2 Pros and a Cup of JoeToday on 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe, Brady Quinn and LaVar Arrington recap the latest from the Paris Olympics. The Brandon Aiyuk sweepstakes heat up. And The Old P, Petros Papadakis joins the guys to talk conference realignment and whether or not USC and Notre Dame should play each other anymore.
This is the best of two pros and a couple Joe with lamar As, Rady Winn and Jonas Knox on Box Radio.
Var I gotta ask you because every day I kind of give you an update a little bit on the Olympics. But this one stood out to me as I was preparing for the show looking at the rundown and I have to bring in lead to lap on this one.
Let's bring in lead to lap Well.
We talked about the US women's national team, which is referring to the soccer team, and then Lee put on the rundown the dream Team.
Advance, Lee, explain yourself, this is not the dream.
Team that we all remember or no, if it was a nineteen ninety two, ninety six whatever Olympics it was.
Oh, you're right, I'm sorry. I still call the dream team. I don't know. I'm nostalgiic.
So you call do dream of the team that is in the Olympics right now. I get it, Lee, we're dreaming this was the team that that you saw, Like, I get it.
I guess I missed the memo. I still do call them the dream team. I thought that was just kind of I know it.
I know it was, well, I did have dream you are correct, and what you were saying, we did have one and two we Q you are correct.
But Lee, you know, I get I get from I get it Team USA. It is Team USA.
It's Team USA, but it's not the Dream Team.
With the dominance that was displayed by the greatest Olympic team of all time.
Yeah, okay, I you know, I was also in the middle of an h o A meeting and well, you know that's not you know what that's not. That's a bad excuse.
That's a bad excuse because you're turning your back on those people.
Yeah, but it wasn't an h o A meeting, just being like bored as hell, and I was like, I'm doing the rundown, which is which is a shame to you guys, because that means I'm I'm half assing you guys, and I put Dream Team there, So that's my fault.
I'm glad we can all share this momentcy on the Lee, do you want to get everyone? I do want to get to the Olympics, And well, we'll talk about that at some point, but I'm a little more concerned about your HOA status given the fact you're moving. Yes, it's been an update for our show. And also you would be turning down as the HOA president.
Yes, this was a topic of conversation during the HOA meeting yesterday. Uh. I basically told them I'm out. I'm out, but there you know. They're like, you're gonna get you. You're cool you if you I'm out, all right, but we still want you here and you're invited to the pool parties and all that stuff. I was like, I'll be here, go, I'll be in.
Never mind, not after you guys. Never mind, I.
Got copies of the keys. Don't worry.
They're going to change the locks on you.
I'll be using the pool room everything.
So hold on a second. They told you to come back for the pool parties.
They told me come back anytime. They love me, you know, as long as I'm cleaning up whatever needs to be cleaned up, which I'm not going to be doing.
But do you get to name your successor?
That's a good question. I don't know who I would name.
Hmm, you haven't thought about this?
Who I would name as my successor?
Yeah?
New the new president. Because here's what's gonna happen. One of two things. Either it's gonna go dramatically downhill, and you think they're gonna blame that guy, but then he'll just blame it on you, or it goes way better and then that guy takes all the credit because he's like, yeah, we got better from what lead.
Either way, it's a downside for you, buddy.
Yeah, I'm I'm very much letting the team down right now. I was in charge of a big project and I basically told him like, yeah, good luck with that. I don't plan on being here very long.
But the project.
Rebuilding all the patios because in California you have we were built in the sixties and at that we've hit the threshold where you have to have engineers come in and make sure everything's up to code, and we are not.
So LeVar, couldn't you see like Lee living in a place as like sixties, like you know, kind of shag and like different decoors.
Oh you should see this place.
It is.
It's funky.
So I picked it all that stuff, that's what you picked it.
Yeah, it's got it's got character. Man, When you're looking for a place you want, you want character. You don't want cookie cutter.
Which means it has roaches. Oh yeah, it has everything.
When you bring back in a lady friend, like, what what do they say about it? Oh?
They love it?
Like, oh this is uh retro. This is the word they'll use.
Oh my god.
I'm like, yeah it is, isn't it. I'll show you some more. I'll show you what else. I'll show you some more. I got retro too. I don't shave. All right, all right, well there you go, and.
There you go for the Olympics or h O A up not u s A h o A h that's right, all right?
You know how everyone has you know, everyone has an Olympics tattoo, like the rings. I think getting h O a tattoo just h o A interesting.
There we go. You gotta get h O h o A p though, you know h o A president. Yeah, because you were the president, know, so you need to make sure you add the peek.
Probably should put your years too, you know the term you served.
Yeah, status, baby would have been in the flect two yearsly.
Yes, sir, too long? Two years too long?
Yeah. And I know how you feel, buddy, I know how you feel. Been there before.
Dang I hate h O as I hate them. Yeah, I hate don't know.
They keep things nice.
Though I move. I moved to places where there is no hoa. I just I've did it quite a few times. I hate them, I.
Hate them, love the house. Can't move here and do it. I'm out.
Can't do it, won't do it, won't do it, can't win? Would it?
Speaking of winning with it? Have we had a chance to kind of see some of the Olympic dominance.
Of yesterday fifteen?
Baby? Yeah? Did you watch the race? Uh?
Not live?
So if you saw the finish, though, I go back to the one hundred meters, wasn't that very and then granted it was for second place, but wasn't that a very similar way in which I believe the gentleman was from Great Britain and but the other gentleman was from the US. I thought we might have gotten first and second. So again, I'm not sure why they didn't show the photo finish because it looked like it was that close. Maybe because it's a longer race, but that was one where the young man who finished in the for the bronze is actually from Notre Dame.
So nice.
We were watching cheering the mint. It was a really really cool deal.
That's pretty cool. I just say they should run it back, like, not the entire race when it's that long, but if it's like the hundred meters or if last fifteen hundred, yeah, you should like do like a eight or you know, like a four hundred for the longer races.
Just the only reason why I wouldn't want that to happen is because it would take away from what that race was, which to your point about the fifteen hundred, is that last two hundred three hundred meters and then and it was both the Americans who were grinding. I was talking about this with a buddy last night at dinner, and again we were starting off today's show talking about the Olympics, and we've done this every single week because we don't get to do this every year.
This is once every four years.
And what I always love about it is the pride that the athlete show, the pride that I think we all have in our country and all that, but it's it's like the effort too. Like that was an example of two Americans who were just decided to say, we're not gonna like lose, We're gonna find a way of trying to win this thing. And they put the I mean Hawker, the guy won. I mean, he literally just starts sprinting and he just he had more than anyone else, and it just it was awesome to watch him kind of fight through it to get his positioning and eventually win. But I love those moments, man, Like I love the fact that every single day right now you can watch summer from the US representing our country proudly.
It's awesome. I think it's one of the best times of the year.
I agree with that. Do you do you do you know? Do we know when they took the water?
Oh?
Never mind? Never mind. I was like, cause I'm like, the steeple chase, isn't there water? Yeah, and every one, But it's not.
All of them. It's not everyone.
No, I thought it was all of them for some reason.
I think it's about the halfway point, which I'm sure Lee could look this up. That actually is probably a track event that Lee might have participated in for some reason, huh. But I believe it's like at the halfway point or something like that.
The water and after the steeple chase. I wonder why they turned it into that, Like you jump over the hurdle and then there's one where you got to go into the water after you jump into that. I feel like that you're putting yourself in harm's way, like you could get injured pretty pretty badly going into a little water pit like that. It's kind of strange.
I noticed the people actually started to run to jump on top of actually the hurdle itself, and then and they would jump over the water. They could never actually jump over and land in the water. They just jump on top and jump from there.
You know how in shape you have to be to be able to jump onto the hurdle, go over the water pit and ooh yeah, see it just looks crazy. Oh somebody did they go down? Look like somebody went down. It just seems like one of those types of deals where that takes so much out of you, like more than any other race would. Yeah, it just seems crazy to me.
Man.
Now clearly you're watching live right now on the television.
It's not live. It usually had. It's not live, but I mean.
Well it's six hours ahead there, it's noon in Paris.
It doesn't it usually has live under the NBC and.
The Do you think it's a replay right now? You're watching it?
I think it might be. It might be, but I mean, you know, anytime it's distance, it just seems as though it's the same countries that are always up front.
What countries are those African? Do you?
They just see and I could give you the reasoning behind it, but I don't want I don't want to. I just think genetically speaking people, you know, I die, I gonna do it if we were, how you gonna do it? A gonna do it? Ay, gonna do it because it's kind of is really super funny for real, but it'll get taken the wrong way. Clearly people are paying attention to our show way more than they ever have, and they take take us out of context, especially me. So I'm gonna leave it alone. I mean, let's just say this. Let's just say this. Let's just say this all right. Like back in the day when you were like the postal service, you know, you had to deliver, you had to deliver messages, and and you like sometimes you know, like how you can do like next day delivery. Yeah, well, I mean just keep it by like you know, the postal Service wasn't using vehicles, you know what I mean. So when you was delivering messages, you know it was people that was taking out Are.
You saying, are you saying, wasn't the postman at Kevin Coster movie?
Are you saying that's an inaccurate portrayal. I'm just saying.
I'm just saying, you got some you got some postal services that can do you know, standard five to six days delivery, maybe a little longer, but then you have the overnight deliveries, you know what I mean. If you're not using a plane, you know, or something like that, you know, vehicle of some sort, you still got to get it there the next day. Those are the people that's competing in the Olympics.
Who do you think roots for them more?
You were me, yeah, yeah, because any time anytime you see people that can run like that for as long as they run for yeah, it it blows me because I've never been able to do distance. So it's like when you see people that you can do what they do, it's I don't feel like it's as impressive when you see people do things that you you just know you cannot do. I just cannot run, Like, forget Olympic caliber Berth. I'm like, well there you go, there you go. Like then you start thinking like what is that? What do you like you ever think about, like what does a kid feel like in your belly? And then all I mean it is an alien. It's like it's it's a it's there, and then it's not. It's not staying there. It's not there forever it's there, you know, and then it's got to come out and all that's got to happen and then everything's gotta work correctly, which by the way, in Game of Thrones, like was dying left and right in Childbirth and Game and not Game of Thrones and House of Dragons and I thought that the ending of House the Dragons was horrible. I gotta say, I mean, I know they're setting up this was like the epic setups of the next season, and and that's going to be where all the wars are fought and you find out what's going on, and you can compare to the book. The book readers who like like the book, thump you about did you read the book? And then you look at the writers and how they wrote it and where do we end up with the dragons and who's going to do what did Vagar really eat RINERA spoiler alert? And all kay, I just I don't know, man, but I do know that I do chair for for for moms that give birth one like they're like superheroes.
For certain I think we're straight a little bit way for the distance from us, Yeah, well done.
Yeah, there you go.
Lee. Do you watch the distance running and do you root for anyone in.
Particular exhausted watching the distance running?
You know?
I ran mount the mile in uh when I was in my track days. But I can't do this stuff, man, same with like water polo anything.
Wait, what do you run the mile in?
Like?
What was your best time?
It was either it was either five fifty five or six o five. I forget if I was right at.
It or not run a mile in five minutes.
It was probably six o five then, yeah, probably six o five probably sounds right, but I don't remember. It was a long time.
You were like, yeah, I'm not gonna try.
That's a fast one.
I didn't even want to do it. That wasn't really my h You used to have to do it in school, No, I mean I it was a part of it was a part of like getting your grade. But that wasn't like yeah right, but that wasn't like my my go to event in track and field?
But what was your go to event?
What was my go to event in track and field? Track and field wasn't my thing, but I you wouldn't believe. You're not gonna believe this.
You're not gonna hammer.
I wish no way, long jump, high jump, two hundred meter, mile.
Long jump.
So we have to pick between those.
Those were the four I did.
How high did you jump?
I don't remember it was I was young, so it wasn't too high.
So long jump was your event? Uh?
Not really?
Did you ever?
Again?
Track and field was not my thing.
Serious was your event then?
Might have been? Yeah, I think two hundred meters probably was my event. And I don't remember what white times were. I'm not like that, you know what. I hated tracks athlete and we didn't know it. I was pretty somebody that's from his past. I was really good through all the way through uh probably uh senior year of high school.
I mean, I've seen Leeve run his light on his feet, he.
Has light on a twinkle toe, as I called him.
I was, you know, captains of my teams all that stuff.
Lee's Lee's hales never touched the ground when he runs.
Lee what else do we have coming up today for we have a baling for the Olympics show.
Yeah, for the Olympics. I'll have that ready. Well do you know that it always on my Fororidia Olympics. That's you in or out? Bab wait Fortia Olympics. Oh, I always have that ready for you.
You inter out?
Okay, right, always have your Olympic events.
I'm in with Gabby Thomas.
Okay, I'm waiting for the Have we have we seen the uh the hammer throw and all that fun stuff?
Yes, yeah, damn re Actually the US took silver in the hammer throw.
Nice yeah, us Thor's hammer baby, Okay.
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Arrington, and Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern, three am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Hey it's me Rock Parker.
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for twenty two minutes of piping hot baseball talk, featuring the biggest names of newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe in analytics or the I Test, We've got all the Bag's his cover new episodes drop every Thursday, so do yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Partner with Rob Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
What has been an adventure, though, has been the San Francisco forty nine Ers, as we just kind of spoke about in the last hour, navigating or adventuring through the contract dispute with Brandon Aiyuk, who has made a case for being paid as one of the top receivers in the NFL. However, he has not been able to come to that agreement with the forty nine Ers. They're now looking for potential trade partners. We talked about the Steelers being one. However, the Patriots, who were rumored to be one of those teams, has backed out, so that market is becoming a lot smaller market for Brandon Nayuk and his agent to figure out that deal. But let's hear from head coach Kyle Shanahan in regards to the situation.
There's a scenario where you do a long term.
Deal with him, and there's a scenario for everything.
I want to rule anything out.
If you traded Brandon, you can you see us in air where you're better because of that.
I mean, Brand's a great player, so it's real hard to be better.
When you lose a great player.
So we got to look at anything.
We got to understand the situation we're in what that looks like, and that does take time. So hopefully it all work out the best for.
Him and best for us in the long run.
You're a disappointment has reached this point. I know it could be resolved. I mean it's been.
It's been at this point for a little bit, so it's nothing really new to me. I mean, you're always disappointed when you can't keep ahold of all your players or it's not going exactly right.
I mean, I don't like losing anybody.
So that's why I'm hoping it does work out here.
It's a great poker face, man, it is right, Yeah, I think so. I think just listening to that sound bite, I feel like it confirms what I was saying, Like Kyle Shanahan doesn't want to lose Brandon A major piece of the puzzle for them, gives them that that extra that that weapon that they can do, you know, deep ball, certain certain plays that.
You think they get a deal done, you think.
They'll I think I think he gets put in a position where the market speaks and you and I both know Q like you can take you can take the if a team is giving you the opportunity to say, hey, like, if you really think we're treating you unfairly, and you I will say that the timing of it sucks. They if they really wanted to do this the right way, do it going. Let's say the first day before, the day before free agency opens up. Let him request the trade. Let him go after a trade. If you really are like, we can't get this done, we're too far apart, so you can request the trade. Do that right before free agency starts. Grant him that permission. But the fact that they did it this late, I feel like they're looking at it like, listen, you heard Kyle Shanahans, it's been going on for a while now. So if this has been going on for a while now, and you granted him the opportunity to seek a trade, because I do believe that the way it's reported, he has to be able to facilitate to the other team, you know what it is that's going to take place if the trade were to happen, right like the other team has to agree to you know whatever it is that Okay, this is how we get the deal done or whatever. I mean, I don't know. You know the contract stuff with all that stuff better than I do. But it's basically in Iyuk's agencies had their hands to be able to facilitate another team wanting to do the trade with the forty nine ers. So if you're giving him the opportunity to do that and it doesn't work out, you got to take a good, long heart look in the mirror. Why would you sit out? I think we learned from Le'Veon Bell. You don't sit out. You come in and you play. Now, Trent Williams, that might be a different scenario, I really do. I'm Trent Williams. I'm gonna stay put. I'm gonna stay put because I think that there's a premium on his position. He has proven outright that he's one of the best to ever do it. Not just one of the best, he's one of the best to ever do it at his position, So he may have more bargaining power in terms of what it is he's trying to get. But as far as i'm if, I'm Brandon Nyuk listening to what Kyle Shanahan just said they're waiting on him to realize that the market for him isn't as large as he thought it was, So come on back home. Let's let's win some games, and let's stay away from all of this. Like, let's let the agents and the money people, the negotiators for the forty nine ers, let's let them handle it and you come play ball and let's worry about winning games.
Yeah.
I think ideally, Yeah, they find a way of having him come back for this year at a minimum, as they've obviously they've exercised the fifth year option on his rookie deal. He was a first round pick, so he will be compensated fourteen point one million dollars, but based on his production, that's clearly lower than what a lot of other players are getting. Sure, But to your last point, which I think stands out the most to me, is that's where I feel like the forty nine ers, at least from a negotiation standpoint, have the advantage is they've allowed a free agency to go through where I don't know how well known it was that Brandon and I Yuk wanted to potentially sign. I don't want to say a record breaking deal, but at least be at top of the wide receiver market.
I assume the forty nine ers knew maybe they.
Weren't to a point where they couldn't find an agreement and couldn't work out a trade at that point with another team to satisfy what he was looking for. Maybe they did, you know, maybe they have the same answer they're getting now you go through the draft.
We talked about that yesterday.
There were so many talented wide receiver at that team need of a wide receiver, would rather spend that first round pick grab one there not have to make same financial commitment. I mean literally, if you look at the four year plus the fifth year option, that four year guaranteed deal for a first round pick probably equates to the number that Ayuk is looking for in just one year of this new contract. If you're talking about thirty million, I mean that's literally a four year deal for some of these first round pick wide receivers in totality. So they went for a more economical, cheaper option, and then you had the period of time since then where things came to a stanstall. There's been plenty of teams who could do the homework on their roster and say do we feel.
Like we need to make this move for Brendan Ayuk.
And so all this time's played out now where they've had a chance and an opportunity to evaluate, and clearly the Patriots who are now backing out of this, they're not involved. And that leaves and then in the Washington Commandos, who at one point were now don't appear to be involved.
It leaves maybe essentially just the Steelers. And that's the tough part.
I mean, the Browns were at one point they had framework in place to do a deal, but it'd be a swap for Amari Cooper and you know, so at least the forty Nineers are getting.
Something back in return.
So I kind of look at this and just say, I think from the forty nine ers perspective to your last point, they have allowed the market to say to them, this is how you're viewed, Like if you want to try to make more money elsewhere, so be it. We value you, this is what's on the table for you, but we're not spend more than we feel like we should when you know there's other teams passing on you in this capacity too. It's almost like with the franchise tag where you know, teams are not putting the exclusive franchise tag anymore to allow other teams to do the negotiating of the bidding for them, and then if they do agree, you know, put forth some sort of long term extension, the team has the ability to match.
So there's all those things that we've kind of seen.
Over the years, the past couple of years that I think also have kind of played a role in the team saying we're more than willing to let you go see what your market you is, but we feel like we're giving you a pretty fair deal. It's almost like buying a car right now, like you could shop around all you want. The price is the price, man, Like we're trying to look at trading to get a car right now. With the two different dealerships right two completely different dealerships. They both came back and said, your trading's worth this. The car you're looking at, it's worth this, And it was literally within maybe a couple hundred.
Dollars of each other.
Yeah, it's like.
All the informations out there, it's all out there, like what we're offering you is fair and either you want to, you know, sign this deal or you know, find somebody who might be desperate, But at this point in time of the year, no one is that desperate.
Although maybe it's a.
Foregone conclusion though Brandon and Ayuk won't be there, and maybe we're just missing out on that.
Lee do we have this sound from Christian McCaffrey situation with.
Brandon, this as a teammate, with his not knowing whether he's going to be here or not, the ramped up, you know, conversation.
Reports about a possible trade. How do you guys deal with that in house?
For me, I deal with it, you know, it's that's not part of my job. It's not part of my my position. I think obviously as a as a former teammate or you know, teammate of his. In general, any teammate that you have, you love, you respect them, you want the best for them. As far as the business side of this game goes, it's always difficult, and so I stay out of it completely. You know, that's that's way above my pay grade, and I just try to focus on what I can do every single day. But obviously, we always wish the best for any of our teammates, whether they're here or not. Obviously, we hope he's here. Just you know, it's it's a it's a tough part of the business.
It's not a way part way bigger, it's not it's not above your page.
Was that a slip there?
It was a slip. It definitely was a slip, But it definitely isn't far beyond his pay grade. I mean, it's just not his responsibility or his duty to make that decision. But I heard that as well. I wonder if it was a slip. And that's the conversation that's taking place in the locker room. But you know, another point, just just super quickly, what comes to mind, And this is kind of lost sometimes because we get so caught up into thinking about what is and what what these players want it to be.
But he agreed to a contract.
And whether whether for good or for bad, and okay, you know, it's a rookie contract, it's still something that was negotiated, it's still something that was agreed to, and it's still something that was signed for. And I think so many times we get lost in that, right it's like, oh, what about him getting that that that franchise tag, or oh he might hold out or this that and the other, and he might not play because he wants his contract. You got to keep in mind these these are athletes who are are kind of trying to leverage the fact that they feel as though they have outperformed their contract and they want a new one, but they're under contract. You are You said when you became an employee of this of this franchise, that this was the deal that gets the deal done for you. These are the numbers that gets this deal done for you. So if we want to do an extension, if we want to rip up the contract, we will, and that can be a conversation. I think culturally speaking in terms of you know, sports culture, or maybe in particular football culture, that there's this idea that once a player starts creating the conversations of I want an extension, that it has to be done. This has to get done, This has to be done. But you can't venture away from the idea that the origin of all of this is that you did a deal coming in as a rookie, and actually, if they want to negotiate with you, that should be honestly, that should be the first indicator that you have actually played well enough to get a different contract. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they have to give you. This is now the time where you give me a new contract or else. No, you have another year on your contract, and for what it's worth. In most industries, most industries, you got to play out your contract. Your contract is ending before you start negotiating for a new contract. No matter how like I could sit here and be like, you know what, we crush this show. People listen to our show. Our numbers are continuously going up. It's performing well. We're going into year four of what we have going on, and you know what, I want to rip this up. I know I got six months left. I know I got eight nine months left before our contract comes up up. But the numbers clearly show we've outperformed what you're paying us. Right, that's not how this works you, I mean, not for me. At least you do what it is you're supposed to do. You put your head down, you show up, you do your best, your best work. You keep putting your best foot forward. And if you're if you're doing great, if you're doing well, you'll get a you'll get a decent little pay bump, a decent little pay bump.
You're not.
You're not cleaning out the fricking bank account with a new contract. So sometimes I think people got to keep this in the proper perspective as well, that you are first, you're still under contract for one that you agreed to. They didn't force you into this, You agreed to it, you signed off on. It is your contract. But then secondly, for the most part, finish your contract. Because if you finish your contract and you're truly playing the way that you you feel is deserving of you getting that large contract, you don't have to worry about like if they franchise tag you, that's different, but you still get to test the market in franchise tagging situations. And I think sometimes we get a little bit away from the idea that this is a part of of business, the business that you're in. They can choose to do to contract or not. You shouldn't have hard feelings about it. You signed the contract, right, I don't know.
I think that's a gripe though with the nfl PA in regards to the rookie contract how long it is, Yes, because you know this, he's now built a team for going on into his fifth year, and I think there's a lot of players. You feel like, not only could they have control of me into my fifth year, but also into my sixth and seventh year if they were to franchise tag me two more times without ever getting that long term reassurance. So I understand both sides of this. I think the disconnect ends up being this. You know, we have players who are at the top of the game at their position. I don't think anyone would debate Patrick Mahomes is that a quarterback. He's not being paid more than any quarterback in the NFL. Right now, we have wide receivers who are at the top of the game. Justin Jefferson, who's reset the market with this contract in Minnesota.
You would make the case he's at the top of it.
So the problem more becomes, well, now we got someone who's maybe trying to surpass Justin Jefferson, but their production doesn't equate to that. And that's where there's the disconnect where the team says, well, hold on a second, we understand that like to have a number one wide receiver.
Your agents is telling us, well, this is the cost.
It's thirty five million average annual value, just to make the numbers easy, and we're saying we're not willing to pay that because the guy who's being paid that has equated to this sort of production, he's this kind of player.
We don't feel like you're that type of player.
We love you, we think you're really good, but we don't feel like you are the best in the NFL right now. And that's the difficulty of the conversation because you see it in other positions. You know, you know, a tackle sometimes will reset the market because he's the blindside left tackle.
Whether or not he is the best or not, that's up for debate.
You see quarterbacks who are right now not you know, Patrick Mahomes, but still being compensated more than Patrick Mahomes. You know, that's where I think there's a disconnect in all of this is the teams are trying to do it from a what have you done for me in the past. The players an agent are saying, well, for starters. You know, our rookie deal where you select us in the draft wasn't based on what we were doing. It was based on what we're doing in the future, but also what we did in the past. And that's what we're trying to get from you is not only what we've done, but what we will do, and that's where it's hard then to kind of put together the deal that I think is enticing enough for the player, but also it fits for the team and the model.
And everything else that they want to do. I do. What I do find interesting.
About it, though, is at some point in the next week or so, like this thing will be wrapped up and we'll be moving on to football. Thank God for that, because I don't mind talking about the business of football. I just feel like we're better off talking about whether it's Brendan I you in San Francisco or Brennan I Uke in Pittsburgh, We're better off talking about that element of it, like how does it help Russell Wilson or Justin Fields, you know, being on their roster and what does that look like within that offense now with Arthur Smith.
But dig it, Yeah, that's where we need to get to at some point.
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington and Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific.
Now, this is a disorienting job for me, I'm sure you guys can relate with that, but doing the two shows every day, separated by five or six hours, it's hard to organize things in my mind, which is kind of jumbled anyway. But Monday, we talked about camp right and what it's like to be LeVar, just LeVar at State.
College Campa Right, you get that camp and.
We talked and we talked a little bit about France, and we gauged trip to France yesterday. I feel like our conversation was dominated by Dion Right and the Colorado situation, bets, debts, guns and fights in the locker room and ho Well, we talked about the nineties the hose. I don't know what's going on in Colorado with hoes. Those guys make too much money. Like I come from a time where the stipend check would come and everybody would start betting in the locker room. We even had like a roulette wheel and some guys would lose their whole stipend day one. You know, that's a far cry from the nil and guys walking around with hundreds of thousands of dollars or at least tens of thousands of dollars.
That's unheard of in our time.
But yeah, we talked about Dion and LeVar said they'd be better this season. I don't think it's going to end very well at Colorado, but most football stories don't end well. I mean, and really no story ends the only stories that end well just depends on where you end your story. That's something that Orson Wells used to say all the time. But I don't know what's going to happen with Colorado. We talked about it plenty yesterday. There are some things to talk about today. Did you guys miss any of the stuff you wanted to talk about, like Lebron crowning himself when the French crowd was cheering for another dude or anything.
Well, we were saving that actually for you. There's a number of topics we try to save for you. Pet trows and that was one that went viral. I noticed last night and I thought, man, it's just incredible, even in a different country, he thinks they were talking about him.
Well, yeah, I mean, look, it's easy if you're Lebron James and very few of us can relate with these.
And I remember we.
Used to talk about Kobe so incessantly, you know here in Los Angeles, and that became very sad, of course in many ways. But the Lebron thing, if you're Lebron James, it's understandable that you think or walk around thinking that you were the hero of every story, right like that, everywhere you are, all eyes like the Tupac album are on you. Like, I understand that. But do you have to do the weird crowning thing. Can't you just nod your head or something?
I mean, I don't know, listen, it's showsmanship. I think that he understands that he is one of the most polarizing athletes ever in the history of sport.
I don't know.
Do you think you see him self as polarizing. I think Kobe saw himself as polar I think he does. I think I think he definitely does. I think he's aware of how much the audiences pay attention to him, whether they're fans or their detractors. You know, most would say mastering the art of being the hill is actually more important than.
Being the hero. You know, and you hear money Mayweather bring that up, like when he was pretty Boy Floyd, nobody gave an f about him and what he did and how he did it. When he put that one to bit and became the evil villain that we all known that came to know as Money Mayweather. That was when his fight persons went up. That was when everybody paid more attention.
Do you feel like Lebron's the villain ever? I think I don't think holding the American flag on the boat on the sand.
Here's the reason why I say I think he does is because he's fully aware of the amount of people and there are influential you know, reporters and in media that villainized Lebron James.
There's a multitude of them.
So the outside might but I guess we're saying from his perspective, like, I don't think he ever feels like he's playing.
A villain role.
Does to those people though, like because you can't please everyone.
But he's got.
About three dozen people that just wash his balls no matter.
What he'n and he's fully aware of that.
Well, yeah, they work for him and his agency, and he's got Squidward, Nick Wright and all those people.
I mean, am I wrong? I mean, isn't that like their whole job?
I mean, what about Wendy too, Well, yeah, there's people who's entire like like like you know, Charles Dickens, the writer like you can go to Harvard or Burley by the way, yes, and you can find dickensie and professors, right, I got professor that only studies Dickens like, you can find those or you know or some other authors are that way, Meaning there are guys and women in the media. Who's really only legitimate to see coming up is covering Lebron no neck wind horse, who's more of a gobbler now because he's got the ozempic so you can really gobble Lebron's knob with his gobbler.
And then Skip isn't around to get him anymore. But no, but they are around.
Works for him.
Mcminnimon came out here to work for him, the girl that came to work.
For Spectrum Sports.
Net adding him to his coaching staff.
You know, yeah, I mean it is.
It is an interesting thing, but I'm not exactly sure how big of a deal it is. He's just looked like, I mean, it's the same goofy look as when you go and sit down in front of a bunch of reporters from the book, and so mine hasn't even worked.
Here's why I read this is where I different from you, LeVar, because I never felt and Petricks you can correct me if I'm wrong. I never felt like Kobe went to those lengths to surround himself with people that would be able to tell his side of it or his story. I think Kobe was okay with people making him the villain.
Interesting.
You know, at first, when I first started working at the Laker station, you know which is I'm in a good fifteen nineteen years ago now, Kobe would call in and freak out, complain about Jerry Buss, and do all kinds of crazy stuff like he tried to leave the team. I mean, there was so much drama that is just forgotten because it was kind of before social media was exploding or I'm not exactly sure, but there was a lot of stuff with Kobe. I think you're right, though, toward the end of Kobe's career, he didn't care and he embraced the polarization. I'm not sure Lebron is the same way embracing it.
I think, listen, whether he embraces it or not, he is such a ginormous presence.
And no one's debating that.
I get that. But the point is is that when you're that big of a figure, and you're in every scene, go facet of so many conversations that are taking place, and you have the amount of detractors that he has. There are people that just for the simple fact that they love Michael Jordan, hate Lebron James. Like, don't just dislike him or try to discredit him, they hate him. And he's fully aware of that. Lebron James is fully aware of the people that really really talk ill about him, and it matters to him.
It matters.
But I guess what I'm saying is I think he's trying to win them over. I think there's elements of him trying to I don't think he cared that's the point.
And I get that, but I still think that it drives him in a way. He's aware of it and he embraces that because even while trying to win them over, the idea of people not acknowledging him the way that he would like to be acknowledged, I think he's aware of it, and I think you're right about that, and I think he wants to be acknowledged as the best ever. I think he wants to be reverenced and acknowledge a certain well the villain, and and but he embraces that because it's there. It is there, and he's never going to He's never going to live that down.
I've got to own it, right, I mean, he's got all these people fired, you got you have to own it. You have to own it. He has, he has gotten a lot of head coach, I mean a lot of and players moved and all that. You know, But that is not even what I want to talk about today. I came with a topic. Okay, the topic. I have been out of shape. I have been been out of shape for weeks and weeks. Every time the topic comes up, I get angry and I get white hot inside angry.
So you're going to bring it up.
I'm gonna bring it up. I'm prepared to discuss it. I prepare to discuss it here.
Let's do it.
I've not discussed it on my radio show. I've not done what I wanted to do, which text The USC Athletic director sent her a couple texts and then deleted them right before I sent them.
You know what I mean, because I.
Was so I'm so fired up about this topic.
Let's hear it, and I believe it will carry.
Us into the next segment to.
The blue Choo commercial, or at least maybe even past that.
Okay, dang blue Choo. That's that's almost that. That's halfway through.
Okay, all right now, just because this doesn't involve your alma matern LeVar so I mean, does not mean that I do not value your opinion.
Okay. I appreciate that.
USC Notre Dame.
Lincoln Riley's hesitancy to embrace the USC Notre Dame rivalry makes a lot of USC alums and fans feel extremely uncomfortable.
Are we aware of this story? Yep, Brady, of course, thank you.
I mean, it was okay to play Notre Dame for sixteen years when there was a two team BCS playoff, right yep. And it was okay to play Notre Dame for ten straight years when there was a four team college playoff format. But now that there's a twelve team playoff, the USC head coach somehow doesn't have the confidence in his program to secure one of those six or seven wildcards. Wow, risk it because it's USC Notre Dame. I mean, would Lincoln Riley be more confident in his Trojans with a thirty two team playoff format. I mean, how many teams will be okay to where we can have USC Notre Dame and some semblance of what college football used to be like. At some point, I'd like Lincoln Riley to take some personal accountability for accepting the US head coaching job.
Right when heeck you.
When he accepted his job, his message to USC fans and the lums about the twenty twenty two season was USC fans should feel great knowing that moving forward, this is the worst team we will ever have here. And that sounded pretty over the top cocky at the time. But you give a new coach that kind of latitude to set a foundation and blah blah blah. But when he could only lead USC to a seven and five record in twenty twenty three with a Heisman winning quarterback Caleb Williams, who wants you to clean up the bottles in the locker room even though he's not even looked through a face mask at that level. Yet in a real game, you clean the bottles.
I read a piece and I'm sure you read it as well.
Petros By Bill Plashki about the question of whether or not Lincoln Riley can coach.
Yeah, well, all that stuff sounds pretty embarrassing. When Caleb Williams last fourteen starts at USC they went seven and seven.
Right, Yeah, especially for the caliber of player that was looked at as a generational talent and the number one overall pick by the entire NFL.
Right.
I don't know that there is a of difference on anyone's draft boards as far as what they feel like Caleb Walliams was as a prospect.
People might have.
Tried to talk him down throughout the evaluation process, but that was the reality of.
Every team I spoke to. Sounds it consensus correct.
And Lincoln Riley can't say for sure how he feels about the Trojans playing Notre Dame every year, And so to get.
To that, you know, I can understand, I'm saying from his perspective, I can understand why if you were struggling to put down and create the foundation of the culture that you're trying to build there, which you know, it's always tough looking at coaches in the first two or three years taking over a college shob because really, up until recently, it's hard to turn over a roster.
You know, you were living with those recruits and so even though you're.
Trying to implement this this change in the environment and the culture, there's still all this holdover from guys who came to play a different coach, came to play in a different culture and environment team, and so you're trying to convert those guys and meanwhile try to integrate new guys coming in.
And now maybe that sounds like an excuse because they have hit the portal.
They've they've gone to try to get defensive talent improvement there. They've they've tried to hit the trenches to improve, which they're gonna have to if they're playing in the Big ten.
But it's always interesting too if they wanted to compete in the particular how I mean, forget the Pac twelve for a national championship.
Right anything.
I mean when USC has been great throughout generations, including good line D line. They've developed and recruited O line and D line locally mostly which you can do at SC and very few on the West Coast can, if anybody, but USC they did what Michigan did. They developed and grew their line and dominated people in the fourth quarter with the run, just like the team that wins a championship and.
That's the thing that always stood out to me from I would say playing against the greatest era of USC football.
You might disagree with that.
I feel like those USC teams that Pete Carroll coached back in my era Notre Dame was probably the best version of USC maybe ever in modern era.
That's for sure, right.
And maybe up for debate with some of the other teams throughout the decades. But what stood out to me was we always talk about Matt and Reggie and Lindale and their skill position players, but I always thought the biggest mismatch for US was always our O line versus their D line. I mean that that group up front, and really their defense, their linebackers too.
I mean, they had three guys who owd first round.
But when I look back and think about that, like that's been one of.
The missing pieces.
But well, yeah, now we get out through defense, and they were Pete Carroll was a defensive coordinator. They competed in practice. I mean, they had it going on. There's no argument here, Brady, So.
To quickly, like you know, respond to what you have said, like, yes, it's it's actually kind of tragic in some ways that you have a head coach on one side of a rivalry that's existed for for ever and the history behind it, and know what it means to me as a Notre Dame alum.
I think what it means to Southern cal fans and alum.
Yeah, Lincoln color stand he doesn't. Well he's from Muleshoe, Texas. You can't come and tell USC people that they don't get to play Notre Dame everybody.
But that's where I would argue he should, because if you were a fan of college football, oh please, you know that this is what the that's the longest standing, the greatest transcontent that robbery there is, and the history behind it. So if you know college football, and as a coach, I don't care where you grow up, especially in state of Texas, they know football, they should be able to say like this, Robbie will always be a part of our scheduling, regardless of our status, what conference amen, regardless of whether Notre names and a conference or not.
That should always be a part of it.
Now, LeVar might be rolling his eyes right because for me, starting in what what like twenty ten, it was tradition and geography be damned. The conference realignment cost us Penn State Pitt.
It cost us the backyard Brawl well Virginia.
It canceled Texas, Texas, A and M for a while, It canceled the border war between Kansas and Missoo, Free State Brewing, and several more rivalries I'm leaving out. I think they might have missed the Holy War for a year or two and ultimately it led to the destruction of the Pac twelve and it ruined over one hundred years of rivalry and tradition. But does that mean we need to lose USC and Notre Dame two? I mean, haven't we lost enough of our identity in the sport already?
I think you guys get an opportunity to re establish yourselves by one how you play, but two you're playing in now a conference where the coverage will be much different than what it ever has.
Been for USC football.
LeVar Yes, Yes, and that's because the footprint is not limited to Pac twelve audiences. I think in a lot of ways, while it disrupts and disturbs the things you guys are talking about, I think it ultimately gives USC football a level of of I guess you know, exposure that they've never had and it's a big ass school. It's it's a storied franchise. You guys have so many Heisman Trophy winners, you have so many big name, big name players that have come from USC, but you've never had this type of a footprint to introduce players that have been amazing players for the game at the pro level. You've never had an opportunity. A large, large sector of the sporting community has never gotten an opportunity to get to know them on a different level. And I think that that's now open. So they agree with that.
I really do, because I think USC football moves the needle nationally and always has and that's why. That's why, Yeah, that's you know, from Frank Gifford to O. J. Simpson, the USC is the only thing people would pay attention to on the West Coast, which is why.
It was so what what about the East, Well.
No people from the East coast would pay attention to on the West coast. Nobody on the East Coast cared about anything else or paid or kept up with anything else other than USC.
And that might be an argument.
I generally I would just say I beg to differ, but we could agree to disagree on it. I don't think USC football is very relevant on the East No, not.
In the last Well, I mean they had a Heisman winner two years ago came from the East Coast.
I think you're right.
But I think if there's any West Coast team that's ever been relevant on the East Coast, it's USC. And that's why USC plays Notre Dame and that's why they've done it for one hundred years.
And instead of waffling about.
The rivalry, I would rather Lincoln Riley take a stand for the heart and soul or college football's absolute survival and say we can't wait to play them every year.
Hell's the matter with you? By the way, look at it from the opposite perspective.
You don't hear Marcus Freeman complaining about the schedule, noter name has.
You know, you don't hear him complaining about having to play us.
We might not we might have to get out of this now that we play this tough s acc schedule.
Well, I mean you can, I mean laugh. But again, I don't hear him saying that I agree with you.
Well, I'm not so saying they played Ohio State last year early in this season. Well that's what he doesn't look at it and color at it.
But I don't think he does. I agree with you, Brady. I'm on your side, Brady.
I I understand, I understand role here.
I think I think one of the things to go back to what you and LeVar are just touching on in regards to USC it's relevance is one thing, right because I think it obviously depends on the success of the program.
Like USC is a blue blood. No one's going to deny that.
As far as their their relevance. Relevancy, I guess is one way of putting it. But I would say it's a respect thing. I think on the East Coast there's not as much respect for the type of a brand of football that that USC has been talk about it and I think that's the reality of it is. And we've had this conversation and like it's this is a real conversation.
Because you're fulling I don't disagree with that.
We we live on the East Coast, and like every time those matchups come up between you know, a big ten Pac twelve school, which now we've got some those schools get bullied by yeah, like like they're just like okay, yeah, bring your little soft soft game out here in the East.
Coast running gun you a little run and shoot.
And that's honestly the beauty about this entire discussion.
Yeah, you know, we're just talking, you know what I mean, like Jones, Yeah, you know, goes back back far though, But.
The beauty about it is with the Conference relignant. We get that now every week in some cases because of the conference realignment. But going back to Notre Dame USC, that was a part of it, Like Notre Dame is not a Big ten school, but they're in Big ten country, and it always felt like there was that contrasting style to the play to role in the rivalry, and that's something that.
I think is I mean maybe in the last fifteen years, but not when you played.
Not always represented the East versus the West, though Notre Dame is our representation to kicking the s out of the West Coast. That's people come together to watch Notre Dame beat up on.
USC and think about when they do win, right, it's typically defense running, like that's that's the style in which Notre Dame is going to play to beat UC.
You're not gonna have now the USC plays to beat Notre Dame when they used to.
And now we get to see if that's the style that they I.
Wouldn't necessarily agree with that from my experience with Liner or guys like Carson Palmer, guys we just.
Talked about how great their d line was. You said that was the only misman the defensive line. It's still a mismatch.
That was my area front where you had guys who are being drafted in the first round, like that's more of a matchup deal.
I'm just saying, if you look at the.
Formula for how typically Notre Dame is trying to go win that game, It's shortened the clock, limiting possessions because you're concerned about the mismatch with their offense and your defense.
Right.
They used to call the rivalry back in the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, big Man on Big Man. It was about the size and strength of USC, the Anthony Munos, the Tony Biselli's against you know, stone Breaker and Zorich and all that that was.
And yeah, I don't I mean us.
He's lost that identity and now they have Lincoln Riley, a run and shoot Coach LeVar sitting here waffling.
About even playing about even playing the game.
What was Bill Walsh's offense called? What was it?
The West Coast offense?
West coast? What was the other one that's called or maybe air area? Air raid is an air raid?
That's how mummy. That doesn't come from the West coast. Yeah, something that's where Lincoln Riley is. You know, the Mike leeches.
Mike Lee point. It started an Oklahoma point. Is what I'm saying is, I don't care. Yeah, I gotta make you got to bring relevance to what USC is. That's put it in perspective, do something in this big ten market, and.
USC petros LeVar is basically saying that until USC does something, they're not going to earn their respect of anyone in the Big ten.
Yeah, I mean that's kind of how every one of those teams are being looked at.
Well, didn't Washington just play for the college title and then they got ten?
Now they got beat by Michigan.
Yeah, they beat Texas though I mean didn't mean I just I mean Michigan just finally won a title. It's like, you know, they've been three years ago they were talking about getting rid of Harball right after COVID. You guys are prisoners at the moment, and I'm talking about perspective in history.
