THE BEST OF THE WEEK OF THE DOUG GOTTLIEB SHOW

On this version of the Best of The Week of The Doug Gottlieb Show: Doug is doing the show from Stillwater, OK before his first ever college basketball game as a head coach as his Green Bay Phoenix go up against his alma mater Oklahoma State. 

Doug describes his first night as a division I head coach as his Green Bay Phoenix played his alma mater Oklahoma State Cowboys in Stillwater, OK.

For this edition of The Midway, Doug and the crew talk about the best stories from the first half of the NFL season.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

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
Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fsr'm up America Doug
Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. All Right, coming to the

(00:26):
heart of north central Oklahoma and coming to your live
from the ti right dot Com studios tyright dot com.
Well we get there, unmatched election fast free shipping, Free
road has protection over ten thousand recommended sellars tyrit dot com.
This's the way tire buying should be. That is really weird.

(00:49):
Do you know when sometimes you I'm I've been good.
I've been good about this whole thing. You know, I haven't.
I haven't sleeping a ton, but I don't sleep a
ton anyway, But I've been good Like I was. Just
my son Hayes is with me. We went and got him.
He actually needed some underwear because he's he's an idiot.

(01:12):
I was like, dude, what's taking you so long to
get ready for shooter. He's like, Dad, I didn't pack
any underwear, Like what anyway, He's like, so, how you
feeling You're nervous? And I was like, no, I'm good.
He's like I was like, I'm all the things and excited.
But I will tell you the second I heard Dan
and the Dan Nuts and I realized where I am

(01:33):
that it did hit me like this is real. And
people ask all the time, like why why do you
do what you do? Oftentimes they ask me in a
sarcastic because I will say and do things that aren't
always maybe appropriator at the time timely, but why do this?
And the answer, honestly is today. And here's what I mean.

(02:01):
I'm from Orange, California. I went to Tustin High School.
There's no honest connection with this part of the world.
I grew up, believe it or not, as an Oklahoma
football fan. I used to love the Wishbone Jamil Holloway, right,
I used to love the bas Like who didn't like
the bos? And everybody didn't here by the way, they
didn't like, No, they did. Everybody loved the bass. I mean.

(02:23):
The truth is that prior to probably the last ten
to fifteen years, Oklahoma State football fans were also Ou
football fans really unless you went to school here in
your hardcore and the culture that Mike Gundy obviously, this
is a tough years created has changed things to where
there's now it literally is a divided state. It wasn't previously.

(02:43):
It wasn't basketball, it wasn't in football because it's hammer
and the nail. They won ninety percent of the games.
It's really hard to be an Okaha State football fan
for a long time. But the point is there's a
sign that I have. Uh it's still packed away in
a box in Green Bay, and it says it all

(03:05):
started in still Water. And I've had times in my
life where I've been a little broken and I pulled
in here and nobody judged me. You know, nobody judged me,
damn it. And I still remember the day and it's

(03:27):
interesting and it's all kind of coming. Like I said
this earlier today, that my gift is my curse is
that I have an incredible memory. You know you have
that you have that for sports, which is remarkable. Dan
and I always call on it because you're like our
personal like encyclopedia, Like oh no, no, that was October sixteenth,
nineteen sixty six. And here's what happened to you. The
UNI was like, oh my god, Dan, stop but I

(03:50):
have these my my brain is flush with these vivid memories.
And in uh, when I came here to go to
school in all guest of nineteen ninety seven, I went
to Lake Havasuit with my friend Nick, Nick Maruzzo's Nick
played basketball at UC San Diego. And it's basically twenty

(04:11):
four to twenty five hours from Orange County to still Water,
and so it's five hours out to have a suit.
So I had like a twenty hour trip. So I
planted out like all right, I'm gonna jet ski water
ski for a couple of days, and then I'm gonna
head out and I'm gonna stop like in I don't know,
it's like Albuquerque, and then stop in Amreillo one night,
and then I'll come here and I'll be your Sunday
and then Sunday we had a team meeting and then
Monday school starts. And I was so excited, just like

(04:35):
I am now that I drove straight through. I pulled off,
pull off the road and slept for a couple hours
in in my Chevy blazer. I am also still wanted
by the law in one of the Native American lands.
This is a real story. I got pulled over and
the guy's like, well, you know, it's like a one
hundred dollars speeding ticket. And I was like okay, He's like, well,

(04:57):
this is on the I'd say it's the Navajo Land
and I was like, oh, well, what happens if I
don't pay it? Like, well, then you're wanted. I was like,
in America, it's like no on Navajo Land. So I
if I ever get pulled out on Navajo Land, just
know I got thrown in the clink for something, you know,
twenty seven years ago. Anyway, So I pulled off the
road in northwest Oklahoma City. There's the I forty four

(05:22):
I forty four kind of byset or kind of cuts
through the northern part of Oklahoma City, and there's a
couple of bigger buildings there. But I had knew nothing
about Oklahoma. So I called my mom collect and I said,
she's like, what's it like. I was like, I think
I'm in downtown Oklahoma City and there's two buildings. And
then I called Mary Lee Draper, who's the longtime secretary

(05:44):
for Eddie Sutton, and she gave me directions to try
to get the still water. It's pretty simple, right, get
out I thirty five North, get off on fifty one.
There you are. You know, turn left on the Hall
of Fame and you'll run into Gallagher. So I pulled
off into Gallagher, and you know, it's August in Oklahoma,
it's one hundred eighty degrees. And I went upstairs to
Coach's office, which is on the second floor of the

(06:06):
old Gallagher, and he was like, what are you doing here?
I was like, Coach, I'm so excited. I got here
on It's like a Friday, early afternoon. So what should
I do because none of the players were there, and
I could just check into my room, but I didn't
have anything. He said, well, you usually go down to
Joe's and get yourself so meat and then go over
to the football game, the high school football game. Bunch

(06:28):
of people from the department are going down there. So
I came to Joe's. I sat by myself up there
and I took it all in, and then I went
to the high school football game, and I met Matt Holliday,
who we all had dinner with last night, He's become
a lifelong friend. Most of you guys know, I got
divorced a couple of years ago, and I have my

(06:50):
first day with my wife right there. I mean, my
life started right here. So I tell people all the
time that I wake up daily with true gratitude. But
I don't even express how much this place means to
me and what I want for my kids, and by kids,

(07:12):
I mean my players is they won't all get that,
but man if I can have one or two have
the experience that I had and the life that I've
lived because of the three years that I played basketball
where an Oklahoma State across my chest, and then I
have won, you know, as what as we were like,

(07:35):
we get so screwed up in sports. And it's the
thing about NIL and the transfer portal, and we have
kids everywhere, and everybody comes from somewhere else. And I
mean this when I say it. My goal is to
have those guys have what I have. You know, tonight,
Desert Mason, Brian Mott, Naughty, Rodney Seueter will walk on,

(07:58):
my former roommate Alex Weber, Andre Williams. They're all going
to be here now. Maybe part of it is none
of them have gotten a real job and moved away.
But the truth is that's my family and it all
started INSTI Water, Oklahoma. So I'm a competitive dude. I

(08:21):
want my team to win. I think we're fully capable
of winning. More than anything, I really want them to
represent themselves, our school, our program, and me personally the
right way. I just wanted to play hard and play
right and play for each other, because that's it. Like,
we didn't go to a Final four here, We didn't
win a Big twelve. We could have won the Big Twelve.

(08:42):
We choked and lost to Oklahoma in the last game.
The old Gallagher right. I lost in the Big twelve
championship game my junior year to Kansas, and we scored
like thirty five points because we were exhausted, But we
didn't There's lots of things we didn't do, but you
know we did do. We won, and we won because
those are my best friends on earth. Those are people

(09:03):
that I would lay down on train tracks for. This
is a school that changed my life, and that's what
college athletics is supposed to be about, not about all
this other crap. And I don't mean to go too far.
Afield because tomorrow is a very consequential day in American
history with our election. But it's the same thing. It's like,

(09:25):
we got to get back to what it's about. It's
not about all that other stuff. You know, who we
elect isn't about all this. It's like, who do you
trust to make really good decisions? Who do you trust,
regardless with you agree or disagree with like some of
their politics. I just so much of this gets caught
up in money and glamour and fame and the little

(09:47):
things that are like sugar that take us to these
highs and fill us so a dopamine and then we
drop off. I'm telling you college athletics, Look, it's hard.
Aroma Mater stinks this year. You know, they're a preseason
top fifteen team. I love my school. Mike gun He's
been the greatest coach in the history of Oklahoma State.
It's not even close. Like if people understood you guys

(10:07):
went to the game Saturday night, if people understood how
bad it was at the old Lewis Field. Okay, there
were steel girders that were rusting. They called it. Everybody
else called it the Rustolium Bowl. It was a joke. Okay,
we were a joke of a football program. Like the
only thing our football team was known for was on
their bye week, they would have the best parties, right,
and they would usually get into a fight with the

(10:29):
guys from Langston the first weekend of school. Like that's
all anybody knew what football guys from. Like we went
to the Alimo Bowl my first year, and you would
have thought they went to the super Bowl. And then
they stunned the next couple of years and Mike came
in in his first year, he got rid of all
the nuisance and they won three games, and then after
that it's been a rocket ship. But again, like we
get caught up in what it's not about. And it's

(10:52):
not that you don't want to win, Please don't mistaken
that about it. Like I'm I'm so competitive that it
if we lose tonight, it will and then I'm still
worried about Like Friday, we play Saint Thomas, who's a
really well coached team. Like the level of stress and
anxiety I actually like and I enjoy, but also part
of it is because I want to win. You know,

(11:13):
when you do broadcasting, get done doing a game, you
click off, did we win? Did we lose. I can
think I did a great job, but if I boss
thinks I didn't like, it doesn't matter. Right. We have
a scoreboard for a reason. But when I see that sign,
it all started in still Water and I was so
good with the emotions, you know, so good, And then
it just we clicked on and I heard the thing

(11:35):
from Dan, and I just I started thinking about all
the nights we'd play a game, we'd win, We'd come
down here, we'd watch Sports Are they crank it up
and there would be a highlight. I'd throw an alley
up to Mason and Mason would dunk it right, and
like we would stay up all hours the night just
to watch ourselves on a Sports Center highlight that Dan
Patrick would call. It wasn't about hey, can I get

(11:58):
five hundred dollars in nil? You know? And if not,
I'm going to leave the school. And the truth of
it is, I have a home, I have a life,
I have people Like the real reason I wanted to
play this game is all these things that I've talked about.
My kids will see the game, my friends will see
the game. But there's people that have supported me to

(12:21):
have this job as a head coach, like there was
a big move bring Doug home. I'd never coached a
day in my life at the college level. Right at
that level, it would have been seen as an obscene risk.
And yet every time it's come open, people have supported me.
Why because I'm an Oklahoma stake guy. Because we take
care of our own and that's what it's supposed to
be about. And I just hope that in twenty years,

(12:47):
Preston Muderger, Marcus Hall, Foster, Wonders, mac Recky one or
all of those guys show up at the other guy's
game and have a beer afterwards and talk about how
great he used to be. And you know, we get
far afield from what everything is about. And I'm telling
you my college experience at Oklahoma State was about the

(13:10):
right stuff and it's what I want my team to
ultimately succeed in life at. And oh yeah, by the way,
we want to win a game. So anyway, God, that
was a lot, Holy col can we go to break?
Rapid radios are an official communication device Fox Sports radio.
Rapid radios are instant pushing talk walkie talkies as very

(13:30):
national health coverage and no subscription or monthly fees. A
great alternative to mobile phone for your kids. We use
them on the show. Good Rapid Radios dot com now
for up to six percent off plus free shipping. Coming
up on The Doug Gottlieb Show Live from the Lafe
Mesimo Joe's and the tyraq dot Com studios. How about
we talk a little football? Like, can we talk a
little football? Let's do it? Okay, Dak Prescott said what

(13:53):
we all think, but he actually said it. Wow what
he say? Find out now.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
Up America. Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio coming to
you from the tyrack dot Com Studios. Tyrack dot com.
Well you get there, unmatched selection, fast, free shipping. Free
road has a protection over ten thousand recommended stallars tyraq
dot com. It's the way that tire buying should be. Hey,
welcome in. We're likely going to talk about a story

(14:35):
that nationally does not resonate nearly as much as the
trade deadline or Yeah, there's some other stuff, but this
is actually a good day to talk about sports. Because
if you want to talk about the election, I want
to hear about the election. Obviously it's everywhere else. So
this is a good way to just catch your breath
and set aside time to catch up on sports and

(14:56):
figure out all the trade deadline deals and why they
were done. By the way, if you just stay here,
we'll talk about all of that stuff. Dan Byer Jase too.
They made the trek back to LA from the Sooner
State from the red dirt last night. Appreciate you guys
setting all that up and hanging out in the game.
We'll talk about that in a moment. But yeah, we
did it. We lost. No, we my first game as

(15:20):
a college coach, and hosted the radio show before hosted
the radio show today, and yeah, I mean, I appreciate
so many sentiments on my god of emotional outburst yesterday
during the opening of the show, but I did continue

(15:41):
to feel the gratefulness in the experience. But like, look
to those of you who care. I'll talk in a
second about what it was actually like. But I can
also tell you that I take pride and I thought
we were prepared. I thought we were ready. I think

(16:02):
I need to do a better job and in terms
of in game adjustments into what's going on and how
it's going on, and be willing to. I am usually
willing to somebody who's willing to throw the kitchen sink
at different things. And there was a kitchen sink element
that I didn't necessarily go to, but I should have
taken a look at some different stuff. Regardless of which,

(16:23):
the night was mostly a win, although I do want
to start out okay. So for people don't know coach,
my first game at Green Bay last night against my
old montern Oklahoma State. Dan Bayer, Jay Seo were there.
I apologize to you guys because you came all that
way and I looked behind my bench for an hour
and I didn't see you. And I'm only disappointed in

(16:48):
one thing, and it's not in the OSU basketball program.
I don't believe it's in my program, although I do
think our guys should have followed up. But you know,
Dan and Jayson do. We're supposed to be right behind
my bench. So were my children and they weren't. And
I think it was some last second ads to the

(17:08):
ticket list that ultimately ended up not making lists. And again,
like it's little things end up being big things and
the things that we learn along the way. You know,
you ever watch all these Instagram reel where people talking about, well,
you're not losing your learning. I really did learn a lot.
Now technically we lost the game, but I did. I

(17:30):
learned a ton. And their mistakes that I made that
I won't make again. And one of the mistakes I
think I may made even yesterday is with the tickets,
where I have some close friends who I said, hey,
I need to know if you need the tickets before
you know, uh, eight o'clock at night the night before
the game. They got back to me at like three

(17:50):
in the afternoon and I asked a favor for some
more tickets. But I was very specific about where I
wanted those seats, and it seemed to screw everything up.
So sometimes you gotta say no, right. Sometimes you got
to say, hey, that train left the station. Are we do?
You guys really want to play me? Talking about me

(18:11):
last night? We want to do?

Speaker 3 (18:12):
I think we should? Well, there's can I say one
thing about the seats? Yeah, once I saw Harper by US,
I was like, okay, well there must have been something right, Yeah,
that's a Hayes Because Hayes was on the bench with
you last night. He was a god nine by the way.
You know, we and we met up with you on Saturday,
and Hayes hung out with us, and uh, Hayes at

(18:35):
halftime was jacked. I'm giving them fist pumps. I'm giving
them high fives because it's a one point game at
that time. It was great.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
It was. It was a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
It was, really it was. We had a blast. Whether
we were in section you know, two to eleven, or
if we were in row one, right on the floor.
It was still a great time last night.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
No, I I get it. I just it's infuriating me.
You know, I didn't. I didn't ask for much. I didn't.
You know, you get we get one hundred tickets, we
get thirty down low and seventy up top. And I
put fifteen people down low, and these people are not
to be moved. Do whatever you want with the other ones.
And I think I had some players' parents up top too,
and they were all supposed to be down low as well.

(19:16):
They literally did the exact opposite of what we asked
them to do.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
They did Costanza.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yes, yes, yes, Amy, Doug.

Speaker 4 (19:25):
I know there were a lot of a lot of
moving parts for you yesterday. So I think if this
was the one thing you were disappointed in, like the
day was overwhelmingly as success, including you.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Say, I understand, I'm actually I'm an event for a second,
it really pisses me off. I know, I can tell
you know, I I'm really upset. Like it is. That's
like I said, this is a one night show. Like
my my daughter Grace flew back from la and like
Graces never she's watched two basketball games in her life.

(19:57):
You know, like it's only gonna happen one us. And
you know a guy who it's literally his job. He's
got one job, and we made it very easy for him.
It was all color coded, it was already And I'll
take accountability for trying to please other people. And I
had a couple of people, like my nephew is in
Dallas and he canceled, so I thought there was an

(20:20):
extra floor seat available, but like all my family was
supposed to be behind the bench and they're scattered, and
even players' families, and I did just it really upsets me.
And it has nothing to do with their program or
anything else. It's one guy and oh yeah, either got
way you can't get a hold of the guy either,
so it and it just I'm mad for you guys,

(20:46):
Jay stew And, I know you guys had a good time,
but it's a completely different sport. When you're down below
the bench, you can hear everything that's going on and
really kind of feel it.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
Doreg, I don't know what your largest lead was like
last night. I think, yeah, okay, good because I took
a screenshot of the first half when you guys were
up sixteen to nine. Then it may have been seven
at other points, but I mean it was it was
really good. I mean, and I love college basketball as
it is. It was actually so unique for me because

(21:19):
my hometown that I'm from doesn't produce Division one talent.
We've had one kid basically play two kids played D
one in I don't know, twenty some years, maybe even
more than that. So to have like a connection to someone,
you know, I went to a Big ten school, and
I knew some of the guys on the you know,

(21:40):
the Badger basketball team at the time, sam Oki and
Mike Kossel, Sharon and a bunch of guys.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
I had great sam Ogi.

Speaker 5 (21:47):
Okay, I knew those.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
Guys, but I wasn't like invested invested, you know, And
that's what was unique last night was seeing you out there.
Like we never even answered the question, were you're gonna
wear a suit or wear a half zip? And I
was like, he's to wear suits. So when I saw
the assistance in the half zip, I'm like, oh, they
went half zip. But then when you came out in
the suit, I thought it was amazing. So it was
really neat for me to see someone that I, you know,

(22:10):
knew and worked with for the last seven and a
half years to be in that environment. And you know,
I wish you guys would have won. But the first
the first twenty minutes, in the first twenty five minutes
of the game of game time absolutely amazing. Kind of
ran away after that point, but I really enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
I was most proud in the last seven minutes or
so sure we and that they kept fighting because those
things can spiral, and I chose to not empty my bench.
I gave a couple of different guys some opportunities late,
one of whom I thought did a really good job.
Kind of impressed me. But I just you know, I'm
not I. Everything you do has to have purpose, when

(22:52):
you're leading young guys and they feel it, and if
you like, hey, we're just going to cycle through our
bench and play guys like now, that's not what we're doing.
We're trying to We were still trying to win. We
thought we had a shot if we get under ten,
we'd get under seven. We can make them sweat. They
have some questionable free throw shoot.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
They did have some questionable free throw shooting, by the
way last night. But Phoenix did what they needed to do,
except in my mind rebounded. Yeah, there were we got
you to.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
Talk you okay, Yeah, I mean, and look, some of
that's by design because I played a smaller lineup and
this is where you learn things, right. I have a
couple of big guys that were available. Royal Selka, who's
a freshman center. He's twenty years old. He did a
pretty good job in the first half. He just you know,
I didn't like how our offense looked in the first

(23:44):
half when I had the bigs out with him out there.
And then defensively isaaa Miranda had a great ally you
dunk of a you know when we put him in
then he he hasn't been practicing much, so he just
was completely out of gas. And then Mustafa Sisa, who's
also on my bench. He'd been sick all week and

(24:05):
I just thought he would get rag dolled. But I
should have given him all a shot because we were
just getting bludgeoned on the boards, bludgeoned. And meanwhile, Marcus
hall Is he played thirty nine minutes and I should
have should have tried some different looks. But like, look,
you learn a lot, and the experience was something that
I will never forget. And I wrote down a bunch

(24:28):
of notes in the middle of the night and things
that I want to do better and things that I
want to clean up and things that can can change
us as a team. But most of all, yes, it
was a It was definitely a dub for the overall night, right,
I mean, that's that's fair. I mean, let me ask you, Jason, Okay,
I'm sure that in your heart of hearts, there there's

(24:51):
been moments in which you're like, is this it is
he going to be able to actually coach? Right? You
know how I how we prep, there's literally no change
in what we do how we do So the was
that is that fair that you had to wonder? And Dan,
even you had to wonder, like, what's this actually going
to look like?

Speaker 5 (25:11):
I absolutely wondered. I have no idea the kind of
work you were putting in behind the scenes. Here. I
just deal with you professionally every day. We just deal
in sports content. I had no idea what kind of
team you had or what work you were putting in.
And my takeaway from last night was that your guys

(25:31):
came to play. I did not see. You know, I
have a pretty layman's view of basketball, but I that
looked like a well coached team that happened to not
be tall enough or athletic enough. You know, you just
didn't quite have the bodies. But you're right at the end,
you guys fought, and to give the listeners a little
bit of perspective, you can't care about this, but the
Vegas sports books had you at getting eighteen points and

(25:55):
you covered, so you were better than Vegas thought you'd do.
That first half was just amazing. I want to play
I just want to play a highlight so that you
can kind of get a play by play of This
might have been the highest point of the of the
of the game. I think it was like one of
the within the first five minutes.

Speaker 6 (26:12):
Nick little up and underlaid it up too strong. Hall
comes out with the rebound. Sue Nick had him beat,
just lay up a little too high off the glass.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
Now Roy deep three.

Speaker 6 (26:21):
Anthony Roy buries it for about five feet behind the
arc at Green Bay out at an eight nothing run
is out, fourteen to seven.

Speaker 5 (26:30):
I love that player and your guy, Marcus. What's it
Marcus Hall?

Speaker 1 (26:35):
Marcus Hall?

Speaker 5 (26:35):
Oh for he was so fun to watch. I think
he maybe just kind of ran out of gas.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, well that's me. That's on his coach. I played
him too much, you know, And but he had sixteen
the first half he had two baseline dunks. Can I
honestly like, this is how it works in college sports.
This is what's really sad. Okay. Marcus Hall's from Walsall,
Wisconsin's that's thirty minutes away. He's nineteen years old. I mean,
he wants nothing from nobody. Before I got there, his

(27:03):
nickname was the Waiter because he looks like he could
be a waiter at any nice restaurant, right, just a
really nice kid. And we call him white Marcus because
when I told people about I told my coaches before
they met him about how I really like Marcus Hall,
and I think we can do some special things with him.

(27:24):
And then they met him, They're like, I didn't know
MICUs Hall was a white guy, like I sounded like
it was a black guy. And so because of that,
I call him white Marcus. Anyway, this is this is sad,
but it's the reality, which is he had two baseline
dunks in the first half at sixteen points, had a
couple of threes, a couple of dunks. He had too
many turnovers. He's a much better player than that. But

(27:47):
we're walking to locker room going did you have to
dunk it twice on people? Because now somebody's going to
offer you some gigantic amount of money, right, and maybe
in handshake lines, it's like, oh, hold on, that's actually
how it works.

Speaker 4 (28:07):
Sad, but yes, Sammy, all right, So what time yesterday
did you wake up? I got a big, big, whole
collective question here. What what time did your day start yesterday?

Speaker 1 (28:21):
Uh, four thirty four to thirty in the morning, And.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
What time did you go to bed the night before?

Speaker 4 (28:26):
No, like last night after the game?

Speaker 6 (28:32):
Late?

Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yeah it was it probably started with the two.

Speaker 4 (28:37):
You had a long, long day and I saw pictures
of you. You were coaching your butt off, you were
sweating through your shirt, you were just giving it all.

Speaker 5 (28:45):
And I just want to know.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
You said you were up and awake writing stuff down.
But I wonder how well did you sleep, how hard
it were? Did you sleep like a rock? That's what
I want to know. No, no, you see that's interesting.
Either you got some anxiety and keeping you up, or
you're going to sleep really really hard. But it sounds
like mareke. You were too stimulated.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, it's just overstimulated.

Speaker 5 (29:04):
Yeah, but we can we talk about the introductions. What
was one of the Dan's questions yesterday? How do you
think you'll be received? You know, that place was what
I don't know, at the very beginning of the game,
maybe a half full if I'm a fun being generous,
being generous, But even the smaller crowd there was a
loud cheer. I forget the exact wording that the PA

(29:27):
announcer used. I think Dan remembers, but I thought it
was that was a nice ovation.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
Yeah, I got the I got the video on my phone.
I made sure to I I tried to video record
Doug from when he walked on to the court. You know,
the handshake, and then when they announced the starting lamps,
because they did Green Bay's first, and then they announced
Doug Gottlieb. They didn't do like the alternating that you
just did the Green Bay and former Cowboy Doug Gottlieb.

(29:55):
But I've got that video and I will send it
a long Doug. And if I can have tens seconds
was one mic off I could be able to listen
and hear what they said.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
Uh, okay, it was Larry. Larry Reach is the PA announcer,
So this was here's my thoughts after after the game.
I want to thank coach Louts for playing this game.
I made no secret I play it because I wanted
this game for a myriad of reasons, but mostly for

(30:24):
those three people. You know, we moved them across the
country a bunch of times. They've been through a lot,
and I just I just wanted to have considered dad
coach back. I haven't feel it because I want my
kids to be proud of me and proud of the

(30:46):
the fabric of what we do and the connectivity that
we have with our kids. And I'm I'm especially proud
of my team, but it really it's for them. But
I'm so respectful of coach lots. They're just as advertised,
you know, plays fast and they play hard and physical
as hell. Yeah, they pushed us around a bit, but
it was it was great. My my three kids were

(31:08):
all there and uh, Grace Harper and Hayes and yeah, Hayes, Hayes.
I I cannot tell you how many people uh interacted
with Hayes last night. And we're like, your son's awesome.
So it's all you can ever ask for. And then
he was he was right, he's like dad, and halftimes
like Dad, and listen, I know you like to play small,

(31:29):
but we're getting beat up inside. We got to play
big some and I was like, yeah, our offense is
bad when we're big. He's like, yeah, well your defense
is bad when you're small. So it's just cool to
share that with him.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
There was there was the PA, he said, and the
head coach of the University of Green Bay Phoenix, former
Oklahoma State cowboy Doug got leave, and then there was
a noticeable rise in cheers. Doug, you gave a little
you know, thank you tap and uh yeah when I
for about five seconds and then Okloma State's intro started.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
Yeah, I don't know. I like, you never know what
to do. It's so weird though, when you know all
the cheers and you know the Nona No Hayston, We're
going to beat the hell out of you, right, like
that's what they do right before tip off.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
I thought you being on the other bench would have
been weird.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
I've been on the other bench once before, sort of.
I don't know if you guys knew this. My my
dad had an exhibition team and we played against coach
and uh that was but that was like two years
maybe after I played there. That was. That was cool,
but it wasn't you know, as an exhibition game. This
is a real one. Yeah it was. It was different.
But I'm like, I don't really know Coach LUTs. I

(32:41):
don't really know. Like we're not it's not like we're
like enemies. I just were not. Like I know, I'm
close with people he's close with, but we're not close.
So there's and there's a couple of people on his bench, uh,
Keaton Page and Scott Sutton obviously who I am. I
do consider it close. I'm close with obviously them being
for my Cowboys as well, So that part's a little different,

(33:01):
but it's it's so far, so far from removed from
my crew who I played for so and I also
like again I understand it's also it was his debut
as an OSU coach, and so there's a you're not
going to take away from his shine. He earned that
moment more than I did. But it was a great night.

(33:22):
I wish I would have been a little bit better.
I wish would have turned over a little bit less.
There's a bunch of different things I learned, and I
you know, none of it is with the intent of
proving people wrong. You can't prove people wrong by anything
you say, but you can prove people wrong based upon
things that you do and how you play. And I

(33:44):
would the turnovers would probably cause you to say, maybe
they weren't the most prepared team. But I do think
that if you if you watch the process, if you
looked at my group, you'd say, yeah, they're They looked
at least like the guy had some kind of semblance
of what right is that? That fair jays to like,

(34:04):
you know, it wasn't it was It's not a clown show.
That weren't. We're not this is We're not doing it
just for the clicks. A matter of fact, the clicks
have nothing to do with it anyway. But yeah, my
guy Anthony Roy can play Holy cow. I mean, he
had thirty and he missed a dead layup, and he
turned the ball over three times trying to do James

(34:26):
Harden and he still had an efficient thirty. So we
got to find a way to get him to get forty.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
We do this every Wednesday. Wednesday's Wednesday is the middle
of the week. Technically, this is the middle of our
show because we also have the podcast hour, which drops
at the end of the show, and it's the middle
of the day for many of you, so we call
it the midway.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
He's not getting a middle It's time for the.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
Midway Doug Outlip Show here on Fox Sports Radio. What's
the midway topic? Do you love? There? I think this
This really feels like a Dan Bayer topic more than anything.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
Right, wasn't my idea though, No, But I'm on board
with it though.

Speaker 1 (35:25):
Yeah, because also Dan remembers every single story in every
single play from the for the first half. But jasetew
it's your topic, We'll give you the floor.

Speaker 5 (35:33):
Thanks Doug All taking from here. I was thinking, uh
worth the exact halfway point number eighteen weeks now, So
after nine weeks is the exact halfway point of the
football season, the NFL season, I'd like to talk about
and you, guys, I think we're gonna leave it. It's
a pot luck. I think we're gonna leave it up
to you. What's the best story of the first half.

(35:57):
What's the most surprising story? And maybe that's one the same.
What's the biggest disappointment? You guys know me, I'm I
skew negative. I always like disappointing things for my content.
So how about what you give you guys? A choice
one of the three or all three?

Speaker 3 (36:11):
Or I think it can be all encompassing, like as
we just talk about stories like we don't have to.
We can categorize them, but we don't have to say,
like we do with love and hate, what's your love
and what's your hate? I think we could just say
the ups of one team are the downs of another.
I think that's fair.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
Because I.

Speaker 3 (36:30):
Do you want me to go first, go ahead. I
think it's the failures of the New York Jets that
is story Numero uno of this season, because of the hype,
because of Aaron Rodgers, also because how it has transpired,
the firing of Robert Sala, the problems. I believe that
the Jets in their three and six record, not completely

(36:54):
out of it for the playoffs, but definitely an uphill climb,
if you will, right now, the first half story of
the NFL season.

Speaker 5 (37:04):
I think for those reasons. I think the the premature
fire into their head coach and then them just trading
for DeVante and trying to make that work. I think
that's what makes it uh intriguing as the weeks go by,
because I don't think Aaron Rodgers has anything is anything
close to what he what he once was, and uh,

(37:25):
just kind of trying to cater to him and his
needs in this moment is a train wreck waiting to happen.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
Yeah, I do think the Aaron Rodgers thing is gigantic.
That's a that's a good one. I'm going to jump
in and say the Cowboys, it's not that they're bad,
it's that it's all encompassing. Right, you had the contract
stuff with Ceedee Lamb. You had the fact that they
passed on Derrick Henry, then of course they acquiesced, it

(37:52):
gave Dak Prescott a new deal, and that Dak Prescott
has been below even his own standard, and now they're
an abject disaster and he's out for a month. I
would say it's the Cowboys.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
The Cowboys are always a story. I think they're the
only team in the National Football League that we have
a specific segment.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
For sure.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
We don't have one for the Chiefs or the forty
nine ers or anyone else. But if you will see
and I know that if you're driving in your car,
you're getting out of work, maybe you're on a walk,
you can't see the sheet that we have on in
our studio. And my out on a Lamb was that
the Cowboys would miss the playoffs. They would not make
the playoffs this year, Boom and so seeing how things

(38:33):
have transpired, Doug, You're right, the Cowboys are always a story.
But I can't say that I'm shocked that they're sitting
there at three and five. Maybe how it is transpired,
but there's a team with no run game whatsoever. You're
bringing in a defensive coordinator and Mike Zimmer, who I'm
not sure how many other guys around the teams around
the league would go to Mike Zimmers. They're a defensive coordinator.

(38:54):
They're so top heavy in who they are. I just
I had severe, significant quiquestions about the Cowboys this season,
and to see them sitting at three and five doesn't
surprise me as much as maybe as it would for others.

Speaker 5 (39:08):
What's worse than being bad in our business?

Speaker 1 (39:13):
Not being not being You're not interesting.

Speaker 5 (39:15):
Right, You're boring. They're boring to me. In fact, they're
kind of like Fast, the Fast and Furious movies in
the past, Like they always had a lot of glitz,
a lot of glamour, a lot of explosions, but they'd
always came up short a little empty calories. Now they're
not even that. They're they're a boring team. Like I

(39:37):
think the only the only way to salvage a great
story coming out of Dallas is if Cooper Rush, like
he did a couple of years ago, wins four games
in a row and then we're like, oh, we just
gave Dak Prescott a billion dollars and Cooper Rush just
led us to four wins in a row and it'll
be great trauma. Yeah, I think boring is worse than bet.

(39:58):
I'm gonna bring something up that nobody expects and go ahead.

Speaker 3 (40:02):
So one, you had just one thing more thing about
the Cowboys in their three wins this year. They had
the opener against the Browns. Well, now we know what
the Browns are. They were able to manage a victory
against the Giants. And we saw that Sunday night game
against the Steelers. That was a back and forth affair
that maybe shouldn't have been. But they were blown up
by the Lions. They were being blown up by the

(40:25):
Ravens until they came back. They were blown up by
the Saints, they came back. They were being blown up
by the forty nine Ers. And now you've got the Eagles,
Texans and Commanders in your next three weeks without your
star quarterback. It ain't gonna get any better. It is
not all right, very true.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
I am. I only allowed to suggest that this is
not like dip so I can have multiple things, right.

Speaker 5 (40:50):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
I think the Steelers are a gigantic story. Steelers are
one of the most popular teams that they had justin
fields and Russell Wilson, like that whole thing, how would work?
And then they kind of won some games justin fields.
But most people are like, yeah, it look great. And
then Russell Wilson, who you know, he's basically been let
go by his last two teams and you know, for nothing.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
I think Steelers, I would say specifically that quarterback quarterbacks. Yeah,
the quarterback room in Pittsburgh. It has worked out.

Speaker 4 (41:25):
My pick, am I out on the limp pick here
in the studio. Steelers going to the AFC title games.
Still holding of that's all right, could be.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
It's still weird to say Commanders, you know, still would
to say Commanders. But the Commanders have been the feel
good story. Yes, the Lions are the better team. But
for people who people who are young, if you're like
twenty five and younger, you have no idea the popularity

(41:57):
of the then Washington Redskins, right, remember Joe Gibson Super
Bowls to three different quarterbacks, and I mean anybody from
that area because there used to be no Ravens and
after the Colts left, everything was Redskins, Redskins, Redskins, and
they were like and the rivalry with the with the
Cowboys was huge as it was with New York Giants,

(42:19):
and to take a team that had been so downtrodden
felt like for so long. They've been the playoffs recent
but to have a rookie quarterback who won a Heisman,
that's usually the kiss of death in the NFL. Kingsbury,
who people thinks stuff doesn't work in the NFL, it has.
And then Dan Quinn, who of course built that Cowboys defense,
took the Falcons to the Super Bowl. It was one

(42:41):
of the architects of the Legion of Boom as well.
The Commanders are a pretty big story too.

Speaker 5 (42:49):
I have a question for our listeners. Yeah, who is
in first place in the NFC West. I guarantee you
didn't know that the Arizona Cardinals are in first place.
I think Dan knew that.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
Five and four.

Speaker 5 (43:03):
The reason why they're a good story is and I
drafted this guy in the second round and I know
their first round pick has been a disappointment. Marvin Harrison Junior.
I think has had like two games that have been
productive and then it has been has like disappeared for quarters,
multiple quarters. So you asked howard of Cardinals in first place?

(43:24):
I have no idea. I don't I'll leave it up
to that.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
Yeah, I'll tell you how they're why they're rushing. This
is what stood out to me last year about the
Arizona Cardinals, And if you listen to my Sunday show
with Carrier Roads, I sound like a broken record. Last
year under Jonathan Gannon in their first year, they played hard,
They played for him, They played for that team. There
wasn't quit. Doug talked about his team on Monday. The

(43:47):
best thing about it was how they didn't quit and
had what a nineteen point lead ended up being a
thirteen point you know, uh game at the at the
end of the game. Sure, Arizona did not quit last year.
They only won four games, but they've played hard every game.
And there's something about James Connor, whether it be is
about with cancer, whether it be you know, him being

(44:08):
a feel good story in Pittsburgh, but then the Steelers
not you know, wanting him around, so he goes to Arizona.
He is an absolute beast. And I think everything that
James Connor is is representative of the Arizona Cardinals. They
went to San Francisco this year, came back, won a game.
They've got good players and while Michael or excuse me,
mar Vernier's and Junior has been a disappointment. Michael Wilson

(44:31):
is a nice second option as a wide receiver. Trey
McBride we all knew in fantasy football, but like James Connor,
seems to be the heart and soul of that team,
which is surprising because I think we thought it was
Kyler Murray. But they are so a James Connor sort
of team. And it's not surprising when you see the
volatility of Seattle and San Francisco and the ups and
downs and the pieces that the Rams have had to

(44:52):
move in and out. The Cardinals have actually been somewhat
consistent in their pieces and who they've had, and I
think it's representative of their they're solid running back.

Speaker 5 (45:03):
I think Kyler Murray like the low hanging fruit for
people in our business, very low hanging, like unimaginative jokes,
like when the recent Call of Duty came out, like
the low hanging joke is like, well, there it goes
the game plan for the Cardinals this week. You know
that he's just preoccupied with his video game playing, and
I think that like this season to me, when I

(45:26):
see him play and everything, I think, man, this is
a kid that's locked in, like he's especially talented, but
like I kind of feel good for him. Good for
him because, like I said, there's an easy joke in
our business about Kyler Murray and it's really damning that
he cares more about a video game than he does football.

(45:46):
So good for him.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
There is something to watch second half of the season
with Murray and Marvin Erison Engineer though, yeah, because they
haven't necessarily been on the same page a lot, because
as Jason talked about the maybe some of the disappointment
of Harrison so far at the start of the season. Remember,
Kyler also said like he wasn't going to force feed
him the football, and so if they're winning, it's not

(46:10):
going to become an issue. We're not talking about it
to that point. And I think that's actually a good
thing with Arizona right now. But we'll see if it
pops up in the second half.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
I have another get one team we haven't talked about, Dolphins.
Dolphins right Tua gets the big contract, Tyreek Hill gets
arrested outside the stadium. Everybody thought their coach is just
like the coolest you know you duys at Bentley he's
got gold sunglasses, he's got swag. They stick and and yes,

(46:42):
one of the reason was they lost their quarterback. But
even with him, they're just not a very good football.

Speaker 3 (46:47):
I'll give credit. I'll give credit to Jason Stewart who
said that the Chiefs going for the three peat was
going to be the story of the of the season
and right now undefeated.

Speaker 4 (46:58):
Yeah, and not even looking all that. You know, they're
undefeated despite you see a lot of you know, flaws
with them. I mean they're not they're not overwhelming people.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
They're three and a half up in the AFC West too.
That's what that's What else is crazy?

Speaker 3 (47:12):
How about.

Speaker 4 (47:14):
Two running backs going to teams whose logos are birds
and doing very very well, Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
Trades, Barkley leaping over small buildings and seeing a single bound.
That stuff's crazy. The Saquon Barkley video from this past
weekend is crazy.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
I'll tell you what. It's a. It's a it's a
very good point. And there's a bigger thing that we
actually talked about a week ago on the I Want
Your Flex podcast. When you look at the rushing leaders
in the National Football league. What what do you notice
from these from these rushing leaders? And I'm going to
give you the yard.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
You had to bring up the Russians a day after
the election.

Speaker 3 (47:53):
Russians years old. The three running backs who are averaging
over one hundred yards per game, Jason's a little close,
but it's not exactly where we're going, are Derek Henry,
Saquon Barkley and Jill Mixon. All three are on new
teams this year. It isn't the death of the running
back that we thought it was. These guys maybe the

(48:15):
top of the food chain of running backs, but they
have been such a huge boost. Josh Jacobs in Green
Bay doesn't have the yards per game at average, but
when you talk about total yards, he's third in the
NFL and rushing right now. Sure, so you know he
goes from a you know, from the Raiders to the.

Speaker 5 (48:30):
Packers, Aaron Jones for the Vikings, he's played well.

Speaker 3 (48:33):
Yeah, absolutely, JK Dobbins going from the Ravens to the Chargers.
All of these. Yeah, these these new old faces and
new places has been a theme when you're looking at
the running game in the NFL. And we but think
it's such a dying breed. But really maybe it's just
because how we've treated it previously. And so you've had
success with guys in new places this year at running.

Speaker 1 (48:54):
Back pretty good, it's pretty good well and that actually
is a byproduct of what we talked about last year.
Last year was the story of the running back with
discontent you know, over the contracts top and so many
of them actually changed teams and they've had some success, you.

Speaker 3 (49:08):
Know, so it DeAndre Hopkins is a perfect example. He
goes from the Chiefs and everybody it's like, oh my goodness,
they're going to be unstoppable. DeAndre Hopkins, Well, I'd rather
catch passes from Patrick Mahomes than Will Levis and Mason
Rudolph no offense, and know he's a friend of the show,
but Patrick Mahomes is Patrick Mahomes. I'd rather run behind
the Philly offensive line than, you know, than what the
Giants had put up the previous couple of years. You know,

(49:31):
there's certain places are just better options for other places.
And I'm wondering if we're going to see that in
future years with the teams who you know, invest in
the offensive line and have strong fronts. I do want
to give a shout out to the Lions as well,
because I did pick them to win the Super Bowl
and they have done nothing so far to think that
they aren't on that track to represent the NFC. Props

(49:52):
to the Lions.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
Yeah, I think my thing with the Lions was like
just it's so hard to to be consistent and you think, okay, well,
you know, you have a guy who should be a
head coach and he turns down head coaching opportunities to
remain assistant coach like that. All doesn't always work out,
and you know what it has in this particular case,

(50:13):
everything has worked out perfectly.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
And I'm my final submission of this, I don't think
San Francisco is a story because I think everybody is
split on what they think is going to happen with
the Niners, so they've just been kind of, you know,
going along. But we don't think we've seen the full
San Francisco forty nine ers, And maybe we will this
week with Christian McCaffrey finally back, but you're not gonna
have Brandon Ayuk the rest of the season. I'm still

(50:36):
I'm not as bullish on the forty nine ers, and
I think there are some people think like, oh, later
on in the season, they'll turn it on. I think
they're more of a second half story than a full
first half story for San Francisco, and.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
That is the Midway.

Speaker 3 (50:50):
The Midway.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
Fox Sports Radio had the best sports talk lineup in
the nation yet. Catch all of our shows at foxsports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.