ATN Mailbag + Broadcaster Talk with Andrew Marchand

A virtual room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, and Gregg Rosenthal catch up on some NFL news: Elijah Moore was traded to the Browns (2:29), Foster Moreau has been diagnosed with cancer (12:52), and Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud had their Pro Days and met with some teams (15:09). Andrew Marchand joins the program to discuss NFL broadcast booths, including Troy Aikman and Monday Night Football (20:44), Al Michaels and Thursday Night Football (28:05), and the future of broadcasting deals under a new era of internet and public scrutiny (34:01). Finally, we open up the ATN Mailbag to answer your questions (42:25).

Note: timecodes approximate.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Around the NFL podcast. It's ready for a lovely staycation.
Hello and welcome to Around the NFL. My name is
Dan Hansis I got heroes from across Los Angeles. Greg Rosenthal,
Mark Sessler. There it is Greggy. I mean, I love

(00:21):
your new remote backdrop in your new home here in
Los Angeles. The name of book with the greatest ever title?
What is it? Life keeps getting better because I get
better looking every day. Something something like that that sounds
better than what it really And then over the left
shoulder and well deserved the locks trophy sitting on top

(00:43):
of a bunch of books. I do plan to work
on this at some point this garage, but we've got
we've got other issues in the house to settle. First.
We got the got the tool belt, you know. Oh yeah,
I just mean the rest of this girl. Everything is
still a mess. But I'm happy to be here and
be to just brag on that lock trophy for the
next twelve months. I mean, Greg, you used to very

(01:05):
prominently above your left shoulder, have beautiful images of your children.
You've replaced it with a betting with a betting trophy
that you won. Yeah, well that's my priorities say it's
a bit of a natural progression. Yeah, there aren't so
young anymore. Yeah, it's like, oh, middle kid. I was
gonna say, our kids have aged out of like adorable

(01:27):
little baby darlings stage, So you know, the trophy at
a certain point has to take center stage. How are you, Mark,
I'm doing great. You know, we're taping a little bit
early today and then it triggers what is essentially like
sort of a three and a half day weekend for us,
barring any sort of news that should tumble down and

(01:47):
cause massive disruption to my plans. Yes, and I don't
think the NFL would ever do that to us, even
though there is a ongoing record of that happening, something
happening immediately after you finished taping that. Dates are podcast
ever so slightly for the past seven hundred and three weeks,

(02:07):
including Wednesday with your boy Elijah Moore. Yes, and I
just want to say we're about to hit the news.
This is a trigger warning to some listeners that we're
going to start the news by talking about an NFL
topic that involves the Jets. And if this bothers you
at all, I suggest one of two things, touch grass

(02:29):
or kiss my ass. Oh, let's hit the news. That's
at their own thirty year crouder emotion to stack behind
more left back, the throws Flaco throws one up to sea.
It's tut Elijah over in the open cliff side light
of the forty to the thirty to the twenty ten
five Parlon touchdown. Elijah Moore streaks dot the left side

(02:51):
of the field. Joe Flaco found him in stride and
the Jets are a point after away from a time Yeah,
as Elijah more. And it was just yesterday when we
were talking about the power rankings and I was saying,
I hope, I hope Elijah Moore gets another chance with

(03:11):
the Jets, playing with a real quarterback, because I think
there is obviously something there. He flashed on a very
high level over you know about it. It It was only
about a five or six week stretch, but his draft
stock combined with that stretch before he got hurt as
a rookie, was like, Okay, this guy could be a star.
Things went sideways this past season for Moore, who was bended.

(03:35):
He had an outburst with then offensive coordinator Mike Lafleura
the Jets and made a trade request that I think
really did ruffle feathers at Floren Park. So what happens
the Jets? Right after we learned that Mikole Hardman is
heading to New York on a free agent deal, they
send Elijah Moore, their former second overall pick and a

(04:00):
third round pick in twenty twenty three, to the Cleveland
Browns in exchange for a twenty twenty three second round pick. Mark,
I'll start with you on this one. For the Jets,
it adds another draft picks. They're trying to get this
Aaron Rodgers deal done. I wonder, I wonder not to
jinx us as we're taping early if this is the first, uh,

(04:22):
you know, step towards maybe a resolution there, but you know,
who knows. But the Browns get a player with a
lot of upside that definitely disappointed in two years with
the Jets, but maybe not all of his fault. Probably
not all of his fault. Yeah. I think it's hard
to evaluate Jets receivers and tight ends in general with
the chaos that they've faced a quarterback, I mean, from

(04:42):
a from a Browns angle. The one thing I think
about Andrew Barry, I don't I think he doesn't want
to ever be outdone in a bid for a wide receiver.
You look at what they gave away for Amari Cooper,
which was atting a fifth rounder, and in this you're
flipping a second for a third. It was it was
good value on a player that does cost much money
over the next couple of seasons and they can try

(05:03):
to find out what they have with de Shaun Watson
at the Helm versus Zach Wilson or Joe Flacco. I
like it for Cleveland because wide receiver was an absolute need,
and I think where they are in the draft, like
you know, you don't know what's going to come your way,
and so you pair him with a Marii Cooper with
Donovan People's jones. They liked David Belly year ago, but
he didn't really emerge as a rookie due to some
injuries early and just sort of not getting his spot.

(05:25):
So it helps a position of need for Cleveland. And
I'm with you, Dan, because you know we text a
little bit about it. After that, I just have to
think that it's a wide receiver heavy room in New
York right now. You added me called there's interest to
Odell Beckham and that second round pick I think might
have been the final piece potentially that green Bay was saying,
we need that. If you can't get that, this thing's

(05:47):
on hold. And so if this made all that happen,
then there's a greater context and reason for it, and
a Jets fan can't be too unhappy about what it
might lead to. A right, Jets fans, including myself, are
kind of unhappy about the deal where it's right now.
But what if it leads to Rogers? What if it's
the only way you get Rogers? Then it always like
Jets fans and so many other people like, we're already

(06:09):
under operating under the idea that we have Rogers. Now
it's a matter of Joe d the GM finding a
way to get it done. And I think the disappointment
here is more in the Hey, if you if he
fell out of favor internally, and Greg, I'll see you
up on this, so be it if you no longer
thought maybe he was a good fit for the locker room,
or you have a new play caller in there now
and they wanted to bringing Nicole Harman. That brings something

(06:30):
different to the room, and you're gonna add something else.
That's cool, But what happens with Elijah Moore. Is it
feels like God, is he gonna turn it to Chris
Carter going from the Eagles to the Vikings. Probably not,
But can he become a Pro Bowl like player that's
ripping the league up next year with the Shaun Watson
that is within the range of outcomes. Wow, if that happens,
it's a total disaster. I'm just thinking, like, can he

(06:53):
be younger Cole Beasley or something? Three point three million
over the next two years. We look at all these
deal in the context of their contracts and like, oh,
you have to give a pick away if you have
a bad contract. What an asset? This contract is two years,
three point three million. And I love this deal for
the Browns, And you're right. I think the Jets level
of disappointment kind of depends on what happens with more

(07:15):
and what happens with this Rogers trade. But for the
Browns it's amazing. I mean, they gave up nothing to
get Amari Cooper, who's a borderline one two, and they
gave up basically nothing for Elijah Moore, who to me
can be a great three maybe a two. And Jets
family to be amazing, though Greg for it to be amazing,
not to interrupt, he does have to become like a

(07:36):
more of a high level receiver, which I think he
could be if he's Cole Beasley. I mean, you did
give up a separate round pick, but you didn't you
gave up a pick swap. You got a very valuable
pick back. All you did was trade down. And I
think Andrew Berry's operating under the correct assumption that there's
a very good chance. Maybe that's the wrong way to
say it. There's a much higher chance than people seem

(07:59):
to like, except on the outside, that the seventy fourth
player in the draft is better than the forty second
player in the draft. That seventy fourth pick is very valuable,
like we saw, the Cowboys wouldn't give up anything close
to that for Brandon Cooks or Stefan Gilmour. If you
go look at the last two drafts, like who's seventy two,
who's eighty four, for instance, and like I went and

(08:21):
looked last year and it was I think it was
Andrew Booth was for Minnesota and Desmond Ritter for the
Falcons was seventy four, and then back in twenty twenty one,
forty two is Liam Eichenberg and seventy four is Benjamin
Saint Jus for Washington, who's been a much better player
than Eikenberg. And it's just like, these picks are kind

(08:42):
of crapshoots, and you're still getting a pretty good one
on day one, and more importantly, you're getting a guy
who I think has a lot of upside. And that's
why I got into such an argument on text with
our friend Andrews Ciciliano, one of the most prominent Brown
fans in the building. And my thing is, I just
really like Eliza More. I think he can receiver. He

(09:03):
was he was saying, look, that's a premium pick at
forty two, um, and like he's excited about that pick,
and um, he wasn't even that excited about getting the
Elijah More and thinking like, oh, this guy might not
be that excited, And I just I would I would
give up us a third round pick straight up for
Elijah More much less just that picks up. Well, Dan,

(09:24):
I asked, I'd ask you a question like when you're
the Jets and you ship out Elijah More to get
the second, but then you offer the third, which, to
Greg's point, like who that's sort of you know, we'll
see how either one of those picks land up. But
it's not that stark of a difference, Like it just
tells me the Jets had to obtain the second rounder

(09:46):
for something, because I don't know why you do it.
I don't know why you move him in this deal
for what you got back. There is not It doesn't
scream value, and so it screams to me part A
of a a B step plan here. Agree, I'm not, yeah,
I'm My feeling is that we're gonna see, We're gonna
need to see the dusk clear on this one. But

(10:06):
and you know, I really do think people that don't
follow the team is closely there is context in terms
of like where he started. When he came in, he
seemed like a total steal and last year was not great.
I mean he literally I think he told Lafleur, he said,
you know, go after yourself in the middle of practice
and then walked off, and then he demanded a trade
when they're in the midst of that run where they're

(10:27):
in a winning streak. And I really think it's one
of those things where he probably soured inside that organization
in terms of how they view him. I don't. I
think it's a mistake. I think they should have held
onto him. But sometimes like we don't, we don't know
what's internally, what their conversations are about, what they think
about the player beyond just his ability level. I think
there's some of that. I think there's some Beckham in here,
which I'm also you know, lukewarm on at best. But

(10:51):
also I'm like like other Jets, Vancs, Jesus, take the
wheel time right now, just like, let's see where everything lands,
and maybe it ends in an exciteing fun place. But
this is not This is a very this is a
white knuckle off season for if you're a fan of
that team and and you know, we should just quickly,
like you know, Deshaun Watson is. It's a huge story
now as he enters his first full season after all

(11:14):
the issues issues of his own creating. Of course, um,
his own creation. Uh he does now he has Cooper,
he has more, um he hasn't he has Nick Chubb. Um,
he is going to have an opportunity here to move
the ball and score points. So I think it's a
good trade for the Browns. But there's still that huge
mystery around Cleveland about what Deshaun Watson shows up in August.

(11:36):
Who knows, maybe maybe Elijah More's complaining in October because
Watson can't move the football because he didn't, he won't
be the only one complaining if if Watson's not delivering
in October, right, Donovan People's Jones is a nice little
receiver for them too. He's into a rotation guy in
in joke is a good tight end. They have an
okay um group around Watson now. And part of this

(11:57):
is just I could be wrong about Elijah More. He's
a type of receiver. I tend to like guys who
can get open, who can really run routes. And I
don't know if the Jets and Browns consider this, but
we have a subscription to PF Ultimate, and I'm really
basing most of my excitement on about forty minutes. I
would say of homework, I really grinded the tape last
offseason work of watching Elijah Moore's routes for about forty,

(12:20):
you know, forty minutes. It was a lot, and I
was so impressed by that forty minutes. I'm convinced he's
going to be a great receiver, So they should maybe
check out p one. That's a good plug. One slight
pushback to that. With all of the quarterback dysfunction with
the Jets, a guy like Garrett Wilson was still a monster.
And Elijah Moore went five games where he had one

(12:42):
catch and as a regular part of the offense. He
really disappeared last year. That's fair, that's fair, he really disappeared.
But again, great trade for Cleveland the Jets. Let's see,
it's a wait and see. In other news, sad news,
Foster Moreau, the tight end free agent tight end um
formerly of the Raiders, and he had been taking visits

(13:04):
and had visited with the Saints and during a physical
um he learned that he is diagnosed has been diagnosed
with Hodgkins lymphoma. He will be stepping away from football
to fight that. That battle and obviously anything connected to
the world of cancer is very um, sad and scary.

(13:28):
In our podcast knows that all too well. All we
could say is he's going to get the best treatment
available and we hope for the best and uh yeah,
for a speedy recovery from Foster Morrow. Yeah, that timing
is brutal, but maybe it was good timing that he
found out on this free agency tour. It's also something
that was like a mid round pick, like he was

(13:48):
about to get that, you know, a chance maybe to
start for the first time. Very well respected with the Raiders.
But yeah, every every it's gonna happen, I guess for
the rest of our life. Every cancer news hits hits
harder because of West, so hope, hoping the best and
hope he can recover quick. I mean, he visited a
couple of teams, and so it tells you that, you know,
the tests they put you through medical wise are going
to be different. But it's almost like, yeah, he may

(14:10):
not play for the Saints, but how fortunate that he
had that visit that it was found hopefully early, he
already put out a message saying, I'm going to kick
this thing's ass and get back to doing what I love,
which is we know that's possible too. So I don't know,
it just it changes everything you think about him. He
was just sort of a reserved tight end in my
mind before and now it's completely different. And you know,

(14:32):
just to tag this sad story with something optimistic and hopeful,
you know. John Menschi, the third a draft pick of
the Texans last year, shortly after he's drafted, he was
diagnosed with leukemia. Over the summer, missed all of his
rookie campaign, and Nikossario, the Texans GM said earlier this
year that he's had an amazing recovery and they believe

(14:54):
he could be back for the offseason program. So let's
hope it's a similar path for Foster. Moreau might play
with his old teammate Bryce Young if he ends up
their second they could they could reunite John Matchi and
Bryce Young. There you go, speaking of Bryce Young. We're
having teams meeting with the top quarterbacks in the draft.

(15:16):
The draft is coming up, boys, The draft is about
five weeks away now. The Carolina Panthers met with both c. J.
Stroud and Bryce Young, a huge contingent at his pro
day twelve twelve Panthers officials, including the owner, front office,
members of the staff. They also, as I said, met

(15:36):
and spoke with Bryce Young, whose pro day I believe
is today. The Raiders also met with Bryce Young, and yeah,
that's interesting, Marky. Of course, we have the Raiders who
just signed Jimmy Garoppolo, and we know where they are
in the draft board relative to these QB starved QB's teams.
I wonder where the Raiders are going to come down
draft day at that position. Yeah, I mean I've always viewed,

(15:58):
I think we all did. Jimmy Grass below is a
you know, a stop gap, a bridge to something else.
I think that if you're Josh McDaniels, you want to
almost give yourself some runway to say, I've drafted this
rookie quarterback and it's me. That's why you hired me
to groom him, to grow him. And it's not the
Jimmy G's a finish line I do. I always look
at that cart where the Cardinals are sitting up there

(16:19):
high in the draft. They've got Kyler Murray. They're a
rebuilding team that is a target for someone like the
Raiders or someone else to say, we're gonna hop scotch
the rest of these guys get up there and get
someone we like. Very early on, I am really buying
the whole CJ. Stroud to Carolina thing. And I know
they're like meeting with the other quarterbacks too, but it

(16:41):
was starting at his pro day, and it's starting with
like the owner going there and our old friend Josh
Norris from Underdog Fantasy. We've had on this show a
few times. It is part of it to me because
he had Josh McCowen working for Underdog during the season
before he got this job, and he did a forty
minute segment on CJ. Stroud where he just gushes he
he compares him to Joe Burrow, thinks he's really similar

(17:02):
to Joe Burrow. There's this clip going around of him
at the Prodi which another old friend of ours, Andrew Hawkins,
pointed out. And he's friends with Josh McCown just like
Josh needs to work on his poker face because in
his like same goodbye to CEJ. Stroud, he like hugs
him and touches him about fourteen different times, just like
he loves this dude. He's talked about this dude. And weirdly,

(17:24):
I don't know why Stroud's like upside's gotten maybe a
little under sould compared to Bryce Young, But the little
what I've watched, it's like it's pretty exciting, and sure
a lot of people like Bryce Young better, but I
c J. Stroud profiles as a guy who would go
in the top two or three in most every draft,
and it just seems like they are in love with
this dude, and at this point, I'd be surprised if

(17:44):
he's not the guy. And of course we've been covering
free agency and the fallout of that for the past
week or so, but we will start pivoting back to
dig it in on the draft next week. In fact,
we have Daniel Jeremiah Jeremiah m Jeremy soft Jay Aramayah. Yeah,
I'd afford to learning more about him next week. Who

(18:06):
he is, what he does, That's what's happening in the news.
All right, let's take a break and then get Andrew
Marshand of The New York Post on this there show.

(18:33):
Welcome back. Our next guest is a favorite. I mean,
he's a dominant presence in sports media coverage right now,
There's no way around it. He also is the co
host of the marsh End and oh Rand sports media podcast.
It's Andrew Marshand. Very nice introduction. I appreciate it. Hey, um,

(18:54):
I want to tell you something, Andrew, and I I
was listening to your show about a week or so ago,
and it's a very good podcast, by the way, everybody
should check it out. And I think it's getting a
little juice because your partner. John says something like, oh,
you made a comment, like you know, it's people are
starting to give me some issues for things I say

(19:15):
on this show. And you know, I don't know if
you're getting aggregated or it's just people in the media
reaching out to you privately. And then John says, and
this is a great spot for Marshan by the way,
John goes, Yeah, people are coming up to me and
being like, why do you let him say that? And
then John's like, I can't control him, which is just
like it paints Marshan in such a great spot. It's

(19:36):
like Howard Stern and ninety one or something. It's like, listen, man,
he's in his own stratosphere and he's untethered, but he's
also magnetic and that I just want to say, that's
that's a good sign for you and the whole team.
Thank you. That's very nice. That's very nice of you. Yeah.
I mean when we started the podcast, we kind of
knew I was and getting myself in trouble, which I
don't mind because I only say things that I know

(19:58):
to be true and trying to be fair, so but uh,
but yeah, there feels like it's getting weekly that we
have a whole issue of some sort. But it's fine.
What ye as a bad boy in NFL media, I
can say it's a lot of responsibility to put on
your shoulder, but I'm not trying to be fair all
the time and not even accurate all the time. So

(20:18):
you're on a different different that's self proclaimed by Greg
by the way, that there's not that's not a unanimous
decision that he owns that title, although you probably could
have guessed. Um, let's start here because we have a
few things. We ran into you at Radio Row there
minutes before you did your sit down with Brian rolap Um,
you know, a big, big deal dude with our company,

(20:41):
and we said we wanted to have you on again
to talk about a few things. And one thing that
you reported recently that we found interesting was the Troy
Aikman Monday night football situation, if you will, h they
just finished their first year uh Aikman and Buck in
the in the booth obviously after years of tinkering trying

(21:02):
to find something that that worked. There was a Boogermobile
involved at one point, and obviously there are big gains
having two of the best in the business in the booth.
And yet Andrew and you're reporting you point out that
it wasn't quite a smooth ride behind the scenes, and
and those, uh some changes are coming ahead of year
two of Aikman a Buck on ESPN. Yeah, number one.

(21:23):
I think it's it's you know, fair and the right
thing to do. A point out the broadcast was good
last year. I mean, I think everyone agreed. I don't
really think I read anybody. You know, you have opinions
on if you like Aikman or Chris collins Worth or whoever.
But I don't think I really heard anybody say, you know,
MONDAYN in football wasn't really improved and it felt bigger

(21:44):
with bucking Aikman behind the scenes. Lessen Troy can be tough.
You know, we remember him as a cowboy yelling at
his offensive lineman his last you know years at Fox.
There are some issues behind the scenes. He's been very
public going after Fox's CEO Eric Shanks after he left,
even though you know, he got an eighteen million dollars

(22:06):
a year contract from ESPN and you know they were
they were paying him thirteen million. So Troy can be difficult,
you know, the way they do the games is different.
They've been doing it together for two decades, and you know,
they come in on the private jet, which is what
all the basically the number one teams do for the
most part. Burkhard and Olsen maybe not, but the others

(22:26):
who have been doing it for a long time, uh
do uh. And so something that come in day of game.
So that creates a dynamic of these are the stars
and the production people are the help. And so again
I'm not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing,
but when there's a change, there's gonna be blamed because
what happens now they've made the move with Phil deine

(22:49):
U and Jimmy Platt. Phildine was the producer and that's
where long time producer three decades been at the Monday
Night Football three decades should say at ESPN all respected
being the number one producer for college football and then
moved over to Monday Night Football for the last four years.

(23:09):
And so you come in. The dynamic is those two
are making thirty three million dollars bucking Aikman. They're flying
in and so that creates a problem. So then they
make it so they knew Aikman didn't like Dean's a
little laid back, which you would think he would like,
but he's a little laid back him and Aikman didn't
think that was great. ESPN makes the move and the

(23:30):
impact it has, it affects everyone down the crew because
now Steve accles, Derek Mobley, who is going to be
the new director, accles a new producer. They're gonna bring
in their own people. I mean when you mentioned that
Aikman is difficult, and I get that. You know, probably
from the age of fifteen on, he's been told, you're
the center of our town, You're the center of UCLA,
You're the center of X, Y and Z. Do you

(23:52):
think that there's you know, is there self awareness? Because
you pointed out a great example in a week one
in that Broncos Seahawks game and he publicly um lash
the tellis straight or operator for a mistake and it's like,
that's not where we're used to back in the day
and Fox and like, so that kind of stuff out
obviously runs an entire cruise the wrong way. Is Achman
self aware at this point after a report like this

(24:14):
comes out and these changes, like does he change his
m O or does Aichman just stay Akman no matter
what and continue to be in your word. It's difficult
to become public. There's a chance for someone to change
a little bit and kind of understand that you know
here and there's a chance for you to change. Now,
Like do I know if Troykman's gonna change. I don't know.

(24:34):
I don't know if he knows he's gonna change for certain.
But look, this is what you get into. Like, you
guys are big stars. You know. I've talked to David Singer.
I know you treat you know, he's your producer. You
don't treat him well. You know, you guys are where
the stars and Singer you know, just you do the
leg work. We're gonna take all the money credit and
you do all the hard Well we'll know where big

(24:54):
stars when Marshawn starts, you know, covering our next contract.
And just we treat Singer well, well, it's justin our
audio producer we treat poorly. Just but but but honestly,
in all seriousness, were looking on any football, Yes, as
on a personal level, doesn't matter how you treat people,
of course, but you go to the top of what
we said. The broadcast was better so if they're showing

(25:17):
up for some games day of game and it still
sounds good, still looks good. Um, is there an issue?
I don't know. I mean, so there's Troy changed. I
tend to dowdy will. I mean, it's worked out pretty
well for him. Three times super Bowl champion, Hall of Famer,
eighteen million dollars a year contract as an analyst. So uh,
in terms of those things subjective I mean, objective of facts,

(25:41):
he's doing pretty well. So I say, probably to answer
your question, I don't know what he'll do, but I
doubt he'll change that much. Yeah, it's like a classic
TV uh not debate, but just question like who's the
boss here? Is it the is it the producer? Is
the executive producer? Is it the talent? When the talent's
making eighteen million dollars a year and flying on a

(26:01):
private jet, it's not. It's like, no longer a question,
don't matter what the contract. It ends. Those guys are
the stars and they're gonna do it the way they
want to do it. And I think the NBA, it's
like who's the boss Lebron or Lebron's coach? Like you
just like at the salaries. Think like for bosses I've had.
You know, people always want someone like their lockstep with
their bosses. And if you remember Casey Jones, the old

(26:24):
Celtic coach, was kind of known for just throwing the
ball out into the court and letting Larry Bird and
Robert Powers and Kevin McHale and Dennis Johnson do their thing.
I think most people you actually prefer that, like you
want if you you're lockstep with every little thing, but
you don't really want someone micromanaging. You want them to
if you if you're gonna work hard and do your job,
you want them just kind of let you do it.
From your lips to God's ears, my friend. Um, you know,

(26:45):
I found one other thing about the Monday night football telecast,
which I agree. I think everyone agrees it was a
step up um as a football fan, because I really
did enjoy the Manning cast. And for me it was
a strange year because I previously when the main booth
wasn't really my cup of tea, it was like, oh,
it's great to have the manecast with Aikman and Buck.

(27:05):
I think, and this is maybe gets to a greater
point when people talk about should there be this much
money invested in these booths when the game is really
the main attraction, and that will decide how many people
to tune in. Well, I didn't really watch the Manecast
this year because I enjoyed Bucking Aikman and it felt
when you're listening to them and watching a game that

(27:25):
they're covering, that it's a real deal. So it was
a bit of a strange thing because I missed most
of the Manecast because I was I was into the
Aikman and Buck for real. Yeah, I mean, like I
have two TV's in the office, so I can watch
both at the same time, but like you can go
back and forth which from the sound on. But yeah,
I mean I think there is something to that. I
think where you know, the Manecast really helps is on

(27:47):
the games that aren't as good, right, you know, there's
a blowout and I had a lot. I have to say,
they had a lot of bad games. You can kind
of hear Fucking Aikman grumble about it a little bit,
like they were maybe missing those great Sunday afternoon games.
Yeah they weren't. Al talking about selling twenty year old Mazda's.
But how about your conversation with Al Andrew after the

(28:08):
Wildcard game where he you know, he took some fire
on this show as well, just for low energy. I
think we talked about how it just felt like he
was cutting putting a tough situation energy wise with what
was it? Dungee? I believe in the booth with him,
we've talked about like where does Al stand now? As
he you know, as he's entering the twilight of his career.

(28:32):
I think he's kind of been a Jimmy Key ninety
five ninety four where he maybe he's thrown an eighty
eight that fastball now, but he can still hit the corners.
Like where did you get? Where did you come down
on Michael's in year seven thousand of an amazing career. Yeah,
Like he's a legend. He might be the best play
by play TV NFL guy ever, probably is. Look, I

(28:54):
if I'm Amazon, I'm paying the guy close to a
million bucks a game. I don't want him to crap
on the level, right, because it did become a thing
that Amazon's games stink and they're the offense. You know,
there's no offense, and that's kind of tough when again,
there you're the lead voice. Now his thing would be like,
I'm not gonna lie to the fans. Yeah, and he'll
say he didn't do it that much. But your job's

(29:15):
not to critique the game. It's the call of you.
And to me, you could be honest with the audience.
I'm not saying to be dishonest with the audience, but
a couple of times, I don't know, it's a little
much like to me because I think the audience that's watching,
we are choosing to watch, we want to watch, and
so yeah, sometimes there's bad games and you can kind
of point that out. But I thought it was a
little bit too much in my opinion. I want to

(29:37):
spring off that because I wonder in reverse because when
al Michaels had that performance, and you know, we the
four of us, have watched al Michaels for a really
long time. But if you're twenty five years old or
twenty two, al you're getting the later end of al
Michael's career. You're getting the later end the latter stages
of Bob Costs, you're getting the very latter stages of
Greg Gumbel. And these guys don't seem at times like

(29:59):
complete lee and tune. And I think the second layer
of this that is different than when you and I
went to Ithaca back in the mid nineties, Is that,
Well no, because it's like that, well, we went to
broadcasting school because what we were watching was so different
than today, and there were so many limited channels to
get on the air in any way, and these guys
were icons. But now on Twitter, if you're Al Michaels

(30:22):
or you're the producers or the production company that the
corporation behind this, and people are getting filaid on Twitter
by actual other analysts in fans in general, and it
becomes this grounds from were Suddenly Tony Romo's no longer
competent in what he's doing. He's not special. Like how
annoying is this to everyone else that twenty years ago
didn't have to deal with this layer of critique. You

(30:43):
got guys killing people for Alan Michael's not knowing clock
management in the final It's just like it's so micro
and like the guy can't get out of a broadcast
about getting slandered left and right, Greg, that's killing al Michaels.
By the way, Yes it is, Well, it's different. I
always say if Vince Scully was broadcasting baseball today, Twitter
would there'd be people crushing Vince Scully goes too long,

(31:06):
These stories are too much. He has to work alone,
which you know Vince Scully did for a large party's career.
And so I think when you so, everyone's gonna get
it um And if I were, I think, you know,
like you get to nance and romo. Like CBS has
an issue, like that's a problem. That booth is not

(31:27):
that good right now, and they have a super Bowl
coming up this year. I mean, they got to find
a way to improve that. M But you know, you
can't just go by social media. You can't make decisions
based on social media. And you're right though, I think
it's a very good point you make about these guys
at the latter end of their career. I think they
should go as long as they want. Like, I don't
think it's anybody's playing their legacy, Like you know, Willie

(31:48):
Mays as a met. Nobody thinks of Willie Mays as
a met. Right if I said Willie Mays, that's you
don't think, oh you fell in the outfield asn't met.
You know, we're all too young to remember actually seeing
that from like that's like the kind of one of
the Sagard, you know ament as a ram like those things.
I don't think those matter, but I will say with
a younger you're saying like the people who don't have
that history as much with these legendary announcers, when they're

(32:12):
not as enthusiastic. And I think that was the big thing.
That was an incredible comeback and Alan Tony were doing
the game as if it was like a you know,
Sunday afternoon at one o'clock and he's just like whatever,
and you could feel it, like you could feel the
comeback I think as a fan, like you didn't know
they're gonna do it, but you could feel it happening,
and they were just late to it. You know. Dungee's
low energy, and I was also, you know, he's not

(32:33):
high energy. He needs you need that ying and yang
without at this point. And he's never been a huge
high energy guy. But he's a you know the economy
of words as well, which is great um in large degree.
But on that game, yeah, that wasn't good. But it's
not great when Tony Dungee's your partner or Kirk Curve
Street for that matter, who's like fine. But I don't
know if he's picking up out because the NFL is

(32:54):
not his number one sport, and I think that comes
across a little bit too. So it's pretty him in
a tough spot. I tend to think, Look, I think
people would love Vince Scully because Vince Scully is great,
and I think people loved Al Michaels until recently, and
it's just because he's not as good anymore, and so
it feels it feels fair to me. But to Mark's point,
like there's like a level of scrutiny that exists now,

(33:16):
and especially at these primetime games. It's end the advent
of Twitter and social media. It's like people have to
have takes and it's a part of like the I
call him the booth wars, right, Andrew. So it's like,
what has happened in the last few years with all
this money, It's put such a spotlight on these booths
in the way that it's never been on before that
now it feels like it's open season for everything. These

(33:37):
guys say it's got it's got to be pretty difficult.
Do you think this is kind of a well, remember,
like this is a pretty good idea. Andrew writes a
book down the line called Booth Wars. I get a
seven percent cut of it, and it tells like a
crazy story about here is the story of when and
the media world when booths turned into the most valuable
entity and blah blah blah, best self pretty good? Is

(34:00):
that going to Is this going to continue in perpetuity
or do you think we'll remember this as like eventually
the networks are going to kind of pull the reins
back on this and or do you think guys you're
just gonna keep on getting paid like superstar quarterbacks. Yeah?
I think the NFL is different, right because you got
Tom Brady in theory coming into the booth not next year,

(34:23):
but the year after a thirty seven and a half
million dollars, which I reported per year. So if you
think about it, if Patrick Mahomes fifteen years from now,
you know, or Joe Burrow, you know, goes into a booth,
like what are they gonna They're not gonna They're gonna
need to make a lot of money. So I don't
think that's changing to get these these ex players. And

(34:44):
I think that you know, Joe Buck is a young guy.
I mean, he's in his fifties, so he could do
it for another you know, fifteen twenty years or you
look at like an alb you know, they could go.
Who knows how long he can go. So I don't
think he's getting many pay cuts of any So I
think the money is gonna be there. You know, crimea
river for these guys. You know, yes they have the scrutiny,
but uh, you get that direct deposit every week. It's

(35:07):
not bad. Uh. And it's a weird job because you know,
this all happened basically because ESPN was incompetent and trying
to put together a booth. You know, they lost Tarrico
to NBC. That kind of started everything because Tarrico's a
good play by player. He's the most important person in
that in any of these boots to make the analysts better.

(35:27):
I mean, that's the most important person. And so they
lost Tariko. Uh, and then they had trouble. McDonald and
Gruden didn't work out fully and so and then they
spiraled into ridiculousness and like really some of the worst
decisions in TV history with the Testatur, Booger and Witten.
I mean that's just like it was hard to believe
when it happened. And then like you know, Okay, let's
give it a chance. And I was like, oh, this

(35:48):
isn't good. Um, and so you look at it. So
they so then eventually it gets to the point where
Romo is a free agent. He's the hottest thing three
years out and he goes from three to four million
to eighteen million a year because ESPN is breathing down
uh CBS's throat and there's NFL deals on the horizon,
which is the most important thing to these companies sports

(36:11):
ry wise and maybe even overall. So CBS wants to
keep Romo, so they go into negotiations with the top guy.
At that point, ESPN wanted to steal them and this
and this is another little point, and I won't I
could go on and on about this, but before the
pandemic there was a feeling I wrote something about this
that ESPN and ABC and Disney was gonna We're gonna
go after uh CBS's Sunday package. And so the deal

(36:36):
Romo had he is the best effort, was right before
the pandemic hit. UH. Really, you know, it's like known, uh.
And so he got in there right before UH. And
then you go forward ESPN in the negotiations with the NFL,
they we're gonna we want a couple of super Bowls.
They get a couple of super Bowls. They tell the
NFL we're gonna improve the booth so they're super Bowl worthy.
And you know last year we had uh just total

(36:59):
tremendous men. Am m Um, Andrew you you're an immediate insider.
Of course you're one of the top ones. Um. Dan
for a long time, you know, considered himself a self
styled media why are you putting it in the past tense? Okay, okay,

(37:24):
But he sometimes faces some competition in house. You know,
I try to do some work myself. He doesn't like it.
I ask around and the biggest we've just subjected Andrew
to that. By the way, he's a professional. I was
so looking forward to that. I thought it was good
for like the morning Zoo there at some point, just

(37:44):
to let you know, yeah and Greg from the zeus
or in the morning. Just sometimes if you have to
go into underground garages in a trench coat and a
cigarette to ask the questions, you just might have to
change your path. And it's not just text messaging. It's
getting your You're rolling up the leaves and get your
fingernails dirty. That's been good to the answers you're looking for. Andrew,
do you see what I'm dealing with? Show a show

(38:06):
on this vehicle that we operate here. Yeah. Look, I
mean we could talk offline, but I think, like zeus
in the morning, your own thing, you might want to
just take off. And if you do, let me know
and we'll get a big story out there. We'll break up,
you know, let me hit you up after the show. Andrew,
incredible as always. And yes, like I said, it's it's

(38:29):
a really good podcast. If this stuff is as interesting
to you as it is to us. Marsh end and
Rand sports media podcasts, get that wherever you get your podcasts,
and of course New York Post for all the latest
scoopage on the game. Thank you, buddy, thank you. All
right there he goes Andrew Marshan, And how about this, like,

(38:50):
get Burkharton Olsen on a damn private jet. I mean
that's where they draw the line on their carbon footprint. Fox, Like,
if all these other dude are flying in style, you
gotta have your number one team. However, short that stay,
maybe before Brady decides to get involved, put him on

(39:12):
a jet or don't, or putting no one on a jet.
How about that? Yeah, either putting nobody on a jet.
I mean you don't have on a jet. Right. The
greatest story of all was John Madden traversing the country
to and fro in a bus and now bus every
seemed to work for him. On a damn bus and

(39:32):
nobody was better. I mean it was a luxury bus.
There was a lot going on in there. There was
a lot of fun to be had. Theres no, it
was a broken down greyhound that he found at a
chop shop that he did just enough to get it rolling,
and he criss crossed that country for thirty years. A
real man. Um. All right, this is what we're gonna
were gonna take a break, We're gonna hit the mail bag,
and then we're gonna say goodbye. All right, welcome back,

(39:58):
good show so far, We got some news in, got
some media talk in. You know, one more thing about Romo.
You know, he is getting paid gobs of money to
do this. He's the criticism is mounting. He's been under
the microscope for the last twenty five years of his life, right,

(40:20):
twenty years of his life whatever, dating back to his
you know, college days or even high school whatever, and
now he's a very rich man and it's a guaranteed
contract more or less. I'm assuming. I wonder, like we
talked about, oh, there was this coming to Jesus meeting,
and you know, he's being asked to step it up,

(40:41):
Like there's no guarantee Romo is taking anything out of that.
So the idea that Romo comes back and is different,
that could happen. But there's also a chance it's just
like he's like whatever, and he's like, I don't even
agree with what you're saying. I think it's just interesting,
Like the level of give a Tony Romo might have
to any criticis is him either outside or inside his own,

(41:02):
you know, employer. It is funny to kind of think
about that compared to like being an NFL player, Like
God forbid, you guarantee an NFL player's contract, but you
gotta get that private jet for Tony Roman to show
up day of like can not have done any homework
and make more than you know, about ninety six percent
of the NFL. I mean, I also like I had
assume number one that he is working hard and not

(41:25):
just totally mailing it in that's a massive assumption. But
like if someone's well, I don't someone says, go get
get three times better at calling a football game, Like,
what's the roadmap for that? I mean, you were lauded
as the greatest thing that's ever happened, and now suddenly
I just think it's a lot of it has to
do with just public perception and like he's the next
guy we getting up on. I've been hard on him

(41:45):
in the past, but I never liked him as much
as you guys did. I think out of the gate.
But the idea that he suddenly became a disaster, I
don't find that to be entirely valid either. When when
Nance and Romo reunite whenever that is later this year,
I think the first thing Nas should say is like,
usually it's kind of like a trite conversation filler, but

(42:07):
I think he should say it in a pointed way. Hey,
Tony working hard or hardly working? I like that Nance
has taken some heat and all this too from our
buddy Marshaw, and I think they think there's something to that. Yeah,
he does, he catches stray some certain figures, including Marshan.
All right, let's get to the mail bag. We put
out a prompt, and I want to say I've always

(42:30):
been very upfront about this with this show. We ask
the listeners to get involved and tee us up, and
then we have conversations. And sometimes it's not so hot.
Sometimes I feel like I'm really digging through and struggling.
But this is not one of those times. I think
the I think the listeners really nailed at this time.

(42:50):
We have a nice, a nice collection of questions. So
let's dig in the grave. Digger is going to tee
us up? Go ahead, bud alrighty. First question comes from
Ross Johnson Comedy. Does Baker a comedy? Ross? Okay, go ahead?
Does Baker have what it takes to take Tampa to playoffs?

(43:13):
I personally haven't seen loads of him, having only followed
from twenty nineteen, but I think he can truly surprise
a few. I guess that's right there. But yeah, ahead,
I don't. I don't think that Baker may feel is
someone you could project as taking anyone anywhere right now.
I mean, I think he's probably adequate with a lot

(43:34):
of issues that we've seen as a quarterback that date
back years. Outside of a couple of really hot streaks,
and I don't know if Tampa's set up to U
be the fertile ground, and like, you know, to me,
it's like you're you're following Tom Brady's footsteps. This feels
like a couple years of let's kind of find our
quarterback who's not named Baker may feel down the road.
I'm not even entirely convinced he is going to be

(43:55):
the quarterback. He got basically Drew Locke's contract. I understand
there's kind of no one else there, but the money
is usually instructive. He does have Mike Kevin's Chris Godwin
just engaged like at first when you had them, you know,
maybe fifth to last in the power ring at the
end of Russell Gage. I always say, just engage is

(44:16):
just never gonna change former Titan's great. I was like,
is that too high for the Bucks? But then I
realized now they still have some like legitimate NFL players. Yeah.
My two thoughts on this are I think this is
a good year to follow Tom Brady. This is the
first time it's okay to follow Tom Brady because Tom
Brady wasn't very good last year, and I think everybody
was kind of ready to turn the page. And I
also think Baker is one of the big winners of

(44:36):
the offseason. Like I've never been a big fan of
him as a player, and I don't think other than
a couple you know flashes last year, really one quarter
of a primetime game and then one blowout of a
hideous Denver team, I didn't think he showed that much
even with Los Angeles. And yet I think he is
going to be a starting quarterback come September in Week one,

(44:56):
and that is pretty big victory for a guy that
otherwise a market with guys of his production level settling
for backup jobs. I think he has a real chance
to be a starter in week one, which I think
some of that we talked about, some of the Baker juice,
and Odell has the same thing going on. It just
elevates him, I think even within the COGNACENTI internally, I

(45:18):
think he gives him a little leg up on other guys,
even if maybe the production isn't there. I think you're right.
I'd say what again, the Bruce arians was very high
on Baker Mayfield and probably thinks I can do what
another team didn't. And whenever you're drafted in the top.
We see it with Sam Darnold two top one, two three.
There's always going to be a team until you truly failed,
it's going to think we can make this work. But Baker,

(45:38):
especially because he had he's had very high profile moments,
including that playoff win over Pittsburgh, that that stick with
people's psyches. I mean, starting week ones great, but you
can still turn into Sam Darnold and Carolina Mitchell Travisky
in Pittsburgh if if you're not in a position to
play well, right, but just the opportunity could be there

(45:59):
as a week one, that's pretty good. All right, Let's
move on from jrk Ray. The NFL as a whole
feels more and more like it's adopted the attitude that
if you don't win a super Bowl, your season was
a failure. Where does the line begin where it's okay
to have consistent success like the Steelers or Ravens without
frequent Super Bowl wins? What's better? As a fan? I

(46:21):
want to push back just a little bit on that
because I don't I don't know if I see a
I know the parody makes it feel like more teams
have a chance to win the Super Bowl every year,
which is the goal of the whole parody idea. But
I was gonna what I took out of this question guys,
was like, what are the teams that you do feel
heading into twenty three are in super Bowl or bust mode?

(46:45):
And you know, I would just look at the top
of my power rankings Chiefs, Eagles, Bengals, Bills, Niners. I
kind of stop it at that those five teams, like
anything less than a championship would be considered failure. Is
there a guy agree with that? You think there's other
teams that are kind of in that boat. I would
agree with that, because when we did the Power of

(47:05):
Rankings exercise yesterday, I think it really falls off a
cliff into a middle world after that, where I think,
you know, to answer the other part of his question,
like look at the Seahawks or Jaguars from a year ago.
I mean, I think if there's progress and you see
as a fan like, wait a minute, these guys have
a plan, there's a vision, and you have a quarterback
like whether it's Geno Smith who becomes a big story

(47:27):
or Trevor Lawrence who takes a leap, then it's like,
let's hang on from the next we want this to
be a next four or five or six year, a
window where we could make the super Bowl, where if
you're the Bills, it is just bitter disappointment if you
didn't get there. Yeah, I want to think that the
journey is the exciting part as a fan because if
it's title or bust, and there is a bit more

(47:49):
of that I think in today's sports just media talk
that like everything but a title is a disappointment. That's
a silly way to be a fan because you just
got to be disappointed thirty one out of thirty two
years if you're like an average year. And like I
think about I'm a fan of the Celtics, I'm enjoying
the journey of the regular season, the ups and the
down like that. Like if if they don't get there
in the end, it's gonna hurt a lot for sure.

(48:11):
But if you're not going to have fun along the way,
you just want your team to have a little fun
along the way or else what are we really doing
here as sports fans? But you say you gotta like it,
using the Celtics as an example, you know they've won
one title and you know thirty years or whatever. But
if you were asking if Greg Rosenthal was forty three
year old man in nineteen eighty eight and they had

(48:31):
won all those titles, that's absolutely how you would view
the prism of their season when don't you absolutely? But
I just I just mean, like you need to find
more out of being a sports fan than just like
wanting the title, Like that's gonna like change everything that
you've ever known of being a sportsman, because it won't
like you'll still just be a sports fan after it.

(48:51):
Like you gotta like the process, you gotta. I think
as a fan, I want that consistent success, like the
Ravens are a good example, Like, yes, it's been for
us trading how these seasons have ended. But I would
much prefer a team that is consistently good then one
that just pops up for one title and then goes
dark like the Bucks for twenty years. I think also

(49:13):
with um and this isn't a shot Greg, but as
a Patriots fan, it puts you in a different mindset
with that, and I think with a in some way
because you've got to experience the Super Bowls and know
what it felt like after the fact. I think the
Eagles are a good example of that, and their fan
base getting close to the mountaintop, waiting fifty years winning

(49:33):
that title. I think being the fan and it's part
it colors my fan fandom as well, Like I feel
like fans deserve and kind of need Catharsis at some
point they need like that true moment of true celebration
to get to the mountaintop. And then you could really
properly contextualize what it means to be a fan. When
you're just waiting and waiting and waiting forever, like literally

(49:57):
your whole life, it does kind of put you in
a different, you know, right, mind space. I guess I'm saying, though,
like you're looking for Rogers to give you some enjoyment
over the next few years as a Jets fan, or
at least just give you something like that's what you know,
giving you something. I totally disagree with that, though, because
in that specific case, not to go down this wormhole again.

(50:18):
If they go nine and eight next year with Rogers,
that is a vast disappointment. It's being done. Have some moments.
I wonder, I wonder you could like nine games. I
love to see like a human study on what percentage
of human fans never experience a championship across all sports,
because if you think about there's a lot of crappy

(50:39):
teams that never win a championship. It's got to be
like seventies something, if not more, never have that mountaintop moment.
So when you've had it, it's a lot easier and Greg,
I'm not pointing just to you, but it's a lot
easier to be philosophical about the journey and have a
nice time when you've had that moment. If you haven't
and you start to get into your forties and fifties
and sixties, it becomes a desperate chase that you have

(51:00):
no control over. That's Jess Knicks. Fans born after nineteen
seventy three, raise your hand, all right? What else? It
also depends on how many sports you root for. You know,
the more sports, the chances team most people. Most people
get something if they root for three or four. All right,
Ben Lynn wants to know if Desmond Ritter isn't the
answer for the Falcons, has Art Smith made it inevitable

(51:22):
he will be fired by the end of the year.
This kind of gets to my point about what are
the Falcons trying to do right now? And if Greg,
if if Ritter isn't the guy, I just feel for
Arthur Smith because I will feel like he never got
a chance. He went from Matt Ryan over the hill
to rightly getting rid of Matt Ryan and trying to

(51:45):
figure out a transition year with Mariota to taking a
risk on a third round pick with Heinekeys the backup
if he ends up getting canned because they don't don't
go to the playoffs in their first three years under
this leadership, which happens all the time in the NFL,
I'll feel like, if I'm an Arthur I'm Arthur Smith.
I got cheated. I agree with that. I think he
could be the rare guy that would have a chance

(52:06):
to keep his job after myth in the playoffs three
straight years, because I think they really took a long
term view when Terry font and Arthur Smith took over.
Last year was the ultimate like we're just gonna take
it on the chin. Dead cap year, like they had
the most dead cap in the league and maybe it
was the most in NFL history. I think if they

(52:26):
had like a promising season this season in any way,
that they would give him another chance. But Ritter is
the key, and yet I still am not totally convinced
he's gonna be the guy. I don't know why. Well,
we don't have enough evidence. But it was a month,
two months ago or a month ago. It's Super Bowl
week that Arthur Blank was spinning c poems about Desmond Ritter.

(52:47):
So I think from the owner on down there seems
to be some buy in. So if you're Arthur Smith
and you get fired in the show, progress totally unfair.
I mean, he's got it. He's not making this decision unilaterally.
What else, all right? I think that's good question. So
far right, they're doing well like him. This one's for
Greg from after your daughter comes to you and says

(53:10):
that she has started dating an NFL coach. Not necessarily
she's a leg I'm reporting them to the authorities and
ending it there. I imagine this is ten years in
the future. Greg, she's twenty one. She's twenty one in
dating an NFL head coach. I'm twenty years. This is
twenty years in the future. Have they aged She's still no.

(53:32):
In this scenario, your daughters in her early thirties and
the coaches are exactly as they are now, and go,
which coach are you hoping she isn't dating all is
all of them? Um, they'd be bad husbands. I mean
I'm not saying like they're bad husbands in the context

(53:55):
of like whether they're good parents or what they do,
but ultimately I'm hoping for my daughter someone that can
be there more often than an NFL HUD coach. Is that.
That's a great answer from Greg and a man that
loves his family. I love it. Yeah, let's just clean up.
They're not bad husbands. They are terrible work workflow scenarios,
and I watch I remember a few years back there

(54:16):
was an excellent NFL Films documentary that kind of told
the life of scouts, not even guys that not necessarily
the bottom of the ladder, guys that were just ingrained
in organizations, and you got to look at what there,
what their schedule is, and how rarely they saw their families,
and like that. That doesn't the workflow doesn't get lesser
the higher you move up the chain. It's it's a

(54:37):
very difficult gig. And shout out really to the wives
and the families that are able to make it work.
I'll never forget. Um. I think I've told this once
before years ago, but at a Super Bowl where Dan
and I were tasked with writing I'm not kidding about
twenty four blogs a day m seven days in a row.
I tracked down the wife of Marv Levy and Marv

(54:59):
Levy with her and like, um, he was unavailable, but
she was, And so I decided, I'm just going to
ask her what it's been like to be married to
an NFL coach. And I thought I'd get a lot
of you know, it's been a successful run that got
all these super Bowls, like he's the toast of the town.
It was the opposite to Greg's point, and it was
this is someone that was not available for three or
four decades in a row, and then suddenly he was

(55:21):
it through our entire household out of order because suddenly
he's hanging around all the time. And it was the
report was negative enough where it did not make NFL
dot Com. I remember you telling me about that. I
might even seen the raw copy of the article that
never saw the light of day. Yeah, Yeah, Marv Leavy

(55:42):
buried in a big spot. Yeah. That was like the
story of the Michael Bennett's story after the Malcolm Butler game,
where I asked him about what happened on the sideline
after the Wilson pick, and he made a derogatory comment
about my manhood and like mentioned my wife. And it

(56:05):
was just like, what is going on? So it was like,
you know, it was crazy. West used to love this story.
It was crazy, like it was. I remember being like
stunned when it happened like he was it was being
a jerk, like, but I understood in the moment he
was next. Um, so I went. I went back to
the U, I went back to the press box and

(56:27):
I and I was blogging like live blogging or whatever
all week and I wrote a blog post about it,
and you know, I maybe, uh maybe there was some
return fire in it and uh. And then that was
very quickly stricken from the record as well and eliminated
from the website. I don't know if it ever made

(56:47):
it up. It might have been up for a little bit. Uh,
But that was that was a memory the wild West
of NFL dot com. What else we got? The best
part of the mail bag is when you guys get
into these stories about your lions, it's okay. Next question
from Ewen Iwan Thomas. Is it possible to have the

(57:09):
same team of at N in consecutive seasons. I can't
see any other team to be more deserving to be
it again than the Lions. I'm in I wanted to happen.
I think they've broken the boundaries of what it means
to be the team of at N. I want to
stay on this ride. They lost me a little bit

(57:30):
with the Jamal Williams h non bring back scenario. It's
one guy. It's one guy. I know. Like No, I
we make a report. We also don't do it for
years in a row. So I think there's clearly it's
a feel thing. It's a feel things. I'll just say, like,
you know, in the interest of trying to keep things
fresh as we enter our second decade of the show,

(57:51):
running back the team of Aten as the Lions. I
don't know, man, I see where you're coming from, Greggy,
but that's that is what would be keeping it fresh,
doing something we've never precedent. How you sound like you
sound like a movie producer that's being criticized for there
are too many sequels? Why do you keep on doing
superhero sequels? Like, No, the plot's different in this one.

(58:15):
I just mean it's like making more of a commitment
than than we ever have before. I mean, my I'm
going to be rooting for think about week, think about
we think about late December, Greggy of a Lion's like,
you know, twenty eight twenty four win that keeps them
in the playoff picture. And we're singing that song on
a Sunday night again for like the third month in

(58:35):
a row, after doing it for four months the previous
imagining Mark's annoyance to it, which I can see in
his face right now. No, I mean I know your
way into my heart. Greg. Now it's getting a little
more interesting. We have to agree that with every team
of atl it used to just be West's team and
that was it was his way or the highway. But um,
there are varying levels of buying. And I attempted to

(58:56):
be you know, cooperative, and then they kind of did
win me over. Well, that's part of the I like
the lot I'm annoyed now is that h I felt
like they were they were a team we could all
truly get behind. Maybe not Mark quite as much, but
you know, they were they were agreed upon quite easily. Also,
the stars aligned with that team on the rise and
Campbell and they were on hard knocks. Yeah, I mean,

(59:16):
we'll see that's fair. We gotta wait, we gotta wait
till the training camp, right? What else? A couple more,
A couple more? All right? From t K? How much
does the Giants being relevant again hurt Greg rosendahlf. You know, Greg,
I want to tee you up on this one. I
want you to be honest. Okay, because a couple of
shows ago, and I took no umbrage with it, Like

(59:37):
you pointed out when I took some shots at Jalen Rams.
You're like, uh, you know, you know how Dan is.
You know you have certain teams he hates and he's
just gonna do that. It's like, you know what, Yeah,
I don't like the Dolphins, don't like the Patriots. I
also try to look at both sides, but I will
admit it that I do not like those teams because
of my fan leaning. Maybe this is an opportunity for you. Finally,

(59:59):
and forty two and forty six obviously is a driving
reason behind it all. Just admit it. Don't hide behind
Oh I'm a media guy, like you don't like the
Giants and you didn't like that they had a bounce
back season and twenty two. All right, that's not true.
I didn't like the Eli Manning era. I didn't. Oh
I want to either if he was puffed up and

(01:00:20):
they were sort of like this weird team that Yeah,
it was probably like the twelfth best team of that decade,
just like inaggregate, and yet they snuck away two super bowls.
Didn't feel right. But once that was all gone and
flushed away, I'm fine. I'm loyal to football. I do
not believe anything you just said. By the way, I

(01:00:41):
just want to be honest with you. It's true. The
only teams that I like. It depends on the year
and who's the coach and who's the vibe and what's
going on, whether whether I kind of like a team
or not. The Commanders under this ownership has been the
consistent team. I am open that I root against. Yeah,
but that's easy. Yeah, that's easy. True. But what I'm

(01:01:02):
looking for is the real stuff, Like the reason why
you're even sitting where you are right now, because you
love football. You were a fan, you grew up, and
you did suffer those Super Bowl losses. And that is
New York and there's a Boston New York rivalry. Um,
you know that that all factors and just just acknowledge it.
Nobody's gonna think any less of you. That's the Peyton

(01:01:23):
Manning Colts and Broncos were like so much more hateable
like they the Giants were just these teams that that
popped up and the Patriots blew it. By then they
had banked some Super Bowls to that. I'm not invat
it all right, that's that's great. Um? What else? One more?
One more Drake from Jeff Drake. Why do you act

(01:01:45):
as Odell Beckham's publicists? Wait a minute, First of all,
can you bring that up again? I just want to
see the spelling of Odell Beckham here. It's oh, apostrophe
capital d E L l Okay took the time to
apostrophe that, but didn't apostrophe Beckham's plural acid. Yeah we

(01:02:06):
usually don't, yeah grammar shame around here, but that one
was pretty special. I think he's referring to an Irish
Odell Beckham that we don't even know about, potentially, but like, um,
I think it's Beckham. Right. It's so absurd to suggest
that we're a publicists. I think if anything, we've been
like if I were to tilt us in one direction.
It would be almost like overly critical, like not even

(01:02:28):
willing to see the player sometimes and like look at
the ode the Odell Beckham experience through a negative lens.
I certainly did as a Browns fan. I think that
he annoyed Dan both of us during parts of his
Giant's run. I mean, we can see his critical of
Odell Beckham on this podcast for eight years basically now.
But oh but oh apostrophe Dell Beckham. Yeah, maybe it's

(01:02:50):
maybe we have been too charitable to him. I don't know. Yeah,
you and You and West would wore on Odell a
little bit because you know, Chris, Chris would say, how, look,
I'd ever seen a receiver come into the league this good.
I think that's the answer. Maybe I'm the publicist because
I ranked him so high in my top one to
one and he's still sitting out there. Maybe rating him

(01:03:10):
a little too highly in terms of what he can
offer now. But the reason is because the first three
years in the league were as impressive all over thirteen
hundred yards a season a total Sensation literally led the
league in yards per game as a rookie, um as
any receiver we've seen him come into the league in
a long, long time, and that just like put him

(01:03:31):
on a place where his influence, his attention is outside.
And by the way, it's worth pointing out literally the
last time we saw him on the field, he was
sort of the difference in the team winning the Super
Bowl and and and that's part of him. You're right,
go ahead, grip Mark. Well, no, I would say, if
we are doing a Odell Beckham to the Jets emergency

(01:03:53):
show five hours from now, let's see how charitable I
am on that front. Yeah, this is the Jeff Darlington.
He was on one of the ESPN shows this morning.
This was right up, get up, that's edgy. We should
very much consider Odell Beckham Junior still on the table
as an option for the New York Jets. In fact,

(01:04:16):
we can go even further to say that both sides
would still like to see this done. That sounds pretty strong.
That's pretty stronger part reporting from Darlington. And if and
if O'Dell Beckham does end up on the Jets, all
I could say is what a wonderful player. I mean,
but let's let's save that for the emergency podcast. I mean,
he is a great player. It would be a sexy

(01:04:37):
wide receiver room if he ended up in there. But yes,
the idea of pairing those two guys, Rogers and Beckham,
it would be rather annoyingly well, I would there isn't
there is, This will never happen. But I think it's been,
you know, fairly thought up by some that what if
they get Odell Beckham. They've shipped Elijah More out the door,

(01:05:00):
but then Odell Beckham is your your star here along
with Garrett and like suddenly there's no Rogers retires in
the eleventh hour and you've got Zach Wilson and Odell Beckham.
I am signing up to watch that unfold on public television.
Wait what was this? What was what? Did you just
lay that in a world where like they get Odell Beckham,
they get they get Alan Lazard, they get Odell Beckham,

(01:05:21):
and then Odell Beckham is like, you know, stunned to
discover that Aaron Rodgers out and his good friend apparently
out of nowhere retires and it's Zach Wilson and dealing
with Odell Beckham all next year. That would be tasty.
It's like week six. It sounds like you have some
unresolved Odell Beckham issues myself. Mark, it's like week six
and Goody is like, no, I am insisting on the

(01:05:43):
first round. Pick. I don't know why he's talking because
he's German. All Right, thank you everybody that's sent in questions.
That's it for today's show. Good week shows. We're back
on Tuesday. Don't be alarmed when you don't see us
on Monday, especially after the Marshannon conversation. And we'll be
back on Tuesday with another episode. Until then, this is

(01:06:07):
the old Zeuser signing off for Quiet Storm and the
Old Boss and the Grave Digger. Um, Greggy, I think
we had a little made a little progress on the
Giants thing today. I know you didn't say anything, but
I think it's just a little bit of progress. I
don't even know what progress means in this context. He's
a call s