August 26, 2024 • 23 mins
Welcome to another TOUCHDOWN episode of your favorite podcast; "Barguments The Podcast". Join hosts Dan "Bass" Levy and Joe Kelly as they huddle with former NFL star Alex Brown Get ready for a lively discussion filled with hilarious stories, bold predictions about the Bears' upcoming season, and plenty of fun barguments to keep you entertained.
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Once again, please continue to share the Barguments the Podcast with neighbors and friends, and make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode of the show. And while you are at it, please give us a 5-star rating and share your feelings about Bargumentst by leaving a review on whatever platform you listen to the show.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Arguments is recorded in front of a live studio audience.
What's up everybody, Hello, and welcome Marginers to another thrilling,
exciting edition of Arguments. I'm your host, Dan Levy along
with me as always, my buddy my partner Joe Kelly.
Our guest today spent eight season with the Chicago Bears
(00:21):
as well as with the season with the New Orleans Saints,
two time All American at the University of Florida and
the two thousand and one SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
Please give your best Gator and John to our guest,
TV analyst Alex Brown. And Alex before we actually jumped
on this podcast, off the air, you were telling me
a pretty funny story about how in you and Hall
(00:43):
of Famer, your former teammate Brian Erlacker, before you guys
became teammates around the Bears. You guys were at an
event together just before you became pro, and some sketchy
dude was kind of walking around you guys trying to
see if you can buy you guys some things and
give you guys money before or was all legal. Give
you that story one more time if you can so.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Erlacker, We're sitting at this little round table and Irlacker
goes and he's like, he's like, hey, how are you doing, Brian,
Let you meet you ax, blah blah blah. And we
sit up and I'm looking at his stem and they
show highlights of each player that's there. I'm like, whoa,
that's you.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
You returned kicks, like what so So this guy walks
up and he's like he's super sketchy and he's kind
of looking around.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
He's like, hey, guys, if you need something, let me know.
Like that damn, I mean like I said, like I said, now,
I'm nineteen now, so I'm like, well, shit, you give
me some money like that, Irlacker jabs me in the
in the side, like I barely know this guy. He
jabs me in the side. You can't you can't take money.
I was like, okay, my bad. Now I don't want money.
(01:50):
I'm good, like I barely know this guy. And what
worked out so perfect is that we end up on
the same team later on, you know, because he So
that was two years before I actually came out, and
when I got to the Bear, first person I see
(02:11):
is Earliner and he's like, why don't you come out?
Two years ago, I was like, man, I was not
ready for the NFL. I would have been me. I
ain't really, I was not ready to have a lot
of money and be able to do whatever I want
to do, no change.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
It's got to be incredibly hard for you guys to
be in a position everybody. I mean, it feels like
every othing that comes in is coming from a spot
of you know, maybe not the greatest of backgrounds, and
then all of a sudden you're given like a couple
million dollars, Like what do you do? You have somebody
that's helping you, like, hey, you should probably invest some
of these things, or are you just like I'm gonna
figure this out?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well, I'm not. I'm not gonna speak I might even
try to speak for everybody here. I'm gonna speak for
me and the way I grew up. I ain't no
shit about no investing. I had barely heard the word.
I mean, it's just like nobody. I grew up on
an eight hundred person town called White Springs, Florida. Yeah,
(03:07):
not many people.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Invest They invested some gator, they investigator Control.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, I mean that's true, true. But when you're when
you're when you're a country boy, and you grew up
how I grew up and you run into some money.
I was a fourth round pick, Like I had a
couple of million dollars they gave me. But for me
with my parents making thirty five thousand dollars together a year. Man,
(03:35):
when I get three hundred and fifty thousand dollars sign
a bonus, I'm like.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Oh rich, you know, like hell yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Like I was. I was like, I was like, this
is insane. And then I'm getting paid to play a
game I've been playing since I was four years old.
Now they're paying me, and I could be I could
be off a little bit, but I think it was
like after taxies, I was getting like eighty five hundred
bucks a week, Like, wait a minute, this is insane,
Like you gotta give me eighty five hundred dollars a
(04:04):
week to play? Heck yea. Now fast forward six games
and now I'm the starter in front of Brian Robinson,
and somehow I get a I get wind of what
Brian Robinson makes. He's making like two hundred grand a week,
(04:25):
Like wait a minute, wait a minute. He I'm out
here doing all the work, He's getting paid all the money.
What is going on here, like this is crazy. So
it's just like then you start to learn the business
side of it. You start to understand that he worked
for that. He worked to get to that level of
play and be paid the way he's in paid, so
(04:47):
and that was the gold. Then it's like, Okay, now
I gotta, I gotta keep working. I gotta keep making plays.
I gotta And we weren't winning, and it's like, counch,
we gotta win, and Ian, what is going on? Love?
He king Love me is the best thing happened to
him because it just the way he played, the way
he coached, and the way he wanted his team to be.
(05:08):
I was on board. I was. It was honestly perfect
for me. It was perfect for me. So I was.
I was a kid in a candid shout when he
called me and he said, Alex, you look you look
kind of chubby. We're gonna need you down a little bit.
Perfect cod Whay you want me two fifty five? Yep?
(05:28):
I played at two fifty two at Florida, So I
love it. Wow, you want me down there? He's like,
when you get back and this was like in a
month and a half, I'm like, what whoa, whoa, hold
up when I get back, Okay, all right, seriously, like
where do you want me? Just get as lord as
you can and we'll keep working on it, okay, because
I'm not gonna get the two. I was two. I
was two eighty three when Greg Blotch was here. Because
(05:53):
if you remember, the defense events we had was Brian
Robinson and Philip Daniels. Then we had the two big boys,
big Ted Washington and Keith Traylor. So it was a big,
big group of d lineman and I never played like that.
Oh yeah, what it helped me with, well, it helped
me with and it helped me become a what I
think I was a complete defensive end because at Florida
(06:16):
I never had to play the run that much because
we were scoring forty to fifty points a game. It
was always just rush the quarterback. When I got here
and it was more play to run. Showed me how
to work with my hands and stuff like that. Yeah,
I got bigger, but once I lost the weight, I
still understood how to play with my hands and it
(06:36):
helped just round out my game so much. The way
things worked out in Chicago, Dick Giron staying a couple
of years and then Lovely Smith coming because I don't
think I would have learned the same stuff handwise if
it was if I went straight with Lovely Smith.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I love love Smith because a he got you guys
to a super Bowl, and I was able to go
to a super Bowl. So I take that as a
personal for me to and and to be honest, I
mean we can, we can even fast forward. That guy
kept on giving and he's the reason why the Bears
I think, have their first ever franchise quarterback in Kaylen Williams.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yep, oh yeah, oh yeah, man, that is It's awesome
to see, right, It's so awesome to see how how
a quarterback. So you mentioned earlier, I played eight years
of the Bear one with the Saints. Right, if you
don't ever get to play on a team with an
elite Hall of Fame type quarterback, you don't really understand.
(07:35):
All you know is that well, I mean, I wish
we had this guy because on TV looks good on TV.
But when you're on the team with one of those
guys and you see their preparation, you see how talented
they are. But with that talent, it's the preparation we
had today. This is not today. This is this was
New Orleans, Sean Payton coming out of that Bill Parcel tree.
(08:00):
Two of their practices, full path, it was. It was
all man, It was tough. It was tough. But in
between those practices, Drew Brees and his receivers didn't leave
the field. So you wonder why Drew Brees throws for
five thousand yards in these seasons and you can only
name maybe one of his receivers. That's true, but he
(08:23):
ain't throwing five thousand yards to one of them. So
he's like, it's these guys. It didn't matter who it was.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
If you ran the right route.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Drew's gonna get the ball to you. And it was
just that simple. And they worked on it and worked
on it and worked on it, and Drew could he
could literally drop back with his eyes closed and be
within I think a yard of where that receiver is
gonna be. That's how much they worked on it. It
was insane.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Let me ask you this, your thoughts of Caleb Williams himself.
You've been around the Bears. I've watched you on television
agonizing over the quarterbacks that they've brought in this place.
And someone that we all thought were gonna work out.
Most of them did not. What are you thinking of
this guy? We've only seen him a couple of preseason games.
From everything I've seen, he's different. What do you make
(09:15):
That's what it is.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
He's different. He's different than if you're a lifelong Bear fan,
He's different than anything you've ever seen in a Bear's uniform.
At the quarterback position, he's just different. Like you see it.
It's like when Erlacker came to When Erlacker got to
the Bears, I wasn't here. I've heard the story though,
So when Erlaker got to the Bears and you put
him at sam linebacker and everybody was wondering why and
(09:38):
the hill would you draft a linebacker out of New Mexico.
But then when you move him over and they put
him at middle linebacker, he's just different. It's like, WHOA,
hold on, Oh, we've seen this before. We saw this
with Mike Singletary and all the great linebackers that we've
had here. You know, like, whoa, We've seen this this
boy here. He looked good. So you see the quarterback.
(10:01):
Now you see where he's at. You you start to think
back at the the phenomenal throws that Trubisky made, the
phenomenal throws that Justin Fields made, the phenomenal throws that
Rex Grossman and Jay Cutler made. This kid do it
every day. It's not it's not phenomenal to him. It's
(10:22):
just what he does. It's it's three, four or five
times a day that he's doing this, and it's not
it's not out of his like. He has another level
that I cannot wait to see. I'm enjoying the hell
out of this because I said I wanted a quarterback
just like what Green Bay has, and I think we
(10:43):
got it right.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Let me ask you this question, Joe's that your dog?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yep?
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Sorry, I guess the dogs agree with you there, Alex.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
He's agreeing with me.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
If the mayor, if the Bears stay healthy with the
weapons that they have, and they can keep doing what
they're doing with Calebin before we saw, how far away
do you think they could be from being a Super
Bowl contender?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
We with the defense. If the defense takes a step forward,
and I think they're in that top ten range. That's
why I think they are. If they can be in
that top five range, I wouldn't be shocked if the
Bears end up in the NFC Championship Game this year,
very similar to what the New Orleans Saints did back
in two thousand and six, and they surprise the hell
(11:32):
out of everybody because nobody thought the Saints were gonna
make it that far.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
It's so funny. It's so funny because I just being
around Chicago, being in Chicago for as long as you know,
you and I have both had because I think you
and I actually came in around the same time. I
just always think the Bears defense is good, you know
what I mean, Like, no matter what it is, that's
just for me. That's just it goes out saying, as
long as they're good, they're always going to be. The
Bears defense is always going to be is going to
(11:58):
be better than average. So I agree with you if
that offense, as long as the defense can stay consistently
what they are usually known to be, I agree with you.
If that offense has built the way it should be,
I have no argument with you.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
So last year you're going you win. I want to say,
we won seven games last year, So you win seven games,
but you look at the last couple of years, then
you look at Naggi's ears, and the number was eighteen
to twenty points. That's what the offense was gonna score.
(12:36):
No more, that was it. Every now and then they
get over But for the most part, you're gonna get
seventeen to twenty points from the offense. I think you're
gonna get a hell of a lot more from this offense.
I think you're gonna get. You're gonna be in that
twenty seven point range. And if you score twenty seven
points with the defense, like well we have, you're gonna
be sitting You're gonna be sitting pretty good, and you're
(12:56):
gonna be competing week in and week out. That's just
the bottom line.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Amazing. I'm one hundred percent agreeing with you. I got
nothing there, all right. So we call this show arguments
because we like to mix it up with our guests.
And again, these questions have no real answers and they're ridiculous,
so feel free to throw them back at me. But
what I got for you, and I've already had arguments
with everybody already at the gym at this one because
I wanted to test it out. Would you even though
(13:21):
you played for the Bears? So it means differently. Would
you rather have the Bears win a Super Bowl or
would you rather see the Packers go h to sixteen
for a season.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
I want to win a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Now as much as I do want to see the
Bears win a Super Bowl. Here's the deal. I never
played the game, and I know being around sports that
that is not me. I have nothing to do with
the team if they win a championship. It feels good
to say it, but because fans go against fans, and
(13:56):
those Packer fans are who we are actually dealing with.
The fans are with the fans. I have no issues
with players, even on a team I don't like because
I hate the Packers, but it's only because of the fans.
Like I see Aaron Rodgers, I like Aaron Rodgers as
a player. You're like, I wish that guy was a
Maris player. But I really hate some of the co
(14:16):
workers I've had in Wisconsin. I've done radio stuff in Wisconsin,
and I really want them to eat a giant Shitberger.
So for me, I will take that oh in sixteen
just to know. Every week I get out of that
conversation goes well, they with like, oh, you know, you
guys are lucky you had the one year you guys
got lucky. You know, you get that stuff. But that
(14:37):
oh at sixteen, when you get to like, oh at nine, mad,
i am calling everyone, they're blocking my phone number, and
that to me would just feels so much better. But
with you, it's different. It's different.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
It definitely makes it. Then I can't. I mean, I
understand where you're coming from. Win in a super Bowl,
like we you mentioned it earlier. We're both been in
Chicago for a long time, right, we still talk about eighty.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Five Bears and they are walking. They are walking now
in twenty twenty four, or the eighty five Bears are
still walking gods who don't have to pay for meals.
I agree with you, it's insane.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Like that's how much. So that's the meaning of winning
a Super Bowl, right, And it puts you in a
level where like, yeah, I don't like and I'm talking
about if I'm on the team now right, I'm not
on the team, then I wouldn't. I mean that Green
Bay wouldn't. Would probably be a little closer for sure, Exactly.
(15:40):
I still would want the Bears to win the Super Bowl.
There's no change I wanted to win no, I need
that Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Believe me when I tell you both options make me
lick my lips. I'll tell you that much. I'm hungry
for both of them. But again, if when you guys
were when I watched the Super Bowl, I was watching
you do your thing. At the end of that one,
you guys win the title, You're getting the ring, You're
drinking the champagne, You're going to the parade. I'm getting
(16:08):
thrown out of the parades. I'm getting champagne bottles thrown
at me, and I'm watching you get the ring. But
I really like watching my buddies in Wisconsin throwing out
those stupid cheese hats. That to me is my champagne bottle.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, for sure. Okay, I get it, I get it.
I totally get it.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Joey Jojo, if you had your choice, Joe, now, Joe's
a Florida guy or a Philadelphia guy. But for the
sake of argument of you being here in Chicago, as
long as you have, what woulds it better with you?
Because I know you know these fans, and I know
that you understand what we're doing here.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Well, two things. First, they have to be own seventeen
because they play seventeen games.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Now, okay, technicality, technicality, but go on, they would be.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
The first team to ever go owin seventeen.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Yes, yes, you're right, would get to Yeah and you
oh for a fag, those guys in Green Bay would
never live that one down.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Never.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
No, I was still I still thinking the Bears winning
at all over that.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Okay, I got you, I gotcha. I'm just like I said,
I would be awesome. I've been here. I mean I
was not here. I mean I was. I watched the
Bulls from Afar, But I since I've been in Chicago,
I watched every other team here have a parade down
down Michigan Avenue and the Grand Park, and the Bears
are definitely doing That would feel amazing to me. But
but you'd rather Packers fans be miserables and your Bears
(17:36):
friends be happy. I of the I drink hater raid
on a daily basis, and I would really love to
stick that one harder than Hey, we got a ring.
I don't know why, but that one would just I
would have a cigar after every loss.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Are Bears fans more miserable because they're not winning?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
No?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Well, Bears fans, Like I said, when you're when you're
a Bears fan, and again as a fan when they're winning,
it's great. But from a media standpoint, what we do here,
losing Bears teams just makes for better content. So I
go either way. And if they won the Super Bowl,
my god, this place would be amazing. Everybody would be happy,
and I think it would.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Telling men to me that you got better content from
the two thousand two Bears that were down in Champagne
and we won two games or three games, then the
sixteen that went to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
No, no, No. From from a standpoint when the Bear, when
you guys were clicking and you guys were crushing guys
and that season was magical. When that happens from like
a media content, you kind of are like, what else
could they do better?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (18:45):
And you're just kind of doing that. These guys are
great er lhackers, the best. This defense is the best
since we've seen since blah blah blah, And you're doing
a lot more comparing like that. But when a team
is losing and then all of a sudden, I think
the chic fan likes to be mister GM. They like
to play that we should like even now, even now,
(19:05):
I mean, you can listen to sports radio and we
can't even have my buddy Mark Grodi come on. And
even a pass caller I saw was already asking Mark,
what point do you think Caleb Williams are going to
pull him and start starting Tyson Bagent And so there's
already people that are still trying to do that. In
two thousand and six, I think the only thing that
everybody argued was are you sure Rex Grossman is the guy?
(19:28):
And then that was really that was it. And even
then everyone's like, yeah, he's fine, he's doing just enough
where the team that he's got wide receivers, he's got
Been Arburian, you got two amazing running backs, Yeah you
got you guys were so stacked up and down that
it was like, I'm not gonna tinker with this. No
(19:50):
Whate's saying, let's throw Kyle Orton instead of Rex Grossman
in the in the postseason. But right now, in the
last two years, what made what was the most sports
content in Chicago go, who are the Bears gonna draft?
Should they trade that pick? What should we do? How come?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You know?
Speaker 1 (20:05):
It's like that makes the content And I'm glad. I
got to clarify that that in terms of that content,
I think Bears, even though they don't like it, they
like being that here's what I think they should do.
But when you guys are when a team is crushing it,
you know, like in Kansas City, they're not going, you know,
maybe we should sit Patrick Mahomes a game. They're just going,
(20:25):
I have you know, Taylor Swift should come to every game.
Let Kelsey do what he does and we'll see you guys,
And we'll see you guys in January, you know what
I mean. So those guys, the content that they're broadcasting
sounds a lot different than ours right now.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Yeah, yeah, you're saying you wouldn't take that over. You
wouldn't You wouldn't take that right now if you had
a choice to work there.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Oh no, no, no, no, I mean, of course there's definitely spotlight.
It's good. I mean, I've I guess I got to say,
living in Chicago, I'm not really used to that kind
of content. I'm more used to the coin I'm talking about.
But what I've seen a team, what I've seen like
the Blackhawks be really good and when you see the
Cubs get really good. You know when the Cubs were
like one hundred years done, everybody had a lot to say.
(21:08):
When they're winning, You're like, I don't looking at anything.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
We had c liberties coming out. You remember what Paris?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Oh no, no, no, no, you guys, like I said, you
guys were like rock stars, you guys projecting. I remember
I remember seeing Parish walk by the media box and going, wow,
is that happening that I just see Paris? Hope you're
doing that.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
If if I'm gonna be unhappy, everyone else should be
unhappy too.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
That's true. That's true. But again, if I'm gonna if
I have to live all these years of Packers doing
what they do, just give me one season like that,
then we can win all the Super Bowls. I wont
but that one and sixteen that would be special for
a lot of people that have had to eat a
lot of a lot of bull. Okay, here's gonna throw
one dumb one at you, because we all got a
(21:52):
kind of go here in a minute, if I were
to throw at you. Alex Brown and Joe Kelly, a
three man battle Royal winner takes off who's winning with
the championship belt. Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
I'm gonna go with Elon Musk. I think he's the
bigger guy, So I'm gonna go with size and wait over, Yeah,
when you're when you're in a battle and you're fighting,
how smart you are? I don't know, nobody kill what
book you read last night. So even though I think
he's a bright dude too, I just I think he's
(22:29):
the bigger guy in this scenario. So I'm gonna go
to Elon.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
All right, Joe Kelly, who are you picking?
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Are you doing hand to hand combat or their weapons involved?
Speaker 1 (22:39):
This is a battle royale? What have you got?
Speaker 4 (22:43):
I'm still saying Jeff Bezos, like, I think he's underestimated,
and that's kind of dangerous to underestimate anyone in the
street fight.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
I will break it down to you guys like this.
Mark Zuckerberg, for me, I think would be the favorite
because I guess he's really into like MMA stuff these days.
But I think Elon Musk is enough to like, you know,
do all the things that you shouldn't do, like hair
pulling and brass knuckles and throwing you know, throwing chairs
at people and just for the sake of it, I'll
(23:09):
run a tesla through everybody and just take the belt.
So my money, I'm gonna go elon Musk. I think
that guy's taking it and Alex, you and I could
finally agree on something on this podcast. There we go,
perfect Alex Brown. I can have you on again and again.
I can talk to you for hours. You're the man.
I really appreciate you coming on the show. Not a
problem man, Oh day long. For Joe Kelly, my name
(23:30):
is Dan Levy. This has been a fun episode of arguments,
and again, please feel free to share with all your friends, family,
and anybody who you think likes a good argument in
their lives. For Joe Kelly, my name is Dan Levy.
We'll do this again soon. See you
Arguments is recorded in front of a live studio audience.
What's up everybody, Hello, and welcome Marginers to another thrilling,
exciting edition of Arguments. I'm your host, Dan Levy along
with me as always, my buddy my partner Joe Kelly.
Our guest today spent eight season with the Chicago Bears
(00:21):
as well as with the season with the New Orleans Saints,
two time All American at the University of Florida and
the two thousand and one SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
Please give your best Gator and John to our guest,
TV analyst Alex Brown. And Alex before we actually jumped
on this podcast, off the air, you were telling me
a pretty funny story about how in you and Hall
(00:43):
of Famer, your former teammate Brian Erlacker, before you guys
became teammates around the Bears. You guys were at an
event together just before you became pro, and some sketchy
dude was kind of walking around you guys trying to
see if you can buy you guys some things and
give you guys money before or was all legal. Give
you that story one more time if you can so.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Erlacker, We're sitting at this little round table and Irlacker
goes and he's like, he's like, hey, how are you doing, Brian,
Let you meet you ax, blah blah blah. And we
sit up and I'm looking at his stem and they
show highlights of each player that's there. I'm like, whoa,
that's you.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
You returned kicks, like what so So this guy walks
up and he's like he's super sketchy and he's kind
of looking around.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
He's like, hey, guys, if you need something, let me know.
Like that damn, I mean like I said, like I said, now,
I'm nineteen now, so I'm like, well, shit, you give
me some money like that, Irlacker jabs me in the
in the side, like I barely know this guy. He
jabs me in the side. You can't you can't take money.
I was like, okay, my bad. Now I don't want money.
(01:50):
I'm good, like I barely know this guy. And what
worked out so perfect is that we end up on
the same team later on, you know, because he So
that was two years before I actually came out, and
when I got to the Bear, first person I see
(02:11):
is Earliner and he's like, why don't you come out?
Two years ago, I was like, man, I was not
ready for the NFL. I would have been me. I
ain't really, I was not ready to have a lot
of money and be able to do whatever I want
to do, no change.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
It's got to be incredibly hard for you guys to
be in a position everybody. I mean, it feels like
every othing that comes in is coming from a spot
of you know, maybe not the greatest of backgrounds, and
then all of a sudden you're given like a couple
million dollars, Like what do you do? You have somebody
that's helping you, like, hey, you should probably invest some
of these things, or are you just like I'm gonna
figure this out?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well, I'm not. I'm not gonna speak I might even
try to speak for everybody here. I'm gonna speak for
me and the way I grew up. I ain't no
shit about no investing. I had barely heard the word.
I mean, it's just like nobody. I grew up on
an eight hundred person town called White Springs, Florida. Yeah,
(03:07):
not many people.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Invest They invested some gator, they investigator Control.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, I mean that's true, true. But when you're when
you're when you're a country boy, and you grew up
how I grew up and you run into some money.
I was a fourth round pick, Like I had a
couple of million dollars they gave me. But for me
with my parents making thirty five thousand dollars together a year. Man,
(03:35):
when I get three hundred and fifty thousand dollars sign
a bonus, I'm like.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Oh rich, you know, like hell yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Like I was. I was like, I was like, this
is insane. And then I'm getting paid to play a
game I've been playing since I was four years old.
Now they're paying me, and I could be I could
be off a little bit, but I think it was
like after taxies, I was getting like eighty five hundred
bucks a week, Like, wait a minute, this is insane,
Like you gotta give me eighty five hundred dollars a
(04:04):
week to play? Heck yea. Now fast forward six games
and now I'm the starter in front of Brian Robinson,
and somehow I get a I get wind of what
Brian Robinson makes. He's making like two hundred grand a week,
(04:25):
Like wait a minute, wait a minute. He I'm out
here doing all the work, He's getting paid all the money.
What is going on here, like this is crazy. So
it's just like then you start to learn the business
side of it. You start to understand that he worked
for that. He worked to get to that level of
play and be paid the way he's in paid, so
(04:47):
and that was the gold. Then it's like, Okay, now
I gotta, I gotta keep working. I gotta keep making plays.
I gotta And we weren't winning, and it's like, counch,
we gotta win, and Ian, what is going on? Love?
He king Love me is the best thing happened to
him because it just the way he played, the way
he coached, and the way he wanted his team to be.
(05:08):
I was on board. I was. It was honestly perfect
for me. It was perfect for me. So I was.
I was a kid in a candid shout when he
called me and he said, Alex, you look you look
kind of chubby. We're gonna need you down a little bit.
Perfect cod Whay you want me two fifty five? Yep?
(05:28):
I played at two fifty two at Florida, So I
love it. Wow, you want me down there? He's like,
when you get back and this was like in a
month and a half, I'm like, what whoa, whoa, hold
up when I get back, Okay, all right, seriously, like
where do you want me? Just get as lord as
you can and we'll keep working on it, okay, because
I'm not gonna get the two. I was two. I
was two eighty three when Greg Blotch was here. Because
(05:53):
if you remember, the defense events we had was Brian
Robinson and Philip Daniels. Then we had the two big boys,
big Ted Washington and Keith Traylor. So it was a big,
big group of d lineman and I never played like that.
Oh yeah, what it helped me with, well, it helped
me with and it helped me become a what I
think I was a complete defensive end because at Florida
(06:16):
I never had to play the run that much because
we were scoring forty to fifty points a game. It
was always just rush the quarterback. When I got here
and it was more play to run. Showed me how
to work with my hands and stuff like that. Yeah,
I got bigger, but once I lost the weight, I
still understood how to play with my hands and it
(06:36):
helped just round out my game so much. The way
things worked out in Chicago, Dick Giron staying a couple
of years and then Lovely Smith coming because I don't
think I would have learned the same stuff handwise if
it was if I went straight with Lovely Smith.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I love love Smith because a he got you guys
to a super Bowl, and I was able to go
to a super Bowl. So I take that as a
personal for me to and and to be honest, I
mean we can, we can even fast forward. That guy
kept on giving and he's the reason why the Bears
I think, have their first ever franchise quarterback in Kaylen Williams.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yep, oh yeah, oh yeah, man, that is It's awesome
to see, right, It's so awesome to see how how
a quarterback. So you mentioned earlier, I played eight years
of the Bear one with the Saints. Right, if you
don't ever get to play on a team with an
elite Hall of Fame type quarterback, you don't really understand.
(07:35):
All you know is that well, I mean, I wish
we had this guy because on TV looks good on TV.
But when you're on the team with one of those
guys and you see their preparation, you see how talented
they are. But with that talent, it's the preparation we
had today. This is not today. This is this was
New Orleans, Sean Payton coming out of that Bill Parcel tree.
(08:00):
Two of their practices, full path, it was. It was
all man, It was tough. It was tough. But in
between those practices, Drew Brees and his receivers didn't leave
the field. So you wonder why Drew Brees throws for
five thousand yards in these seasons and you can only
name maybe one of his receivers. That's true, but he
(08:23):
ain't throwing five thousand yards to one of them. So
he's like, it's these guys. It didn't matter who it was.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
If you ran the right route.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Drew's gonna get the ball to you. And it was
just that simple. And they worked on it and worked
on it and worked on it, and Drew could he
could literally drop back with his eyes closed and be
within I think a yard of where that receiver is
gonna be. That's how much they worked on it. It
was insane.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Let me ask you this, your thoughts of Caleb Williams himself.
You've been around the Bears. I've watched you on television
agonizing over the quarterbacks that they've brought in this place.
And someone that we all thought were gonna work out.
Most of them did not. What are you thinking of
this guy? We've only seen him a couple of preseason games.
From everything I've seen, he's different. What do you make
(09:15):
That's what it is.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
He's different. He's different than if you're a lifelong Bear fan,
He's different than anything you've ever seen in a Bear's uniform.
At the quarterback position, he's just different. Like you see it.
It's like when Erlacker came to When Erlacker got to
the Bears, I wasn't here. I've heard the story though,
So when Erlaker got to the Bears and you put
him at sam linebacker and everybody was wondering why and
(09:38):
the hill would you draft a linebacker out of New Mexico.
But then when you move him over and they put
him at middle linebacker, he's just different. It's like, WHOA,
hold on, Oh, we've seen this before. We saw this
with Mike Singletary and all the great linebackers that we've
had here. You know, like, whoa, We've seen this this
boy here. He looked good. So you see the quarterback.
(10:01):
Now you see where he's at. You you start to think
back at the the phenomenal throws that Trubisky made, the
phenomenal throws that Justin Fields made, the phenomenal throws that
Rex Grossman and Jay Cutler made. This kid do it
every day. It's not it's not phenomenal to him. It's
(10:22):
just what he does. It's it's three, four or five
times a day that he's doing this, and it's not
it's not out of his like. He has another level
that I cannot wait to see. I'm enjoying the hell
out of this because I said I wanted a quarterback
just like what Green Bay has, and I think we
(10:43):
got it right.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Let me ask you this question, Joe's that your dog?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yep?
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Sorry, I guess the dogs agree with you there, Alex.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
He's agreeing with me.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
If the mayor, if the Bears stay healthy with the
weapons that they have, and they can keep doing what
they're doing with Calebin before we saw, how far away
do you think they could be from being a Super
Bowl contender?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
We with the defense. If the defense takes a step forward,
and I think they're in that top ten range. That's
why I think they are. If they can be in
that top five range, I wouldn't be shocked if the
Bears end up in the NFC Championship Game this year,
very similar to what the New Orleans Saints did back
in two thousand and six, and they surprise the hell
(11:32):
out of everybody because nobody thought the Saints were gonna
make it that far.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
It's so funny. It's so funny because I just being
around Chicago, being in Chicago for as long as you know,
you and I have both had because I think you
and I actually came in around the same time. I
just always think the Bears defense is good, you know
what I mean, Like, no matter what it is, that's
just for me. That's just it goes out saying, as
long as they're good, they're always going to be. The
Bears defense is always going to be is going to
(11:58):
be better than average. So I agree with you if
that offense, as long as the defense can stay consistently
what they are usually known to be, I agree with you.
If that offense has built the way it should be,
I have no argument with you.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
So last year you're going you win. I want to say,
we won seven games last year, So you win seven games,
but you look at the last couple of years, then
you look at Naggi's ears, and the number was eighteen
to twenty points. That's what the offense was gonna score.
(12:36):
No more, that was it. Every now and then they
get over But for the most part, you're gonna get
seventeen to twenty points from the offense. I think you're
gonna get a hell of a lot more from this offense.
I think you're gonna get. You're gonna be in that
twenty seven point range. And if you score twenty seven
points with the defense, like well we have, you're gonna
be sitting You're gonna be sitting pretty good, and you're
(12:56):
gonna be competing week in and week out. That's just
the bottom line.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Amazing. I'm one hundred percent agreeing with you. I got
nothing there, all right. So we call this show arguments
because we like to mix it up with our guests.
And again, these questions have no real answers and they're ridiculous,
so feel free to throw them back at me. But
what I got for you, and I've already had arguments
with everybody already at the gym at this one because
I wanted to test it out. Would you even though
(13:21):
you played for the Bears? So it means differently. Would
you rather have the Bears win a Super Bowl or
would you rather see the Packers go h to sixteen
for a season.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
I want to win a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Now as much as I do want to see the
Bears win a Super Bowl. Here's the deal. I never
played the game, and I know being around sports that
that is not me. I have nothing to do with
the team if they win a championship. It feels good
to say it, but because fans go against fans, and
(13:56):
those Packer fans are who we are actually dealing with.
The fans are with the fans. I have no issues
with players, even on a team I don't like because
I hate the Packers, but it's only because of the fans.
Like I see Aaron Rodgers, I like Aaron Rodgers as
a player. You're like, I wish that guy was a
Maris player. But I really hate some of the co
(14:16):
workers I've had in Wisconsin. I've done radio stuff in Wisconsin,
and I really want them to eat a giant Shitberger.
So for me, I will take that oh in sixteen
just to know. Every week I get out of that
conversation goes well, they with like, oh, you know, you
guys are lucky you had the one year you guys
got lucky. You know, you get that stuff. But that
(14:37):
oh at sixteen, when you get to like, oh at nine, mad,
i am calling everyone, they're blocking my phone number, and
that to me would just feels so much better. But
with you, it's different. It's different.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
It definitely makes it. Then I can't. I mean, I
understand where you're coming from. Win in a super Bowl,
like we you mentioned it earlier. We're both been in
Chicago for a long time, right, we still talk about eighty.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Five Bears and they are walking. They are walking now
in twenty twenty four, or the eighty five Bears are
still walking gods who don't have to pay for meals.
I agree with you, it's insane.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Like that's how much. So that's the meaning of winning
a Super Bowl, right, And it puts you in a
level where like, yeah, I don't like and I'm talking
about if I'm on the team now right, I'm not
on the team, then I wouldn't. I mean that Green
Bay wouldn't. Would probably be a little closer for sure, Exactly.
(15:40):
I still would want the Bears to win the Super Bowl.
There's no change I wanted to win no, I need
that Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Believe me when I tell you both options make me
lick my lips. I'll tell you that much. I'm hungry
for both of them. But again, if when you guys
were when I watched the Super Bowl, I was watching
you do your thing. At the end of that one,
you guys win the title, You're getting the ring, You're
drinking the champagne, You're going to the parade. I'm getting
(16:08):
thrown out of the parades. I'm getting champagne bottles thrown
at me, and I'm watching you get the ring. But
I really like watching my buddies in Wisconsin throwing out
those stupid cheese hats. That to me is my champagne bottle.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, for sure. Okay, I get it, I get it.
I totally get it.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Joey Jojo, if you had your choice, Joe, now, Joe's
a Florida guy or a Philadelphia guy. But for the
sake of argument of you being here in Chicago, as
long as you have, what woulds it better with you?
Because I know you know these fans, and I know
that you understand what we're doing here.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Well, two things. First, they have to be own seventeen
because they play seventeen games.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Now, okay, technicality, technicality, but go on, they would be.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
The first team to ever go owin seventeen.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Yes, yes, you're right, would get to Yeah and you
oh for a fag, those guys in Green Bay would
never live that one down.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Never.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
No, I was still I still thinking the Bears winning
at all over that.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Okay, I got you, I gotcha. I'm just like I said,
I would be awesome. I've been here. I mean I
was not here. I mean I was. I watched the
Bulls from Afar, But I since I've been in Chicago,
I watched every other team here have a parade down
down Michigan Avenue and the Grand Park, and the Bears
are definitely doing That would feel amazing to me. But
but you'd rather Packers fans be miserables and your Bears
(17:36):
friends be happy. I of the I drink hater raid
on a daily basis, and I would really love to
stick that one harder than Hey, we got a ring.
I don't know why, but that one would just I
would have a cigar after every loss.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Are Bears fans more miserable because they're not winning?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
No?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Well, Bears fans, Like I said, when you're when you're
a Bears fan, and again as a fan when they're winning,
it's great. But from a media standpoint, what we do here,
losing Bears teams just makes for better content. So I
go either way. And if they won the Super Bowl,
my god, this place would be amazing. Everybody would be happy,
and I think it would.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Telling men to me that you got better content from
the two thousand two Bears that were down in Champagne
and we won two games or three games, then the
sixteen that went to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
No, no, No. From from a standpoint when the Bear, when
you guys were clicking and you guys were crushing guys
and that season was magical. When that happens from like
a media content, you kind of are like, what else
could they do better?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (18:45):
And you're just kind of doing that. These guys are
great er lhackers, the best. This defense is the best
since we've seen since blah blah blah, And you're doing
a lot more comparing like that. But when a team
is losing and then all of a sudden, I think
the chic fan likes to be mister GM. They like
to play that we should like even now, even now,
(19:05):
I mean, you can listen to sports radio and we
can't even have my buddy Mark Grodi come on. And
even a pass caller I saw was already asking Mark,
what point do you think Caleb Williams are going to
pull him and start starting Tyson Bagent And so there's
already people that are still trying to do that. In
two thousand and six, I think the only thing that
everybody argued was are you sure Rex Grossman is the guy?
(19:28):
And then that was really that was it. And even
then everyone's like, yeah, he's fine, he's doing just enough
where the team that he's got wide receivers, he's got
Been Arburian, you got two amazing running backs, Yeah you
got you guys were so stacked up and down that
it was like, I'm not gonna tinker with this. No
(19:50):
Whate's saying, let's throw Kyle Orton instead of Rex Grossman
in the in the postseason. But right now, in the
last two years, what made what was the most sports
content in Chicago go, who are the Bears gonna draft?
Should they trade that pick? What should we do? How come?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You know?
Speaker 1 (20:05):
It's like that makes the content And I'm glad. I
got to clarify that that in terms of that content,
I think Bears, even though they don't like it, they
like being that here's what I think they should do.
But when you guys are when a team is crushing it,
you know, like in Kansas City, they're not going, you know,
maybe we should sit Patrick Mahomes a game. They're just going,
(20:25):
I have you know, Taylor Swift should come to every game.
Let Kelsey do what he does and we'll see you guys,
And we'll see you guys in January, you know what
I mean. So those guys, the content that they're broadcasting
sounds a lot different than ours right now.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Yeah, yeah, you're saying you wouldn't take that over. You
wouldn't You wouldn't take that right now if you had
a choice to work there.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Oh no, no, no, no, I mean, of course there's definitely spotlight.
It's good. I mean, I've I guess I got to say,
living in Chicago, I'm not really used to that kind
of content. I'm more used to the coin I'm talking about.
But what I've seen a team, what I've seen like
the Blackhawks be really good and when you see the
Cubs get really good. You know when the Cubs were
like one hundred years done, everybody had a lot to say.
(21:08):
When they're winning, You're like, I don't looking at anything.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
We had c liberties coming out. You remember what Paris?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Oh no, no, no, no, you guys, like I said, you
guys were like rock stars, you guys projecting. I remember
I remember seeing Parish walk by the media box and going, wow,
is that happening that I just see Paris? Hope you're
doing that.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
If if I'm gonna be unhappy, everyone else should be
unhappy too.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
That's true. That's true. But again, if I'm gonna if
I have to live all these years of Packers doing
what they do, just give me one season like that,
then we can win all the Super Bowls. I wont
but that one and sixteen that would be special for
a lot of people that have had to eat a
lot of a lot of bull. Okay, here's gonna throw
one dumb one at you, because we all got a
(21:52):
kind of go here in a minute, if I were
to throw at you. Alex Brown and Joe Kelly, a
three man battle Royal winner takes off who's winning with
the championship belt. Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
I'm gonna go with Elon Musk. I think he's the
bigger guy, So I'm gonna go with size and wait over, Yeah,
when you're when you're in a battle and you're fighting,
how smart you are? I don't know, nobody kill what
book you read last night. So even though I think
he's a bright dude too, I just I think he's
(22:29):
the bigger guy in this scenario. So I'm gonna go
to Elon.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
All right, Joe Kelly, who are you picking?
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Are you doing hand to hand combat or their weapons involved?
Speaker 1 (22:39):
This is a battle royale? What have you got?
Speaker 4 (22:43):
I'm still saying Jeff Bezos, like, I think he's underestimated,
and that's kind of dangerous to underestimate anyone in the
street fight.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
I will break it down to you guys like this.
Mark Zuckerberg, for me, I think would be the favorite
because I guess he's really into like MMA stuff these days.
But I think Elon Musk is enough to like, you know,
do all the things that you shouldn't do, like hair
pulling and brass knuckles and throwing you know, throwing chairs
at people and just for the sake of it, I'll
(23:09):
run a tesla through everybody and just take the belt.
So my money, I'm gonna go elon Musk. I think
that guy's taking it and Alex, you and I could
finally agree on something on this podcast. There we go,
perfect Alex Brown. I can have you on again and again.
I can talk to you for hours. You're the man.
I really appreciate you coming on the show. Not a
problem man, Oh day long. For Joe Kelly, my name
(23:30):
is Dan Levy. This has been a fun episode of arguments,
and again, please feel free to share with all your friends, family,
and anybody who you think likes a good argument in
their lives. For Joe Kelly, my name is Dan Levy.
We'll do this again soon. See you
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