Welcome everyone to the SI Media Podcast. I'm your host, Jimmy China, Thank you for listening. Excellent show for you. This week, we've got Jim Nance from CBS just made a big announcement that this will be his last year doing the n C Double A Tournament. I An Eagle then takes over as the lead voice of the tournament for CBS Turner. So we discussed that with Jim and what went into his decision and what the tournament means to him, and a lot of NFL talk as well with Jim Nance, obviously since he's the lead voice for the NFL and CBS. And then we have Salakada for our weekly train of Thoughts segment following the interview with Nance before we get to all of it. If you missed any recent episodes of the SI Media Podcast, going to the archives and check them out. John Iran from Sports Business Journal was on last week for our usual pot pourri of going through some sports media news items. Chris mad Dog Russo and the Radio Hall of Fame Now two weeks ago, Dan Lebtard three weeks ago, So check those out, subscribe to the pod, leave a review on Apple the rating, and we'll we'll read it during a train of thoughts segment on one of the upcoming podcasts. So that's uh your assignment, subscribe, rate and review. All right, let's get to this week show Jim Nance, followed by training thoughts right here on the SI Media podcast all right, joining me now. Hasn't been on in a while, but I had some big news last week, so perfect time to chat with him plus for in the middle of the NFL season. Lead voice of the NFL on CBS, Jim Nance, Jim, how are you hello, friends. Great to be back with you, Jimmy. I've been waiting for that invitation. I kept going up even to the mailbox, thinking maybe you send a letter. But here we are, and um, we got a lot to talk about. I'm looking forward to do. I wanted to get you, you know, a little bit into this season here so we have more to talk about. I am, full disclosure, wearing a three quarter zip that Jim had sent me a while ago. Now tell me if this is a bad faux pa. Unlike you and Peyton, I don't love doing the college shirt under the three quarters. I like doing a T shirt under the three quartership. Is that bad? I think it works. I think that you are officially a fashionista and I don't know if anybody's ever accused you of that before, but you're wearing it well, it looks good. And yeah, do you have any kind of clothing endorsement deal in the works, because I can, I can try to help. I don't, but I wish I did, although you know, working from home now, I think you know, working from home every day, there's no more sports illustrated offices. It would be like Adidas, a Nike would be my top designers for sure. A lot of sweats, a lot of hoodies. Well listen, uh, well what what whatever you want? Um, we can get more of those that you're in right now because I like the look. I like the zipper pool. I actually know someone who helped design that, and um yeah it's looking verstylish. So I'm stoked. I feel like Peyton has taken your title as king of the Quarters. That's good, Eli two. By the way, there's their quarters zip specialists, So yeah, pretty much. You know, I live in one of these things, so I get the same kind of look you've got right here, you know. So I'm trying to get my zipper height to be about matched up with yours. We're good. There we go. So obviously there was the big news last week with the tournament. Let's start with the NFL and then we'll go to the tournament. Just because we're knee deep in the season. You know, you love looking at the schedule. I love looking at the schedule. So I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things. But I I found it interesting the week I have you on. Now you're in one of these flex games this week where you have rams Bucks. I still don't understand why that's a CBS game and out of Fox game. But this Sunday that's your game. UM curious. This will be the first game of Brady post his divorce announcement. Is that something you have to prepare on how you cover it? You leave it alone completely, You touch on it a little bit. I mean that's it's like not really something that's football related, but in a way it is. He addressed it on his Serious Exempt show. So is that something you've got to be Is that like the top I don't see the priority, But is that what you have to navigate the most the most difficult thing to navigate this week? When you have the Bucks in his front game. You know, this is gonna sound strange that we haven't had a meeting out about well, how we're gonna get on the air, what we're gonna discuss on the air this week. And that story has been hovering throughout the season. I've watched the games and haven't really hurt anyone address it. So uh, I kind of feel like that's out of bounce. Uh it's his personal life. Uh. Tom's a friend. I wish him well and his family well, and it's not something really I'm gonna be there to cover of football games, so I want to be respectful. I know he addressed it with Jim Gray. That's a remarkable that's a remarkable for me. Must listen every week. Uh there there, let's go podcast. But yeah, I don't know. We'll talk about it when we get to Tampa. I'm getting in a little early this week, and uh, we'll discuss it. But you know, I want to talk about the game. I don't think it has anything to do with the reason why the Bucks right now are three and five. I think you know that's what we're gonna focus on. Yeah, well, that's as strange about it. I mean, obviously you know. Listen, you have your tabloids like The New York Post who have for them it's a frenzy. But I have seen legitimate football people with the take, and I don't think it's that out of bounds that when you're going through something so stressful in your personal life it can affect you on the field. So I I don't think that's a completely invalid but it's also a very delicate, delicate matter. Obviously, you know it's something. First off, I'd like to talk to Jim Rickoff about it, and he's our our producer. As we're sitting here right now, Today is his birthday. It's happy birthday, Jim, and Monday is kind of our day just to go home and drop out of the world a little bit. So I don't want to get ahead of myself. And I haven't spoken to Tony about it either. So Tony's fresh off a very big Halloween family festival. Last night, Candice drove dressed up as Tony. Did you see pictures they did that I did not. Well, I can't want to show you, but I think that would be violating his privacy. He dressed up his canvas, dressed up this Tony with a CBS blazer and all so really good stuff, really fun stuff out of the Romos last night. So again, I don't want to tell you sit here and say this is how we're gonna handle it. You know, we've got plenty of days to figure it out. But I want to be respectful. You know, people always say please respect their privacy on this matter. I don't know most people don't. Just said, um, yeah, you said that. I hadn't even thought about the fact that's the first game since I guess they've made an official But again, it's been covering out there, and I don't think that Tom's play has been affected by it. It It just be my observation. I haven't had one of the games this year. They're not losing because of Tom Brady. They've got, you know, they've got they've had serious injury issues, the offensive lines of mess, the secondaries of Mess, and and hey, I'm looking forward to you. You did address another thing here at the cross Flex thing. You said you don't understand how we got to get out of the Fox allotment. Don't forget that they get an equal number of games dispersed out of our package back over to Fox. So we have this when when our schedule came out, we thought this is gonna be one of our best games. And by the way, it's still even though both are under five, it still has kind of an interesting, you know, sex appeal to it in that one teams three and have one team three and four. Maybe you could even argue trying to save a season here on both sides of it. So I'm looking forward to broadcasting it. And I want to remind you that there was another big cross flex game coming up in a few weeks that we have and that will be Dallas at Minnesota. That's on November the And that's that that one we really did straight gold with all right, because I want to go through the next couple of weeks, But I want to piggyback on something you said. You said Tom is a friend. I'm just curious as he asked you for any broadcasting advice. No, because he's supposed to go to Fox next year. Obviously, I'm sure he's still focused on football, but I'm just curious if he said no, And I have his booken to him in a while. But I say a friend, He's someone I've known a long time. I think we've talked about it before. I broadcast over a hundred of his games. I played golf with him there. We famously played golf together with President Bush Senior and President Clinton moons ago. He's been out to Pebble Beach, where you know, I have my home, and he and and Peyton. I think you know, tape one of the Peyton places in my backyard at my little part three hole. So uh, I don't get to see him all that often. We have another Tampa game later in the season, but I've got a long history with with knowing Tom in the broadcast realm as broadcasting as games, and and and off the field as well, and and his uh and his mom and dad as well. His dad's an awesome guy, Tom and his mom is just beautiful soul. Tom and Galen. So I hope to see in fact Mr Brady uh for breakfast, which is something I've done before before home games before as I've had breakfast with Mr Brady on the day of the game, and I hope to do that again this Sunday. I'm sure Tom, I'll hit you up for advice when he finally you know, on that front, I don't think that's something right now he's you know, and I'm not talking about his personal life. I just think that that's something that you know, he's gonna jump into, uh when when that time comes, and I'll be happy and he knows I'll be there to give him any kind of advice he might, he might moll for if he wants any at all. Now, Okay, so I'm curious the week after this week. So this week you have the Rams and the Bucks, you and Tony. The week after that's a Fox doublehead of weeks, so you get an early game. And the schedule here I know you can't say it, but the schedule here is is pretty rough. I think. Are you gonna do Cleveland at Miami? That's my guess is do you know what game you doing that weekend? I do know we're gonna do Jacksonville at Kansas City. It's one of those really strange uh NFL Sundays when you're the the network that has only the one game the non doubleheader weekend for us, every single game that we have there has a team that's a couple of games at least under five D So, uh, you've you've got the Browns even off the win last night, are now three and five. I've got Jacksonville, I think at two and six right now with another you know, I think they got maybe the Raiders this week. They could come into that game at two and seven. We don't have a sexy matchup a day. That's just the luck of the drawing. By the way, Fox has the same predicament this week. There their number one game on a regional week for them, as we have the double header with Rams Bucks involves Detroit. I got the lines. I got a one win team, so it happens to all of us. It's a quirky year. When was the last time you called the Jacksonville Jaguars game? Oh, you know, a couple of years ago after they they went to the a f C Championship game and had the Patriots ten down in the fourth quarter at Gillette. We came out the next year and had them week two in a doubleheader game hosting New England, and they beat New England to jump out to a two and oh start. And a few weeks down the road we have them at Kansas City, and I think that might have been the last time. So it's been a while. And speaking of Detroit, I have long said they they've got to stop in the Lions and Thanksgiving. Now you have buff Hello at Detroit on Thanksgiving. I mean, Buffalo may score fifty points in that game against that pathetic defense. That is gonna be. That's gonna be, It'll be, it'll it'll be worth watching to see how much Buffalo scores. But the NFL leave the Cowboys, the Cowboys of the Cowboys, America's team ratings Juggernaut, the Lions. Thing. It has to stop. It just has to stop by Thanksgiving. I'm sorry. Well, I've only done that game for a long time, you know. I we go between Dallas and Detroit, so I'm a traditionalist in some things. I don't hate it like you hate it. Uh. You can try to make up a game and rotated around, uh like this year. Yeah, you've got Buffalo Detroit Giants, Dallas on Fox. I mean they hit gold with that one, and then the the NBC game at night this New England Minnesota. Yeah, it's decent, but there've been some stinkers there too. By the way, you try to make up a game of moving around, there are no guarantees. This year proves it. Look, what do you think of invented the game four. Some guy named George Richards in nineteen thirty four decided to throw the first Thanksgiving Day game. Okay, so uh maybe they they deserve it because they hatched the idea. He was ahead of his time. I have an analogy I want to make, but it might make you uncomfortable. I don't want to make it. But you know, n thirty four, we're two. This is like, this is like the Second Amendment. People when they put the Second Amendment in for like you know, muskrats and people invading your houses and like like it's it. Like, Okay, let's let's now move up to two the Lions, haven't You're gonna absolutely nail me one that one. Tell me as by the way, I want to tell you that the the Fox main game is Green Bay at Detroit. At least it they have it in in a bigger font So I trust that's their a game And I'm not trying to slight them because we have Jacksonville Kansas City the next week. Our main game this week was Pittsburgh at Philadelphia. Well, this is the ultimate year. This is the ultimate point that I wanted to get to as the guy who's supposed to call the best game each week when it's your doublehead of week, I can make the argument that the only great teams in the a f C are Kansas City and Buffalo, and in the NFC is not much better. I mean, you have Philadelphia Dallas. But the I think it's the lack of great teams is it's interesting because there does seem to be Every game seems to be close, which means excitement. But I do think for that week two weeks storyline drama where you want to see underdogs knock off the favorites, or you like to see the greatness of you know that Patriot team that went undefeated, which way better? Uh here's what I think the solution is. I know what you're asking. I actually love the a f C and where we're positioned as the a f C main primary network. I think they're gonna get to a point here, not too far down the road, where there can be a little bit of almost like a draft. I think maybe we even talked about this before we're a couple of weeks out. Because one network could have a multitude of good games, the other network could be saddled with a matchup that doesn't have the broad appeal to be your main game. So hey, look at it this way. We are coming up on week nine. We've had one week, so for I gotta throw a Week one out, you know, But starting week two, our crew, every single game we have had except for one week, has had a team with a losing record, not at least one team with a losing record. This week Bucks Rams is both teams with a losing record, So that'll be eight out of nine weeks we've had a team with a losing record, and next week Jacksonville will make it. Well, actually again, I gotta cross off week one. Next week will make it eight out of nine weeks starting week two. I'm not trying to trash our ratings. Good. The games are close. Well listen again, probably live in the same world as we are. Well, that's what I'm saying. That's what's so bizarre about it. The games involved teams, like you said, under five five hundred, but they're close, which is really at the end of the day, I think what you want. I don't know. I like the close games, but you know, I sit back. I don't have a hand and how the games get scheduled back in April or May, nor do I have anything to do with the networking of the games right now. Uh, I have certain places I like to see, teams I like to to to see. But you did a great job of actually looking ahead the next week and try to figure out what's there. It's a schedule. It looks thin on paper. Well, think that Miami would have been where if I was in charge, That's where I would have sent you. I think that the Dolphins are a good story this year. Um, controversial. Why do you think we have Jacksonville at the Chiefs mahomes the Chief's arrowhead four o'clock, great atmosphere. No, it's not four o'clock, it's one o'clock. It's one right, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, Um, but I feel like you call so many Chiefs games. They could have put you on Cleveland and Miami. Well, they're gonna put us on a game when they network it, it's gonna go to the largest percentage. So what happens is it's not dictated by where do we send Romo and Nance because that's the better game. It's which one is gonna be the biggest audience. So what really the decision comes earlier in the process, and what really gets down to is Where do you send a game to a neutral market? Meaning if you don't already have a tie to a team or a division, then where do we send Where do we send Kansas? What do we put into a market? And I'm trying to think of something that you know, you can give me any kind of neutral market you want in Kentucky or in you know, all these neutral markets around the country, or again, what do we do? What do we what do we send us to the CBS networks, the twenty affiliates, what do we send to those neutral markets? Because that's gonna spike that number. And ultimately the decision is made in New York and we have a guy that's incredible, Dan Weinberg, it does this and you know, the Mahomes is just He's a huge attraction. So we're going to feed them, feed them Mahomes. And you know, I'm actually looking forward to seeing what Jacksonville is all about. I watched the London game the other day. They should have won the game. They had some miscuse that you know, really heard him an interception at the goal line. But I want to see Trevor Lawrence. I'd like to meet Trevor Lawrence. This e t n is going to be a star. I believe Dog Peterson is gonna get it done there. Um and hopefully it will be a very competitive game. I believe that they'll they'll hang in there. Now. The last thing on this, it does feel like from everyone I speak to and people I know, people I don't know, people you see it. Everything, it's all about everyone wants Bill's chiefs, Bill's chiefs, Bill's Chiefs again. Um, And I do think if that happens, that could be an ald Timer, especially after the game last year. Well, if it's gonna be an ald Timer, it's gonna have to go a long way to beat that game last year. I'm talking about the they build up, the intensity the viewers. Who knows what's happening in the actual game. But I feel like there's actually like a real fever pitch for that to be the a f C title game from NFL fans. I kind of feel like what you're saying is it kind of feels like it. We're just kind of waiting for that to play out, get through the season, get through the playoffs, and oh, what do you know We've got I would think Kansas City at Buffalo, I don't see the Bills following these, they got basically a two game lead on the Chiefs right now because their records better and they got the head to head. So I don't see Buffalo relinquishing that in barring injury. I mean, yeah, it would be just a tremendous matchup to see it up there and see what that looks like. We've seen it an arrowhead twice so in the NFC Championship game two years ago, Divisional last year. I mean, I've called a lot of games through the years. I think I'm moving on five. Maybe they've already moved past it. I don't know, but I guess I haven't. But it would be hard to say there's never been a game that was more exciting than that game last year in the divisional round. Absolutely, that's why people want, I think, and you hit on it perfectly. To the fact that they would be in Buffalo this year, it adds a whole new layer of excitement to it. All. Right, let's go to the decision with the tournament, but we'll start backwards. Since we'll go backwards on it. Since you you the announcement came out that this will be your last year calling the tournament, the final four, and it was funny because the media lee it was when would you give up the NFL. I've never heard that. Oh, the speculation started about, you know, does this mean you'd give up the NFL in a couple of years. Assume by that response you haven't even thought about giving up. No, No, I haven't heard. One person asked me that. I didn't even realize there was even any chatter about it. Now. I'm not even close to that. I just signed a very long term contract and in that contract I basically spelled that exactly what's happening right now, and I'll be doing the NFL for a long time with Tony. So I hadn't heard that. I didn't even bring up the golf because I know you'll never give that up. Well you Yet everything eventually comes to it in as they say, And yeah, I think that the NFL and golf will probably run a pretty parallel track. I hope still be doing both for a long time. Let me just say that, because I did have some people that we're friends of mine that weren't in the business where it's like, oh, man, I hate to see you retire. I said, Man, I'm not retiring. I'm basically falling back into a schedules. Still right up there with is like about as busy as maybe anybody else is. And it's the old summer all schedule. Who was a dear friend and mentored me that Pat did the lead NFL game, and he anchored the golf, and he did it a long time, and he was brilliant tennis and he did and I did the tennis for nine years with him. But I loved it that that Pat, that was his that was his universe, and I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, it's been It's been a decision that, honestly, Jimmy, has been a long time in the making, and and I could have made this decision years ago, but I just love it so much, and ultimately, my desire to be with my children outweighed my love of being being involved in fifteen games in twenty three days, every one of which is a joy to broadcast. Let me just ask you this real quick. I'm just curious in terms of like the workload and the scheduling. Let's say, hypothetically, ten years from now, you wanted give up one of the other sports, would it be a no brainer to give up the NFL because that's more of a grind than the Gulf, because or is the Gulf just as much as a grinds the NFL. Like if you wanted to get down to one sport, or is it you love golf so much you wouldn't give that up? What would? I don't foresee any one of those even being something we'll discussed for a long long time. They're not a grind. It's something that you love doing. The process of preparing for him is something I absolutely dearly love. Now. The the the NFL is, uh, you got a week to get ready for a game, and then you know, you have your meetings and you review. There's so much information that CBS rounds up for you. This borderline almost too much, to be honest. I've got so many sources that are coming in with different data points and background and anecdotal stuff. It's I mean, I wanted, but it's a lot um the golf is. You know, it's more of this classical storytelling. To be honest, you just you you kind of really call it with mainly just what's in your head and in your heart. You're not you're not preparing boards like I do for for football and this is my eagles board from the other day. I've got this thing board. I guess you can't you can't see it. But I work on these things all week long. Golf I don't That doesn't mean I don't talk to players and get latest current information background. But that one thing about the golf it is a two day It is a two day commitment, and it's um you know, depending on the week, it's anywhere from six to eight hours on Saturday and Sunday. I used to get asked a lot, how come you don't do regular season college basketball like you used to. Well, things kind of change. I became the lead NFL play by play guy, which took me to the in the January, so that took out those weeks. And then there's this thing called the West Coast Golf Swing where we have events in Phoenix, l A, San Diego, and Pebble Beach at well, why don't you do the basketball instead of one of those? We actually have extended hours on those West Coast events. Those also happened to be like the highest rated golf events in the year because the weather is bad for a lot of the country and people are living vicariously through these beautiful blimp shots from Pebble Beach and Tory Pines along the coastline. You're on for eight hours doing a two point something rating versus doing one two hour basketball game. That's doing a one. I mean, and I'm not trying to fanimize it, but cont basketball is all over the place and a lot of different outlets. You don't do monster regular season ratings. So it's not that I'm slacking or I'm not working. In fact, you know, I go through a stretch where you know, I work, um like thirty two out of thirty four con second weeks on the road, and that includes going through twenty one weeks in the NFL and West Coast Golf and then the n c A turn up the Master's Hilton Head and all that. Next thing, you know, you've you've basically been on a road warrior for like of the year, with more to come with golf and um yeah, I I'll tell you what it will do. Just again, for my own personal calendar, I will have a nice block of time from the end of football into the West Coast Golf, I'll do that, and then going into the Master's I'll have a stretch of amount seven weeks off and I'm gonna miss the heck out of it. But I've done it a long time. I feel really good about someone else getting the chance to do it too. I'm very happy for e and to have the chance to do it. He's a basketball guy all year long. I'm not. And by the way, we have other incredible, as you know, play by play guys, incredible Kevin Harlan, Bryan Anderson. I don't even need to go down that road start naming all these guys I respect so much. Um. But you know, it's times someone else get a chance to do it, enjoy it and love it, nurture it. The difficult decision. Did you agonize over it or you realize this is the time and it wasn't that difficult to give it up? You know, I was going to give it up in one And I mean I talked to Sean and David Um, Sean McManus, David Berson about it for several years, and they would I would just say, hey, I'm thinking about it, will you to let us know you can do it as long as you want. And I thought about twenty one and Indianapolis because I liked the symmetry of My first final four call was an Indie in ninety one. That was the famous Duke U n l V semifinal with Duke beat in Kansas in the championship. Grant Hill was a freshman, and I like the symmetry of not only starting an Inde but ending in Indi. Sitting next to Grant Hill, who won a championship in Indian now is my partner, you know, with with with Raft as well and UM. But COVID came around, and you know that that fun. That was not a lot of fun. It was a monumental achievement by the n c A and CBS and Turner to pull off this one city UM championship event with all the games played at different venues in Indie. You know, you never saw anyone, You never left the room. I was there for twenty seven days and nights and all my food delivered to the door. The only time I got out was to go do a game UM. But it just didn't feel like the right time to walk away from a plus, I had Houston looming, you know, I had Houston twenty three And I want to say this so that nobody from Turner takes us the wrong way. I loved their partnership with Turner. Great guys, And yeah, I've done the Capital one spots with with Charles for years now. I will continue to do that this coming year and hopefully be on and Ernie and everybody. But I wanted to call my last basketball game on CBS. We would still call them on Turner, as you know, but it's CBS Journal. We alternate years. I just thought I'm gonna pick a CBS here to do it. So if it wasn't gonna be Indian twenty one the next time, I would consider it. What's gonna be Houston and twenty three at Houston was the gateway city for my career. It's just a perfect place to do it. It's the perfect time, done it a long time, and I will miss the heck out of it, But you know what, I also love being home for my kids and having their spring breakfalls in March. I missed it every year. Now I get to be with them, so it's you know, there's a trade off. Was it difficult to do the tournament after not doing regular season games and just coming in for those two weeks Now, not a bit, because I'm watching it all season long. Because I love it. But I wasn't the only announcer who parachuted in, as people would call it, to come in and do the playoffs in other sports. And you know who they are, so I'm not gonna make it sound like anybody's doing anything wrong. Did not make it difficult. I would usually do a regular season game, UM right around the first of March, and then I'd go into the Big Ten tournament and I do two games on Saturday, the championship game on Sunday, and that begins quite a stretch. I counted from that point until the championship, I do fifteen games in twenty three days from the semifinals at a Big Ten, three games that weekend, six the next week, than three the regional week and three in the Final four. But Jimmy, when I when I got the nod to go called the games. I had filled in for Brent several times during the years I was this, I was the host, I was the studio guy. I was the Greg Dumbo Ernie Johnson roll five times at the Final four. But when I got the nod to go call the games with Billy Billy Packer, UM, I could never imagine that I would have thirty two years of calling the championship because I was taking over for Britt who called six, and he tied the record of dick Enberg, who had called six. So it's gone from those two having six each to thirty two and that that's a long long time. And and I guess said, it's somebody else's turn to do it, and that happens to the Iron. I have a great regard for him on a professional level and very much on a personal level, and I'm thrilled for him, and he deserves that. He'll be great and he'll take it to all new heights. It's funny because when I when I first saw the news, my first initial reaction was like, oh boy, that's shocking. And then when I see you've done it since ninety one, you've done thirty two tournaments, You're like, thirty two final fours is a massive, massive number. And then you're like, you know what, it makes sense. You know, if he's got NFL, he's got golf. You know, I'm sure this didn't factor into your decision. But I also feel like college the tournament is still this monstrous thing, but college basketball overall has become sort of a niche sport. It's not what it used to be. The ratings prove that out in the regular season. I mean, it's so you know, it doesn't really want the needle. It doesn't move the needle until the tournament. Different. It's definitely different. The earlier I was involved in it, the more I you know, you had more tenured players, you had four year players. Grant Hill was a four year player. Um and you know in recent years you've seen Roy Williams stepped down, Jay Wright this year, who's gonna be great, by the way, and working with us at CBS. And then of course you had coach k and I got to document all of their careers. Jay's two wins, Roy spoorts championship, all five of Mike's championship. And yeah, thirty two, it's thirty two tournaments. Everybody thinks it's like they say, well, thirty two final four's. It's two tournaments. There's a tonnage of games that happened that first week, including four and one day. And someone, hopefully Pat McGrath, my long time stats guy from the very beginning in baskets, I'm sure he'll come up with a math on it, but it's gonna be just tournament games. It's gonna be somewhere between I think three and three hundred and fifty n c A tournament games. Now I know it also will be undoubtedly nineties six games at the final four. You know how vital every one of those final four games is at the time, ninety six of those and thirty two championships. It's a lot of prep. You know. The thing I used to get all the time, Jimmy was how do you do all this? You know, your schedule never ends. One season ends, the next one begins. And I've been on the Golden Hamster wheel for a long time, and I've never failed to be grateful and to say my things before my feet hit the floor in the morning for being given the chance to live out the childhood dream. It's been an incredible gift, blessing, whatever you want to call it, it has been. And um, you know, I'm in my sixties now. I started when of the mid twenties being a part of this tournament. So I'm really excited. Like I said, you know, you just you just reminded me of something when you said you started your mid twenties. I over the side. I've talked about this on the podcast with a couple of guests over the summer. I read that book about inside the NFL. I think the title is You Are Looking Live? Oh Rich Yeah, Riches Yeah, And I can't recommend it enough for for sports media nerds like myself. I and you. You figure prominently in that book, and I completely forgotten about it until you just said that. He did a great job. He used to be involved on the show as a writer and he did a brilliant job on that. But there's some great stuff in there about you in that books of people You are Looking Live. So he's free in the NFL today. The tournament you've done thirty two of them. I know I'm talking just a tournament, not regular season. I obviously you had many years with Billy Packer. You've had these years with Grant Hill and RAF three. Greg Anthony was in there, I think for a year or two. Were there any other analysts you worked within the tournament? Where was that it? Because Steve for four years and park one five years. I love Calrkey's one of my dearest friends. All these guys are, but Clark I should have known. But Steve Kerr, I have no recollection doing the tournament. All right, so here you go, I can. I'll give you the the breakdown on it. Billy and I partners nine one through oh eight, so that's eighteen tournaments just the two of us. He retired in San Antonio the night that Kansas Bill self's first championship, Rock Chalk Championship. They beat Memphis with Derrick Rose in overtime. I knew Bob Diakas the producer, knew. No one else knew this was Billy's last show. The game went to overtime. I was feeling so mogg then about it. I didn't want to. I've been trying throughout the tournament to talk him out of it. But Billy typically he wanted no fanfare. He did not want anybody to know about it. But he told But they told Dick, and he told me. And when the game went to overtime, my first thought was, thank Heavens, I get five more minutes with Billy, and that was it. I had kind of a coded goodbye to him on the floor after we interviewed sell up in the Jayhawks UM. But that was that. So oh ninety one through oh eight, and then I had well, I had Clark, Clark and I had done a lot of different things together, including some regular seasons from studio stuff together. But he would have been oh nine and two thousand and ten, I believe I have that right. Maybe eleven. We got to call the Gordon Hayward Butler Duke game in Indianapolis, who loved every minute of it. Clark went back to a studio and Greg Anthony came in for a year, and at the final four Steve Steve came in. Steve would have been for sure eleven, twelve, thirteen and fourteen. I've got that wrong here. That's what it was. Steve came in with with Clark and I that's what it was. So Clark was eleven twelve, five years with Clark. Yeah, several of those years with Steve and then uh, and then we did Greg Anthony and Steve for a year and and then it's been Grant and Raft and I since Yeah, you guys really settled into a nice It really is a great listen from a fan perspective, thank you that that it's really hard to walk away from that. UM and I just cherished the friendships, the bonds and and Tracy Wolfson on the sidelines we have I mean it's ridiculous how much we enjoy each other's company during the broadcast. Yes, you can hear it away from it, the dinners, the preparation, the meeting with the kids, and on the raft side. I want to just say this that my first n c A tournament was in eighty six. My first site was played by play in six I wasn't doing The final four was in Greensboro, North Carolina. We had an old dominion against Duke Game and that was Coach K's first team he took to a final four. But the first week of the tournament I worked the tournament play by play with Raft and then Raft and I went into the studio week two for the regionals and at the final four. So I had all that early start background with Raft and the fact that would all you know, thirty years later come full circle and we get to call these games together. That that's been a wonderful blessing too. And it's a it's a full circle thing for iron N Raft because they worked. I mean that's how I as a New Yorker, my first experience with iron N referee was them doing nets games on an old channel that doesn't even just anymore called Sports Channel in New York and uh, you know, they have a special relationship. So it's full circle all around, it seems like on this move. So yeah, it's gonna work out well for everybody. And you know, I hope to go back to final fours for years to come and have you know, some roll, uh and not be involved in the early rounds of the tournament. We'll see. Maybe I'll feel differently about it after saying goodbye to the play by play this year, but I maybe it's, uh, you know, it's maybe it's something involved in like an s a piece that would be on the Bridge Show between the two games on Saturday. We'll see. And you're gonna do the trophy presentation. I'm gonna do the trophy. You're gonna do the trophy presentation. I don't know that I could see that as a possibility, but that's to be decided down the road, and I think we all need to put our heads together and forgot what we want to do with that. But I do know this, I want to go to the Final four and not be locked in my room and trying to read the very last clip of the thousand they've sent me every day and be able to go out and enjoy the fan fest and and and you know, have have my kids by my side and enjoy it a little bit and be around the tournament because it's been let's face it, thirty this will be thirty seven years. It's way more than fifty percent of my life has been the n c A tournament. And it's gonna be hard to just say goodbye Cold Turkey. And maybe there's something useful I can do. We'll see, we'll map it out. But I'm focused in on having one great last ride with Grant and Raft and Mark Wolf and and now Mark Grant comes in taking over for Bob Fishman, who I had thirty six years with, So you know, there's a small nucleus of people. And Tracy I mentioned to again, Um, yeah, I'm just I'm grateful for the camaraderie we've had through it, through it all. Yeah, it's thirty two, Final four. We did studio there for five years. Like, let me let me close it this. I want to go back to the NFL um for a moment. I'm gonna put you on the spot here a little bit, but I'm curious how you would approach it. Al Michael's has gotten a lot of a ten chin in recent weeks for how he's handled some atrocious Thursday night football games. There was a there was a two week stretch there where there were two games um Denver, Indy and then Chicago Washington were unwatchable games, and it became the Al Michael Show an Amazon Prime where he was openly mocking in a fun way the the games. What would you have what did you think of Alic's approach and how would you have approached that, because I'm sure I was thinking too. You know, when if you're doing that on CBO, you're on CBS, you've got fifty million, depending on where you he knows he's on Amazon Prime, it's probably eight million. I don't know if that plays into his rationale, but he was universally praised for how he handled it. There was nothing but positive reaction. The only thing in my head is I don't know if Roger Goodell in the NFL were like, you know, Amazon's paying what it is, eleven billion dollars. I'm not sure they want you mocking the game olt, but alf can do what he wants because he's been doing it for hundred years. I would love your take as one of the veteran lead NFL voices on that whole situation. Well, you know, Al can do no wrong in my world. You know that you and I have spoken off the air about my my friendship and admiration for for als. So I'm a veteran though of of Thursday Night football, and things evolved and things change in the way that you can say things, perhaps take stretch it a little bit more than you used to. Um, you know, I just look at the so maybe what you can say now you would have really been taboo five or ten years ago. Just look at gambling. I know Al is always told the right been very close, and that over and under and all of that. But you know, gambling was was something that really were encouraged or disc orge from from talking about it. Was It was absolutely taboo. Now, of course we've got a franchise in Vegas, Tony and I will be calling a Super Bowl there next season. Um, Fantasy Football and Draft Kings and band Douling, all these sites are our big advertisers for all the news. Things change. So I mean, I love listening to Al, and I believe we we spoke yesterday we FaceTime and to each other as we do almost every week, and he heard I had a line during the Buffalo Kansas City game. Yes, it was like seven three, late in the second quarter, and I said to Tony, I said, wait a minute, this is this Sunday afternoon or Thursday night. What's going on here? Because we are expecting a continuum of what had happened the previous year and the divisional playoffs. When that the wild final two minutes of regulation and overtime ensued. So um, no, listen, it can be very flat on site at a Thursday night for whatever reason. The in is it into it like they are on a Sunday or even a Monday night. And Monday night it's raucous. I know it. I did it for four years. I did I did it the first year and we ever did a full time package and the second year of a full time package. That's fascinating. That's the first time I've heard someone say that. That's really interesting. Well, I hate to tell you because I'm gonna tip it off here, especially now that there's gonna be a World Series game against it and the two Philly teams to two Philly teams going head to head. But the games in Houston and the Texans are one five and one, and the town you know, that's that's that's that's my town, Houston, and they're they're gonna be all into the Astros that night. So I was gonna have a game. Amazon is going to have a game on Thursday night. That's going to be very flat. That's nothing that he can change. I mean, it's going to be it's gonna be COVID empty stands kind of flat. Now it won't be empty like it was in COVID that unbelievable season that we all went through. Somehow the league pulled it off to but it won't have that ambiance, it won't have that energy. And I think that's probably what I was speaking to a little bit, not only just the quality of the play, but the fact that the the fans aren't into it like he's accustomed to. On Sunday night, it's different. I wonder why that is. I don't know, they work that day, you know that feels like I don't I think you know, you could say, well what about Monday night, but it's almost like you don't bring like the kids aren't there. People have to work the next day. But you can say that same thing about Monday Night. It almost feels more like a corporate, polite crowd. Again, I had four years of it, two years full, two years CBS and a half a package with NBC doing the other half. And I'll knew that he did the half a package on NBC when we were doing the other half. So it's just it's, um, you know, they've had some compelling games early in the season. Um, and they've got Philly Houston this week, and it's just what can you do about that? They've got, They've got Arizona and I'm sorry, they've got coming up on the near horizon. So it is what it is. Al's of Owls a giant, you know, in in the broadcast and world. He's a giant in my life. And I sit back and watching sure and plaud everything that he does. I just hope the NFL and Amazon leaves him alone and lets him make his remark. I mean, listen that comment he made when he said it was during the Denver Indie Indie game. This this is one of those games. It's the fifth regional on CBS at one o'clock. I mean, that is an all time for for you know, we're in this world. So we you know, the average fan probably doesn't understand for an NFL announcer to say that line during a game is is pretty remarkable. Well, he's seen it all. I'm glad he's still doing games and he hasn't lost anything. He is. This guy is timeless. Hegan hopefully gonna go on for a long long time, and so will you with the NFL. So I'm glad we cleared that up and you've got the Rams and Bucks this Sunday, Jacksonville, Kansas City. The week after that, I think that we didn't go into the week before Thanksgiving. I think I think I'm I guess as Chiefs Chargers for that week. No, that that's the that's the Dallas Minnesota. Oh, that's the flex. Okay. Oh that's a good game. Okay, that's that is very large. Yeah, that's going to be really big. You've got one loss Vikings team Cowboys with two losses in Minnesota. That's a cross flex game. I'm thrilled about it. I didn't realize you had that game because I had to pick for Chiefs Chargers that weekend. Well, you know one thing you might watch for is there is a there is a Sunday night game. You may have it at your fingertips, but there is a Sunday night game. I'm gonna make a prediction right here, live on tape, on my favorite podcast, that there will be alex a flex out of the Sunday night game. Yes, Cincinnati at Pittsburgh. Okay, I believe that game will will be what you want to say, like when when you when you fish and you throw one back in trying I'm trying to see what game they would end up putting in that spot. You must okay, well they can't take ahead, go ahead? Yeah, okay, yeah, I would. I would take question again. I'm trying to do the job that people that you know a lot more about it than I do, uh in our exceptional at it. But since that's that's that's an a f C matchup, I would think they would be looking to take something out of our package. So Cincinnati Pittsburgh, I'm guessing would come back to CBS, and I think then you take Kansas City at the Chargers, which was the first Amazon Thursday Night game, so we don't get either side of it. If that's the case, you put up Mahomes and Justin Herbert in prime time, and that means instead of having even though it would be a nineties to ten split on Minnesota and Dallas if we kept the k C Charger game, the Dallas Minnesota game is worthy of a percent. So there, we just programmed the whole network right here, and I think that's what's gonna happen. You did. Now we just got to worry about flexing out the Lions on Thanksgiving and we're all good to go. We're gonna give you a really good show. You're even listen you say that, but you wear the Lions colors today on this broadcast. Even your wallpaper in the back, you are you were all Lions when maybe you're a closet Lions fan. When it's when it's when it's when it's thirty eight thirteen Buffalo in the third quarter, you're gonna need some al lines on you know what happened? What if the Lions are winning in the third quarter. I don't know if you saw this because it happened really the minute before we started, but the Lions traded there Hoxton Hoxton too, um Minnesota. So now the fire sale is on, So I would, uh, I I would make sure you have some stories to tell on Thanksgiving. That's gonna be story time with you and Tony. Okay, I will I will tell you this. I will make a deal with you right now just to get you off the Lions and quit trying to disrupt history and tradition. And if the Lions, I want you to root for the Lions now and keep them there. If the Lions are winning at any point in the fourth quarter on Thanksgiving Day, right, I'm going to mention you on that broadcast. Now, I gotta root for the Lions to lead the Bills in the fourth quarter. I don't think I'm figure out some sort of verbal somersaults and find some tide of history or hey, Tony, it's incredible. I was talking to my friend Jimmy Train a couple of weeks ago about this game. He said it was going to be a stinker, and then I kind of talked him into the lines might give him a game. And here we are with the Lions leading in the fourth quarter. You have my word, if they lead in the fourth quarter. I would never, ever, in my life, ever route for a player to get injured. But maybe if Josh Allen could just get a little touch of the flu Thursday, So maybe just a little cold on just the cold, a little cold on Thursday morning. Then maybe I'll you know, by the way, the Lions can score points that they didn't when we had him at Dallas a couple of weeks ago. But they can put up points. Yeah, yeah, but the yeah, I'm going to leave. We've done. Are you close to being done? Here? We're all done. We could say goodbye. One story I want to leave you with. Go ahead, wrap it up with this. Here we go because it has to do with the n c A tournament ahead. Okay, and you you know you asked me something about when did I first start thinking about I want to tell you when I really started thinking about doing it not giving it up. Okay, I'm gonna go to the opposite end. Houston, North Carolina State at the Pit in Albuquerque, my alma monter, Houston. I ride in to the game on the Houston team bus. Houston basketball was my entrance into into the business. I was the public address announcer as a student. I hosted Guy Lewis the Coaches Show on TV on the NBC affiliate as a student. I owe a lot of my career to that basketball program. There is an outside chance. By the way, don't tell anybody that my last game I ever call might be my Alma Manter winning the championship that night in Houston. They are preseason number three and Kelvin Sampson is an incredible coach. So anyway, that aside, right in with the team, the stadium, the arena, the pit doesn't have seats. It has benches, bench seating with a number, you know, spread out every two ft sixteen Whatever I went in, I had the whole arena to myself. I'm gonna squeeze in somewhere and I right back on the team bus after the game. But they're inside. The arena was vacant, except there was a CBS set right in the corner the far end from where Lorenzo Charles dunked My Dreams and dunked NC State to a championship. And they're sitting on this perch. Inside the pit was one Brent Musburger. He was rehearsing. He was gonna be hosting the show and then he would be handing it off to the great Gary Bender, who was going to call the game with Billy Packer. So I thought, my gosh, I've always wanted to work for CBS CBS because I love the way CBS broadcast the NFL and the Masters. They were new still at calling the in broadcasting the n C a turn. But this was a year two. It started at eighty two of Michael Jordan's year in New Orleans. So I didn't have that history that motivated inspired me with with CBS. But it was all about CBS with NFL and golf. But there's Brent Musburger. I worshiped him. So I say, I'm gonna go over there and sit right there on the bench closest to the set, and I actually squeezed right up against it. Now it was raised above my eye level the set and Brent. I was looking up to him, by the way I still do. But I was looking up at him, and I could turn around and see the camera that he was talking into. I could see there was some stuff was on prompter. Most of us ad lib but they were running through all the elements of the show. And Brent Musburger was sitting there talking to a stage manager, talking to the producer, and he has that great Brent laugh, and I couldn't believe I was this close to him. His feet or maybe I don't know. I could stretch my arm out and reach the far foot. They were that close. I was sitting right up against them. I could have literally shined his shoes. And I gotta tell you, Jimmy, I would have done it for the chance to be sitting in that chair one day and to get to know him. And three years later, his fate would have it. Brent was calling the Final four and I was sitting in that seat. So I've been very blessed beyond belief. I know a lot of people use that term. I've been so fortunate and grateful and thankful that I've been given that chance, and that's what is in my heart. I'm just I've loved every minute of it. I just I'm really looking forward to doing it again with all my friends, and I'm really looking forward to someone else and that being and and everyone else moving forward to have a chance to go enjoy it as much as I have. It'll be it'll add a lot, I think, to the tournament, uh, to see how you handle it to your last games. And you know I mentioned that book Um You're looking Live earlier. I mean that book talks about how fast you know you tell that story and if you read that book, you know how fast Jim's rise was and how quickly it all happened, and it really it was. I loved reading and about how that all happened for you. So that's a great story there about Brent, who is uh and by the way, from I got a beautiful note last week from from Todd, his brother, who wrote on behalf of Brent and Anton and just how much they appreciated, you know, the friendship and my my, my tenure of taking the baton from from Brent. You know, Brent had that famous sign off and then he threw it back to me in Denver in nine nineteen and he said, folks, I've had the best seat in the house. And um, that's what I tried to say to Andrew Marshawn did a great job and breaking that story and and and way framed it. But I wanted to take that baton and of having the best seat in the house and now um handing it off to the next to the next man that would behind Well, I'm sure I'll talk to you maybe around tournament time. Enjoy the rest of the NFL season. Looking forward to you, look hearing you every Sunday on the Big A f C and some NFC games at the Cruss Fox. Thanks Jim, appreciate it. We'll catch up soon. Thanks. Okay, take care anytime. Thank you. All right, Joining me now for our weekly Training Thoughts segment from w f A on A Radio and New York S and Y TV. My buddy Salacatta, sal How are you good? How are you? I'm good? Hanging in there to two straight hells. I've noticed two straight losses on my best bets and we'll get into we'll get into the most recent on at the end when we do our picks. But let me start by asking you something I have been dying to ask you for days now, and I wanted to save it for the podcast, just to get just to get the Salacatta reaction. Will you be paying twenty bucks a month to keep you a blue checkmark? No fucking way. You've got to be out of your mind. A matter of fact, I loved him. I don't care. I don't want to be verified. Leave me alone? How much? How much do I have to pay to never deal with Twitter again? That's what I want. I knew you'd come through with a good answer, will you? I don't think so. But I'm not away up in arms about it as everyone now, Like the you know, the I'm not paying for twenty Twitter crowd is really annoying, Like, no, you don't have to go on Twitter and tweet whether you're gonna pay for it or not. It's the reality is people take offense to it because they feel good about themselves because they have a blue check mark next their name. I couldn't give a ship less, so I don't care. Look, first of all, I got it through work. Now does it help in certain instances, I'm sure that it does help get your tweets noticed. I personally don't care about that stuff. But if somebody's gonna tell me to pay for that, there's not a chance that twenty bucks a month, I don't want to pay for anything anymore. What if it was a dollar ninth, what if it was a dollar ninety nine a month? No, I would not pay because I just had the We talked about this before with subscriptions and all this stuff. You know, I want to be able to read an article, want to click on Bob Raceman in the Daily News. I want to see if he mentions my name in there. I'm not paying two bucks to read it. So I'm sorry, I'm not I'm not doing anything definitely not for Twitter. Yeah, I mean the issue is when there's going The issue is if if people who are reporters or people who break news or write stories don't have the check mark. If someone you don't listen, if it's Woad or chefs, you're gonna know if it's real or not. But if some beat reporter for where the Royals breaks a trade and you go to check to see if it's true and there's no blue checkmark, that's where it's going to be an issue. If there's no blue check marks, that's right. So we'll all survive. We'll all be able to survive. But here's what's gonna happen. It's gonna be up to the company's I'm sure ESPN will say, well, we'll pay the bucks a month for you know, these five people to have the verification. I'm also sure that w F a and is not going to say we're paying twenty bucks a month for sal or whatever else to be verified. So it's up to the company. If bess I says we're gonna hey, I'm sure you'd welcome it. But you're not going into your pockets paid for it all you no. I I also don't think it's going to be twenty dollars a month. I mean, that was like a thing that was thrown out there in the beginning and everyone, you know, everyone's freaking out about what's going on with Twitter, so everyone's gonna go crazy about it. I have a funny feeling whenever some decisions made it might not be twenty bucks a month. But let me let me ask you. You think, because we're we're in the same business, but it's different, right, you actually give like I mean, I know you do opinion stuff, but you're a writer for s I and you do the podcast, you get big guests on me. I'm just allowed mouth opinion guy, radio show, hos, TV shows. It wouldn't hurt me if I didn't have the verification. Doesn't hurt you, wouldn't hurt you if you didn't um. I mean, it might hurt from the standpoint of if I try to like book a podcast guest through Twitter and I don't have the blue checkmark, they may not think you know. I mean, if I'm trying to book someone who has absolutely no clue who I am right, That's what I mean, It's easier. I doubt the rock is gonna follow you if you're not verified, right right? Yeah, I guess that's true. Um, but I feel like at this point everyone's so stiff, like everyone knows who everyone is on Twitter at this point if you don't have to blue checkmark. I don't think if they took away Adam Schefter's blue checkmark, we're still gonna know what Adam Schefter is. I mean, well, how about how about Portnoy? Isn't the best example of this? I don't know what you mean. David did Dave Portnoy is not verified? And doesn't he go on? And I'm not a familiar with it, so maybe I should get my facts radio, But I'm pretty sure Portnoy, who obviously is as popular as you could be on social media, he goes after the blue check mark brigade, basically saying that I don't care if you have verification, it doesn't mean anything, and he doesn't have one. But he's got why he is? Why does Why isn't he verified? That? I'm not sure, but I don't know if he doesn't want to be or they wouldn't. But either way, clearly there's an impact him. Yeah, but I'm sure Barstool is verified. I don't know. I'm not sure. All I know is he's not. And he's immensely popular. So I'm not saying that anybody can get to his level. But I'm just saying, like I didn't know he wasn't verified, i'd be work here to know why he's not verified. I think you should look into it because it might be interesting to find out there was. I just know that he calls the blue Oh, here we go, another blue check. But that's not the thing he does. Everyone does that. That's everyone says, oh, the blue checks are at the blue checker. I don't know like checkers he's he should have one, right for as being as famous as he is. I'm saying I don't understand why he doesn't have one. I don't whatever away all right, let me ask you this question. This sort of almost plays into it a little bit. Have you ever heard of this guy? Brandon Robinson from Bailey Sports Bally's Bally Sports NBA reporter. I believe that I have, but I obviously got familiar with him today from reading your column and then calling my colleague, who am a good friend who you knows. I started reading your thing and I saw, oh, pick eleven that had to be on Moose's show, so I know who he is. I think I did have some kind of interaction with him at some point, but not very familiar with the reason. I bring it up for people who don't know. Is okay. So Brandon Robinson is an NBA reporter for Bally Sports, which I'm not exactly true what that means because here in New York we don't have Bally Sports, so I don't know. I thought Bally Sports was like localized throughout the country, so I'm not exactly sure what it meant. But he went on this show that Sal's referencing here in New York with our friend Mark Melusis and spoke about Kyrie Irving and the reason and he he said these things that were just so it just made no sense, you know, And I don't want to I don't want to sit here and attack that because I don't think I don't think he was intentionally he was definitely not in trying to intentionally defend Kyrie Irving telling people to go watch this anti Semitic movie. It was his defenses were it's in bad taste that people are coming down on Kyrie for this because Kyrie is in a contract here. I have no idea what on earth that has to do with anything. And then his other take was that the nets are one in four if they were five, and oh, no one would be talking about this, which is just another absurd take. And I just wondered if you knew him, because I just can't believe the absurdity of the take. Yeah, I can't say that I know him definitively. And when I was talking with Moose about it, he said that maybe I might have had, you know, cross paths with him at some point before, whether beyond social media or on a gambling show or something I don't recall. But either way that really doesn't matter. What matters is the idiocy of Look, you want to try to talk about Kyrie in a certain way, or to try to defend his point. I don't know how you can do that, but I know one way for certain that you can't do that. You cannot say it's because he's in a walk year or because the Nets are off to a slow start this year. That's just not to do it. So it's important taste that people are upset that Kyrie shares this anti semitic movie because Kyrie is in a contract, yet you can't. It's so mind boggling. Now, the reason I brought this up, and it connects with the opening topic of Twitter, is so I wrote this column, and I wrote in the column like he this guy could be the nicest guy in the world. I've I've never heard of him, I don't know him, I'm not familiar with him. But that clip of him defending Kyrie was a complete train wreck. And I love when things are a train wreck. Um. So I wrote the column, and then like later in the afternoon, the guy started following me on Twitter. I got I got nervous. I'm like, oh, is this gonna be like I didn't say that or like you too, you know, And he followed me, never didn't write anything to me. Then I saw he deleted his tweet of the vision. That was the other thing. The guy went and does this train wreck segment, and then he tweeted the video of the train wreck segment, but he deleted it. He apologized, which you know, I've gotta you know, I gotta cover that now. But um, I don't know if you ever have that when you say something negative about someone then they follow you on Twitter and you're like, I'm like, oh, is this gonna be a thing. I don't want to have a thing, but you know, yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure that that's happened. Um. You know, look, I try to stay out of that crap. It's unfortunate. It's a part of what we deal with now with social media. I was saying, that's so I want to I don't want any attention. I want to be left alone. Can you just let me do my sound full of ship? Because if you don't want attention, you wouldn't say things on Twitter. You went tweet things that's not true. I say, I don't say it for it, No, I don't. You don't know. No, you don't say no, No, you don't say it for attention. But anything. If you went on Twitter and you said I can't wait to watch the World Series, you're going to get attention even for that. You don't want the attention, but anything, If you tweet, you're gonna get attention, right, which is why we shouldn't do Twitter, right. I mean, but but you do it, but you do it well because I kind of I think it's part of what unfortunately, what I do. Well, you think I could just delete my Twitter ac count and make everybody happy I make money? No, I mean I don't think. No, I don't think you should delete your Twitter account. But you you're gonna tell me there are times you go on there and try to start the poll little and you know, but that's that maybe only because of some of the craps that I get. So when I get crap for certain whatever, that's gonna get you attention. Yeah, well, I don't want the attention. I want to be left alone, period, end of story. I want to do my job, do it well, and I want to be left happen. Now, now, I want to say something. When that guy says something as dumb as he did, you you have to question if he's doing it to get attention. I don't know, No, I no, no. In his defense, if you watch that clip, there's no way he was doing that to get attention. So he just believed that. Yes, I think I think he I think he had I think maybe either he has a relationship with Kyrie, he likes Kyrie, and he was in a tough spot because this is a no way to defend Kyrie situation, and that's what he tried to do, and that became a problem. He absolutely did not give that take to if you watch the video, there's no way he did it to get attention. A right, fair enough, but then why would you use those two things as That's what I like. That's why I called it a train wreck, right, Yeah, speaking of the Nets, the story today, we're taking this Tuesday Night the story today with Steve Nash. I don't know if he quitter got fired. I don't know what the technicality of it is. And then them hiring Udoka from the Celtics who suspended for the year is one of the most surreal stories I've seen in I mean, think about that eight division rival is letting their head coach go to another team in the division no compensation. Supposedly, that's how much they want to get Whatever this guy did in Boston. Nobody knows what it is yet, but whatever this guy did is so bad the Celtics gonna let him go to the Nets for no compensation. And the Nets, who have this whole Kyrie irving mess going on now bringing in a guy who there's all these rumblings about some sort of you know, sexual indiscretion. This is an unbelievable story. Well, I mean they're looking at it from the bottom line, that's the ball point of view. We look. This was as blatant to anybody with any a common sense as it could be. Years ago when they fired Kenny Atkinson, when they blew up what was a good foundation and a good organization heading in the right direction, they blew it up to bring in k d and Kyrie Irving did not did, I mean, nobody solved the problems come with Kyrie Irving. He had issues in Cleveland, he had issues in Boston. What do you think is gonna happen here? And it's one thing after the next, the pandemic, the anti Semitic stuff. I mean, it's always something with ky Irving. Rewind a little bit. They got Atkinson fired and brought in Mesh. That's what that's the gay. They didn't want a real coach, they wanted somebody who's gonna leave them alone. Well after what they got and now they bring in Udoka and look, I don't know what happened. I mean, I know that he cheated on kneel long right, that's the extent of what I know. Obviously it wasn't just that the workplace affairs. I don't know about the sexual arrestmentself. Apparently we don't know all the details. But hey, you're bringing in a guy with bad character or character issues and be your again appeasing the players here. It just it's tools. But they believe you the best coach for the team because I should say so, I should say so we don't look foolish. Bobby Marks came out and said that they're plan is they haven't discussed bringing in a Dooka. No one believes that, but that's what he said, just in case. Shawn Marks, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Oh, I thought I didn't know that. I was on the air just now, so I didn't see that. I saw the press conference. They said they have no Well, in the press conference, he said, like the Doka thing is, you know, he didn't really say that's what the direction they were going in. So who knows, but I'm sure it is gonna I'm sure it is gonna happen. But he said that today just to probably get people off to happen. So the chams and then it's happened. I mean, that's yeah, right, exactly exactly you're a Falcons fan. Were you watching that game live on Sunday? The insanity of the did I? I didn't even get into my Sunday with you. I had to go to I had to miss the start of the week eight one o'clock games to go to a costume party from my daughter. Now, I did get back in time to see that live, and I wasn't planning to watch. I was watching the Jets Patriots, of course, but I flipped it on the I was actually upstairs. I had the iPad on and I was like, oh, well, this game is close, let me watch it. I sold the touchdown by the Falcons, thinking wow, this team is going to be in first place in the South, and then I saw the DJ more play. So yes, I was watching it live. Here's what's irritating to me about this situation, because I watched that whole hand. Now, you're a Falcons fan, so you're coming at it maybe a different angle of it. People There were people, I think it was specifically Terry mcaulay, who's the NBC rules analysts, saying DJ Moore shouldn't have gotten the fifteen yard penalty for taking off his helmet after the insane touchdown because he wasn't technically on the field, but he was like in the back of the Yeah, I thought that was the So he took off his helmet. I think he was past the end zone by the stands, and then he was like, you know in the end zone they have the white on the back of the end zone. I think he was standing there and he had his helmet off. There are other players in the team who had taken their helmet off, and for anyone to now listen, let me be clear, I personally think players should be able to take their helmets off to celebrate. I don't think taking your helmet off should be a fifteen yard penalty. However, if you're going by what the rule is, and the rule is, if you take your helmet off to celebrate, it's a fifteen year penalty. He absolutely took his helmet off, and if he's in the white of the end zone, you're gonna say he's not in the field of place, so it's not a penalty. I thought that was the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. When McAuley came out with that statement, I knew right away. I knew it was I said, right away. That's a fifteen yard penalty. I did not hear, uh what Nacauli or whatever said, but I know from watching football my whole life that's you know, that's penalty. Now you can't do it. So whether it's wide or wrong, we get in the same thing with the rough and the quarterback. Obviously a lot of them. The rules need to be changed, but a rule is a rule, and in this case, as clear as that, you cannot take your helmet off to celebrate. So we got everyone's always everyone's always looking for like a conspiracy theory. It just it gets it gets exhausting after a while, Like it was a penalty, there's no there's no you know. And by the way, the kickers still could have made the kick, or you could have made one in overtime and they still would have won the game. But yeah, exactly, he got caught up in the moment scoring that touchdown the way that they did, which is embarrassing the Falcons even let that happen, but scoring that touchdown the way that he wanted to have this face shown, look at me, I made this big play and you got penalizes and end up cost of this team. We have to do our best bets before we do that quickly. UM. I tweeted out this video today that I have tweeted out many times in the past because November one, November one is the anniversary of UM Jerry seinfeld appearance on Larry King where Larry King asked Jerry if he got canceled, if the show seinfeldt got canceled. Now you gotta like explain what canceled means because you know, um, where Larry Larry for some reason asks Jerry if the show Seinfeld got canceled. Anyway, the reason I'm bringing this up so I tweet out the video. It's a hilarious video and everyone always loves the video. But I'm going if you if you want to have a laugh, go to my Twitter mentions of that video, because someone in response to that video tweeted a reply to me on it and said, this is the quote. Seinfeld would have been so good if Jerry wasn't on the show. The rest of the Calf's cast was hysterical. But Jerry Seinfeld is so annoying. His entitlement is glaring. From this interview to blessing the Mets for bringing Tommy Trumpet City Field, the dude sucks, and I bring it up for this. Go look at the replies to that guy if you want. He's getting murdered by people in my you know, someone's like, oh, you mean, let's not have the guy who created the show just go away. So watch that video and read those of those replies. It was I'm gonna block that guy, even though he probably doesn't follow me or know who I am. I'm blocking him just on the purpose that video is. I was driving in and I don't know how. I'm just gonna traffic whatever I sold you tweeted and I was dying laughing at it. It is so good. It's so good. Give me a resume in here. The better video. If you're looking for a funny video that I tweeted, go to the one Monday, which is the the Curb Your Enthusiasm Halloween one. I think that might be the greatest scene in the history of the show. It was. It's really a it's a it's a four minute clip, but Twitter only lets me posted two minutes. You have to get the four full minute one because it starts with him not giving the girls candy after they trick a treat without a costume. Because he says they're seventeen, and if you're seventeen and you don't have a costume, you shouldn't get candy. They then toilet paper the house and spray paint bald ass hole on his door. He calls the cops. He says he didn't know it was felony a treat. He thought it was a trick or treat. Then the cop is bald. He says bald asshole is a hate crime. The policeman says, well, I'm bald, I don't. He goes, well, with all due respect, you're not bald. You shave your head. You're cultivating a look. You could probably appreciate that line the whole the whole scene. It might be the best thing in the history of the show. Oh god, it was great. Those two clips, that Jerry clip with Larry King that Larry David obviously gonna And then there's one there was one from was it No, it was Andrew Dice Clay with some random like Fox News guy or whatever years ago. Those three clips I love, but one yeah, yeah, you guys, what's going on about You've been canceled and ice like where you get your bleeping information from? It? Just like it walks off the set like twenty curse words in five seconds and then walked up the set. There's no fun like that anymore. Nothing's fun anymore. It's so sad. There's no fun um all right, salaluded to it earlier. So let's get to the best bet situation here. Now. I started out six and oh, now I'm six and two. I had the bills minus eleven Monday Night against the Packers. Now, let me tell you about my Monday Night I made. I made a couple. I bet a few teasers, and I had the bills and every teaser, so I was fine on that everything. It was three of them, so that was good to go. I made one bet on the game Monday night, outside of the teasers, over twenty nine points for the bills. That was my night. Monday night wager. They scored twenty Sunday Night Sunday Night Sunday Sunday, So I make one wage or Sunday Night on that game bills over twenty nine points. They scored twenty four a halftime. Now I fall asleep on my couch at halftime. No. No offense to the NBC show. No offense to the Maria Taylor and Tony Dungee. I fall asleep at halftime. I opened my eyes. I'm on the couch. I look at the clock. It's one am, and I'm groggy. I don't know what I'm doing, so I shut the TV off. I go in my room and I go into bed and I go, wait, let me, let me see what the final score was. And I see they finished with twenty seven fucking points. What what? They scored three points in this thing? So now I'm like, what the hell is going on here? Next morning, the next morning, I text my buddy, my buddy Bread, who's a Bills fan, because we had been texting throughout the game, and he had texted me in the second half. He texted he knew I had that bet. He sent me a text at ten thirty eight. It said well, well well, And I didn't know what it meant when I saw it because I had been so the next moring he must have been trying to push my buttons about. I didn't know what was going on. So the next morning I texted him and he and I told him I fell asleep and he tells me Josh Allen threw a pick at like the five yard line or something like that. So I should have covered that game and did not. That's the long story is I should have covered So while I'm six and two, it's really like a seven and one. What was your best bet last week? I love it? Actually had the Cowboys, and if you remember, I nailed that game saying that that would be the offensive when I always scored a defensive touchdown, but forty nine points, that to me was the get right game for Dallas. Now I think they're gonna take off anyway. You're you're four and four and six and two. Nice to get back. Now, I'm gonna hate myself. I just look in the games. I don't love a lot this week, and I'm hating myself for doing this because I am disgusted with the Indianapolis Colts and the entire fan base and the organization and anybody you included who has ripped Matt Ryan here better. You can't say that it's disrespect on a legend, so there has nothing to do with respectfully, can't play anymore. I love Matt well, how I mean, he's obviously not the problem that our offensive lines thinks their coach needs to be fired. They were disgraced. They can't run the football the way that they used to. But I think the Colts getting five and a half. I don't know what you have it. As I said, I'll give you five and a half. It's too many, it's too many. It'll be And I hate betting against Belichick. I like the pads. I thought people were overdoing it with the Jets this week. Anyway, I think that's a field goal game. Indianapolis winner lose, and they usually lose. They do play close games. I'll think they'll do enough to keep that close to cover the five and halfs. I hate myself for it. Go Maddie Ice, I love you, but give me the Colts plus five and half. But I don't like about that pick. Is Belichick against the rookie who's really just playing in his second game? Ever? Is it could be a problem anyway. They were on the football right, um, and they should have won last week. But that you know, Heineke throws that unbelievable reception to McLaurin. If not, the Colts get it when they're approving that Maddie Ice has done. And Ellinger, no way watch him. I'm going with the team I just mentioned I'm gonna go with Washington plus three and a half at home against the Vikings. A couple of things on the Vikings. You know they're winning. You can't fault them for that. They're beating who they had to beat. But you know they didn't really like blow out Arizona. They beat Miami when Miami had Bridgewater and Thompson and two wasn't playing. The Bears gave them a big fight at home. I think the Commanders are better with Heineke than Wentz. Once to me is like Matt Ryan. They're shot, they can't play anymore. Heineke is better than Wentz. Heinek has given them a jolt. They've won two games in a row with Heineke, and you're getting I love getting that hook. Three and a half at home for the Commanders against the Vikings. I think the Commanders now on a little roll here. I do love the trade the Vikings made though for the tight end from Detroit hockinson Um. That will help them for sure. But three and a half at home getting I like it with the Commander. So that's my pick. I'm trying to end the street here. I'm trying to catch you and two games back right now through. All right, we'll see how it goes. And uh, I'm gonna watch your tweets and I'm gonna point out which ones you want to get attention with. Well, really, to your point, any tweet, I guess is begging for attention, but I really don't want it. I tweet because I want to get it out of my system and out there, just like I want to do the radio show. Anyway. Alright, sal I have a good week. We'll see you next. Take it. All right, all right, my thanks to Jim Nance and sell Accata. Hope you guys enjoyed the show. If you did it, give us a subscription. Subscribe to the SI Media podcast. If you're not a subscriber already, it helps tremendously, And go on Apple and leave a review and a rating five stars and a review and it helps a lot. If you missed any recent episodes, John O ran from Sports Business journal Is on last week to discuss sports media news headlines. We had Chris mad Dog Russo two weeks ago, Dan Lebotard three weeks ago. All those in views in the archives. Check them out, and once again, subscribe to the SI Media Podcast. All right, we'll see you next week, all right here on the sim Media podcast. Stay safe and take care.