Hour 2 – Celebrate the Small Stuff, Peter King

0:00Speaker 1:You are listening to The Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.

0:04Speaker 2:Hour two on this Thursday, Dan and the Danettes, Dan Patrick Show. The great Peter King will stop by as a new book, looking back on his 40 years covering the NFL.

0:14Speaker 3:He'll join us in studio.

0:16Speaker 2:Big-time actor, filmmaker Ben Affleck will join us in the final hour of the program. He has a new movie coming out, I believe, on Friday on Netflix called Animals. Stat of the Day brought to you by Panini America, the official trading cards of the program. Judging from the results and the orders, the DP show branded gear for the entire family is a smashing success. You can shop now at danpatrick.com. Football coming up tonight. Buccaneers eight and a half point underdogs at the Cowboys. The over under for entertainment purposes, 47 and a half points. We spent a lot of time first hour talking about baseball. I know I was a get off my lawn guy talking about the fact that all we do is strike out.

1:02Speaker 3:And the pitching is not that great.

1:04Speaker 2:It's just the hitting is not great because nobody puts the ball in play.

1:08Speaker 3:It's not valued.

1:10Speaker 2:And if you want to labor through what I said in the first hour, go get them. You know, speaking of gambling, I got some information here. The first Sunday of the regular season, just one Sunday in the NFL. How much money do you think was wagered on the NFL between regular betting outlets and prediction market sites? Closest to the hole gets lunch today. Todd, how much money first Sunday of the regular season alone?

1:42Speaker 4:76 million. 76 million.

1:45Speaker 5:All right.

1:45Speaker 6:Dylan.

1:45Speaker 2:$ 11.

1:49Speaker 1:Billion.

1:50Speaker 3:All right. Marvin?

1:54Speaker 7:$ 158 million.

1:54Speaker 5:All right. Paul?

1:55Speaker 3:$ 2. 2 billion.

1:58Speaker 8:$ 3.

1:58Speaker 3:5 billion on one day.

2:01Speaker 2:That's the regular betting outlets and the prediction market site. So that's more than $ 10 for every single man, woman, and child of any age in the United States.

2:15Speaker 9:Bum, bum, bum, bum, start of the day, start of the day.

2:21Speaker 10:Oh, baby, it's the start of the day.

2:25Speaker 3:Start of the day, start of the day.

2:29Speaker 4:It's the start of the day.

2:31Speaker 2:That's Michael Bublé, or as my mother-in-law would say, Michael Bubble. More than half of that amount was wagered through prediction markets.

2:42Speaker 3:That's the wave. That's the next.

2:45Speaker 2:That's why you see these athletes when somebody goes, why is LeBron working for a prediction market? Well, because they're probably giving him stock options and they're paying him a whole lot of money. And you'll find even more athletes who are getting into the prediction markets.

3:01Speaker 4:All right.

3:01Speaker 2:877-3DP-SHOW. Email address dp at danpatrick.com. Twitter handle at dpshow. Yankees get eliminated again. Aaron Boone, perhaps on the hot seat again. Brian Cashman, GM, maybe on the hot seat. And maybe the Yankees look at this and go, as long as we're making the postseason. It used to be you got to win. It was World Series or bust. Now, they've been to a World Series, but you can start to hear the frustration. Here's Aaron Judge, who didn't even play in the series. And it starts with the reporter's question.

3:39Speaker 8:What are your thoughts on how Cash and Hale respond to another year of the championship?

3:46Speaker 11:We're the Yankees. I feel like they should go all in and do what they need to do. If we've got holes, if it's finding certain players or personnel, whatever we need, you've got to go out there and get it. That's why I signed back here to play with the Yankees is to fight for a championship every single year. They go all in. That's what I do every offseason is get ready to give this team and this city everything I've got, so I expect them to do the same.

4:09Speaker 2:Okay, now I don't know what questions were follow-up questions, but I would say give me examples here. I mean, it's a larger picture here, and it's vague on purpose. I'm surprised Aaron Judge was even talking because he wasn't playing, but maybe he wanted to say something here. Look, he signed his big contract. He's 34 years of age. He's probably, I don't know how many Yankee Hall of Famers have not won a World Series. in their career, but I don't think he's going to win a World Series. And when you think of the World Series, you might look back to last year when he had the error against the Dodgers. Fair or not, but it sounded like a guy who's frustrated that this team, you should get to the postseason. It's what you do when you get to the postseason. That's the difference with the Yankees in any other franchise. Now the Dodgers, it's not getting to the postseason.

5:06Speaker 2:Now it's not getting to the World Series. It's winning a World Series.

5:10Speaker 3:Yeah, Paul.

5:10Speaker 9:The Yankees have won one World Series in the past 26 years. And for any other franchise, they'd be like, sign me up. But they gave Joe Girardi seven seasons after he won a World Series and let him go. Aaron Boone's going into Season 9.

5:26Speaker 2:Sunday Night Football, it's Week 5, Atlanta. The primetime Falcons take on the Ravens. That'll be on NBC and Peacock, which is where you'll find this program. Also NBC Sports Now. We say good morning to our radio affiliates around the country. Football tonight. And the Dodgers close out the Braves. Rays close out the Yankees. Brewers close out the Padres. The Guardians stay alive as they beat the White Sox. Poll question from hour one, Dylan. What are we going to go with in hour two?

5:59Speaker 12:Well, for starters, Dan, who you got tonight, the Bucs or the Cowboys? As we know, this is part of my betting strategy now.

6:06Speaker 3:We are having a viewing party.

6:08Speaker 2:Where is that available if people want to watch us watch the game?

6:12Speaker 12:I think any of the social channels for both DP Takes a Gamble and the Dan Patrick Show.

6:17Speaker 3:Okay.

6:19Speaker 12:I'm pretty sure. I'll confirm. Instagram, Twitter, YouTube.

6:24Speaker 5:Okay.

6:25Speaker 2:We did this a couple of times before. Usually with a Cowboys game because Shea is good content. But the entire gambling cast will be there. Some of the backroom guys as well. We'll have an ensemble there watching the game. So you can watch us watch a game and watch me drink tequila and smoke my cigar.

6:43Speaker 3:Yes, Dylan.

6:44Speaker 12:What should we do for dinner?

6:47Speaker 2:I have to have dinner at home with my daughter's boyfriend coming over.

6:53Speaker 12:Sounds good.

6:55Speaker 3:But And I shouldn't say have to.

6:58Speaker 2:I look forward to having dinner with my daughter and her boyfriend.

7:03Speaker 5:Yes, Todd.

7:04Speaker 4:And where are we on the Dan versus Mr. Patrick? I think you said he can call you Dan.

7:08Speaker 3:No, that would be my daughter's husband.

7:11Speaker 4:So this is still a Mr. Patrick situation.

7:13Speaker 3:Yeah, because they're not married.

7:14Speaker 4:Oh, you have to be married to get that.

7:16Speaker 13:Yes.

7:17Speaker 4:What if it's a serious relationship and no ring yet? It's still Mr.

7:20Speaker 1:Patrick.

7:20Speaker 3:What did I say?

7:21Speaker 4:Just look at the clarification.

7:23Speaker 3:The clarification is married.

7:25Speaker 4:Okay. That's pretty, okay. I respect that. You don't need my okay on that. Thank you, Todd. My daughter's boyfriend calls me Todd.

7:36Speaker 3:Yes, Dylan.

7:39Speaker 12:Do you want me to come to dinner?

7:40Speaker 14:No.

7:41Speaker 12:Do you want to, would you be hungry for Taco Bell later still.

7:44Speaker 11:You think?

7:44Speaker 2:No.

7:45Speaker 13:No?

7:45Speaker 3:I don't think so. Maybe wings.

7:47Speaker 12:Oh, just wings, but all right.

7:49Speaker 3:Yeah, I think my wife's making pesto.

7:51Speaker 12:Just a bowl of pesto?

7:53Speaker 2:No, no.

7:53Speaker 3:She'll have, you know.

7:56Speaker 4:Pasta?

7:57Speaker 3:Some shoulder foods there. She'll have some other things.

8:00Speaker 12:Some shoulder foods?

8:01Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't know. I just threw that out there.

8:02Speaker 9:You don't care as long as they're slathered with pesto.

8:04Speaker 2:All I care is how were first bites, you know. I'm going to ask him that.

8:10Speaker 3:First bites?

8:10Speaker 2:My daughter's boyfriend. How were first bites there? What's the poll question for hour two?

8:16Speaker 12:Well, Marvin sent me one, and it's a Fritzie-inspired poll question.

8:21Speaker 13:Yeah.

8:21Speaker 12:Do you have a problem with the Dodgers celebrating with champagne after winning the NLDS? Yes, celebrate every milestone. Or no, you're expected to win the World Series.

8:30Speaker 3:I think celebrate the moments.

8:32Speaker 2:Now, I learned this the hard way that I didn't celebrate the times when I was at ESPN and all the moments that you could really celebrate because you keep thinking and moving forward, moving forward, moving forward.

8:44Speaker 3:You get a moment. It's a small win. Celebrate it. And I think that would be the approach I would have. Yes, celebrate.

8:52Speaker 2:It is an accomplishment. And the next one you win, celebrate as well. I have no problem with that. Maybe we don't celebrate the small victories as much as we should.

9:03Speaker 3:Yes, Dylan.

9:04Speaker 12:Where are you on that being like a bad omen or bad juju? You know, like, oh, we celebrated for the NLDS and then got swept in the NLCS.

9:14Speaker 2:I don't think if they lose to the Brewers, it'll have anything to do with champagne. No?

9:18Speaker 5:No.

9:20Speaker 2:I think it'll have to do with, boy, the Brewers are a really good team. And they had home field advantage, and they took advantage of that.

9:27Speaker 3:Yes, Tom?

9:28Speaker 15:When the Chiefs were on their run just a couple years ago, did they go crazy over winning the AFC West or anything like that?

9:34Speaker 4:I don't know. I'm asking for a friend.

9:37Speaker 3:Why don't you Google it?

9:38Speaker 4:And should they?

9:39Speaker 3:Why don't you check chat GPT? But should they?

9:41Speaker 15:Should they like break out the champagne and go, yeah, we finished 13-4 and we beat out the Raiders, Chargers, and Broncos with AFC West champs?

9:47Speaker 3:Yes, Paul.

9:48Speaker 9:It feels like football doesn't do that celebration spraying stuff that often. I did see someone post on Twitter yesterday. After you win a series, champagne is fine. The champagne room.

9:58Speaker 7:Is not fine.

9:59Speaker 2:Ooh.

10:00Speaker 7:Much celebration.

10:02Speaker 3:I've never been in the champagne room.

10:03Speaker 7:It's great. Oh, I'm sorry.

10:05Speaker 13:What?

10:07Speaker 3:Marvin, have you been in the champagne room?

10:10Speaker 7:It was a little too expensive in Magic City.

10:13Speaker 3:Oh, that's right.

10:14Speaker 2:I only financed $ 100, I think, for you and Mario, I think. Went into the champagne. That's when we were doing Family Feud. And these guys, it's like 830. We just get back from dinner. They go, you want to go to Magic City? I go, no, I'm going to bed. And they go, well, we got to go to Magic City. I said, all right, here's 100 bucks if you want to get some wings. And you guys stayed there. And you saw some famous people at Magic City.

10:45Speaker 7:We did.

10:46Speaker 14:We saw Lil Bow Wow. And Lil Bow Wow's stack of money was ridiculous. And the lady, the bartender was like, yeah, he's super rich. And T-Pain was in there, too. And you saw some big guys. And I was like, those look like either Falcons or Bulldogs. We couldn't tell the difference.

11:05Speaker 3:Yes, Todd.

11:06Speaker 15:I didn't realize you can't negotiate the price of a lap dance. So that was an awkward moment.

11:09Speaker 7:With the bubbles.

11:10Speaker 4:It's like, why don't we just call it 35? No, no, it's 70. I'm like, oh, come on. Just meet me halfway.

11:16Speaker 11:Yes, Dylan.

11:17Speaker 12:Marvin, correct me if I'm wrong. You guys didn't even actually end up getting the wings, did you?

11:21Speaker 7:We sure did.

11:22Speaker 12:That's the whole point of going. I mean, a big part.

11:24Speaker 3:Matt in Ohio.

11:25Speaker 1:Hi, Matt.

11:26Speaker 3:What do you have for me today?

11:29Speaker 1:Hello, guys. How are you?

11:30Speaker 5:Great, Matt.

11:32Speaker 6:Good.

11:33Speaker 5:I just had two things to address. The first was kind of a suggestion about the sticky football situation. What I would have done is that same day just have everybody come in and you give them all a baseball glove and you go out and play a little toss in the back there. And whoever has the most movement, you know, that's your culprit right there. If it's just dropping off the table, then that's what you got.

12:07Speaker 3:All right. Thank you, Matt. Jeremy in Ohio. Hi, Jeremy. Hey, Dan.

12:17Speaker 10:Thanks for taking the call. So Todd's last 10 minutes is setting.

12:20Speaker 5:This up great for me.

12:20Speaker 10:It just has to be scripted. I'd like to hire Todd to come to my wife's Christmas party that we have at our house for about 75 people. I'll fly his wife and himself out there. He doesn't have to prepare anything. He can just come as himself. walk around and talk because normally everyone's there until about 1230 in the morning. I figure he can get it wrapped up by 930 for me and get everybody out of it.

12:41Speaker 15:It sounded like it was a compliment.

12:44Speaker 4:I walked right into that.

12:45Speaker 3:Yes, you did, Todd. Thank you, Jeremy. Hank in Philly. Hi, Hank. What do you have for me?

12:54Speaker 4:Hank?

12:57Speaker 3:Dylan in Orlando. Hi, Dylan. What do you have for me?

13:01Speaker 4:Hey, Dan.

13:02Speaker 10:Good morning, guys.

13:02Speaker 14:Good morning.

13:03Speaker 16:Everyone's doing well. I had a meat Friday suggestion and a quick little suggestion afterwards. A meat Friday suggestion based upon the MLB playoffs. A hot dog based upon each advancing team. For the Dodgers, you have a bacon-wrapped salsa dog. For Tampa Bay, you have a Cuban-style sandwich dog. For Milwaukee, you have a beer brat, of course. And if Chicago wins, you do the classic Chicago dog. And if Cleveland wins, you do what's called a Cleveland po' boy, which is coleslaw on top of a kielbasa sausage with french fries.

13:36Speaker 16:And then I wanted to give a quick little shout-out. Last Thursday, you guys played a Fall Out Boy song after the commercial bumper. And as a big Fall Out Boy fan, I appreciate that. If I can hear any more Fall Out Boy during today's show, I'd really appreciate it.

13:47Speaker 3:God bless.

13:48Speaker 2:All right.

13:48Speaker 7:Thank you.

13:50Speaker 3:Fall Out Boy.

13:53Speaker 11:Who knew?

13:54Speaker 2:How many bands where somebody who's not the lead singer, he's more famous than the lead singer with Fall Out Boy?

14:01Speaker 7:Oh, Pete Wentz?

14:02Speaker 2:Yeah. He's more famous or... more well-known than the lead singer. I don't know how many bands where you have somebody who is not the lead singer is more famous.

14:14Speaker 5:Yes, Paul.

14:15Speaker 9:You can make the case back in the day it was close with Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth.

14:20Speaker 4:But how about Metallica?

14:21Speaker 3:Lars Ulrich is usually the voice and face of the band. I'll give you that. Over the years.

14:25Speaker 17:Yeah.

14:25Speaker 3:Yes, Marvin.

14:26Speaker 7:What about Pete Townshend from The Who?

14:30Speaker 8:Um.

14:31Speaker 2:Well, you also had Keith Moon as well when he was alive and he was a scene. But, yeah, you can make that case, Pete and Roger. Pete did sing or does sing, write songs. He's written a couple of rock operas. I mean, Pete Townsend, incredibly talented guy.

14:48Speaker 3:Yes, Dylan?

14:50Speaker 12:I mean, Led Zeppelin, maybe. Jimmy Page is probably more famous than Robert Plant.

14:57Speaker 2:No, because you had John Bonham– And Jimmy Page, who probably canceled each other out because they were both the best at probably what they did. I mean, Bonham's the greatest rock and roll drummer of all time. Page is one of the great rock and roll guitarists. And Plant was an unbelievable frontman. But I would think the image of Led Zeppelin is Robert Plant.

15:18Speaker 5:Yes, Dylan?

15:19Speaker 12:What about the edge over Bonham?

15:24Speaker 2:I would say that, you know, that's like bird and magic together.

15:27Speaker 5:Oh, really?

15:29Speaker 10:Wow.

15:29Speaker 4:All right.

15:30Speaker 7:Good call.

15:32Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't talk about one without the other.

15:33Speaker 12:Yeah, they single-handedly saved rock and roll.

15:39Speaker 3:We're not doing this today.

15:40Speaker 12:I shouldn't have done that. That's on me.

15:42Speaker 3:No, that's cheap. Like, Todd is rubbing off on you.

15:47Speaker 4:Stop it, Todd. Yeah, it's not a good look, man.

15:50Speaker 3:You're better than that.

15:51Speaker 12:I don't think I am.

15:53Speaker 2:I hope you're better than that. Peter King has a book. Todd finally found it in the man cave. And it's not a memoir. Todd knows everything about this book except for where the book was in the man cave.

16:06Speaker 15:It was right behind me on top of that barrel all this time. I need some self-awareness. I've got to see the surroundings a little more. I've heard that. I've been told that a number of times. It's not all about your laptop and your phone. Look around a little bit.

16:19Speaker 3:Now you're going to get self-aware.

16:21Speaker 4:It took me a while to figure out the importance of that.

16:23Speaker 2:Okay. Peter King will do some storytelling coming up next. And an hour from now, Ben Affleck will join us as well.

16:30Speaker 3:Take a break. Back after this.

16:32Speaker 1:Be sure to catch the live edition of the Dan Patrick Show weekdays at 9 a.m. Eastern, 6 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

16:42Speaker 6:Hey, it's Covino and Rich from Fox Sports Radio. Now, in addition to hearing us live weekdays from.

16:47Speaker 3:5 to 7 p.m.

16:48Speaker 6:Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, we're excited to announce a brand new YouTube channel for the show.

16:55Speaker 3:Yup, that's right.

16:56Speaker 6:You can now watch Covino and Rich live on YouTube every day. All you gotta do, search Covino and Rich FSR on YouTube. Again, Go to YouTube, search Covino and Rich FSR. Check us out on YouTube, subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon, and comment away.

17:12Speaker 2:We were wondering out loud, how many bands do you have where the lead singer is not the most famous person in the band? And we mentioned Fall Out Boy with Pete Wentz. And then is it Patrick Stump? Is he the lead singer for Fall Out Boy? Angus Young with ACDC?

17:28Speaker 5:Sure.

17:30Speaker 3:Lead singer is Robert Johnston.

17:32Speaker 13:Yes.

17:32Speaker 3:Does that sound right?

17:33Speaker 9:Second lead singer.

17:34Speaker 3:I saw ACDC when Bon Scott was with them. Yes, Marvin.

17:39Speaker 7:What about Slash from Guns N' Roses?

17:41Speaker 2:Up there with Axl Rose. Yes, I would say that. Any other bands that we're missing?

17:45Speaker 3:Yes, Paul. Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Anthony Kiedis, Red Hot Chili Peppers.

17:50Speaker 13:All right.

17:51Speaker 3:You got another one?

17:52Speaker 9:Last one, Deeper Cut, Rage Against the Machine, Tom Morello, the guitarist. Kind of the voice and face of the band.

17:58Speaker 12:That's a good one.

17:59Speaker 3:Yeah, because I don't know the name of the lead singer. Zach DeRocca, I think. Okay, yeah.

18:04Speaker 2:He's good.

18:04Speaker 3:Blue, blue.

18:06Speaker 2:Peter King, Hall of Fame writer, and he's got a book chronicling over 40 years. Monday Morning Quarterback, Football Morning in America, and the book is called The Game. And it is official release date next Tuesday, October 13th. Peter King joins us in studio. What do you miss most about weekends now?

18:29Speaker 17:Not a lot, really, Dan.

18:31Speaker 3:Could you pull the microphone over to you?

18:33Speaker 4:Not a lot, really, Dan.

18:34Speaker 17:Because, I mean, I spend my Sundays with Scott Hanson. You know, I love the red zone. And it used to be, even if I was home, I would a lot of times be concentrating like on one game. But most Sundays I was at a game over the years. And I kind of like just experiencing every game and watching Red Zone. Now, the other day I watched Kansas City-Vegas because I really wanted to see, are the Raiders any good?

19:07Speaker 4:And they are good.

19:08Speaker 3:They're really good. I think they might really be good.

19:12Speaker 17:But most Sundays I spend six and a half hours watching all the games and then With the night game, I usually stay up and watch it, or I go to bed and figure things out the next day.

19:25Speaker 7:But I just.

19:27Speaker 17:Stopped liking staying up until 4.45 a.m. Stopped liking is a very ameliorative term.

19:40Speaker 3:I detested it after a while.

19:44Speaker 2:Give me the most influential person in the NFL the last 40 years.

19:49Speaker 4:The most.

19:50Speaker 17:influential single person, I would say, is Paul Tagliabue. And that is an upset to me because a lot of people would be very, very surprised at that. You've got to remember, when Pete Rozelle resigned in 1989– as I write in the book, I think Pete Rozelle stayed too long at the party. He's viewed as the greatest commissioner in any sport ever, and he probably is. But he worked for 29 years. His last seven years, he had two strikes, and he lost a gigantic case to Al Davis in the Raider lawsuit. And Paul Tagliabue set the stage in his 17 years He made I mean, he was forced into free agency by Judge David Doty in 1993 with Reggie White. But free agency gave the NFL a hot stove league, which it never had before.

20:49Speaker 3:And then they continued.

20:50Speaker 17:They founded the he founded the NFL Network and they needed programming. So they put the combine on and the combine became a big, big deal. The draft became a big, big deal. He was the first one, Tagliabue, to say, yeah, let's play games internationally, though they were only preseason games. So, I mean, I think he probably did the most for the long-term future and present of the game of anybody in the last 40 years.

21:23Speaker 2:Was there a year, when you go back through 40 years, the toughest year to write about or chapter in the book was what?

21:31Speaker 17:I would say the toughest year would have been the year that I wrote about Anne McKee, who I think is the conscience of the NFL. She's the big CTE doctor who, in 2010, when James Harrison was being quite a violent player in the game and the NFL was starting to come down on teams, I went to visit Anne McKee in her office in Baltimore, and she showed me Lou Kreekmer's brain tissue. He died severely demented. And she was in the process of finding out how many people who, you know, had CTE, you know, when they died.

22:19Speaker 17:And obviously, you know, you can only diagnose that post-death. But I think the reason that that was hard is that you're kind of also trying to predict the future. I went back to visit her a year ago to write about it for the book, and I think it was difficult because we don't know everything about what the future holds. It's one of the reasons, Dan, why I'm so adamant the NFL is making a huge mistake if it wants to go to 18 games. To add more and more plays, I write in the book that if you look at a player today A player today basically is playing a good 500 more snaps per year than a player played 50 years ago. And so, you know, assuming that maybe the player plays a playoff game or two, there's more games, there are more plays in a game.

23:17Speaker 7:I don't know.

23:19Speaker 17:To me, I think the NFL is playing with fire if they go to 18 games. I don't like it at all.

23:24Speaker 3:What was your favorite story that you tell?

23:27Speaker 17:Probably the story about Paul Tagliabue in 2001. When I went to visit him for Sports Illustrated five days after the towers fell in New York City, Paul Tagliabue started crying when he was talking about what was going on. And I didn't find out until four or five months before his death when I interviewed him for this book why he was so emotional and why he was so worried after 9-11. And that is because When he got out of Georgetown Law School, Dan, he became a lawyer for the Defense Department and he was involved in a project about how possible it would be for a foreign adversary to introduce a nuclear device into the United States and blow it up. And the answer was not very hard.

24:19Speaker 17:And he was worried, as was Mayor Giuliani, as were other leaders in the U.S., that there was another attack coming. And Tagliabue legitimately worried that it could be a nuclear attack. And that's why he was so emotional at that time. That was interesting. But in a football sense, the most interesting thing, I think, is the reporting I did on the end of the Bill Walsh era in San Francisco. I had always heard and wanted to look into that Bill Walsh was cracking that last year.

24:55Speaker 3:They won the Super.

24:56Speaker 4:Bowl, but.

24:58Speaker 3:What do you mean, cracking?

25:01Speaker 17:Mentally, he was really having some unstable moments. Twice during the course of that year, they were going down the tubes, and they were losing. They blew a 21-point lead at the Cardinals in Arizona, and they thought, Carmen Policy said, the president of the team at the time, told me, he said, I thought our dynasty was dissolving before our eyes. Bill Walsh twice cried in the kitchen of Eddie DiBartolo in Menlo Park, California, because he just could not take not succeeding. He couldn't take failure. And there were a lot of other things that were happening at that time.

25:45Speaker 17:And I am amazed, and when you read this chapter, you will be amazed that the 49ers recovered and ended up winning the Super Bowl that year.

25:55Speaker 7:Amazed.

25:55Speaker 2:We're talking to Peter King, Pro Football Hall of Fame writer's wing. And the new book, The Game, you've got personal stories here, and you go through 40 years plus. The official release date is next Tuesday, October 13th. Is the game of football better now?

26:14Speaker 17:Oh, I think it's fantastic. I do think it's better now. In part, Dan, because... The people who are in this game and who choreograph this game, the coaches, the play callers on both sides of the ball are smarter than they ever have been. And they have more tools at their disposal to be smart. You know, I think Andy Reid is a singular, not necessarily a singular. I think he's a singular talent in his for his entire career. And there are people like Ben Johnson and Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay who are doing a lot of the things that Andy Reid does. But, I mean, Andy Reid, I wrote about him pulling out a play from an Ivy League football game between Penn and Columbia in the 40s and using it against Bill Belichick in, I forget, 22 or 23 to score a touchdown because the Patriots were all looking around. Why is Mahomes in a three-point stance?

27:17Speaker 17:We've never seen this before. And before they could figure out what's going on, Jared McKinnon flips a ball to Rasheed Rice for a touchdown. So the element of surprise, the brainiac stuff. Read my chapter about what Sean Payton does with the Denver Broncos on Saturday. They have a variety show inside their team meeting room on Saturday. The guys love coming to work.

27:48Speaker 4:Out there.

27:49Speaker 17:And I just, it's, learning is different, Dan. You know, Sean Payton, he's got a great line. He said, I bet if you asked a second grade teacher, does she teach the same as she did 20 years ago?

28:01Speaker 3:She'll say no.

28:02Speaker 17:And it's the exact same with us.

28:04Speaker 3:Most underrated player you covered in 40 years.

28:07Speaker 17:Steve Tasker, the special teams player for the Buffalo Bills. Unfortunately, I don't think he'll ever truly get his due. Bruce DeHaven, the special teams coach of the Bills, once gave me a VHS tape. And he said, here, I know I'd love to see you advocate for Steve for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which I did and never worked. But I'd love to see you advocate. These are 10 plays from our Super Bowl era, from our era of greatness, where these 10 plays were the most important plays in the games that we won in seasons that we got to the Super Bowl. And every one of them, a block kick, you know, a flying tackle out of nowhere, whatever.

28:56Speaker 17:And Steve Tasker, because special teams, other than, I mean, Devin Hester, because he was a great return man, he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. But I think that special teams have become so important that great players like Matthew Slater and Steve Tasker should get their due in Canton and probably never will.

29:16Speaker 2:I'm now on a campaign. Mike Shanahan is not in the Hall of Fame. I think it's ridiculous. Like this to me, I know it's a hard job voting for the Hall of Fame. How do you not put in the guy who might have the best coaching tree or one of the best coaching trees and success in the history of the sport?

29:35Speaker 17:Yeah, I totally agree. Now, I'm not a voter anymore when I was a voter. I staunchly advocated for Shanahan. And the way I would tell people, I'd tell them some stories about the game, about Shanahan. But I got one particular story that should let you know about him. Remember the Green Bay Denver Super Bowl? Holmgren versus Shanahan. And the Green Bay-Denver Super Bowl, the Packers were, I think, 11-point favorites in that game, but they were major favorites in that game. And Mike Shanahan came in and he told his team, he said, listen, the most dangerous player in this, the most dangerous opponent in this game, and he's got guys who are thinking, well, he's going to say Favre. Well, he's going to say Reggie White. The most dangerous player in this game or opponent is Leroy Butler.

30:34Speaker 17:And here's what he does when he comes down in the box. Here's how he impacts the game.

30:39Speaker 4:Here's this.

30:40Speaker 17:We are going to take Leroy Butler out of the game. And the way we're going to do it is Shannon Sharp, you are going to split out as a wide receiver and you're going to be split from the formation for the vast majority of this game. And when we do this, you are going to draw the most dangerous box player that we face. You're going to take him away. And so that's why they had the success they had in that game. And when John Elway, now John Elway and Shanahan, they haven't always been the best of friends. And when John Elway tells me that Mike Shanahan, far and away, was the major reason we won that Super Bowl, that says something to me. And the other, you talk about his coaching tree, I mean, all you have to think of is that he was the biggest influence on Sean McVay.

31:33Speaker 17:He's the biggest influence on Kyle Shanahan. Those are two of the three best football coaches in the NFL right now, along with Andy Reid. Ben Johnson probably will be, but as of right now, those are the three big guys. He was the mentor to two of them. Plus, you know, he beat Holmgren in that head-to-head Super Bowl. He won two Super Bowls. He's got how many more wins than Bill Cowher and so many more of these guys who are in the Hall of Fame. I'm depressed by it, and I'm not real happy with the Hall and what they've done recently in limiting the number of people voting.

32:13Speaker 17:The fact that Rick Gosselin is not a voter anymore is ridiculous. He's the best voter I've seen in my 32 years on the committee.

32:20Speaker 3:Yeah.

32:22Speaker 2:You rank quarterbacks, you look at all-time quarterbacks, but you're starting your team with any quarterback.

32:29Speaker 7:You mean in history?

32:30Speaker 5:Yeah.

32:31Speaker 17:Well, I might take Mahomes now, but it's hard to pick against Brady. The only reason why I would take Mahomes is that he can get out of harm's way. And he can do so many things on the run. And look, I think he is... I think he is so fabulous, and he's the heir to Brady mentally. But wasn't Rogers here before Mahomes? Yeah, but I just think Mahomes has something in his head. Can I tell you a quick story about Mahomes?

33:07Speaker 3:Okay.

33:08Speaker 17:I knew I wanted to write a chapter in my book about the Mahomes-Reed relationship. It's the best relationship I have ever seen concerning the two most important people in a franchise. I went to training camp in 2025.

33:23Speaker 7:I'm in St.

33:24Speaker 17:Joseph, Missouri. It's 98 degrees. It's so humid you can see fish swimming through the air. It's just a ridiculously oppressive day. They're on a 16-play drive down the field. Andy Reid uses camp to basically toughen up his team and to get them really, really tired. And in the course of this drive, Mahomes has the offense down at the 10-yard line. And all of a sudden, he's calling a play, and he looks over, and Rasheed Rice is kneeling on the ground, puking his guts out. And Mahomes does not say, oh, jeez, Rasheed.

33:57Speaker 12:Hey, come on, come on, you okay, you okay?

34:00Speaker 17:He says, get another guy! And that's who Patrick Mahomes is. He is Andy Reid's guy on the field, representative on the field, and he's a perfect... he, he does everything that you'd want your franchise player and your quarterback to do. I'm not saying he's the only one. I'm saying that he is a guy who is the perfect representative of everything you would want your franchise player to be.

34:36Speaker 3:The book is the game.

34:38Speaker 2:Uh, if you're going to pick it up, you're going to spend time because there's a lot in here. And, uh, you know, all the years that we've known each other and all the contributions. I'm happy for you that, you know, walking away from this, I didn't know how that hard that was going to be for you, but it seems like you found peace with who.

35:00Speaker 3:You are and where you are in life.

35:03Speaker 2:Any advice for me when I try to do this in a couple of years?

35:07Speaker 17:Dan, look, you know, I, And again, look, I don't know what the future holds. My wife and I are going to move out West in the new year to be closer to grandchildren and all that. And I don't really know what the answer is, but I do agree with you. You want to have some sort of purpose in life. You want to be able to do something for the last 18 months. My purpose has been this, you know, and I loved every second of it. I really did because going back and finding out why Reggie white, really went to the Green Bay Packers.

35:41Speaker 3:I didn't know. You didn't know.

35:43Speaker 4:Now you'll know.

35:44Speaker 17:I mean, and there are a lot of stories like that. How does Nick Foles beat Tom Brady in the Great Belichick? I mean, who the hell is Nick Foles? But there are just so many things that I had curiosity about, and I'm going to continue to have curiosity about things in life. What I'll do, I don't know.

36:04Speaker 3:But, Dan, you know what?

36:05Speaker 17:You were not put on this planet. to do one thing in your life. You were not put on this planet to work at ESPN until they put you in the ground. I'm just telling you, I know you a little bit and I know that you do not want to do one thing in life.

36:23Speaker 5:Okay.

36:24Speaker 17:I just know that. And I don't want to do one thing in life either. What I'm going to do, I don't have any idea, but I'll have fun looking around for it.

36:34Speaker 3:Congrats on the book, Pete. Good luck with that.

36:36Speaker 2:Safe travels. We'll come back with your phone calls. Ben Affleck joins us next hour. Back after this.

36:42Speaker 1:Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at FoxSportsRadio.com. And within the iHeartRadio app, search FSR to listen live.

36:54Speaker 2:College football is back. Great Saturdays start with great food, tailgate, or at home.

37:00Speaker 3:Wings, ribs, brisket. And you could do it all on your RecTech.

37:04Speaker 2:Set the temperature, control it from your phone, watch the game, shop wood-fired grills at RecTech.com. R-E-C-T-E-Q.com. Fun to be around Pete. He's got so many stories. And he had so much access back then with Sports Illustrated. When Sports Illustrated was a must-read, and Peter was chronicling the NFL and got a chance to– get in the inner circle to be able to talk to these players. And the key is getting them to share. And that's what Peter was able to do. He got them to share stories. Let's see.

37:44Speaker 2:Ryan in Wisconsin.

37:45Speaker 1:Hi, Ryan.

37:46Speaker 3:What do you have for me today?

37:48Speaker 13:Hey, guys.

37:49Speaker 3:Hey, I 5'11, slimmed down to a 177.

37:52Speaker 13:As far as that band thing goes, I think Tommy Lee over Vince Neal.

37:58Speaker 3:Which is impressive because he's a drummer. Yep. But, yeah, yeah.

38:03Speaker 13:But, hey, I just wanted to say, during that Yankees game, I had a flashback to the Jeff Mayer home run. which was almost 30 years to the day. That was October 9th, 1996, where they called it a home run. So, yeah, I started having some trauma there, but then I realized, wait, we have replays. So call it karmic retribution, call it what you will, but to all the Yankees fans, I'm going to quote Nelson from the Simpsons.

38:28Speaker 3:Ha ha.

38:28Speaker 2:All right, Ryan, thank you. Sounds like a Brewers fan there. But, yeah, the Jeffrey Mayer, that– That was an out. That would have been an out. This was not a home run. Volpe's, you know, here's how it sounded, Yankees radio network. It would have hit the wall, but it wouldn't have been a home run.

38:52Speaker 4:Volpe to left field.

38:54Speaker 3:Left fielder towards the line.

38:56Speaker 1:On the track, back and up. And it is.

39:02Speaker 4:It's gone.

39:03Speaker 1:It's gone. Anthony Volpe, no sign at all from the umpires.

39:08Speaker 7:Volpe circling.

39:09Speaker 4:That's a two-run homer. That ties the game.

39:11Speaker 3:I think they're going to look at this.

39:13Speaker 12:Because no one of those umpires did a circle of their hand.

39:19Speaker 4:No, that's what I was waiting for.

39:21Speaker 3:The ruling on the.

39:22Speaker 13:Field is a home run.

39:24Speaker 3:This will be a crew chief review.

39:26Speaker 4:Here we go. After review.

39:30Speaker 3:We have spectator interference.

39:34Speaker 1:In addition the left fielder would not have made the catch therefore we have one run scoring and.

39:40Speaker 3:The batter runner is placed at second.

39:42Speaker 2:Base okay they made the right call replay change the game But that didn't change the series because the Yankees did not perform. I'm going to give credit to the Rays. The Rays did little things there. The Yankees tried to do big things, and they failed. Justin in Utah.

40:03Speaker 1:Hi, Justin.

40:03Speaker 3:What do you have for me today?

40:06Speaker 14:Hey, Dan.

40:06Speaker 2:Good morning.

40:07Speaker 8:5'11, 250. I met the call in months ago about this. I used to think Todd was just, you know, there's no way he's really like this.

40:20Speaker 3:Outside of these three hours.

40:22Speaker 8:But I binged three episodes of the Toddcast, which I do not recommend people do. And I'm kind of to the point now where I wonder if you guys need to be in the chair with Dylan, because now I'm kind of wondering how you guys can put.

40:34Speaker 14:Up with it.

40:35Speaker 3:Thank you. Were you entertained by the podcast, Justin? Oh, it is.

40:42Speaker 8:Very entertaining, but I would not recommend listening to it consecutively. It is very difficult to consume all at once.

40:49Speaker 7:Okay.

40:51Speaker 2:Yeah, because I get criticized because people think I pick on Todd. I've been consistent with Todd since I've known him, and I've worked with him for 25 years.

41:02Speaker 3:I give advice. He doesn't take advice. I try to help him help himself. He doesn't listen.

41:08Speaker 2:But he is integral to this show. Maybe the most important person on the air on this show.

41:16Speaker 3:But that's who he is.

41:18Speaker 2:When he leaves here, it's not like he changes into something different. This is who he is. But I've embraced that. Be the death of me, but I've embraced it. Lead me to a quicker retirement, but I've embraced it. Dylan in the confessional. Final hour. Ben Affleck joins us coming up.