Welcome back to the Vikings Tailgate presented by Ticketmaster - The official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings. The 'dirty birds' are coming back to town and comedian Jeff Foxworthy is all about it. Jeff chronicals his love for Atlanta sports (Bulldogs, Falcons, and Braves), what it's like rooting alongside his diehard Vikings fan son-in-law, his new role as a 'football babysitter wingman,' why Game 7 of the 1991 World Series is the greatest of all time, and his feeling that experiencing repeated heartbreak is worth watching your team finally win a national title. All of this and more is on episode 48 of The Vikings Tailgate presented by Ticketmaster - The official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings. Also, be sure to check out Jeff Foxworthy on Dec 13th and 14th at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, NV. Tickets are available now: https://mnvkn.gs/4fWu9ek
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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the official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL,
Ticketmasters the safest and most convenient marketplace to score fully
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(00:20):
score your tickets today at ticketmaster dot com slash Vikings.
Hey everybody, it's Cy, Thank you for coming back for
another episode. It is Atlanta Falcons week and here on
the tailgate. It's a huge episode for us because, man,
do we have a giant guest for you this week.
He's one of the greatest comedians, one of the biggest
(00:41):
comedians of all time. H You may know him as
one of the creators of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour.
He hosted Smarter Than a Fifth Grader and on and on.
You know who I'm talking about. You might be a redneck.
The incredible Jeff Foxworthy joins us. He's a diehard Georgia
Bulldogs fan, Falcons fan, Braves fans. We talk a little
(01:03):
ninety one World Series, we talk Super Bowls, and this
is a really fun one because he's got family, a
son in law who's a huge Vikings fan, so he's
always had a lot of love for the Minnesota Vikings.
This has been one of my favorite episodes we've done. Guys,
I think you're really gonna like it. And hey, make
sure you go see Jeff if you have the chance.
(01:24):
He is going to be in Las Vegas on December
thirteenth and fourteenth at the Palms Casino Resort, So make
sure you go snag those tickets. If you check in
the description of this episode in your podcast app, they
will be right there. You can click the link and
get tickets to that show. Hey, and while you're here,
give us a review, give us five stars. You it
(01:45):
really help us out. Enjoy the show. Everybody the Rocket
Rockett's a better man. I here, ladies and gentlemen. We
are joined by the great Jeff Foxworthy. Jeff, thank you
(02:07):
for showing up and talking to us a bit.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I'm excited to be here. I'm always loved Minnesota. I
did my last comedy special there. I always love playing
up there, and my football team has broken my heart
so much that the Vikings are You know how you
always have to have like the second team because I'm
a Falcons fan. I grew up in Atlanta. But they've
(02:32):
gutted me so bad that the Vikings are my fallback team.
And my youngest daughter married into a family of insane scoldiers,
so you guys are my backup team. So this, actually,
this weekend's kind of hard for me.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
It's funny because you would think someone who's had their
heart broken so much would choose an organization that doesn't
constantly break their fans' hearts. You could have gone with
you could have gone with the Chiefs. You came over
to another damaged, scared fan base.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Oh dude, my son in law, his name is Brendan,
and we talk about this all the time. I'm, like
I said, next to the Falcons. You guys find a
way to lose in the most imaginative leg, and the
Vikes never lose until within the last sixty seconds. Yes,
it's creative, hey, but ten and two right now, right? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
So it's weird, it's and it's funny until you win
the big one for the first time, which neither of
us have experienced. I think you don't trust anything, and
so even at ten and two, you feel this interesting.
I was home over Thanksgiving, spending time. I was at
the game on Sunday. You feel this odd combo energy
(03:55):
of this is so great. Oh no, how's it going
to end? It just permeas it's through people.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Well see, I'm that way, Like I'm a Georgia Bulldogs fan.
So we we had not won the Natty since nineteen
eighty with herschel Walk, forty one years. And you know,
then we played Bamman like seventeen and they in overtime
beat us, and then the Falcons turn around twenty eight
(04:24):
to three and lose. I get it. It's like, so
I actually I was not going to go to the Bulldogs.
I'm like, all right, I've wasted too much money going
to these games. But in twenty one when they played
in Indianapolis, and then like the week of the game,
me and my brother and my two buddies couldn't stand it.
And so we drive up to Indianapolis and we win
(04:46):
the Natty and I told my I called my son
in law. I said, it's worth it for all the heartbreak,
this may be the greatest moment of my life. And
you guys, see, I'm old enough to remember as a
kid the Purple people eaters and it was like, you
guys just kept going to the Super Bowl and could
(05:07):
never win it, and then I was it ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Into ninety nine when you guys, when you guys crushed
my soul as a child.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well, we had to come up there and play you there,
and I thought, we're going to get our teeth kicked in.
There's so much better than us.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
That's what. But that's what I've been telling everybody this
year when they worry that the egos are the Lions,
I go get you just never know in one game
if you're if you're some version of good, you just
never know.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah, especially you know, that's kind of what I'm going
through in college this season with Georgia, because they can
look unbeatable and they can look horrible. Because we were
talking about it and I thought, you know, the Lions
are playing so good that it's probably going to end
up being the Falcons and the Vikes in the playoffs.
(06:04):
In the playoffs, and so Arthur Blank invited me and
my son in law, Brendan down to watch the game.
And he's so funny because he's sitting there at the
I mean, we're in Arthur Sweet on the fifty yard
line and he's watching the bikes on his phone between
his legs, and so I'm like, dude, let's go, let's
(06:25):
go watch Kirk and because this is gonna end. God,
we played awful last week like the Chargers, and just
just so now I don't know the Bucks are on
a roll. So maybe you guys end up with the Bucks.
But what do you guys have won like five straight.
I really like this football team and I like Darno.
(06:47):
You know, when Matt Ryan when we were going through
all that and he was kind of the guy. I
always thought, this guy hasn't shown what he can do.
I think he's better. Uh, and obviously he is.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I mean, well and we've you know, the interesting thing
that's happened is with you know, now Daniel Jones has
come to Minnesota and you this when he signed. You
saw these former players and analysts do this thing where
they all go, oh, they were commending Daniel Jones on
the right choice. And to me, what that felt like
(07:25):
was this coach, this Kevin O'Connell, has created an environment
and has a reputation where if players want to be
I mean, you know, this is a Bulldog fan where
it's such a heavily you're you're in the You're you're
in a recruiting competition as much as you are in
a football competition. And if players want to be in
your culture and in your environment, you know, so to
(07:47):
see Sam succeed the way he is and then see
another guy who got a raw deal somewhere people you know,
he thinks try to come here, I think that's an
If you're a fan, you look at that and you
get pretty excited about that. As weird as it sounds.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I mean, Koc is like a such a good quarterback,
and so when Sam went to you guys, I thought, well,
at least he's going to get a fair shot with
a good team to see if And I think he's
been fabulous this year, absolutely, you know, when you look
at what it did for y'all, freeing all the cap
(08:21):
space when Kirk left, and then you put it on defense,
and now all of a sudden, you're suffocating quarterbacks. And
I'm like, and I've always liked Kirk. I put Brendan
told me years ago, he said, do you know Kirk Cousins.
Every year his wife buys him a you might be
a redneck if page a day calendar. That's his one
(08:46):
thing that he has to have in his Christmas stocking.
And so I always like Kirk because of that. But
we spend a lot of money, you know, and what
Sam's like ten MILLI a year and I think Kirk
like thirty five or something.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
So yeah, uh, it's ultimately as much as you know,
you want sports to be about the competition, and it is,
but you also have this piece of you that goes
It's kind of an interesting math equation. You know, how
much how much better do you guys perform than what
you pay them? And you get a rookie on a
rookie day. It's really it really that's where you start going, Oh,
(09:27):
some of these gms, either they're lucky or they're good,
but when they hit on the math equation, it gets
really fun.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Well, and then you have the thing because I know,
both of us sweat out draft night because we're both
notorious for blowing draft dames. And yeah, so then so
we signed Kirk for a bazillion dollars and then instead
(09:55):
of taking Brock Bowers, we go ahead and draft Michael Pennix.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
It was my thought it was the most interesting thing
coming into the season in the whole league.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
What You're like, what because I knew from watching I'm like,
bron Bowers is going to be one of the best
players in the NFL, and damn ify.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And I think to see what he's doing. I don't
think people quite understand how the tight end position is
probably the most difficult other than left tackle, the most
difficult non quarterback transition on the offense to the pros.
So much blocking, so much route running. You never see
these guys break out in their first year. You certainly
(10:34):
don't see him breakout on bad teams, and you damn
sure don't see him breakout with a carousel of below
average quarterbacks. It doesn't seem to matter who's throwing the
ball like he's got I might end up being the
greatest tight end to ever play football energy in his
rookie season.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Oh and we saw it at Georgia that the cat
was just different, you know. And I mean, but you guys,
you know, Hockinson, you guys got a great tight end.
You always You're Minnesota does something that I'm always jealous
of is like you always have a pair of really
good receivers. Yeah, in the Falcons. I mean, maybe like
(11:13):
Julio and Roddy White for a couple of years, but
we never seem to be I mean, we got Drake
London now, and Drake's good, but you guys always seem
like you have a pair of them.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
So I think about that a lot, because there are
things I don't know how it happens or why it happens,
but organizations and areas kind of you're right becomes synonymous.
The Vikings had Moss and Carter feeling and digs, and
now they have Jefferson asked, yeah, you go to Chicago,
It's like it's like there's a banner in their building
(11:50):
that says, we must have a middle linebacker right your
braves teams for that whole run in the nineties, it's
like we're gonna have essentially two to three aces constantly
right all the way up through. So I don't know
why or how like that happens. Somebody explained it, I think.
On the show last week about the Bears, his name
(12:13):
good comic named Daniel van Kirk. He said, maybe it's
the when you come into a place that has history
like that, you know, like if you come into like
in Georgia, when you walk into the building and you
see a bunch of pictures of the bulldogs of herschel Walker.
Everybody goes, hey, man, you gotta there's some stuff to
(12:34):
live up to here. But if you walk in at
you know, a different position, that's maybe just the aura
of the previous people creates that. I don't know, but
it is weird that it kind of repeats itself historically.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
And you guys just I mean, when I think of
the Vikings, I always think of like great wide receivers.
It was funny because like, all right, i'mmist trying to
flip my screen around.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
You can see my wall of like oh sure, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Remember being stuff. So I'm trying to do that for
my son in law. So every year I buy him,
it's it's usually a Vike to put in his office.
And so I wanted to get him with Jefferson, and
he would not allow me to do it until he
signed his second contract. He's like, no, he's gonna break
(13:25):
my heart. He's gonna go somewhere else. And so so
I did finally get a sign Jefferson for him in there.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
But now is he so is your son? Is he
from Minnesota originally? Or is he one of these places
that his family was? And then they grew up somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
He and his forty five cousins, all of their aunts
and uncles are from Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I'm catching strays with that one. Jeff as a man
who's got a mom with eight brothers and sisters, and
I have a but you you hit it on the head.
Is he Swedish too? Is he a giant Nordic Swedish person?
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Now he's Irish poorly. But they're all they're all Minnesota people.
I mean they're Twins fans, they're Vikes fans. He's taught
my grandson. He's three now, but I found him last year.
He's two years old, two years old, down at my
farm in the middle of a field, and I videotaped
(14:17):
him singing the Vikings fight song two years old, every
word of it, at the top of his lungs with it.
Because we had to negotiate because he was a Vikings
and a Notre Dame fan. Another one that would break
your heart. And I was a Bulldogs and a Falcons fan,
so two more that would break your heart. So before
he was born, we had serious negotiations and who was
(14:42):
going to get the college team and one was going
to get pro and one was going to get caught,
and so I ended up I took the Bulldogs because
the twenty eight to three. I never trust the Falcons anymore.
I mean I root for them, I follow them, but
it's like it's like day a hooker, you know, It's
like every year, you're like, you're not gonna cheat on me. Right,
(15:04):
You're not gonna break You're not gonna break my heart again.
Right if I get if I get all invested again,
You're You're not gonna break my heart. Oh no, I'm
not gonna break your heart. And then you get invested
and then they break your heart. And so I went
with the Bulldogs and he took the he took the Vikes.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Especially given the state of what's happening in college football
and the elevation of the SEC, I think that was
the right call. I think you made the right decision.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
I think I did too. But now, like in pro
the NFC North is like the SEC, and in the
NFC South it's kind of like the Sun Belt.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Now, yeah, there's a little easier nobody Wolves to win
the conference. Uh are they down? Are they near you
in Atlanta?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
What is the what is the game day ritual, So
let's go pro not college. Are they coming over? Are
you get like I have my nephew comes over. I
have an adult because I've got a big hillbilly family
where somehow I've got a nephew two years younger than me,
you know, and so he'll come over. We have you know,
we've got the multiple TVs for the multiple people rooting
(16:12):
for multiple teams. There's just curse words coming from different angles.
Do you guys get together or do you commiserate afterwards?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
It depends on how big the game is, because he's like,
if it's a really big one, he'll go into a shell.
And he's got a one year old and a three
year old, So I allow them to come over here
while I kind of clear space for him. I'm running
like his wing and he'll tell me, first of the wait,
(16:40):
look Sunday, I gotta have I gotta be all it.
Can you take the kids?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
You're his NFL babysitter wing man?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah? Yeah. And then but it's somewhat like if he
comes to our house, he has every TV in the
house on and he's he can't sit down. I've got
footage of him like when the Vikings win in the
last second. Well, I was with him in the car
the other day when he lost his mind. But this
(17:12):
dude like rips his shirt off, is out in the
front yard beatings, screaming skull. He loses his mind and
then like in was it eighteen? He eighteen? I can't
remember who they lost to. But he announced he was
(17:33):
going on a hunger strike. He was as down as
I've ever so, I literally, I mean, he's got a
bad Viking problem. So I went, this is how good
of a son in law. I went to Honey Baked
Ham and got him a Honey Baked Ham sandwich and
soup and took it over there.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
So he was sick.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
So yeah, like he has pneumonia because the Vikings lost,
and I'm in there like, dude, you got to eat
you got it.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
It's I remember I've told this probably on this show.
I've told it to other people. I was doing so
the one that got me ninety eight, I was so.
I was young. I was fifteen, And you think that
was such a special team. You remember them, You thought
you were gonna get blown out. I think everybody thought
this was the start. They didn't realize it was their
best chance at the mountaintop. You thought we're about to
(18:24):
go into ten years of Randy Moss mania. And so
that one hurt. But the one that like truly.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Hurt Barvan, New Orleans.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Barvan, New Orleans. It was farv and and I'm a
broken record, but I remember when he hit Sidney Rice
on a pattern up the middle and he crossed the
fifty yard line. I thought, I let myself believe it. Jeff,
I thought to myself, and I bet you've heard your
son in Las Ades ex actors. I thought to myself,
oh my god, we're going to the super Bowl. And
(18:55):
then when he missed that kick, I remember the next week.
You know, you remember from back in your club days.
I know the landscape has changed immensely, but there are
comedy clubs and then there are a few of those
clubs where you're like, I wait all year to perform
at this club, and one of them is Comedy on
State in Madison. So I have Comedy on State the
(19:17):
next week, and I go there and I felt like
someone broke up with me. That's how pathetic that I
felt like. I felt like my heart it's to this day,
it's my least fun comedy week at one of the
best clubs. But I just I didn't enjoy a thing.
I was miserable. Same thing. Pathetic, a pathetic excuse of
a person.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Well, when the Falcons twenty eight to three, and my
daughter looks at me this is the fourth quarter and
looks at me and says, start of the fourth quarter,
Oh my god, Dad, we're gonna win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
And then the Patriots come storming back. But then Ryan
connects with Julio Jones and we're now we're in field
goal range. Great, Julio catch. All we have to do
is run it three times and kick the field go backwards,
just don't go backwards. We pass it three straight downs
(20:14):
and he gets sacked twice, and you're like, all we
had to do was run the ball up the middle
three times in a row and kick the field goal.
So I and dude the next day, because you're probably
like me, if I'm in the car truck, I'm listening,
I got sports talking, and I've never seen anything like this.
(20:37):
This whole city was like it was dead. Like the
guy would come on and go, I don't have anything
to say. If anybody wants to call in, you can
call in and it would just be like dead air.
But yo, were I mean that year you guys, you
guys were the best team in the NFL that year.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yeah, yep, I think that's I think that's kind of
the travesty of some stuff. And I actually think this
about your ninety one Braves team. Now, you guys went
on to win a win a championship with one of
those nineties Braves teams. What was it ninety six? You
guys got one ninety.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Five, ninety five against the Indians. But but, and as
a lifelong baseball fan, I still say the ninety one
World Series is World Series of all time, best World
Series ever?
Speaker 1 (21:25):
What I don't and somebody who I fell off on baseball,
like I could write a ted talk about my frustrations
in the uh you know, but it looks like the
Twins are gonna have new owners. Like we're like, we're
heading a good direction again. But you're a little cute
who grows up with Kirby Puckett saying hop on my
back and hits that homer in six. But I don't.
(21:47):
It's not just the greatest World Series of all time
the Game seven. I watched it again as an adult.
It's greatest pitching performance, greatest game. It's it's everything.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Molts and Jack Morris in Game seven. Now, if Lonnie
Smith doesn't get deeked out at second base, we probably
win that game one to nothing.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
But Smoltz and Jack Morris were two warriors that night,
and I mean it was one of those when it ended,
I couldn't even get out of my chair. You're just like,
I'm exhausted. But it was so much fun because they
both were last place the year before.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Yep, and climbed up the ranks. You know, the thing
I like about baseball, and I love minor league baseball,
but the thing I love about baseball isn't necessarily the
baseball itself. It's a little corny, but I like the
romance of it. I don't think it's a coincidence that
baseball makes the best sports movies and by leaps and
(22:51):
bounds like a really long ways, and I just think
because there's something Baseball is this interesting collection of individual
sports masquerading as a team sport. It's a pitcher against
a batter, right, it's a guy catching the ball. It's
it's not so much connected in the same way the
other sports are and so I think when you have
a game like that Game seven, where you have Jack
(23:14):
Morris going ten innings and John Smoltz going the distance
and not giving up a single run, there's just something
so this is corny but soul touching and poetic about
something like that that it's almost hard to create moments
of tension like that in other games because of how
fast they move and how much the play intertwines.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
You know, I would agree, but like in football, like
you guys had one of those moments. So Cousins tears'
achilles and then it's like, what Hall's gonna start all the.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Dobbs things, you guys, Yes, And so Hall gets hurt
on the first drive, and.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
They bring in Josh Dopps, who's been with Minnesota for
like ten minutes. He doesn't he doesn't even know anybody's
name in the locker room, and he couldn't have known
the playbook. No, it was pretty much like O'Connell just said,
run here, throw there, backyard football. Just yeah, And you
(24:22):
had to be in the huddle going go, you go
five yards and turned towards the car, you go to
the Smith's front yard into a button hook and and
leads him down the field at the end of the game,
and they so, to me, that's that's a movie.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
No, that's it. That's a good point.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
But baseball is much more of a individual storyline thing
than football.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah you can. You are, like, I just the the
amount of affection I have for Jack Morris. It's almost
like I see this whole personality and backstory and I've
built so many narratives into a human man because of
one game I watched him pitch, as opposed to some
other sports where you just it's more about the physical
(25:10):
accomplishment of the moment, the mindset of what it takes
to have. In Game seven of the World Series, have
your manager be like, we're gonna send a reliever and
then you go, the hell you are, I'm going out,
and then you do it and you shut them. That's
wild to me.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Well, and John Smoltz is one of my best friends, and.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
So that's cool.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
And you know, he's always been honest about when he
had it and when he did and he's like, dude,
I had it that night, I had it, he said.
And then you realize, oh, hell, jack'scot it too, And
I mean that was just one for the ages It's
still my favorite World series of all time.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Does Smoltz look back. I'm always curious about because as
opposed to the Falcons loss or that Vikings fave intercept
where you feel like you did something wrong, Like when
you're that high level of an athlete, like you're one
of the greatest pitchers to ever walk out onto a
mound and you perform at your highest level and someone
just out high levels you by a Smith. Does he
(26:15):
walk away from that going, God, damn, I was just
a part of something special. Or does that burn in
a way that is unique?
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I think probably the former is in John. It doesn't
matter what you're doing. You could be playing ping pong
or whatever. He's he's the most competitive human being I've
ever I've ever been around. But he's like you just
kind of tip your hat that night, go, you know,
(26:45):
and what could have been? You decliney Smith out and
we end up with the bases loaded and nobody out
and don't score. I remember that summer I was playing up.
I was playing in many apples. I can't remember which club,
and I went out because the Twins were such a
(27:06):
story that summer and went out to the Old and
and all I remember is new smoking in the Metrodome
uh uh. And the way they announced Kirby Pucketgerby Pucket.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
It is forever cemented into every Minnesotan's brain.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
And and Dan Gladden out there with the official redneck
uh hair.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Dan Gladden looks like his dad was one of your
old albums. Uh. I want to ask you one more
question about Kirk and I'll get you out of here.
We appreciate you being a part of the show. Uh.
Kirk was so interestingly, I think divisive in the fan base,
(27:59):
Like if you were a part of the organization, you
know I've always said and you probably know this, knowing
that you know a little bit about him now that
he's in Atlanta. First class human being, right, yeah, first
class human being and an all time accurate arm right.
And where it gets muddy for the fan base is
the argument of kind of like what you were saying earlier,
(28:22):
and then you add on top of that, right, how
right you need things to do versus how off schedule
and whether you should have you know, the old line
needed there just gets into this big, never ending argument
and it kind of went from Washington, it followed him
to Minnesota, and it existed there. And what I am
curious at this moment is you guys walk into this game,
(28:43):
which is a you're right, Tampa's playing, Well, this is
a big game for you guys. It's a big game
for him.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
So let me ask you this. And I asked my
son and all of this last week. I said, is
he going to get booed when he gives back to Minnesota?
And he said, nah, Vikings fans aren't like that.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, they'll they'll they'll clap while whispering something negative in
their spouse's ear is what they will do. It's like, oh, well,
you're so great this guy is. You know, that's what
will happen. I will say, you hit it on the head.
Sam has played so well, They've built the rosters so well.
Anybody who's booing, like I think, if you didn't like Kirker,
(29:25):
didn't want Kirk, maybe you feel vindicated now. But anyone
who comes to boo to me, it's like, what do
you what it's like when Diggs left? But you got
justin Jefferson like let him let him go, let it,
let it, let it, let it live. So I think
you might even be surprised how warm of a welcome
he gets at the bank this weekend.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Yeah, Kirk. To me, it's and it's a little bit
like Georgia always has a pro style quarterback. I think
if Kirk probably would have had more success fifteen years
earlier because and Ai tipped my hat that he was
able to come back from the Achilles thing.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
But in the open but in the first game of
the season looked horrible. The whole team looked horrible. And
then I'm like, oh, it's going to be one of
these years where we're the worst team in football. And
then they kind of got it together and started playing
well and we're Okay, we're six and six. When we
lost three in a row, Hell, three weeks ago, we
(30:28):
were on top of the world. But same thing with Georgia.
I think football has changed and you have to be
at least semi mobile as a quarterback. And I think
back to like was friend Tarkinton forty years ahead of his.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Time, one hundred percent, because.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
He's one of the players for me being a little
kid that I just remember going, dang, you can't tackle
this guy. You know, he extends plays forever. And I
think that's no pun intended Kurt's Achilles hill is he
just can't move well.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
It's really interesting. History is funny. You grew up and
you saw those purple people leater teams. I think if
they win two or three of those Super Bowls, the
Vikings are considered, uh, you know, a cornerstone franchise. He's
considered one of the greatest quarterbacks. It's just funny how
that happens. But your other point, it's so interesting and correct.
(31:28):
You think about because I love basketball too, I'm a
big basketball guy, and I think about what if Reggie
Miller got to play in today's day and age with
the way he shot the ball back in the nineties
when they took three threes a game in that same way,
imagine if you pourted Kirk back to the Troy Aikman nineties,
(31:48):
where you had these big, bruising running games. You didn't
have all these motion offenses, all these college concepts that
have as the rules have changed, you know, offense has
become so dynamic and so strong. I think you're exactly right.
I think you put Kirk in the nineties and he's
probably a Jim Kelly type.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
I agree, I think he is. But like even with George,
I'm like, man, moving forward, we got to have a
quarterback that can move, you know. I mean, I don't
need him to rush for one hundred yards a game,
but he's got to be able to get outside of
the pocket and extend plays.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
And you look it out of the way.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Yeah. You you look at the the franchises that that
are doing well in the NFL, that all of them
have a quarterback that's mobile.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Yeah, it's uh. It is the way things have probably
permanently changed. I don't think they're going to go back
to guys who are like I'm going to stand here now.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I will tell you this as an outsider looking in Okay,
probably as a Vikings fan. It's it's a lifetime of frustration.
But I think other people look at y'all is one
of the top tier football teams because you have been
always think of the Vikings like the Vikings. Oh, the
(33:08):
Vikings are good. The Vikings are good. I never think
of them as a bad team. I always think of
the Vikings as being good. But it's like you get
right up to the top of the thing and then
find a way to.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Fall off the mountain. We hang out on the mountain,
but we like to fall.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Yeah, you guys, you've got that falcon thing where they
know how to break your heart. Yeah, you guys are
such good fans. You'll come back the next week and
you know, be right there.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
But we'll be right there cheering for Kirk. That's what
we'll be doing.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
But maybe this is the year. I mean, your defense,
your defense is so much better wild and this I
think this iteration of the Vikings, this team has hard.
You know, they could have folded last week, I think.
And and to me, that's the difference in great teams
(34:04):
and teams that aren't is having each other's back and
having that hard.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
In the belief in those moments that you're going to
figure it out.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
And I think this team has that more than the
Vikings have had in recent years. It's like, do you
not agree?
Speaker 1 (34:24):
I mean, I very much agree. I think I would
pair that with because I always say I think locker
rooms are sports. Locker rooms are unique places, and you
hear all these cliches and you think they're dumb, but
they actually believe them. And locker rooms take on a
personality of their own. And if you lose three close games,
next time you're in a close game and you think
(34:45):
that's who you are. And so I do think it's
a big deal that they have developed this persona. You know,
they blew a few teams out and now they've figured
out how to win gritty. The other thing I would
add on top of it is exactly what you said earlier.
They freed up all this money, but it's next year. Also,
(35:05):
this is a team that is ten and two, that
has a rookie quarterback on their roster that is a
very affordable contract that is about to walk into seventy
five million dollars of cap space. And so I'm very
very I'm enjoying every minute of the season and I'm
always the sky is falling, Jeff, But I have bought
in to I don't know a right place, right time,
(35:28):
right moment. We might go on a run and then
but it's gravy because I think the GM and the
organization is so strong that you use that seventy five
million bucks this offseason and you put a couple more
people on this team and we might be walking into
next year in a real big time window.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Dude, I don't think there's anybody that wouldn't take your head, coach.
I think O'Connell. I mean, what a great surprise. He's
been right, and hell I would take him today nothing again,
Raheem Morris. But I think he's going to be around
for a long time. And I I just feel like
(36:06):
you guys are on the on the right track.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Can I pitch you my Can I pitch you my
craziest theory because I'd be curious what you think about
this because we talked to a lot of people on
this show.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
It says, Okay, you have a fan brain that has
been permanently damaged over the years. But yes, I would
like to hear the theory.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
But see, we have people on the show and some
of them are fans. But you are You are a
You are clearly a deep than Oh yeah right, you
of of your Yeah, you're a I'm gonna be you
take this word however you would like. But you're a maniac.
I can see it, I can feel it, I can
sense it as one of my own. I have a
(36:47):
maniac radar. So I'll pitch this to you and you
won't think I'm telling you the moon landing was fake.
I have been waiting for a coach and an organization
and to break the quarterback structure in the NFL, right,
(37:07):
because again this is salary cap, right, the salary cap rule,
and you know quarterbacks. Now there's this thing where in
the last however many years, the only quarterbacks, the only
teams that have won a Super Bowl with a quarterback
that makes more than twelve percent was Brady one year,
and then Mahomes a couple times because he's Mahomes. That's
ever since the salary cap started. People don't they don't
(37:28):
realize salary cap started right around the time Tom Brady
started going. And then he took a cheap deal because
of his model wife every year and cruised with awesome rosters.
You know, tough thing about being a GM or a
head coach is you screw up, You're gone. Right, There's
not a lot of franchises like you know, the Vikings
(37:49):
are very supportive franchise, the Steelers, where the leash is
a little longer. I've been waiting for a coach who goes.
I don't care about having a Hall of Fame quarterback.
What I'm gonna do is either take a reclamation project
or a second, third or fourth round draft pick every
single year. And I'm such a good quarterbacks coach that
(38:11):
I am gonna work that guy through his cheap deal,
and then I'm gonna find another one, and I'm gonna
keep doing that. And tell I, if I get a
Mahomes someday, obviously I'm gonna keep the Mahomes or a
Josh Allen. I thought Harbaugh might do it in San
Francisco when he was cycling through guys. Kevin O'Connell, like
we're playing in the fantasy world. He is so highly
(38:32):
respected and so good at quarterbacks. I have the belief
that give him a good roster and give him any
quarterback he won with Josh Dobbs just saying plays into
his headset. He I don't think anyone will ever do it.
But if anyone was meant for that crazy break the
salary cap quarterback thing, it is Kevin O'Connell.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
It is. But to your point, I'm not sure that's
a great thing. And you know I had a I had,
We had Michael Vick, you know, which is like one
of the first guys to break the bank. Yes, we
ended up running the team because we had no money
for anything else. But I, like, I wasn't excited when
(39:15):
y'all took McCarthy and then like when you started playing
exhibit and I'm like, holy cow, look what Donald has
done with McCarthy. I think that's one of the saddest
things of the year. I was excited to see what
he could have become because I think you're right. I
(39:35):
think if you've got and and that's O'Connell's biggest strength
is he's so good with quarterbacks. And I don't think
you need to have my homes to win it. But
because look what, all right, so you take all the
Kirk's money off the books and and look what Florida's
did with the defense. I mean, you are a much
(40:00):
more complete team this year than you were last year
because you freed up so much money.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
I'll always put the money in uh in defense always
that is that is my dumb guy brain, give me
all the defenders.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Well, as a Georgia Bulldog fan, defense wins championships and
it still does. And if you look at twenty one
and twenty two, that's how Georgia won the Natty. Because
your offense doesn't need to score forty points a game.
(40:36):
Put together an offense that's good enough to score twenty
four game and you're probably gonna win most times.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
And it's I always think it's easier to play offense
when the game is tilted your direction as opposed to
defense when it's tilted your direction, because they're still trying
to come back, so make it make it easier when
you do that. Jeff, you're the king. This is great now, dude, I.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Have enjoyed it. This is one of those weeks where
I can't really lose. I mean, if the Falcons win,
I'm happy because then maybe we But if the Bikes win,
my son in law is going to be so happy.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
So well, I hope your son in law ends up happy.
This meant a ton to us, Jeff, this was fantastic.
I really really appreciate it. Thank you for spending time
with us.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
Okay, thanks Sed, you've bet all right. Great care of y'all.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
And hey, thank you guys for listening to our podcast
feed well you're here. Give us a review, a rating.
It helps out a ton and also big thanks to Ticketmaster,
the official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings, for helping
make this show happen. We'll see you again next week
Unreal is back with their limited edition Vikings drop, so
head over to unarl dot com for more details. As
the official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL,
Ticketmasters the safest and most convenient marketplace to score fully
verified Viking tickets. So get those touchdown celebrations ready and
(00:20):
score your tickets today at ticketmaster dot com slash Vikings.
Hey everybody, it's Cy, Thank you for coming back for
another episode. It is Atlanta Falcons week and here on
the tailgate. It's a huge episode for us because, man,
do we have a giant guest for you this week.
He's one of the greatest comedians, one of the biggest
(00:41):
comedians of all time. H You may know him as
one of the creators of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour.
He hosted Smarter Than a Fifth Grader and on and on.
You know who I'm talking about. You might be a redneck.
The incredible Jeff Foxworthy joins us. He's a diehard Georgia
Bulldogs fan, Falcons fan, Braves fans. We talk a little
(01:03):
ninety one World Series, we talk Super Bowls, and this
is a really fun one because he's got family, a
son in law who's a huge Vikings fan, so he's
always had a lot of love for the Minnesota Vikings.
This has been one of my favorite episodes we've done. Guys,
I think you're really gonna like it. And hey, make
sure you go see Jeff if you have the chance.
(01:24):
He is going to be in Las Vegas on December
thirteenth and fourteenth at the Palms Casino Resort, So make
sure you go snag those tickets. If you check in
the description of this episode in your podcast app, they
will be right there. You can click the link and
get tickets to that show. Hey, and while you're here,
give us a review, give us five stars. You it
(01:45):
really help us out. Enjoy the show. Everybody the Rocket
Rockett's a better man. I here, ladies and gentlemen. We
are joined by the great Jeff Foxworthy. Jeff, thank you
(02:07):
for showing up and talking to us a bit.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I'm excited to be here. I'm always loved Minnesota. I
did my last comedy special there. I always love playing
up there, and my football team has broken my heart
so much that the Vikings are You know how you
always have to have like the second team because I'm
a Falcons fan. I grew up in Atlanta. But they've
(02:32):
gutted me so bad that the Vikings are my fallback team.
And my youngest daughter married into a family of insane scoldiers,
so you guys are my backup team. So this, actually,
this weekend's kind of hard for me.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
It's funny because you would think someone who's had their
heart broken so much would choose an organization that doesn't
constantly break their fans' hearts. You could have gone with
you could have gone with the Chiefs. You came over
to another damaged, scared fan base.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Oh dude, my son in law, his name is Brendan,
and we talk about this all the time. I'm, like
I said, next to the Falcons. You guys find a
way to lose in the most imaginative leg, and the
Vikes never lose until within the last sixty seconds. Yes,
it's creative, hey, but ten and two right now, right? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
So it's weird, it's and it's funny until you win
the big one for the first time, which neither of
us have experienced. I think you don't trust anything, and
so even at ten and two, you feel this interesting.
I was home over Thanksgiving, spending time. I was at
the game on Sunday. You feel this odd combo energy
(03:55):
of this is so great. Oh no, how's it going
to end? It just permeas it's through people.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Well see, I'm that way, Like I'm a Georgia Bulldogs fan.
So we we had not won the Natty since nineteen
eighty with herschel Walk, forty one years. And you know,
then we played Bamman like seventeen and they in overtime
beat us, and then the Falcons turn around twenty eight
(04:24):
to three and lose. I get it. It's like, so
I actually I was not going to go to the Bulldogs.
I'm like, all right, I've wasted too much money going
to these games. But in twenty one when they played
in Indianapolis, and then like the week of the game,
me and my brother and my two buddies couldn't stand it.
And so we drive up to Indianapolis and we win
(04:46):
the Natty and I told my I called my son
in law. I said, it's worth it for all the heartbreak,
this may be the greatest moment of my life. And
you guys, see, I'm old enough to remember as a
kid the Purple people eaters and it was like, you
guys just kept going to the Super Bowl and could
(05:07):
never win it, and then I was it ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Into ninety nine when you guys, when you guys crushed
my soul as a child.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well, we had to come up there and play you there,
and I thought, we're going to get our teeth kicked in.
There's so much better than us.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
That's what. But that's what I've been telling everybody this
year when they worry that the egos are the Lions,
I go get you just never know in one game
if you're if you're some version of good, you just
never know.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah, especially you know, that's kind of what I'm going
through in college this season with Georgia, because they can
look unbeatable and they can look horrible. Because we were
talking about it and I thought, you know, the Lions
are playing so good that it's probably going to end
up being the Falcons and the Vikes in the playoffs.
(06:04):
In the playoffs, and so Arthur Blank invited me and
my son in law, Brendan down to watch the game.
And he's so funny because he's sitting there at the
I mean, we're in Arthur Sweet on the fifty yard
line and he's watching the bikes on his phone between
his legs, and so I'm like, dude, let's go, let's
(06:25):
go watch Kirk and because this is gonna end. God,
we played awful last week like the Chargers, and just
just so now I don't know the Bucks are on
a roll. So maybe you guys end up with the Bucks.
But what do you guys have won like five straight.
I really like this football team and I like Darno.
(06:47):
You know, when Matt Ryan when we were going through
all that and he was kind of the guy. I
always thought, this guy hasn't shown what he can do.
I think he's better. Uh, and obviously he is.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I mean, well and we've you know, the interesting thing
that's happened is with you know, now Daniel Jones has
come to Minnesota and you this when he signed. You
saw these former players and analysts do this thing where
they all go, oh, they were commending Daniel Jones on
the right choice. And to me, what that felt like
(07:25):
was this coach, this Kevin O'Connell, has created an environment
and has a reputation where if players want to be
I mean, you know, this is a Bulldog fan where
it's such a heavily you're you're in the You're you're
in a recruiting competition as much as you are in
a football competition. And if players want to be in
your culture and in your environment, you know, so to
(07:47):
see Sam succeed the way he is and then see
another guy who got a raw deal somewhere people you know,
he thinks try to come here, I think that's an
If you're a fan, you look at that and you
get pretty excited about that. As weird as it sounds.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I mean, Koc is like a such a good quarterback,
and so when Sam went to you guys, I thought, well,
at least he's going to get a fair shot with
a good team to see if And I think he's
been fabulous this year, absolutely, you know, when you look
at what it did for y'all, freeing all the cap
(08:21):
space when Kirk left, and then you put it on defense,
and now all of a sudden, you're suffocating quarterbacks. And
I'm like, and I've always liked Kirk. I put Brendan
told me years ago, he said, do you know Kirk Cousins.
Every year his wife buys him a you might be
a redneck if page a day calendar. That's his one
(08:46):
thing that he has to have in his Christmas stocking.
And so I always like Kirk because of that. But
we spend a lot of money, you know, and what
Sam's like ten MILLI a year and I think Kirk
like thirty five or something.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
So yeah, uh, it's ultimately as much as you know,
you want sports to be about the competition, and it is,
but you also have this piece of you that goes
It's kind of an interesting math equation. You know, how
much how much better do you guys perform than what
you pay them? And you get a rookie on a
rookie day. It's really it really that's where you start going, Oh,
(09:27):
some of these gms, either they're lucky or they're good,
but when they hit on the math equation, it gets
really fun.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Well, and then you have the thing because I know,
both of us sweat out draft night because we're both
notorious for blowing draft dames. And yeah, so then so
we signed Kirk for a bazillion dollars and then instead
(09:55):
of taking Brock Bowers, we go ahead and draft Michael Pennix.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
It was my thought it was the most interesting thing
coming into the season in the whole league.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
What You're like, what because I knew from watching I'm like,
bron Bowers is going to be one of the best
players in the NFL, and damn ify.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And I think to see what he's doing. I don't
think people quite understand how the tight end position is
probably the most difficult other than left tackle, the most
difficult non quarterback transition on the offense to the pros.
So much blocking, so much route running. You never see
these guys break out in their first year. You certainly
(10:34):
don't see him breakout on bad teams, and you damn
sure don't see him breakout with a carousel of below
average quarterbacks. It doesn't seem to matter who's throwing the
ball like he's got I might end up being the
greatest tight end to ever play football energy in his
rookie season.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Oh and we saw it at Georgia that the cat
was just different, you know. And I mean, but you guys,
you know, Hockinson, you guys got a great tight end.
You always You're Minnesota does something that I'm always jealous
of is like you always have a pair of really
good receivers. Yeah, in the Falcons. I mean, maybe like
(11:13):
Julio and Roddy White for a couple of years, but
we never seem to be I mean, we got Drake
London now, and Drake's good, but you guys always seem
like you have a pair of them.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
So I think about that a lot, because there are
things I don't know how it happens or why it happens,
but organizations and areas kind of you're right becomes synonymous.
The Vikings had Moss and Carter feeling and digs, and
now they have Jefferson asked, yeah, you go to Chicago,
It's like it's like there's a banner in their building
(11:50):
that says, we must have a middle linebacker right your
braves teams for that whole run in the nineties, it's
like we're gonna have essentially two to three aces constantly
right all the way up through. So I don't know
why or how like that happens. Somebody explained it, I think.
On the show last week about the Bears, his name
(12:13):
good comic named Daniel van Kirk. He said, maybe it's
the when you come into a place that has history
like that, you know, like if you come into like
in Georgia, when you walk into the building and you
see a bunch of pictures of the bulldogs of herschel Walker.
Everybody goes, hey, man, you gotta there's some stuff to
(12:34):
live up to here. But if you walk in at
you know, a different position, that's maybe just the aura
of the previous people creates that. I don't know, but
it is weird that it kind of repeats itself historically.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
And you guys just I mean, when I think of
the Vikings, I always think of like great wide receivers.
It was funny because like, all right, i'mmist trying to
flip my screen around.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
You can see my wall of like oh sure, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Remember being stuff. So I'm trying to do that for
my son in law. So every year I buy him,
it's it's usually a Vike to put in his office.
And so I wanted to get him with Jefferson, and
he would not allow me to do it until he
signed his second contract. He's like, no, he's gonna break
(13:25):
my heart. He's gonna go somewhere else. And so so
I did finally get a sign Jefferson for him in there.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
But now is he so is your son? Is he
from Minnesota originally? Or is he one of these places
that his family was? And then they grew up somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
He and his forty five cousins, all of their aunts
and uncles are from Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I'm catching strays with that one. Jeff as a man
who's got a mom with eight brothers and sisters, and
I have a but you you hit it on the head.
Is he Swedish too? Is he a giant Nordic Swedish person?
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Now he's Irish poorly. But they're all they're all Minnesota people.
I mean they're Twins fans, they're Vikes fans. He's taught
my grandson. He's three now, but I found him last year.
He's two years old, two years old, down at my
farm in the middle of a field, and I videotaped
(14:17):
him singing the Vikings fight song two years old, every
word of it, at the top of his lungs with it.
Because we had to negotiate because he was a Vikings
and a Notre Dame fan. Another one that would break
your heart. And I was a Bulldogs and a Falcons fan,
so two more that would break your heart. So before
he was born, we had serious negotiations and who was
(14:42):
going to get the college team and one was going
to get pro and one was going to get caught,
and so I ended up I took the Bulldogs because
the twenty eight to three. I never trust the Falcons anymore.
I mean I root for them, I follow them, but
it's like it's like day a hooker, you know, It's
like every year, you're like, you're not gonna cheat on me. Right,
(15:04):
You're not gonna break You're not gonna break my heart again.
Right if I get if I get all invested again,
You're You're not gonna break my heart. Oh no, I'm
not gonna break your heart. And then you get invested
and then they break your heart. And so I went
with the Bulldogs and he took the he took the Vikes.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Especially given the state of what's happening in college football
and the elevation of the SEC, I think that was
the right call. I think you made the right decision.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
I think I did too. But now, like in pro
the NFC North is like the SEC, and in the
NFC South it's kind of like the Sun Belt.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Now, yeah, there's a little easier nobody Wolves to win
the conference. Uh are they down? Are they near you
in Atlanta?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
What is the what is the game day ritual, So
let's go pro not college. Are they coming over? Are
you get like I have my nephew comes over. I
have an adult because I've got a big hillbilly family
where somehow I've got a nephew two years younger than me,
you know, and so he'll come over. We have you know,
we've got the multiple TVs for the multiple people rooting
(16:12):
for multiple teams. There's just curse words coming from different angles.
Do you guys get together or do you commiserate afterwards?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
It depends on how big the game is, because he's like,
if it's a really big one, he'll go into a shell.
And he's got a one year old and a three
year old, So I allow them to come over here
while I kind of clear space for him. I'm running
like his wing and he'll tell me, first of the wait,
(16:40):
look Sunday, I gotta have I gotta be all it.
Can you take the kids?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
You're his NFL babysitter wing man?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah? Yeah. And then but it's somewhat like if he
comes to our house, he has every TV in the
house on and he's he can't sit down. I've got
footage of him like when the Vikings win in the
last second. Well, I was with him in the car
the other day when he lost his mind. But this
(17:12):
dude like rips his shirt off, is out in the
front yard beatings, screaming skull. He loses his mind and
then like in was it eighteen? He eighteen? I can't
remember who they lost to. But he announced he was
(17:33):
going on a hunger strike. He was as down as
I've ever so, I literally, I mean, he's got a
bad Viking problem. So I went, this is how good
of a son in law. I went to Honey Baked
Ham and got him a Honey Baked Ham sandwich and
soup and took it over there.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
So he was sick.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
So yeah, like he has pneumonia because the Vikings lost,
and I'm in there like, dude, you got to eat
you got it.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
It's I remember I've told this probably on this show.
I've told it to other people. I was doing so
the one that got me ninety eight, I was so.
I was young. I was fifteen, And you think that
was such a special team. You remember them, You thought
you were gonna get blown out. I think everybody thought
this was the start. They didn't realize it was their
best chance at the mountaintop. You thought we're about to
(18:24):
go into ten years of Randy Moss mania. And so
that one hurt. But the one that like truly.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Hurt Barvan, New Orleans.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Barvan, New Orleans. It was farv and and I'm a
broken record, but I remember when he hit Sidney Rice
on a pattern up the middle and he crossed the
fifty yard line. I thought, I let myself believe it. Jeff,
I thought to myself, and I bet you've heard your
son in Las Ades ex actors. I thought to myself,
oh my god, we're going to the super Bowl. And
(18:55):
then when he missed that kick, I remember the next week.
You know, you remember from back in your club days.
I know the landscape has changed immensely, but there are
comedy clubs and then there are a few of those
clubs where you're like, I wait all year to perform
at this club, and one of them is Comedy on
State in Madison. So I have Comedy on State the
(19:17):
next week, and I go there and I felt like
someone broke up with me. That's how pathetic that I
felt like. I felt like my heart it's to this day,
it's my least fun comedy week at one of the
best clubs. But I just I didn't enjoy a thing.
I was miserable. Same thing. Pathetic, a pathetic excuse of
a person.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Well, when the Falcons twenty eight to three, and my
daughter looks at me this is the fourth quarter and
looks at me and says, start of the fourth quarter,
Oh my god, Dad, we're gonna win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
And then the Patriots come storming back. But then Ryan
connects with Julio Jones and we're now we're in field
goal range. Great, Julio catch. All we have to do
is run it three times and kick the field go backwards,
just don't go backwards. We pass it three straight downs
(20:14):
and he gets sacked twice, and you're like, all we
had to do was run the ball up the middle
three times in a row and kick the field goal.
So I and dude the next day, because you're probably
like me, if I'm in the car truck, I'm listening,
I got sports talking, and I've never seen anything like this.
(20:37):
This whole city was like it was dead. Like the
guy would come on and go, I don't have anything
to say. If anybody wants to call in, you can
call in and it would just be like dead air.
But yo, were I mean that year you guys, you
guys were the best team in the NFL that year.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yeah, yep, I think that's I think that's kind of
the travesty of some stuff. And I actually think this
about your ninety one Braves team. Now, you guys went
on to win a win a championship with one of
those nineties Braves teams. What was it ninety six? You
guys got one ninety.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Five, ninety five against the Indians. But but, and as
a lifelong baseball fan, I still say the ninety one
World Series is World Series of all time, best World
Series ever?
Speaker 1 (21:25):
What I don't and somebody who I fell off on baseball,
like I could write a ted talk about my frustrations
in the uh you know, but it looks like the
Twins are gonna have new owners. Like we're like, we're
heading a good direction again. But you're a little cute
who grows up with Kirby Puckett saying hop on my
back and hits that homer in six. But I don't.
(21:47):
It's not just the greatest World Series of all time
the Game seven. I watched it again as an adult.
It's greatest pitching performance, greatest game. It's it's everything.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Molts and Jack Morris in Game seven. Now, if Lonnie
Smith doesn't get deeked out at second base, we probably
win that game one to nothing.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
But Smoltz and Jack Morris were two warriors that night,
and I mean it was one of those when it ended,
I couldn't even get out of my chair. You're just like,
I'm exhausted. But it was so much fun because they
both were last place the year before.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Yep, and climbed up the ranks. You know, the thing
I like about baseball, and I love minor league baseball,
but the thing I love about baseball isn't necessarily the
baseball itself. It's a little corny, but I like the
romance of it. I don't think it's a coincidence that
baseball makes the best sports movies and by leaps and
(22:51):
bounds like a really long ways, and I just think
because there's something Baseball is this interesting collection of individual
sports masquerading as a team sport. It's a pitcher against
a batter, right, it's a guy catching the ball. It's
it's not so much connected in the same way the
other sports are and so I think when you have
a game like that Game seven, where you have Jack
(23:14):
Morris going ten innings and John Smoltz going the distance
and not giving up a single run, there's just something
so this is corny but soul touching and poetic about
something like that that it's almost hard to create moments
of tension like that in other games because of how
fast they move and how much the play intertwines.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
You know, I would agree, but like in football, like
you guys had one of those moments. So Cousins tears'
achilles and then it's like, what Hall's gonna start all the.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Dobbs things, you guys, Yes, And so Hall gets hurt
on the first drive, and.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
They bring in Josh Dopps, who's been with Minnesota for
like ten minutes. He doesn't he doesn't even know anybody's
name in the locker room, and he couldn't have known
the playbook. No, it was pretty much like O'Connell just said,
run here, throw there, backyard football. Just yeah, And you
(24:22):
had to be in the huddle going go, you go
five yards and turned towards the car, you go to
the Smith's front yard into a button hook and and
leads him down the field at the end of the game,
and they so, to me, that's that's a movie.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
No, that's it. That's a good point.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
But baseball is much more of a individual storyline thing
than football.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah you can. You are, like, I just the the
amount of affection I have for Jack Morris. It's almost
like I see this whole personality and backstory and I've
built so many narratives into a human man because of
one game I watched him pitch, as opposed to some
other sports where you just it's more about the physical
(25:10):
accomplishment of the moment, the mindset of what it takes
to have. In Game seven of the World Series, have
your manager be like, we're gonna send a reliever and
then you go, the hell you are, I'm going out,
and then you do it and you shut them. That's
wild to me.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Well, and John Smoltz is one of my best friends, and.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
So that's cool.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
And you know, he's always been honest about when he
had it and when he did and he's like, dude,
I had it that night, I had it, he said.
And then you realize, oh, hell, jack'scot it too, And
I mean that was just one for the ages It's
still my favorite World series of all time.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Does Smoltz look back. I'm always curious about because as
opposed to the Falcons loss or that Vikings fave intercept
where you feel like you did something wrong, Like when
you're that high level of an athlete, like you're one
of the greatest pitchers to ever walk out onto a
mound and you perform at your highest level and someone
just out high levels you by a Smith. Does he
(26:15):
walk away from that going, God, damn, I was just
a part of something special. Or does that burn in
a way that is unique?
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I think probably the former is in John. It doesn't
matter what you're doing. You could be playing ping pong
or whatever. He's he's the most competitive human being I've
ever I've ever been around. But he's like you just
kind of tip your hat that night, go, you know,
(26:45):
and what could have been? You decliney Smith out and
we end up with the bases loaded and nobody out
and don't score. I remember that summer I was playing up.
I was playing in many apples. I can't remember which club,
and I went out because the Twins were such a
(27:06):
story that summer and went out to the Old and
and all I remember is new smoking in the Metrodome
uh uh. And the way they announced Kirby Pucketgerby Pucket.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
It is forever cemented into every Minnesotan's brain.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
And and Dan Gladden out there with the official redneck
uh hair.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Dan Gladden looks like his dad was one of your
old albums. Uh. I want to ask you one more
question about Kirk and I'll get you out of here.
We appreciate you being a part of the show. Uh.
Kirk was so interestingly, I think divisive in the fan base,
(27:59):
Like if you were a part of the organization, you
know I've always said and you probably know this, knowing
that you know a little bit about him now that
he's in Atlanta. First class human being, right, yeah, first
class human being and an all time accurate arm right.
And where it gets muddy for the fan base is
the argument of kind of like what you were saying earlier,
(28:22):
and then you add on top of that, right, how
right you need things to do versus how off schedule
and whether you should have you know, the old line
needed there just gets into this big, never ending argument
and it kind of went from Washington, it followed him
to Minnesota, and it existed there. And what I am
curious at this moment is you guys walk into this game,
(28:43):
which is a you're right, Tampa's playing, Well, this is
a big game for you guys. It's a big game
for him.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
So let me ask you this. And I asked my
son and all of this last week. I said, is
he going to get booed when he gives back to Minnesota?
And he said, nah, Vikings fans aren't like that.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, they'll they'll they'll clap while whispering something negative in
their spouse's ear is what they will do. It's like, oh, well,
you're so great this guy is. You know, that's what
will happen. I will say, you hit it on the head.
Sam has played so well, They've built the rosters so well.
Anybody who's booing, like I think, if you didn't like Kirker,
(29:25):
didn't want Kirk, maybe you feel vindicated now. But anyone
who comes to boo to me, it's like, what do
you what it's like when Diggs left? But you got
justin Jefferson like let him let him go, let it,
let it, let it, let it live. So I think
you might even be surprised how warm of a welcome
he gets at the bank this weekend.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Yeah, Kirk. To me, it's and it's a little bit
like Georgia always has a pro style quarterback. I think
if Kirk probably would have had more success fifteen years
earlier because and Ai tipped my hat that he was
able to come back from the Achilles thing.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
But in the open but in the first game of
the season looked horrible. The whole team looked horrible. And
then I'm like, oh, it's going to be one of
these years where we're the worst team in football. And
then they kind of got it together and started playing
well and we're Okay, we're six and six. When we
lost three in a row, Hell, three weeks ago, we
(30:28):
were on top of the world. But same thing with Georgia.
I think football has changed and you have to be
at least semi mobile as a quarterback. And I think
back to like was friend Tarkinton forty years ahead of his.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Time, one hundred percent, because.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
He's one of the players for me being a little
kid that I just remember going, dang, you can't tackle
this guy. You know, he extends plays forever. And I
think that's no pun intended Kurt's Achilles hill is he
just can't move well.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
It's really interesting. History is funny. You grew up and
you saw those purple people leater teams. I think if
they win two or three of those Super Bowls, the
Vikings are considered, uh, you know, a cornerstone franchise. He's
considered one of the greatest quarterbacks. It's just funny how
that happens. But your other point, it's so interesting and correct.
(31:28):
You think about because I love basketball too, I'm a
big basketball guy, and I think about what if Reggie
Miller got to play in today's day and age with
the way he shot the ball back in the nineties
when they took three threes a game in that same way,
imagine if you pourted Kirk back to the Troy Aikman nineties,
(31:48):
where you had these big, bruising running games. You didn't
have all these motion offenses, all these college concepts that
have as the rules have changed, you know, offense has
become so dynamic and so strong. I think you're exactly right.
I think you put Kirk in the nineties and he's
probably a Jim Kelly type.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
I agree, I think he is. But like even with George,
I'm like, man, moving forward, we got to have a
quarterback that can move, you know. I mean, I don't
need him to rush for one hundred yards a game,
but he's got to be able to get outside of
the pocket and extend plays.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
And you look it out of the way.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Yeah. You you look at the the franchises that that
are doing well in the NFL, that all of them
have a quarterback that's mobile.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Yeah, it's uh. It is the way things have probably
permanently changed. I don't think they're going to go back
to guys who are like I'm going to stand here now.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I will tell you this as an outsider looking in Okay,
probably as a Vikings fan. It's it's a lifetime of frustration.
But I think other people look at y'all is one
of the top tier football teams because you have been
always think of the Vikings like the Vikings. Oh, the
(33:08):
Vikings are good. The Vikings are good. I never think
of them as a bad team. I always think of
the Vikings as being good. But it's like you get
right up to the top of the thing and then
find a way to.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Fall off the mountain. We hang out on the mountain,
but we like to fall.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Yeah, you guys, you've got that falcon thing where they
know how to break your heart. Yeah, you guys are
such good fans. You'll come back the next week and
you know, be right there.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
But we'll be right there cheering for Kirk. That's what
we'll be doing.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
But maybe this is the year. I mean, your defense,
your defense is so much better wild and this I
think this iteration of the Vikings, this team has hard.
You know, they could have folded last week, I think.
And and to me, that's the difference in great teams
(34:04):
and teams that aren't is having each other's back and
having that hard.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
In the belief in those moments that you're going to
figure it out.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
And I think this team has that more than the
Vikings have had in recent years. It's like, do you
not agree?
Speaker 1 (34:24):
I mean, I very much agree. I think I would
pair that with because I always say I think locker
rooms are sports. Locker rooms are unique places, and you
hear all these cliches and you think they're dumb, but
they actually believe them. And locker rooms take on a
personality of their own. And if you lose three close games,
next time you're in a close game and you think
(34:45):
that's who you are. And so I do think it's
a big deal that they have developed this persona. You know,
they blew a few teams out and now they've figured
out how to win gritty. The other thing I would
add on top of it is exactly what you said earlier.
They freed up all this money, but it's next year. Also,
(35:05):
this is a team that is ten and two, that
has a rookie quarterback on their roster that is a
very affordable contract that is about to walk into seventy
five million dollars of cap space. And so I'm very
very I'm enjoying every minute of the season and I'm
always the sky is falling, Jeff, But I have bought
in to I don't know a right place, right time,
(35:28):
right moment. We might go on a run and then
but it's gravy because I think the GM and the
organization is so strong that you use that seventy five
million bucks this offseason and you put a couple more
people on this team and we might be walking into
next year in a real big time window.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Dude, I don't think there's anybody that wouldn't take your head, coach.
I think O'Connell. I mean, what a great surprise. He's
been right, and hell I would take him today nothing again,
Raheem Morris. But I think he's going to be around
for a long time. And I I just feel like
(36:06):
you guys are on the on the right track.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Can I pitch you my Can I pitch you my
craziest theory because I'd be curious what you think about
this because we talked to a lot of people on
this show.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
It says, Okay, you have a fan brain that has
been permanently damaged over the years. But yes, I would
like to hear the theory.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
But see, we have people on the show and some
of them are fans. But you are You are a
You are clearly a deep than Oh yeah right, you
of of your Yeah, you're a I'm gonna be you
take this word however you would like. But you're a maniac.
I can see it, I can feel it, I can
sense it as one of my own. I have a
(36:47):
maniac radar. So I'll pitch this to you and you
won't think I'm telling you the moon landing was fake.
I have been waiting for a coach and an organization
and to break the quarterback structure in the NFL, right,
(37:07):
because again this is salary cap, right, the salary cap rule,
and you know quarterbacks. Now there's this thing where in
the last however many years, the only quarterbacks, the only
teams that have won a Super Bowl with a quarterback
that makes more than twelve percent was Brady one year,
and then Mahomes a couple times because he's Mahomes. That's
ever since the salary cap started. People don't they don't
(37:28):
realize salary cap started right around the time Tom Brady
started going. And then he took a cheap deal because
of his model wife every year and cruised with awesome rosters.
You know, tough thing about being a GM or a
head coach is you screw up, You're gone. Right, There's
not a lot of franchises like you know, the Vikings
(37:49):
are very supportive franchise, the Steelers, where the leash is
a little longer. I've been waiting for a coach who goes.
I don't care about having a Hall of Fame quarterback.
What I'm gonna do is either take a reclamation project
or a second, third or fourth round draft pick every
single year. And I'm such a good quarterbacks coach that
(38:11):
I am gonna work that guy through his cheap deal,
and then I'm gonna find another one, and I'm gonna
keep doing that. And tell I, if I get a
Mahomes someday, obviously I'm gonna keep the Mahomes or a
Josh Allen. I thought Harbaugh might do it in San
Francisco when he was cycling through guys. Kevin O'Connell, like
we're playing in the fantasy world. He is so highly
(38:32):
respected and so good at quarterbacks. I have the belief
that give him a good roster and give him any
quarterback he won with Josh Dobbs just saying plays into
his headset. He I don't think anyone will ever do it.
But if anyone was meant for that crazy break the
salary cap quarterback thing, it is Kevin O'Connell.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
It is. But to your point, I'm not sure that's
a great thing. And you know I had a I had,
We had Michael Vick, you know, which is like one
of the first guys to break the bank. Yes, we
ended up running the team because we had no money
for anything else. But I, like, I wasn't excited when
(39:15):
y'all took McCarthy and then like when you started playing
exhibit and I'm like, holy cow, look what Donald has
done with McCarthy. I think that's one of the saddest
things of the year. I was excited to see what
he could have become because I think you're right. I
(39:35):
think if you've got and and that's O'Connell's biggest strength
is he's so good with quarterbacks. And I don't think
you need to have my homes to win it. But
because look what, all right, so you take all the
Kirk's money off the books and and look what Florida's
did with the defense. I mean, you are a much
(40:00):
more complete team this year than you were last year
because you freed up so much money.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
I'll always put the money in uh in defense always
that is that is my dumb guy brain, give me
all the defenders.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Well, as a Georgia Bulldog fan, defense wins championships and
it still does. And if you look at twenty one
and twenty two, that's how Georgia won the Natty. Because
your offense doesn't need to score forty points a game.
(40:36):
Put together an offense that's good enough to score twenty
four game and you're probably gonna win most times.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
And it's I always think it's easier to play offense
when the game is tilted your direction as opposed to
defense when it's tilted your direction, because they're still trying
to come back, so make it make it easier when
you do that. Jeff, you're the king. This is great now, dude, I.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Have enjoyed it. This is one of those weeks where
I can't really lose. I mean, if the Falcons win,
I'm happy because then maybe we But if the Bikes win,
my son in law is going to be so happy.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
So well, I hope your son in law ends up happy.
This meant a ton to us, Jeff, this was fantastic.
I really really appreciate it. Thank you for spending time
with us.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
Okay, thanks Sed, you've bet all right. Great care of y'all.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
And hey, thank you guys for listening to our podcast
feed well you're here. Give us a review, a rating.
It helps out a ton and also big thanks to Ticketmaster,
the official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings, for helping
make this show happen. We'll see you again next week
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