 I wish I had champagne, but you know, I have nothing in my fridge outside of some pickled jalapeno peppers. Happy New Year, NFL, new league year officially starts today. So who's playing tonsil hockey with the hottest person in the bar at midnight and who's left awkwardly eating the reheated spring rolls from the catering warming tray? Bengals, don't be that guy. We'll get into it. Listen to me. Brandon Marshall. Brandon Marshall. He's going to talk about Lamar Jackson. He saw Aaron Rodgers. We'll talk about that as it's all shaken up between the Jets and the Packers. And March Madness is here. We have the great John Rothstein, the only college basketball insider that needs to be on the show to fill us in on everything we need to know for the NCAA tournament. Which team should I throw in with? I'm thinking Marquette. Marquette, Golden Ingles, a little Milwaukee love, a little, I don't know, just thinking about that. We will get into all of those details and talk brackets, because I'm doing a bracket and everyone on Up and At, I'm just going to do a bracket and it all starts right now. It'll be a countdown at 3.59, a nice minute. You've got to find somebody to make out with before 4 p.m. That is when the league year officially kicks off at 4 p.m. Eastern. So there's a lot of candidates to go and nuzzle up to 130 plus free agent deals, though, have already been reported over the past 48 hours that can become official. That's basically what it means. It also means that Lamar Jackson can begin negotiating with teams other than the Ravens. Remember, that's the non-exclusive tag situation, but also remember, Baltimore has a chance to match any potential deal. So if it's New Year's and you're at the bar and you're like, man, I really want to work up the courage to go talk to that person and they're amazing and they're an MVP and they're great, but why even go talk to them because their ex-boyfriend is just going to walk up and seal them back because they have that potential to do so with one sentence and one moved comma and a checkbook. Do you really want to work up all the nerve, waste the resources to go after that person at the bar or are you trying to find somebody else? That's sort of the thing that these quarterback needy teams are dealing with when it comes to negotiating or even being interested in or pouring front office resources into any interest in Lamar Jackson. Lamar addressed some of the rumors about those negotiations yesterday, so we'll get into that with Brandon Marshall in a little bit. Lamar Jackson, you know, I wonder, I would love to ask them, like, what makes you tweet so much a said, good things, bad things, true things, not true things? What makes you attach to one and decide to quote, tweet it or feel like you have to say your piece? And if that's true, come on the show. Come on with Brandon Marshall and I and maybe talk it through or with somebody that you trust and love. Like, human marketing should maybe chop it up on their podcast, on his podcast, on his platform and get us some information so we can root for him so we can be for Lamar and know what's actually going on. And of course, we are here waiting for the Aaron Rodgers decision. We had Brian Costello from the New York Post on yesterday and he kept looking at his phone like it was about to happen. And I just feel bad for him this morning because they're still in a bit of a holding pattern as far as officialness comes into play. And that's what today's all about. New League years and things can become official. And it may be happening soon. He is set to appear on the Great Pat McAfee Show at 1 p.m. Eastern today and you'd have to think it's following an announcement that's made or he loves McAfee and AJ Hawks so much that he decides to announce his future epically on that show. So the trade didn't officially happen between Rodgers and the Packers and the Jets, but we did get a couple of deals to happen yesterday. The ducks in my pool, they made a deal to at least hang out for the morning yesterday, but since then, the Giants, these Giants, these Giants right here. Everyone's talking about the Jets, by the way. And they're so much like, oh, the Jets are the, don't forget the Giants are a team that's getting stuff done. They're the team of New York, in my opinion, right now until this deal gets done and maybe into this next season in the NFC that's watered down without Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. This team that I'm talking about, this playoff team that in a rebuilding year that nobody expected, they dealt the third round pick they got from Kansas City in that underwhelming, under the radar, Kaderious Tony deal, to the Raiders for newly married tight end, Darren Waller. I love this for Daniel Jones. It is a small price to pay for a guy who's one of the most dominant tight ends in the league when healthy. Duarkas Ware was on our show, he goes, don't get a wide receiver. Cowboys, get a tight end, tight ends, we never think. And now, the Giants land one of the best in the game to do it. When healthy is an asterisk, underline it, highlight it, bolt it, but as you're filling out your brackets, keep all those things out, highlight that part of it, because it's got to stay healthy. But it gives New York an absolute matchup nightmare that they have been lacking in the passing game. No disrespect to anybody that they have had in there. But it's a huge, huge thing for this squad. And elsewhere in the NFC East, our friend, Clarence Hill Jr., he's reporting this morning, speaking of the Cowboys. They are releasing, plan to release, will release, and it's all official, Zeke Elliott. They, of course, tagged the Electro Tony Pollard a couple weeks ago. They did that early, they made their decision known. Dallas did take a big swing yesterday. They landed all pro corners, Stefan Gilmour sent him a message. He said he's so excited to get down there and sort of revitalize his career. This is, of course, defensive player of the year, caliber player. He's been there, done that, he's a Super Bowl champion. And it's all in exchange for a fifth round pick. So this tandem of Gilmour and Trayvon Diggs, is it the best this season? Sure, you've got Jalen down there and you've got maybe a revitalized Xayvan Howard, both of them coming off down years for whatever reason. But this could be one of the best hand-ups in Dallas this season. So while the Eagles, they've taken a few hits this off season. It looks like the rest of the NFC East, they are loading up to make a run for the game at the crown. Do we have Mr. Brandon Marshall available? Oh, it's good to know him. Appreciate the communication, you guys. Thank you guys for treating the show. Add up an Adam show as we bring in an all pro receiver. The mastermind, the maestro, the architect of the I.M. Athlete, media empire. And I do believe, outside of a shaman, a guru and an energy healer, the last person to probably speak to Aaron Rodgers in public, our good friend, Brandon Marshall. Hello. Oh my goodness, hey, if we don't have friends like you to big you up and just speak life over you, then you don't have a real friend. I love how you just intro me. I love it, Brandon, mastermind, I love it. You are killing it from hanging out to Rihanna to talking to Rihanna. And then I watch it like that you killed Super Bowl in such an epic way. I was texting you about that. I go on vacation and I pop back up onto the scene. I get back on Instagram and it's you and Aaron Rodgers. Like you headed out to Orange County, you're like, I'm going to be there for this. I know what I'm going to get. You're looking him in the eyes. You spoke to him this past weekend and he played it close to the vest on camera. But I know he told you something as far as where he's leaning and what's going on. What did he tell you? No, honestly, we thought we were going to break the news this weekend. We were preparing for that. That was myself and Jordan Palmer, the RX three guys through their second celebrity flag football charity event. They raised over $1.5 million. You had Josh Allen and Sam Darno and so many other quarterbacks out there. A couple guys in a draft that came out to support and show love in a major way. Joe Burr was supposed to be there, but his flight got redirected. So yeah, we were out there and we had an opportunity to sit down with A-Rod. And there was a lot of people there that thought that A-Rod had to deal done this weekend with Woody and that Saturday was going to be the day that he made that announcement. I didn't believe it, right? Because what felt right to me was him actually going on Pat McAfee show and doing it, you know, you've been doing this for two years now. Once a week going on Pat's show. That's your boy. You guys have done some special things together. Fandal, obviously a part of that as well, giving them that moment. Today feels right. Today feels like the right moment, feels like the right platform. And it's Aaron Rodgers style is going to be laid back and chill. Kay, I would say this. There's two things that stood out to me this weekend. One, the way he threw the ball. There's no more discussion for me. I'm not debating it. I'm not arguing with anyone else in the sports world. He is the best throw of the football. I don't give a damn if he's throwing two seven year old kids out there. I saw this guy, Kay, drop back, throw a no look pass. But you're going to say, Brandon, a no look pass. We've seen that several times from him and Ryan Fitzpatrick, Patrick Mahomes. That's easy. A lot of quarterbacks are doing now. Matthew Stafford, no, Kay, I've never seen a quarterback drop back and throw a 45, 50 yard bomb looking left and throw it right. I've never seen it before. It was magical. It was like watching a ballerina. The second thing that stood out to me was how chill and how poise he is, Kay. He's really a dude that he sits back. He doesn't say much. He cracks jokes here and there. So he's definitely different. So I love his personality. And I think, you know, people outside looking in, you may get it misconstrued. And I asked him that question. I asked him if he did he feel like he was, you know, you know, misrepresented in the media. And he said, yeah, he said, yeah. Now you talk to him. I am athlete podcast where everybody needs to go. You guys are on top of everything and really a step ahead of everyone and everything. Yes. Rogers will be on with McAfee this afternoon, usually a Tuesday appearance, making it a Wednesday appearance. We don't know when that announcement will come. It will be on the show. No, it's not. Keep your eyes. No, no, it'll be on the show. Let me let me correct you. Let me correct you. You said that we're always a step ahead. No, it's Kay Adams, because I see what you've been doing these last three, four months on the show. All these big, big people, Sean Payton. How the hell you get Sean Payton on your show? Like you. So there's Kay. There's up in Adams, then there's Pat McAfee. And then there's I am athlete. So we're cracking that top three. Listen, the only chance I have of running into Rihanna is last night I went to Giorgio Baldi, which she's at every week on TMZ. And so I thought maybe I can get a site of Riri, getting herself some cacio pepe. You straight up like found her rehearsal vibes before the Super Bowl halftime show. Don't even start with me. What we need to do when we've talked about this, you've got to join forces as we do here on this show and do some other cool stuff together. But let me ask you a little bit more about Aaron Rogers. Here's what's confusing to me. He goes on McAfee every week and he talks about wanting to win a Super Bowl and that's prevalent and important. It's defended and it's not about MVPs. It's about Super Bowls. I'm not convinced the Jets are the place to go do that over where he is in Green Bay just because of the well just really just the conference talent is a big thing. You're in the NFC. It's an easier path for you. Disrespectful. The AFC East is building up. They're great. You got to go through Buffalo and there's just the chemistry. Not everybody can do the Tom Brady thing. And Tom Brady, by the way, went from a loaded AFC and went to the NFC and went to the NFC South where it's an easier path for him to have that happen. Does he have a bet? How much of a better chance does he have to win a Super Bowl with a loaded Jets roster? A top five defense, which I understand over Green Bay or another team? Has enough, I mean, some of the best chances out there. Right? If I'm a betting man, I'll go on Fandals, Sportsbook, ASAP. And soon as he signed, I'm putting all my money on the Jets to win it. First, Kay, that was one of the most disrespectful things I've ever heard you say on your show, right? Like how dare you come out here on your show and talk about the Jets that way? Oh, I don't think it's the best scenario for him. I'm just trying to bail you out. Going to the Jets. Are you kidding me? They got a top five defense, Kay. Kay, I've never been, I'm smiling right now but deep down really mad at you. It's hard to get mad at Kay Adams, but I am, I gotta express myself. I'm mad at you right now. I can't believe that you would say that. Top five defense, Kay. And whether you like it or not believe it or not defense does win championships, right? So I like what they're doing there. That is the strength of this team. What you need on the other side is you need someone who understands situational football. You need someone more of like a manager, right? You need a game manager, a game day manager, right? That's what a great defense needs. So not only do you have a guy who understands situational football at the highest level, one of the best to ever do it, one of the most clutch players ever, but he's also a playmaker, right? Like we really need debate that. You know, back-to-back MVPs, a guy can make every single throw in the field. So not only do you have a guy that can come in and manage any situation, you have a guy that can come in and make any play any moment. Remember the Hell Mary against Detroit? These are the type of plays this guy is accustomed to making, right? We've seen this for 19 years. So I think that you have a guy, and Roger doesn't have to come in and throw for 5,000 yards to get it done. This is gonna be true complementary football. Coaching staff is awesome. And I disagree with you. I don't think it goes through Buffalo. On paper, it goes through Buffalo. But Buffalo to me is imploding. Buffalo will not be the same now. Will they be competitive? Absolutely. You lose Leslie Fraser. Leslie Fraser is not there. Your defensive coordinator is gone, okay? You still have challenges, right? Are they gonna get another wide receiver? What are they gonna do in the running game? I don't like how it ended there. I saw Josh Allen this weekend as well, and I asked him the question, how do you slay dragons? And he looked at me and he said me, right? So that's what it's gonna take. It's gonna take Josh Allen playing Aaron Rodgers type level football in the biggest moments this year to actually knock off the jets. I will say this, to clarify for Twitter and Taylor, who's gonna cut this off, it's less about the jets, who I would love to see when a Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers. It's more about the competition. You mentioned Buffalo. You think they're imploding. I think they have a ton of cap space that they're not done. Buffalo's not done making moves. We saw huge moves that they may last year with Von Miller, they're not done. They know their window they're nearly contending. The question becomes going and making the decision with the end of my career to go to the jets in the AFC. It's not through Buffalo. It's also, are you better than Cincinnati? Are you better than Kansas City? Those are the questions. You could argue that Green Bay, we've even without a top five defense, but a good defense was the, but you could argue at certain points, the best team would be potentially one of the better teams in the NFC. I just think it's a tough path and I hope it works out. This is KD going to the Suns, K. This is what this is, okay? This is KD going to the Warriors back then. Well now I don't want to say the words because I don't want to get roasted on Twitter, but this is definitely KD going to the Suns. For sure, it's easy, it's simple. This hopefully doesn't turn out to be KD, Kyrie and James Hart and all going to the Nets where nothing gets done, people are hurt. They play eight games together in three years. But no, Aaron Rodgers going to this team, Garrett Wilson, K. Garrett Wilson. Yeah. And then you go get Lazard, your boy. Breece. And then you go get a safety. Is he getting Odell? Should Odell go there? Or where should Odell go quickly because we got to take a break? You're wearing them. You're wearing the sweater. I keep telling you this, K, every time we come on the show you ask me the same question. Where should Odell go? Well it never happens. And I keep saying the same thing. Where's Odell? I keep saying the same thing. Odell is in Phoenix right now and he's sitting outside watching the Suns also working out with his guy, Nick, his trainer, but he needs to make his way to the other side of the country. He needs to go to New York. Don't go to the Jets. Go to the Giants. Everybody want to see it. Make sense. Everybody want to see it. We keep talking about it. It's not, it doesn't keep it. I would love. I mean, he's on the wish list for Aaron Rodgers. Salah, Joe Douglas, they've got his name. I'd like to see him back in New York on the other team. Then he can be the boy who comes home but he's the villain because he goes to the other team that's coming together. No, don't be the villain. Don't be the villain. Be loved. There's only a handful of. Athletes that's beloved in New York forever. He can be one. They are rushing me to break. There is breaking news. Darius Lay out. So there's that to talk about. We'll get to the other side, Lamar Jackson. I want your thoughts on that. The Bears. People are really excited about the Bears. I have a feeling you're gonna have something to say to those Chicago fans after this. Odell, make it easy. Got to the Super Bowl. Couldn't make it happen. The Eagles parting ways with Darius Lay had such an incredible season. The cornerback market. Very interesting. Listen, Atlanta, they had the second most money going into this thing. They've got a stud corner already. They add Jesse Bates in free agency. I wouldn't be surprised if they get him to sort of bolster what's going down on Atlanta. But I know those Lions fans want Darius Lay back real bad. So maybe he ends up back home. That would be really fun as well. But we've got Brandon Marshall here. I am athlete, media, empire. And we got to get to Lamar Jackson here because we haven't talked about him since he was slapped with that. Slapped. Just slapped with that non-exclusive franchise tab. Nobody wanted to see it. And he was on Twitter yesterday responding to some things, addressing Adam Shepter's report that he was offered $200 million fully guaranteed as a deal. And he responded with this TikTok gif, like, uh-huh? Okay, and then he said. Best cat, best cat. Yes. Like it's not true. 133 divided by three years fully guaranteed. But I need an agent followed by this. People throw poop at the wall and hope it stick. What do you make of what Lamar is saying yesterday? Where do you stand with this today? Well, I mean, let's just get straight to it. If you see the hat, the thing that he put out on TikTok, that means cat. But if you look at it and you pay close attention, there's like five, six cats there. So it's cat, cat, cat, cat. So Lamar is saying that Adam Shepter, who I love, who's awesome, he's a friend, he covered me, my entire career, Denver guy. I would say Adam potentially got this wrong. Or, you know, this is just a little cat and mouse game that Lamar is playing with the media. But, you know, Lamar wants $200 million guaranteed. And that's what Lamar should get, right? And I think he deserves that. Like this whole conversation, Kate, around, you know, DeSean Watson, you know, we, that's, we can't go off of that. That was a desperate team. That was a desperate organization. To me, that's cat, right? Because there's also probably another team or two out there, if Lamar was free, that would be desperate, you know, that would go out there and do whatever they need to do to get this done, right? It makes sense. There's three quarterbacks with a winning percentage over 700% in their career. There's Patrick Mahomes. It's Lamar Jackson. And I want to say maybe even Aaron Rodgers, right? Guys who are still active. Why wouldn't you pay this guy? Isn't that the name of the game is to win? You just want to be in position. You're not going to win it all the time. But if a guy gives you an opportunity to win every single game, why wouldn't you just give it to him? $200 million, you lock him up for the next five, six years, why not? It makes a lot of sense. But, Kate, there's a bigger conversation here. We can discuss it next time you have me on the show. But I feel like there's some little collusion going on right here. It reminds me of the 1993 situation where we introduced a free agency, when we introduced the first tag. In 1993, you know what happened? You had Mr. B, Mr. B, the owner, ex-owner of the Denver Broncos. He said, I can't lose John Elway. There's no way I can lose John Elway. So he flies to New York from Denver, Colorado, walks into the league office, goes up to the 50th floor, and he says, you know what, guys, we have to figure this out. And boom, here's the introduction of the franchise tag. They didn't think that this was going to live with the NFL for 20, 30 years. They didn't think that. This is a terrible deal for the players. It takes the leverage away from the players. So when we talk about negotiation, we talk about fair bargaining, you can't be an organization that says, you know what, we're going to lock this player up. He has no more leverage, okay, because it benefits us. Well, the guy played throughout his contract. He did what he was supposed to do. Now he's up, let the man go. You pay him or let him go somewhere else. I don't like the franchise tag, and I think it's time for the players to really fight back against this franchise tag. It has no place in our game. So you've said it on this show before, when this is happening, that was before the non-exclusive tag was given. You've said it on your platform and several others. Does he land somewhere else now, do you think? I was looking at the Jets. I was looking at the Jets, right? Like if Aaron Rodgers retired, and how he may retire on our buddy's show today at one, I don't think that will happen. I think he will go to the Jets. But if they didn't land Aaron Rodgers, I felt like the Jets should go all in. That was one of the teams that made a lot of sense to me. Now it doesn't, because I truly believe he's going to end up with the Jets. Yeah, I think there's teams out there that should definitely take a run at Lamar. I don't care, I don't care if you think you have your quarterback. If you don't have Josh Allen or Joe Borough, Patrick Mahomes on your team, you should be looking at Lamar Jackson. There's all of these teams. Are they lying? Because there's, why are teams saying, I know, I see your point on the franchise tag and the slippery slope with it. Why did these teams come out and say that they're not pursuing him? You gotta go back, a lot of this stuff, you can find these same storylines in history. That's why I went back to 1993. You know, that's true. That was the introduction of free agency. That was the introduction of the franchise tag. And Mr. B couldn't lose John Elway. John Elway was up. So the league and the owners got together and created something that would favor their owner. So it's the same thing. Do we not think collusion exists in the NFL or in corporate America or other leagues? 100% exists. Go back to 2011. Teams want to win. Teams want to win. Teams want to win. They have to win. So like the Falcons, collusion, Kashmuzan, they should take a run at him, right? Like they need to be relevant. They need to go to the Super Bowl and win a Super Bowl. Like they're, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Okay, so this is what I have to say to that. I agree with you. Absolutely teams want to win. But also those 32 owners what makes the NFL powerful are those owners operating out one when they need to operate as one. So you don't think they have relationships? These guys aren't yachts together. Private planes together. They're renting out islands. They have league meetings. You say, hey, let's sit here and talk. We've got this Lamar Jackson situation. We can't make this a thing where our superstars of the NFL goes out there and they can demand guaranteed contracts. And now that puts all of us in a terrible position. We can't go off of the Deshaun Watson contract. They should have never done that. This owner shouldn't even be in a league. Has them. Do we even actually like him? Why would you even do this? And then they sit together and they say, you know what? All right, we got your back on this one, right? So I don't know the type of conversations that they have. I'm not, I'm just speculating. I'm just outside looking in saying that owners getting together to collude is a thing. It's a thing. But that means that he's staying in Baltimore. Potentially it could, it could, but, but who's that one team, Kay, that can put that poison pill in? When you have these conversations, right? When you understand like, okay, non-exclusive. What does non-exclusive mean? That another team can sign them. It also means that another team will have to give up two first round picks. Lamar Jackson has worked three or four first round picks, okay, at this phase of his career, right? So if a team comes out and they actually put something in the contract knowing that the Baltimore Ravens can't match it, you can see Lamar Jackson in another situation. So there is a team or two out there outside of that initial list, right? That came out and said, oh, let him find us. We don't want Lamar Jackson. The Carolina Panthers, we don't want Lamar Jackson. There's about four or five teams. That doesn't mean that there still isn't a team out there that can make a move that don't agree with the little circle of trust that they put together. I like what you're saying. If you're a Lamar, what, you know, we had Thomas Dimitrov, 12 year GM. I'd basically asked him if he had an agent, would this have gone a different way? And he said yes. And there's this huge discussion of you shouldn't need an agent. We've seen players get contracts without agents before. Successfully, you can look at the Bobby Wagoners. You can look at other sports. You can look at whatever. You shouldn't need an agent. Do you think if he had an agent, this would be happening? I do agree with him that it would have, things would have transpired a little differently, but not for the same reasons, right? Lamar Jackson and Ms. Felicia Jackson, they're more than capable to hiring and firing a team. Meaning, hey, I'm gonna bring in a COO. I'm gonna bring in an attorney. I'm gonna bring in someone outside consultant to help us in these areas, whether it's from marketing to contract negotiation to strategy to whatever it is. So I think it's because of, you know, it's disruptive. I think that it could be, you know, counterproductive on the league side, you know, counterculture, having a player at this magnitude come out and represent themselves and get exactly what they want. So I just think there's some bias there. I truly believe that Lamar Jackson is more than capable of looking at the market saying that here's where Aaron Rodgers is. Here's where Patrick Mahomes is. Here's where Dak Press got and all the other quarterbacks are. And this is where I should be or this is where I want to be and fight for that. This is nothing but negotiating. That's it. That's it. The language is easy. You can look at Patrick Mahomes' contract with the NFLPA, sit down with them and say, look, what's a fair deal for me? We as players, we already have agents. We don't even need agents. The NFLPA can represent us. When I was going through my third contract with the Chicago Bears, my agent, Canar McGuire, got on the phone with the NFLPA, the attorneys there, and we went through every single wide receiver contract in the top 10. We also looked at all the language. We went through strategy together and they're the brightest minds. There's no one that knows these labor laws and these conditions better than them. They're the ones to put this in place. They're the ones negotiating with the NFL. So I'm saying all of this to say that, even if Lamar said, you know what, I'm going to let the NFLPA help me out here, he's still going to be good. You don't need to go get a Tom Conn and you don't need to go hire a WME or a CAA. You don't need to get your small and savvy. Then you have to make all these decisions. Sure. I like that you're saying they're capable of it, but the truth is now he's got this crazy decision to make. Does he demand a trade? Does he play it out on the tag and take his chances next year? There's a lot going on. So some consulting or advisement or conversations, I actually think Lamar and Ms. Felicia are probably having. It's just an interesting debate and sort of a precedent for the future and what it looks like. Really quick, we have one sentence answers here for this last one. Would you either want to talk about bears or do you want to talk about Vanderpump rules? Your call. I don't even know what a Vanderpump rule is. You choose. I knew that was true. Okay, so well, really quickly bears. Bears fans are getting super excited, right? They're genuinely starting to lure me in. Ryan Paul's doing his thing. He's got a lot of money. There's new leadership there. They land DJ Moore to remain admins. Now we're talking, we're rebuilding. Listen, this team that you want Odell to go to, this was a rebuilding team last year with new leadership. Nobody expected him to do diddly squat and then they went to the playoffs. I see where you're going. Could this be that or should I be tempering my expectations or are the bears the new giants? No, the bears, they're not only the new giants. They're going to have a better season than the giants had last year. Okay, outside of the Denver Broncos, I truly believe the Chicago Bears are going to be the biggest team out there, organization that turns around with the one year. It's going to be a phenomenal year for the Chicago Bears. We love it. And Aaron Rodgers, see ya. Get the hell out of here, Aaron Rodgers. Don't send us postcards. You can unfollow me on Instagram. See ya, get out of here. All right, Brenna Marshall, we love you. We'll talk to you down the line. Always so insightful and incredible. You are the absolute best. And we got to see each other soon. We got to see each other soon, Brandon. Tell them how you stood me up. And we got to see John Rothstein on the show. It's in our form. It's a balance. You must be logical and remember that only one time ever has a 16 beaten the one seed. But also be bold enough to select the double-digit seed to make the sweet 16. This gentleman is quite a character. We are excited to welcome on College Basketball Insider for CBS Sports host of College Hoops today. That's a podcast I will be listening to today as I fill out my bracket and through this entire tournament, please welcome a fan-dual family member. I love meeting family. John Rothstein, how are ya? Awesome, Kay. Good to be with you. I know you're busy. You're in day it. You want to get down to business here. But I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to this. I think last time I filled out a bracket, I was taking like Jager Meister and Goldschlager shots back at Mizzou. And I hear Mizzou is good this year so we can dig into that. Give me the big storyline going into March Madness. If you were to give me the one thing that makes me sound smart at the old water cooler at work. The parody that exists in the field and how balanced the field is, this is wide open and NCAA tournament that I think I've seen in nearly 20 years covering college basketball at the national level. So I think as much as obviously when we want to forecast and prognosticate what's going to happen, it is significantly harder because of the wide open landscape of the sport. And it really reminds me of the 2010, 2011 season. Now what happened that year? UConn won a national championship as a three seed, but the Huskies finished the regular season that year, just nine and nine in the Big East. In the final four, UConn played Kentucky a four seed and on the other side of the bracket, Butler and eight seed played VCU in 11. If you told me that in a couple of weeks when I get to Houston, there will be no one or two seeds in the final four, I would obviously be able to believe it. It's that type of a year. I love that. That means I can't go wrong in how I want to pick my bracket, which mascot sounds most fun to me. Like that's always how the, you know, Betty and accounting wins these pools. Okay, you have your Rothstein isms, which are viral, you make t-shirts, you have such an incredible emphatic cult following and you have, you know, this guy has more plays than Broadway, death taxes, Matt Painter, more adjustments than a chiropractor, we sleep in May, but you started with this, this is March thing. And as I understand it, you would tweet it anytime anything happened and everyone's like, who is this guy? What is this? And then it sort of gained steam and everybody started loving it. Can you define what this is March means? Well, I think it was really encapsulated by what, you know, we all witnessed last night and Dayton just March moments, obviously coming to the forefront. And I think when you see obviously the pageantry that exists in March, the drama that exists in March and the inner feeling that you get in your stomach like we had last night when Pitt and Mississippi State were trading haymakers like there were Ali and Foreman in the rumble in the jungle. This is obviously what I think, you know, March is and that's why I think it resonates. And one of the things I found, you know, obviously in years, obviously on social media, I'm sure you have to less is more. So it's three words, it's one statement, but it's a statement that resonates in the holiest month of the year. All right, you've got this thing down, obviously. I mean, workshops Rothsteinisms for this season. Is there one for this, this March madness situation that you want to roll out there right now? Rothsteinisms cannot be forced. Rothsteinisms have to be organic. So now we're in a situation where for all intents and purposes, you know, we always have to be mindful that you can't force something. You can't just throw something out there. It has to be stick, it has to be authentic. We love to hear that from you. Okay, let's do this. People love a Cinderella story. We love underdogs. Can you hook me up as I have not filled out my bracket yet with some names of teams, even players that I should have on my mind. Well, I think the one thing you want to look at is the storyline with Purdue K and Zach K and Zach Edie. And this to me is I think a big storyline for the NCAA tournament because Purdue is in a scenario right now where it's a final four or bust NCAA tournament for Purdue. Now, why am I saying that? Think about the heartache that this program has had over the last five years. 2018, they're in a situation where they have a final four caliber team. They're seven, two center, Isaac Haas suffers an elbow injury. They lose the Texas Tech in the sweet 16. 2019, the infamous game against Virginia where they have a lead late in the elite eight, but lose when Mamadi D'Aquite makes that shot at the buzzer for Virginia. Virginia goes on to win the national title. Last year, you have Jayden Ivy, a lottery pick. You have Travion Williams and of course you have Zach Edie and you lose to St. Peter's in the sweet 16. So I think given the landscape of college basketball, given the fact that you have the most dominant force at the five that I've ever covered in 20 years covering the sport nationally in Zach Edie, the consensus national player of the year, anything less than a trip to the final four will be a major disappointment for Purdue's fans, it's coaches, it's alumni. Oh my gosh, I'm like, my goosebumps are even just thinking about that. I'm gonna keep an eye on Purdue and all of that. Are you like this with everything I hear from your representation and people who know you that you're just an encyclopedia like no other and you're spitting out names and you know small facts about these teams, the underdogs, the favorites going into this, is this everything for you? Like do you do this about pop culture and hobbies or is it just your passion for this tournament? No, I am a one sport person. I'm never gonna be somebody who obviously has a coffee with my agent even though I've never had a cup of coffee. I've never had a cup of coffee, I've never had a glass of wine and I've never played golf. I also, for a long time I've never been to Europe but my wife and I took an amazing trip, 18 days last summer, three different countries, 18 days and 18 pounds later I was home but maybe we'll get to that during our appearance next week so I can talk to you about how good the bread in France is. Anyway, I'm never going to- Hold on, hold on, hold on. Pune or whatever, wherever you puny or wherever Denzel Washington went, I watched the clip with, pardon my take, I watched it this morning. Did you go to that place that offers three course meals in Portofino and order the sheet lasagna for all three meals? Which is a move that only an Oscar winner legend can make. No question, but I will say this. I thought that the spaghetti with the white clam sauce was better because we were near the water than the lasagna with obviously the pesto and the lasagna sheets. I thought that that was a better pasta but the pastas there are just endless but I'd say the real thing that stood out to me over my trip to Europe was just the quality of all the bread products in France. We didn't expect to go to France but two friends of ours were getting married at a chateau in Le Mans which is three hours outside of Paris. So we went to Paris and we found this unbelievable hotel overlooking the Seine and the Eiffel Tower and we just went there every day at like five o'clock and the quality of the bread at this bar was so good. I get like when I think about like and put people say what's your happy place it would probably be to be at Cheval Blanc overlooking the Seine and the Eiffel Tower probably working on my big easy food for the next season. It's your one see. I think you went to Greece on this trip. I was listening intently. I could not believe that you'd never been to Europe. What was the one seed moment from that trip? Like who was the champion? If you were to make a bracket of all those incredible moments and by the way, way to go in your first trip to Europe I think mine was like going to visit Big Ben in the torrential downpour of London. We were in a chateau an hour out of Paris. I love Paris. Paris I would go back to. I think it's an unbelievable place to go for a long weekend but when you combine the food and the freshness of the food plus the Amalfi Coast I mean that's kind of like, you know the 1992 Duke team that went back to back with Leighton or Hurley and Grand Hill. Wow. Oh my God. See, you're the callback for you. I can't even keep up. So listen, I'm looking for a team to love in this tournament. My squad here, my producers, they're really trying to get me to go with Penny Hardaway, Memphis Tigers, they like that great story, all of that. I was thinking of rolling with and not just because I saw Dwayne Wade recently talk to him about Adam Lefko and how much I love him. I was thinking Marquette. Milwaukee, my sister went there, they just won, they're on fire, they were underrated and then they over, you know they've done really well against top teams I understand it. Who's the team I should go to? I like teams that are underdogs that have a lot of upside. I like fast teams. I like a passionate head coach. The less you know about college basketball, the better you're going to do in your bracket. The more you know about college basketball, the more of a reason there is to have kerosene next to your bracket because you might want to burn it by Thursday or Friday. And in this landscape of college basketball, it is going to be as chaotic a three weeks as I think we've ever seen. You don't know where the upsets are coming from, Kay, but do you hear that? They're out there. All right, that's what you're saying. All right, you, what are we going to do? We wanted to do, okay, another thing that I read about you and I heard about you, my producer said is that you are an 80s movie fanatic. Like so you're, that's where you live. You know everything about the tourney and you know all about 80s cinema. Well true story, true story. Okay. When I was an aspiring broadcaster at Ithaca College, I just wanted to live in New York. I wanted to live in sports media. So when I would have idle time, I would regularly watch Cocktail Wall Street and The Secret of My Success just to dream about being somebody who was like a young professional in Manhattan. That is amazing. And I will tell you on radio row this year I did my show for Super Bowl week. I fell in love with a group of boys from Ithaca College and they had to share a five by eight table with Syracuse. Their rival in broadcasting and I just kept bringing every star I could think of over there to talk to them. So I'm a huge, we have a good bond here. I'm a huge Ithaca College supporter. Okay, I'm going to give you a team in the tournament and I'd like you to try to give me a favorite movie or a film that might personify them, okay? Okay, yep. Alabama, Alabama, okay, go ahead. Cocktail. Okay, why? I mean, Alabama with the style of play they have, they shoot a lot of threes, they play fast paced, it's like one big party. Okay, I like it there. The number one overall seed, second best odds to win the championship and they've never won a championship. Never been to a final four. In men's basketball. Wow, never been to a final four. Well, I wish our researcher was as good as John Rothstein on our show here. All right, let's move on to Yukon. So Yukon, dark horse favorite as I understand it. To win this thing. Yukon would be Rambo and I'll tell you why, because Dan Hurley lives a lot like Sylvester Stallone and Rambo too, he's day by day. That movie poster just makes me laugh, I could look at that all day. They've won four NCAA tournaments and they're playing in the West region which is the toughest, right? That is the region of branch. So I know a thing or two. There you go. Duke. Duke is going to be Wall Street because I kind of see almost like a Michael Douglas is to Charlie Sheen, what Mike Scheske might be to John Shire. And even though people say, well, are you going to be the next coach K? John Shire can be only John Shire. And if you remember in one of the final scenes of Wall Street in Central Park, Charlie Sheen said to Michael Douglas, I guess I'm just Bud Fox. As much as I wanted to be Gordon Gekko, I'll always be Bud Fox. My goodness, you are crushing this segment they made the final four last season as you just alluded to, they've got no coach K this year. And it's the team that everyone just always loves to hate. I don't follow college she was, but I know everybody is, my brother went to Michigan State, we hate Duke. Everybody, we hate Duke, that's what it is. How about last but not least, the number one seed, they've never won the tournament and the movie Hoosiers is about Indiana University rival school. Go with Purdue on this one. I'm going to go with Hoosiers for Purdue and Indiana fans are not going to like that. But if you look at the way Purdue plays and the brand of basketball that Matt Painter has made synonymous with this program, you know, no label is better associated with the boilers than that label from a cinematic perspective. But like I said for Purdue, there is no in between. You're either going to the final four in Houston where the season is a massive disappointment. Want to know why? Because this is March. Yeah, I love it. Are you a superstitious guy? Are you watching these games? Are you a guy who has to do the same thing during all this? Any of that? Well, what is it? I think Aristotle said it. We are where we repeatedly do. Greatness is not then by accident, but rather by habit. I think that best personifies me. Wow, John Rothstein, ladies and gentlemen, catch him on CBS Sports all throughout March. And hopefully we will have you back before the madness is over, my friend. Anytime, we sleep in that. All right, thank you for the time and the Rothsteinisms and for the recommendations for my Portofino on Lofi Coast trip this weekend. We appreciate it. We'll be back after this. Okay, that's just it. Big thanks to John Rothstein. Big thanks to Brenda Marshall for hanging out on our show today. But Shefti is saying that former number one overall pick Baker Mayfield. Gosh, I remember being on the floor when he was drafted and it was a huge shocker. Well, he goes to the grounds, then he goes to the grounds and then a little stint of Carolina between then. Reached agreement today on a one year deal worth up to 8.5. Can we bring that tweet back up there? I wasn't quite ready reading it. And this is breaking news to me, so I don't have it. 8.5 million for Sources Mayfield. Now in line to be Tom Brady's successor. I like this because this has been the connection all along for Baker Mayfield. A lot of talk about him going to Tampa and doing his thing there. And they've got very little wiggle room with money. They would love to bring back some of their free agents. They've got tough decisions to make. And I think we've got Hamilton here. You've been following this since it broke while I was talking a little college hoops because you know, that's what I do. I talk college hoops and the tournament now, apparently. But I like this fit because it's a low risk, high reward. I don't know about their wrong game and what they plan to do there to help support him. But they simply didn't have the money and this is the best they could do. And this is a nice team friendly deal for Baker who's got something to prove. Yeah, he's got something to prove and he's gonna have a ton of talent around him because he's still got Mike Evans. He's still got Chris Godwin there. And as you talked about a little earlier with Brandon, this NFC South is going to be wide open with Baker at quarterback. I thought, you know, once he went to the Rams I thought he did a decent job there last year. Obviously we saw that big comeback against the Raiders that he led. He showed he still got something. And yeah, that NFC South is very much up for grabs. And as you said too, the Bucks have a lot to figure out. The Levante-David situation, they have a lot of guys that have to, you know, figure out how they're gonna bring them back. And this is a team friendly deal that's gonna help them do that. You know, he was, I think it was, since San Francisco kicked their tires on him too, didn't they? There was potentially some of that. But, you know, we don't know where Fornette's going. I don't know if there's a world, you know, like obviously they're set to release him. They need some sort of situation there to support him. He does have those receivers, I guess. I like it. I like it for the Buccaneers and it's anyone's game. It's why Chris Collins was saying Aaron Rodgers. What are you doing going to the AFC East? Go down to the South.