL booth on
a Sunday afternoon in the regular season, which I had
never done before. I had only done Giants preseason games
and I was about a decade on the on the
on the nets broadcast. But I had some trepidation because
I hadn't met you, like, we hadn't even spoken to

(04:18):
each other. I don't think until we got to the
booth that day, it sounds about right. And you know,
I knew you're coming from network TV and now we're
gonna do radio. You don't have a lot of the
same amenities. Number one, um. But also the job is different,
you know, the the role of an analyst is different
on TV that it is on radio. And I said,

(04:41):
I'm really nervous if this guy is gonna understand the difference.
And my mind was put at ease. In the first series,
the first series of the game, I said, Brian knows
exactly what he's doing, he knows the difference between TV
and radio, and we're gonna be fine. And now, you know,

(05:01):
fourteen years later, we're still doing games. Well we are,
and it's a good thing because I love doing games
with your Chris. But yeah, you know it's the radio
is really a play by play driven medium, and in
TV it's really an analyst driven medium. I mean, nothing
was more apparent than Pat some Roll and John Madden

(05:21):
working together, where Pat was very understated but knew the game,
knew his role and let John take over on TV.
But a radio, it's it's your job to set the
table and scene and you know all the all the
things that bring a radio broadcast to life. That's that's
your job. But yeah, you knew it though, right or what? Like?
I was like, is he gonna give me room to

(05:42):
set up to play? But you were? You were in
and out succinct because you've got to be more succinct
as an analyst. Almost felt like the guys who do TV,
the the the athletes who end up going on doing TV,
they would benefit so greatly from doing some radio. It
teaches you to get in and out quick. You have
to condense your thoughts, Chris, um, you know. The The

(06:03):
advantage of being able to learn that though, is you know,
all you do is just watch the field and you
can see if you know, the team is going up
tempo and they're lining up really quickly. You better get
out so that you could take over. But um, I
I think everybody would benefit in in this industry whatever
you're doing. If people did more radio and if they

(06:25):
wrote more, if they did those two things, they'd be
much better when they got a chance to do TV.
Because you're gonna be able to put your ideas together.
You're gonna be able to condense your thoughts. You're gonna
be able to speak, you know, quickly and clearly, um,
in order to handle the time constraints around doing a
game that moves very fast. Do you write just for yourself?

(06:49):
Yellow pad here next to me at old times? Yeah?
So I write every day. I write more now than
I ever did in college. Is it just for you?
Is it to share? It could be just it could
It could be notes, Chris. It could be just you know,
watching Kenn City's defense and just taking notes here of
what Spags is doing. It could be um, you know

(07:09):
ready from my magazine. It could be uh, putting together
ideas for you know, a daily show at the NFL network,
NFL Now or something where you know, okay, give me
three ideas about the Eagles defense. It could be you know,
it could could be something like that where I, you know,
I might be just writing bulletin notes, you know, just
big headline type things. I know how to kind of

(07:29):
fill it in, just message mapping, all the kind of
basic communication stuff like I feel these things up, you know,
by the by the day. Sometimes I uh, there's a
bunch of stuff I want to talk you. We're gonna
break down the super Bowl, which is coming up this
week obviously, and I wanted to have you on and
this is kind of the hook, you know, this week,
it's super Bowl week. Brian Baldinger's in demand. Um, and

(07:52):
you and I have been working together for a long
time right now, and I think you've got a great
story of rebirth and and how when things don't really
go the way you may have planned, how you can
reinvent yourself and go another way. And I and I'm
you know, I've had to go through that in my life,
and I think we have a kinship with that in
that regard. Um, I brought up that they're doing, you know,

(08:14):
going from TV to radio. But there's a couple of
things I think if people google you, like if people
want to look at. There are a couple of things
that come up, now all right. Number one is the
baldy breakdowns, because you're you've you've become this Twitter and
inner Instagram sensation, and we'll get to that. The other

(08:36):
thing is, of course the finger right there, you're there,
the left hand, the pinky kind of goes and makes
a left turn. Yeah, you're you're showing it to the crowd.
Actually your right hand. I'm sorry, it shows you. I
probably took a glance when we first started working together
and then I don't notice it anymore. But but but
you embraced it. I know. Rondo Moore the other day
put up a shot of his pinky and going in
another direction, and you said, welcome to the club, you know,

(08:58):
and you showed yours. Um, what happened to the finger?
Was it? Is it a number of things? Or was
it one instant? Was one thing? Just one thing? Chris?
It was we were in practice, I was playing for
the Cowboys. Were summer practice in Thousand Oaks, California, cal
Lutheran College, so summer home back then. And I was

(09:19):
probably like in my second year, so I've made the team,
but I wasn't really, you know, I was trying to
make it a second year. So you know, we're out
there and I'm going up against I was playing left
guard and going up against Randy White, who was basically
the best defense attackle in football at the time, and
he was he practiced like he played. I mean, that's
why Randy was so great, and so you know, but

(09:40):
but you know, but but how he practiced made us
all better. So you know, I'm out there and we're
you know, a live scrimmage type situation, and you know,
I'm just holding Randy on for dear life, and my
finger got caught in his jersey and shoulder pad, and
you know, he just didn't have won any part of it.
And he just jerked my hand right out of it,
and when he did, the finger got caught and the

(10:01):
finger just went just got bent backwards. So you know,
I wanted to, uh, you know, some kind of pain
tolerance thing where I'm sure I was screaming, you know,
screaming and letting people know that this doesn't look right.
It's just dangling, you know, and go off the field
for play, and they're like, I just tape it up,
you know, just tap tape it to your other finger,
You'll be fine. So you know, I did that. So

(10:23):
the funny part was our cafeteria at cal Luton College.
You had to come down these steps to get to
the cafeteria, and you know, the the defensive line sat
in the front row as everybody came down. They just
ruined everybody that came down the steps. I mean, their
job was to basically make fun of you. So, um,

(10:44):
I came down the steps after that practice, and the
whole defensive line saw me, and they all kind of
they kind of liked me, you know at the time.
You know, they like the way I practiced, and and
there's some guys on that side that, you know, they
didn't like practicing against me, but they like they liked me,
and so they all kind of stood up and they
all just kind of imitated me crying on the field,

(11:04):
you know. And then they all they all Randy White,
John Dutton, Too Tall Jones, like they all put up
their fingers in their hands and they're like, all right, baldie,
now you're one of us. You know, Like they all
had demented fingers, you know, and they're like you got
yours now, Like okay, you know, joined joined the club.
And so that's kind of what I do now to
why I see you know, Tory Holt or Elijah More,

(11:26):
you know, whoever, ron Dale Moore. You know, when guys
get their pinkies or fingers just crossed up. I'm like,
all right, you know, I was welcome to a club
one day, I'm gonna welcome to to my club. Now
I see basketball players. Old Lionel Hollins was to coach
the nets and and I look at it, he had
them on both hands, crooked fingers and everything. I love
the uh the names that you just threw out there

(11:49):
on that defensive line for the Cowboys. I mean, you
played with some pretty famous players over there. Yeah, it
was good. It was like they were you know, they
were the fearsome foursome and too Tall was like he
was an amazing he's an amazing person. In fact that
we just had a Cowboys reunion Chris like six weeks ago,
and uh In two Tall was there. I don't know
how old two Talls out. He's in the seventies, but

(12:12):
he looks exactly the same. Like it's it's remarkable, you know,
but like he played fifteen years Sandwich between one year
he went he went and tried pro boxing, and he
never missed. Not only did he never miss a game,
he never missed a practice. And he made the game
look so easy. He literally walk into the training room
twenty was before practice, get his ankles taped, and walk

(12:34):
out of the field, put his shoulder pads on. That
was it. But yeah, Randy and you know Harvey Martin
like it was, you know, that was that was the
starters right there. It was Dotton and Randy and and
Harvard Martin. And yet Tom Landry's coaching. Tom Landry was
coaching us at the time. What was Tom Landry like
in behind closed doors? Uh? He was you know, he

(12:55):
was like very he was a stoic um. But he
had h you know, he he We we would have
these meetings on Mondays after these games. In fact, we're
all we're all talking about it the other day, you know,
And we had these meetings on Monday, and he ran
the clicker. He ran the clicker all right, And so
you always got to have a clicker, grind just put

(13:16):
up a clicker. Gotta have a clicker. So like we
we would come into this team meeting room after game,
and he ran he ran every single play himself like
no other body. Nobody else talked, no assistant coaches talk.
He ran every play, special teams, offense, defense, and it
was a three hour grind, and everybody knew that when

(13:38):
you're bad play was coming up, you were gonna get
He treated them all the same. So, you know, Randy
Whites and his I don't know early on, I mean
he went to nine straight Pro Bowls. Whatever. It was
like he's gripping under his desk about a play where
he was too high and he got driven off the ball,
and he was worried about that play more than sacking

(13:58):
you know, Joe Eisman, so Ron Dawarski or whoever was
you know at the quarterback at the time, kind of
ourselves here Chris goredg For people from that era, they
recognize everybody. But it's so like literally it was just
so you could remember one day we'd beat Seattle thirty
five to three in Seattle. We're in a meeting the

(14:20):
next day and you at the end of it, you
thought we lost the game. He just knew the game
so well and um in every facet of the game,
and so he was you know, he he battled Vince
Lombardi back when they were in Green Bay together and
uh and in New York together, and you know, and
then of course Vince went to Green Bay and coach
Landry went to Dallas. You know, but those giant teams,

(14:42):
I mean, the Giants passed on both Landry and Tom
Landry to hire whoever it was, Chris Ali Sherman, whoever,
I forget, but you know they were both on that staff,
going against each other every day. In fact, Landry was
the defensive coordinator in New York, and so you know,
there's Lombardi the offensive coordinator. And to this day Landry

(15:03):
always numbered all the plays going to the right odd
numbers because he was the defensive guy, looking at it
from the defensive perspective, and so you know, all his
ideas came from trying to stop Vince Lobardi sweep or
whatever it was that he was doing, you know, with
the Giants at that time. He used to run, used
to um call the plays, sending the plays through the guards. Right,

(15:26):
so you're playing offensive guard because I guess you weren't,
not like today where you're always running a different running
back or you know, different formations. A lot of the
probably same skill guys stayed on the field all the time, right,
Is that why he'd have to run it in and
and it was that terrifying for you to make to
Tom Landry telling you a play and making it was horrible,
as I hated it. I did it one year, maybe

(15:48):
two years. We rotated, uh left guards the right guards.
I forget. I mean I played both sides, but I remember,
I'll never forget. We're playing the Washington read S, getting
back to in the commandment. We're playing Washington. We're in white,
We're at RFK, you know, I mean, just some legendary
games which he was in that stadium. But I'm I'm

(16:09):
so I'm playing right guards. I'm going up against Dave Butts.
Dave Butts who just passed away. I mean he was.
He was as big a defensive tackles it was in
football at the time. You're six ft seven, three fifteen
pounds and you're running off the field, you know, to
go get the next play, and you know, and l
Andrey's giving you the play as the play ends, so

(16:30):
you know it will always come out clean. You know,
he might he's had a speech impediment begin with, Like
he couldn't say Brian, he only could call me Byron,
like I swore it from my rookie year. He didn't
know my name, but like Byron and you know, and
he had that Southern twang and you know from Texas.
He's you know, he's telling me a fire forty seven
euro pinch quarterback pass ex post and You're like, you're

(16:53):
just like trying to forget about running onto the field.
You're just trying to get the play to Danny White
clean Man. You're trying to get to the line of
scrimmage and block Day Butts and remember the snap count.
And You're like, this is this is ridiculous. It's gotta
be I mean, I'm saying this and I'm like just
a puck, you know, just a piker in this business.
And I'm going, there's gotta be a better method. This

(17:14):
is like too stressful, you know, just you could have
invented the speaker to the quarterback then I would have
I would have come up with some much better electronics
or technology. Chris to be trying to remember that play
coming onto the field. What about you mentioned that your
your matchups at RFK there Uh, I'm gonna I I

(17:36):
know the story, so but I want you to say
it because because you learned a valuable lesson from re
talking about Randy White again when you guys showed up
on the bus to RFK, Well, we we to RFKU
for the NFC championship game. It was the eight two season,
it was three was a championship game January. And so

(17:56):
I know I sat back with two guys. I sat
back to Randy White and Too Tall all and you
know I got in the bus with those guys. Did
embrace you at this point from from bending your finger
and half yeah, you know, we we kind of bonded
and Randy took a liking to me whatever, and so
we pulled the butt, you know, we pull up and um,
you know, there was no underground you know, entry to
the stadium. He just you know, he just went through

(18:18):
the crowd and into the stadium back then. And uh
so I got up, you know, we pull up and
I'm getting ready to walk off the bus and there's
a crowd of people waiting for you. Yeah, I mean
it's just at the place, just mob and so, um,
you know, it's all it's all redskin, it's all redskin fans.
But there's some cowboy fans there, like there's it's just
a war out there outside. And I remember I got

(18:40):
up and I just had like Randy just pulled me
from the back of the shirt or the jacket I
had and just pulled me down. And I looked at me.
He goes, don't don't, don't be the first one off
the bus bolting. Be smarter and be smarter than that.
I'm like, all right, well, you all he was trying
to do is protect me from anybody to have something
to throw at a cowboy walking off the bus, Like,
don't be that guy. Don't be that dumb guy getting

(19:01):
hit by something. You know. Let me throw their stuff
then you leave. Yeah, let them all throw everything first
and then exhaust their their ammunition. You mentioned technology, but
let's let's delve into that baldy breakdowns on Twitter. That's
the other thing right now, that if they googled you,

(19:24):
they see um I think I looked at it, like
eight thousand followers on Instagram. You've got almost four thousand
on Twitter. And a couple of years ago you used
to people used to give you, uh, smartphones, and you
were just show them to me and you'd be like,
I don't know how to use these things. Technology and

(19:45):
me don't exist. So how does the guy who just
technology and me doesn't don't don't get along? And I
don't really know how to use a smartphone too. Now
you have like over a million people following you on
social media with something you have to do on your smartphone. Yeah,
well it's a you know, there's there's a backstory to it,
Chris Um. I used to do this show in Los

(20:05):
Angeles on Monday morning called The Aftermath. And on the
show is Daniel Jeremiah, who's our draft guru nout the network.
Really smart guy and well trained and many ways he
lived in And so we did this show on Monday
morning in Los Angeles, and I don't do in a
game with you, and I would fly, you know, from

(20:25):
wherever we were at to Los Angeles. So you know,
the show started at uh, I want to say it
started at ten o'clock in the morning, so you know,
I wanted to watch as much of the games as
I could before we get to the show. So I
would start, you know, I'd get up at three in
the morning and i'd be in the film room at four,
and I try to get through as many games, as

(20:46):
many big plays or whatever The controversy was that Sunday
there was always something that still is you know, just okay,
what what happened? What's the situation? I just want to
prep myself now, would build these these tapes you know,
that we could air during the show. So Daniel Jeremiah
used to meet me there because he lived in Temecula
and he didn't have to be there that early, but

(21:07):
he wanted to beat the traffic driving up from Temecula,
which is Orange County, you know, and if if you
get caught in the traffic, it's a two hour drive.
But if you leave at three in the morning, meet
me at four, you know, it's a it's a forty
minute drive. So so DJ he would come up and
he'd watched the game, and we watched him together, and
you know, every once in a while we go at

(21:27):
this play is really cool. And he had a smartphone
and he was he was still getting ready for the
draft and doing the stuff. You know, he's getting ready
for Senior Bowl whatever. But he'd like put a play
up there and I look at him and I go, oh,
that's that's and we we would describe what happened on
the plate, so I go, wow, that's pretty interesting, Like
maybe I could do something like that, but I had
a flip pone at the time, and then that year

(21:50):
I end up getting suspended by the NFL. By the
NFL for saying something about Ezekiel Elliott and you know,
you know, I had an innocuous throwaway comment about how
do they stop Ezekiel? And You're on a Philly talk
show and people go, how did they stop Ezekiel? And
you said I might have put a bounty on him,
and and that was like sensitive because it was the
whole Saints thing was going on at the time, and

(22:10):
they did knee jerk reaction. Yeah they had to. So
it's just the background because I want to stick up
for you, and I know you wouldn't thank you, Chris,
So you know, they needed to take a pound of
my flesh. Like I was a bad guy that day.
People like yourself and Boomer, you know, people came to
my defense, you know, but but they took a pound.
So I was like, I was ticked Like, don't get

(22:31):
me wrong, I mean I was ticked off about the
whole thing, um because the intent was not to hurt
Ezekiel Elliott or or anybody, you know, just not me,
but you know, okay. So I was like, like, they
took away my profession for a little while. So I
said to that with it. So, you know, I had
a buddy comments sort of you know, massage my feelings whatever.

(22:51):
You know, like we're just kind of hanging out talking
about everything, and he took me to an Apple store,
like you're getting a phone. You gotta you gotta change,
you gotta change your your So I didn't know really
how to work it or you know what. So we
went to Apple. We gotta we gotta phone, like literally
the first day that I was suspended. So I just said, well,
we weren't really allowed to use this film. It was

(23:12):
protected I mean the NFL films right now, Chris, So
you know, I mean Mount Laurel, New Jersey. You weren't
allowed to really just screenshot some film and some play
and then posted like you know, it was protected film.
But I was like, well they've already suspended men like
I didn't care, you know, So I I started just
doing it, you know, and with the thing that amazed me,

(23:34):
I started, you know, I called it Baldi's Breakdowns. And
the thing that was amazing to me, Chris honestly was
if I if I did something on I don't let
me think think about von Miller back then. You know,
von was in his heyday two thousands, probably like two
thousand sixteen. Like if I put a play up of

(23:55):
von Miller, like literally within minutes, he would retweet it
or come back act to me about the play. And
I was like, I knew then that I was connecting
with the players right away. That the players wanted somebody
that knew the game. It didn't matter how much money
they made or how much status they had, didn't matter
about any of that. What matter is something that actually

(24:16):
understood the game, described the game accurately, good or bad,
um about a play or player or a series of plays.
And I knew then that without even having any followers
or anything, that UM players were following this. Yeah, And
I did, Yeah, go ahead, you No, I was gonna
say that, because then what happens a lot of times, though,

(24:37):
is that because you're you're you're selling yourself a little short.
Because there's a million guys that will put plays up
on social media and break it down like their school teacher. Um.
Great content will spread, but it's it's something that's like
is it really? The thing that makes your content so

(24:58):
great is that it's on and it's you, and it's
kind of primitive. It's not perfect. It's not all of
a sudden like you're you're not tellustrating it. It's just
you holding your phone up to your computer and but
then but then describing it in a way that is
totally you and authentic. You know, where you know Alvin
Kamara is running that you could put your Starbucks coffee

(25:20):
on top of his helmet and he ain't gonna spill
a drop. You know, things like that. That's fun and
that's I think what made it great. Um, and that's
why it's spread and your and your your followers started
to go like a like a like a slot machine.
It just started to build. Well, it's sort of like
I had this teacher like in tenth grade. I was
a good student. I like school. But we had this

(25:43):
biology teacher when I was in tenth grade and he
made biology fun and I thought, you know, anybody, I mean,
I've got Steve Spagnola's covered three up here on my
wall on the whiteboard right now, like I've never taken
it down because it was so it was so crystal
clear how he taught it to me and how he
teaches it to his the Keempas City Chiefs right now.

(26:04):
But I wanted to make football fund Chris so like
anybody can say, Okay, you know he's got the curl
flat and you can run. This is the route combination
to beat curl flat. You can do that. I don't know,
but I think there's a better way to do it.
Like I can do all of that. I could do
the XS and os hardcore, sit in a room and
teach it to But I feel like we're in the

(26:26):
entertainment business and we are. And and so Terry Bradshaw
told me that when I first went to Fox, he goes, Baldie,
I know you're gonna jam you know, X and nos
down our throats. But like we're in the entertainment business.
Don't forget it. The best piece of advice I ever got.
And so I tried. I don't try. It's just no,
You're just you. It's just me. So it's just you know,

(26:46):
to me, it's entertaining. It's I sit there in funding,
you know, fifteen hours every money and Tuesday watching all
these games, um and I'm trying to entertain myself. I
feel like if I'm entertaining myself, anybody who's listening would
be entertainment. Well, now the other part you mentioned it, Chris,
is it's it's very primitive, and I could do I've
got all the technology right here. I could do spot

(27:09):
shadows and arrows and graphics. I could do all that
it takes. You do it for your NFL network stuff,
and we do it for the NFL network, and we
we you know, I I I could do all that stuff.
But I was at a I was at a Christmas
party in New York and Bob Popa are our good
friend boys the New York Giants was at this party
and uh it was Big Daddy rich Salgado, so a

(27:30):
guy that we all know. Anyways, it was a party
in New York. I went to it and Bob at
the time, the Giants were awful and so there who
knows what coach was? You know it was there. It
wasn't you know, Brian Davil, that's for sure. So you
know it was one of those coaches after after Tom
Coughlin had left. So he says to me, he goes,
he goes, Bald, you know, we watch all your stuff

(27:53):
and uh, you know, we can't really comment on it
because you're actually telling the truth, and we we can't
actually say some of the stuff. But we we all
huddle and we watch your stuff, and we love it
because you're actually telling us, you know, some of the
issues and what's wrong. He goes, But the other part, Baldi,
is don't don't change what you're doing. Just keep it raw,
just keep it primitive. Like I feel like I'm in

(28:15):
the film room watching it with you. And when he
said that to me, Chris have resonated, and so I
get people's imbald, you got upgrade, you got upgrade, and
I could, but I'm not and I'm not going to.
I'm gonna keep it just as it is, because really
I can't the volume of content that I put out,
I couldn't do nearly the if I had it, slow

(28:36):
it down and do all that stuff. And I think
we're missing some of the fun that we're having by
just putting a camera up there and just talking so
much about putting good content together. Is just people are
passionate and enthusiastic, you know, enthusiasm. It is such a
big thing, and you could just tell when you're putting
up Uh, you know a video. I could just I

(28:58):
feel the excitement you watching uh tape. Maybe you're watching
a Raider game and the Condor does something crazy and
you just have to you have to tape it at
that moment. And I'm getting a genuine reaction from you
that it is. It just authentic and enthusiastic about what
he's doing. And that comes through the phone or whatever

(29:20):
you're watching it on. Yeah, oh no, I mean it's
like it's you know Max Crosby, the Condor. Um. You
know some of these guys, they just jump off the
screen at you. You have to give him nicknames. They
love it. You know, he's got his his brand is
called the Condor. Now he loves it. You know, did
you give him Michael Parsons became the Hungry Lion. He
loves it. He's a Penn State Ninney line. He loves

(29:42):
being the Hungry Lion. Like some of these guys, you know, um,
they just love you know, they love Yeah, they come
up to you. I'm on the field with you on
Sundays a lot of times and where these games and
guys are coming up to you and they just it
might be thanking you for a breakdown. Or hey, when
are you gonna put me on a breakdown? Like guys.
I love when guys are on Twitter, like, hey, Baldi,

(30:03):
how do I get a breakdown? Yeah? Well I remember, um.
I was at the Jets summer camp this year and uh,
you know it's it's hold that Joe Douglas GM and
Robert Sale and some defensive line We're all watching a
defensive line drill and the drill ends and the players
are going to the next row and Quinny Williams comes
by me and he goes, bro, are you ever gonna

(30:24):
do a breakdown on I go, I will when you
do something, You're like, noteworthy, Quinny, you do something noteworthy,
believe me. And he had. He had an awesome season.
He was really dominant player. So I did one breakdown
after another, and then we saw him in New York
for a, you know, a Jets game this year, and
he had big smile on his face. He was happy
that I was doing his breakdowns. But literally he's like,

(30:44):
are you ever gonna do one on me? I'm like, yeah,
when you do something, Quinny, I'll do one on you.
I'm not gonna just do it because you're on the field.
We're number nine, like you make something happen. You know,
you take Aaron Rodgers down in Green Bay and you
popped the ball out. It's well, we can put that
on tape on Monday for sure. Uh. What's fascinating about
this whole thing? That so that the Baldy breakdown has
become like the your renaissance, your rebirth and uh, and

(31:08):
I think it it helped you get back in NFL
network and you're doing a lot more there again, so
everything grows from it. Um. But your ability to all right,
what you mentioned when we started working together, you were
coming off Fox didn't renew your contract. Then you had
that suspension you talked about, Um, that ability to take
those things that would crush a lot of people and

(31:32):
and make it into a positive and going the way. Um,
were you always that resilient? Is that something that can
go back? You trace that somewhere to where you got
that resilience from. Yeah, I mean it's been it is
in me And I tell people, Chris, I mean, I'm
glad you're talking about it. Um. I do tell people that.

(31:53):
You know, I mean there's the old cliche one door closed,
one door open, but we know that doesn't happen right away.
Sometimes sometimes it takes know a lot of a long
time before that happens. It doesn't. So the thing is
is that we're all gonna get knocked down. Um none
of these jobs are guaranteed for anybody. Like I. I
I saw what had happened to me at Fox, Chris Is.

(32:14):
I saw a lot of people, including some really noteworthy people,
get released at Fox, and they left bitter, like just
really bitter about you know, why somebody else is still there.
I'm not there. I'm better than that person. You know.
It's like I saw it when you know, when I
got released by the Cowboys. I'll tell you. I'll tell

(32:35):
you a story, Like I remember, I was on a vacation.
I was actually like I don't know, like I was
in Hong Kong, or I was in I was another
part of the world, me and my brother and we're
gonna we're on a travel dog vacation. And I get
released by the Cowboys, and you know, six years there,
and and I all I wanted, all I wanted to

(32:59):
do was to think m landry for the opportunity. And
I didn't want to just get released without saying it
to Tom Landry's face. So I called his secretary from
someplace in made Thailand and wherever we were, and I said,
I just want to set up a meeting with coach Landry.
She goes, well, what's it about. I go, I just

(33:20):
want to thank him for giving me the opportunity. I go,
I'll figure everything else out. But I just so I
felt like that was important. So I ended up. I
was in Hong Kong. I'm I got a suit made
just to meet Tom Landry, like I wanted a brand
new suit that's never been worn before. I had a
suit made in a pair of shoes made in Hong
Kong that I was gonna wear to to thank coach Landry.
And I just thought like I had to thank them

(33:42):
for the opportunity. I was an undrafted free agent and
so and and things worked out for me. Things worked out.
I went to Indianapolis, went to Philadelphia. Things worked out.
But I think the resiliency, Like I remember, I went
to the Naval Academy at high school and I didn't
want to go there, but my dad was a Naval
Academy grad. And you know, things didn't work out there

(34:02):
and I had to go to junior college for a
year and it was great. I actually loved it. I
didn't know I was gonna love it. It's core sort
of like, um, they have this hall of Fame at
at the junior college. I was in the first class
of the Hall of Fame and us my speech was
nobody goes to Nashale Community College. We just end up there,
Like that was a theme of my speech. Everybody went

(34:23):
to someplace else it didn't work out, and they're like, oh,
we're back home at Nasshal, you know, and um, you
know the coaches and the system, and I played basketball there,
I played football, and so the resiliency was Okay, things
don't work out the Naval Academy. Your father is really
disappointed in you. Now you're a junior college. But then
you end up going to Duke as a result, you know,

(34:44):
and you're like, I got myself, you know, a really
good education and a good school and things worked out.
And so I think, I don't know, I got cut
from I got cut from the B team. Um, when
I was twelve years old in a travel baseball league,
and I didn't know at the time that I had
bad vision. So I told my mom, can I go

(35:05):
to the eye doctors, and you know, I got fitted
for glasses contacts maybe, and so then once I got
those glasses, like I can actually can see the ball,
and I started hitting the ball a lot better. And
I ended up making the eight team. Come from the
B team, but maybe the eight team, but my eyes
were messed up, you know, they were going on. I mean,
we you know it was if you hadn't been cut,

(35:26):
you might not have done that, yeah, exactly. So I
guess the message is a continual theme, Chris, is that
all these things like they do happen for a reason.
You do have to rebound from it, and sometimes you
get to a better spot. If I wasn't suspending Chris
by the NFL network is hurt. As hurtful as that was,
I probably wouldn't have started ball these breakdowns, and I

(35:47):
wouldn't be where I'm at. And so I'm very thankful
for all of the things that happened to get me
to the spot. That's it, I mean. And and it's
funny you talk about you're getting cut from the you know,
leave me the Naval Academy and then going to uh
Nasau community and then you're you're you're probably playing football
playing basketball. It probably reminds you of the enjoyment again,

(36:11):
like you weren't going to Navy because your dad wanted
you to go there. And I'm playing football and I
know I'm good at it, but here's this seriousness. Now
you get knocked down a peg, but now you rediscover
the enthusiasm. Oh it was. It was raw. Like I
love playing football at Nasshall. I love playing basketball, you know,

(36:32):
NASA Cuman because I hit this game winner one time
against Brooklyn Tech or somebody like, you know, a half
court shot, you know, Steph Curry type shot didn't win
the game, and the feeling of being mobbed on the
court by Brooklyn Tech people like that's the greatest shot
we've ever seen in this gym, or you know, going

(36:52):
like you know, or playing I remember when I was
at Nassau, we played Penn State j V. And it
was we like our our head coach at Nasomunity College
was a real good friend and ally of Joe Paternal
In fact, I think he he coached a year with
Joe before he took over the Nassau program, And so

(37:13):
we always booked Penn State JV. And we beat him
in a rainstorm and I thought this was like the
greatest day of our life for us, Like all those
kids that are in Divisional one scholarships, us scrubs at
Nassall took down their JV team, you know, and we
beat them, like we beat them badly. You know, we
ripped them, you know, and you know we we just

(37:35):
it was like us against the world. And a lot
of guys that went on too Division one you know
schools and guys that are now even now that are
in the NFL that went to Nassall. Um, we always
had this uh, this alumni group that was you know,
going to to the NFL. When I played at Nassau,
we had a kid named Kurt Soone who played at
Fordham after Nassaw and then he went on played eight

(37:57):
years with the Jets. And Kurt was my immediate Like
that's who I looked up to when I was at
an asshole. Like he did everything right, he was serious
about the game, he practiced hard. Then he went to
Fordham there he is starring at Fordham and then he
makes the Jets and he has his career with the Jets.
Like he was. My role model was Kurt Song. And
you know, even though you said you might have been

(38:18):
your father might have been disappointed about the way it
happened at Navy. Um, he still produced three sons who
all go to the NFL. You and your two brothers
all in the NFL, which is it's still to this
day as a rarity. And you know, um that I
can't imagine the pride of parents to have three kids

(38:42):
that play NFL football. Well, it was funny, was um
My My dad was a military guy in Marine Corps
and you know, f a all these positions, and they
were living in um Los Alamitos, California, like Long Beach
at the time, and and we're all, you know, in
the NFL, and so there was no direct TV back then.

(39:04):
You couldn't watch the games on regular TV. So my
parents used to drive from Long Beach to Las Vegas
every weekend to watch the games. And they watched in
Las Vegas really hadn't sprouted yet to what it is now.
I mean, it was still kind of a small yeah,
this Las Vegas strip, but there really wasn't a lot
of growth. They had a lot of military type operations

(39:25):
out there, a lot of bases, and so my dad
and mom decided to move to Las Vegas and there
was a lot of work there at the time. My
dad had retired from the military and but he was
still young enough to still work and so there was
a lot of work there in Las Vegas. But they thought,
this is great. We'll go to the sports book and
we could watch you know, we could watch the Bills
and the Eagles and the Chiefs all play on Sunday.

(39:48):
So they they started working in Las Vegas, moved to
Las Vegas, and then they'd be in the sports book
all day Sunday or Monday, being able to watch us play.
And so I thought that was cool, like um, and
they loved living in Las Vegas and they kind of
were part of the growth of that city. Got to
meet a lot of you know, different people and interesting
people in sports world and business whatnot, and so they

(40:11):
loved it. But yeah, it was it was great for
my mom and dad at the time. What was the
favorite part of your professional football career? You played with
the Cowboys who talked about Tom Landry, Uh, You're worth
the cults for a while where you played with some
great players there, and then you know, you finish your

(40:31):
career with the Eagles. You're still living kind of in
the Philadelphia area, and um, you stayed there and and
you know, you know, you do a lot with the Eagles,
and we're gonna get into that and the matchup. But
what was the favorite part of your NFL career? Um,
I think I actually, I can't say, you know, the

(40:52):
Eagles were better than the Cowboys. Like I I honestly
saying God bless America every day, Like I thought, it
was the greatest job that anybody can in fact, all
he wanted to do. I remember, like you know, I was,
I signed a contract, um, you know, the a free
agent contract of the Cowboys. Like you know, the draft
came and went, I wasn't drafted nWo and I get

(41:14):
a call from a guy named Buck Buchanan. I think
it's Buck Buchanan, like the Hall of Famer wants to
sign me to a free agent contract with the Cowboys.
Turns out it was the It was the equipment manager,
Buck McKinnon. And the Cowboys would sign so many free
agents back then that they would send everybody that worked
in the organization out to sign people. And so Buck
was in you know, he was at Duke North Carolina.

(41:36):
Say he was in the Research Triangle area, North Carolina
and he had six guys that he had to try
to sign after the draft, and so you know, I
get this, you know, retired Army or Air Force colonel
who's the equipment manager for the Cowboys, and he's knocking
on my door, and you know, I'm in finals at
the time. I got a German final, Like I gotta
study for this test. I gotta take this test. But anyways,

(41:59):
he comes back. We negotiate a deal with thirty two
tho dollars free agent contract five. You know, I got
him up to a twelve signing bonus and I was
the only player that Buck ever signed that made it.
So it was a big deal to Buck Buchanan that
I was the guy. So we became best friends. His son,
Bucky is still there with the Cowboys, still works in
the equipment room. Um, so that you know that kind

(42:20):
of like what what it was. It wasn't about money
or anything. It was just like I got a chance
to play for the Cowboys. And I think that you know,
making they had a hundred They had a hundred ten
free agents that year and sixteen draft picks, and I
was the only free agent to make it at ten.
I think that's I think that was the jewel, you know,

(42:43):
the moment, Like I made that team out of a
hundred ten guys and there was a free agent. He
was a big deal back then. You know, all these guys,
Drew Pierce who was a free agent, like all these
Hall of Fame players came through, Doal, Bill Bates Mark too,
and they all these guys or Hall of Fame players
and eight players that Cowboys were free agents. And I'm
part of that list of free agents, you know. So

(43:05):
I I think that was the funnest part for me.
But besides Randy White and practice, who was the toughest
guy you ever had to ulock? Yeah, well, Randy every
day in practice, but it would be Reggie White. I
played with Reggie and Philadelphia. It's a lot better being
a teammate of Reggie than it is playing against Reggie. Um.

(43:26):
I remember when I came to Philadelphia, this season had
already started. I was cut by Uh. We had gone
to Buffalo to try to play with my brother Buffalo.
They cut me in Philadelphia sign me. So I go
to practice. I'm practicing that I normally do, and I'm
going up against Reggie White and practice and um, After
about three days of this, he just pulled me aside
and he goes, uh, look, uh, Baldi, M. I respect

(43:49):
the way you practice. But here's here's the rule. If
my chin strap is buckled, don't put a glove on me.
If it's if it's buckled, now you come at me
the way you come out me. But I'm getting ready
for Sunday's Sundays, you know, is when I when Reggie
gotta take over. So uh, just the rule. So I
got read in the rule in the third day from Reggie,

(44:09):
go on that chine strap his unbuckled, don't hit me
or else's there's gonna be there's gonna be a battle.
What about LT L was, Yeah, there was. I didn't
have to go against LT a lot because he was
a left tackle and play lout and left tackle. But
there was a day in Philadelphia when we had some
injuries and they put me at left tackle and I
had a block LT and um, I like I I

(44:33):
just had these little tricks to compete, you know, I
just knew how to hold LT without getting caught. And uh,
you know he was on me because I he'd beat
he beat me, and I'd happened by the inside of
the right shoulder pad and I would just jerk it
as he was beating me. It would knock him off
the path to the quarterback. And I got away with
it like four or five times, and he's looking at
the ref and he's looking at me and I'm gonna

(44:54):
beat your ass ball. And my brother played there with him,
and L two he knew I was and it was
later in my career, was later in his career, and he,
you know, like he he didn't like LT. Wasn't a crier.
He just like try to do something about it the
next play. You know, I got away with it, you know,
And but you know, just the force and the tenacity

(45:15):
and how he played and how we going back to
when I was in Dallas, would literally change our entire
past protection rules to be able to handle LT. Like
he just changed the game. Yeah, I think he. I
think he sacked Ron Jowarski more than any quarterback he
ever sacked. So it wasn't I didn't play with jaw

(45:36):
So I'm glad about those highlights. Um you I mentioned
you are in Philly and we got a big game
coming up this Sunday. As this comes out with the
Chiefs and the Eagles. This is the Andy Reid bull.
I mean, this is Andy coach the Eagles for so long. UM,
what do I think? I think he was there fourteen,

(45:56):
which with the amount of criticism and heat that he
took in Philadelphia, it's amazing that he did was there
as long as that. Um. And then you know we
talk about renaissance and rebirth. What he's been able to
do in Kansas City is I know he's got a
great quarterback and he found him, but he's been a
he's a part of developing that quarterback. And you talk

(46:19):
about a guy who has kind of become a different
guy in a different coach not maybe not different guy,
but but he's changed a little bit and has had
incredible success. It's very rare in the NFL that you
see a guy go to two different places and have
this long of a career and they're both represented in
the Super Bowl matchup. Andy is I remember he got

(46:39):
signed hired in January of nine. He was at Green
Baby's a quarterback coach in Green Bay or with Brett
Farve there and uh had bought the team, and um,
his his first coach was Ray Rhodes and and then
he decided to make a change, and he brought in Andy.

(47:01):
And so Andy went to b y U. He's a Mormon,
and I have a good friend by said Emma, who
played with Andy at b y U. And and v
was local sportscaster here when he signed. So he calls
me up the morning of the press conference. He goes, Baldi,
I'm gonna come and get you. I want you to
meet Andy Reid. You're gonna have to know him. You
work at Fox. Be a good guy to get to know.
So I go to the press conference with Vie and

(47:24):
press conference ends, and uh and and Vite we go
behind this you know, this curtain or whatever it was
there and and Vye introduces me to to Andy and
so we we we we hit it off. He asked
me about a couple of guys that worked at Fox
and guys that he knew whatnot. So we we we
hit it off. And so he went through this unbelievable

(47:44):
you know run, and it was really turbulent at the end.
You know, they had this thing though the uh, the
Dream Team in two thousand and eleven, and the whole
thing blew up to and so and it just collapsed
and there was a personal tragedy in his life. And anyways,
two thousand and twelve, they make a change. Andy Read
gets fired and literally and I thought, and I had

(48:06):
said on the air, like and he should just take
some time off, like he can always coach. He's a
great coach. He had nine coaches from his staff in
Philadelphia go on to become head coaches. And so I
said he should take some time off. Well, five days later,
Clark hunt and said the private jet um the owner
of the KMPAC Chiefs and brought Andy to Kansas City

(48:27):
and and uh and and hired him. And I thought,
that's that's how long he was out of work. He's
out of work for five days. And um, you know
it was said he had Alex Smith and they went
to the playoffs right away. And then he you know,
he saw the arm of Patrick Mahomes and you know,
and and I always had just another run of tremendous success.
Five straight NFC Championship games, three Sea Bowls in four years,

(48:49):
all this stuff. He's just a phenomenal coach. He just
loves it, and he just can There's something about his background.
He's an l a kid. There's just something about his background. Chris.
That allows him to literally communicate with every player from
every background, no matter you know, where you grew up,
where you went to college, success, family history. He just

(49:12):
knows how to connect with every player and it's just
rare and and it seems like in in Kansas City,
there's you know, it's like anything you've gone through the
rigors of your job for so long and when he
went through there in Philadelphia and you know what a
tough sports town that is and a job and he
got them to the super Bowl but never won it.
But in Kansas City, there's like a you know, he's

(49:34):
an elder statesman. Now, it's like there there's an authority
about him. And I feel like it's been a much
calmer tenure there in Kansas City, and you're seeing such
great creativity comes out of there, and uh and you're
you know, I know you've got a great quarterback. But
remember he Mahomes was not the number one pick in

(49:57):
the draft and didn't start as a rookie. I mean,
there's a there, I think and Andy Reid maybe it
doesn't get enough credit for how he handled Patrick Mahomes
in the beginning, and then maybe that set him up
for the success that he's having now, Oh, I don't
think there's any question about that, Chris. I mean I
was doing Big twelve games when Patrick mahomes the Texas Tech. Fact,

(50:17):
I think I did his first start um there in
the in Lubbock. Cliff Kingsbury was the head coach there,
and you know, you you saw like tremendous talent. But
he was all over the place. I mean, he just
had to score fifty to beat Oklahoma or Baylor or
you know TCU. Back then, I mean there was shootout
games and it was a fun there were fun games

(50:38):
to do. But I I, in fact, I saw Patrick.
His agent is Lee Steinberg, and I saw Patrick at
the Super Bowl in Houston. I'll never forget it. And
we're walking into the media center together and he's he's going,
you know, he's gonna be drafted that spring um the
spring of you know, two thousand and I guess sixteen.

(51:00):
Uh it sounds about right. But anyways, uh so I
see him him and Lee, and uh, I say hello
to him. He knows who I am, and and I goes,
what are the what are the scouts? Saying Pat, like,
what are the what? Round? He goes they kind of
think I'm a second round pick. Baldi, I go, that's
that's great. Pat, Like just you get in like you're
gonna figure it out. So you know, Uh, the Chiefs

(51:20):
were picking number ten and the Saints were picking number eleven.
Chiefs were actually picking number twenty four, but they make
a trade to get to number ten because they know
Sean Payton is gonna take him at eleven. Say try
they trade up in front. And John Gruden was doing
money and a football at the time. I thought it
was the best quarterback in the draft, and and Andy
saw it. Brett Veachs, the GM saw it, and they

(51:41):
knew they had to get to ten to get in
front of the Saints because they were gonna take there.
He he was gonna be the heir apparent to Drew
Brees and that's what they wanted. And who knows, he
probably would be doing the similar things in New Orleans
if he was. But he's just he's a great he's
a great kid. But even when we were doing Chief games,
christ I point out that at the end of every series,

(52:01):
like Andy Reid would sit down with Patrick Mahomes and
now it could be Eric Bienemy or not Matt Nagy,
but they sit down. They sit down and still coach
him at the end of every series, and he wants
to be coached like what he saw, what we could do,
what can we do different? They're constantly adjusting things. And
you you mentioned the creativity. There's not a more creative
offensive football when it comes time to, you know, scoring touchdowns.

(52:23):
Nobody comes up with the screens to shovel passes, the
misdirection plays like nobody comes up with the volume of
plays that the Chiefs do. And Mahomes is at the
center of it. But Andy and his late night thinking
and tinkering, and that's what he does. He tinkers at night,
what can we do, what's different, what we haven't shown?

(52:45):
And there'll be some tinkering for the Super Bowl that
nobody has seen this year that they'll come up with
for this game. And fun, you know what you're talking about, Like,
how about that in the last week of the year,
they had that play where they're make break out and
there's three laterals and I mean, that's just crazy stuff.
But it must be fun to play for Andy Reid now.

(53:06):
And I don't know if that was that way, I
don't know it was always that way, but it seems
that way now. Yeah. Well look yeah, Donovan McNabb and
they went to four straight NFC championship games and they
got they won one of them. Um, you know, they
took on t Oh. There was always you know Philadelphia,
as you know, Chris, I mean, there's always some level
of controversy. There's the media. Um, the media is not uh,

(53:31):
they're not shy. They're gonna write their articles, tell their stories, whatever.
And you gotta feed the machine every day in Philadelphia.
And it's just not like that in Kansas City. They're
a little bit more civil. They're a lot more civil
in Kansas City. But that's also part of the fun
of coaching in Philadelphia. But it does grind you down
over a period of time, and it goes back to
that resilience we talked about, where you think that this

(53:52):
is the end, and then someone recognizes your your value
and like you said, he's out of work five days
and then he goes to Kansas City. Um, this matchup
now is is fascinating because all year long we thought, well,
the Eagles are the best team in the NFC, and
then Jalen Hurts got hurt and and and they took

(54:12):
a little they took a little hit, and then people
started talking about San Francisco. And unfortunately we didn't get
the game that because you know, the quarterback gets hurt,
but it gets hurt right in the beginning, and Josh
Johnson was just overwhelmed and there was no um and
we didn't really get to see that matchup. And it's
it's full glory, but still the Eagles, you know that

(54:34):
game seven seven and they come down the field and
they put up a touchdown and kind of changed the game,
and and and then it was over. And I think
we saw the Eagle team that we saw the first
ten twelve weeks of the season. Um, are they back
to where the team we thought, Man, this is this
I don't know who can beat this team right now

(54:58):
because they're they're completely healthy. Chris Vante Maddox is back
in the slot, and Chauncey Garden Johnson's back at safety,
and Lane Johnson has figured out how to play with
his torn adductor muscle, and all the running backs are healthy,
and and and Jaalen is gonna be as healthy as
he's ben since he got hurt against Chicago in Week sixteen.
Or fifteen. So, um, I think they're even better right now.

(55:21):
I mean the way that they're capable of running the football. Um,
you know we saw him against Tennessee and or yeah
against Tennessee and herds through for three yards. The Monday
night before that, they ran for three and sixty against
Green Bay. They're just better than every team in the league.
In the trenches. Um, they got Jordan Davis was their

(55:41):
prize draft pick out of Georgia, you know, three seventy pounds,
and you know, he got hurt, and they really they
lost to Washington the one loss, bad loss, and Washington
ran the ball at him pretty good, and so they said, well,
we're not gonna Halle Roseman said we're not gonna let
this happen. And then when out and got Linball Joseph
and domin Quensue and now Joe and Davis is healthy

(56:01):
and they're just so deep, and you know they well
get Hassan Reddick, who's having you know, just a career,
I mean just an unbelievable season, unbelievable postseason. And you
know he's he's from Camden, New Jersey's homegrown, went to
Temple like he loves it and Fletcher Cox and Brandon
Graham are all healthy and to find their age and
number of years in the league. I mean, they're just

(56:23):
built betteran nobody is like Jordan Mallotta left tackle in
this industry and Leonard Dickerson and there is no better
center than J. C. Kelsey. I mean, they're just deep.
They're just deep and talented in the trenches. And you
can have Patrick Mahomes back there and maybe he'll equalize
things a little bit. But you know, their secondary is
as good as any in the league. Brad Berry and

(56:45):
Slay and Garner Johnson and Marcus Epps like they're they're
really good, and so they just don't have a weakness
right now. Chris even even in the in the draft,
they went for it and got a J. Brown and
what a difference he's made, and you got Davante Smith
on the other side. I mean, it's just it's just there. Yeah,
pick your poison, because they can if you're if you're
gonna stack it up against them, they're gonna they can

(57:06):
throw for three yards. If you're gonna playoff, they're gonna
they're gonna run it down your throat um. What about
the matchup though, with the Chiefs. I mean, are we're
looking at a Chiefs team that I think they've kind
of relish the fact that people kind of counted them
out a little bit here well yeah, yeah, Burrow Burrowhead Stadium,

(57:28):
and like they they took that to heart. Um. But
there's just an intangible with the Chiefs. There's just like
you can count them out and say they're not as talented,
you can they're not as good as that team that
won the Super Bowl. And then Patrick Mahomes will go
out there on a on a high ankle sprain and
do what he was able to do. And Kelsey shows
up in the in the injury report on Sunday with

(57:50):
with with back spasms and he goes out and he
still has a big game. And it's like it's almost
like Cooper Cup last year, like the whole world knows
you're gonna throw to Jake to to to trave Is
Kelsey and he they're still able to find Travis Kelsey
in the end zone. There's just that there's just intangible
about the Chiefs they can't overlook. I agree, And you
know it's interesting because I thought Cincinnati was the better

(58:12):
team and Joe Burrow was a hot quarterback, and I
just thought the Chiefs just aren't gonna match up well
on the outside. And on the fourth play of the game,
Lugarius need for the Chiefs, who is their best corner
gets hurt and they gotta plug Joshua Williams, you know,
a fourth round pick at Ofteville State into the lineup,
and I thought, Oh, this is gonna be Jamaar Chase

(58:34):
and Tee Higgins is gonna be their game right now.
And then they're lying. They've got two rookies out there
in the corners. Three rookies. They've got Trent McDuffie starting
in one corner, Joshua Williams and Jalen Watson, and Joshua
Williams and Jaylen Watson both get interceptions. And oh, by
the way, the rookie safety Brian Cook out of the
University of Cincinnati, you know, to flex the pass and

(58:55):
they get it intercepted. Like they had four rookies playing
the secondary. Chris like that's a formula going up against
Joe Burrow and his receivers for disaster. Yet they averted
all disaster and they made the plays. And that just
says my man's spags over here like what they're able
to do coaching wise, And I thought it was gonna
be a tremendous weakness going in to the game against Cincinnati,

(59:18):
and I no longer think it's a weakness. I feel
like these kids can really play and they might give
up a play to a J. Brown or DeVante, but
they're they're not gonna just wilt and just get crushed
because they give up a deep ball to one of
these guys. These these kids are compete. They compete and
they're good, and the scheme is good, and so I
think they can that. The difference really is is how

(59:41):
they're gonna defend Jalen Hurts. Because he's such a good
decision maker. It's hard to get him to make a
bad decision and to turn it over. And if you
could do that like they did to Joe Burrow than
Kansas City, I think, you know, if you can take
two away from the Eagles to somehow, then they can
really make it a game. But if if they can't
get Jalen Hurbs to make a mistake, I think it's

(01:00:02):
gonna be a tough game for the Chiefs to win.
A couple of those rookies ended up on the chief
secondary ended up making the big takeaway late in the game,
that deflection the interception. Um again though, talking, I love
the theme that we have built throughout this this this
show about resilience and how you turn uh problems and

(01:00:27):
and turn them into triumphs. And you think about what
the Chiefs did and and you get an injury, but
then the guy who replaces and makes a big play. Um.
They lost Tyreek Hill this year, right, but they it's
not the same that people thought, well, they couldn't live
without that deep threat but figured stuff out. Yeah, well,

(01:00:47):
I mean I never saw Mark Quez Valdez Scanty have
a game like he had in the NFC Championship game
against Cincinnati. Now, I I guess I could go back
and look study all the stats, Chris and find a
game where he caught more acid. But it's the biggest game.
It's the biggest game he's ever played in, and to me,
it's the best game he ever played. And he made
one big play after another, including a touchdown catch. And

(01:01:10):
so you know, and that's after they lost Juju Smith,
and they lost car Darius Tony and they lost me
Cole Hardman. You know, when they were really down in
numbers and he stepped up. And that's your resilient theme
right there. You know, Um, I always thought he could
be a good player. I didn't think he could be
a great player because I didn't think he was a
great route runner. But he's He ran really good routs

(01:01:32):
the other day. To beat Since Santy, to beat Mike Kilton,
you've gotta be a good route runner. He's a great player,
and he beat him a couple of times. And it's
a credit credit to to Andy and his staff and
um and how they coach and how they get guys
ready to play. That's what makes this such a great
Super Bowl matchup. To me is yes, they're everything. Should
tell you the Eagles they're better in all facets maybe

(01:01:55):
I don't know, but the Chiefs that you just can't
count them out. And hopefully we won't where a couple
of years ago where the Chiefs just couldn't protect Mahomes
and you know and and tamples Tampa. Yeah, well they've
rebuilt their offensive line, you know, literally trying draft and
Creed Humphrey and Tray Smith and signed Joe Tuney and

(01:02:15):
traded for Zeus and rebuilt their offensive line literally in
a matter of months, and credit credit to the chiefs
recognizing like, Okay, we want my homes for another ten years.
We'll give him a half a billion dollars for next
ten years, but we better protect him. And they set
out to do it, and they've done a good job
of doing it. And you'll be in l A all
week doing stuff for NFL Network and they'll head over

(01:02:37):
to the Super Bowl. Yeah, I'm gonna be. I'm leaving today.
Leaving today. We're gonna do a show around the Senior Bowl,
which is tomorrow, which is a big day. And that's
what record this yet over the weekend, recording this on Friday,
So Senior Bowls on Saturday, which is a big day
for a lot of these kids and um, and then
we'll we'll start getting ready for the Super Bowl on
Sunday and do some shows out there that I had to.

(01:03:00):
I'll had to Arizona on Wednesday and pretend like I'm
working a little bit, Chris. But you know, I'll be
having a good time alone the way will you'll be.
You'll be on the field for the game. I'm not
gonna I'm not doing the game this year. Okay, So
sports right where you're doing sky Sports last year. But
I have to I have to do all the post
game for the NFL Network and a couple of wrap

(01:03:21):
up shows on Money and Tuesday. So I gotta get
back to l A to do those things. So I
won't even be at the game to do that from
there after the game. Okay, Um, sometimes that's better. The
week leading up is sometimes better than being there for
the game. I agree. I agree. I I don't need
to see another Super Bowl party, although I know I'm
gonna go to one or two. Chris, Um, it is uh,

(01:03:42):
you know, you've been to media days and press row
and all that stuff, and it's fun. It's fun to
seeing a lot of the guys, but you know that
can get that can wear you down pretty good too.
It's fun. Was it? One year we were the Nets.
We we traveled to Indiana when the Giants are playing
the Patriots in fotball that year, So we up kind
of midweek and it was like we walked into a

(01:04:03):
party and we were shortly like we weren't invited to
We just kind of showed up. And but it was
cool because you got to see a lot of sports
media people and things like that. And um, I gotta
you know some of the giant guys on the on
the staff. I got him into the net game that night,
and you know there's a lot of uh it's it
was good. It was good experience that week. Um. But yeah,

(01:04:24):
then you get out of town and just kind of
watch it from afar um. You know, Brian, before I
let you go here, I I so we've we've had
a great conversation about resilience and rebirth and renewal and
got into your career and our relationship and we broke
down the Super Bowl. Now I put you on the spot.
I like to do this with all my guests at

(01:04:45):
the end. Um another grade. I think it was a
long Island guy, right, Jim Balvano. Uh. The the sp
speech where we received the Arthur Ash Awards and never
give Up speech always made a lot to me. And
he had said that there were three things that you
need to do to live a full life. And nobody
lives a full life more than than Brian Baldinger. I

(01:05:08):
know because I probably I know you're not in Florida
right now, but oftentimes you can be deep diving out there,
breaking down fish, uh, breaking down your garden you may
be in Costa Rica at some point soon. Places like that. Um,
so you live life to the fullest. But he had
said to do every day everybody should do three things.

(01:05:29):
They should laugh, they should think, and they should cry
have their emotions moved. Uh So, what makes Brian Baldinger laugh? Uh? Well,
I I mean, obviously you know people that have a
good sense of humor. But I think just when you
can laugh at yourself, Chris, you know, I mean, I like,

(01:05:51):
I'm trying to figure out how this microphone works today, Chris,
I've been in this office for six or eight years.
You're like, you have headphones. I'm like, I don't you
know how they work? Like you have to laugh at that?
Like six years, Chris, I should figure out how the
headphones work. Like that makes me laugh at myself, like
the ineptitude. So I think when you can laugh at

(01:06:12):
yourself like that's his that's even healthier than laughing at
somebody who's just funny. It makes you that. I think
that right there, just you know, just the self effacing humor,
don't take yourself too seriously. That's the That's that's the
motto right there, And we all are capable of doing
that at times, and it's good if you have people

(01:06:35):
in your life that can catch you being too serious
when you can't do it yourself, and you can kind
of remind you that there's a lot more to living
life than you know, trying to do twenty videos here today,
baldi like, you're gonna get it. Like my mother used
to tell me all the time, you have like a
stressful moment going on, and it could be work, it
could be school, it could have been anything grown up.

(01:06:56):
You know, I got cut from the B team in
baseball and my mother used to just look at me
and she goes, Yeah, you're gonna be okay, You're gonna
figure it out. You know. Sometimes you just you know what,
like just take a moment, You'll be You'll be fine.
Like it's not, it's not, it's not at the end
of the world. I love that. Um, the cry part

(01:07:17):
is not so much like you know, the sad events
won't make anybody cry. But you know, I could hear
a song or I could watch a car commercial and
just have my emotions moved. Is there something recently that
you could say or what is it that kind of
moves you to that state? I was just like, I
don't watch a lot of movies, Chris. But I was

(01:07:37):
on a plane to Los Angeles last week and I
watched this Italian movie Italian subtitles, okay, called La chaina
Perfecta The Beautiful Dinner. It's a great story. It's all
Italian actors. It's a fantastic story. But there's a scene
at the end of the movie or you if you're

(01:07:59):
not if your emotions aren't moving, then you're not really alive,
you know what I mean. Like, it's just it's a
beautiful movie. It's really well told. Everybody should I would
recommend it for anybody. It's a great story, really good
story told. Let chain a perfecta. Yeah, I don't know
how you find your Chris, Like I told some people
about it. It involves you know, some mafiosa types and

(01:08:21):
a and a restaurant and you know, you know, a
relationship and it's just a lot. Well. I I love
I love that I'm getting a movie recommendation from you,
because in fourteen years that might be at first. Although
you told me to watch the one time about the
uh the Octopuctopus on Netflix with the guy for Friends
the Octopus, which is it was a moving documentary and

(01:08:46):
a and a weird thing and it's strange. Yeah, I
know how to describe it. But that was the other
thing you recommend to me, and I enjoyed that. Lets
chain it perfecta that that moved me. Um, you know,
but it could be I'm with you, Chris, it could
be a song, it could be a commercial. You have
to recognize it. You have to see it and feel
I think that was Jim Balbano's point, like it's what,

(01:09:08):
what's what his point is? Yeah, I feel it. Um,
there's a great Italian movie. One of my all time
favorite movies was an Italian movie from let's say the
late eighties or early nineties called Cinema Paradiso and that
if you're not if you're not moved by that movie,
I agree that was one of the great ones. But

(01:09:28):
I just stumbled across this one, Chris, you know, flipping
through the the dial on the plane. Uh, you know,
just uh, it just gripped me from the beginning. I
got to check that out, all right. Um, the think
part um, when you're going to Barkley Center where the
nets play, Uh, there's this oculus, this this this digital

(01:09:49):
screen outside and everybody comes up out of the subway
right there. Anybody walking around Brooklyn going to the building
sees that thing. If you could put a message, um
whatever is slogan, a phrase, a picture and image whatever
it may be. Uh, in addition to hashtag baldy breakdowns. Uh,

(01:10:10):
what what do you think you would stick up there
for everybody to think about? I I I would just
be very very simple with it, Chris, I would say,
be curious, like curiosity, all right, don't settle for anything,
like go be curious and find something out, not just
get on Google and Google. But if you're like, be curious,

(01:10:33):
use that as your way that you find your path.
And I'm not here to be a life coach or
anything like that, but it could be anything like just like,
for example, I I'm doing this thing on Mike Dana
from the Kansas City chiefsly a couple of years and
I had no idea where Mike Dana was from. It
just hit me, like I don't even know what school

(01:10:54):
he went to. And I find out he's a Michigan man,
so you know, and then he gradually he actually transferred
from school a school and went up to Michigan. So
like I had to settle my curiosity, Like I like,
I don't know what just hit me? Like where's Mike
Dana from? Like he's a good player, He's not an
every down player, but so I would just say, be curious, Chris,

(01:11:16):
Like that makes you think and it takes you beyond
the surface into anything whatever, whatever it is you know,
like why do planes fly? Like how is that? What?
What is it that makes a plane fly? That can
lift all this steel up off the ground. It just
it takes you out of your head too a little bit.
Like I mean, you're curious, and you're you're saying you're

(01:11:37):
curious about something you might be able to google, but
your your curiosity also takes you to all parts of
the world. Um, it makes you talk. You know, We're
walking through a parking lot on a Sunday in an
NFL city somewhere, and you're talking to everybody. Yeah, you know,
I remember I'm here at Steve Stables, Steve Sables house
here in NFL Films, And Steve was one of those guys.

(01:11:59):
And anybody that got a chance to meet Steve Sable
will always remember Steve Sable. There will always be a
story that will rattle in your brain. That's Steve said
to you. And he had a very distinctive voice in
a high, high curiosity about life. I remember one day
I was talking to him. We were at his house,
and um, he said that he became a gardener late

(01:12:21):
in life. And I go, what are your garden? He goes,
I don't know. I just throw stuff in the ground.
See what grows. Baldi. So I said I could do that.
I don't know anything about gardening, but I got some land,
you know, a little bit of land like I'm gonna
and and I became curious. I I started growing stuff,
and then it became I became pretty good at it,
and I was like, I want to do it year round.

(01:12:43):
So we we built a greenhouse and on the side
of the house so that you know, when you're's a
cold February morning and it's twenty seven degrees outside, you
could have heaters and built in irrigation system whatever, and
you could grow citrus plants. And that's what I got
grown in there now. But that was Steve Sable like
going gardening, like I probably I didn't know that. I

(01:13:05):
didn't know that because I know, I know you're greenhouse,
and I know it's you put Steve Stable's name outside
the Greenhouse. I know that was as an homage to him,
but I didn't realize he was the one who inspired
the green Yeah, He's like, yeah, well what do you grow, Steve? Like,
I don't know. I just throw stuff in the ground.
Whatever grows grows, and if it doesn't, I try something new.
That's kind of like that's kind of like Baldy breakdowns. Yeah,

(01:13:28):
you never know. You never know what's gonna connect. That's
like the really the thing with all these I would
tell you this to Chris, like to you know, young
kids that might watch this between me and you, like
we have got a great relationship, working relationship, friendship. So
you know you people are all constantly asking you for advice.
You know, you want to get in the industry whatever.
I always tell him, like, start writing. Writing is gonna

(01:13:50):
help you form your ideas, you know, start your own podcast.
I mean all the basic things. Um, but the thing
in today's world is you, really, and especially with social media,
but beyond that is you. It goes back to the
Seinfeld Show, which was maybe the most popular show of

(01:14:10):
all time, but nobody knew that it was gonna connect.
They were gonna cancel that show after two years. And
so it really is you don't know what is going
to connect with people. All these breakdowns connected, but I
didn't know what was going to connect until it did.
And you have to do that. And so the point
is you have to try new things because you just

(01:14:31):
don't know what's gonna work until you put the effort in,
the ingenuity and the creativity into it. And people will
let you know if you're successful at something, whether it's
podcasting or whatever it is that you're trying to do.
Nobody can tell you you can't do this because they
nobody knows. I don't care if it's pick a name,
Elon must piss it. Well, I'm gonna try to build

(01:14:53):
a car. Well Elon says you can't do it, well, okay,
like find a way. That's my message to the younger
people out there might listen to this, like be curious
and don't be afraid to try anything because nobody knows
if anything is going to be successful or not. And
and you mentioned curiosity is funny because I'll clip these
little things I may read and sometimes I just I'll

(01:15:13):
text my son just to you know, give him a
little something to remind them about a little something to
think about during the day. And yeah, and you as
a young person like he is, especially today, where they
don't they're not they're not as as honed in on
social situations as we were, you know, because everything you're
you're constantly contacting through texts and things like that social

(01:15:35):
media rather than being and meeting people, and a lot
of them get kind of social anxiety. And I read
this quote from Mark manson the other day about curiosity.
I just looked it up again because I had it
in front of me. Ce curiosity is the cure to
social anxiety. When you're focused on discovering who they are,
you'll stop worrying about what they think about who you are.

(01:15:57):
And I always thought that was a great message. I
I had a person in my life tell me that
they were having like anxiety issues, and I said, what
part of the anxiety issues are just things inside your
head and you're just thinking about yourself and what you're
not doing or what you could be doing, And that
will create anxiety, no question about it. But as soon

(01:16:19):
as you get outside of your head and you're doing
something um whatever that might be, UM, something that you
enjoy doing, you're not gonna have those moments. It's those
feelings are gonna disappear. They might return until you know
you really kind of solve that issue. But so much
of it is just the stuff inside your head right now. Well,

(01:16:40):
it's always fun listening to all this stuff inside your head,
whether that be here today on this podcast or on
Sundays on Compass Media Networks with you and I traveled
in the country and doing these games. Um. Always great
to chat with you, Brian. I really appreciate you doing this.
I wanted to do this for a long time. And uh,
you know, have fun with super Bowl Week and I

(01:17:02):
can't wait to Not that I rushed the summer because
I love the summers and I know you do. But
one of the one of the real advantages that when
summer comes to an end is that September you and
I get to be in football stadiums around the country. Yeah.
I tell people, Chris, we all do a lot of
different jobs in this industry, but nothing beats broadcasting games. Nothing.

(01:17:25):
So I mean, you could be in front of a
live studio, or you could be a pregame show person,
or you could be a radio host, but being live
at games like you are with the Nets and like
we are in the NFL. It's the crown jewel of
this entire industry is to be at live sporting events.
And I am so fortunate in my life. I I

(01:17:45):
have a I have a partner on radio with the Nets,
Tim cap Straw. I've been with for twenty one years
and with you for fourteen years on my little honeymooning job,
and I that's rare too. That doesn't happen a lot.
And then got a lot of that longevity with people.
So I'm grateful for that and grateful to Chris me too.
Believe me, I brag about it to a lot of people.

(01:18:07):
So we have a good boss, you know. Peter, Peter
Michelle are really good to us and I have looked
out for us. So shout out to those individual Michelle
Schaffl Tour and our good friend Pete Peter Cos And
thank you very much, Brian Baldinger. Enjoy the Super Bowl.
Will talk to you soon. Thanks Chris. Alright, my thanks

(01:18:29):
to the great Brian Baldinger. Uh he mentioned Seinfeld there
at the end, and you know, it reminds me of
Baldy breakdowns. So many people look at Seinfeld. They say, well,
it's a show about nothing, but it's about so much.
I mean, think of Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld had
they got to go through the comedy circuit for so
many years to be able to create something like that

(01:18:54):
show that had so much to it. But it seems
so simple, and it was so simply suggested that it
was a show about nothing, but really it was about
so much and so well written. The characters are brilliant.
That takes a lot of work. Tim Capstrow, on my
partner on the radio, always just to talk about Miles
Davis is quote the great jazz musician where he said,

(01:19:18):
you have to play a long time to play like yourself.
So many of the best things that seems so simple
have so much work and experience behind them. The best
make it look easy, but it's not. I mentioned that
I had a cold. It always reminds me of one
of the great profile pieces ever written for Esquire magazine

(01:19:42):
by gate a Lease called Frank Sinatra has a cold.
And I'm no please, I'm not trying to compare myself
to Frank Sinatra, but this piece was about when he
had a cold. He was miserable it's difficult to sing
anybody that relies on their voice when you've got a cold.
It's miserable. I try and do a game with a cold,

(01:20:03):
it's distracting. You don't have that extra gear. It's like
an athlete having a sprained ankle. You gotta work your
way through it. Like Patrick Mahomes did in the a
f C Championship to get to the Super Bowl. We'll
be able to do it again at the end of
this week. It also colds come out of at a
winter time, and whenever I get a cold in winter,

(01:20:25):
I'm I'm ready for spring. But I I'll give you
my my top songs about the seasons. How about that?
How about that for Tying Well Tie and Frank Sinatra
in a minute. But let me start with the winter,
and I'll go with the winter song by a great
pre grunge Seattle band called Screaming Trees, the Winter Song,

(01:20:47):
and of course that leads you to spring and one
of my favorites, the Frank Turner the opening Active Spring
and then an all time Frank Sinatra best summer wind.
And then let's move on to a nice instrumental in
the Fall from Harry met Sally the Harry Conna Jnr.

(01:21:08):
Piano piece Autumn in New York. And if you want
to tie it all together, how about a great crowded
house New Zealand band. Four seasons in one day. There
you go my songs of the seasons, and ended a
little reminder of what's to come from Pearl jam and
thumbing my way, a great song and the lyric in

(01:21:32):
it from any better. No matter how cold the winter,
there is a springtime ahead. My thanks to Brian Baldinger,
our producer, Tom Dowd, our engineer Isaac Lee. Remember to
listen to me in the caper on our radio broadcast
each and every night on w f A n Sirius
satellite radio and the Nets app and the Odyssey app

(01:21:54):
many ways to get us. Where we discussed the up
to the minute things going on with the Nets, which
there are a lots, so tune into that. Until next time,
I'm Chris Corino. This has been the voice of the Nets.