August 17, 2024 • 48 mins
Doug talks about the return of the WNBA from the Olympics and wonders whether or not the public will stop paying attention to Caitlin Clark as the football season starts.
Doug welcomes New York Times Best-selling author Ian O'Conner on the show to talk about his new book: OUT OF THE DARKNESS: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers (on sale where you get your books August 20, you can pre-order now)
Doug welcomes Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin onto the show to talk about the business side of sports and an exciting event coming up.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at
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Doug Gottlieb Show. Fuck Sports Radio. Comment to you for
(00:25):
the tyrat dot com studios tyrit dot com, Well you
get there. Unmatched election past, free shipping, free road as protection,
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buying should be quick. Note not that you guys care,
because I don't think you can ever tell, right Like
you guys couldn't tell if I did it from my
house if I was in Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Well, now I'm actually back in LA.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I gotta there's a cancer fundraiser I amc every year,
uh in Beverly Hills. Can't wait to do that tomorrow.
We'll talk about that probably little bit tomorrow and tomorrow's show.
But in the meantime, good to see you guys. Good
to see Jason Stewart and Chris Purfett and Isaac Low
and crons as well. Do you know what the greatest
compliment you can give to somebody in radio is? Okay,
(01:08):
so I've been doing this for one d twenty two
years overall twenty one years on the national level, and
host to my own show for fifteen years or so,
sixteen seventeen years, and the greatest comment you can give
to somebody is I listen through a break? Right, Like,
(01:29):
we all know that back Greeney still has a show
right back when he was Mike and Mike and Mike
and Mike was the biggest show in sports radio.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I just be honest with you. I don't.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I don't I listen to our guys. I don't know
if his show what it is now, but Mike Greenberg
was known as the best teaser in sports radio maybe
in radio history.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
He was great.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And what a tease does is is coming up next? Right,
And the idea is to get you to listen through
a break. Let's make no bones about it. We make
money because we have sponsors, and the sponsors want you
to listen through a break. We don't want you to
hear an ad and then switch channels, right, So you
tease ahead a tease, is it, like you think, make
(02:14):
you wet your appetite. That's whet wet your appetite for
something we're going to talk about next, for example, I'll
wet your appetite. Matt Holliday, seven time All Star, four
times Silver Slugger, is going to join us in the
second hour of the show. His son, Jackson, number one
prospect in minor league baseball. Of course, now in the
(02:35):
big leagues. His second stint in the big is going
much better for the I think there's second place in
the Al East, Baltimore Orioles. We'll talk to Matt Holliday
at there's one twenty five on the West for twenty
five on the East. That's a tease. So Greenberg was
the best. But the idea of it is getting you
(02:56):
to listen through a break. The greatest company you can get.
I think there's actually one is I got to where
I was going and I couldn't get out of the
car until that was done. That's that's like the great right,
Like you're driving through a rainstorm. You get home to
see the wife and the kids. You haven't seen them
in two weeks, and you're like, you know, what I
(03:17):
got leaves on a roll here or yesterday's Ian O'Connor interview,
which you can download and listen to in the podcast
form just type in Doug Gottleibery type of type in podcasts.
You listen to that interview and you could not get
out of the car till it was done. That's count
my number one comt My number two was so good.
I wanted to hear what you said next coming out
of the break, right, we would all agree, like we're
(03:39):
all radio guys, kind of lifers in this business. Tug you,
I love, I'm talking to you, JSTU talking to you
prefet right, those are incredible compliments. Okay, the WNBA is back,
I think at this weekend. And is the WNBA a
(03:59):
fad or is it here to stay? You will know
in the next couple weeks. I guess it starts tonight.
I didn't know, but I was watching and I saw
a couple of things. Of course, the ESPN covers the
whole they have the WNBA on their coverage, right, but look,
the Olympics didn't have Caitlin Clark. Nobody really paid attention
(04:20):
to the women, although they almost lost in the championship game.
You got Little League World Series, which the same genre
of people, right, women, kids, younger families watch the Little
League World Series. A lot of them have been watching WNBA.
But that's what has women's sports has been on a
meteoric rise, led by the WNBA. Will we listen through
(04:44):
a break? Will we watch through a break? I think
it's fascinating, fascinating, especially because let's just be honest, our
attention is diverted with football, right, most of you, myself included, right,
my son started high school today, my daughters we dropped.
I dropped one of my daughters off at college yesterday.
We all have other stuff going on right now and
(05:06):
tonight there's the Philadelphia Eagles ticket on New England Patriots
on the NFL network. And as much you could say,
who watched this preseason football in the NFL network, the
answer is a lot more people than watch the WNBA, always,
period stop, six days a week, and of course twice
on Sunday. I think it's really interesting to me, like
(05:28):
I'm fascinated by things that I don't know how they
will go, right, Like in college football, I don't know
how Oklahoma does in the SEC. I'm fascinated by it.
They were better last year, but they have a demonstrative advantage,
not just in historical and recent success in the Big Twelve,
but financially, they're like at one and a half to
(05:51):
two x of everybody else in the Big twelve next
with the exception of Texas. Now they're in the SEC
and they're middle of the pack and everything, and they're
kind of an unknown and every week becomes a war.
And they have a new quarterback as Dalan Gabriels. At Oregon,
you don't know what that's gonna be like. We don't
know what USC's gonna be like. USC's super interesting. Lincoln
(06:12):
Riley was on a meteoric rise when he went when
he took over at Oklahoma, and then he leaves Oklahoma
and the first year at USC they turned the thing around.
Last year was a bit of a mess. We talked
about Clemson yesterday. I don't know what happens with Clemson.
I personally think it works. I just don't know if
it's this year. But building from within, having a high
(06:32):
recipitous rate, that's how many people you bring back, I
think is the way to win in college sports. Not
play the portal look at Colorado and what happened to
them and Colorado's instrue. I don't know the answers I wonder,
I think, but I'm interested by it. We talked about
Philadelphia tonight, right, last year, they lost Shane Steichen and
(06:53):
the offense completely collapsed. Yes they were ten and zero,
but it didn't look and feel the same. And then
it was a mess at the end of the year.
And that mess was was made more obvious by some
of the drama we've heard about this offseason. Like, I
don't know what Philadelphia looks like this year. I can't
wait to see. I can't wait to see what our
Chargers look like. Obviously you're hoping that you get your
(07:16):
quarterback back, but also with a legitimate head coach, with
the legitimate head coaching experience, and everywhere Jim Harbaugh has been,
he's won it. Stan's the reason he'll win with the Chargers.
But again, it's the Chargers. They find a way to
spit up all over themselves all the time.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
How do I know?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I'm a Charger fan, but I don't know about Jordan
Love Right. First half of the season, eh, second half
the season really good. Now he's the highest paid guy
in the game, now that people have a full book
on him, what's that look like? Again, these are things
that I don't know. I'm a curious person and a
curious sports fan. Feels like the Dodgers, who, by the way,
(07:52):
are a three to three tie with the Milwaukee Brewers
in a daytime game at American Family Field. Feels like
the Dodgers are better for the postseason. But I'm gonna
watching October just like Jay s Dou because Jay s Dou,
you know, he's mister negative. He thinks they're gonna lose
yet again in the postseason. I think this is the year.
But again I don't know. But tonight begins probably a
(08:16):
two week stretch of not real NFL games, but NFL
is on not playoff games from Major League Baseball. But
they do matter more our attentions to spand is especially
for people who watch the WNBA. Women children, younger people
right they're now into high school, high school sports, high
school football. Will we watch the WNBA Because there's no
(08:41):
part of me that what could have predicted two years
ago I would ever talk about a WNBA player or
who goes on or who is off the US women's
National team.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Ask yourself that had you ever cared? Do you even?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I said this before the Olympics, and I know it
to be true. They've won what nine consecutive gold medals?
Anybody know that before? They didn't have Caitlin Clark on
the team, Like, well, we won eight in a row.
I didn't never pay attention to it, couldn't tell you
one thing about it because nobody cared. Now we care
ish or do we care?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Care?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Because if we care, care, you know what we do.
We listen through a break. We watched through a break.
The ultimate sign that a fad is going to stick
is when it gets challenged, when there's alternatives. Does it
(09:40):
continue to be part of the sports discussion? My guess,
by the way, is that it does not, no matter
how much we love Caitlin Clark kind of had enough
because at the end of the day, even the NBA
can't battle with football, let alone women's basketball. But I
don't know, because I couldn't have addicted this sort of
(10:01):
prominence for one player rising up a league that was
really the butt of most jokes for most of US
sports fans for the last twenty five years. I was
just I'm a curious person, and I was curious about
that today and I just I wonder and I don't
have an answer for it. And I think that's frankly,
(10:21):
what I'll be sort of watching for. Yeah, I'll be
sort of hunting the numbers, if you will, and trying
to figure out whether or not people care enough to
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Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah, Jay, I have a one point to make about this.
So the WNBA's season restarts tonight, but tomorrow night, Kaitlin
Clark and that her team starts, so the actual season
continues tomorrow night. When we start paying attention to this thing,
(11:10):
and you bring up an interesting sports talk debate, and
I'm going to say this, these are two worlds coiding.
This is the Kaitlin Clark phenomenon with football, And would
you be willing to give me this much that I
think it'll be somewhere in between, and that Kaitlin Clark's
audience kind of like the Olympics. She has like crossover
(11:33):
male and female audience. Maybe some people that aren't really
into football are really into Kaitlin Clark. So the qating
I think won't take much of a dip. But I
guess the actual question is are you going to sacrifice
any football watching to pay attention to Kaitlyn Clark. Maybe
that's the more specific topic. Now, I yes, that's a
(11:59):
that's a we know the answer to that one, right.
I mean, I think you think there's any human being.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Who's gonna go like, you know, Eagles, Packers are on,
but I'm going to watch the w NBA playoffs, right,
I mean, is there any human being ever? And and
then you you're like me, like, I'm not saying there's
not a single human being, but come on, sports fans,
sports fans one hundred, one hundred are going to watch
(12:26):
the NFL.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I think you keep saying the w n B A
And it's not that it's you think Kaitlyn Clark. It's
Kaitlyn Clark. There's not the w You're not going to
watch a Mystics Links game instead of football. But let's
go lens. You might go over to a Kaitlin Clark
games in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
No, no, mm hmm, don't see it, perfet You what
do you think?
Speaker 4 (12:52):
I was a lot more invested in the return of
professional soccer this weekend. I don't know if I've realized
the WNBA was coming back.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
What professional soccer MLS?
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Uh No, So it's already it's it's already European European
LA Liga started is starting I think today, and then
Premier League on Friday.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Like it's yeah, that's a priority for me, okay, Ilo.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
I think women's basketball in general got a bump from
last year's College Final four, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese
going into the NBA and the Olympics. That being said,
I think it'll go back down, but it'll still be
healthy enough to continue a nice line of growth. But
I think it was a bump that ends here. I'm
fascinated by it. I I I'm going to guess that
(13:45):
the new TV deal is going to be a mess
for ESPN. It's gonna be a mess. So, I mean,
they didn't they they they like tripled or quadrupled the
value of it.
Speaker 6 (13:55):
I just.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Like you said, they got a bump because you had
like literally a month lead up, but maybe a month
and a half of following Kaitlyn Clark. You know, she
sets the scoring record, that she goes to the thought
of four, she goes to the championship game, then she's
the number one pick. Then she's on TV, you know.
Then she's left off the Olympic team. Then they start
playing well and there's literally nothing else going on.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Nothing.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
The first thing is next year in college basketball, I
think Duke is back. There's there's now a guy to
watch and a team to watch, and his Duke and
page Bikers is She's Beckers is awesome, but like she's
not Kaitlyn Clark, and she's one person. And I don't
think anybody cares about the rest of them.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
They just don't. And I just I don't. I don't
see it. I could be wrong, but remember you had
a month and a half lead up of.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Caitlin Clark, maybe even two months of Kaitlin Clark in college,
which then buttressed into the pros, and then they had
the Olympic Games. They had this whole kind of run
up next year, you don't have any of that. But
for this year, yeah, I do think there's there'll be
some curiosity, but a lot of it will go away
and I will have they expanded the fan base, Yes,
(15:17):
she has for her. Will it be some sort of
dynamic thing that continues to grow. No, And unless it
continues to grow, that TV deal is a mess. It's
based upon additional growth, which I think we're hitting the set.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
I could be wrong because I never thought.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I don't think anybody thought that it would be as
viable and as discussed as it has been over really
the past year and a half.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
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(16:13):
what an earworm is? I'm in Jay. I'm sorry, I
mean so Jay Stu are our steam producer. He's got
hearing issues. You said a cochlear implant. It's not it
has nothing to do with an actual worm in your
ear Samy, do you know what what what an earworm is?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (16:31):
I do.
Speaker 7 (16:31):
And earworm is actually one of Jason Stewart's favorite words.
He uses it all the time.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
We're just talking about your famous earworms yesterday, and I
think the two examples that came to mind readily were
Proud Mary h rolling down the river and there was
another one that just gets in your head and you
can't get rid of it.
Speaker 7 (16:51):
Yes, this is a song that a hook or a
melody or a song that gets in your head and
it just keeps running in your head and you can't
get rid of it.
Speaker 8 (17:00):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Matter of fact, there's a Cranberry song that's been remade
and my son and his buddy were singing it and
I just I finally I yelled at him, like, you
guys got to stop. I can't hear it anymore. You
have any earworm? But you're passing on to me like
I can't do it.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
What's the song? I Love the Cranberries? Or Linger?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Linger? Linger?
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Who remade Linger? It's a great song.
Speaker 6 (17:25):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
They were singing it and they were like, we just
heard it. I was like, no, it's all. That's a
song when I was in high school. I think it
was remade anyway, point is that earworms can't get that. Also,
sometimes sometimes when you say, like, don't say the F word,
don't say the F word, don't say the F word,
what do you always do say the F word? At
(17:48):
least that's how I am. I just you know, you
try and forget it. I bring that up, Yeah, I
do that because remember you was it yesterday we found
out how Son Riddik wanted to be traded or yesterday
became public that he want to be traded again. Was
traded in the off season by the Eagles to the Jets.
The Jets remain just really steadfast in their approach here
(18:10):
that they won him on the Jets. All you got
to do is take Robert Sola's Tuesday response, for example,
when he was asked about the batter.
Speaker 9 (18:17):
It's not I promise you it's not. It's not frustrating
because I don't have control over it. But like I said,
we're excited about our group, still looking forward for him
to get here when he's ready, and when he's ready,
we're going to embrace them with open arms and to
get ready to attack the moments that he brings to us.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Here's his quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, talking about the star defensive player.
Speaker 7 (18:34):
Aaron, what's your take on a situation where a teammate
requests to trade even though he has yet to have
a single practice with that team?
Speaker 8 (18:42):
What has always new things in the league that you know?
I've been around twenty years, I've seen a lot of stuff.
I think as players, we always first try and side
with the player, because you know what it's like to
be a player.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
I don't know him well.
Speaker 8 (18:52):
I've had a couple messages with him, I believe when
he got traded, obviously we'd love for him to be here,
but you know, we don't judge him for trying to
do what's best for him. I think what's best for
him is to be a Jet because this is going
to be a fun ride. But you know, he's got
to make the best decision for him and his family got.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
To make the bestI like, I thought that was actually
really really honest.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I think I.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Exchanged text mess Didn't I catch that? Can I hear
that first early response? I think I exchanged text message
with him. Let me let me take a list of
one more time.
Speaker 7 (19:23):
I think he requests the trade even though he has
yet to have a single practice.
Speaker 10 (19:27):
With that team.
Speaker 8 (19:28):
What has always new things in the league that you know,
I've been around twenty years. I've seen a lot of stuff.
I think his players. We always first try and side
with the player, because you know what it's like to
be a player.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I don't know him well.
Speaker 8 (19:39):
I've had a couple messages with him. I believe.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
I've had a couple of messages with him. I believe.
I think. I'm not really sure if it was him
or not him. I don't know who it was.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Maybe he was tripping on ayahuasca. I was changing.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I was so high at the time. Oh my god,
was that a on Reddick or is that Reddick Hassan?
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I don't know, Oh man, I believe, I think is
the old Hassan probably reached out to him twice, And
in the middle of that answer, Aaron Rodgers like, I
don't think I ever got back to him.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
There's a couple of time did I press send? Did
I not? I've ever done that, By the way, to.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
My drafts, like, yeah, that's the in corporate America, that's
the most used excuse, and it's not getting back to somebody.
Come on, you didn't hit send. Come on, I had
my drafts.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Listen. I'll be completely honest. So when I got the
coaching job, I told you guys, I got twenty seven
hundred and thirteen messages and I thought I'd returned them all.
And then you know I I then I went through
and I had hundreds upon hundreds of messages that were unread,
and yet I couldn't find them because after a month,
mine automatically get you know, I have that setting for
(20:57):
like one month? Is how I how long I hold
him for.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
A month? My gosh, that's a quick trigger.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Man, it's a lot of time. You know, I'm a
big texture, a big texture. If you were, if you weren't,
if you weren't the one guy who would ruin all
uh all uh chats because you're not on the Apple platform,
you would know this. You would be on group chats more.
But instead you're the complete you know, group chat buzzkill
(21:24):
because it always pops up green. You're always like, man,
did he block me? No, that's right. He's the one
guy with the motorola. Hope your flip phone's doing well, Jasu,
Doug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Anyway, I
thought that was great, Like, yeah, I don't I think
I return his message. I think I know him. It's
probably good. We want him to play. But the big
(21:44):
thing is Robert Sally going like, nah, not a distraction,
not a distraction. Distraction. Who's distracted. I'm not distracted because
it's out of my control. MM playing that mental mind
game sounds really good. I don't know if it actually
works that way. I do like the fact that Jets
are like, we traded it for you. You said you
want to play under this contract. You want to get
(22:06):
a bigger contract by playing. Go play. That's how all
of our contracts work, right. I have a what a
year and a half left of my Fox Sports Radio contract.
What if I wuldn't go like, you know, listen, I'm
not doing anything until I get a new contract. I'd
be like, Okay, we'll find somebody who will stuck out
(22:27):
leave show here on Fox Sports Radio. That's the voice
of Nick Cope. You O'Connor will join us here half
past the hour, and I just I have to tell you, like,
sometimes what is this Steve Martin line? And am I
dating myself by saying Steve Martin the comedian.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
No, absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
I mean, I listen, I appreciate that, Sam, You're an
old soul.
Speaker 7 (22:50):
He's in The Only Murders in the Building is a
very popular show right now. So I think he's very
He's still very relevant.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Okay, yes, so he used to do stand up comedy.
I don't think he does stand up comedy anymore, but
he used to stand up comedy, and one of his
big lines was comedy is all about tie tie timing, right,
And I think in many ways, book sales are the same.
They're the same. And if we were to be honest
(23:17):
and we were to say, like, who do you really
want to know about in sports? I think I want
to know about Kaitlyn Clark. I mean, there's no bigger
name right now in sports than Kitlin Clark. That's fair.
I think I'd probably want to know about Kayleb Williams.
He seems interesting. Definitely gen Z definitely of a different
kind of evolution pattern than the old school quarterbacks. I
would like to know about kind of the last four
(23:39):
or five years of Tom Brady. It seems like obviously
the team switch the Super Bowl the way it ended,
the retirement, come back, the divorce, all those things now
into broadcasting after a year of you know, a year
of kind of taking a year off. Like all those
things are interesting. But as we get ready for the
football season. Last year, the first week of the season,
(24:03):
we were just waiting, waiting, waiting for Monday Night football,
and Aaron Rodgers ran out onto the MetLife Field with
the American flag. You're like, this is incredible. You don't
have to be a Jets fan, Like, holy cow, Aaron
Rodgers is a Jet. This really happened. And of course
there's the parallel to Brett Favre becoming a Jet as well.
Five plays any Taris's Achilles Attendant. And you know, then
(24:26):
there's been the McAfee appearances, you know, no showing on
some offseason activities to go to Egypt, and Aaron generally
being Aaron. But when you're trying to find a figure
that people want to learn about, that they know of
and think they know some about, I can't tell you
how good at timing this is. With the book, it's
(24:48):
called Out of the Darkness, The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers
and soan so ever, get your books. August twentieth you
can pre order now, and it's authored by an outstanding
author of New York Times bestselling author Ian O'Connor joins
it down the Dug Go The Show on Fox Sports Radio.
I mentioned how good the timing is and leading up
to you joining us Ian, when did you start this pross?
When did you say I got to write about Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 10 (25:10):
Hey, Doug, first, congratulations on the coaching job and thanks
for having me on. I actually was under contract to
write a biography of Lebron James, and then another Lebron
James book was in the works that I was unaware of,
so that comes out, and I'm thinking there's going to
be some Lebron fatigue here if I go forward with
this project. At the same time, Aaron got traded into
(25:30):
my backyard in New York, and I thought he was
the most polarizing player in the NFL and also maybe
the most prominent American male athlete who hasn't had a
defining bio written about him. So I essentially traded Lebron
for Aaron. Hopefully that was a good trade, and I'll
leave that up to the readers. But I've always been
I don't know about you, but I've always been fascinated
(25:51):
by him from Afar. He's a mystifying character. Obviously, obviously
in recent years he has changed in terms of his
public image. I mean he's become a villain. He was
not a villain before COVID No, but that's changed, and
so that definitely interested me as well, just to dive
into how he changed, why he changed, and just why.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
He is the way he is is what's your process, like,
what's your process?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Like?
Speaker 10 (26:18):
Our process is just calling as many people as humanly
possible who were in his life, I mean, starting in
elementary school, teachers, classmates, and really I started this book
in chapter one with his grandfather, who was an amazing
World War two combat pilot, and that story had never
been told, who flew forty four missions against the Hitler
war machine and had some amazing acts of heroism and
(26:40):
valor that had never been reported before. So that actually
is chapter one is two generations prior, and Aaron did
not know really almost any of the details of his
grandfather's service. And he is buried in Arlington National for
a reason. He was one of the greatest members of
the Greatest Generation. So those are the stories I love
(27:01):
to tell. In these books. Unfortunately, of course, with his
family estrangement, that had to be a part of it.
One thing Doug that I appreciated was when I explained
that to Aaron, you understand, I have to write about
this family division. He understood. And a lot of superstar
athletes I've been around would not have understood that.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
So quick backstory, there was about probably a year and
a half where Aaron and I were friendly via text,
We hung out the final four to one year. He
did let me in on a little bit of his backstory,
and I don't want you to give away the whole book,
but what happened was obviously his brother made it public
(27:38):
that there was a rift in the family when he
was on the Bachelorette, right, and then everybody's like, oh hey,
Aeron doesn't even get on. What were you able to discern?
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Was that?
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Was it all Olivia Munn when she was she the
Yoko that split up this family?
Speaker 10 (27:53):
No, I think the family believed that, or some family
members believe that. But he hadn't dated her in seven years.
And this estrangement has become a sort of a living
organism that Aaron doesn't know how to kill off. But
when he started that relationship in twenty fourteen. He entered
that relationship with thoughts already about his family, and his
family members disagree with this, by the way, but his
(28:15):
perception was that his generosity with them was not being
fully appreciated. He thought the family unit revolved too much
around his fame and success. And Olivia notarized those feelings.
She agreed with him that was her role in it,
and I think it's really unfair to lay the blame
all at her feet. Now. She was a part of it,
but again, he hasn't been with her for a long time,
(28:38):
and he had issues with his brothers, both of them.
And the big issue with Jordan was, you go on
to bachelorette and you make this estrangement part of the narrative,
and you put two open chairs at the dinner table
signifying that I wasn't there with Olivia. Meanwhile, I wasn't
even invited to that filming, and so he was really
upset by that. He was upset by some other things
(28:59):
that is older brother Luke did. They were upset with
him skipping a wedding and other family functions. And if
you really look at the fifteen reasons for this, estrangement.
A lot of them are fairly minor and petty issues,
and so it needs to end. There was a meeting
I have in the book with his father, an emotional
meeting last summer at Lake Tahoe that lasted thirty seconds
(29:20):
at the golf tournament there, but it was emotional. They
told each other, I love you, and hopefully that's the
first baby step towards a reconciliation.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yeah. I had been told not by Aaron, but by
others that there was also a religious aspect to it
to where they were. The family is very, very religious,
and he and some people thought it was Olivia, but
he's just not and that and that left a rift
in terms of, you know, they're feeling.
Speaker 10 (29:48):
Yeah that, by the way, that is true, that that
was apartment of it. Early on, they were devali religious,
particularly his mother, and she was really against Premaro sex.
So even when he was in the NFL and won
the Super Bowl, she was concerned about him sharing hotel
rooms with a girlfriend. And so yeah, that impacted him.
And now he's not religious at all. He's just he
(30:08):
calls himself spiritual. So that was a part of it
more early on, not so much right now.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
How how did he view how it ended in Green.
Speaker 10 (30:19):
Bay Listen, I think he, of course he had the
darkness retreat and he realized that they were ready to
move on to Jordan Love. He also needed a new challenge.
It had ended there once they missed the playoffs, and
it looked that game against Detroit his final game.
Speaker 6 (30:37):
You could tell it was over. It was clear.
Speaker 10 (30:39):
Maybe it lasted one year or too long, and they
should have traded them a year earlier. But the Jets
are sitting there as a perfect opportunity for Aaron, and
he knew that because Tom Brady's got seven rings and
he's got one, he's certainly never going to catch him.
But if he realized New York City, if I win
a championship for a Charlie Brown franchise as a biblical
(31:01):
drought hasn't been two of Super Bowl since January of
nineteen sixty nine, that's going to feel like three or
four rings, not one. So I thought it was a
smart play on his end. I think he realized that now.
Speaker 6 (31:13):
Of course, last year was a.
Speaker 10 (31:14):
Disaster, but maybe the football gods finally owe Jets fans
won and Aaron Rodgers won, and this year will be
the opposite of last year.
Speaker 6 (31:22):
We'll see how it plays out.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Stug Gottlieb show here on Fox Sports Trail. That's the
voice of Ian O'Connor, who has written the book Out
of the Darkness. Obviously, Out of the Darkness is a
type of the Captain the Darkness retreat and a lot
has been made about his ayahuasca ayahuasca retreats. Is this
something new or has he been doing this throughout his
career ayahuasca.
Speaker 10 (31:44):
No, it started in twenty twenty. So his good friend
Jordan Russell, who by the way, he kicked out of
his life for three years too, but he brought him
back into his life. Jordan Russell goes to Peru experiences
a ceremony with ayahuasca. He returned and says to Aaron,
you've got to try this. This is great. So Aaron
and Danica Patrick's girlfriend at the time, go to Peru
(32:07):
in twenty twenty. They sit for some ceremonies. He feels
like it's a spiritual cleansing. He becomes a better man,
a better football player. Even. He feels like basically, the
way Jordan Russell described it to me is that ayahuasca
is like a lucid dream with embedded messages, and he
just come to terms with yourself when you're sitting there
(32:28):
and it's a ceremony and you learn things about yourself.
And Aaron said it improved his relationships with other people.
I don't know why that didn't work with his family,
but anyway, he felt that he was a new man,
a new football player. So he's going to use it
for the rest of his career and beyond. But that
started and actually the virus was approaching Peru and they
(32:48):
were about to close the border, so it was really
a race to the border to get out in time
before they closed down the country. And he just made it.
But I suspect that'll be a part of his life
going forward.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
What was lifelike for him when he was rehabbing the Achilles,
It was the early.
Speaker 10 (33:04):
Hours Douga that were really grim and dark. He had
a trainer, Aaron Alexander's name has not been out there,
but he essentially moved into his house and worked with
him NonStop. And Aaron Alexander told me that there were
times when Aaron it was so dark, he was like,
the Jets don't even want me back. I'm done. I
can't overcome this. I can't make it. He did overcome
(33:26):
those thoughts and towards the end of the year, back
in NFL history, his training, if you rush back and
retear it, that's the end of your career. Let's just
wait till twenty twenty four, Aaron said, Nope. If the
Jets win on December seventeenth in Miami, I'm playing on
(33:47):
Christmas Eve against Washington and the Jets got blown out
by thirty points in Miami, so it was a moot point.
So the comeback was delayed. Now to this year. It's
a mulligan and we'll see if again the football gods
will finally finally smile on the fatalistic fan base of
the New York Jets.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
How does he want to be remembered.
Speaker 10 (34:11):
I think as an all time great who on the
field off the field, that he was fearless, and I
think that's the one thing I'll give him credit for.
I don't agree with a lot of things he has
said and beliefs that he holds, but he is never
fearful of the consequences of stating his position, and very
few public figures are like that, and so that's usually
(34:33):
a commendable trait, but he does have some far out
ideas on the world and the people running it, so
it hasn't really helped him. There been some unforced errors
the COVID thing two thousand and one in August when
he said, yeah, I've been immunized, that mistake, that self
inflicted wound. And by the way he admitted to me
that was a mistake and he would do that differently
(34:54):
if given a mulligan. He has not recovered from that.
I mean, he turned into a villain that day, and
unfortunately he has not made up that ground and fully
recovered from it.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
You know, he he paid you, I thought an incredible
compliment when he was Interviewnal was yesterday. We played the
cut where he talked about the thoroughness of your process
for people who don't know Ian Connor. Joining Us out
of the Darkness is his latest book. It's about Aaron Rodgers.
Just just how thorough is your process? Because again, this
is not something where you go and sit with him
(35:26):
and he tell and you have your recorder and he
tells you what to say and what happened you You
interviewed a wide gamut of people. Give me a sense
of just how wide that Gama was.
Speaker 10 (35:35):
Yeah, and I'll explain it to you like I explained
it to him. And that was right after his press conference,
his first one with the Jets after the trade was made.
Is I talked to hundreds of people and people from
every aspect of your life, those willing to engage me anyway,
and yeah, I think that's the only way to do it.
And that's how I uncovered the story of his grandfather
and his World War Two service and finding confidential military
(36:00):
records and so forth and anyway. So at the end
of that two minute spiel, I said, by the way,
do you have any questions about my process? And he said, yeah,
I've got a question. Do you plan on interviewing me
for this book? And I said, I'd love to, of course,
that's up to you. So I went months and months
with him not responding to my request for an interview.
He showed a lot of indifference, but I think I
(36:22):
warmed down that I contacted so many friends who then
texted him for permission to talk to me, that he
realized this was a deadly serious project to me, and
I was trying to get it right.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Well, Ian, I know when you do anything you do
it right, you do it thoroughly. I can't wait to
read the book. It comes out August twentieth. It's called
Out of the darkenst The Mystery of Aaron Rogers, the
great Ian O'Connor New York Times best selling author joining
us Ian. Thanks so much for your time. We really
appreciate it.
Speaker 10 (36:47):
Hey, my pleasure, Doug, good luck this year.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
This is the best of the Doug.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Dott lead show on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
What Up with You?
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Doug Gott lead Show, Fox wors Radio, coming to you
him the tyrat dot com studios tyrat dot com. When
we get there, unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road
as a protection, Uber ten thousand recommended sellars, tyrat dot com.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
That's the way tire buying should be. Welcome in.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
I hope you're doing great. Let's stop everything we're doing
and let's welcome in. Michael Rubin. He's the CEO of Fanatics.
He's a serial entrepreneur. Uh oh, there's a bunch of
things I want to get to and I really appreciate
you spending some time with this, Michael. But before we
get to Fanatics, which of course has kind of taken
(37:31):
over the sports role by storm. What was the one
business you started that you were sure this is a
winner and it was not.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
Well, I definitely have many of those, Like one would
be so limiting in my answer, I would have said
it would have been the NFT business that we started
a couple of years ago with candy. And we started
that and we realized very quickly this wasn't it. It
was a product, it wasn't a business, and we gotta
very quickly. So I'd say we're quick to start things
(38:04):
that we believe in them. If we think we're wrong,
we'll quick to react and get out of it.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Yeah, rip to NFTs. I remember, I remember people did
like no, no, it's the metaverse. So wait, I can
buy something and then like it's limitless.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
It's like okay.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
So the problem with NFTs was just explaining to people,
you know it is right. If I can't understand in
two sentences, I can't understand it. And it took more
than two sentences.
Speaker 6 (38:24):
Look, I think as a utility paired with you know,
physical blatables, it makes a lot of sense. But I
think it's definitely out of standing on the business. That's
where I had it wrong. But you know what For me,
we love trying things. A lot of things work, a
lot of things don't do things that don't work, You
learn from you grow, you move on quickly. That's part
about business. You gotta take your l's and move forward.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Again.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
I do want to talk about fanatics, but I have
to ask about the White Party. How did the first
one that happened? How did it come to be?
Speaker 6 (38:50):
So I am a really like bad learner like I
was when I when I grew up, I got seven
a M SATs combined. I was terrible student, barely made
high school. I think, you know, went to college for
a few weeks. For me, the way I always learned
to bringing people together. And you know, I'm fortunate to
have a really kind of diverse group of friends, like
all different backgrounds, cultures, you know, you know, from great
(39:13):
business leaders to great athletes to great artists. They're just
great people you can learn from. And so I like
bringing people together. And so the original idea four years
ago it is just how do I bring, you know,
my kind of group of friends together. And it's pretty
incredible from the first We've only done it four years.
It's you know, it's less informant for people that actually
come to But it's just such a great group of
people that come together. We all learn from each other
and have a glass as well. It's the thirteen hour
(39:34):
parties five pm till six am goes to business. But
you know, you see only the fun parts. But what
you don't see is all the great relationships that get created,
all the great business ups come from it. That's what
I love about it.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Now, do you do you have extra like white clothing?
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Because I just imagine me, particularly me, I go to
have a drink, bump into somebody, it's on my white
suit and I'm like, dude, Now the whole rest of
the night where you have the best and the brightest
in the universe in this party? See me as the
with the spill on his shirt. Do you have extra
gear for people if they spill in their white clothing?
Speaker 6 (40:05):
So, first off, before the creation of the white part
I don't think I owned any white I own a
white pair of pants. Maybe I have some white sneakers
and maybe some white you know shirts. I had no
white pants. I actually go through a couple of Apple
changes changes that night. The good thing for me is
I have home court advantage, so I can you know,
kind of go do cocktails, very locked into business, then
go upstairs, change getting something a little more you know, casual,
(40:27):
a little more you know, roof five being then kind
of in the club. So I think I was in
three to four outs this year.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
All right, fair enough. Fanatics Fest NYC is at the
Javit Center, Okay, and this is a collection of athletes
and leagues, teams, collectibles, memorabilia. So explain to me if
I if I go to Fanatics Fest, like, what all
am I going to see? What am I going to do?
What am I gonna learn?
Speaker 6 (40:52):
Yeah, Look, no one's ever done anything like this in
sports before. You have this obviously Comic Con for that industry,
and you see a quarter a million people come to
New York Comic On to come trust and full costumes.
You've got all these music festivals, you got stuff by
the Southwest. In sports, there's no world gathering, you know,
other than games itself of sports fans. So we really
want to create the first kind of sports festival. And
you're gonna see two hundred of the best athletes in
(41:14):
the world coming out for this. I mean Tom Brady, Peyton, Manning,
Eli Manning, KD. Anthony Edwhits fresh up the Olympics of
the gold medals. You know, Mike Tyson, Jake Paul doing
fresh comps, the Derek Cheeter being interviewed by David. Artists,
You've got you know, two hundred incredible by the way,
incredible wrestlers. You know, Ray Mysteria, Hawk Cogan, your best
UFC fighters. So you know, to me, the ability to
(41:38):
bring together so many great athletes, artists, Jay Z, Travis
Scott into one festival and kind of create this you
know environment that's ever been crazy thing we're so excited about.
There's gonna be content every day. There's a main stage,
the center stage where you've got different interviews happening. So
like Steven A. Smith interviewing Tom Brady, David Art, He's
(42:00):
interviewing Derek Juter. There's a whole New York Knicks tannel
with Bronson and Josh Hard and Spike Lee and Ben Siller.
But then you've got you know, like NBA players are
gonna be playing basketball on the courts with kids, Ka
Deine and and Ann are playing basketball, you know, for
thirty minutes with kids and playing football with kids. Brady's
(42:21):
going passes to kids for an hour on Friday, So
it's really just a mersive sports festival. But then you've
got like a whole training card area, a whole merch area,
special drops. Travis Scott's gonna launch his trading cards as
Tops Cactus Jack exclusive cards for the first time at
the show. So there's really something for everybody.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
That's the voice of Michael Rubin. Of course, he's the
CEO of Fanatics. He's a seriful serial entrepreneur, of philanthropists,
a social justice advocate and the founder and executive chairman
of Fanatics. They do have Fanatics best in the NYC
going on at the Javit Center. I read from what
was It sport Coe Today, the Cowboys lead NFL franchises
(43:01):
with an estimated value of ten point three two billion dollars.
So for somebody out there who doesn't understand how that
portion of your business, because I know it's a vast business.
There's tickets, there's other elements to it as well, but
just in terms of the franchise values based upon what
you sell how much? Why do you believe the Cowboys
(43:21):
are so incredibly valuable and popular despite the fact that
it's been thirty years since they won a Super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (43:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (43:28):
Well, look, I say it's two things. First, there's only
a limited amount of the sports franchisees available, and NFL
there's only thirty two of them. They're not making more
of them this you know, thirty NBA teams. So you know,
I think there's a lot of people who've had tremendous
success in business who really aspired on a sports franchise.
The second thing is is you should not be good
businesses ten years ago, fifteen years ago. They're now very
(43:48):
good business. The Cowboys probably make franchard million dollars in profits.
If you'd say, you know, what kind of multiple would
you put on some of the Dallas Cowboys, it almost
seems cheap to me. So I tell you that sports,
the growth is there is going to keep being more
secular growth to sports. You know, for us, you know,
our entire business is built around the incredible athletes. They
do what they do on the field, on the ice,
on the court. Without them, we'd have no business. You know,
(44:09):
we're gonna do you know, more than six billion dollars
of merchandise sales this year, you know, billions of dollars
of trading card and collectible sales, just got started the
online boots, studying how gaming business, and you know, we're
building great businesses around these incredible athletes and around these
credible franchises.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Yeah, is that the future for everybody is everybody wraps
it into a sports gambling element of sports gambling arm
that is that that's the future for everyone.
Speaker 6 (44:33):
Well, look, I think there's a limited company to out
real success. Obviously, it's led by Fango and DraftKings, which
are the two behemoths in the US on you know
today they really have a duopoly. I think, you know,
for me, we believe we like being an underdog by
the way in the in the fang your business and
the collectibles business. I think, you know, people look at
us as kind of a leader in online sports pending.
We're just getting started. We love that. We love people saying, hey,
(44:54):
you've got no chance of financial we got one hundred
and thirty million customers. We've got a great product. Now
that's next sports book. When we launched in September, we're
just getting started, you know. Less than a year later,
I think, you know, people are looking as having one
of the best three products, maybe even the best product
of the market today. And you know, We're gonna keep
making it better for sports fans every day.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Uh Fanatics Fest NYC at the Javit Center.
Speaker 6 (45:13):
What are the dates, August sixteenth or the eighteenth, this
Friday through Sunday. We can't wait.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
That should be awesome.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
Listen, I love talking sports with you, talking about your business.
You're a fascinating dude. Thanks so much for your time
with the Sun Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (45:27):
Hey, appreciate you so much. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
All Right, So Doug Gottlieb show here on Fox Sports Radio.
That's Michael. Anytime I hear Ruben, I do think of
I do think of what's the what's the Sasha Baron Cohen, No,
Sasha Baron Cone Not this Ruben sandwich is very good.
Sasha Baron cohness character from Ricky Bobby Lubin, right, Like,
(45:52):
I just I that's what comes to my mind immediately.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
I'm sorry, but I am.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
I am a former.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Trading card guy.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
But I was really young at the time. It was
my childhood in Orange County, and I think, I mean, obviously, Jay,
you're like a year and a half older than me. Yeah,
but I mean it was so big between baseball cards
and garbage pail kids, right, I had a ton of them,
and that like that took up a ton of my time,
a ton of my time. And that's really they got it.
(46:23):
He got into it with sports memorabilia, and then it's
expanded to all this other stuff, all this other stuff.
Just the question, by the way of the things that
didn't work, the NFT thing, that's it got a lot
of smart people. Did you guys ever think the NFT
thing would work?
Speaker 6 (46:41):
Though?
Speaker 1 (46:41):
I just never did. I was just like, I don't
understand it. I think he'd explained to me, I don't
understand it.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
I was gonna say, I think we had somebody on
once to specifically talk about it, and after you said,
explain what it is, I still didn't know what it is. Yeah,
to this day, I don't know what it is.
Speaker 7 (46:57):
If I had the money, Doug to purchase a very
expensive piece of art because it's beautiful and also has value,
I would do that. But I'm not going to purchase
something that is a pixelated mess and someone tells me
it's worth two million dollars when it has no history
or standing.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Well, my issue with the NFT thing was that people
are like, well, this is all new real estate. It's
called the metaverse. And I was like, okay, and again
what he said about the Cowboys is true, like you
have this historic name, historic franchise, and there's only thirty
two teams, right, so they can basically do what they want.
Price wise, they just keeps going up because there's a
(47:34):
limited supply. Whereas when people start trying to pitch me
on NFT things, I was like, well, if you don't
like that NFT or that piece of real estate, you
just go buy something else, Like no, no, no, this
is very unique, like great, but there's unlimited real estate
in the metaverse. But I will say this, if not
for really exploring what the NFT and metaverse was, I
don't expect I wouldn't understand at all. The Spider Man
(47:57):
into the metaverse one which was actually really good, and
Deadpool and Deadpool and Wolverine also really really good, also
used to the metaverse, which I didn't understand. But again, basically,
there's unlimited numbers of dead Pools and Wolverines in the metaverse.
Because the metaverse is limitless and the metaverse is limitless.
That does not make a unique product. If you're going
(48:18):
to sell something from.
Speaker 7 (48:19):
Metaverse, totally like how it's like the universe that just
keeps expanding, like there's you know, why do I want
some time share out on Pluto?
Speaker 3 (48:28):
Okay, I'll stay here.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
I don't want to times share period, period, period. Definitely
not one on Pluto.
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at
Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR Booming Up America
Doug Gottlieb Show. Fuck Sports Radio. Comment to you for
(00:25):
the tyrat dot com studios tyrit dot com, Well you
get there. Unmatched election past, free shipping, free road as protection,
over ten thousand recommended sellers. Tyrat dot COM's way tied
buying should be quick. Note not that you guys care,
because I don't think you can ever tell, right Like
you guys couldn't tell if I did it from my
house if I was in Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Well, now I'm actually back in LA.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I gotta there's a cancer fundraiser I amc every year,
uh in Beverly Hills. Can't wait to do that tomorrow.
We'll talk about that probably little bit tomorrow and tomorrow's show.
But in the meantime, good to see you guys. Good
to see Jason Stewart and Chris Purfett and Isaac Low
and crons as well. Do you know what the greatest
compliment you can give to somebody in radio is? Okay,
(01:08):
so I've been doing this for one d twenty two
years overall twenty one years on the national level, and
host to my own show for fifteen years or so,
sixteen seventeen years, and the greatest comment you can give
to somebody is I listen through a break? Right, Like,
(01:29):
we all know that back Greeney still has a show
right back when he was Mike and Mike and Mike
and Mike was the biggest show in sports radio.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I just be honest with you. I don't.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I don't I listen to our guys. I don't know
if his show what it is now, but Mike Greenberg
was known as the best teaser in sports radio maybe
in radio history.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
He was great.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And what a tease does is is coming up next? Right,
And the idea is to get you to listen through
a break. Let's make no bones about it. We make
money because we have sponsors, and the sponsors want you
to listen through a break. We don't want you to
hear an ad and then switch channels, right, So you
tease ahead a tease, is it, like you think, make
(02:14):
you wet your appetite. That's whet wet your appetite for
something we're going to talk about next, for example, I'll
wet your appetite. Matt Holliday, seven time All Star, four
times Silver Slugger, is going to join us in the
second hour of the show. His son, Jackson, number one
prospect in minor league baseball. Of course, now in the
(02:35):
big leagues. His second stint in the big is going
much better for the I think there's second place in
the Al East, Baltimore Orioles. We'll talk to Matt Holliday
at there's one twenty five on the West for twenty
five on the East. That's a tease. So Greenberg was
the best. But the idea of it is getting you
(02:56):
to listen through a break. The greatest company you can get.
I think there's actually one is I got to where
I was going and I couldn't get out of the
car until that was done. That's that's like the great right,
Like you're driving through a rainstorm. You get home to
see the wife and the kids. You haven't seen them
in two weeks, and you're like, you know, what I
(03:17):
got leaves on a roll here or yesterday's Ian O'Connor interview,
which you can download and listen to in the podcast
form just type in Doug Gottleibery type of type in podcasts.
You listen to that interview and you could not get
out of the car till it was done. That's count
my number one comt My number two was so good.
I wanted to hear what you said next coming out
of the break, right, we would all agree, like we're
(03:39):
all radio guys, kind of lifers in this business. Tug you,
I love, I'm talking to you, JSTU talking to you
prefet right, those are incredible compliments. Okay, the WNBA is back,
I think at this weekend. And is the WNBA a
(03:59):
fad or is it here to stay? You will know
in the next couple weeks. I guess it starts tonight.
I didn't know, but I was watching and I saw
a couple of things. Of course, the ESPN covers the
whole they have the WNBA on their coverage, right, but look,
the Olympics didn't have Caitlin Clark. Nobody really paid attention
(04:20):
to the women, although they almost lost in the championship game.
You got Little League World Series, which the same genre
of people, right, women, kids, younger families watch the Little
League World Series. A lot of them have been watching WNBA.
But that's what has women's sports has been on a
meteoric rise, led by the WNBA. Will we listen through
(04:44):
a break? Will we watch through a break? I think
it's fascinating, fascinating, especially because let's just be honest, our
attention is diverted with football, right, most of you, myself included, right,
my son started high school today, my daughters we dropped.
I dropped one of my daughters off at college yesterday.
We all have other stuff going on right now and
(05:06):
tonight there's the Philadelphia Eagles ticket on New England Patriots
on the NFL network. And as much you could say,
who watched this preseason football in the NFL network, the
answer is a lot more people than watch the WNBA, always,
period stop, six days a week, and of course twice
on Sunday. I think it's really interesting to me, like
(05:28):
I'm fascinated by things that I don't know how they
will go, right, Like in college football, I don't know
how Oklahoma does in the SEC. I'm fascinated by it.
They were better last year, but they have a demonstrative advantage,
not just in historical and recent success in the Big Twelve,
but financially, they're like at one and a half to
(05:51):
two x of everybody else in the Big twelve next
with the exception of Texas. Now they're in the SEC
and they're middle of the pack and everything, and they're
kind of an unknown and every week becomes a war.
And they have a new quarterback as Dalan Gabriels. At Oregon,
you don't know what that's gonna be like. We don't
know what USC's gonna be like. USC's super interesting. Lincoln
(06:12):
Riley was on a meteoric rise when he went when
he took over at Oklahoma, and then he leaves Oklahoma
and the first year at USC they turned the thing around.
Last year was a bit of a mess. We talked
about Clemson yesterday. I don't know what happens with Clemson.
I personally think it works. I just don't know if
it's this year. But building from within, having a high
(06:32):
recipitous rate, that's how many people you bring back, I
think is the way to win in college sports. Not
play the portal look at Colorado and what happened to
them and Colorado's instrue. I don't know the answers I wonder,
I think, but I'm interested by it. We talked about
Philadelphia tonight, right, last year, they lost Shane Steichen and
(06:53):
the offense completely collapsed. Yes they were ten and zero,
but it didn't look and feel the same. And then
it was a mess at the end of the year.
And that mess was was made more obvious by some
of the drama we've heard about this offseason. Like, I
don't know what Philadelphia looks like this year. I can't
wait to see. I can't wait to see what our
Chargers look like. Obviously you're hoping that you get your
(07:16):
quarterback back, but also with a legitimate head coach, with
the legitimate head coaching experience, and everywhere Jim Harbaugh has been,
he's won it. Stan's the reason he'll win with the Chargers.
But again, it's the Chargers. They find a way to
spit up all over themselves all the time.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
How do I know?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I'm a Charger fan, but I don't know about Jordan
Love Right. First half of the season, eh, second half
the season really good. Now he's the highest paid guy
in the game, now that people have a full book
on him, what's that look like? Again, these are things
that I don't know. I'm a curious person and a
curious sports fan. Feels like the Dodgers, who, by the way,
(07:52):
are a three to three tie with the Milwaukee Brewers
in a daytime game at American Family Field. Feels like
the Dodgers are better for the postseason. But I'm gonna
watching October just like Jay s Dou because Jay s Dou,
you know, he's mister negative. He thinks they're gonna lose
yet again in the postseason. I think this is the year.
But again I don't know. But tonight begins probably a
(08:16):
two week stretch of not real NFL games, but NFL
is on not playoff games from Major League Baseball. But
they do matter more our attentions to spand is especially
for people who watch the WNBA. Women children, younger people
right they're now into high school, high school sports, high
school football. Will we watch the WNBA Because there's no
(08:41):
part of me that what could have predicted two years
ago I would ever talk about a WNBA player or
who goes on or who is off the US women's
National team.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Ask yourself that had you ever cared? Do you even?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I said this before the Olympics, and I know it
to be true. They've won what nine consecutive gold medals?
Anybody know that before? They didn't have Caitlin Clark on
the team, Like, well, we won eight in a row.
I didn't never pay attention to it, couldn't tell you
one thing about it because nobody cared. Now we care
ish or do we care?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Care?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Because if we care, care, you know what we do.
We listen through a break. We watched through a break.
The ultimate sign that a fad is going to stick
is when it gets challenged, when there's alternatives. Does it
(09:40):
continue to be part of the sports discussion? My guess,
by the way, is that it does not, no matter
how much we love Caitlin Clark kind of had enough
because at the end of the day, even the NBA
can't battle with football, let alone women's basketball. But I
don't know, because I couldn't have addicted this sort of
(10:01):
prominence for one player rising up a league that was
really the butt of most jokes for most of US
sports fans for the last twenty five years. I was
just I'm a curious person, and I was curious about
that today and I just I wonder and I don't
have an answer for it. And I think that's frankly,
(10:21):
what I'll be sort of watching for. Yeah, I'll be
sort of hunting the numbers, if you will, and trying
to figure out whether or not people care enough to
listen or watch through a break are thanks to Rapid Radios,
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Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah, Jay, I have a one point to make about this.
So the WNBA's season restarts tonight, but tomorrow night, Kaitlin
Clark and that her team starts, so the actual season
continues tomorrow night. When we start paying attention to this thing,
(11:10):
and you bring up an interesting sports talk debate, and
I'm going to say this, these are two worlds coiding.
This is the Kaitlin Clark phenomenon with football, And would
you be willing to give me this much that I
think it'll be somewhere in between, and that Kaitlin Clark's
audience kind of like the Olympics. She has like crossover
(11:33):
male and female audience. Maybe some people that aren't really
into football are really into Kaitlin Clark. So the qating
I think won't take much of a dip. But I
guess the actual question is are you going to sacrifice
any football watching to pay attention to Kaitlyn Clark. Maybe
that's the more specific topic. Now, I yes, that's a
(11:59):
that's a we know the answer to that one, right.
I mean, I think you think there's any human being.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Who's gonna go like, you know, Eagles, Packers are on,
but I'm going to watch the w NBA playoffs, right,
I mean, is there any human being ever? And and
then you you're like me, like, I'm not saying there's
not a single human being, but come on, sports fans,
sports fans one hundred, one hundred are going to watch
(12:26):
the NFL.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I think you keep saying the w n B A
And it's not that it's you think Kaitlyn Clark. It's
Kaitlyn Clark. There's not the w You're not going to
watch a Mystics Links game instead of football. But let's
go lens. You might go over to a Kaitlin Clark
games in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
No, no, mm hmm, don't see it, perfet You what
do you think?
Speaker 4 (12:52):
I was a lot more invested in the return of
professional soccer this weekend. I don't know if I've realized
the WNBA was coming back.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
What professional soccer MLS?
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Uh No, So it's already it's it's already European European
LA Liga started is starting I think today, and then
Premier League on Friday.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Like it's yeah, that's a priority for me, okay, Ilo.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
I think women's basketball in general got a bump from
last year's College Final four, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese
going into the NBA and the Olympics. That being said,
I think it'll go back down, but it'll still be
healthy enough to continue a nice line of growth. But
I think it was a bump that ends here. I'm
fascinated by it. I I I'm going to guess that
(13:45):
the new TV deal is going to be a mess
for ESPN. It's gonna be a mess. So, I mean,
they didn't they they they like tripled or quadrupled the
value of it.
Speaker 6 (13:55):
I just.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Like you said, they got a bump because you had
like literally a month lead up, but maybe a month
and a half of following Kaitlyn Clark. You know, she
sets the scoring record, that she goes to the thought
of four, she goes to the championship game, then she's
the number one pick. Then she's on TV, you know.
Then she's left off the Olympic team. Then they start
playing well and there's literally nothing else going on.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Nothing.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
The first thing is next year in college basketball, I
think Duke is back. There's there's now a guy to
watch and a team to watch, and his Duke and
page Bikers is She's Beckers is awesome, but like she's
not Kaitlyn Clark, and she's one person. And I don't
think anybody cares about the rest of them.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
They just don't. And I just I don't. I don't
see it. I could be wrong, but remember you had
a month and a half lead up of.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Caitlin Clark, maybe even two months of Kaitlin Clark in college,
which then buttressed into the pros, and then they had
the Olympic Games. They had this whole kind of run
up next year, you don't have any of that. But
for this year, yeah, I do think there's there'll be
some curiosity, but a lot of it will go away
and I will have they expanded the fan base, Yes,
(15:17):
she has for her. Will it be some sort of
dynamic thing that continues to grow. No, And unless it
continues to grow, that TV deal is a mess. It's
based upon additional growth, which I think we're hitting the set.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
I could be wrong because I never thought.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I don't think anybody thought that it would be as
viable and as discussed as it has been over really
the past year and a half.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
This is the best of the Done dot Leaf Show
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
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(16:13):
what an earworm is? I'm in Jay. I'm sorry, I
mean so Jay Stu are our steam producer. He's got
hearing issues. You said a cochlear implant. It's not it
has nothing to do with an actual worm in your
ear Samy, do you know what what what an earworm is?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (16:31):
I do.
Speaker 7 (16:31):
And earworm is actually one of Jason Stewart's favorite words.
He uses it all the time.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
We're just talking about your famous earworms yesterday, and I
think the two examples that came to mind readily were
Proud Mary h rolling down the river and there was
another one that just gets in your head and you
can't get rid of it.
Speaker 7 (16:51):
Yes, this is a song that a hook or a
melody or a song that gets in your head and
it just keeps running in your head and you can't
get rid of it.
Speaker 8 (17:00):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Matter of fact, there's a Cranberry song that's been remade
and my son and his buddy were singing it and
I just I finally I yelled at him, like, you
guys got to stop. I can't hear it anymore. You
have any earworm? But you're passing on to me like
I can't do it.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
What's the song? I Love the Cranberries? Or Linger?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Linger? Linger?
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Who remade Linger? It's a great song.
Speaker 6 (17:25):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
They were singing it and they were like, we just
heard it. I was like, no, it's all. That's a
song when I was in high school. I think it
was remade anyway, point is that earworms can't get that. Also,
sometimes sometimes when you say, like, don't say the F word,
don't say the F word, don't say the F word,
what do you always do say the F word? At
(17:48):
least that's how I am. I just you know, you
try and forget it. I bring that up, Yeah, I
do that because remember you was it yesterday we found
out how Son Riddik wanted to be traded or yesterday
became public that he want to be traded again. Was
traded in the off season by the Eagles to the Jets.
The Jets remain just really steadfast in their approach here
(18:10):
that they won him on the Jets. All you got
to do is take Robert Sola's Tuesday response, for example,
when he was asked about the batter.
Speaker 9 (18:17):
It's not I promise you it's not. It's not frustrating
because I don't have control over it. But like I said,
we're excited about our group, still looking forward for him
to get here when he's ready, and when he's ready,
we're going to embrace them with open arms and to
get ready to attack the moments that he brings to us.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Here's his quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, talking about the star defensive player.
Speaker 7 (18:34):
Aaron, what's your take on a situation where a teammate
requests to trade even though he has yet to have
a single practice with that team?
Speaker 8 (18:42):
What has always new things in the league that you know?
I've been around twenty years, I've seen a lot of stuff.
I think as players, we always first try and side
with the player, because you know what it's like to
be a player.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
I don't know him well.
Speaker 8 (18:52):
I've had a couple messages with him, I believe when
he got traded, obviously we'd love for him to be here,
but you know, we don't judge him for trying to
do what's best for him. I think what's best for
him is to be a Jet because this is going
to be a fun ride. But you know, he's got
to make the best decision for him and his family got.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
To make the bestI like, I thought that was actually
really really honest.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I think I.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Exchanged text mess Didn't I catch that? Can I hear
that first early response? I think I exchanged text message
with him. Let me let me take a list of
one more time.
Speaker 7 (19:23):
I think he requests the trade even though he has
yet to have a single practice.
Speaker 10 (19:27):
With that team.
Speaker 8 (19:28):
What has always new things in the league that you know,
I've been around twenty years. I've seen a lot of stuff.
I think his players. We always first try and side
with the player, because you know what it's like to
be a player.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I don't know him well.
Speaker 8 (19:39):
I've had a couple messages with him. I believe.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
I've had a couple of messages with him. I believe.
I think. I'm not really sure if it was him
or not him. I don't know who it was.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Maybe he was tripping on ayahuasca. I was changing.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I was so high at the time. Oh my god,
was that a on Reddick or is that Reddick Hassan?
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I don't know, Oh man, I believe, I think is
the old Hassan probably reached out to him twice, And
in the middle of that answer, Aaron Rodgers like, I
don't think I ever got back to him.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
There's a couple of time did I press send? Did
I not? I've ever done that, By the way, to.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
My drafts, like, yeah, that's the in corporate America, that's
the most used excuse, and it's not getting back to somebody.
Come on, you didn't hit send. Come on, I had
my drafts.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Listen. I'll be completely honest. So when I got the
coaching job, I told you guys, I got twenty seven
hundred and thirteen messages and I thought I'd returned them all.
And then you know I I then I went through
and I had hundreds upon hundreds of messages that were unread,
and yet I couldn't find them because after a month,
mine automatically get you know, I have that setting for
(20:57):
like one month? Is how I how long I hold
him for.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
A month? My gosh, that's a quick trigger.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Man, it's a lot of time. You know, I'm a
big texture, a big texture. If you were, if you weren't,
if you weren't the one guy who would ruin all
uh all uh chats because you're not on the Apple platform,
you would know this. You would be on group chats more.
But instead you're the complete you know, group chat buzzkill
(21:24):
because it always pops up green. You're always like, man,
did he block me? No, that's right. He's the one
guy with the motorola. Hope your flip phone's doing well, Jasu,
Doug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Anyway, I
thought that was great, Like, yeah, I don't I think
I return his message. I think I know him. It's
probably good. We want him to play. But the big
(21:44):
thing is Robert Sally going like, nah, not a distraction,
not a distraction. Distraction. Who's distracted. I'm not distracted because
it's out of my control. MM playing that mental mind
game sounds really good. I don't know if it actually
works that way. I do like the fact that Jets
are like, we traded it for you. You said you
want to play under this contract. You want to get
(22:06):
a bigger contract by playing. Go play. That's how all
of our contracts work, right. I have a what a
year and a half left of my Fox Sports Radio contract.
What if I wuldn't go like, you know, listen, I'm
not doing anything until I get a new contract. I'd
be like, Okay, we'll find somebody who will stuck out
(22:27):
leave show here on Fox Sports Radio. That's the voice
of Nick Cope. You O'Connor will join us here half
past the hour, and I just I have to tell you, like,
sometimes what is this Steve Martin line? And am I
dating myself by saying Steve Martin the comedian.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
No, absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
I mean, I listen, I appreciate that, Sam, You're an
old soul.
Speaker 7 (22:50):
He's in The Only Murders in the Building is a
very popular show right now. So I think he's very
He's still very relevant.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Okay, yes, so he used to do stand up comedy.
I don't think he does stand up comedy anymore, but
he used to stand up comedy, and one of his
big lines was comedy is all about tie tie timing, right,
And I think in many ways, book sales are the same.
They're the same. And if we were to be honest
(23:17):
and we were to say, like, who do you really
want to know about in sports? I think I want
to know about Kaitlyn Clark. I mean, there's no bigger
name right now in sports than Kitlin Clark. That's fair.
I think I'd probably want to know about Kayleb Williams.
He seems interesting. Definitely gen Z definitely of a different
kind of evolution pattern than the old school quarterbacks. I
would like to know about kind of the last four
(23:39):
or five years of Tom Brady. It seems like obviously
the team switch the Super Bowl the way it ended,
the retirement, come back, the divorce, all those things now
into broadcasting after a year of you know, a year
of kind of taking a year off. Like all those
things are interesting. But as we get ready for the
football season. Last year, the first week of the season,
(24:03):
we were just waiting, waiting, waiting for Monday Night football,
and Aaron Rodgers ran out onto the MetLife Field with
the American flag. You're like, this is incredible. You don't
have to be a Jets fan, Like, holy cow, Aaron
Rodgers is a Jet. This really happened. And of course
there's the parallel to Brett Favre becoming a Jet as well.
Five plays any Taris's Achilles Attendant. And you know, then
(24:26):
there's been the McAfee appearances, you know, no showing on
some offseason activities to go to Egypt, and Aaron generally
being Aaron. But when you're trying to find a figure
that people want to learn about, that they know of
and think they know some about, I can't tell you
how good at timing this is. With the book, it's
(24:48):
called Out of the Darkness, The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers
and soan so ever, get your books. August twentieth you
can pre order now, and it's authored by an outstanding
author of New York Times bestselling author Ian O'Connor joins
it down the Dug Go The Show on Fox Sports Radio.
I mentioned how good the timing is and leading up
to you joining us Ian, when did you start this pross?
When did you say I got to write about Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 10 (25:10):
Hey, Doug, first, congratulations on the coaching job and thanks
for having me on. I actually was under contract to
write a biography of Lebron James, and then another Lebron
James book was in the works that I was unaware of,
so that comes out, and I'm thinking there's going to
be some Lebron fatigue here if I go forward with
this project. At the same time, Aaron got traded into
(25:30):
my backyard in New York, and I thought he was
the most polarizing player in the NFL and also maybe
the most prominent American male athlete who hasn't had a
defining bio written about him. So I essentially traded Lebron
for Aaron. Hopefully that was a good trade, and I'll
leave that up to the readers. But I've always been
I don't know about you, but I've always been fascinated
(25:51):
by him from Afar. He's a mystifying character. Obviously, obviously
in recent years he has changed in terms of his
public image. I mean he's become a villain. He was
not a villain before COVID No, but that's changed, and
so that definitely interested me as well, just to dive
into how he changed, why he changed, and just why.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
He is the way he is is what's your process, like,
what's your process?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Like?
Speaker 10 (26:18):
Our process is just calling as many people as humanly
possible who were in his life, I mean, starting in
elementary school, teachers, classmates, and really I started this book
in chapter one with his grandfather, who was an amazing
World War two combat pilot, and that story had never
been told, who flew forty four missions against the Hitler
war machine and had some amazing acts of heroism and
(26:40):
valor that had never been reported before. So that actually
is chapter one is two generations prior, and Aaron did
not know really almost any of the details of his
grandfather's service. And he is buried in Arlington National for
a reason. He was one of the greatest members of
the Greatest Generation. So those are the stories I love
(27:01):
to tell. In these books. Unfortunately, of course, with his
family estrangement, that had to be a part of it.
One thing Doug that I appreciated was when I explained
that to Aaron, you understand, I have to write about
this family division. He understood. And a lot of superstar
athletes I've been around would not have understood that.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
So quick backstory, there was about probably a year and
a half where Aaron and I were friendly via text,
We hung out the final four to one year. He
did let me in on a little bit of his backstory,
and I don't want you to give away the whole book,
but what happened was obviously his brother made it public
(27:38):
that there was a rift in the family when he
was on the Bachelorette, right, and then everybody's like, oh hey,
Aeron doesn't even get on. What were you able to discern?
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Was that?
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Was it all Olivia Munn when she was she the
Yoko that split up this family?
Speaker 10 (27:53):
No, I think the family believed that, or some family
members believe that. But he hadn't dated her in seven years.
And this estrangement has become a sort of a living
organism that Aaron doesn't know how to kill off. But
when he started that relationship in twenty fourteen. He entered
that relationship with thoughts already about his family, and his
family members disagree with this, by the way, but his
(28:15):
perception was that his generosity with them was not being
fully appreciated. He thought the family unit revolved too much
around his fame and success. And Olivia notarized those feelings.
She agreed with him that was her role in it,
and I think it's really unfair to lay the blame
all at her feet. Now. She was a part of it,
but again, he hasn't been with her for a long time,
(28:38):
and he had issues with his brothers, both of them.
And the big issue with Jordan was, you go on
to bachelorette and you make this estrangement part of the narrative,
and you put two open chairs at the dinner table
signifying that I wasn't there with Olivia. Meanwhile, I wasn't
even invited to that filming, and so he was really
upset by that. He was upset by some other things
(28:59):
that is older brother Luke did. They were upset with
him skipping a wedding and other family functions. And if
you really look at the fifteen reasons for this, estrangement.
A lot of them are fairly minor and petty issues,
and so it needs to end. There was a meeting
I have in the book with his father, an emotional
meeting last summer at Lake Tahoe that lasted thirty seconds
(29:20):
at the golf tournament there, but it was emotional. They
told each other, I love you, and hopefully that's the
first baby step towards a reconciliation.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yeah. I had been told not by Aaron, but by
others that there was also a religious aspect to it
to where they were. The family is very, very religious,
and he and some people thought it was Olivia, but
he's just not and that and that left a rift
in terms of, you know, they're feeling.
Speaker 10 (29:48):
Yeah that, by the way, that is true, that that
was apartment of it. Early on, they were devali religious,
particularly his mother, and she was really against Premaro sex.
So even when he was in the NFL and won
the Super Bowl, she was concerned about him sharing hotel
rooms with a girlfriend. And so yeah, that impacted him.
And now he's not religious at all. He's just he
(30:08):
calls himself spiritual. So that was a part of it
more early on, not so much right now.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
How how did he view how it ended in Green.
Speaker 10 (30:19):
Bay Listen, I think he, of course he had the
darkness retreat and he realized that they were ready to
move on to Jordan Love. He also needed a new challenge.
It had ended there once they missed the playoffs, and
it looked that game against Detroit his final game.
Speaker 6 (30:37):
You could tell it was over. It was clear.
Speaker 10 (30:39):
Maybe it lasted one year or too long, and they
should have traded them a year earlier. But the Jets
are sitting there as a perfect opportunity for Aaron, and
he knew that because Tom Brady's got seven rings and
he's got one, he's certainly never going to catch him.
But if he realized New York City, if I win
a championship for a Charlie Brown franchise as a biblical
(31:01):
drought hasn't been two of Super Bowl since January of
nineteen sixty nine, that's going to feel like three or
four rings, not one. So I thought it was a
smart play on his end. I think he realized that now.
Speaker 6 (31:13):
Of course, last year was a.
Speaker 10 (31:14):
Disaster, but maybe the football gods finally owe Jets fans
won and Aaron Rodgers won, and this year will be
the opposite of last year.
Speaker 6 (31:22):
We'll see how it plays out.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Stug Gottlieb show here on Fox Sports Trail. That's the
voice of Ian O'Connor, who has written the book Out
of the Darkness. Obviously, Out of the Darkness is a
type of the Captain the Darkness retreat and a lot
has been made about his ayahuasca ayahuasca retreats. Is this
something new or has he been doing this throughout his
career ayahuasca.
Speaker 10 (31:44):
No, it started in twenty twenty. So his good friend
Jordan Russell, who by the way, he kicked out of
his life for three years too, but he brought him
back into his life. Jordan Russell goes to Peru experiences
a ceremony with ayahuasca. He returned and says to Aaron,
you've got to try this. This is great. So Aaron
and Danica Patrick's girlfriend at the time, go to Peru
(32:07):
in twenty twenty. They sit for some ceremonies. He feels
like it's a spiritual cleansing. He becomes a better man,
a better football player. Even. He feels like basically, the
way Jordan Russell described it to me is that ayahuasca
is like a lucid dream with embedded messages, and he
just come to terms with yourself when you're sitting there
(32:28):
and it's a ceremony and you learn things about yourself.
And Aaron said it improved his relationships with other people.
I don't know why that didn't work with his family,
but anyway, he felt that he was a new man,
a new football player. So he's going to use it
for the rest of his career and beyond. But that
started and actually the virus was approaching Peru and they
(32:48):
were about to close the border, so it was really
a race to the border to get out in time
before they closed down the country. And he just made it.
But I suspect that'll be a part of his life
going forward.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
What was lifelike for him when he was rehabbing the Achilles,
It was the early.
Speaker 10 (33:04):
Hours Douga that were really grim and dark. He had
a trainer, Aaron Alexander's name has not been out there,
but he essentially moved into his house and worked with
him NonStop. And Aaron Alexander told me that there were
times when Aaron it was so dark, he was like,
the Jets don't even want me back. I'm done. I
can't overcome this. I can't make it. He did overcome
(33:26):
those thoughts and towards the end of the year, back
in NFL history, his training, if you rush back and
retear it, that's the end of your career. Let's just
wait till twenty twenty four, Aaron said, Nope. If the
Jets win on December seventeenth in Miami, I'm playing on
(33:47):
Christmas Eve against Washington and the Jets got blown out
by thirty points in Miami, so it was a moot point.
So the comeback was delayed. Now to this year. It's
a mulligan and we'll see if again the football gods
will finally finally smile on the fatalistic fan base of
the New York Jets.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
How does he want to be remembered.
Speaker 10 (34:11):
I think as an all time great who on the
field off the field, that he was fearless, and I
think that's the one thing I'll give him credit for.
I don't agree with a lot of things he has
said and beliefs that he holds, but he is never
fearful of the consequences of stating his position, and very
few public figures are like that, and so that's usually
(34:33):
a commendable trait, but he does have some far out
ideas on the world and the people running it, so
it hasn't really helped him. There been some unforced errors
the COVID thing two thousand and one in August when
he said, yeah, I've been immunized, that mistake, that self
inflicted wound. And by the way he admitted to me
that was a mistake and he would do that differently
(34:54):
if given a mulligan. He has not recovered from that.
I mean, he turned into a villain that day, and
unfortunately he has not made up that ground and fully
recovered from it.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
You know, he he paid you, I thought an incredible
compliment when he was Interviewnal was yesterday. We played the
cut where he talked about the thoroughness of your process
for people who don't know Ian Connor. Joining Us out
of the Darkness is his latest book. It's about Aaron Rodgers.
Just just how thorough is your process? Because again, this
is not something where you go and sit with him
(35:26):
and he tell and you have your recorder and he
tells you what to say and what happened you You
interviewed a wide gamut of people. Give me a sense
of just how wide that Gama was.
Speaker 10 (35:35):
Yeah, and I'll explain it to you like I explained
it to him. And that was right after his press conference,
his first one with the Jets after the trade was made.
Is I talked to hundreds of people and people from
every aspect of your life, those willing to engage me anyway,
and yeah, I think that's the only way to do it.
And that's how I uncovered the story of his grandfather
and his World War Two service and finding confidential military
(36:00):
records and so forth and anyway. So at the end
of that two minute spiel, I said, by the way,
do you have any questions about my process? And he said, yeah,
I've got a question. Do you plan on interviewing me
for this book? And I said, I'd love to, of course,
that's up to you. So I went months and months
with him not responding to my request for an interview.
He showed a lot of indifference, but I think I
(36:22):
warmed down that I contacted so many friends who then
texted him for permission to talk to me, that he
realized this was a deadly serious project to me, and
I was trying to get it right.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Well, Ian, I know when you do anything you do
it right, you do it thoroughly. I can't wait to
read the book. It comes out August twentieth. It's called
Out of the darkenst The Mystery of Aaron Rogers, the
great Ian O'Connor New York Times best selling author joining
us Ian. Thanks so much for your time. We really
appreciate it.
Speaker 10 (36:47):
Hey, my pleasure, Doug, good luck this year.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
This is the best of the Doug.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Dott lead show on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
What Up with You?
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Doug Gott lead Show, Fox wors Radio, coming to you
him the tyrat dot com studios tyrat dot com. When
we get there, unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road
as a protection, Uber ten thousand recommended sellars, tyrat dot com.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
That's the way tire buying should be. Welcome in.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
I hope you're doing great. Let's stop everything we're doing
and let's welcome in. Michael Rubin. He's the CEO of Fanatics.
He's a serial entrepreneur. Uh oh, there's a bunch of
things I want to get to and I really appreciate
you spending some time with this, Michael. But before we
get to Fanatics, which of course has kind of taken
(37:31):
over the sports role by storm. What was the one
business you started that you were sure this is a
winner and it was not.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
Well, I definitely have many of those, Like one would
be so limiting in my answer, I would have said
it would have been the NFT business that we started
a couple of years ago with candy. And we started
that and we realized very quickly this wasn't it. It
was a product, it wasn't a business, and we gotta
very quickly. So I'd say we're quick to start things
(38:04):
that we believe in them. If we think we're wrong,
we'll quick to react and get out of it.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Yeah, rip to NFTs. I remember, I remember people did
like no, no, it's the metaverse. So wait, I can
buy something and then like it's limitless.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
It's like okay.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
So the problem with NFTs was just explaining to people,
you know it is right. If I can't understand in
two sentences, I can't understand it. And it took more
than two sentences.
Speaker 6 (38:24):
Look, I think as a utility paired with you know,
physical blatables, it makes a lot of sense. But I
think it's definitely out of standing on the business. That's
where I had it wrong. But you know what For me,
we love trying things. A lot of things work, a
lot of things don't do things that don't work, You
learn from you grow, you move on quickly. That's part
about business. You gotta take your l's and move forward.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Again.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
I do want to talk about fanatics, but I have
to ask about the White Party. How did the first
one that happened? How did it come to be?
Speaker 6 (38:50):
So I am a really like bad learner like I
was when I when I grew up, I got seven
a M SATs combined. I was terrible student, barely made
high school. I think, you know, went to college for
a few weeks. For me, the way I always learned
to bringing people together. And you know, I'm fortunate to
have a really kind of diverse group of friends, like
all different backgrounds, cultures, you know, you know, from great
(39:13):
business leaders to great athletes to great artists. They're just
great people you can learn from. And so I like
bringing people together. And so the original idea four years
ago it is just how do I bring, you know,
my kind of group of friends together. And it's pretty
incredible from the first We've only done it four years.
It's you know, it's less informant for people that actually
come to But it's just such a great group of
people that come together. We all learn from each other
and have a glass as well. It's the thirteen hour
(39:34):
parties five pm till six am goes to business. But
you know, you see only the fun parts. But what
you don't see is all the great relationships that get created,
all the great business ups come from it. That's what
I love about it.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Now, do you do you have extra like white clothing?
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Because I just imagine me, particularly me, I go to
have a drink, bump into somebody, it's on my white
suit and I'm like, dude, Now the whole rest of
the night where you have the best and the brightest
in the universe in this party? See me as the
with the spill on his shirt. Do you have extra
gear for people if they spill in their white clothing?
Speaker 6 (40:05):
So, first off, before the creation of the white part
I don't think I owned any white I own a
white pair of pants. Maybe I have some white sneakers
and maybe some white you know shirts. I had no
white pants. I actually go through a couple of Apple
changes changes that night. The good thing for me is
I have home court advantage, so I can you know,
kind of go do cocktails, very locked into business, then
go upstairs, change getting something a little more you know, casual,
(40:27):
a little more you know, roof five being then kind
of in the club. So I think I was in
three to four outs this year.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
All right, fair enough. Fanatics Fest NYC is at the
Javit Center, Okay, and this is a collection of athletes
and leagues, teams, collectibles, memorabilia. So explain to me if
I if I go to Fanatics Fest, like, what all
am I going to see? What am I going to do?
What am I gonna learn?
Speaker 6 (40:52):
Yeah, Look, no one's ever done anything like this in
sports before. You have this obviously Comic Con for that industry,
and you see a quarter a million people come to
New York Comic On to come trust and full costumes.
You've got all these music festivals, you got stuff by
the Southwest. In sports, there's no world gathering, you know,
other than games itself of sports fans. So we really
want to create the first kind of sports festival. And
you're gonna see two hundred of the best athletes in
(41:14):
the world coming out for this. I mean Tom Brady, Peyton, Manning,
Eli Manning, KD. Anthony Edwhits fresh up the Olympics of
the gold medals. You know, Mike Tyson, Jake Paul doing
fresh comps, the Derek Cheeter being interviewed by David. Artists,
You've got you know, two hundred incredible by the way,
incredible wrestlers. You know, Ray Mysteria, Hawk Cogan, your best
UFC fighters. So you know, to me, the ability to
(41:38):
bring together so many great athletes, artists, Jay Z, Travis
Scott into one festival and kind of create this you
know environment that's ever been crazy thing we're so excited about.
There's gonna be content every day. There's a main stage,
the center stage where you've got different interviews happening. So
like Steven A. Smith interviewing Tom Brady, David Art, He's
(42:00):
interviewing Derek Juter. There's a whole New York Knicks tannel
with Bronson and Josh Hard and Spike Lee and Ben Siller.
But then you've got you know, like NBA players are
gonna be playing basketball on the courts with kids, Ka
Deine and and Ann are playing basketball, you know, for
thirty minutes with kids and playing football with kids. Brady's
(42:21):
going passes to kids for an hour on Friday, So
it's really just a mersive sports festival. But then you've
got like a whole training card area, a whole merch area,
special drops. Travis Scott's gonna launch his trading cards as
Tops Cactus Jack exclusive cards for the first time at
the show. So there's really something for everybody.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
That's the voice of Michael Rubin. Of course, he's the
CEO of Fanatics. He's a seriful serial entrepreneur, of philanthropists,
a social justice advocate and the founder and executive chairman
of Fanatics. They do have Fanatics best in the NYC
going on at the Javit Center. I read from what
was It sport Coe Today, the Cowboys lead NFL franchises
(43:01):
with an estimated value of ten point three two billion dollars.
So for somebody out there who doesn't understand how that
portion of your business, because I know it's a vast business.
There's tickets, there's other elements to it as well, but
just in terms of the franchise values based upon what
you sell how much? Why do you believe the Cowboys
(43:21):
are so incredibly valuable and popular despite the fact that
it's been thirty years since they won a Super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (43:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (43:28):
Well, look, I say it's two things. First, there's only
a limited amount of the sports franchisees available, and NFL
there's only thirty two of them. They're not making more
of them this you know, thirty NBA teams. So you know,
I think there's a lot of people who've had tremendous
success in business who really aspired on a sports franchise.
The second thing is is you should not be good
businesses ten years ago, fifteen years ago. They're now very
(43:48):
good business. The Cowboys probably make franchard million dollars in profits.
If you'd say, you know, what kind of multiple would
you put on some of the Dallas Cowboys, it almost
seems cheap to me. So I tell you that sports,
the growth is there is going to keep being more
secular growth to sports. You know, for us, you know,
our entire business is built around the incredible athletes. They
do what they do on the field, on the ice,
on the court. Without them, we'd have no business. You know,
(44:09):
we're gonna do you know, more than six billion dollars
of merchandise sales this year, you know, billions of dollars
of trading card and collectible sales, just got started the
online boots, studying how gaming business, and you know, we're
building great businesses around these incredible athletes and around these
credible franchises.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Yeah, is that the future for everybody is everybody wraps
it into a sports gambling element of sports gambling arm
that is that that's the future for everyone.
Speaker 6 (44:33):
Well, look, I think there's a limited company to out
real success. Obviously, it's led by Fango and DraftKings, which
are the two behemoths in the US on you know
today they really have a duopoly. I think, you know,
for me, we believe we like being an underdog by
the way in the in the fang your business and
the collectibles business. I think, you know, people look at
us as kind of a leader in online sports pending.
We're just getting started. We love that. We love people saying, hey,
(44:54):
you've got no chance of financial we got one hundred
and thirty million customers. We've got a great product. Now
that's next sports book. When we launched in September, we're
just getting started, you know. Less than a year later,
I think, you know, people are looking as having one
of the best three products, maybe even the best product
of the market today. And you know, We're gonna keep
making it better for sports fans every day.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Uh Fanatics Fest NYC at the Javit Center.
Speaker 6 (45:13):
What are the dates, August sixteenth or the eighteenth, this
Friday through Sunday. We can't wait.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
That should be awesome.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
Listen, I love talking sports with you, talking about your business.
You're a fascinating dude. Thanks so much for your time
with the Sun Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (45:27):
Hey, appreciate you so much. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
All Right, So Doug Gottlieb show here on Fox Sports Radio.
That's Michael. Anytime I hear Ruben, I do think of
I do think of what's the what's the Sasha Baron Cohen, No,
Sasha Baron Cone Not this Ruben sandwich is very good.
Sasha Baron cohness character from Ricky Bobby Lubin, right, Like,
(45:52):
I just I that's what comes to my mind immediately.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
I'm sorry, but I am.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
I am a former.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Trading card guy.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
But I was really young at the time. It was
my childhood in Orange County, and I think, I mean, obviously, Jay,
you're like a year and a half older than me. Yeah,
but I mean it was so big between baseball cards
and garbage pail kids, right, I had a ton of them,
and that like that took up a ton of my time,
a ton of my time. And that's really they got it.
(46:23):
He got into it with sports memorabilia, and then it's
expanded to all this other stuff, all this other stuff.
Just the question, by the way of the things that
didn't work, the NFT thing, that's it got a lot
of smart people. Did you guys ever think the NFT
thing would work?
Speaker 6 (46:41):
Though?
Speaker 1 (46:41):
I just never did. I was just like, I don't
understand it. I think he'd explained to me, I don't
understand it.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
I was gonna say, I think we had somebody on
once to specifically talk about it, and after you said,
explain what it is, I still didn't know what it is. Yeah,
to this day, I don't know what it is.
Speaker 7 (46:57):
If I had the money, Doug to purchase a very
expensive piece of art because it's beautiful and also has value,
I would do that. But I'm not going to purchase
something that is a pixelated mess and someone tells me
it's worth two million dollars when it has no history
or standing.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Well, my issue with the NFT thing was that people
are like, well, this is all new real estate. It's
called the metaverse. And I was like, okay, and again
what he said about the Cowboys is true, like you
have this historic name, historic franchise, and there's only thirty
two teams, right, so they can basically do what they want.
Price wise, they just keeps going up because there's a
(47:34):
limited supply. Whereas when people start trying to pitch me
on NFT things, I was like, well, if you don't
like that NFT or that piece of real estate, you
just go buy something else, Like no, no, no, this
is very unique, like great, but there's unlimited real estate
in the metaverse. But I will say this, if not
for really exploring what the NFT and metaverse was, I
don't expect I wouldn't understand at all. The Spider Man
(47:57):
into the metaverse one which was actually really good, and
Deadpool and Deadpool and Wolverine also really really good, also
used to the metaverse, which I didn't understand. But again, basically,
there's unlimited numbers of dead Pools and Wolverines in the metaverse.
Because the metaverse is limitless and the metaverse is limitless.
That does not make a unique product. If you're going
(48:18):
to sell something from.
Speaker 7 (48:19):
Metaverse, totally like how it's like the universe that just
keeps expanding, like there's you know, why do I want
some time share out on Pluto?
Speaker 3 (48:28):
Okay, I'll stay here.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
I don't want to times share period, period, period. Definitely
not one on Pluto.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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