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December 29, 2021 76 mins

Subscribe, Rate & Review the Wrighster or Wrong podcast right here.  On this episode of Wrighster or Wrong, George Wrighster and Ralph Amsden rank the 15 the biggest sports stories of 2021. Topics include Henry Ruggs DUI fatality, Kyrie Irving's vaccination work stoppage, Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka's boundaries, Jon Gruden's emails, Tom Brady in Tampa Bay, NFL Quarterbacks and vaccine hesitancy, the NCAA coaching carousel and transfer portal, Name, Image and Likeness money, Texas and Oklahoma leaving for the SEC, Cincinnati making the College Football Playoff, Tiger Woods' accident and recovery, athletes caught up in insurance and PPE fraud, the rise of Bubba Wallace, and the NBA's list of the 75 greatest players of all time.

And they talk about the life and legacy of John Madden.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thunderstruck adjective shocked and amazed by the power of fun
on Carnival Riding Bolt, the world's first roller coaster, would
see probably and got funderstruck so hard his ninety three
year old grandmother felt it three thousand miles away in
Nebraska and immediately booked the cruise. Get Funderstruck starting at
two nine Carnival shoes on cruiser ring must not was

(00:25):
pro person, double documency, Texas fees and port expense aditional
restricts and apply for detail on Carnival dot com. Strips
Red Street, Bahamas, Panama. You ready to check your feelings
at the door. This is am I Rice Ster or
am I wrong? We're bringing you facts and only the
truth now, am I Rice Ster? Or am I wrong?

(00:46):
Twenty twenty one was boil Boy Crazy Crazy Year. We're
gonna go over the fifteen biggest sports moments in one.
We're gonna rank them down to ft, down to one
and uh a beloved sports figure John Madden he passes

(01:07):
away and his impact on life, on sports, on video games,
and so much more. I'm George Rice Stir, He's Ralph
Amazon and this is Rice Stir or wrong. The intersection
where sports, business, society, and pop culture meet the truth,
absolute fire on Monday's, Wednesdays and Friday's Facts Only. Make

(01:28):
sure you check your feelings at the door, because nobodys
is allowed. We keep in one hundred. Thank you guys
for joining us today. Make sure that you leave a
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on YouTube, leave a thumbs up, share with a friend,
tell a friend about the show, and um you guys
can hit us up eight one eight two nine three

(01:50):
seven five four seven. That's eight two nine three seven
five four seven, And you can also shoot us an email.
I'm mad at Unafraid show dot com. So Ralph, Christmas
has now passed, it isn't The new year is upon us.
How was your Christmas? How was your Christmas? By the way,

(02:11):
it was really good, man, it was really good. Uh family,
family was great. Kids where kids were happy. Probably fell
into like my kids are probably falling into that spoiled
kids category. Um so so that's a little troubling for me.
So yeah, so that's all. I love watching kids open

(02:33):
Christmas gifts. I hate the afternoon of Christmas after they
like didn't sleep good the night before they've been eating
like absolutely terrible, so they're like a little bit tired.
And then one person wants to play with somebody else's gift.
And then just Christmas afternoon. Just what time do your
kids get up on Christmas? Now? They got up before set,

(02:58):
like before six thirty this year, and and and then
and then they come in and wake you guys up.
Let's up in presents. Yes, yeah, they were pretty good.
They were pretty good. My oldest. My oldest delayed the
whole thing by about twenty minutes because he wouldn't get
out of bed, which I appreciated. It's nice to see
them kind of getting to that age. But no, man,

(03:20):
they're early risers and they wanted to get going right away.
Oh see see that's the way they are, the younger
that they are. Right, So we have a blended family.
So two of the kids didn't get there till eleven,
so that already pushed things back. So there were there's
eleven o'clock, and then there was um but we didn't

(03:41):
actually open presents to like two because we're waiting on
my nephew. Then we're waiting on my auntie. And then
everybody got so hungry at that point, so then everybody
was like, listen, we'll just eat first, and the and
the kids are fifteen, eleven, ten, and two, So the

(04:02):
two year old doesn't know what's going on, because he
would be the one that would wake everybody up and
be like, yo, it's kids. It's like, let's go. So
he probably I'm not sure whether that starts at three
or four, but he'll probably start that soon, you know
what I mean. And uh so, but but the older
kids are just kind of like, yeah, we'll kind of
get to it when we get to it, right, right,

(04:26):
And it's I mean, it's it's like kids haven't been
spending a bunch of time indoors for the last two years,
probably playing with whatever gifts would have been given to them,
uh exactly this time, exactly exactly. And these are kids
that are not wanting for anything in their normal life,
so they're probably like, a, yeah, well we'll get some

(04:48):
nice things, but you know, this won't be a you know, like,
it's not a situation to where there's no video game
console in in the house and then all of a
sudden you get a PlayStation and you're like, yeah, no,
it was remember that. I absolutely remember that yeah, I
don't know if my kids are gonna have that same

(05:11):
that same experience. Yeah. I just don't think they don't
have to wait for very much. They really don't. Yeah,
all right, well we kept you guys waiting long enough
for the countdown of the biggest sports Moments of twenty
twenty one. The biggest sports moments, I mean, and there

(05:31):
was a laundry list of things that could have that
could have made the list. I mean, there was so
much that that happened. There was the Olympics that was
obviously big, which it was played under you know, COVID.
There was uh yeah, the Lebron James coming out with

(05:54):
Space Jam. I thought that was big and cool. Uh.
Janice went in this first title, you know, the Ben
the Ben Simmons, I don't want to think about. Oh,
you didn't even want to put yours on the list
because I forgot it broke their heart, did um And

(06:15):
then there was Ben Simmons versus the seventies sixers because
that that's still not resolved. But the fact that the
team is willing to, you know, like sacrifice their own
well well being is absolutely crazy. Um So, but now
we're gonna start on the list, and so coming in

(06:39):
at number fifteen, we have Henry Ruggs. Henry Ruggs had
a car crash obviously in in last Las Vegas during
the football season. This year, he's facing like fifty years
in jail. He was doing a hundred and fifty les

(07:00):
pro hour, killed the young lady driving and like that
just sparked such a huge debate about you know, personal responsibility,
how did he live drunk driving? All of these things.
So I think that that's why it made the Biggest
Sports Moments list for us in Yeah, I mean we're

(07:26):
talking about two years national championship. Alibata ran one of
the top three fastest forty times history of recording forty
dads and biggest vertically his entire drink class. Um. He

(07:46):
this somebody could have put together over the course of
a career, potentially a Hall of Fame career just with
tools that he had, and it looked like he was
starting to find his way and that raised offense and
now here we are, um and he's facing fifty years
in jail instead, And it's incredible how quickly things can
just turn on a diamond. We'll see if this has

(08:08):
an overall impact on Um, the sports world, you would
figure that drunk driving would be a thing of the past,
but it just continues to be an issue. Um, year
after year we see see athletes getting pulled over for
stuff like this, and and it's hard to say that
they're fortunate for getting pulled over, but you can see
what the result can be and somebody's driving recklessly and

(08:32):
also inebriated. Yeah, that that was absolutely just I remember
waking up to it and you were just like what
And then as the images came out, it was just
it was heartbreaking to see what happened to that, to
that young lady and knowing the impact of because and

(08:52):
I know that I probably sound weird here, because this
has been like like the Henry Rugg situation and the
Air and Hernandez situation, but more so to Aeron Hernandez situation.
And a lot of people were saying, oh, Georgia, you
feel bad for Aeron her Nandez, And I was like, yeah,

(09:13):
for some reason, I did, like just the but it
was just the idea that you go from not not
not that people should be immune from consequences, but just
the idea that you go from living your life one
particular way to all of a sudden, its going to
complete opposite, you're in jail. Like Henry Ruggs is going
to jail. It's just a matter of for how long.

(09:36):
And there are some mandatory minimum so the minimum amount
of time I think he can spend in jails like
six years. So he's going away, and this is just
a matter of like, I don't know, man, this this
story impacted me probably a lot more than it did
a lot of other people. Yeah, I mean it's it's

(09:57):
not like this is the only UM incident involving an
athlete in which, you know, somebody passed away this last year,
but it was uh, twenty two year old first round pick. Yeah,
and that's gonna be something that people it's always unfulfilled
potential that makes things the biggest story with the biggest impact.

(10:19):
But you also had situations like former NFL quarterback Philip Adams,
you know, thirty minutes south of me and rock Hill,
South Carolina, UM gunning down six people, uh and including children,
and then come to find out that his brain was
you know, addled with UH with CT which came out
in the last couple of weeks, and so um, you know,

(10:42):
unfortunately you put any industry under scrutiny, you're going to
discover that people have substance abuse issues, domestic violence issues,
mental illness, and stuff like that. But we cover professional
and college sports leagues, and so when something like this happens,
you know, people want to try to say that there's
some type of theme or that these are bad people.
But you know, this is a twenty two year old

(11:03):
with his entire life ahead of him, a couple of
very terrible decisions, of which were worse than a lot
of other people who make those same terrible decisions. We're
gonna be left wondering for the rest of Henry Ruggs life,
for the rest of our lives, what could have been
in that situation. And that's what's truly trapped. Yeah, and uh,
number fourteen on the list. This is a combination of

(11:26):
PPE fraud and fraud against the against the hr A
systems for the NBA and the NFL. So this will
I'll let you start with the with with the PPE
part of it. Ralph right, right, So, uh, when when

(11:49):
um the pandemic, basically when the pandemic goes at full force,
keeping people home and from working there. It was a
lot of small business owners that be facing the biggest
issue potentially losing their businesses altogether. And so the government
made this, you know, these loans available that if you

(12:10):
met certain criteria that you wouldn't even have to pay back,
and it was meant to help you meet payroll and
to help you hit regular business expenses, not to go
on vacation, not to buy like cars or boats or
or or do anything like that, not even to help
them keep the economy afloat. That's what the UM disbursements were.
PPE was specifically meant to hold your business over while

(12:33):
we all worked together as a country to stop the
spread of covid um. But the ease of which you
could access that PPE funding lad a lot of people,
not just athletes, to uh to fraudulently partake in that program.
And the government is going around round and people up
right now and they're wrapping a lot of athletes up.

(12:55):
In the process. We're finding out that a lot of
athletes with side businesses decided to dip into PPE funding
to help keep things afloat, some of which did it
legitimately and others just did it to have some cash
on hand. And we got some college athletes that are
caught up in it, including up we're formerly at usc

(13:19):
Acclaim Brothers. Um. And then you have you know, some
some professional athletes and retired professional athletes as well that
have gotten in some trouble for the amount that they
took out of the program, guys like Brett Farve, who
I think took up to four million dollars or something. Um.
That that in particular has been very interesting. You've seen
people have stuff back, you know, other people just arrested. Yeah,

(13:42):
So I think we're going to continue to see fallout
from this. But when you're when you you're gonna have
players getting caught in white color stuff. And white color
stuff is a lot harder to get, yeah, because because
the fans don't try you until you are nailed to
the wall. But um. But now on the healthcare fraud
side of things, as we're still on number fourteen of

(14:04):
the biggest sports moments of the year, you had eighteen
NBA guys arrested, cluting, Sebastian Telfair, Big Baby, Glenn Davis,
Tony Allen, Shannon Brown, UH and over on the NFL,
Clinton Portis UH and a bunch of other guys who
defrauded the hr A system which allows the leagues to

(14:26):
pay for medical equipment, uh devices, doctor's appointments, all of
these things after your career is over with. And they
decided that they were going to take that money and
well did that they were going to fraudulent, fraudulently say
that they bought things like hyperbaric machines other things that

(14:47):
cost ten thousand dollars and they would buy them. They
would buy them and then the re reimbursement and then
they'd sell the item. Yeah. So yes, so that's a
that's a huge no no, all right, Number thirteen we
have this is this was big because a lot of

(15:11):
people never thought that it would happen and a lot
of you know, ship got talked about this man after
the whole news incident in and that's Bubba Wallace. He
won his first NASCAR Cup Series race and he is
like the only black driver in the Black Cup in
the Cup Series right now. And obviously he was there

(15:36):
was a controversy that happened at Talladega last year once
that when a news was found in his garage. But
now he's with he's with the Jordan's brand and then
he ended up willing Um winning at Talladega too, So
that was a that was a huge moment I think

(15:57):
for for NASCAR, which is trying to change its image,
get rid of the Confederate flags and the and the
mindset of the people in there, to be more inclusive
and to actually have a black man win, I thought
was absolutely outstanding for what the sport needs is to
get more people of color, not just black people, whether

(16:17):
it's Latino, Asian, um, Middle Easter, whatever, into the sport,
because that's truly the only way to sport's gonna grow. Right.
But he's still got eight ers, he and and you know,
race race stuff aside, there's still people that believe that
Bubba Wallace is not legitimate and doesn't have a legitimate win.

(16:38):
Yet he has a second place finish at Daytona that
was actually a third place um that according to like
some mechanical technicality, he got bumped up the second and
his win actually happened, uh when the race was ended
due to rainfall, which happens quite a bit. So, I mean,
there's a lot of people who have gotten wins that way.

(16:58):
But the fact that he's still hanging around, the fact
that he's got you know, three dozen top ten finishes
the fact that he's got he's a legitimate driver. Yeah,
oh absolutely, and he's got the backing of Michael Jordan
and Denny Hamlin, he got the McDonald's sponsorship. Like there,
there is gonna be no reason for him to not

(17:19):
is most successful you're racing, and it hasn't. By the
time we come back around this time next year, it'll
be a big disappointment because he has got all the
backing you could ever want, because NASCAR obviously requires talent
and NASCAR IndyCar f one, but people know that you don't.
That you're driving doesn't come into the biggest part to

(17:41):
play in terms of you winning and losing unless you
have the machines to do it. Um all right now
number twelve on the list of the biggest sports moments
In one we have the transfer portal. This is in
college football. The transfer portal has become absolutely just like

(18:05):
just crazy. I was looking at numbers yesterday and since
um and since the beginning of one oh no sorry,
since August first, the amount of kids that have gone
in the portal from Power five schools and haven't gotten

(18:27):
out is ridiculous. Like we're we're talking about thirty percent
of kids not getting out of the portal like there.
I have continuously said, because kids they think that the
the grass is greener on the other side of the street,
but it ain't. Like a lot of times you're going

(18:47):
to a situation that you don't fully know, don't fully understand,
and you think it's gonna be that much better than
your last situation situation, and these kids they go places
they don't I'm sorry, they up into portal, they don't
for sure have a destination and then they end up
just you know, just in a bad spot. It sucks.

(19:09):
I think the most fascinating thing about the transfer portal
because the transfer portal was really designed um to allow
for athletes wanted an opportunity to play elsewhere, but we're
buried on the depth to go embrace that opportunity somewhere else.
I think the interesting for the transfer portal in is

(19:32):
it's actually people who were starting who didn't play well
under that coaching staff, within that scheme um or at
that school that are actually leaving. You have Keaton Slow
started most of the season for you see in the portal,
Spencer Rattler, who started half the season and got bench
to Oklahoma went in the portal. You had the starting

(19:55):
quarterback at Texas jump into the portal. You had people
who got starts um at LSU go into the Are
you surprised by that that that so many starters leave,
because yes, yescause this is not how the portal was
supposed to be used. No, no, it was if you
didn't already have your spots secured. And it's actually people

(20:19):
who have UH their spot and maybe maybe there's competition
for it, maybe they haven't performed up to their standards
or what they believe that they can do. That are
thinking that a change of scenery and the fact that
they've already gotten film as a starter will allow them
to UH to be better positioned to do better. You
just saw Wyoming's Levi Williams in the portal after losing

(20:43):
the starting job two years in a row but having
two play due to in He ran for two d
yards and scored four rushing touchdowns in a bowl game
and went into the portal. The next day. Guy that
beat him out both years also jumped into the portal.
They both started games, and they're both in the portal
trying to look elsewhere for something else out there. It's
absolutely nuts and ridiculous. But I'm not going to tell

(21:04):
them that they can't do what they should. Absolutely have
the freedom to move around. But now you're gonna see
guys like Bonus and started for four years at Atburn
try his hand to unseat an up and coming five
star at Oregon. And the whole thing is it makes
for incredible storylines. But for people who like to see
players stick around for three or four years, graduate from
an institution, and rep that institution, um, you know as

(21:28):
they go on through the rest of their professional career
in either business or sports, this is uh, this is
a real conundrum, and I do think that it will
hurt some of the loyalty to college football as well
as fans go oh oh oh. For sure, they are
definitely looking at this saying, bro, what what the hell

(21:48):
is happening to the sport that I I knew that
all this was bad for cause football paying the players name, image,
enlightenings and I'm just like and transfer portal, but see
all of problems with it. I blame on the n
C double A. They could have done something differently, Like
they had so much time to actually fix this situation

(22:10):
and do something different about it, but they didn't, and
now fans are the ones who are paying the price
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(22:33):
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Healthcare an equal Opportunity employer all right. Number eleven on
the Biggest moments in sports of one, Number eleven Cincinnati

(22:56):
Bearcats actually making the top four in the playoff. There's
so many people, Oh see, look, we don't need to change,
We need to stay it for Look, Cincinnati finally got in. Listen.
It took other teams collapsing for Cincinnati to get in.
It took Baylor losing, Oregon losing, Ohio, Ohio State losing.

(23:23):
It took all of these magical events happening To get
Notre Dame winning out out there one game took Houston
having one of the best years in school history, SMU
having one of the years in the last three decades,
and both of them being in Cincinnati's conference. Almost everything
had to play perfectly for this to happen. But it

(23:44):
wasn't in their hands. Correct. That that's concerning is that
Cincinnati is deserving of being a playoff team. Wasn't a
took multiple teams, just like CF was. Who who has
beat the last three Power five teams that they played
so and people like, oh, yeah, well, well, well maybe

(24:06):
maybe next year, like it took Cincinnati having a good
year last year to build enough momentum for this year
when each individual season should be judged on its own merit,
right and even then, when the coaches in the media
agreed that Cincinnati was a top four team the initial
college football playoff, Frankis came out had the money outside
looking at yep a number ten, our good old friend COVID.

(24:33):
COVID absolutely not not just its impact on the sports world,
because we got fans back and stands in through social
distancing and then they large and then crowd started to
be able to fully pay in and but this has
actually turned a lot of quarterbacks into scientists. You got

(24:56):
Aaron Rodgers who's on Patent McAfee's show, acting like a
science every week. You have Kirk Cousins, you have Josh Allen,
you have uh Carson Wentz, all Cold Beasley, all these dudes,
all these Yeah. But but the crazy part it's not
even just them. You have Vantes Sweat, Uh mom, I'm sorry,

(25:21):
Montes Sweat. You got the dude from the Orlando Magic
like so many players, Kyrie Irving. All these dudes turned
into scientists. But this is just a microcosm of what's
going on in the in the world at large. So
you have all these people that are like, I did
my own research. I've always struggled with that did my

(25:43):
own research people, because what did you research and how
did you research it? Because you're not a scientist. I mean,
I understand being being skeptical of science, especially when so
much money is but behind stuff. I legitimately understand that.
But the idea though that that listen I did my
own research. How no, you didn't you actually listen to

(26:06):
somebody else's research. And now you're taking that as gospel
over actual scientific research. So I understand the skepticism of
big when big money is behind things, but I also
reject that I did my own research when you did it.
You just read other things that other people wrote. But

(26:28):
I think the thing, the thing that we're getting at
is one of the biggest stories of is this theme
that quarterbacks the smartest people on the field, the ones
who make things work. They seem to be the ones
that are the most vocal in either code being UM,

(26:49):
COVID vaccinations being a complete private issue, or in not
wanting to get vaccinated at all. As far as if
if you just extrapolate the amount of the the amount
of comments and unbacked and needed players at one single
position in the NFL, it has to be genuinely surprizing
that run into um that we run into quarterbacks being
at the forefront of this. I want to ask you, George,

(27:11):
is it because of the demographics that quarterbacks come from,
is because they're taught to naturally be people who kind
of overthink situations. What is it about the coctition that
seems to lend itself to people being the most skepable
of of vaccinations I think smart guys typically are like

(27:34):
very smart, and they and they're naturally curious, right, and
they're like, oh, you know, I mean, and they're they're
constantly doing like in their regular life for their job,
Like this is one of those your strengths flowing the
saying well as your weaknesses. Your job naturally is to

(27:55):
like people are always trying to trick you on your
normal job. They're always trying to trick you, and you're
trying to diagnose and figure out where the truth is.
And sometimes the truth is sitting right in front of
your face, but they're it's so used to trying to
figure out who's lying to them that sometimes that that
causes great issue for them in their own personal life

(28:16):
and particularly when it comes to COVID. Yeah, it definitely
would have been interesting to see how different the NFL
looked if if quarterbacks had come out and sort of
a united front saying that like, this is what's actually
gonna allow to play football for the type of money
that we made, for the hands that we love, for

(28:37):
the cities that we live in, is if we're all
united on this one thing. For Kirk Cousins, like rather
wear masks can get vaccinated for Lamar Jackson. It was
you know, I've had COVID four hundred times, what do
I need a vaccine for? Which? Which is one of
those things that him and Michael Porter Jr. Yeah, But

(28:57):
and then you get to uh. Then you get to
Aaron Rodgers, who actually had some legitimate issues but that
was deceptive with the media and has decided to like
dump down on on his uh missteps and justify them
through his intellectual usings on the Pat McAfee show. Well,

(29:17):
how about this very interesting to me. How about the
idea though, the other big idea that's come out of
one is listen, I can have my own opinion, You
can have your own opinion. Why can't we just disagree
on on on facts or or our opinions because some
people go to listen, Well, my opinion is actually backed

(29:39):
up by science and it's a fact. And and I
think that some people that they understand and are skeptical
of the moving target right because they're like, yo, year
ago is one thing. Now it says you keep changing it.
And but I see I look at it as that's

(29:59):
the natural progression because things that you thought were true.
I mean, like we are dealing with like people learn
first getting fire for the for the first time. Oh,
so you figure out how to make fire. You're like, okay,
oh wait, oh it's hot. Wait okay, So how do
you put put a fire out? Oh? You throw water

(30:20):
on it? Oh oh my god, but this is a
grease fire. Oh my god, I threw water and now
now it's there for Yeah, therefore, no water should ever
be used on any fire. Correct. So you that is
a situation. Yeah, so you're so. Then you have to
learn how to control the fire, how to how to
use fire for good, but also fire can be used

(30:40):
for a bad. It can be used to boil water,
it can used to cleanse things, but it also can
be used as destructive forces too. So I think that
we're in a situation where we're learning all sorts of
stuff about life and about COVID and it's and yes,
it is a moving target, because it's literally a moving target.

(31:02):
I would say very few people have surprised me on
who I knew them to be as people and what
their ideology and value systems would be versus where they
ended up on the spectrum of whether or not you
should comply with certain government regulations. Get a vaccine, get boosters, etcetera.
It's all. There have been very few people that have

(31:25):
surprised me. Um. There are a lot of people who
are I need all the information, people who gathered information
and then made a decision. There are a lot of
people who are not in my life, who are naturally skeptical,
who have continued to be skeptical. Um. There are a
lot of small business owners in my life whose small
businesses were inconvenienced by government regulations. Therefore they have begun

(31:47):
to decide on the side of anything that that small
business owners you know, would typically be about. Uh. And
then there's people I know who are extremely trusting of
the federal government and have been on that side no
matter what. And the whole thing has been very, very
fascinating to me. But the one thing that I cannot

(32:07):
been able to wrap my mind around is why there
are certain things within like leaves like the nfl UM
as far as like who's skeptical of what and why
not that you shouldn't be skeptical, but the idea that
the idea that it's everybody else who's the sheep, when
all of your counter arguments are also the exact same

(32:31):
it's like their truth is there aren't too many original
thoughts out there. We're all getting them from somewhere. Yep,
right now. Number nine on the top big on the
biggest moments in sports. In the college football coaching carousel,
this was crazy. You had Lincoln Riley leave Oklahoma, leave

(32:55):
Oklahoma and go to USC. Oklahoma's a off. You don't leave.
Brian Kelly left Notre Dame and went to l s U.
You don't leave Notre Dame. It's Notre freaking Dame. Um
Mario Cristo Ball left Oregon to go to my Miami
after four hundred million dollars were injected into the program

(33:19):
through COVID, Like it's like the landscape of college football
and coaching. It's just mind blowing. Like the money is
getting even more outrageous these extensions, but it's just getting
It's getting to be a lot. Ralph. Do you think

(33:41):
get think too much? Getting too much? Yes? Yes, Well see,
I don't care how much you pay a college football coach.
I've never had a problem with how much because I
think the free market bears what it a bears, right,
So I don't think there should be a cap on coaches.
But what I do think that schools make a grave
mistake is is rewarding coaches who have a good season,

(34:06):
especially with somebody else's staff, with a huge contract, and
then because they think that they're gonna get a buy
out that is going to be prohibitive enough to to
stop somebody from taking their their coach, and that's not
the truth. And all you've done is guaranteed a whole

(34:28):
bunch of money to a dude that you may turn
around and have to fire a year or two later.
There have been in the last ten years over half
a billion dollars paid in coaching buyouts from coaches being
fired what like Like it's insane, like these golden parachutes
for for for guys who aren't performing. So I think

(34:50):
that that's the biggest thing that I would change about it.
And no coach is safe. You could lose your coach
on a run to the college football Playoff the way
that Notre Dame just did. You could lose your coach
after orchestrating two high campaigns, two number one picks, um

(35:14):
multiple NFL starting quarterbacks, and a bunch of top five
recruiting classes in a row. Oklahoma, did you can corner
the market on Pack twelve recruiting at Oregon and still
get stolen away by your your alma mater. It's it is,
It's insane. It's insane, and so um. I don't think

(35:35):
anybody should feel too safe or two attached to their
coaches unless that coach like went to that school. Um,
they could be plucked, they absolutely could. Why not? Yeah? Absolutely? Um? Absolutely, dude,
this is absolute insanity. What what has happened? But this

(36:01):
is the world that we live in. Uh, number eight
on the Biggest Moments in sports in the NBA seventy
five came out, and the NBA seventy five came out.
It just sparked a debate about people like, uh, Anthony Davis,
Dwight Howard, other people, and Thompson Clay Thompson. Yes, I

(36:26):
and I am still floored that Bill Walton is on
the list, that Anthony Davis, despite how talented he is,
is on the list. I just hated it, dude. I
hated it. Hated it. Hated it because Clay Thompson should
have been on the list, and more importantly, Dwight Howard
should have been on the list. Dwight Howard, how do

(36:47):
you not put Dwight Howard on the list. That is insane.
He's one of the greatest defensive players in the history
of the NFL or NBA either. Oh sorry, yeah, in
the In the NBA, what I'm not thinking about? All right,
can you imagine Dwight Howard out there playing linebacker or

(37:08):
d dan Dude, he would be Myles Garrett. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
but like eight inches taller. Oh man, No, the NBA
seventy five cool because I love stuff like that. NBA
fifties and like one of the most fun lists, um
of my childhood. You remember being completely obsessed with it.
But like the idea, I'm still to this day trying

(37:30):
to figure out how they got Bill Walton on that
one list. Like basketball in general, basketball in general, one
of the most seventy five most important people to ever live.
As far as basketball in general, you can make an
argument that he's a top five college basketball player of
all time. But in the NBA, you can't even put

(37:50):
his resume up against Dwight have You can't. You can't
even put it up against Wat Howards um without it
just being embarrassingly one sided. And in Dwight having somebody
who didn't make the list and so very very very
interesting to me. And I do not wait till five
years from now when we do this again. Yep, absolutely, dude.

(38:11):
I can't wait either because it's always fun because there
there will be new players who go on the list
and more players that fall off the list. Trouble Trouble
Um number seven Tiger Woods car crash and then subsequent
return with Charlie Woods. This was a story from my
belief February and where Tiger Woods fell down a hill

(38:35):
like this turned into such a huge controversy. Dude. You
had Tiger Woods, people not knowing whether he was gonna
live or die. Like the crash looks so bad. You
understand how fast he was traveling, where he was traveling.
Then the investigation and the lack of you know, because
people wanted a toxicology report, all sorts of things and

(38:57):
they didn't get it. Yeah, it's created a major sport
because of Tiger Woods. Had died, this would have been
a crazy story like the arc of his life because
the documentary about him came out as well. When you
understood more about Tiger Woods, his his relationships and the
scandal that followed. Yeah, there was just a lot and

(39:19):
he was a guy. He would have been a guy
who there would have been a lot of tales about
and now he gets a chance to rewrite his own
history right. And it was you know, it was four
years off his his d O I R S which
had come back into the news based on the fact
that you know, a document had come out illustrating how

(39:40):
um how is traumatic the right word that his the
path that led him uh to be a prodigy was
pushed by his father Earl to reach the heights that
that he was there there was a lot in there
that would really shape you um uh in an interesting
aner will say it that way. So there wasn't a

(40:02):
lot of the last two times that that Tiger Woods
had been involved in uh and an incident in his vehicle.
It became a major national scandal. So I think that's
what people expected to happen. Um. The fact that he
was able to recover from it and that he is
you know, just has the ability to kind of be
a father in public is really cool. Although Joy, I

(40:25):
will admit to you and this is not something that
we we we had a chance talked to about on
the show. I was a little bit put off all
of the press coverage of him with his son. It
really felt like that we didn't learn a ton of
lessons from how much we glorified Tiger and shoved him
out into the spot that you know that actually can

(40:46):
create damage for somebody who who has to then live up.
I didn't even think all these people tweeting clips and
pictures of his son and videos of his son and
saying we're rooting for him to become one of the
best of all time. It felt to me like if
Britney Spears had a daughter and we just said, like,
we can't wait for that album to drop, Like, man,
I think we better back off when them that it

(41:07):
happen naturally. Well, yeah, but isn't that tough though, isn't
that tough? He is Tiger woods son. He's playing in
a golf tournament with Tiger. He's clearly freaking good. But
the but the thing that people don't know that happened
behind the scenes is there was a huge controversy that

(41:28):
was developing with Tiger Woods and Nike during that tournament
because his son had on Puma's during the tournament and
Tiger and the Nike people were irate. They wanted they
were like, yo, we he's got his own logo. We've
been working with him, and he's like, bro, I'm sponsored

(41:51):
by Nike. Charlie is not, so you need to earn
his business. And they're they're like, yo, but you have
a building at Nike, Homie. And but then it turns
out Tiger was also upset at them pro rating his
salary while he was um injured as well. So there's

(42:16):
more to it, bro appearances and stuff like that. Yeah,
I don't know. It just it's never. It can't ever
just be a nice moment of a father and son,
Like we're already talking about you are a businessman, and
yeah and I and again just watching all these people
tweet videos of Tiger's son, like, look, look how one
candied is. I bet he's gonna be the best. I'm like, man,

(42:38):
just let it happen, Just chill and let it happen.
He can't. I don't even expect him to be his dad.
If he turns out to be a PGA golfer who
is like a winning golfer, wins a couple of times
a year, maybe not a major, but just wins a
couple of times a year, that's an absolute win right right, Yeah,

(42:59):
I mean, I do think that like the kids that
I always thought, maybe it's because they grew up, and
it's possible if they were five six years younger, it
would have been madness. But Michael Jordan's kids, you know,
a couple of them had a little bit of success
on the basketball court, but no one was ever expecting
them to be Mike. Yeah, well, well I think I

(43:20):
think that people thought. I mean, but but it's the
same thing like Brownnie and Bryce, who my kids go
go to school with, Like they're good players, but they're
not Lebron. Brownie is not Lebron. He's not. Is he
a good player? Absolutely? Is he his father? No, he's not.

(43:42):
So I think that that's to be taken in and
understood that that if they turned out to be good
college players, that doesn't mean that they are terrible. That
doesn't mean that they are anything less than what they're
actually supposed to be. Right. Number six on the biggest
moments in sports in Texas and Oklahoma going to the SEC,

(44:08):
leaving the Big Twelve going to the SEC. Now the
SEC will have a huge monopoly on some of the
biggest brands in college football and broke this since shock
waves through it, it caused realignment with the UM with

(44:29):
the A A C. The Big twelve was scrambling. They
added new teams from the A A C, the PAC
twelve Big Ten in a SEC started the alliance, which
we haven't heard even anything more about in terms of
scheduling yet, Like this is just a case of this

(44:49):
since shock waves through college football and huge impacts. Absolutely
and want to show you what the it's We're always
reinforcing with the number one most important thing is for
these institutions of money learning and it's cash, it's cash.
Texas wasn't even winning. They basically signed their own death warrant.

(45:10):
They're like, but, but, but the death warrant will be
made in gold. Though, Yeah, I don't know. Good luck,
good luck. They're already the has they already have incredibly,
but it's never enough. It's never enough to just have
the most money. You gotta always have more. So they're

(45:31):
going to the SEC and they're severely limiting their own
ability to even be competitive within the landscape of college football.
But they have the belief that with an expanded playoff
that because that will actually be easier for them than
having to have to come out of the Big twelve
and face you know, Oklahoma all the time. But Oklahoma

(45:52):
is going to be right there with them, which is
one of the reasons why Oklahoma lost its coach. And
so it's very very fascinating stuff by both Texas and
Oklahoma to go into the already massive juggernaut that is
the SEC, which is currently owing four and bulls by
the way, and it's gonna be, I don't know, it's
gonna be really really interesting from from here on out

(46:13):
because you're probably going to see other schools try to
angle to potentially do the same. And what do we
do if the SEC gets up to like twenty teams?
What do we do if the SEC makes up of
all of the Power five schools? Yeah, no, you are
on right, you are one percent right right. This could

(46:35):
this is going to we could be on the road
to a to a power sixty four like that. This
is where we are potentially headed. Is that all the
Power five schools? Well, well, actually there's more Power five
schools now because there's now more schools in the Big twelves.
So now we're up to like sixty eight schools plus
Notre Dame and well see sixty seven because b y,

(46:57):
I don't know the count, but it's like sixty seven,
sixty nine something seventy somewhere around around there. Um number six,
number five. Sorry, Kyrie Irving. Kyrie Irving has turned in
the number five biggest moment in sports and jack ship.

(47:18):
That's he literally has not been played as of today.
He just got out of COVID proto protocol, so he
may be able to play the last half of the
half of the season. Because he can't play in New
York City, there are other states that are putting in
new COVID restrictions as far as vaccinations. So listen, there's

(47:41):
no telling what's gonna end up happening as it relates
to Kyrie Irving. Will he even step on the actually ralph?
So let's say that there are twenty one home games
left available for them, right, yes, assuming like, let's just
assume the numbers. I don't know what the exact numbers are.

(48:01):
I'm sorry, twenty one away games. Oh what would you
set the over under at at the number of games
that Kyrie Irving plays this season? No, no, no, no,
If there are twenty one away games left, away games left? Yeah,
And because he can't play home games. Okay, I would

(48:24):
like including playoffs, I'll say, because they're expected to make
a run to the so that so I think he'll
play in most of the away games. You think, so
he got fresh legs broke? No way, no way, no way,
no way, because he's not gonna play in back to backs.
First thing, So he's not gonna play him back to

(48:49):
backs because he doesn't. As soon as he scores thirty,
he takes a night off. He may need a mental
health break at some point in point in time. I
would set the over under at like four team fifty
one games plus one in the playoffs. Yeah, and then

(49:10):
you have to account for the Kyrie gets hurt factor too, right, right.
It's been a wild decade for him man from being
the number two high school player in the in the
country to play in eleven games at Duke, to his
time with Lebron, to quitting on Lebron, to essentially quitting

(49:32):
on the Celtics experiment to try to form a super
team that he doesn't apparently want anything to do with,
to his time getting wrapped up in YouTube conspiracy theories,
to showing off his Sioux heritage by burning sage on
the court and now to being uh to standing up
for the working man. Yeah, refusing to uh to get

(49:55):
a scene. He is Um. He is truly one of
the more unique well I have ever uh late witness
to as a professional athlete. I'm gonna be watching whatever
he does next. He's an incredible basketball player. Uh. He
has sped tens of millions of dollars that he could

(50:15):
have just turned around and given to charitable And I
know anybody people get mad at telling other people what
they could do with their money. But he just he did.
He surrendered it. He did give the money away. Yep, no,
you you have never lied. And I've never criticized Kyrie
the person because I do think that he's a good

(50:35):
hearted individual. I think that he means well. I also
think that he thinks he's smart, a little bit smarter
than he actually is. Yeah, he definitely would be an
NFL quarterback. It's on our previous conversations exactly number four
on the list. And this one is still continuing to

(50:57):
make waves as well. And this is on gruten John
Gruening being found out as a man who writes racist emails,
conspiracy theory emails and got himself fired from Washington. But
while people are still investigating Washington to see if they
can't if they are the team that is um well,

(51:20):
actually to see what's going on with their owner. The
NFL has silenced all of the reports about it about
Daniel Snyder. He has bought full control interests of the team. Bro.
This story is not going away because people are not
gonna let it go go away. And this was a

(51:41):
coach being fired in the middle of the season, only
confirming things that people UH think about NFL owners or
coaches potentially being racist and all that stuff is just
a a bombshell. Yeah. This this really got us in
to some very touchy sensitive subjects, like the fact that

(52:03):
most Americans don't know the difference between public and private.
Most Americans don't know the difference between um, like what
what you can do with the company email and what
you can do with a personal email. Um. Most Americans
are more willing to forgive and move on on certain

(52:24):
social issues than they are on other social issues. As
far as the whole temperature of the the room right now,
and before you think I'm going full Dave Chappelle, I'm
just talking about the specific instance of emails leaking of
John Gruden saying racist things about Demorris Smith, and then
that but not being enough for him to not be

(52:45):
able to coach a game that week, and then ultimately
getting fired when it comes out that he uh that
he UM made disparaging comments UM about gays in relation
to uh John Gruden and UM and and many other things.
And so you know, this is one of those things
that it really felt like within the cultural zeitgeist of

(53:09):
like people are paying the piper for things that they
have said in the past or continue to say behind
closed doors while illustrating and putting themselves out there is
somebody completely different in the public eye. Uh and and
and a lot of people showed their ask George. A
lot of people said like, well, if you knew what
was in my private emails, then you would probably think

(53:30):
the same thing of me. And I'm like, well, you
mentioned it and said it out loud. Yeah, exactly, exactly, bro, exactly.
Wait wait a minute, I'm equally terrible and saying that's bad.
I know you just said it. You know, man, there
first of all is you cannot expect. First of all,
people don't make good decisions, do not send racy or

(53:55):
I mean dude, there is a reason why in f
s W exists not safe for work. I'm sorry in
s f W that that that exists. It's not safe
for work, dude, send it on your private email. And
then also, man, just how how about this? There's the

(54:15):
idea that people say about about um women like don't dress,
don't dress this certain way. You're inviting this or inviting this. Well, also,
don't be rape men, don't be rape. It's a private email, okay, Well,
don't be racist. And then you're not to worry about it,

(54:36):
all right? Um number three Tampa Tom Brady winning his
seventh championship without Mr Bill Belichick, without the Patriot Way,
without Robert Kraft, and establishing himself to a lot of people,
just only solidifying him as the greatest quarterback of all time.

(54:56):
I still have debates about this, but you know, yes,
I think if you put Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers
in the exact same situation with the Patriots, that you
probably get equal or better results. So you're talking about
you're talking about talent. Yes, they are more talented than

(55:19):
Tom Brady was. There's a lot of people are more
talented than than than there's people that are arguably more
talented than Michael Jordan. What I'm talking about greatness but
also more talented, like like, I'm not just talking about
physically better. I'm saying that. Okay, Aaron Rodgers with the
low rate that he throws picks and the way he
come comes back and does all these spectacular things. You

(55:41):
put him with the Patriots roster and the Patriots defenses
and coached by Bill Belichick, you get equal or better results.
But do you get somebody who is willing to defer
money take pay cuts? Oh my god, dude, dude, he
wasn't taking pay cuts like at like people was taking deferrals.

(56:02):
He was taking a lot of defers. What did You're
still getting the money? Like? Like it is the the
do they restructured his contract like every single off season
to give him bigger bonuses? Then why isn't every quarterback
doing things to make things more cat friendly for their roster?
A lot of them are now look at look at
um why Patrick Mahomes? Why why do that? Because Tom

(56:28):
Brady showed you how to do it right. Right, That's
what I'm talking about, So we we can have plenty
of conversations. Here's the deal. We have Michael Jordan debates
all the time, Right, we have these debates if Jordan's
had one a title with the Wizards, do we ever

(56:50):
even talk about that other than skill? Other than on
skill alone, could we ever even have a conversation about
Michael Jordan's being on the level of anybody else? It's Lebron, No, No,
it would be. It would be I feel like that's
what That's what Tampa Tom did and he's hout to
f and do it again. No he's not. I hope not.

(57:15):
Why see see if if he does it, I'll be
fine with it. But I just think the Chiefs are
gonna win, which I called in the beginning of the
season alright, Number two Number two athlete mental health, specifically
surrounding Simone Bios who pulled out of the Olympics, which

(57:36):
was like, yeah, I mean not you, Ben Simmons. Dude,
this was like you, because dude, Ben, Ben Simmons. I
think we all agreed that Ben simmons mental health issues
will be solved by him going to a different team.
He'll magically be better. Um, but we know you're pouting.

(57:58):
So Simone Bio just pulling out of the Olympics that
she was a shoe in to win, absolute shoe in
to win, and then and then having Sunny Lee Sunny
Sunny League come in and win it. Anyway, the all
around was just like whoa I mean? And but the

(58:19):
idea though that Simon Bios could be vilified in the
way that she was after she's done so much for
the country to represent us, the greatest gymnast of all time,
moves created after her men can't even do them, like
just she's been raped by the by the well or

(58:41):
sexually assaulted by UH team doctors for a team USA,
dealt with injuries, media attention, racist stuff, all of this stuff.
But then the fact that she could be called soft
his attention in the day of Twitter and instant access
to via Instagram, like being able to to instantly access

(59:04):
these athletes in ways you've never been able to before. Yes,
and then the fact that she was called soft was
just all you you. But that sparked a huge debate.
And then incomes Naomi Osaka, which I think is a
totally different case than Simone Bios. I think Naomi Osaka

(59:24):
she's not built out of the same well, actually, I
think she's built out of the same stuff as Serena Williams,
because Naomi could go on to be one of the
greatest tennis players to ever live. However, her why it's
not the same as Serena's. Why I don't think Serena
played to be the greatest of all time, like if
she's still playing for that. Some Naomi seems like she

(59:48):
plays because she's good at it and she likes playing tennis,
but but she doesn't like all the stuff that comes
along with being the great, being one of the best
or the best tennis player in the world. Right now,
I think it's better. I think it's better to not
need it. I really do. I think like I want
I want my kids to have success in life. I

(01:00:09):
don't want them to need I don't. And I call
me a steamroller dad, helicopter dad, call me whatever you want.
I want my kids to have adversity, but I don't
want them to have a limp. I really don't. I
feel like I walk around with a limp so that
my kids don't have to walk around with a limp.
And I consider that to be generational progress. And if

(01:00:29):
you want to call that soft, because they don't have
to scrap in an alley to get to get where
we're at right now. I don't care. I don't give
a ship what you see. I don't think that you
have to go through all of this huge adversity to
be great. I just think that you have to that
your why has to be big enough to push you
through the hard things. What hard things that we have

(01:00:52):
new hard things we have. We have media dissemination, access
to a general populist on a level that never had before.
I don't know, and we can't know if Serena is
Serena with Twitter? I can't know, And you don't know
if Michael Jordan's is Michael Jordan's with Skip Bayliss on

(01:01:16):
his ass every day. We don't know. There's visas see
I don't I don't know if Michael Jordan is Michael
Jordan's because Michael Jordan couldn't do all of the things
off the field, off the court that Michael Jordans did
with social media now, because they'd have been they'd have
been snitching. He would have been divorced a long time
before he was. Could you could you be the type

(01:01:37):
of person that takes everything personally when you're overloaded with
things to actually take personally on a on a daily basis,
like Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan's could have like somebody say
you're not gonna get forty on me tonight, and you'd
go get forty on them and be like, yeah, I
just proved you wrong. Lebron James, we have You'll have

(01:01:57):
somebody like you're not gonna get thirty on me tonight.
He'll go out and put up thirty and then I'll
get on Twitter and have ten thousand comments saying that
the weaker genocide is his fault. It's just like a
different it's like a different level. And so I look
at Naomi Osaka and I'm like, yeah, it's really cool
that she has that talent, but that she has the
ability to say, if I'm not having a good time,

(01:02:18):
I can shut this down. But I do think that
there's a line between I'm not having a good time
and this didn't go the way I want to from
my own ego, because I think when we enter Benmin's
territory correct and I think that there's a little bit
of both when it comes to Naomi Osaka. I think

(01:02:39):
that that that simone bios, that she really got the
twisties and if you get the twisties. You are in
a dangerous spot for yourself physically, like you can actually die.
Like it's like the yips, but but way worse because
you're flipping through the through the air. And Naomi Osaka
is like, I don't want to deal with this bullshit today.

(01:03:00):
It makes me feel bad, hmm, not like no, no, no, no. Correct.
So I I support her being able to make decisions
for her own life. I also understand at the same
time that some of these things she's going to look
back on and be like, I probably should have pushed

(01:03:21):
through some of some of these things. Very possible. I'm
not gonna take the word of somebody who called in
sick because they had a college basketball game that they
wanted to watch that comes on at one pm Pacific
saying that Naomi Osaka is too soft to do her job.
I love it. I love that, Ralph, I love it.

(01:03:43):
That is a great example, all right. The number one
moment in sports in twenty one is name, image and likeness.
Name image and likeness was the biggest thing to impact sports.
It has Give me that money, show me the kwan,
pass me to Benjamin's rake it up, um, make it rain.

(01:04:09):
College athletes can make that dough and it has it
is still it has impacted recruiting. The number one player
in the nation went to Jackson State to UH to
an HBCU. This kid that everybody believes as a generational talent,
co sponsored by barstool UH Texas is entire offensive line

(01:04:33):
getting fifty racks each there. I mean, just it's unbelievable.
Ohio State got trucks, yes, and then you have some
of those guys hopping back into the portal Spencer Rattler,
Quinn ears UH like dudes who had these deals. But

(01:04:54):
this is mind blowing what's going on in college sports
right now? Yeah, and I understand people who have concerns
about it. The issue is you have people like me
and you who screamed for over ten years. You have
to get in front of this or the floodgates are
gonna open. There's not gonna be anything you have the

(01:05:14):
ability to do about it. And here we are with
the floodgates open and people being like, I don't like that.
I'm drowning right now. You cannot put the toothpaste back
in the tube. But no, no, and I and you
look at the millions and millions and millions of dollars
that changed hands, especially for female athletes. Bread, yeah, they
are around, Like, why do I need to go pro?

(01:05:39):
I stay Texas quarterback? Who gets any money? Meanwhile, Fresno
State Twins have boost Mobile sponsorships and commercial shoots and
Times Square New York, three thousand miles away from where
they play college basketball. Like this is and the fact
that means that that money was always there to be

(01:06:00):
had for these how more athletes is enraging. How much
they're going to stay in college as long if you're them,
do you stay in college as long as possible to
like continue to capitalize on that because there's not necessarily
professional opportunities beyond. Yeah. Yeah, I use college to build

(01:06:22):
my brand, the way that any college student in America
has the ability to use college in their time in
college to live on government funds if they're taking out
loans or live on their parents money or living parents couch,
build up their ability to go out into the world
and be successful. But you're telling me that the front
porch of the n C double a uh called collegiate athletics,

(01:06:42):
that those athletes that you're making hundreds of millions and
billions of dollars off of can't participate, can't be Americans?
Come on now, Like, well, I absolutely love the moment
that we're in. There's a lot that I don't like
about it, but the fact in that moment means that
we have the opportunity to improve it in and I'm
super excited about that. I totally agree, dude, And and

(01:07:05):
I do hate that there aren't at least some guard guardrails.
I do think that there it should be a completely
free market, but I do think that there could be
some guardrails. But the n C double A missed its opportunity.
Now it's too late, but there's gonna be no regulation
now because like people won't allow it at this point.

(01:07:26):
All right, um, now that was the list of one.
The final thing we have today is Mr John Madden.
John Madden, longtime NFL coach, but he's more famous for
the video game than my kid is literally playing right
here right now. Uh Madden, the the game. I mean

(01:07:47):
this started with like in ninety one and you ended up.
I mean he used to be on the cover. Eddie
George was the first cover athlete in oh three, I believe,
and all the way up to now Tom Brady and
Patrick Mahomes both on the cover, which is actually only
the second dual cover of all time, which had like

(01:08:09):
the other one fits and pull them out the oh
nine super Bowl. Right, Yeah, that's why I said it's
only second one of all time. Yeah. I just want
to give Cardinals some love because that's the only time
they'll ever have anybody on the man covered. No, they
might get Cayler. We'll see. They fit him in the corner.

(01:08:33):
You are cold business, bro, He's my height. What are
you talking about. I'm allowed to talk. This is being
under five ten. That's my people. We can talk about
each other. You can't talk about us. Why not? You short? Short?
That's highest highest all right? So what what will you

(01:08:55):
remember most about John Madden? Is that the games? Is
that they you know, his coaching career which which ended
prior to our living. But mhm, the bus. I don't
remember the bus. I used to think about where do
you think he is today? Like you know that he's

(01:09:17):
got to get there for like pre production meetings and
everything like that. He doesn't fly. You know. They had
this Monday night football in Tampa and the next ones
in Seattle. Um, where do you think he's at now,
Like what Like I just love I used to love
things like the Adventures of the Madden Bus. See he
wouldn't so for anybody who understands. So he quit coaching

(01:09:38):
because he refused to fly anymore. Uh. He said he
told God that if he UH lived through this traumatic flight,
that he would never fly again. And he took the
bus everywhere and yeah, bro, that would be absolutely cumbersome.
There's no way I can make that decision in life.
And he but he, I mean, he saw more of

(01:10:00):
the country. He impacted so many people. He he is
the reason that a lot of people got to know
the game on a deeper level because came Off is
both um um meathead and as authentic be as far
as like somebody who had played and coached football uh

(01:10:21):
in his life as a container so someone who had
the unique ability like Rogers or us to communicate things
to you on a level that would allow you to
understand why very complicated game was something that you could
you could grow to love on simplistic level. Um. And
he was just really good at explaining the game. He

(01:10:42):
had a lot of fun doing it. If you have
at least parodies of him, him and past summer all
were just such a cool pair. Uh. And then anytime
we wanted to question go back to the fact that
he might be one of the best coaches to ever live.
Didn't get to like complete his legacy in that arena. Um.

(01:11:02):
And I don't know, man, he just he showed up
for work, his job well despite massive limitations. Not being
able to fly, Um is insane to me. And then
the video game is the video game there, I'll be honest, like,
probably well into the late nineties, I preferred NFL Team
Day to Madden. So it's not like the introduction to
Madden was the actual like that. But then you got

(01:11:24):
Mad changed things for everybody, right. It was PlayStation two, um,
being able to use Michael Vick, the popularity of video
games on the rise, the rise of the NFL at
the time. Um, everything just sort of came together. And
then and you know, and then you you long after
he retires, we're all excited for the new Madden drop

(01:11:45):
every single year. He hasn't been involved in football for
ten fifteen years, yep, no, no, yeah. And And it
was funny because I was having a conversation with my
kids on Sunday about John John Madden and they said, Yo,
that is John Madden still alive. I say, yeah, we
we just haven't seen him in a long time, and

(01:12:07):
come to find out to two days later passed passed away.
So that was kind of, you know, kind of ironic
that we just so happened to be talking about him
on that On that level, one of the rules anytime
a celebrity passes away is that you'll get a couple
of like academic eggheads on social media come out of

(01:12:27):
the words to explain why that person that you actually
loved and appreciated who is now gone and can't defend
themselves was actually a huge piece of ship and John
Madden was no different. And it resulted in two of
the ratios I've ever seen in my life. But you
actually had a couple of people, um one of whom
is a doctor and another of whom social commentator, who

(01:12:49):
said that they believed John Madden to be responsible not
only for the rise in UM life altering UH concussions
because as people wanted to overlook concussions because they loved
football because they grew up playing a video game, but
also the ability to pretend to be an owner um

(01:13:12):
of black athletes that people enjoy playing Madden because in
truth they want to be patation owners. And I love
two of those of the two of the dost things
I have ever heard. By far. By far priest supposes
that John Madden was out there like designing the game himself,

(01:13:32):
or that like he was the first football video game.
It doesn't at lea probably likely. In all likelihood, John
Madden probably played Madden about his about ten times in
his whole life, right. He probably showed up to the booth,
recorded his lines, did it with a smile on his face,
and they showed him the game and they were like hey.

(01:13:54):
He was like, oh yeah, this is cool. I'm getting
the residual check off of it. I can trust e
A with it, my name all that, like like this
was the best gift that anybody could ever get, right,
And and they used his image to sell it to
people that would understand that that brand was unique. It's like,

(01:14:17):
you do you really think that the pots and pans
you buy it target are the ones that are in
Rachel Ray's kitchen? Probably not, but it's like when Rachel
Ray passes away, God forbid. You know, people like a
massive rise in grease fires, from people who tried to
cook for the first time because they watched Rachel Ray

(01:14:39):
on television and used her pots like that's what we're
Those are the type of people that we're gonna have
to deal with for the rest of forever, and they
deserve to be chased off social media. I'm not pro bullying,
but sometimes it works. And you guys, uh, that is
Rice Stir or wrong for the day. I am jo Orge,

(01:15:00):
Rice Stir. He is Ralph Amazon. Hopefully you guys have
a great uh you know, next couple of days and
if we don't see you till the New Year, Happy
New Year, married Christmas, all of those days. Do you
have anything to say? I do not. I just hope
everybody had a good holiday, and uh, appreciate you, George.

(01:15:22):
This has been an awesome year doing these shows. It's amazing.
I'm being since here. I know, I know, I'm I'm jokingly.
I love you, Ralph. I'm one of my best friends,
all right. By thunderstruck adjective shocked and amazed by the
power of fun on Carnival riding Bolt, the world's first

(01:15:43):
roller coaster, we see probably and got funderstruck so hard.
His ninety three year old grandmother felt it three thousand
miles away in Nebraska and immediately booked the cruise Get
Understruck starting at two nine. Carnival Shoes on cruiser are
in US dollars properson, double ocumency, taxes, fees and port expense.

(01:16:03):
Additional restricts and applyful details on carnal dot com ships.
Red Street, Bahamas, Panama,

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