The Best of The Dan Patrick Show

On today's Dan Patrick Show, Former NFL QB Ryan Leaf steps in for DP. Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee discusses the constantly changing landscape of professional golf. TNT NBA Analyst Andy Katz explains the rise in basketball talent from France. Sports Illustrated Writer Mort Jensen breaks down how NBA League Pass has helped grow the game of basketball. Plus, Former NFL QB Matt Hasselbeck stops by to give us some updates on some of the league's top quarterbacks. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to The Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
They picked an American guy.

Speaker 3 (00:06):
They went with Ryan Leaf. Welcome to the Dan Patrick Show,
Hour two, Our one in the books. Kevin Hart is
back everybody you know that with an all new season
of an a list interviews on Heart to Heart second
Heart spelled with you know.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
The traditional H E A R T. Heart.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
The comedian sits down with a stellar list of celebs, celebs, guys.
I wonder if Dan's going to be part of that.
For unfiltered conversations you won't want to miss. Catch the
first episode with Batman Ben Affleck on now only on
Peacock Art to Heart huh with Ben Affleck. The older

(00:45):
I get, the more humbled I get by my kids.
Like my kid, I didn't do anything. I won't do anything.
I'll never be anything from my kids except their dad.
You know, less and less starstruck, I think maybe be
the word you don't get starstark. Yeah, not as much
as I used to used to be. Uh, golfers that

(01:10):
really got me starstruck. I love like, like if Jordan
Spied's walked into the man Cave right now, probably I
would have. You know, years ago, I would have fangirled
out on him. So, oh my god, it's Jordan's speed
and you know, asked him how it would could putt
you know, because I want to go be a good golfer.
I'm trying to be a good golfer. So not so
much anymore. When's the last time.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
You guys were starstruck? Maybe?

Speaker 3 (01:34):
I mean, this is this is probably a really good question,
because you know, you have stars that walk into this
studio or on your zooms like every day.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Fritzy.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
For me, it wasn't an athlete.

Speaker 5 (01:45):
And when we had the New York studio when Michael
Douglass walked in, Oh yeah, that was like, whoa, this
guy just jumped up the big screen and he's sitting
on the couch waiting to come out with Dan.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
That was weird.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Romancing the stone El Scott one out there.

Speaker 6 (02:00):
Oh, I'll agree with Fritzy.

Speaker 7 (02:02):
It's the people you don't expect to meet, like we
expect to meet Joe Montana at some point in this job.
We were at Pebble Beach and we were there for
a couple of years with DirecTV and AT and T,
and it was great. We had a lot of celebrities
on the site, Ry McElroy and Jordan Speed and et cetera,
et cetera. We tried year one to get Clint Eastwood
to come by, and he was under the weather and

(02:22):
didn't do it. We're pretty disappointed. The next year, Fritzi
worked really hard and we all were trying to get
Clint Eastwood to come by, and we were preparing to
tape it. We stayed for hours after the show to
taper for the next day. And also we get the
we get the call he's on his way over, and
I'm telling you, I started sweating a little bit.

Speaker 6 (02:39):
I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Speaker 7 (02:40):
And when he pulled up on set, You're like, that's
that's dirty, Harry, that's you know, Josie Wales at someone
you don't ever expect to meet in your life. And
I think that's the last time I started rug.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Mine's Jack Nicholson. Never.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
I mean, come on, when, when in my lifetime would
I have ever interacted with Jack Nicholson?

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Right?

Speaker 3 (02:56):
And uh, somehow we ended up what's the club here
in Manhattan? China Club back in the day, like old school,
old school, like nineteen ninety eight.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
I'm in there.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
Bruce Willis to me Moore and Jack Nicholson and Ryan Freakin'
Leaf sitting around a tables and I'm just like in
awe of like this guy. I had never had any
intent of meeting anybody like that in my life. So yeah,
I'm with you, like just the most unexpected out of
nowhere that takes you by shock Seaton.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
It's kind of a funny one.

Speaker 8 (03:32):
And I don't know if it was the scenario that
we were in, which was like beyond surreal, or if
it was the person themselves. But we went to shoot
this Adam Sandler movie called That's My Boy in Toronto. Yeah,
and us idiots are like, we have no idea what
we're doing. We're really just trying to not get in trouble, right,
But and we get to watch them shooting all of

(03:53):
these scenes and we're just waiting for them to like
call our names and be like, all right, go over there,
don't screw this up. But while we're sitting there, Susan
saran is acting and like doing all of this stuff.
And I remember being like, oh my god, that's Susan
Sarandon standing right there and she's working, she's acting, We're
watching her, watch her takes back and you could see
her like she's doing the lines over in her head
and the next time she'll do it a little differently

(04:14):
or whatever. I found that to be fascinating, that, like,
that's Susan Sarandon right there, and she's working.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
We're just watching her work.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
I think, watching any of that stuff people who work
at their craft and you see different things over and
over again.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
You know.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
Like I said, starstruck for me was golfers, always has
been golfers. I love the game of golf. It's given
me so much over the last ten years, you know.
And a guy that I think does a pretty darn
good job, you knowing the towing, the line, going over
the line, talking about every possible aspect of the PGA

(04:51):
Tour and what's going on in it right now, Brandal
Shambly if the off channel leads studio analysts joining us
right now?

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Brandal, how are you doing today?

Speaker 9 (04:59):
I'm great, thank trying nice to join you.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
How you doing I'm doing I'm doing really well. Caught
your performance during the US opened down at Pinehurst. Thought
it was exceptional. What a great tournament to watch it
play out that way. I held off a week because
I thought on Father's Day I'd be able to watch it,
but of course as a father, you never get to
the thing you're able to get to. So I watched
it last week while I was in abandon. Uh and uh,

(05:24):
and I still can't get over it's just, you know,
some of the way it ended. What were your biggest
takeaways from from that weekend at Pinehurst? Rory every advantage,
two stroke lead and then to lose it with the
putts that he hadn't missed in any any time like that,
to lose to Bryson.

Speaker 10 (05:42):
I think the biggest takeaway really was just how spoiled
I think we all were as a golf audience getting
treated to a back and forth like that between two
just megastar strowing haymaker after haymaker, you know. For Bryson
it was it was just these wonderful recoveries, you know,
from the native areas. There's never been any buddy, you
go back to nineteen eighty, that's the earliest data that

(06:03):
you can find on the US Open. Nobody's ever won
a US Open that poorly ranked and driving accuracy nobody,
So to see him recover from those native areas and
those great scrambles around the green. You know, it reminded
me a bit of Sevy or Tiger, and then with Rory,
who was the opposite, he was just driving.

Speaker 9 (06:23):
The ass out of it. It was amazing to watch.

Speaker 10 (06:26):
But you know, the heartbreak of Rory and the and
the I don't know what you know, what you call it,
it's just the charisma of Bryson, you know, seeing that
go back and forth, because there's a huge section of
golf that pulls for Rory. I mean, it's well known
in the golf industry. There's really only a few people
that moved the needle in golf Tiger. But Tiger doesn't

(06:46):
play much anymore, and when he does, he struggles Rory,
and that's kind of it. It was Jordan Speed for
a while, and it was Nicholson for a while. But
now I think watching this emergent superstar and bright to Shambo,
who's now become more energetic and effusive with the audience,
and to see that play out, I think was just

(07:08):
a real treat. That was the overall take, at least
that I had.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
I haven't watched a bunch of golf, be honest with you,
over the last two years. Ever since all the live
in PGA Tour stuff has gone on, it's been hard
for me to watch. To be honest, I sat down
and watched this that weekend. You're exactly right. The question
I want to ask you around Scotti Scheffler in the
year he's having, which is exceptional. But you just talked

(07:34):
about a player in Bryson d Schambeau that that he
doesn't get to go up head to head except for
maybe four times a year. How do you quantify the
season Scottie Scheffler is having on the PGA Tour because
it's historical, yet it may not be necessarily against the
greatest competition in the world weekend week out.

Speaker 10 (07:55):
Well, you know, the world rankings doesn't doesn't incorporate these
guys are doing on live. But there's a site called
data Golf that does a really good job of cross
correlating how good these guys are playing against the competition.
And so there's really only a couple of guys that
are in the top ten in the world from live.
That's John Rahm and Bryson de Shambo. So look, I

(08:17):
mean Bryson to Shambo clearly is having the best year
in major championships, but he's also competing week in and
week out on live and he hasn't dominated. So it's
tough Ryan to answer your question. It's tough to really
put into perspective if he's not playing week in and
week out against the very best, And that is the
dilemma that we're all burdened with in this sort of

(08:38):
dichotomy that we have of these two tours. But having
said that, if you take Tiger out of the equation,
because you can't compare Tiger to Scotty Scheffer any more
than you could compare Usain Bolt to Tyson Gay, like Tiger,
even what Scotty's doing right now, Tiger was light years
ahead of what Scotty's doing. So you take Tiger out
of it, and he's in another category of Hogan and Nicholas.

(09:02):
The last time we saw a golfer like this globally
from a data perspective was Tom Watson. You know, Rory
didn't play the type of golf that Scotty's playing right now.
He came close, brooks Kepka, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day,
Justin Thomas. They didn't play the golf that Scotty Scheffer's playing.

Speaker 4 (09:21):
Right now.

Speaker 10 (09:21):
It's the best golf that we've seen since Tiger Woods,
now Teeter Green. What we're seeing with Scotty Scheffler is
very much like Tiger Woods, very much. I never thought
i'd see that again. But the difference is that Tiger
was just as good a putter as he was at
every other aspect of the game. You couldn't make Tiger up.
You just couldn't make him up. And Scotty Scheffler is not.

(09:42):
He's just not that good a putter.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
I remember hearing Paul Aisinger say when Tiger missed that,
what was it like a eight footer on seventeen at
Pinehurst the year that Payne Stewart won. It was the last,
you know, inside ten footer that Tiger miss for like
a next decade.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
And that's to your point.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
The putting is is what set him apart, because he
could do anything you can imagine from Tea Green and
then he would able to get it up and down.
The Scotty Scheffler's demeanor on the golf course, I think
it's there says that's kind of a smooth textan you know,
slow walking into the bar mindset. How does that effectively

(10:22):
help him on the golf course because it serves him
seemingly very well, especially when something like that the memorial
happens and he throws in a triple bogie there out
of nowhere and then comes back and still wins the tournament.

Speaker 10 (10:34):
Well, he's just miles better than everybody else. I mean,
we can look at his demeanor and try to infer
that it helps him play better golf. But and a
lot of people do that, and I'm asked to do
that all the time, but for me, it you know,
we often infer mental emotional maturity aspects of people's demeanor
that we can't divine out. I mean, we can guess,

(10:57):
but the data shows he's just so.

Speaker 9 (11:00):
Much better than everybody else.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
T degree.

Speaker 10 (11:02):
I mean, it's he's miles better than anybody else in
the game.

Speaker 9 (11:06):
Of golf right now.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
Just yeah, yeah.

Speaker 10 (11:09):
The ball striking, you know, I mean, Tiger Woods was
as animated up and down and all over the map
as Scotty is even keeled. You know, Scotty reminds me,
you know, his faith is very important to him. He's
a very religious man, so he reminds me a lot
of Now this is going back, you know, you know,
if you're not a golf geek. You may not remember

(11:30):
this name, but Byron Nelson. Barron Nelson was a man
of deep faith, also from Dallas or around the Dallas area.
Excellent and you know he retired young. But he was
very even keeled, like Scotty Scheffler, Billy Casper, another player
whose religious faith was very important to them, and they
were very.

Speaker 9 (11:48):
They were very humble on the golf course. They didn't
get too animated.

Speaker 10 (11:51):
You don't see Scotty Scheffler running around air punching very often.

Speaker 9 (11:55):
You know, it's just not who he is. So it's
exciting in the act. I mean, it's funny.

Speaker 10 (12:00):
It took him getting arrested the world to jump on
the Scotti Scheffler bandwagon. Now when he shows up and
walks on the range at the US Open. When he
walked down the range, you know, there were this really
wonderful group of kids that always hung out in the
same area, fifty one hundred kids, and every day they
would just, you know, just chant Scotty, Scotty, Scotty. It's

(12:22):
like the whole world became in the way. He handled
that with such grace. I think really enamored him with
a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, he certainly did do that.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
Before I get you out of here, we're speaking with
Brandall Shambly from Golf Channel leads studio analysts as well
as NBC Sports the live golf aspect of things about
two years ago. Of course, you've been a staunch advocate
for the PGA Tour. Sometimes the controversy has blown up
into something bigger. One of my biggest takeaways from all this,

(12:53):
and I think it's what pushed me away from it all,
was what the PGA Tour decided to trot out there
in terms of making Rory and Tiger kind of the
face of this. I thought it would have done so
much more to the credit of the PGA Tour if
someone like Max Homa was the face of this, because
he was what the PGA Tour had brought to Fruition

(13:14):
and Tiger and Rory though they had done all that,
they had generational wealth, right, that wasn't something that some
of these live players that were taking off for and
what Harold Varner spoke to and stuff like that. Why
has this conversation about money and who's given the money
and what this is all? How has this divided the

(13:36):
because the golfing fan for me is is right down
the line. I love golf like I want to go
spend five hours. I'll play thirty six if you want to,
if you want to go and do that. Where are
we today with this in terms of collectively kind of
bringing us all back together because I don't want to
watch full swing and look at you know, Joe Damon
and his caddy crying on a private jet going.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
I do not want to say I don't care about
that at all.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
You know, you are a pretty pretty lucky person right now.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
So where are we at right now? And where's that
got to go?

Speaker 10 (14:07):
Well, think you raised an interesting point. So if you
look at golf, golf is the only sport that I
can think of, Ryan where the professional aspect of it
could go away tomorrow zero. There could be no professional
golf tomorrow, and it doesn't change the game. One bet
for those that play the game, You're still.

Speaker 9 (14:25):
Going to go play. I'm still going to go play.
All my buddies are going to go play.

Speaker 10 (14:29):
There's still seventy five million people in the world that
are all going to go play golf. That's not like
every other sport where you watch it for entertainment purposes solely.
You know, people bet on football, they're all in. Nobody's
going to go play football the next day. You know,
golf is a participation sport as much as it is
about entertainment. But the professional I think to your point,

(14:49):
I think most people became disenchanted with the professional sport
and the greed that was so pervasive in it. Everybody
fighting for money that was not warranted based upon the
niche aspect of the appeal of the game, and that
they were already comparatively speaking, unbelievably wealthy, right, and it

(15:10):
just seemed like, you know, this tug of war between
the greediest athletes in the world, and they had an
unrealistic view of their worth. And I think that came
across as you know, you see lesser known players hopping
on these private jets and you think they're all doing well,
what are they fighting for? And the ratings don't justify
this money. But the reason Tiger and Rory were so

(15:32):
much to the four of it because at least from
the professional aspect of it, the game really suffers unless
the stars are going to stick with the PGA tour.
So and the lesser known players needed to know that
the best players were going to be around, because the
game falls apart, the media, rites fall apart if the
stars are not there and prominent, And the PGA Tour

(15:54):
I think has done a you know, thanks.

Speaker 9 (15:56):
To Rory, thanks to Tiger.

Speaker 4 (16:00):
Uh.

Speaker 10 (16:01):
You know, I think they people fall suit. They're leaders,
the two biggest voices in the game, Rory and Tyger uh.
And they're the most appealing players in the game globally.
So they were very important to the sticking power of
the PGA Tour, so to speak. But from a recreational standpoint,
I think the whole world shared your view.

Speaker 4 (16:21):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (16:21):
We're kind of sick of all the talk of money.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
Yeah, I want to go play golf and I want to.
I want to I want to learn how to stop
hitting my slice, and so I want to listen to her,
you know, give me book. Randall Chamblee from NBC Sports
as well as the Golf Channel lead studio analysts there. Randall,
thanks for taking them time today. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 9 (16:39):
Nice talking to you, Ryan. See you down the road.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
Some well, Sir, Randall Shamblee. Golf Channel a lot of
a lot of interesting stuff there. I want to get
into that a little bit later. But before we get
into that, we're going to have Andy Katz join us
next to talk about all things from the NBA Draft
last night. Need to be educated, I want to know
about this French and vag right here on the Dan
Patrick Show.

Speaker 4 (17:02):
I'm Ryan Leef.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
We'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 11 (17:15):
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LeVar Arrington and I couldn't be more excited to announce
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Speaker 6 (17:23):
What is Up on Game?

Speaker 11 (17:24):
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Zada and Super Bowl champion Yup, that's right, Plexico Burus.
You can only name a show with that type of
talent on it. Up on Game We're going to be
sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen
to Up on Game with Me LeVar Arrington, TJ. Huschman, Zada,

(17:47):
and Plexico Birds on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or
wherever you get your podcast from.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
Welcome back, everybody to the Dan Patrick Show. I'm Ryan
Lee filling in for Dan today. Just got done talking
with Brandle Shambly from Golf Network, Golf Channel, NBC Sports.
Pretty special to be a part of that that US
Open coverage. That was a that was a heck of
a deal. I waited a week to watch the ending

(18:18):
and it was hard. It looked like me putting on
sixteen there for Rory pulled that thing a little left
and and there.

Speaker 4 (18:25):
You have it.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
It's difficult when that pressure hits, When that pressure mounts
a lot of pressure last night for a lot of
these first round draft picks, you know what expectations they
will have some Wednesday highlights. So I told you a
little earlier. I'm a New York Yankee season ticket holder
this year. It's it was kind of a neat way
of doing it. You could buy twenty season tickets. They

(18:47):
you know, they have it split off into that's certain
amount by season. You know, twenty season tickets, which has
been great. All the games we've gone to so far
this year, they've won. You know, feel like I'm batting
pretty good, but I haven't been to a game in
a while. They're two and eight. I only have two.
I only have two games on the horizon, by the way,

(19:08):
in the month of July, July third against the Reds,
July sixth against the Red Sox, and then we're gone
a whole month of July, Like we don't come back
to August second. So hopefully they don't, you know, go
into a leaf slide somewhere there. Aaron Judge hit his
thirtieth home run of the season Yankees twelve to two
lost to the Mets. Well, he joins Babe Ruth, Harmon, Killerbrew,

(19:29):
Ken Griffith Junior, Mark McGuire, Roger Merrison, Sammy Sosa is
the only players to hit thirty or more home runs
in their first eighty two games of a season multiple
times in their career. It's the most he most in
the first eighty two games since Albert Pouhols hit thirty
one in two thousand and nine. Gavin Stone tossed the
four hit shutout the Dodgers beat the White Sox. Of course,
we heard about first time there's been a shutout since

(19:51):
Walker Bueller did it back in twenty twenty two, and
Atani led the game with his nl eating twenty fifth
home run, third leadoff home run of the year.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
This sports state in history. I like this one. Mike Tyson.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
I remember having this Sports Illustrated cover of Tyson knocking
out Spinks nineteen eighty eight, June twenty seventh, ninety one
seconds in Atlantic City, unified all the heavyweight titles. Really
pretty much the precipice of Mike Tyson's dominance. Everything kind
of fell apart after that. Cuss passed away right before

(20:24):
that fight, I believe. And then Dan O'Brien. This one's
really Dan O'Brian failed to score any points in the
Pole Vault in nineteen ninety two, and if you guys
remember correctly, Reebok had put this huge campaign together about
Dan and Dave going to the Olympics, and one of
them did not qualify. Therefore their whole campaign was undercut.

(20:46):
Got a good story there about Dan O'Brien, and when
he went back to Atlanta and won a gold medal,
came and spoke to our Washington State team.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
It's pretty pretty good stuff, all right.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
I want to get back to the NBA stuff, and
so we thought we'd bring in the expert, Andy Katz.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
He joins us.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
Now, welcome to the show, mister Andy Katz TNT sports
broadcast and basketball analyst. Were you unfamiliar as most people
were in the United States with the two guys that
ultimately went at the top of last night's draft.

Speaker 4 (21:17):
Yeah, I mean, I mean, obviously I knew who they were.

Speaker 12 (21:21):
I had seen sar Alex saw play because he played
on Overtime Elite, So there's some domestic games in that,
you know for them played their two years. Resache, I
had never seen him play in person, just highlights. Like
pretty much everyone else, he had to go to France
to go see him for the most part. You know,

(21:43):
this was a draft to me that mirrored nineteen ninety eight.
I'm dating myself here, but that's when goodyear. Yeah, Michael
Hollover Candy was the number one pick in the NBA draft,
and three spots down was Antonine Jamison, so you know
it was a draft no one knew who should be won.

(22:03):
Then you shoot ahead to twenty thirteen, Anthony Bennett was
the number one pick. No one really knew who to
pick one, and Giannis was in that draft, so you
know there will be an elite player in this draft.
I'm convinced of it. We don't know who it will be.
I kind of think Stefan Castle may it being the
best player in this draft. He goes forward to San Antonio.

(22:26):
But I know the way these gms got they they
love the upside, especially the upside international player. And so
I wasn't shocked at Receschet and Sar went one two.
But I think there's gonna be a little more value
a little bit deeper into the draft.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
These these players are You talked about it being a
bit of maybe a project. Not what we saw last
year with the Frenchman, right, that was a star. We
knew about him in time. It was the height, it
was all the things that went into it. Is that
something that propelled this year's draft to think about how
successful he was as a rookie, that these guys kind

(23:05):
of grew up in his shadow, his form and how
they come into play and do an NBA that's much
different than it was ten years ago when when you
came in from a foreign country.

Speaker 12 (23:15):
Yeah, I mean, I think also it is cyclical. Next
year's draft is absolutely loaded at the top. I mean,
these two guys would not sniff the top five next year. Wow,
you know with Cooper Flag and Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper.
Those guys are all gonna go one, two, three in
some order. So it is cyclical. It is based on,

(23:35):
you know, who comes out. I find it interesting that
as of now, none of the four first round Frenchmen
are going to be on the French Olympic team, at
least not projected to be, and yet they could be
one of the contenders for a silver. I think we
all know it was probably gonna win the gold. But

(23:57):
they're gonna have an outstanding roster led by women. But
they've got you know, Gobert, and you know there's a
number of NBA level players who have French roots will
be playing on that Olympic thom who are experienced and older,
and yet four Frenchmen go in this first round here
in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
I want to ask you a question specifically around the
French invasion and why it started and who kind of
maybe was the catalyst. I think maybe Tony Parker. I
want to ask you that in a second here, but
first let's you know where Tony Parker ended up going
was the San Antonio Spurs. They go out and grab
the number one overall pick last last year, and now
they take a player at four who you believe could

(24:40):
easily be the best player in this year's draft. What
have they done, how quickly have they got better? And
what is pop expecting to look like with this team
next season.

Speaker 12 (24:52):
I love the selection of Stefan Castle. I think he
will be the best player in this draft. I'm a
believer that you know, maybe this is why I'm not
a GM, but I think that you go with the
best player, regardless of fit, and then you figure it out.

Speaker 4 (25:08):
We see this in a lot of other sports. Sometimes you
have duplication.

Speaker 12 (25:11):
But if you think player X is better than player
why on a given year, then you know, just figure
it out some and you've got a tradeable asset. And
I think Castle is going to be the highest value pick.
The one question on him was could he make threes?
He did that in the final four. But I also
love the fit played for Dan Hurley work you know

(25:32):
high like basketball like you work ethic and Dan Hurley,
Greg Papovich.

Speaker 4 (25:38):
There's a line there. I mean both those guys.

Speaker 12 (25:40):
Obviously Papovich you know, older Hall of famer, you know
that kind of level of coaching, winning multiple championships at
the NBA level. You've got early just one back to
back championships in college basketball. If you can play for
Dan Hurley, you certainly can play for Greg Papovic. And
so I love the fit there for the Spurs and
getting their kind of guys. And they've done a great

(26:03):
job obviously of development and development hoping players in the NBA.
And also one thing Pavovitch had to do, and Brendan
Haywood said this last night when he was doing some
Spurs games that he said Popovich told him that, you know,
they were having to teach you know, with a lot
of these young guys, if you've got a player that's
coming out of the current Yukon program, you don't have

(26:25):
to teach him anything. That player is coming in ready
to play the game and he's not going to be raw.
And so that's what I think will help speed up
this process for the Spurs next season.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
Outside of the United States, and I was shocked to
hear this. Over about the last decade, the most amount
of players that have come into the NBA have been Frenchmen,
but it, for whatever reason, last night seemed very.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Frenchmen loaded.

Speaker 3 (26:52):
And Tony Parker is the first real Frenchman that I
can think of that you know, when everybody has a
player Michael Jordan was that for so many that made
them want to get into basketball, or Ken Griffey Junior
into baseball. In the in the country of France, Tony
Parker may have been that catalyst for let's say this
group of players that are coming out here now, they're
all around nineteen twenty years old and you know, making

(27:16):
their way to the United States to play in the NBA.

Speaker 4 (27:19):
Yeah, and I do think that.

Speaker 12 (27:21):
And you know, think of like Ronnie Trurioff who played
with the Lakers, played at Gonzaga. You know, you're familiar
with that school up in the Northwest, and you know,
so he played in the States first, but he's a
French national. So this has been going on for quite
some time. I mean, Parker is sort of the biggest name,
but they've got, you know, a ton of talent. I

(27:43):
mean I got to give you know, while we were
not on the air in watching ESPN's coverage that Jonathan
Cagoni made a good point on ESPN about, you know,
the diversity in France now is you're seeing it on
the athletic fields, you know, whether it's you know, obviously
in basketball and soccer, you know, the country certainly has

(28:06):
changed and you know in its demographics and we're seeing
it play out, you know, in the diverse players that
are coming through there. And there's no question that France
I think will be a basketball power for years to come.
I think I take over the US and the Olympics.
Probably not, but they're certainly going to be a contender.

(28:28):
I mean, think about this.

Speaker 4 (28:31):
What in the nineties and early two thousands, you know, Argentina.

Speaker 12 (28:35):
You know, was one of the main competitors for the US,
you know, in the Olympics, and then it just wasn't
that low of players to continue, you know, after that
genobili era of Argentinian players, and so they've not been
able to sustain it. You know, Let's see if Spain
can sustain it. I'm questioning that too after that Poga

(28:57):
soul era in Spain. But it does look like Ants
could sustain it. I mean, I go way back Lithuania,
if you remember, they had some great teams, you know,
at the global stage, but they also weren't able to
sustain it. There was not really that, you know, with Germany,
same thing. France seems like the country right now and Canada,

(29:17):
by the way that I think have the ability to
stay at the high level on the international stage.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
All Right, what did the Lakers get when they got
Dalton connect you know, big sky to the SEC dominant
there at Tennessee on he was twenty three years old.
I think that was one of the bigger complaints about
something I also heard listening to Frank I Soola coming
into the the office today. You know how that's a
positive though. I mean, all the experience you have going

(29:48):
into a team that has so much experience.

Speaker 12 (29:52):
Yeah, I thought, if you're going to look at the
playoff teams that I thought were the big winners last night,
the top two for me were Minnesota and the Lakers.
You know, Minnesota gets Robed Dilly Hamm in the trade
and they get Terrence Shannon Junior, who is twenty three

(30:13):
as well. He only slid because of his legal issues.
You know, wasn't able to sort of be free and
clear until early June. Once he was, you knew that
he was going to probably move up. He didn't move
up as much as I thought he should have, but
he is a ready I mean, as Brendan Haman was saying,
that's that plug and play guy. He can come right

(30:34):
in and we're going to see dunks the way ant
Man has. We're going to see that from Shannon. So
there's a twenty three year old who's going to help them.
The Lakers, same deal Dalton Connect slides to seventeen. They
want to win now, Well, you don't win now with
a guy you try to develop. JJ Reddick I think
will love coaching Dalton Connect because he's got that same

(30:54):
basketball IQ. He can defend, he can block shots, and
he can a big time score we saw in that
Elite eight matchup against Purdue. But also I think with Lebron,
Lebron's going to want to trust a player on the
wing when he gets doubled or whatever happens where.

Speaker 4 (31:09):
He's got to give it up.

Speaker 12 (31:10):
If he's kicking it out to Connect, Knect's going to
make that shot and he will have the confidence to
do that as a twenty three year old who's done
it at an elite level, whether it was at Northern
Colorado where no one knew who he was, or kind
of seeing leading his team to do EE eight. So
I love those two guys who are both twenty three,
Shannon and Knnec having an immediate impact on playoff games.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
All right, We'll let you go catch this plane here.
On this question, I think most people out there are
going to be watching Round two, and maybe more people
will be watching Round two, frankly simply because of the
big question around Bronnie James playing with his dad. Will
it be the Lakers, will it be another team that
maybe takes him and uses him as leverage to try

(31:54):
to do something with the Lakers, or maybe even because
of Lebron not signing his extension yet in OPTI in
who knows. I think there's a lot of intrigue tonight
because of Bronnie James and Lebron James family tonight in
Round two.

Speaker 4 (32:07):
Well, so I'm going to piggyback off my comment about Connect.

Speaker 12 (32:10):
I think because they took Connect, it makes it much
more palatable to take Bronnie James. If the Lakers had
taken a player that needed to be developed or a
bit of a project at seventeen, then it's kind of
hard to justify taking someone similar at fifty five.

Speaker 4 (32:27):
Now you've got your guy.

Speaker 12 (32:29):
Who can be in the rotation at seventeen, you can
take a flyer happens to be the son of your
Hall of fame player.

Speaker 4 (32:36):
But you can take them to fifty five.

Speaker 12 (32:37):
And that's okay, because you know, fifty five you're not
expecting to get a rotation guy. But I didn't think
that both of their picks could be guys that needed
to be developed.

Speaker 4 (32:47):
Now you've got one. Now it's gravy.

Speaker 12 (32:50):
You know, you take them fifty five, Okay, whatever, you know,
let's see if he can develop into a player. It's fine.
So I think may now have the luxury to take him,
and I think they will. And I think there's the
only team that would late in the second round.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
Oh you answered my question on the way out if
it wasn't the Lakers, and who was it?

Speaker 10 (33:06):
So?

Speaker 3 (33:06):
Uh Lakers or bust for Bronnie James and his pops
rolling into the sunset years for lebron in La. I
guess retirement. Uh you know with this, I mean, how
cool is that I watched King Grifford Junior and his
dad almost collide and make a catch their day. Imagine
playing with your son. I mean, what a what a
cool thing. Hey, Andy, thanks so much for taking the time.
I know you were rushing out of there.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
Really appreciate it. The education.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
I only watched one NBA game this year, so you
I'm already I mean, I'm gonna go on NBA TV today.
They probably so Andy Katz everybody TNT Sports Basketball Analyst.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio wapp.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
Welcome back everybody to the Dan Patrick Troe Ryan Lee
filling in for Dan.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
Yes, they picked an American aptain America.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
Some would say I was twelve minut for me to
get to the studio this morning. I loved that commute,
just you know, for future reference, you know, and uh
if or when Dan ever decides to, you know, call
it a day. I heard that's on the horizon at
some point. But uh, you know, twelve minutes, you know,
I could keep him abreast of everything that's going on
in the man cave.

Speaker 4 (34:17):
You know.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
I heard our boy, Ross Tugger did a heck of
a job the last three days. He's pretty good at
what he does.

Speaker 6 (34:23):
Yeah, he was bartending last night with Jason Kelsey.

Speaker 3 (34:26):
Had a little autism raising money for autism there in
Philadelphia for for Jason Kelcey and uh and and everybody
there in Philly. Yeah, he's a pretty you know, solid
staple of the Philly community there and giving back and stuff.
So that's pretty cool to watch him having the success.
I did his podcast recently. He just put a lot
of this stuff out that we did, uh here in

(34:48):
the last few days. Good conversation, he's he's uh, we
work at Westwood one together too, so it's a lot
of fun, uh to see him in that success. A
lot of headlines, of course, the basketball has been the
biggest one. We're gonna welcome into the show here in
just a second. Mort Jensen, he's an NBA writer for Forbes, Yahoo,
and Sports Illustrated. He wrote an article back in January,
and I'm just gonna give you the headline so you

(35:10):
can have a full understanding January tenth, by the way,
twenty twenty four, how France has become a powerhouse talent
producer for the NBA. So foreshadowing, of course, let's welcome
to the show. Contributing an NBA writer for Forbes, Yahoo,
Sports and Sports Illustrated, mister Mort Jensen, all the way
from Denmark.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
As we speak. Welcome to the show. How are we doing?

Speaker 5 (35:34):
Thank you doing very very well? How about yourself.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
I'm doing great. I'm doing great. I want to hear
more about this.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
Okay, So is France now the best basketball country in
the world outside of the United.

Speaker 5 (35:43):
States right now? I think it has a reasonable case. Yes, absolutely,
It used to be Spain. You could argue serp yup
up right now that the NBA's talent production level from
France is just so overwhelming. So if we look at
it through the prism of the NBA, yes, absolutely.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
This foreign There's always been foreign players that go as
far back as you can remember. But when the Dream
Team happened in Barcelona in nineteen ninety two, it was
back with the stars on the highest stage of amateur sports,
the Olympic Games. Did that have a huge factor in

(36:21):
where the foreign game has gone, especially in France and
in Europe, where we've seen a lot of change.

Speaker 5 (36:27):
Oh absolutely, I mean it's unquantifiable just how big of
an impact that had. You have to understand, we weren't
used to watching these talents at that point in time.
There wasn't NBA League Pass, there wasn't this type of access.
And suddenly in Europe you had Michael Jordan, you had
Scottie Pippen, you had all Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, you
had all these superstars capturing the imagination of basketball loving Europeans.

(36:52):
So that led to more and more players getting inspired
to actually take their games to a new level. Basically
see realizing, oh my god, we're absolutely getting kicked in
the seas here. They're dominating us. So we need to
level up. If I want to go to the NBA
as a basketball player, I need to work out harder,
I need to do more. I need to dedicate myself
to this thing. And as we saw it through the years,

(37:13):
more and more players dedicated themselves to the grind, and
here we are. The NBA is well represented internationally.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Now, well, it always takes one then too, you know,
one player that the younger generation can take from. And
Tony Parker, certainly with the success that he had coming
to the NBA playing for Greg Popovich and the San
Antonio Spurs, Tim Duncan and winning championships. How important was
it that Tony Parker's success established that for France?

Speaker 5 (37:43):
It was enormously important. I mean we're looking at a
small player who overcame the odds. At that point in time,
when Tony came in there was this mindset that if
you were an NBA, if you were going to be
an NBA player, rather you had to be a big
man because you couldn't teach size. Here, we had a
six ' two on a good day probably point guard

(38:03):
was very slight, who wasn't very heavy, who somehow found
his way getting to the rim every time he wanted to,
and found success and won championships. That opened up the
minds of smaller NBA prospects overseas who are like, Okay,
I may not be seven foot, but I can learn
to dribble at basketball better, I can learn to shoot better,

(38:24):
I can learn to gear myself mentally better. So it
was an eye opener, not just for France but everywhere.
Having small players make that transition into the NBA European
players was an eye opener.

Speaker 3 (38:37):
Four first round draft picks out of the country of
France last year. Wemby, of course was the biggest name
French product. Do you expect this to continue? Is there
a pipeline now in place because of this or is
there going to be another gap that needs to be
filled by somebody else during this process.

Speaker 5 (38:56):
No, I think the pipeline is well established. The NBA
and the French Basketball Federation, as well as the actual
league in France, the LBN, have made this joint venture
of actually establishing a player development program to keep these
elite level prospects going. I can't guarantee that we're sitting
here every single year and seeing four guys from France

(39:19):
getting drafted every single year, but they are definitely going
to be a lot of guys coming over. I mean, heck,
even players from my own country of Denmark are knocking
on the NBA door, which is not something I would
have anticipated just five years ago. We are all coming.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
The popularity of the NBA. Me growing up.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
It was the nineteen nineties, it was the two thousands,
Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant. This basketball trends away from what
I'm used to. But what it has become and what
we've seen more of, is the global appreciation for and
it's a big reason why these owners continue to not
only in vest in high draft picks in foreign players,

(40:02):
but really change their franchise because they know of the
global brand. Can you speak to that and how popular
basketball has become in countries such as France and could
they ever at some point become more popular than that,
say they're traditional football in THEMBAPE or anybody like that.

Speaker 13 (40:21):
In that process, Well, I think that's kind of sacrilegious
to even suggest, because I wouldn't be the one on
that end of saying that, because football is still king
over here very much so.

Speaker 5 (40:34):
But I do think that basketball is growing to an
extent where it can compete. And Wempy is a fantastic example.
If he goes down and becomes one of those top
ten players of all time, I think you can absolutely
make a reasonable argument that he should be up there
with Stan and in Bappe and know those guys absolutely.

Speaker 4 (40:55):
Yes.

Speaker 5 (40:56):
The interest level and the accessibility also of the NB
over here is what's opened these doors. The popularity is
increasing again and more and more and more every single year.
Leak Pass has been a godsend, just to be honest
with you, to have that ability to turn on games
without you know, going through a TV schedule, that you
have an app you can install on whatever device you're

(41:17):
using and then watch games. It's it's such an important
tool and that's why that app in and of itself
is increasing in popularity over here.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
Well, it certainly allows for anybody everywhere to be a
fan of the NBA. Mort Jensen, contributing NBA writer for Forbes,
Yahoo and Sports Illustrated. Moret thanks for joining us today.
Really appreciate it taking time. Thank you for having me
you bet more it was joining us by the way
from his home office in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
How cool is that? Yeah?

Speaker 7 (41:47):
Checking our notes here, back me up, guys, first ever
guest from Denmark. I think that's confirmed.

Speaker 3 (41:53):
That, you know, More seems pretty happy about that. Got
the two thumbs up there, so I'm excited for that too.
You know, we are global, The Dan Patrick Show is global,
you know.

Speaker 7 (42:03):
You know, it's interesting to hear him say that people
in Europe and I didn't know this, that they could
get the League Pass and watch all the NBA games
easy access. If you go back to soccer's development in America,
I started watching soccer, maybe like the eighty six World Cup,
and then it would go away. You couldn't access it
on TV, you couldn't find it. You'd find it late
night replay of games. But around maybe two thousand and one,

(42:24):
two thousand and two, Fox Sports got Fox Soccer Channel
and they would play live Premier League games, and you know,
Syria games like live. You could see them on a weekend,
not the coverage NBC has now, but it started. And
I think that as much for me as getting me
back into soccer, more into soccer, because the access in
early two thousands.

Speaker 3 (42:44):
And for me, I think it's going to be because
of my kids. And I just got back from Bandon
and Joey Harrington puts on this unbelievable charity event out
there called the Battle of Bandon and we take two
former PAC twelve players and we play in this match
play tournament over the weekend.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Washington State finished sixth. By the way.

Speaker 3 (43:06):
Uh this weekend, Uh, I forget Colorado. Colorado won. Mason Crosby.
Uh and uh I forget who the other? Uh it
was a running back from old Oh Embry he's now
he's now a tight end coach for the Miami Dolphins.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
Well, anyway, he puts on.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
This great event and all the all the the guys
who are all my parents now are talking about how
their kids have really kind of gotten into soccer, and
Joey's in particular, My son loves soccer and likes playing goalie'es.
You know, he's gonna be six to nine he's gonna
have a wingspan of I don't know, seven foot. You know,
he's probably make up for a pretty good goalie. And

(43:45):
where I had no I had no interest in watching
watching soccer. I think the only time I've ever watched
soccer in my life is when I was a captive audience.
The World Cup came on when I was in prison,
and I was like, sitting in my room, is the
only thing I can watch.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
I watched the World Cup. I think it was the
men's or women's. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (44:01):
I can't tell you that's I mean, that's how but
that's the only time I've ever watched it.

Speaker 8 (44:05):
Set well, you know, the like Premier League first came
to the United States in like early nineties, right when
David Beckham gets to Manchester United, right when the Spice
Girls are happening. Yeah, right as the biggest soccer player
in the world starts dating the biggest one of the
members from the biggest band in the world, just as
it's hitting the United States. It's sort of like this

(44:27):
trifecta of popularity happened, which probably to sort of to
Mort's point about the dream team that wasn't necessarily the
dream team.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
But you can't underestimate the importance of pop culture in
the States.

Speaker 8 (44:39):
David Beckham, you know, the Spice Girls and Premier League
coming to the United States at the exact same time.

Speaker 3 (44:47):
Have you seen the documentary on on Netflix, the Beckham One.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
It's really good, It's really good.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
It It really gave me an insight to a kid
that kind of came from nothing and was just this
unbelievable soccer player. And then you know him him getting
the getting sent off in the in in what was it?
Was it the Olympics or was it the World Cup?
It was the World Cup, got sent off in the
World Cup, And how everybody in Europe turned on him,

(45:16):
like in Great Britain.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
It just I couldn't believe it.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
And how he's still and how he came back to
Manchester United and played the way he did, had one
of the greatest what years, he won all the triple
Crown and wherever it was. Then they won the their
their club team, they won the the other Champions Cup
and every I mean it was it was. It was crazy.
But anyway, getting back to it, the Premier League being
able to be seen on NBC now has allowed for

(45:41):
that for this new generation to get up on Saturday
mornings or whatever to watch it with your kids. That's
that's kind of a special thing, Poaly.

Speaker 6 (45:47):
It's also interesting if you look at the NFL in Europe.

Speaker 7 (45:50):
Back in like the eighties and late eighties, they used
to play NFL games tape delayed the next day, back
when I remember talking to people over there, and then
they knew who Walter Payton Refrigerator Perry was and were.

Speaker 6 (46:01):
You know, and then it stopped.

Speaker 7 (46:03):
In the nineties, it was hard to see NFL games
in Europe tape delay anything, not much less live.

Speaker 6 (46:09):
Now they have way more access.

Speaker 7 (46:11):
The NFL is making a concerted effort to have games
and access in Europe.

Speaker 3 (46:15):
I had a chance to work for Sky Sports a
couple of years ago, spent the last six weeks of
the NFL season over there, and they've really built something
special in terms of NFL and how they go about
broadcasting it.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
Right.

Speaker 3 (46:29):
My broadcast was essentially the red zone of sorts over there,
where we sat and we watched the games and commented
on the games throughout, so we wouldn't get done until
two thirty in the morning, three o'clock in the morning.
In Great Britain before I would go home, but as
I did, I would then sit down at like whatever
time it was for in the morning or whatever, and
watch the Sunday night football game because you know, that's

(46:52):
what I'm used to doing.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
But it is, it's exploded. That's why they're playing all
over the world. Seaton.

Speaker 8 (46:57):
I have said it a couple of times here, but
it's like worth this conversation that if you look at
the top ten players in the NBA right now, a
handful of them are farm born, right, They're from Europe, say,
And then if you look at just last night's draft,
a bunch are from France, from Europe, right, And it's
because part of the reason it's because the Dream Team obviously, right,

(47:21):
but also in Europe they have this a system, an
academy system where young kids are brought into the pro
system and taught how to play and trained at a
young age.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
Right.

Speaker 8 (47:31):
Whereas if you look at the same time, you know,
the Dream Team was what year, nineteen ninety two, ninety two, right,
the same year that the Premier League comes to the
United States. So it's the exact same timeline where a
handful of the best players in the NBA are from Europe.
But in the United States, if you look at the
top one hundred soccer players in the world, none of
them are from the US. Yeah, And so if you

(47:53):
look at how Europe knows how to develop talent at
a very young age, it's very clear that they have
a system down of teaching fundamentals and technique that carries
over in a much bigger way than maybe what we
do here.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
Well, we're seeing it play out firsthand. We saw it
last night in the first round of the NBA Draft.
We're seeing it every night on NBA TV. We're seeing
in the playoffs. We thought in the finals Lukadancik for
one of them being one of them. But the American
US born players still at the top. Tatum winning a championship,

(48:29):
Peyton Pritchard, that crew Boston with a championship once again.
They can they they contributed to I think their future
in a really good way. I want to make sure
I got this right. They got They got a guy
at thirty that I don't think a lot of people
really undervalued, and they grab a kid out of Creighton

(48:51):
who was heaved more three pointers than I think of
anybody in college.

Speaker 1 (48:54):
Really.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
Yeah, through.

Speaker 3 (48:57):
Incredible defensive rebounder. His name is Baile Sherman and he's
from Creighton. He goes thirtieth to the Celtics, and sure enough,
that's exactly what they need. I mean, it's exactly what
they need. He's older, he's another guy that's been been
in college for a long long time. Perfect fit for
this Boston Celtics team that are going to try to
repeat again.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
All right when we come back.

Speaker 3 (49:21):
Good friend of mine, Matt Hasselback, former NFL quarterback with
the Seattle Seahawks, NFC champion of course, now former ESPN analyst.
Now he's coaching with his brother down in Nashville and
high school down there. He is an empty nester as well.
He sent his last kid off to college. His son
headed to UCLA to play quarterback for the Bruins. He's
going to join us next. He's been out in Washington

(49:44):
for the last few days playing in the Seattle Seahawks
like come together golf tournament, getting everybody together. So he's
out on the West coast getting up early for us.
We'll talk to Matt Hasselback next right here on the
Dan Patrick Show. I'm Ryan Lee filling in for Dan
We'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (49:58):
Fox Sports Radio so has the best sports talk lineup
in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR
to listen live.

Speaker 11 (50:11):
Hey, what's up everybody? It's me three time pro bowler
LeVar Arrington and I couldn't be more excited to announce
a podcast called Up on Game?

Speaker 6 (50:19):
What is Up on Game?

Speaker 11 (50:20):
You ass along with my fellow pro bowler TJ. Huschman
Zada and Super Bowl champion Yup, that's right, Plexico Burrus.
You can only name a show with that type of
talent on it. Up on Game We're going to be
sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen
to Up on Game with Me LeVar Arrington, TJ. Huschman Zada,

(50:42):
and Plexico Burrs on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcast from.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
Welcome back everybody to the Dan Patrick Show. My name's
Ryan Leif.

Speaker 3 (50:56):
I am filling in for Dan here at the end
of the week, everybody takes off for a little vacation.
Love fill and guest the Gottlieb with Coveno and Rich
next week, taking you through it until dan and the
Danettes return after the Fourth of July weekend Big NBA,
of course, few nights, Round one, last night, Round two

(51:16):
expected tonight. Will Bronnie James go where he needs to
go to be an LA Laker or will somebody snatch
him a little earlier and try to pull some leverage
with that lebron James talk. We'll wait and find out.
This is a pretty cool deal for me. I don't
know if I've told this story on here or not,
but Matt Hasselback, of course, great NFL quarterback, played for

(51:37):
the Seattle Seahawks, NFC champion, played in the Super Bowl
against my Pittsburgh Steelers back in the day, and also.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
One of my teammates.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
But before any of that, we came out from the
same draft class in nineteen ninety eight and Matt, who
will tell you, you know, didn't have the most stellar
final year at Boston College, got an invite to the Combine,
and you know, he was like, all right, I'm going
to the Combine, I guess. And then after I played
in the Rose Bowl and I had declared for the
NFL Draft, they wanted me of course at the Combine,

(52:09):
which meant someone who had been invited had to be disallowed,
and that person, unfortunately would end up being Matt Hasselback.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
And I did not know this.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
Matt told me the story years later, and it turned
out all right because he had a workout date at
Best in College. Andy Reid showed up. They ended up
drafting them to the Green Bay Packers. He played behind
Brett Fire for three years and then went on to
become one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history for
the Seattle Seahawks. So joining us now, good friend of mine,
mister Matt Hasselback, Welcome to the show, Mattie.

Speaker 14 (52:44):
You'll finally forgiven Ryan. Finally I actually wore this for you.
This is the uh. This is like the little pullover
the NFL gave us this year at the Combine. I
got invited to the Combine this year to mentor the
young quarterbacks and half the wide receiver group. And I finally,
after all these years, I got a real invite, not
a non invite. It's like getting asked to the like

(53:07):
getting asked to the prom, and then like you get
all ready for it, like literally, I trained because my
season ended at Boston College. We weren't in a bowl game.
So literally from like Thanksgiving time I tell the combine
like I was training for the combine just and then
all of a sudden, I never got a plane ticket.
Andrew Brandt was my agent at the time. He's like,

(53:27):
why shout you call this number and find out I
called the guy. And he's like, yeah, it's very rare,
but sometimes we bump people if juniors come out early.
I'm like, but only one quarterback came out early. He's like, congratulations,
Now you know who bumped you. So you were like
the guy. I think I didn't do this, like literally,
but like in my brain, I think if I had

(53:47):
a dartboard and a face on it, it was like,
you're the guy I'm coming after, man, Like you were
the guy. You were you were my chip on the
shoulder motivation. So I really I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
Man.

Speaker 14 (54:00):
It's kind of like the kid that got drafted to
the Bulls last night. He was like, I want to
thank everyone that ever doubted me. I want to thank
everyone who ever doubted me. Like I was like, I
kind of like at the end of my whatever run
in the NFL, I was like, I just want to
thank Ryan Leaf bumping.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
From bumping combine. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (54:16):
The motivation that I had no idea was abound, and
I didn't do anything of the combine, by the way,
except wait.

Speaker 14 (54:22):
That's what made it worse. That's what made it worse.
All you did was just show up like now I'm
not gonna lift. Now I'm not gonna run. Oh, by
the way, I'm going to weigh in at two sixty one.
I was so pissed at you. I was so pissed.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
Well, you should have been. You should have been.

Speaker 14 (54:37):
You should have and Peyton Manning and Peyton Manning, the
both of you, you both show up like nah, I'm over.
I'm like a kid in the back of the class,
raised in my hand, like oh pick me, pick me.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
I know, I know. Well, so it worked out. It
worked out for you, buddy.

Speaker 14 (54:51):
I always tell people, I'm like, oh, yeah, the draft
of ninety eight. Yeah it's uh, Peyton Manning, Ryan Leaf
and me picks one to two and seven. Yeah, yeah,
that's us.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
Our boy, Charlie Batch. Somewhere in between there.

Speaker 14 (55:02):
Probi Batch early round pick in the third round to
the Detroit.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
Lions, Brian Brian Greasy to Denver Greasy.

Speaker 14 (55:10):
Yeah, yeah, those guys are on the dartboard too. I'm
sure you know there's somewhere.

Speaker 10 (55:15):
Well.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
You did a hell of a job, man, It was
fun watching you play. We even got to be teammates
for about six months there.

Speaker 14 (55:21):
Yeah, it was fine.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
You know, you and I were having an interesting conversation.

Speaker 3 (55:25):
I went up to Boston to speak and you were
gracious enough to grab a buddy years and host me
for golf and we had a wonderful afternoon. And then
you and I you took me to an old haunt
of yours where they had Deli sandwiches.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
What was the name of the.

Speaker 14 (55:37):
Place, Nerolis and Westwood, all.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
Right, And I remember just sitting there, you and I
both six foot five, six foot six NFL quarterbacks at
one time, you know, and just having a conversation.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
But no one knew. No one know who the hell
we were.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
No one knew what we had done or or anything
like that. We could just be anonymous and have this conversation.
And I thought that was pretty pretty cool to experience everything.

Speaker 14 (56:02):
That's what that's what you think I saw. I saw
Selly Fitzi and in the Boston scally Caps talking about us.

Speaker 3 (56:09):
Yeah, they were talking about that that guy over there,
that guy over there picked him out of the combine.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
We're going to take him out back and wrap them up.

Speaker 3 (56:15):
You said something, uh that I thought was really interesting
because I wanted to ask you a question around, you know,
rushing rookies to play early on at the quarterback position
or whether they're just preempt to having to start because
of all the all the exposure, all the expectations, everything
like that. But you talked about being drafted, being behind
Brett fav and then when you got to Seattle, you know,

(56:37):
the first year you were there, you kind of, you know,
you didn't get it done, and then got another opportunity
in year five where it really started to click. And
how you were given that leash and these guys are
not going to be allowed for that if they were
to mess up. I thought that was very interesting kind
of speak to that. And is there a if you
were a general manager, would there be a way you
would approach dealing with the young rookie quarterback in terms

(56:57):
of when they became a starter or how or when
they were ready.

Speaker 14 (57:02):
It's a little more detailed than like sit a guy
starter guy. I think it's a little more detailed than that.
I think what I probably told you was you know,
how do you know? Like that's the thing I hear
people talk about, how do you know? And I don't
even think head coaches know this. Like I listened to
head coaches and press conferences and I sit there and
I'm like, this is the dumbest answer I've ever heard
of my life. Like you're just sounds like you're saying
what you think your general manager wants to hear, or

(57:24):
what your owner of the team wants to hear, or
like what the fans want to hear or these beat
writers want to hear. Like it's really stupid sounding, you know.
Sometimes when some of the stuff that these coaches say,
the truth of the matter is is like the quarterback
has to know what to do how to protect himself
and the guys around him on third down, Like that
third down blitz pick up is like the whole name

(57:46):
of the game is the quarterback. You make your money
in the NFL as a quarterback on third down. What
happens from the twenty to the twenty is pretty benign
on first and second down, but third down and then
obviously red zone like that that's that's where it's that's
where it happens. But for a young quarterback, the hardest
thing to kind of master or like have command of
is blitz protection. Knowing where your hots are, side adjustments, audibles,

(58:10):
all that kind of stuff. Because if you don't know that,
you're gonna get hurt and your your season will be
cut short, or your teammates are gonna get hurt. You're
gonna get someone hurt. And obviously, like you can be
so remedial and so not ready that that can happen
on first and second down, like we've seen that happen too.
But uh, but no, that that's that's how you that's
I think that's how that's like the define how you

(58:32):
define it. And for me, it took a long time.
And part of the reason it took a long time
is I got no snaps, Like I'm sitting there watching
instead of you know, doing. But I think for a
lot of guys that have had success, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers,
I put myself in this category because it took me
a long time. The ability to sit and watch from

(58:52):
a great quarterback, and more is caught than taught, like
just to sit in there and watch it. Drew Bledsoe
wht Brett Farv watching you know, whoever the guy is,
be a pro that that is so valuable and a
lot of guys don't get that. A lot of guys
don't get that opportunity.

Speaker 2 (59:09):
Yeah, it would have been.

Speaker 3 (59:11):
There was an opportunity for Warren Moon to come in
and be my like, be that mentor. I know, when
Jim Harbaugh showed up in year two, like things completely
took off for me in terms of how I went
about my business as a professional. I just didn't have
any any guidance or understanding. And I know sometimes with
Brett Farv, he was out on his own tangent, doing
his own thing. But it was greatness. You were getting

(59:32):
to watch and witness and help.

Speaker 14 (59:35):
But even that, right, Like Andy Reid was the quarterback
coach in Green Bay and he comes in in the
first meeting I ever had with him, he was like, hey,
study the intangibles of Brett Favre And I'm like, I
don't even know what intangibles are. What's an intangible? Like
at the time, I'm like, what you know? And He's like,
watch the way like he basically was like his decision making,
his fundamentals, Like all this stuff is terrible. He gets

(59:57):
away with stuff that like no one else is going
to get away with. Here's where he's so special. He's
an incredible leader, Like he has the ability to bring
energy to any situation that he's in. He has the
ability to motivate his teammates like without even they don't
even know that he's doing it. He has the ability
to intimidate the opponent without even saying a word. And

(01:00:17):
there's other little things like he knows the name of
every single person in this building, from the person that
like cleans the floors to the person that signs the checks.
Like he knew everybody's name. And those things are things
that absolutely matter if you're the franchise quarterback. Some guys
are like, yeah, come on, serve me, man, I'm the
franchise QB. Like, man, no, that's not it. And you

(01:00:37):
see a lot of guys come in like, oh, as
a first round pick, I was spoiled at my SEC school,
I was whatever, and like that that is not it.
You know, the best quarterbacks are the guys that are like, hey,
what can I do for you? What can I do
to make other people better? And then I think you
see that, I think you see that in the Tom
Brady's and the Peyton Mannings, in the Brett Farves, like
a lot of guys like that. But to see it

(01:00:58):
modeled every single day. And that's what Andy Reid told
me to, like, hey, have your antenna for that study that.
Don't study like how he throws the ball late down
the middle. Don't study like throws the ball like from
his knees after he trips on a running back. Like
that's not it. That's not what makes you great. And
it's not always the things that get on whatever Sports

(01:01:18):
Center Top ten. It's those boring plays that kind of
keep the team out of second and eleven and give
the play caller second and four instead. And you know,
I studied that for three years. I studied that stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:01:33):
It It had to have been impressive. This this leads
you to the Caleb Williams conversation. We have a staunch
Chicago Bears fan in the room here.

Speaker 14 (01:01:42):
Polypaugh been tough lately, been tough.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
Been tough, been tough for a long time. For quarterback.

Speaker 14 (01:01:46):
You always have the Super Bowl shuffle though. That was
a great one of the great things that's ever been
made ever.

Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
And Walter Payton right, So they have those two things.

Speaker 14 (01:01:55):
And more than that and more than that.

Speaker 3 (01:01:57):
But you know, can the Bears could they ease into
Caleb Williams on ours as their hand been forced with
everything that that's gone on and no veteran there and
all the pieces they put into place with Keenan Allen
and DJ Moore and DeAndre Swift all the things that
are there, is is there just no way to ease
Kayleb Williams into what he's about to get into.

Speaker 14 (01:02:17):
Yeah, you can do it other ways. There's guys that
start day one first overall picks, they start day one.
You take your lumps, Troy Aikman, Peyton Manning. It doesn't
look good for a year, and then at some point
it clicks. The rest of the team catches up. The
defense is good, The playmakers are good. I think the
Bears have done a really nice job of surrounding this
young quarterback with great talent. The defense is solid, right,

(01:02:39):
The defense is solid. The playmakers on offense, they're clearly
investing in that. So yeah, I mean, there's another way
to do it. I would just say this, though, you're
putting all your chips on that quarterback being who you
think he is. You're putting all your chips on the
fact that that guy is not only physically gifted, but
mentally tough enough. And then and like, this is the

(01:03:00):
analogy I use a lot of times with the quarterbacks
that I coach. It's kind of like to use a
golf analogy. That's kind of what quarterback is. You have
to make your putts the first time when the opportunity
is there to make it. You get one opportunity, that's it.
And a lot of quarterbacks that I've been around, they
could have made that throw. Oh, let me try again.
I can make that throw. Yeah, I know you can

(01:03:21):
make that throw. There's like thousands of people out there
that could make that throw, but there's like fifteen that
can make it at the moment that it needs to
be made when that opportunity comes. And those are the
guys that never look back. Those are the guys whose
teams go on on ascension that other free agents around
the league say, hey, man, I want to team up

(01:03:43):
with that guy. And I think that's like one of
the things I ended my career in Indianapolis with Andrew Luck.
He was one of those guys. There's a lot of
guys that could make that throw. He made it when
it needed to be made, whether it was a playoff game.
You know, we're the worst team in football. No one's
expecting us to have a good year. A rookie quarterback
boom upset on the road, you know, Like there's certain players,

(01:04:05):
certain quarterbacks, certain golfers who do that, Like he nailed
that eagle putt and that the other guy to putt it.
That's the difference. That's the rare air that we're talking about.
So that's just the danger. I guess right that that
that the Bears are saying, Hey, we're going to sink
or swim. We're gonna as a GM or a head
coach or whoever, we're going to get a next contract

(01:04:26):
based on this one guy. And there's there's other philosophies
out there that I think the risk management is less.
But but it's certainly very exciting if you're a Bears fan,
like you finally feel like, hey, you know, we might
have something special here and uh and honestly, I hope
they do. I hope they do. It'd be fun. It's
always fun when the Bears are good.

Speaker 3 (01:04:46):
It's it's always fun when when I see guys who
come out of college have success. That's what I want
to see. I always want to see that because I
know how darn hard it is to do it.

Speaker 14 (01:04:54):
It's hard. Ryan, Like if if, like if my son
gets drafted someday, like I hope for him that he
comes into a quarterback room with, you know, an amazing
play caller, a great quarterback coach, hopefully like some either
a veteran and a young guy, or a young guy
and a veteran, you know, somebody with gray hair, and
then a quarterback room that is stacked, Like I feel

(01:05:17):
so fortunate I come into that quarterback room. Mike Holnger's
the head coach, Andy Reads the quarterback coach. Brett Farv's
the starting quarterback. The backup quarterbacks are Doug Peterson and
Rick Meyer and me, Like they paid me sixty two,
five hundred dollars to be on the practice squad that
first year, and I'm sitting there like, these people are idiots.

(01:05:38):
I should be paying them to be in this room.
I get to be in this room. It was like
Harvard Business School for quarterbacking, Like it was amazing. And
did I play No? I sat there and practiced holding
for field goals. For Ryan Longwell, because Sean Landetta didn't
want to do it like it was. It was amazing.
It was an amazing experience, and a lot of guys
don't get that. They get chewed up and they get

(01:06:00):
bit out and they say and then people say, like
a man that that guy can't play. It's like, hey,
it was a tough situation though, dude, that it was.
That was not ideal.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
It was not ideal in a lot of situations. You
made the most of it. I love spending time with you.
You are you know, you find your humility a lot
as a former player, as a former maybe not great player,
when you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
Interact with guys that had great careers or.

Speaker 3 (01:06:24):
There's a there's a there's a humility that comes with
it because you realize, like, hey, you know, these are
these are special individuals. I will say this about Matt
hasselback to everybody out there who clearly you can get
the gist from knowing him on the screen. He's very
down to earth. He's a good friend. He's been very
supportive of me, and it's awesome hanging out with him
and stuff. So it's a real appreciative that you took

(01:06:46):
your time to be part of the show today and
good to see you.

Speaker 14 (01:06:49):
Yeah. Hey, I hope you work on that thirty nine
putts that you had last time we played golf. By
the way, I started, I started.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
Beach about thirty nine probably though you probably did.

Speaker 14 (01:06:58):
I did.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
I did.

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
I shot there, I shot.

Speaker 3 (01:06:59):
I went up to Bandon, uh with the with the crew,
with Joey and everybody of those guys. Uh got told
the tequila story. By the way, we'll tell that one
another another time for you. Uh but uh but yeah,
putting has improved. I got a new putter, so yeah,
watch out people. Awesome, congrats, Thank you too, Matt Hasselbeck, everybody,
former Seattle Seahawks NFL quarterback and of course former uninvited

(01:07:21):
combine member because of Ryan Leaf. There's a many at
a dartboard with that big old goofy Ryan Leaf face
on in his uh in his Boston uh haunts there
with his buddies. I guess we'll see, we'll see. He's
a he's a great guy. That that's some insight that
I don't think you'll get from uh. I mean, you
can tell he's kind of gotten into coaching now like
there's a there is a inspirational, motivational point to everything

(01:07:46):
that he says, and UH very gracious in his time
being here with us on the show.