Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel, Nuggets Go Up 2-1, Zion Is In It + Fyre Fest Of The Week

Hey, pardon my take listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube, Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.

Okay, you can do this.

I know, I know Carvana makes it so convenient to sell your car, it's just hard to let go. My car and I have been through so much together.

But look, you already have a great offer from Carvana. That was fast.

Well, I know my lessons played, Invent my heart, and those questions were easy.

You're almost there now to just accept the offer and schedule a pickup or drop-off.

How are you so strong in letting go of your car?

Well, I already made up my mind, and Carvana's so easy.

Oh yeah, true and sold.

Go to Carvana.

This podcast is brought to you by eHarmony, the dating app to find someone you can be yourself with. Have you ever been on a date where it feels like the other person is speaking an entirely different language, not actually a different language? But it's like, you're both just completely not getting each other. I've been on a first date before with a woman that didn't like golf, she was a workaholic.

On today's part of my take, we have Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel on the show, something we've been trying to get for a long time now. Great interview with him, we talk everything, football strategy, vaping on the sidelines, 2-1-0, everything.

Not vaping on the sidelines.

Not vaping on the sidelines. We're going to talk Nuggets Heat Game 3. We are in Chicago right now, so we're going to be doing the live trivia show tonight, so we're going to do a Stanley Cup. Choose-your-own-adventure. We got to talk a little, Zion.

Best Maxx in the world.

Best Maxx in the world Maxx the one to watch Sign up now at Maxx..com and tune in. After Mike McDaniel interview for our review of 38 at the Garden and what we're going to review next week, it's going to be a scorcher, literally, so Maxx the one to watch.

And then we'll take it higher.

Oh, we're going to run down to the Electric Avenue.

Presented by Barstool Sports.

Welcome to part of my take. Today is Friday, June 9th, and heat culture is dead.

Sorry to see it go. Looks like nugs in 5, nugs in 5. I stand by it. That was a nice game that they had the other night, but there's just too much. We said that the Nuggets have the best Batman-Robin combo, maybe in the N.BA.

Best duo?

Where? Now? It's like they've got a batman and a Robin, and also the Robin has his own Robin to his batman.

You're talking about Christian Brown?

I'm talking about Christian Brown, yes, who played out of his mind Deli Plus game last night from Christian Brown.

Incredible. And the best Christian Brown moment was when he was all over the place, making plays, driving to the rim, dunking. And then he's like, let me try a three.

It's insane.

The other two, Kareem and Will, pretty good company.

Yeah, so also there was the first triple-double in N.B.A. finals history for two teammates, right? So Jamal Murray also had a triple-double. It was a double-triple-double last night.

He is a guest of the show. Not a stat patter, not a stat patter. But Jamal Murray was in the game with about, you know, a minute left up 10, not a stat patter.

You know, I need to go back and look at Jokic's games because I'm pretty sure. Like Game one. When you look at his triple-doubles, they're all created differently. Yeah, they're like snowflakes. Each one is not like the last one because I think his first triple-double, you could call that, was that the 40-point game?

No, he had the 40-point game in game two, which wasn't a triple-double.

Okay, all right. So his first game he had, I think it was assist, right, that was the assist game. I'll look it up right now, I'm not sure, but the point that I'm trying to make is one game he'll have like a million assists.

And he also, like, rolls out of bed in the first quarter and he's already training for a triple-double. I think he was like, 10-5-5 in the first quarter. It's like, Oh yeah, it's going to be one of those nights. Jokic is the best player on earth.

I think we should embrace debate. Big guy, I got a question for you because I don't think Jokic wants to be a star. I think he wants to go to work, go home, facetime his horses and hop in the pool.

Yes.

Does he want or care to be a superstar?

That's deleted Kevin Durant tweet. I don't know why he deleted it.

I think he deleted it because he didn't want it to be taken the wrong way.

He didn't want to get in the muck on Twitter all day. Because that is one of those tweets that you throw out there and then you have to sit there and look at the replies all day. So, yeah, so essentially what happened was Dan Levitard threw out the point, which I don't really understand whatsoever. He's basically said, Uh, Jokic is magic and bird, and America hates him. I don't think anyone in America hates him. I think he's probably the most liked guy.

It's a really good tactic to use, though, is to, like, create a guy out there and then get into an argument with that guy that doesn't exist. That's what 90 of the internet is right now. Yes, it's just you invent a guy to be mad at. It's a straw man.

Or he's never home.

Yeah, you miss him. yeah, you miss him, you miss him because he's not around.

But yeah, he like, yes, if you want to say that, a guy who, if he was born in America, would be a bigger star in America. I'm going to agree with that.

So this tells me that KD definitely still has burners. This tweet was meant to be sent from one of his burners. That's why he deleted it. Yes, this was not meant for the main account.

No, not at all. He goes about his work. He seems like an unbelievable teammate. I mean, we know he's an unbelievable teammate on the court, seems like an unbelievable teammate off the court as well.

You know what I learned last night because I was watching the game with a Nuggets fan. If you're a Nuggets fan in Denver. You can't watch their games on TV. Unless you have a very specific type of package. Because they're not on Comcast or whatever they use out there, the main cable service does not carry them.

Unless they're on ESPN, yeah.

You can't watch them unless they're on national television.

The Arsenal fans always tell us that Stan Kroenke's a bad owner. But he's about to possibly win a NFL, a Super Bowl, a Stanley Cup and an N.B.A. title, all within what five years?

Well, also, Arsenal's been the best team in the EPL all season, right? They're definitely going to win the EPL this year, for sure.

Is Stan Kroenke the Goat owner?

I think if Stan Kroenke was British, they would love him. Everyone in England hates Stan Kroenke because he's not from England, but if he was English, he would be the most celebrated person there.

And we're just forgetting all of our listeners from St. Louis, just like Arthur. Meme. Yeah, you know, the fist is starting to get tighter and tighter as we talk about how Stan Kroenke's an incredible owner.

Okay, also, I know that Arsenal choked away the EPL this year, we do know that.

We do know that we're dumb-facing. yes, we're dumb-presenting, we're dumb-presenting.

My pronouns are shithead.

Yeah, but the game was great. Jamal MuRRAY I mean, for the Nuggets, it wasn't. I was a little pissed at the heat because watching I wasn't going to turn off an N.BA finals game. But I don't know if you guys had the same experience. I was sitting on my couch watching the game, being like, it's not over the heat, but it was.

That's what we said after game one. The heat don't have anybody that can match up with them.

Bam had 17 rebounds and the Nuggets were still had 15 more rebounds than the heat.

You've got Bam, then you've got Chris Kamen Jr. that they can put in. Yeah, Zeller, yeah, Zeller. And then who's left after that to guard any of their bigs, yeah.

Yeah, it was really mean when they zoomed in on his hair.

Yeah, that was mean, it was really mean. Him and Jeff Green, both. They like to zoom in on their hair. Which as a guy that will soon be approaching that level, I took major offense to that. It's like, let it go.

So do we think the heat are dead because this is now the trap that we fall into? Where now that the heat have to win a game, would you say must win, must win game four for the heat?

This is beyond a must win, this is the mustest win.

So now they're backs to the wall. Jimmy Butler has not been heard of, heard from this series. Like, maybe.

I'm going to get the narrative going, though. Jimmy Jimmy Butler, how bad does it make you hank? Jimmy Butler's hurt?

Jimmy Butler and Caleb Martin have not been good.

I'm not, yeah, I'm curious more, just, you know, from Max's perspective. My compadre here where everyone last year, you know him and Tatum and Jimmy Butler, you know finals numbers. Tatum's are actually better, and everyone was calling Tatum last year. You know, biggest choke can't show up in the big moments. Jimmy Butler is doing even worse than Jason Tatum last year. Nowhere to be found in the fourth quarter.

Why aren't we having a Jimmy Butler choke choke artist?

Right, Max, isn't it crazy? Should we start?

Agreed, terrible, terrible propaganda against my Celtics, like always.

It's crazy, it's just interesting.

He has to have a game where he takes over and wins a game for them, for that, for it to not become like, where was Jimmy Butler in the finals?

I'm going to, I'm going to say that he's injured, though I'm going to be the first to report that Jimmy Butler is not healthy.

When did he get injured?

He got injured when he rolled his ankle.

Against the Knicks.

One of the six times that he rolled his ankle, yeah.

And then played very well in those first three games against the Celtics.

But you know how rolled ankles are? Sometimes it's worse than a break, you wait three weeks and then it just flares up again.

I do, like, I think the heat are in deep, deep water because they're just nuggets, are better and taller and tall. Tallness matters, height matters, it does in basketball.

Sadly, in life.

It does, but especially in basketball. But if there's ever a team to not count out like, it wouldn't shock me if. On Friday night, the heat somehow pulled a rabbit out of their hat. Partially because for the 17th time these playoffs, we've declared heat culture dead. They pop up and it's 2-2 going back to Denver.

I would be surprised if the heat won. I think the Nuggets are going to win it in five. In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb. I think that this Nuggets team should win three championships. Ooh, Dynasty already.

Okay, so they have to do that, otherwise it's a complete bust.

Complete failure.

They haven't even won one yet, and we're already on Dynasty Talk. That's how it works in sports media.

I'm getting ahead of it because that is going to be the conversation, make no mistake. When they win this first one, it's going to be on first take and they're going to say, how great do you think this team can win? Yeah.

Michael Porter Jr.

He has not been good, which is why I replaced him as Jamal Murray's Robin with Christian Brown.

Yes, yes, Christian Brown was, I mean, that was that. If you're a guy who's a true role player guy and like, off the bench, 7th, 8th, 9th guy, whatever it may be, you just hope you have that one moment in the playoff run. So that when they talk about that ring, they can be like, Yeah, that was Christian Brown, Christian Brown, like he had that game.

He had, he's going to be featured on the one shining moment, yeah.

Because otherwise you don't want to be the guy who's like, oh yeah, when you look back at it, like, oh, okay, so you played like three minutes there, five minutes, No. He had in an N.B.A. finals game. He came into the game and what he scored was 21 or something, something. Yeah, I think it was 21. He was on fire.

I've got an interesting stat here in the playoffs, big cat, you know, the center, who has the highest three point percentage of all time.

The center in the playoffs? Wait, say it again.

The highest three point percentage of any center in the playoffs.

15 points. sorry, 15 points highest. Say it one more time.

Highest three point percentage of any center in the playoffs who has attempted over a hundred threes.

Oh, I was going to say over a hundred threes, because I was going to say, like it could be like, Shaq is like one for two.

Yeah, over a hundred, so it's a shooter.

Oof, who is it?

It's Jokic. Okay, it's Jokic. I thought it was a trick question. No, no, I did see the stat on NBA Reddit.

Yeah.

I can't read that, it's also that's a no-brainer.

This is the dozen rigged. It is a no-brainer. Yeah, Embiid stinks compared to Jokic.

I was hoping it was a trick question, but yeah.

I just wanted to say that for no particular reason.

Jokic also, he's-.

That's crazy, he's even got that many threes off, he only plays like one round a year.

Who embiid?

Murray's got crazy touch, too. That layup that he had that bounced off the top of the backboard was insane, yeah.

All right, so that was, that was game three, good game, Stanley Cup. So we are taping the OR. We're doing a live show tonight in Chicago.

No, fuck you Hank. First of all, I'd like to say that, Hank, I came into the office and Hank immediately goes, You know, I'm kind of rooting for Clem, Dave and Eddie to win tonight.

Well, it's kind of similar to Max, who said he was going to wear a Quigs jersey tonight. Max is facing off against my team in the first round and I reminded Max, Well, I just pointed out to Max that, pardon. My cheesesteak's doing pretty well and all the boys get taken care of at the end of the year.

When Hank's involved in that, I thought it was just me and you that were involved in it.

Hank was involved in it last year. Should we cut him out?

Well, that's because we allowed him to.

Yeah, that's true.

So Hank rooting against me right now, Max rooting against Big Cat, everything's coming up. Memes.

Memes is going to literally be the owner of Pardon my cheesesteak Congratulations Memes.

Meme says pink eye.

What wait, meme says pink eye.

Wait, what, you have pink eye right now?

That was mean.

I touched your hand.

That was fucked up, hank.

Yeah, actually, no, we didn't. You're so awkward.

We never touch anyone's hand. You know what? The most fucked up thing about this entire situation is big cat with Hank rooting against me, you know what Hank did last night?

What?

Hank hit me up at, like, what?

That's Firefest.

No, but I think it's directly tied into this conversation that we're having right now.

No, but it's Firefest, let's say we're Firefest.

I know it's Firefest.

As much as I like you, I would enjoy it if Brandon lost.

Yeah, that's the problem. PFT that you keep running into is that you have the most hateable person in the world.

Like, I want you to win, but I can also live with you like you. Losing could provide good content, which is good for the show, which I ultimately care about the most. So it's like, there's a rationale behind it. If it was just you, if you were playing by yourself, I'd be rooting for you.

But Brandon's so hateable, he's playing with like a mix of like LeBron and John Rocker.

But he's so hateable that he's likable.

No is the thing? No, Yeah, no.

There's no one I want to see win less.

There's no redeeming qualities to Brandon Walker.

Who would you rather see Win, Brandon or Max?

Max.

Yeah, because Max at least like, look at him, he's like a big jolly.

How did I get put in there?

He's the best loser, though.

Well, that's why it's kind of like, you know?

I almost said the meanest thing to Max.

You can just say yes, because you know it's never going to happen.

I almost said the meanest thing you can say to another fat guy.

It truly is, it's us against the world.

I almost called you cuddly, I'll take that.

I'll take that.

Cuddly Max doesn't, Oh god.

I just want to squeeze him between two Graham crackers.

Oh, no.

He's got a kissable face. Yeah, I want to curl up next to him like a little puppy. Oh no, he'd probably slit my throat.

So Panthers going to win tonight.

No.

Oh, we're in our Stanley Cup preview. That all counts, by the way.

Yeah, Panthers win tonight, okay.

All right, we'll talk about the Stanley Cup on Sunday or Saturday. Sunday Monday's show We Have a Life episode coming.

Yeah, I'll just say, while we're doing it.

The preview of the NBA.

We're going to tape the N.B.A. reaction from Friday night's game. Yep, and then we're doing a life episode with Titus and Russillo. Long episode, great episode.

Great episode.

So it'll be stitched together that way. So we won't have any new content from Sunday, right? That's going to be coming out Monday morning. But we should cover the finals and that should all be fine. People tend to like the yeah.

No, they're not.

They're not, you can tell, because they asked the coach, like, are you going to bench Bobrovsky? and he was like, What? no, absolutely not.

No.

No, it's not going to happen.

All right, so I'll take the Panthers tonight. Go peas.

Yeah, go peas, let's go peas.

All right, before we talk about some other stuff and get to our interview with Mike McDaniel. Quick word from our friends at Turo Turo Hank used Turo.

I used Turo.

Car owners who share their cars on Turo are hosts, people who book cars on Turo are guests, and that's how it works. Turo is the world's largest car sharing marketplace. With Turo. You can book any car you want for just about any occasion from a community of local hosts across the country.

I got a chevy silverado, actually.

Ooh, it was nice. So you can even get a vintage car or something classy for a special event or photo shoot. Every trip is backed by liability insurance. Terms, conditions and exclusions apply. Find your Drive, Forget boring rental cars and go to Turo.com.

Was it a gender reveal or was it a pregnancy reveal?

It might've been a pregnancy reveal still yet to be determined gender that triggered, unfortunately for Zion, a string of tweets by a lady who allegedly has been spending time with Zion and didn't know about the girlfriend. I'll read, I'll just read a random one.

I'd like to read another random tweet if that's okay.

Yeah, please.

Uh, I motivated you to get back in shape. I let you fuck me all kinds of ways and fill me on your phone at Zion Williamson and you impregnate a low budget porn star. DNA test, or I'm done.

Yeah, so that one's tough to unpack. Because it basically is like. Zion is now having his girlfriends and his girlfriend, girlfriends, and whoever his relationships are, they all are in the Zion weight loss program.

But I kind of like, I like the fact that she's letting him fuck her in different positions just to get a workout in. Yeah, like, it sounds like it sounds like the other girl, Mariah Mills, who's apparently a porn star as well. I don't know what, she's a porn star, I, yeah.

It's a little confusing, so it's always alleged, I guess.

This should, this should clear it all up, because anytime, anytime I get confused about a situation.

I love the use of alleged 30 person slideshow, 30 picture slideshow, and a podcast playing.

That's wonderful, wonderful journalism on his part, making sure that you don't get sued. She's allegedly a squirter that has not been confirmed.

So this is all alleged. Hank just looked at me, like, Well, I think the porn star like that.

Yeah, I guess.

But you could also make the argument like he is a very well-known person. Anyone could start tweeting about spitting in mouths and fucking in different positions. It seems real, but I also don't like, well, he was on Snapchat.

I'm sure he was on Snapchat, he's like, This can't get out there, it's Snapchat.

Are we sure it was Zion Williamson? because the the screen name was Zion Williamson? On Snapchat? It could have been anybody.

Yeah, and um, as far as the spitting in mouth. I just try to spin zone this for Zion and be like, maybe he's, you know, not finishing all his food, maybe he that's part of the workout program, or he's losing water weight that way.

I was just researching this the topic on Twitter, and someone tweeted Thoughts and glocks. A Zion Williamson and John Morant documentary coming soon, yeah.

So jaws the other part.

It sounds like she's a Rastafarian, the way she mounts. Zion, Yeah.

I mean, she had some, she went on a tweet spree.

Oh, here's another one. Don't call my phone at Zion Williamson. You lost me for good until I see DNA. I'm done, yeah.

Yeah, there was a I told you, I told you you was going to be the next king next to LeBron. I motivated you.

Uh, on these women are 33 29.

Your baby mama is the reason you gained weight, so now we have alleged reasons for gaining weight, too.

Because the baby mama was toxic, was feeding him toxic, you know what? That does sound toxic? It sounds like she was trying to get. This happens in relationships sometimes, if you ever seen like My thousand pound Wife or whatever that show is. Sometimes in an abusive relationship, somebody will make the other person fat so that other people won't find them desirable.

And also the. The woman who went on the tweets for a spree about Zion Like, said she's still moving to New Orleans. So I think he still has two girlfriends. Which kind of rocks pending the DNA? Yeah, pending the DNA. Also just a heads up design.

Yeah, oh, you know what? This actually does explain a lot about Zion's weight gain. He's got two girlfriends, he's going out to two dinners a night.

This is kind of like when I eat dinner with my kids at home and then I come back to the studio and then we get like a huge spread of meal.

Yeah, he's been eating double snacks and double pussy.

Yeah, so Zion, maybe not the best day. I would like to get a comment from Mike Malone being like, why are people talking about Zion? And not the nuggets? That I just imagining him being mad about? That would be very funny. And then we have John Morant, who his camp is now alleging that it's a toy gun.

Do you think? But if I was John Morant, I'd be pissed off at my team for putting that information out there. Because you're essentially saying that the gun that you held up in the live stream was such a shitty, ridiculous gun that it could be mistaken for a toy gun.

I think the first gun could have been more of the toy.

That was a that was like a Derringer.

Yeah, so uh, interesting, interesting, uh, like path forward for jaw.

When is when is Adam Silver going to announce the suspension? is it going to be like at the trophy ceremony?

Cause he's got a suspension ready for draft right before the first pick.

Yeah.

That would actually be mean, but hilarious if he mentioned it right before the Grizzlies pick. And then we also had, uh, in NBA news, this really was a day that they were like, how many stories can we have that take away from the Nuggets? Uh, Chris Paul has reportedly been waived, but he's not waived because why would they waive them? Right now? They don't have to. And it sounds like, if you're reading between the lines, The Sun's basically sat him down, like, Hey, we owe you $30 million.

The way that it's being framed right now in the news makes it seem like Chris Paul isn't coming back. And so if you're Chris Paul, even if that was the plan, the way that it's played out would probably make you more inclined to not be a son next year.

I also didn't. I wasn't aware of the Chris Paul clip where he talked about, uh, his daughter getting, uh, like, bullied at school. Which sucks, that does suck. But the example he used was, he's like, Yeah, my daughter was at school and a kid went up to her. It was like, your dad's never going to win a ring. So I just want to say a shout out to the 12 year olds in the Phoenix area who were listening to part of my take.

I Yeah, yeah. Can you imagine if somebody came up to your son in preschool and was like, your dad's never going to win an iHeartMedia podcast? He's lost seven in a row. Also, shout out to Chris Paul for that that quote that came out, Um, what, two years ago, three years ago?

He just needs to go to the Lakers.

He quit Finals Cold Turkey.

Yeah, he needs to go to the Lakers, I think, let him go to the Lakers, let's have fun with that.

It would be nice to see him, though there'd be a full circle moment. Yeah, I mean, Chris Paul was supposed to be a laker, yeah.

Yeah, we get to Dwayne Wade can maybe coach the banana boat whole team, the banana boat squad. Uh, all right, last things before we get to our interview, uh, so the little little bit of live stuff. There was a report.

That's what I was saying to Dan Rappaport. I was like, it seems like a seismic event. Whether that, and in the back of my mind, it was like Scotty Sheffler or John Rom would be enough to make them come to the table.

Right, and cause you then would have the Masters winner and the PGA champions. So the first two majors of the year be on live tour. And then the Rory's just going through it because there's reports of like, live players.

Well, so with with Rory? He said he felt like a sacrificial lamb when he was talking to media, and he absolutely was, yes.

They used Rory J. Monahan used them.

Yeah, so if I was Rory, I'd be, I'd be furious. I still don't see a way how how the players can look J. Monahan in the eyes as their commissioner and how he moves forward. I guess it's not their call. I think if enough players make a big enough stink about, I'm I'm sure they could probably figure out a way to get me.

Again, I just go back to the He probably is like, it's you guys are gonna make more money, and it's it's like, it's not right. It's the whole thing is fucked up. On the J. Monahan part, I don't care about live like I did.

Yeah, money, there's money, money. Uh, did you see the clip of Bryson going on CNN? And they asked him about Nine 11?

Possible nine 11. David Guetta All these guys just fixing the world. Golf music makes the world go around. Your your Apple watch is talking again. Um, yeah.

If you're Jay Monahan, I go back to. You can say we don't want to take their money. We don't want to be in bed. With a public investment fund from a state that that's had questionable activities in the past, you can say that, or you can do the thing that he did, which was directly refer to Nine 11. Bring the widows and the family members out. If you go that second path, where you have the families and you talk about Nine 11 explicitly, then you can't take the money, yeah.

You've entered them into the conversation.

You cannot take the money. You can always be a half snake about it and say, like, we don't want to do business with them, their money's questionable. That seems like a big headache that is not worth the juice, isn't worth the squeeze at that point.

Jimmy Dune, who was the one of the PGA guys who got in the mix and like, help make the deal happen, worked in one of the twin towers. Wasn't there that day but lost, like his boss, his mentor, 60 coworkers only, wasn't there cause he was trying to qualify for like the U S. Open or something. He was at a at a tournament. He just was on TV, where we're recording the afternoon, and he said on the golf channel. If someone can find someone who unequivocally was involved with it, I'll kill them myself. Oh, what he was asking about Nine 11.?

Damn, he just went, dog the bounty hunter on us.

I'll kill them myself. Good for him.

Okay.

All right, uh, well, you know how? Jay Monahan said that in new information has come to light.

I do feel like, though Jimmy Dune, like, probably helped Jay Monahan. He was like, Well, no, he pushed it through and he was like, what about the nine 11 thing?

He's like, Well, he's like, Ah, nah, 20 years.

Yeah, he's like, if anyone, there's part of me that thinks that where it's like him. Saying that we can push through this with them probably made Jay Monahan be like, Well, you know, he wants everyone he knows in Nine 11 and he wants to do this.

It's a shitty thing, but it's also how the world works. Money and power just run everything. I remember Jimmy Dune being like, Oh, I get more power now. And I get to be like. He's a now a board member of the new PGA Tour, and he's he basically gets to do like. I was like, he has membership to every awesome golf club like Augusta Shinnecock or shot a 72 seminole, all these places.

Is it Jimmy Dune or Jimmy Dunn? I don't know how to say his name, but if you look at his resume, I'll tell you, I'll tell.

You Nine 11.

If Jimmy Jimmy Dunn ever finds him, he gets his hands on, Well, Jimmy Dunn. Let me introduce you to a man named George W. Bush. That would be an all time twist, wouldn't it? Yeah, but Jimmy Dunn goes to jail for killing George W.

So my best friends were playing golf on Nine 11.

Yeah, so it's okay. Yeah, yeah.

Uh, it's, I mean, it's just money wins.

Yep.

It's if you haven't figured that out by now, you will someday. Money wins. Uh, all right, last thing before we get to the interview, Uh. The Vikings. I don't want to take another victory lap. But the Vikings seem to be doing things, uh, like rebuilding type things where they realize, Hey, maybe last year was a little fluky.

DALVIN Cook seems to be on on the tail end of his career. And it's sad to say, cause as a running back he was awesome. What two years ago, three years ago, he didn't have a great season last year.

I feel like when he plays, it's just when he plays, and maybe this is also because his backup, Alexander Madison kind of looks like him. So you just combine all those yards together.

As far as their defense goes, I know I know Hunter's a great player, but also that defense probably can't get any worse than it was last year. Yeah, so if it only if it gets better marginally somehow, and you get a good haulback for Hunter, then I think that you're in a better position.

He had a he had a almost 1200 yards rushing.

Maybe I'm wrong about that, I maybe I'm. I'm thinking of of the clips that I've seen and the games that I've watched him play. But it seems like he lost a little bit of explosive.

Yeah, no, he had a. It was actually his second best rushing season in terms of yardage, total yardage. So he and he played all the games. So I was wrong about that. I guess he, I guess he wasn't injured. It feels like he always missed like two or three games. But either way, it's smart to sell on them.

They're building the team around Kirk Cousins. Yeah, this year is the year that we find out if Kirk Cousins is elite, we're going to keep.

Our minds open, we absolutely are okay. Let's get to our interview with Mike McDaniel on the other side.

Let's get awkward, bro.

Okay, did you see when PFT and I texted you and did you just ignore it? because we did text you at the combine so you ignored it? hmm?

Yeah, yeah, we can pull up the thread real quick. Because before we started recording here, you just said that we've been ducking you. We were under the impression that you've been ducking us.

I mean, there's various definitions of ducking. Yeah, yeah.

We got your number from Kevin Stefanski, who we had on the show, and we shot you a text at the combine. We said, Coach, we'd love to have you on. We'll do it anytime, anywhere you tell us.

Crickets.

Crickets, we're like, Does he hate us?

No, it's just plain hard to get look at what's happening right now.

Yes.

It's true and this is consensual. Yes, so I mean, it could be true that you texted me, It could not be true.

Yeah.

You know, I try to be present wherever I'm at. There's a cost of that, and it's communicating with people that aren't around me. So I apologize if I did, but I'm not sure if that's the case.

Okay, so I've got the text thread right here. Yeah, big cat on Wednesday, March 1st, texted you at 5.23 p..m. I'm in PFT from part of my take.

Yeah, but you're not going to read the audience, the third text, the one that was at 3.30 a..m that said you up.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, that's true. So you read a lot of those that night, so you might've fallen through the cracks.

Well, I just wanted to clear up that part. Because when you were off, we were like, Yeah, we've been trying to get them on forever. So much so that we were harassing them on text. So I'm happy that we at least have you on the show now, and maybe you'll respond to our texts now.

Well, what if I took it a step further and said? Not only are the doors open for this relationship to blossom, but I'm a huge fan of everything you guys do. I was just trying to play hard to get, hoping you guys would treat me like a hot girl.

Yeah, we got you, we got you.

It worked. You look great today, by the way, your eyes.

We chased you.

That burn brings out the eyes.

You shouldn't compliment me, but continue to.

Yeah, all right. Well, it is great that you're on. We have wanted to have you on since you got hired. Actually, probably before that, when you were at the Niners, you were going viral.

You didn't know who I was? Yeah, I did.

Yeah, we did, yeah.

I mean, we Kittle told us, Kittle was like this guy Mike, he just the way he schemes up a run game. Hoof. Let's start there, though, because we have always said that when the 49ers and now the Dolphins when they run the football. There's something about it that is just so beautiful to watch. At what point in your life did you fall in love with the run game?

Well, you know, uh, I did have a special attachment, um, to the Run game because of the The Bronco fandom, as it were, um, specifically 95. Um, you know, when Mike Shannon first got there and was with Terrell Davis, um, and they, they, you know, there'd been no championship to the city of Denver. Um, and then, on the heels of a legitimate run game, they, they got two Superbowls out there. There's always the seed plants, um, but from a career perspective, it kind of happened. Um, out of survival, um. So I'm I'm coming from the UFL, going to Washington, working with Kyle Shanahan.

That's awesome, I mean, the fact that it was born out of survival, which you could say. For the run game, you like, you have to run the ball to survive in the N.FL, so do you still have that same passion for the run game? Cause, like we said, like when when the 49ers run the ball, there's something about it. It's like, it's sexier than a pass, than a deep pass.

No, absolutely, um, probably, even, probably, even more so at this point. You know, you, you, you're, you're. You take one season, um, and and you try to, you know, uh, we're fortunate, um, enough to work in an industry that's thriving. And there's a lot of people that care about football. Um, and so it can be like, Oh, is he a? is he a pass guy? I'm still the same exact exact enthusiast.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Poop it out.

Yeah, yeah.

Uh, but like, like, it takes so much deliberate work. And the reason why it looks different is because you're you're also coaching players to do stuff differently, so that you know that's why it looks. And that's hard. And there's, there's also, you know, the element of players getting used to it, players trusting that leap of faith. Um, there's. It's a lot of work that you can't, um, short change.

It is beautiful, I mean, some of the seven yard runs that you've had in the last couple of years have just been the most fun place to watch. I also love how you respect the fullback position, you've got a great fullback and Alec Ingold one of our favorites badger.

He is a supremely underrated UM player in the National Football League that I hope gains some momentum because he is a man, he's a good player.

He's awesome, we had to have a word with him a couple of years ago because he was starting to do. The players do now where they jump over tacklers and they try the other thing, you know, that thing, it's like, Dude, you're down.

How high do you get every time he runs somebody over?

Uh, very high. yeah, I nut.

I made him do that, yeah.

Yeah, it's pretty nice, but uh, yeah, like when you watch your run game, it almost seems like you make. The wide receivers, the fullbacks and the tight ends all play like offensive linemen and block like offensive linemen.

You know, shout out. This seed was planted in 2005.

Right, you know?

So how do you, um, incentivize guys to participate in, you know, something that's, you know, less dividend pain directly, as, you know, catching a pass. And what what coach Shanahan would do is he would meet with. Um, he'd watch Thursday's practice, the team run period, um, which, you know, everybody does around the league in some way, shape or form. But he would watch that portion of practice as an entire offense on Friday. With the thinking that the best way to motivate receivers, to take pride in detail in the run game. The best way to really emphasize that it takes all 11 players to, uh, on the field to run the ball well is to have them all watch that together. And that's it's the peer pressure from the locker room. Guys saying, dude, what you're just going to, you're just going to loaf and let me get, um, tattooed by. A strong safety like that was his kind of, uh, way of really emphasizing and getting that done.

And Sex described it, yeah.

And my wife looks at me like, I'm a weirdo.

Yeah.

Well, yeah, no, we love, we love watching that. Yes, uh, you, I'm. I'm glad that you brought it up. Earlier, you mentioned that Washington Redskins team, it's not like.

No, I mean, clearly the most physically imposing you, right? Yeah, um, no, I mean, we were all. It was such a cool U.M. environment, because, you know, Kyle was, you know, so young as a coordinator. He got started at 28. Um, and he made sure when he got the job that his. It was because of his football acumen and not his last name.

Yeah, a lot of great minds in that room, for sure. Now. Um, big cat, do you want to ask the question about?

We do have a hypothetical. It's not about that.

I mean, sorry.

The question not about Matt, it's just a hypothetical football question. We ask this on every football coach. Um, all right, so you're down eight. There is, uh, two minutes left in the game.

And then I guess it's semantics. Is it a elimination game?

It's an elimination game.

Get out the golf clubs.

You know, I think I take a knee, all right?

That would definitely screw them up.

You know, the funny thing? Uh, I think, uh, I. I felt, um, for Matt, cause I knew it's exactly what he was doing. And anytime you make any decision as a as a coach, um, it'd be a farce. To not x that, to not submit to the fact that I don't know what's going to work. I would do that all the time. So you have to make a calculated decision that you feel good with. I talked to Matt after the game. Um, you know, we talked through if there were some disparities in thought process, but he knew why he was doing it.

If you're wrong, it gets brought up on part of my take for the rest of history.

And what's ironic is, you continue to do that and cause Matt LaFleur is one of the greatest guys I know. All he does is needle me and text me about how I need to come on your guys show, yeah.

So I mean, we love Matt Lafleur. Um, question off that.

What a good looking guy, right?

The best looking guy, the best looking guy, he's the best looking. And I'll say this because I know Sean McVay would get upset. But he's, he's of the of the fun bunch of that group, he's by far the best looking guy.

You haven't seen me as my shirt off.

That's true, but I'm still taking Matt Lafleur.

Matt Lafleur with a change in the ranking. Yeah, it was just true.

True, Um, all right. So based off that real football question, off that, uh, when it comes to those types of decisions on the sidelines, how many guys are in your ear? How? What's the process that goes through those split second decisions of go for it? Don't? Um, I know that you have a chart, but is it like you're going with the charters?

There's a lot of that for me. Um, you know, I think it's so important to be, um, super prepared for any game. Because what I don't want to happen is ever to. To look in hindsight at a decision to be like, well, that was influenced by emotion. Um, so what? I'm as prepared as I can possibly be for the opponent and then understand that, um, my best will either be good enough or it won't in terms of my contribution. But the team, the players on the field, are going to determine the outcome. So, that being said, that preparation also goes to the people that, um, you lean on, you know, in your analytics department for, um, all the game type scenarios.

Information Yeah.

So I look at that as all tools. I think the whole point of having a head coach is so that someone can make a decision and I look at it as my. My job to take all the information from all the talented people that I work with and make a decision. And let the players, um, let me know if that was the right or wrong decision.

That's smart. I mean, I would, I would just be like, Fuck you dude, why'd you tell me that it didn't work?

And and like, it's not like, I just over. This is something that I've been thinking about, you know, if I were to be in the in, in the chair making the decisions I've been thinking about throughout my career? And it's something that you have to be very mindful of, because you have to understand that. No one wants to talk out loud and hurt the team's chances of winning a football game on game day. Everyone, all they're, they're all in, have the same thing at stake. In terms of, you know, you win more football games than you lose, you're employed, so let's win the game.

That's a very smart answer. I would coach pretty much based on vibes entirely.

Just vibe it, bro.

Yeah, just vibe it, just go out there. Like, if it's, if it's like late November, it's, you know, 23 degrees in Buffalo and you're wearing the teal uniforms. I'd be like, we're looking kind of candy ass today.

I mean, it's generally how I base all my decisions on our inconsequential, consequential factors. Um, the I. I I think, man, you'd really get my brain turning.

Yeah, no, they're candy ass, they're a little candy ass.

I think that they're. They're great for September and October. When it's white out, or when it's hot outside, you know, the weather starts turning, you get sleet, freezing rain kind of candy. Has to be wearing those heels.

And Dolphins players look colder in those uniforms.

See, and. But I think I found the root of the problem.

Okay.

You guys have, who's your uniform distributor? I don't know who it is, but um, our actual uniforms are aqua color, not teal, so you've probably been seeing teal and been like, those are candy, really. Aqua strikes fear in the heart of every man. I mean, that's just now, we're just talking facts.

Yeah, okay.

I see candy for every color. But yeah, sure.

That's a valid point, though.

You know, you know what's cool about the I. When I got the job, this was like I'd been in six divisions, I'd never been to the AFC East. I didn't really know that much about, uh, the dolphins, relative to, you know the way.

They do the players look faster in the Aqua, that's, that's for sure. Like, do you ever? do you ever? Just go out on the practice field? And you're like, Hey, Tyreek, can you just run some routes just so I can watch how fast you are?

Yeah, you know, I mean, when you got it, why not, you know? Um, he, he's in the building and he's really good at running routes, very fast, and it's really fun to watch. Um, however, I don't try, I try not to make him do unnecessary stuff. Um, you know, to. I want to keep fast, fast, but he, Uh, I have to tell you in person. Aqua, white, green, red, Uh, fuchsia dude looks fast in any color.

Yeah, I believe that, I believe that, so I so, based on the wide receivers. I had a question about, Uh, Andrew Hawkins had a quote talking about you as a coach and how? When you came in, he was essentially like, he told us, throw out everything. You know, I'm going to teach you something different. How? How does that go when you have those first meetings? Has it been, like, hard in your career to get guys to buy in right away, knowing like, Hey, I'm going to do something totally different?

Yeah, you know, um, it's a pro, you, you hit the nail on the head. That's a problem that I recognized, um, literally. My first full-time paying job in the N.FL was 2006..

Yeah.

I've got an alternate method that maybe you could try is just bring back the two earring hook that you had. You remember that there's a there's a that screenshot of you on, I think it's Channel Nine News in Denver, it says. Michael McDaniel, Broncos ball Boy, you've got the two big hoop earrings.

Right? Or, like, you know, does he have any financial advice? He looks responsible. Um, you know, multitude of things that are going through their heads. Um, you know, so many adults tell you, Oh, you're going to regret that.

I think it's a good look, I think you bring it back. Maybe if you win a Super Bowl, you can get away with anything if you want a Super Bowl.

Yeah, I could you think I could wear clogs on the sidelines?

Yeah, definitely, if you win the dream, you go barefoot on the sideline, um, you definitely can one with the earth.

I like that.

Yeah, I got a couple of questions. Uh, the first is we're part of two, and on we have two, two, two questions. We're part of two, and on, we're believers. Why is it?

No, um, there's a couple of things going on, I think, cause I've I've wondered the same thing. In terms of the polarization of people, like, a lot of people have strong opinions. Either way, um, I think, you know, the starting point is he, he is, he is different.