Speaker 1: What's up, guys, Chris Harry with you on a week
Speaker 1: ten edition of Chargers Weekly. We got a great episode
Speaker 1: ahead coming up. We're gonna see what's on the menu
Speaker 1: powered by Subway with the voice of the Chargers Matt
Speaker 1: money Smith. Will also be joined by Jim Gray, who
Speaker 1: has a great new book out Talking to Goats, the
Speaker 1: Moments you Remember and the stories you never heard. He's
Speaker 1: gonna share a few Alex Spano's stories and some Kobe
Speaker 1: Bryant's stories as well. But first CBS Sports is rich
Speaker 1: Gannett breaks down the rookie quarterback matchup this Sunday, justin
Speaker 1: Herbert versus Tula tunga violo. All right, my first guest
Speaker 1: will be in the booth this Sunday for Chargers Dolphins
Speaker 1: Herbert versus two. I'm gonna be a fun one. The
Speaker 1: great rich Gannon joins me here on Chargers Weekly, and
Speaker 1: Rich we gotta trade. Man. You're a former MVP. You
Speaker 1: know a thing or two quarterbacks. I'm sure you're excited
Speaker 1: for this one, you know, Chris, I am excited. You know.
Speaker 1: The more I watched our game this season, I think
Speaker 1: everyone is rest assured that the future at the quarterback
Speaker 1: position is bright. You know when you look at good
Speaker 1: young players like Justin and Tua and Kyler Murray and
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes. I mean a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: I had some real concern about the lack of depth
Speaker 1: and talent at that position. But you look at these
Speaker 1: young guys, how they've come in and played and played
Speaker 1: at a really high level. Justin in particular, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, he he gets thrown thrown in there a
Speaker 1: week two and doesn't really even know he's going to
Speaker 1: play and has a terrific game against the Chiefs. And
Speaker 1: each week he's played, he's gaining more and more confidence,
Speaker 1: he's getting experienced. You know, he's playing well enough to win.
Speaker 1: I know it's been frustrating because the you know, the
Speaker 1: the wuts aren't piling up, but he's put he's put
Speaker 1: the Chargers in a position to have a chance to
Speaker 1: win each week. And that's all you can do with
Speaker 1: the quarterback position. Yeah, you know, Rich, before we get
Speaker 1: in these quarterbacks a little bit deeper, you mentioned the
Speaker 1: Chargers two and six. All six games have been last
Speaker 1: by a possession or less. And if I just count
Speaker 1: the AFC West games, you know they led wire to
Speaker 1: wire against the Chiefs. You were there in Denver. They
Speaker 1: had a twenty one point leading over the third quarter,
Speaker 1: and then which you saw last Sunday on the last
Speaker 1: play against the Raiders. If you have just half of
Speaker 1: those games go your way, you're five and three and
Speaker 1: three and o in the division. But obviously it just
Speaker 1: doesn't work out that way. I just I can't put
Speaker 1: my finger on why this team has been unable to
Speaker 1: close some of these close games. How about this three
Speaker 1: five seven three one five sounds like a phone number
Speaker 1: three one five. They lost the game by three, by five,
Speaker 1: by seven, by three, by one, by five. I mean
Speaker 1: these are all one more games. And you know, I
Speaker 1: think part of it is is learning how to finish
Speaker 1: late in games. I think part of that is running
Speaker 1: the football Layton games when it matters the most. Talking
Speaker 1: about four minute offense, it's getting off the field on
Speaker 1: third down, it's clock management. I mean, there's been some
Speaker 1: mistakes in terms of, uh, you know, managing situational football,
Speaker 1: even against the Raiders last week, not calling a time out,
Speaker 1: uh in in in that last series after the first play.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's there's there's things that have to be
Speaker 1: looked at closely. This is too good of a team
Speaker 1: to uh to be in this situation. And um, you
Speaker 1: know it's it's it's a tough pill to swallow. It's
Speaker 1: there's a big learning curve. But you know, usually you say, well,
Speaker 1: it's the rookie quarterback. He threw an interception late, didn't
Speaker 1: see a flat defender. Uh, you know, he went out
Speaker 1: there and you know he threw for three hundred yards
Speaker 1: but also threw for three interceptions. That's not the case.
Speaker 1: I mean, this kid's been well, he's been taking care
Speaker 1: of the football for the most part. He's making good decisions,
Speaker 1: and so you have to start looking under the hood
Speaker 1: and saying, why aren't we closing out games like we should?
Speaker 1: And that's something sure Anthony Lynn and the coaching staff
Speaker 1: are taking a good, hard, long look at. So I'm
Speaker 1: looking at Justin Herbert's stats through you know, his first
Speaker 1: seven starts twenty one hundred and forty six yards, seventeen
Speaker 1: touchdowns to five interceptions. He has four three hundred yard games.
Speaker 1: What has impressed you most about Herbert from what you
Speaker 1: saw at Oregon translating over to the pro game so quickly, Rich, Well,
Speaker 1: I think The thing that really jumps out to me
Speaker 1: is his poise, his composure, and his football IQ. And
Speaker 1: we know he was a three time academic All American.
Speaker 1: We know his brothers a freshman medical student at Columbia University.
Speaker 1: This is a bright guy. You know, he's actually comes
Speaker 1: from good you know, a good family, and education is
Speaker 1: important to him. But he picked up the system so quickly,
Speaker 1: and that's unusual for a young player at that position,
Speaker 1: especially when you consider there was no OTAs, there was
Speaker 1: no mini camps, there was no preseason games to speak of,
Speaker 1: and so you know, he's really had to learn on
Speaker 1: the fly. And I think the way he's managed himself,
Speaker 1: the way he's taking care of the football. You know,
Speaker 1: his feet, I think his feet tell you a lot.
Speaker 1: When you watch him in the pock. He doesn't have
Speaker 1: happy feed. He's he's in control, he's in rhythm. The
Speaker 1: other thing that's really impressive to me for a guy
Speaker 1: that's six foot six is two hundred and thirty seven pounds,
Speaker 1: his ability to extend plays, his ability to create offense
Speaker 1: the unscripted plays, his ability to run for a couple
Speaker 1: of first downs each week. He's a really he's a
Speaker 1: really gifted athlete. He's gotta learned to do a better
Speaker 1: job protecting himself, not taking the unnecessary hits. He was
Speaker 1: given hits, Rich, He's given hits, right, Chris, And you
Speaker 1: know he's got a bright future in this lad There's
Speaker 1: no question about it. I'm one of those fifty folders
Speaker 1: that vote for those postseason awards. Then one of them
Speaker 1: is the Rookie of the Year, and I think right now,
Speaker 1: when you look at how well he's played, he's certainly
Speaker 1: a front runner for the offensive Rookie of the Year award.
Speaker 1: So I look at the success of Herbert and Burrow
Speaker 1: and what two has done in his first two games,
Speaker 1: and obviously you can't take anything away from these guys.
Speaker 1: I mean to have an all season program done virtually
Speaker 1: like this, to get on the grass officially late in
Speaker 1: July and to do what you're doing remarkable. I wonder
Speaker 1: as a quarterback, when we start to get normal in
Speaker 1: the stadium, you're calling these games with no fans in
Speaker 1: the stands, is that another layer that these quarterbacks maybe
Speaker 1: a test that they're gonna have to pass later on
Speaker 1: in their career. When you know, Justin was awesome in
Speaker 1: the Superdome. But if that Superdome had seventy thousand fans,
Speaker 1: the quarterback is affected a little bit. So I'm just curious.
Speaker 1: We're seeing the success of all these young guys, but
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to pass another test when you have
Speaker 1: seventy five and seventy thousand fans in the stands. You're right,
Speaker 1: that's a huge hurdle. And you look at the records
Speaker 1: of home teams this year and I think it's it's
Speaker 1: certainly tells the story that home field has not been
Speaker 1: a huge advantage because of the lack of crowds and
Speaker 1: the crowd noise and how that affects the opponents, especially offense,
Speaker 1: and their ability to communicate the line of scrimmage. So
Speaker 1: that is another hurdle they'll have to deal with. But
Speaker 1: look when you watch how poised he has been at
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage, his ability to change plays change
Speaker 1: for Texans, his huddle command. I think that that's not
Speaker 1: going to be a huge deal for him, although I
Speaker 1: can tell you that is a real problem for quarterbacks
Speaker 1: as you go on the road's particularly in the division.
Speaker 1: It forces you to go silent, silent snapcount. It forces
Speaker 1: you to eliminate some of your audibles. It forces you to, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, change your check with me system. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of different things that even even calling and communicating
Speaker 1: plays in the huddle, even here in the play come
Speaker 1: in in your headset. So but he's a he's a
Speaker 1: smart kid that'll pick it up quickly. And you know,
Speaker 1: just look at what he did in college. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know it didn't really call plays in the huddle,
Speaker 1: didn't really play from under center. And you look at
Speaker 1: how well he's done h and handle both of those transitions.
Speaker 1: So look, I think the sky's a limit for him.
Speaker 1: I mean, he is. He's got a lot of the
Speaker 1: qualities and the intangibles that you really look and cove
Speaker 1: it at the quarterback position. You flip it over to
Speaker 1: two a smaller sample size just two games. That first
Speaker 1: game defense deal out of the work against the Rams,
Speaker 1: but that was a fun duel between two young quarterbacks
Speaker 1: and Kyler Murray and two on Sunday. What have you
Speaker 1: seen from him early on in his career? Rich, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the first game there wasn't a real good
Speaker 1: sample size. I think they were trying to transition from
Speaker 1: fits to two and just kind of working through what
Speaker 1: the what the plan was going to look like, how
Speaker 1: they would adjust this scheme. Certainly, he's got a different
Speaker 1: skill set than Ryan Fitzpatrick. He's a left handed quarterback,
Speaker 1: so that changes up some of your protections and things
Speaker 1: like that. I thought he was better last week. I
Speaker 1: thought his play speed was a little bit better. He's
Speaker 1: a very instinctive player, you know. I mean, he's going
Speaker 1: to be able to create and extend plays. You know,
Speaker 1: I think when you really go back and look at
Speaker 1: him in college, I think you see some of the
Speaker 1: similarities in terms of the way he plays the game.
Speaker 1: He's got big playability. He's extremely accurate, and he's a
Speaker 1: good decision maker. And you know, I think that's what
Speaker 1: he was at Alabama. You know, that's the reason why
Speaker 1: he you know, through for seventy six touchdowns and only
Speaker 1: nine picks his last two seasons. You know, I mean,
Speaker 1: he takes good care of the football. He hasn't yet
Speaker 1: to throw an interception. But you know, as he faces
Speaker 1: different competition, he faces better defenses. I think that'll be
Speaker 1: a real challenge. And the final thing for you, Rich,
Speaker 1: what do you think is going to decide this game.
Speaker 1: We've seen how The Chargers have played football all year long.
Speaker 1: They've been close games, they've come down to the wire.
Speaker 1: I look at Miami and their defense is playing pretty well.
Speaker 1: I think they scored the first touchdown of the game
Speaker 1: against the Cardinals. But what do you think could decide
Speaker 1: this one? I think two things for the Chargers. They've
Speaker 1: got to be able to run the ball a little
Speaker 1: bit better, you know. I mean, I know that's been
Speaker 1: a point of emphasis for coach Lynn, something he's talked
Speaker 1: about as a former running back himself, just being able
Speaker 1: to rely on the running game a little bit. I
Speaker 1: don't know what Austin Eckler's situation is in terms of
Speaker 1: where he's at, but honestly, you know that they haven't
Speaker 1: been the same without him in the lineup. Speaking of
Speaker 1: not being in the lineup, Joey Boza, I mean I
Speaker 1: did the game two weeks ago against Denver, and you know,
Speaker 1: not having bowsa late in that game was huge. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, Denver had plenty of time back there in
Speaker 1: the pocket, Toulock had a lot of extra time. It
Speaker 1: certainly affects Melbourne Ingram as well. So I think if
Speaker 1: you could get a healthy Melbourne Ingram and Joey Bolts
Speaker 1: are together. You know, we saw it that looked like
Speaker 1: a couple weeks ago against Jacksonville and for three quarters
Speaker 1: against Denver. So to me, that's gonna be a big
Speaker 1: thing you got. You're gonna have to get around this
Speaker 1: young quarterback. You're gonna have to keep him in the
Speaker 1: pocket where he belongs. You're gonna have to try and
Speaker 1: get some hits on him early and affect him and
Speaker 1: speed up the process for him a little bit. I
Speaker 1: think on the back end, and Gus Brodley does a
Speaker 1: great job as you have to disguise your intentions. Force
Speaker 1: this kid to make as many post snap reads as
Speaker 1: opposed to pre snap reads, force them to read the coverages,
Speaker 1: force them to find the blitzer, and I think that'll
Speaker 1: be key for the Chargers on Sunday on the road
Speaker 1: against the Dolphins. Well, Rich, I always love when you're
Speaker 1: on a Chargers game, man, and I always appreciate how
Speaker 1: great she's you are with your time. Thanks so much
Speaker 1: for spending a few minutes with us, Chris. Thanks brother.
Speaker 1: All Right, Chargers fans, We'll get to Matt money Smith
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Speaker 1: they need all right. Time to see what's on the menu,
Speaker 1: powered by Subway Voice. The chargers with me Matt Money
Speaker 1: Smith Money charges two at six at the halfway point.
Speaker 1: We're starting to sense a theme here. At the end
Speaker 1: of Games, I was listening to Move the Sticks and
Speaker 1: their ten takeaway pod and DJ mentioned the fact that
Speaker 1: you've called three game winners this year already that have
Speaker 1: gone the other way. That's really hard for me to believe. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's funny and just to kind of
Speaker 1: build on that it it comes from. We also had
Speaker 1: a conversation yesterday on Petros and Money with Mike Pereira
Speaker 1: and we were talking to them about, you know, officials
Speaker 1: being gun shy right now for whatever reason. They don't
Speaker 1: want to call touchdowns, or if they do, you know
Speaker 1: there's an immediate conference and it's and it's just been
Speaker 1: a weird year. The fact that you know, the Chargers
Speaker 1: have now had three for me as far as calling
Speaker 1: the game, wins taken off the board, so you know,
Speaker 1: just going in chronological order. Most recent back, so the
Speaker 1: side judge called it a touchdown right on param So
Speaker 1: if zeros on the clock, I gotta call a touchdown.
Speaker 1: The Chargers win the game that you know, Herbert's rush
Speaker 1: in the field, it's a celebratory I'm freaking out and
Speaker 1: screaming and yelling. They beat the Raiders. It's great. And
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, three minutes later, Chargers didn't
Speaker 1: win this game. You know, last week, kJ Hamler catches
Speaker 1: that ball in the end zone. Side judge right in
Speaker 1: front of the play signals incomplete. It's a fourth down,
Speaker 1: I say, incomplete. Chargers win. Huddle conference, Chargers win in
Speaker 1: New Orleans. You know, for people that don't know, we
Speaker 1: call the away games off a monitor, and the camera
Speaker 1: that we were watching the field goal on was focused
Speaker 1: on the line of scrimmage and it didn't carry up
Speaker 1: to the officials. So it was just focused on the
Speaker 1: offensive line, and when Badgeley hit that kick, they all
Speaker 1: immediately put their hands up and start high five in
Speaker 1: each other. And I call the Chargers win, only to
Speaker 1: find out that Badgeley pushed it right and Lis, that's
Speaker 1: three times now that I've called a Charger's victory only
Speaker 1: to have it taken off the board. It is it. Look,
Speaker 1: everybody says the same thing. We've never seen anything like it. No, no,
Speaker 1: we haven't. And if those three wins go the other way,
Speaker 1: you're five and three right now, and I focused more
Speaker 1: on these division wins. It that's what stings the most.
Speaker 1: The Kansas City game was wire to wire. We know
Speaker 1: what happened in Denver, and we know what happened last week.
Speaker 1: Those three wins. Man, you're five and three three. You
Speaker 1: know in the division, you're right in the mix here,
Speaker 1: and instead we're at two and six, and while we
Speaker 1: should be celebrating the success of Justin Herbert and you know,
Speaker 1: beating some of these elite teams in the NFL, we're
Speaker 1: kind of just talking here at a loss at two
Speaker 1: and six, like, how is this happening right now? And
Speaker 1: it's it's something different. Every single week. We you and I,
Speaker 1: you know, we're starting to have the same conversation here,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what's that's what's tough. It's like, man,
Speaker 1: what do you say at this point? Well, and I
Speaker 1: think what you got to be careful of is is
Speaker 1: fallen into the same trap, right, which is, well, this
Speaker 1: this is your quick fix. You know, we've talked about
Speaker 1: special teams and you know, look, special teams got them again.
Speaker 1: You know, kJ Hill muffs a punt that's right in Charger,
Speaker 1: you know, deep in Charger territory. The Raiders get three
Speaker 1: points out of it, and that's now a five point
Speaker 1: lead instead of a two in the fourth quarter in
Speaker 1: instead of needing a field goal to win the game,
Speaker 1: you need a you know, you need a touchdown. I
Speaker 1: thought Tye Long struggled again in that game. You know,
Speaker 1: you either got to kick it far or you gotta
Speaker 1: kick it high, and right now Tye is doing neither.
Speaker 1: And I think that's leading to the Chargers struggles a
Speaker 1: little bit. But I think beyond that, like we were
Speaker 1: talking about it, you know, because we've got to do
Speaker 1: four hours a day on the radio show, and there's
Speaker 1: plenty of time to kind of rehash these things. I said, Look,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people are coming after coach
Speaker 1: for time management, and I think it's fair. I think
Speaker 1: they could have managed the clock better. I said, but
Speaker 1: Herbert's the guy pulling the trigger on those throws in
Speaker 1: the middle of the field. You know, short throws to
Speaker 1: Josh Kelly that are going for five yards when you're
Speaker 1: under two minutes. So it's like there's multiple plays that
Speaker 1: lead to only having four or six seconds on a
Speaker 1: second down at the goal line. It's not just the
Speaker 1: coach thought there was going to be a measurement. There
Speaker 1: wasn't a measurement. Twenty seven seconds runs off right there
Speaker 1: and you still end up using one of your three
Speaker 1: time outs. What a disaster. There's other things that come
Speaker 1: into play, and I do think the one thing that
Speaker 1: is consistent is we're talking about execution or lack thereof,
Speaker 1: and to me, that's just you know, look, it's on
Speaker 1: coaches in players together to execute in the games most
Speaker 1: critical moments. We know champions execute. That's the difference. You know,
Speaker 1: when your backs are against the wall in the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl and you're down ten in the second half, you
Speaker 1: execute that toss to Tyree Hill to turn the momentum
Speaker 1: in your favor. And I think that's just kind of
Speaker 1: the one thing that has been threaded through all of
Speaker 1: these losses is when you absolutely have to execute, whether
Speaker 1: it's on defense or offense or not committing a penalty
Speaker 1: or special teams, the execution is just missing. Yeah, you know, defensively,
Speaker 1: the end of that second quarter, Tillery gets to strip sack,
Speaker 1: you kick three. Momentum is tilting in your favor. And
Speaker 1: we talk about the execution at the end of games.
Speaker 1: You got to execute. But then you have some of
Speaker 1: these just lapses where you know, Aguilar goes for a
Speaker 1: forty five yard touchdown, running for fifty three yards, these
Speaker 1: big plays that are shifting momentum and tilting it in
Speaker 1: the favor of the Rais Raiders so quickly. Money Like
Speaker 1: at halftime you're like, all right, we got some momentum,
Speaker 1: let's see if we can finish these guys off. And
Speaker 1: then the Raiders they hit you first in the second
Speaker 1: half it and I think that was kind of the
Speaker 1: turning point. Yeah. You know what's funny about that too, though,
Speaker 1: is we talked about it last week, like believe it
Speaker 1: or not. What I like, those explosive plays to disappear. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm look, Derek Carter does not beat you that way.
Speaker 1: You know they say that last week. You know, they
Speaker 1: had to shut down that running game. They were sealing
Speaker 1: the edge and they were getting eight, ten, twelve yards
Speaker 1: on every kerry, whether it was Josh Jacobs or DeVante Bookers.
Speaker 1: So I understand committing resources to slow that down. To me,
Speaker 1: that's it's on Casey. You know, Casey got burned on
Speaker 1: both of those passes. And I think, look, the Agaloor
Speaker 1: catch as a beautiful route. It was a perfect pass.
Speaker 1: That's Casey. I thought had good coverage on that. There
Speaker 1: wasn't much he could do. You maybe commit some safety
Speaker 1: help over there. It looked like Nas was a little
Speaker 1: bit late trying to get over for help there because
Speaker 1: there was no route on the other side. But to me,
Speaker 1: that was just a great play. You know, I plaud
Speaker 1: the Raiders well done. You never take those shots. But
Speaker 1: the Renfro play, if you go back and watch it,
Speaker 1: and I don't know if Casey just assumed it's been
Speaker 1: a while, E plays probably over or something like that,
Speaker 1: you know, but car breaks and he normally does not
Speaker 1: make plays like that, right, We've seen him enough times
Speaker 1: to know that's not really in his bag of tricks.
Speaker 1: And you know, Casey just kind of that's all it
Speaker 1: all takes, is what a fraction of a second he
Speaker 1: lets up, Renfro pulls away, Car sees it and it's
Speaker 1: too late. So again like, yeah, those were two huge plays.
Speaker 1: They led to touchdowns. At the same time, I said it,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to stand by it. I'd rather see
Speaker 1: those plays when it comes from the Raiders beat you
Speaker 1: than the death by a thousand paper cuts and just
Speaker 1: watching Car in a soft zone. Check the Waller because
Speaker 1: Waller did not have a great game. They did a
Speaker 1: great job, but trying Bottling hit him up for the
Speaker 1: most part, they lost him on that touchdown. But I
Speaker 1: thought the defensive game plan was was pretty sound. And
Speaker 1: you know, I think to add to that, just to
Speaker 1: make a long answer longer, you miss Bosa. You missed
Speaker 1: Bosa on that edge, particularly in the run game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you missed Bosa, And that was my My next point
Speaker 1: is the running game set up those big passes, right,
Speaker 1: I mean one hundred and sixty yards on the ground,
Speaker 1: six yards of pop getting to the quarterback and Joey Bosa,
Speaker 1: those two things are synonymous. But but Joe is really
Speaker 1: good against the run two he said, so yeah, so
Speaker 1: to not have him football at it, I mean yeah,
Speaker 1: that there was no defensive end football that is better
Speaker 1: at that than he is. And man, was he missed.
Speaker 1: He was missed. And then just not having him out there,
Speaker 1: it affects the other pass rushers been they did not.
Speaker 1: I think car was hit maybe three times, sacked once.
Speaker 1: It's not enough, not with two backup tackles, you know,
Speaker 1: not not with two guys that are both back you
Speaker 1: know that are both backups out there. So that to
Speaker 1: me is, yeah, you gotta win. You gotta win those
Speaker 1: one on ones because there's one on ones out there.
Speaker 1: And like you said, Killery had that you know, had
Speaker 1: a pretty good first half. You know, I had had
Speaker 1: a really good first half. Actually you had pressures. You
Speaker 1: had the strip sack for eternal or the lead to
Speaker 1: three points. But I you know, and I asked coach
Speaker 1: after the game, and he didn't give me a straight answer,
Speaker 1: which was fine. I think he probably wants to not
Speaker 1: make it sound like he's making excuses. I have been.
Speaker 1: Something's got to be going on with Melbourne Ingram, Like
Speaker 1: I just you know, he was on the injured list.
Speaker 1: He's come back, and I think he's just such a
Speaker 1: competitor and a great teammate that he wants to be
Speaker 1: back out there. But he just does not look like himself.
Speaker 1: And the fact that here we are through eight games,
Speaker 1: what is he played four or five? I don't remember
Speaker 1: if it's four or five. That he's like, you don't
Speaker 1: have a sack sack, He doesn't really have a whole
Speaker 1: mess of hurries or hit. So I just think there's
Speaker 1: something going on there that they're trying to sort out.
Speaker 1: And you can see it by the way they're trying
Speaker 1: to move him around the line and he's running up
Speaker 1: and down that line and sometimes hitting you know, interior gaps.
Speaker 1: Sometimes he's stacked on the outside. With Boston, it's just
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, I think maybe there's something going on
Speaker 1: there with Melbourne. So why do we flip it forward
Speaker 1: to Miami? And the obvious storyline is two of versus Herbert.
Speaker 1: That's going to be fun. But do Miami Dolphins are
Speaker 1: playing pretty good foot right now? The Rams. A couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago, they suffocated the Rams four turnovers. Um
Speaker 1: it was more of a shootout. Last week against Arizona.
Speaker 1: But they started the game with a I think it
Speaker 1: was an Agba sack which led to a shack laws
Speaker 1: and picking it up and going thirty six yards. So
Speaker 1: the Chargers are getting Miami, who are playing at their
Speaker 1: best right now. Well, and you know, who knows what's
Speaker 1: going on with Bulaga. I thought Turner might be out there.
Speaker 1: That'll be a huge boost if they can get him back,
Speaker 1: and if bolag is back, is cooperating right, So if
Speaker 1: you can at least get that side of the line settled,
Speaker 1: and because it you know, look, if you can get
Speaker 1: that and the way that that Blage ran, the way
Speaker 1: that you know Troy Mayne Pope if he comes back
Speaker 1: off concussion, was running. You just you got to establish
Speaker 1: that you can not allow them to just start teeing
Speaker 1: off on a pass rush like they were doing with
Speaker 1: Jared Goff because you mentioned it. They you know, they
Speaker 1: scooped Manny Agba off the scrap heap, and man, he's
Speaker 1: he's been a revelation. He's been fantastic. So you know,
Speaker 1: they when they're healthy, and Darry's really good. But again,
Speaker 1: you know, as good as that defense is, as much
Speaker 1: as we want to celebrate him, after the Rams game.
Speaker 1: My gosh, Kyler Murray through for what three hundred plus
Speaker 1: three touchdowns rushed for a hundred. We know, certainly we've
Speaker 1: seen it enough times. I mean, justin Herbert throws for
Speaker 1: three hundred every time he goes out, and no reason
Speaker 1: to think he can see the same, right, you know,
Speaker 1: And the fact that he's starting to use his legs
Speaker 1: a little bit more, I still I also think that's
Speaker 1: going to have to be that's going to have to
Speaker 1: be used more. Those RPOs where he is keeping He's
Speaker 1: got to pull that ball more. Those lanes are there,
Speaker 1: and I think it just adds an element of confusion
Speaker 1: and second guessing to the defense. You know, I feel
Speaker 1: like he's got to do that more often, even if
Speaker 1: it only goes for two yards or one yard, because
Speaker 1: you're gonna pop one or two and then that just
Speaker 1: kind of changes the mentality that defense for the rest
Speaker 1: of the game. Every time they see that mesh no question,
Speaker 1: and you know what, he just needs to protect himself.
Speaker 1: If he protects himself, that is a weapon. That's an
Speaker 1: extra layer to this offense. And you know we should mention,
Speaker 1: by the way, also, Eckler's not in the football game,
Speaker 1: you know, and what he means to this offense. Um.
Speaker 1: I love seeing Herbert get the ball to t Billy
Speaker 1: for fifty and throwing a parm at the end of
Speaker 1: the game. But when you're without a star like Eckler Man,
Speaker 1: he makes such a different difference, a huge difference of
Speaker 1: what the Chargers do. What have you seen from Tua?
Speaker 1: I know it's a small sample size, man, especially that
Speaker 1: Rams game it was it was more of a defensive effort. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But but last week against Kyler Murray, Yeah, watching watching
Speaker 1: that game back, what I saw was what I saw
Speaker 1: at Alabama. Just very you know, just to use the
Speaker 1: scouting terms and steal those because I think it does
Speaker 1: make sense. I think you can see it in your
Speaker 1: mind's eye. They say twitchy. That's what it looks like.
Speaker 1: It's twitchy. It's just explode. The ball explodes out of
Speaker 1: his hands. Uh. He is so quick to diagnose, you know,
Speaker 1: he recognizes the open man and that ball is gone
Speaker 1: the second he recognizes it. And by the way, it's accurate,
Speaker 1: I mean pinpoint accurate. So that's what we saw. Um,
Speaker 1: he's not the athlete that Herbert is, you know, he's
Speaker 1: not Kyler Murray's He's not Justin Herbert. He's not that
Speaker 1: kind of athlete, but he's enough of an athlete to
Speaker 1: move around and escape. And you saw that as well.
Speaker 1: There were a couple pressures there that looked like he
Speaker 1: was dead to rights and he managed to get out
Speaker 1: of it on one place, scrambled on another play, was
Speaker 1: able to throw it downfield. But I think more than anything,
Speaker 1: what you get from two and I think there are
Speaker 1: attributes that that go a long way in this league,
Speaker 1: and that is quick process. He's a quick processor and
Speaker 1: the ball is accurate. And when you when you combine
Speaker 1: those two things and you think about, like you said,
Speaker 1: the struggles that the pass rush without Bosa has had
Speaker 1: that can be dangerous. You know, you better be tight
Speaker 1: in your coverage, you better be tight in the middle
Speaker 1: of the field or else that can really get you.
Speaker 1: Um So I think it's going to be a challenge
Speaker 1: if what we saw in Arizona was what he's capable
Speaker 1: of doing weekend and week out. But again, you know,
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert's putting up points. So it probably comes down to,
Speaker 1: you know, unfortunately, what we saw again this week, which
Speaker 1: is turnovers, you know, and the Chargers had the advantage,
Speaker 1: and when they had the advantage, they were able to
Speaker 1: stay you know, on top or likely win that game.
Speaker 1: When they lost that advantage, it got away from them.
Speaker 1: So I think that's going to be critical again this week,
Speaker 1: the final play of the game. Matt Money Smith's gonna
Speaker 1: have to be on his p's and q's man every
Speaker 1: every week with his Chargers team. Right. The funny thing
Speaker 1: is like before, you know, I think it's been now
Speaker 1: happened before the Bronco game, and it happened, you know,
Speaker 1: when they were two and four, and it happened at
Speaker 1: two and five before the Raider game. You know, DJ
Speaker 1: looks over at me and as we're looking at the
Speaker 1: boards and kind of who's playing, and we're like, I
Speaker 1: think this team can make a run, you know, and
Speaker 1: and and this is the last week. You're gonna have
Speaker 1: to go ten and six. They're they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: win out so you know, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: I still look at it and I say, you know,
Speaker 1: you beat the Dolphins, then you get the Jets after that.
Speaker 1: You know, Gus knows how to beat Josh Allen because
Speaker 1: it's the same recipe he used to beat Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1: You know, you rush three, you drop eight, and you
Speaker 1: force them to throw in the windows. And after that,
Speaker 1: you saw the Patriots are not very good this year.
Speaker 1: And next thing you know, you're at five hundred. That's
Speaker 1: a lot of ifs and hopes for a team that
Speaker 1: is two and six. But if you can, if you
Speaker 1: can win this quadrant, this this quarter, these four games,
Speaker 1: I do think it's in front of them, and they're
Speaker 1: gonna get healthy, and Chris Harris is going to get back,
Speaker 1: and Alston Eckler's going to get back, and if you
Speaker 1: can somehow figure out how to I'm gonna say the
Speaker 1: next two, if you can win these next two Miami
Speaker 1: in New York, I think you're gonna get those guys back.
Speaker 1: And I think if you're able to get that other
Speaker 1: defensive back out there and Ackler in the backfield, this
Speaker 1: is a team that can be really, really dangerous. Gotta
Speaker 1: keep hope alive. Ye one more week at least, and
Speaker 1: then you see what happens. Man Money, always appreciate your brother,
Speaker 1: all right, good luck to your Wildcats this week too.
Speaker 1: That might be the game of the week in the
Speaker 1: big Time. How about those Cats right now? Right, little
Speaker 1: undefeated battle between the Cats and the Purdue boiler Makers.
Speaker 1: Looking forward to that one. Let's go, thanks buddy. All right, man,
Speaker 1: all right, Bolts fans before we get to Jim Gray.
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Speaker 1: local Pizza Hut is participating in the Greater LA area.
Speaker 1: Offers available for pickup or delivery while supplies last. Talking
Speaker 1: to ghosts, the moments you remember and the stories you
Speaker 1: never heard. It's out now and I'm here with the author,
Speaker 1: Jim Gray. Jim, it's a pleasure to have you. How
Speaker 1: you doing. I'm great, Chris, great to be with you.
Speaker 1: What an exciting week for you. What was it like
Speaker 1: putting this project together? Oh my god, it's really hard,
Speaker 1: really hard. I had a lot of help, fortunately, from
Speaker 1: first my wife who's lived through this for the past
Speaker 1: thirty plus years. Uh. And then Greg Bishop, Great writer
Speaker 1: from Sports Illustrated, he wrote the book with me. He
Speaker 1: was the one that organized all of this. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: tens of thousands of interviews, all of these events that
Speaker 1: we have that I've covered over the course of my career,
Speaker 1: and transcripts and tapes and all kinds of DVDs and everything,
Speaker 1: and he went through it all and he put it
Speaker 1: all together and and really just brilliantly wrote it for me.
Speaker 1: And I'm grateful, so grateful to Great for all of
Speaker 1: his hard work and dedication. But this was hard. This
Speaker 1: was hard, Chris. You know anything that takes three years,
Speaker 1: and you know, you're you're you're wanting to present something
Speaker 1: for the reader to enjoy, to learn, to be able
Speaker 1: to take maybe use for good for future generations. To
Speaker 1: see the triumphs and the tragedy and the trials and
Speaker 1: all of the things that all of these guys who
Speaker 1: who are standing on the top step of the victory platform,
Speaker 1: what they go through to get to that place. And
Speaker 1: it's it's hard, and it's hard for them. And this project,
Speaker 1: I had no idea what it took to write a book.
Speaker 1: I really didn't. Well, I tell you this, it's the
Speaker 1: best of the best. It's the most influential and recognizable
Speaker 1: people in the world. You know, we talk about Muhammad Ali,
Speaker 1: Lucille Ball, the fact that you were roommates with John
Speaker 1: Badden and Yoko Odo, who's across the hall. I mean, Jim,
Speaker 1: I don't even know where to begin. Like when you
Speaker 1: put this together, you said it was one of the
Speaker 1: hardest things you've ever done. Like, how do you even
Speaker 1: do it? Well, you have to try and and and
Speaker 1: figure out. You know, it's again I go back to
Speaker 1: my wife and and Greg. You know, this is only
Speaker 1: interesting to you, Jim, And it's interesting, but there's a
Speaker 1: reader out here, and there's somebody who's consuming this. And
Speaker 1: so your stories are fun and funny, But do they
Speaker 1: rise to the level of being in a book? Do
Speaker 1: they rise to the level that will tracked somebody to say,
Speaker 1: you know, A, either I didn't know that, or B
Speaker 1: you know, I want more. So. I worked for Bud Greenspan,
Speaker 1: and Bud Greenspan was a great historian and Olympian documentarian,
Speaker 1: a sports historian, and he did all kinds of great
Speaker 1: stuff over the years. Jesse Owens returns to Berlin. The
Speaker 1: Wilmo Rudolph's story The Last African Runner won gazillion Emmys.
Speaker 1: And he was just brilliant. And he used to say
Speaker 1: that it's said that a picture captures a thousand words,
Speaker 1: and I say that a word captures a thousand pictures.
Speaker 1: So I was trying to keep that cognizant in my
Speaker 1: mind and be able to ascertain that how important a
Speaker 1: word is. And you don't have to use a lot
Speaker 1: of words, you have to use the right words. And
Speaker 1: that's what great did. And you know, I'm hopeful that
Speaker 1: you know, whoever consumes it will be as happy with
Speaker 1: it as we are. They'll be the judge, well, they'll
Speaker 1: be very happy when they read it. And I want
Speaker 1: to ask you about Kobe Bryant because for the Chargers
Speaker 1: he was a neighbor. You know, his offices were right
Speaker 1: next to Hope Performance Center. When the team moved to
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. He spoke to the team before training camp
Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen. He's spoken to the team on other occasions.
Speaker 1: This rocked the entire world, but you break it down,
Speaker 1: it was an international story, a national story, a local story,
Speaker 1: and a hyperlocal story. And for you, you knew Kobe,
Speaker 1: You're his entire life. What was that day like for you?
Speaker 1: And I know that there's some stories in this book
Speaker 1: about Kobe Bean Bryant. Yeah, you know, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: it's heartbreaking. It's just you just you just never expected,
Speaker 1: not that you would expect anybody's life to end short,
Speaker 1: but I just I just never thought, you know, I
Speaker 1: was I'm twenty years older than Kobe was, So you know,
Speaker 1: that's not the natural progression of anything to see such
Speaker 1: a vibrant young man who was just you know, getting
Speaker 1: involved in so many different things that he had left
Speaker 1: behind his basketball career. And and so when when when
Speaker 1: I heard this, you know, there's there's there's there's this
Speaker 1: feeling that you have that's you know, indescribable because it
Speaker 1: just doesn't seem real. You understand what I mean. It's
Speaker 1: not denial, it's just like that can't be. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, Kobe's gonna walk away from that crash. Uh,
Speaker 1: Kobe's Kobe's going to figure out how to how to
Speaker 1: how to you know, live. So you know, you just
Speaker 1: kind of it becomes surreal. And then the longer and
Speaker 1: the more you hear, you know, it starts to sink
Speaker 1: in and and then of course you just feel grief
Speaker 1: and and and you mourn, and you, Lauren, for those
Speaker 1: who loved him and those who depended on him, his girls, Vanessa,
Speaker 1: Um you know, his family, his sisters Shariah and and
Speaker 1: and his parents and uh Pam and Joe so and
Speaker 1: then the Laker organization and his fellow teammates and all
Speaker 1: the people he won championships with, and all the people
Speaker 1: he touched and when he became a girl dad, all
Speaker 1: the girls that he was helping, and all of Gigi's friends,
Speaker 1: and you know, all all all of his older girls
Speaker 1: friends and Italian and so forth. So it just becomes
Speaker 1: a stream of thoughts and and and and then you
Speaker 1: start thinking back to the last time you talked to him,
Speaker 1: the last time he texted you, the last time you
Speaker 1: saw him, what you did, Was there anything left you
Speaker 1: know that you might have wanted to tell him, or
Speaker 1: anything um or just to simply, you know, share another
Speaker 1: Coca Cola or in his case, water body armor exactly
Speaker 1: a body armor, right, Jim. You've said before, everything he's
Speaker 1: done behind closed doors, all these kind acts to others,
Speaker 1: whether it was make a wish, or you know, speaking
Speaker 1: to a team like the Chargers, trying to give them
Speaker 1: motivation before a game or before a season. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you could just speak to the person that
Speaker 1: Kobe was off the court inspiring others. You know, we
Speaker 1: talk about that Momba mentality behind me. He tried to
Speaker 1: pass that along to fans, to other athletes. He always
Speaker 1: tried to pay it forward. You know, Kobe wasn't one
Speaker 1: of these guys who wanted a camera around when he
Speaker 1: performed acts of kindness. He wasn't looking for recognition and
Speaker 1: he wasn't looking for accolades. He wasn't looking for somebody
Speaker 1: to say, look at him, I notice what you're doing.
Speaker 1: So that's true giving, that's true character. That would you know,
Speaker 1: what do you do when no one's looking? Sure, you know,
Speaker 1: and people wear the wrist bands, the religious wrist bands,
Speaker 1: what would whatever religious leader who you follow, where would
Speaker 1: whatever religious leader do? And you know, and then they
Speaker 1: try and you know, remember that in those moments. So
Speaker 1: what Kobe was doing was giving of himself of good
Speaker 1: because he knew the impact that had had. This guy
Speaker 1: was very self aware. This guy knew who he was,
Speaker 1: knew the impact that he had and knew just exactly
Speaker 1: this was a methodical, well thought out, highly intelligent, precise
Speaker 1: and an enacting guy. And he was enacting and and
Speaker 1: fulfilling the vision that he had. And now he wanted
Speaker 1: to tell stories, and he wanted to tell tell children's stories,
Speaker 1: and he wanted to be a girl dad, and he
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure that he didn't miss anything in
Speaker 1: those kids childhoods because he had given up a lot
Speaker 1: of it while he had committed himself to playing with
Speaker 1: the Lakers in the NBA. So, you know, this is
Speaker 1: a subject that I could have really written chapters on,
Speaker 1: and I tried to just make it, you know, concise. Again,
Speaker 1: my relationship with him is always going to be carried
Speaker 1: right here in my heart. My wife was close to
Speaker 1: Kobe as well. She did his first commercial ever um
Speaker 1: and so you know, and and and my feeling toward
Speaker 1: Vanessa and Pam and Joe UM is one of where
Speaker 1: my heartbreaks and for and for the three remaining little girls.
Speaker 1: And Vanessa has got a road in front of her,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's it's it's horribly tragic because she's
Speaker 1: not going to have that guy who was so much
Speaker 1: to so many, but mainly to her to be with her.
Speaker 1: And when we think about Kobe, we always want to
Speaker 1: think about the positive, the fond memories, the last thing images.
Speaker 1: What's your fondest memory of Kobe Bryant, Well, that would
Speaker 1: be hard. I knew I knew him when he was
Speaker 1: a you know, in in his mother's arms. I knew
Speaker 1: him as a toddler, an infant. So I mean, I've
Speaker 1: got a lot going on in there that that you know,
Speaker 1: when you say one thing is fond, you know, I guess,
Speaker 1: I guess I would just be I guess if if
Speaker 1: if you could say this is one, it's not. But
Speaker 1: just to see what he became, Yeah, to see what
Speaker 1: he became as a young man to a superstar athlete,
Speaker 1: to a global icon, to a dad to the the
Speaker 1: I mean, the whole package. The whole package was just
Speaker 1: you know, something that you could look at and say,
Speaker 1: you know what, here's here's an here's a guy who
Speaker 1: you know, did what he set out to do, achieved success,
Speaker 1: helped others. Now, he was tough. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: people get painted in death something that they weren't necessarily
Speaker 1: in life. Kob Kobe was a tough teammate, and Kobe
Speaker 1: was a vicious competitor, and if you were in his way,
Speaker 1: it didn't matter who you were, he was going to
Speaker 1: run you over. Okay. So if you're a teammate that
Speaker 1: didn't want to cooperate and didn't want to do it right,
Speaker 1: it just gets you out of the way, okay. And
Speaker 1: and and it was successful. And you know, but he
Speaker 1: also had a tremendous amount of resilience. I remember when
Speaker 1: when doctor Neil Elatraje repaired his torn achilles and Patrick
Speaker 1: su and Chong was in there as well. And Neil,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously feels the way of the world when
Speaker 1: you're operating on the type of athletes. He's operated on,
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, just a number of them, you name it.
Speaker 1: And Neil Eltrage has had his hands in fixing them,
Speaker 1: Tommy John surgeries and so forth. These doctor for the Dodgers,
Speaker 1: doctor for the Rams, and he's down there at the clinic.
Speaker 1: So doctor Eltrage, when Kobe came out of that surgery,
Speaker 1: and Kobe had to do all of that work behind
Speaker 1: closed doors to be able to play basketball again at
Speaker 1: the level that he wanted to play, that he wanted
Speaker 1: to play forget about what the public might expect, and
Speaker 1: their expectations had to come down somewhat after that, right
Speaker 1: had to come down from you know, he's not going
Speaker 1: to be the same. Well, Kobe wasn't going to have that.
Speaker 1: He was going to figure out a way where if
Speaker 1: he wasn't the same player that he was before he
Speaker 1: got hurt, he was going to be better. Yep, he
Speaker 1: wasn't going to be the same. Now he might i'd
Speaker 1: have been able to do it above the rim, or
Speaker 1: do it in the same fashion or you know, but
Speaker 1: he was going to figure it out. And look at
Speaker 1: what happened. He did. He did. He was not going
Speaker 1: to be the lasting impression was not going to be
Speaker 1: of him, you know, limping off the court and not
Speaker 1: being able to perform. So he came back and he performed.
Speaker 1: And so I kind of like what he said to me.
Speaker 1: Did the last interview he ever did, and the Lakers
Speaker 1: uniform was with me the night after he scored sixty points,
Speaker 1: and I said, the last question he was asked in
Speaker 1: a Laker uniform, I said, Kobe, how would you like
Speaker 1: to be remembered? Well, first, I said, are you sure
Speaker 1: about this? You just scored sixty points. Yeah, like you
Speaker 1: want to think this, and he said, no, I did not.
Speaker 1: I said, how do you want to be remembered? He said,
Speaker 1: I want to be remembered. He said Chris as a
Speaker 1: guy who was given all the talent in the world
Speaker 1: and worked like he had none. And that says it
Speaker 1: all about him, because that's what it was, That's who
Speaker 1: he was. Jim, there's countless stories in this book. I
Speaker 1: wish I had you for hours, but I want to
Speaker 1: get to a couple of these Alex Spanos stories because
Speaker 1: I've heard a couple. I've heard you tell me a
Speaker 1: couple you have to explain to our listeners and our viewers.
Speaker 1: I guess the story with Bob Hope, it feels like honestly, Jim,
Speaker 1: when I first heard it, I felt like this was
Speaker 1: like written like a Hollywood script. Well, they couldn't have
Speaker 1: made that one up because it would have been rejected. Well,
Speaker 1: I had met I had met Alex Spanos on a
Speaker 1: couple of occasions before i'd met him with Al Davis initially,
Speaker 1: and I was at the Jerry Ford Golf Invitation Golf Invitational.
Speaker 1: President Ford at his golf tournament every year in Vale, Colorado.
Speaker 1: He had a home in Beaver Creek and Alex Spanos
Speaker 1: would come every year and Bob Hope with perform one
Speaker 1: night at the Ford Amphitheater in downtown Vale. So I saw,
Speaker 1: I saw mister Spanos, and he knew me from covering
Speaker 1: football and from Al and was always great because Al
Speaker 1: told him cooperate with him, you can trust him. And
Speaker 1: so Alex heard that and Al had me sit in
Speaker 1: a meeting, and you know, Alex had no choice because
Speaker 1: Al didn't want me to leave the meeting. So you know,
Speaker 1: but that that broke the ice with Alex with mister Spanos.
Speaker 1: So anyway, he said, would you like to go home
Speaker 1: with us tomorrow? When you leave, I'll drop you off
Speaker 1: and in Los Angeles before I head up to Stockton,
Speaker 1: I said, wow, of course, you know who what young
Speaker 1: guy wouldn't want to be able to go on a
Speaker 1: private plane. And of course I don't drive down to
Speaker 1: Denver and get rid of the car and you know
Speaker 1: all that so perfect. Anyway, so we leave, I get
Speaker 1: on a plane. He says, you got to be at
Speaker 1: the plane at such and such time after the round
Speaker 1: of golf. So I got there and Bob Hope was
Speaker 1: sitting on in the front seat to the plane. You know, right,
Speaker 1: I say, wow, Bob Hope writing with us. Well, we
Speaker 1: go to ryand and mister first mister Spanos gets a plane.
Speaker 1: He said, we're taking Bob Hope. So we'll go to
Speaker 1: Palm Springs, we'll go to LA and then I'll go
Speaker 1: into Stockton. So he was like running, you know, running
Speaker 1: an airline, a puddle jumper for us on this big
Speaker 1: beautiful uh you know jet private jets. Uh it was.
Speaker 1: It was terrific. And uh we ate hot dogs and
Speaker 1: mister Spanels like to feed hot dogs. We had hot dogs.
Speaker 1: I mean, I ate. I can't tell you how many
Speaker 1: meals I ate with him. One hundred seventy five, two
Speaker 1: hundred eighty percent of the time. He gave me a
Speaker 1: hot dog. Hot dogs. Anyway, he's got good taste. So
Speaker 1: we land in Palm Springs and it's hot. It's the
Speaker 1: middle of the summer. Okay, it's very hot. So we
Speaker 1: land and mister mister Hope gets off and you know,
Speaker 1: it was a great flight, and uh, pilot says us
Speaker 1: as right before Bob Hope drives away. He gets picked
Speaker 1: up in a limo that the big limos. Back then
Speaker 1: Bob Hope and uh, you can getting picked up and
Speaker 1: he they say, you know, we have a problem with
Speaker 1: the plane. We think it's just the heat of the
Speaker 1: tires or something. I forget exactly what the problem was. Anyway,
Speaker 1: So Bob Hope said, I'll sit with you guys on
Speaker 1: here for a few more minutes. Don't want to leave.
Speaker 1: I don't want to leave you alone. Anyway. The pilot
Speaker 1: comes back and says, we're gonna stay overnight or drive
Speaker 1: you back down to La because issue. And it's too hot,
Speaker 1: so they can't they can't work on this now. So
Speaker 1: Bob Hope says, come on over, you stay at the house.
Speaker 1: And I keep waiting for like Alex to say, well,
Speaker 1: I'll get you a hotel, or I'll get you a car,
Speaker 1: or you get it, I'll get my own rental car
Speaker 1: or whatever. And so I kind of went back to
Speaker 1: the plane to get my luggage to say they'll get
Speaker 1: all that. You're coming with us. We jumped into limo.
Speaker 1: We stayed at Bob Hope's house. Next morning. We had
Speaker 1: a great night. His wife, Dolores, was fantastic and and
Speaker 1: Alex Spanos was a man of inclusion, not exclusion. He
Speaker 1: put your arm around. He put his arm around you.
Speaker 1: He didn't give you the heisman. He said come on.
Speaker 1: So he treated me, and I was just very young.
Speaker 1: How old read you, I'm gonna say at the time,
Speaker 1: I was probably twenty eight, twenty nine, yeah, right around then.
Speaker 1: So he put his arm around me and said, come on,
Speaker 1: you're coming with us. Went over there, Dolores served us dinner.
Speaker 1: Beautiful house overlooking all all of that valley is a
Speaker 1: spectacular He's laughing. He's killing Alex all night, making jokes,
Speaker 1: telling him stuff. And they were good buddies. They had
Speaker 1: traveled all over for all those USO shows, and and
Speaker 1: mister Spanos, you know, did a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of wonderful things for Bob Hope and vice versa. And
Speaker 1: so anyway, next morning we get up, have a little breakfast,
Speaker 1: and we're leaving, and I say goodbye to mister Hope,
Speaker 1: and somebody tells me we go back to the plane
Speaker 1: and we pick up our golf clubs and we go
Speaker 1: out to play Tamarass golf course. So as me and
Speaker 1: Alex and standing there with the Secret Service as President
Speaker 1: Ford who would come home of some other by some
Speaker 1: other means, and Bob Hope, and so now I'm playing
Speaker 1: with Alex against the two of them, and he just
Speaker 1: killed President. For President Ford was renowned for hitting people
Speaker 1: with golf balls, you know, in the tournaments. He would
Speaker 1: hit him and you know, and they'd have to apologize
Speaker 1: and it was a presidential you know, big faux pod.
Speaker 1: At the time. It was just it was just guaranteed
Speaker 1: that if he played him one of those tournaments, he
Speaker 1: was going to claver somebody. So Bob Hope says, on
Speaker 1: a first team. Right as President Ford is tea and off,
Speaker 1: he says, Alex, do you realize this is the first
Speaker 1: time I've had a foursome with the president where one
Speaker 1: of the people is in a paramedic and you were
Speaker 1: a paramedic. I mean, he had all of this really
Speaker 1: you know, good natured jokes, and he just rabbled them
Speaker 1: all off. Anyway, a long story short, me and Alex won.
Speaker 1: So we just got ten dollars and I asked President
Speaker 1: Ford would he signed it? And he said no, that
Speaker 1: was for the Treasury secretary to sign the currency. Wow, unbelievable.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you you can't. You said it would be
Speaker 1: rejected if you submitted to a to a Hollywood producer,
Speaker 1: Sir Jim final thing, you know, it was, it was,
Speaker 1: it was. It was great experience and Alex Spanos was
Speaker 1: a wonderful guy, extremely philanthropic. Um cared about his community,
Speaker 1: loved his family dearly, and you know, the Chargers were
Speaker 1: at the heart of it. He wanted all the best
Speaker 1: for his players and and and a team. The final
Speaker 1: thing that there was another story I heard with him
Speaker 1: and Al Davis, and I just think it's so important
Speaker 1: for Chargers fans to hear because you know, especially the
Speaker 1: Chargers and Raiders are the better rivals. They just played
Speaker 1: last Sunday, but you have had a really cool story
Speaker 1: that I'd love for you to share with the with
Speaker 1: our viewers. Well, better rivals maybe on the field, but
Speaker 1: there was always a closeness in the Spanos era since
Speaker 1: they got the team in eighty four, I believe um.
Speaker 1: So for these past thirty six years, there's been a
Speaker 1: very close relationship with the Davis family and Al Davison.
Speaker 1: And in fact, that's how I met Alex Panosh. He
Speaker 1: came down Davis's office and I just happened to be
Speaker 1: there doing something else with Al had just finished up
Speaker 1: a practice and Alex had come and he wanted to
Speaker 1: figure out how he could purchase the remaining portion of
Speaker 1: the team and become the majority owner. And so I
Speaker 1: was sitting in there and we were talking for a
Speaker 1: few minutes, and IL says, okay, Alex, how can I
Speaker 1: help you? And Alex says he's a reporter and all said, yeah,
Speaker 1: he is. And he said, well, we can't talked like this.
Speaker 1: He says, he's with me. He can hear this. You
Speaker 1: can trust him. So whatever you want to say, go ahead.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have to leave. And I was, you know,
Speaker 1: I was going to kind of leave anyway because it
Speaker 1: wasn't wasn't my place. But yeah, he stayed there. Jim so, oh, Jimmy,
Speaker 1: I'll stay in nut chall wait in that chair. So anyway,
Speaker 1: many years later, after Alex got the team, we all
Speaker 1: went to dinner with Alt and Alex. And Al had
Speaker 1: asked me this question before, but he put it to Alex.
Speaker 1: He said, Alex, what's your mission in life? What do
Speaker 1: you want to have? Money, fame, power, glory or love?
Speaker 1: And he had asked me the same question before many times,
Speaker 1: but the first time I said, well, I don't know.
Speaker 1: And Al's answer was power. Then he told me, if
Speaker 1: I didn't pick one, I'd end up with nothing. So
Speaker 1: he said power. And I had asked him why, and
Speaker 1: he said, if I had power, I'd have money. If
Speaker 1: I had power, I'd have fame. If I had power,
Speaker 1: I probably would have achieved something glorious. And I don't
Speaker 1: really care about love. And it's a little more colorfully
Speaker 1: written and talking to goats, a little little nicer language
Speaker 1: than we can express here on the air. Sure this
Speaker 1: is a little nicer language. That's a little more you
Speaker 1: get the idea, So he asked, He asked Alex that question,
Speaker 1: and he gave him the five and Alex said immediately
Speaker 1: he said love. I love my team, I love my community,
Speaker 1: and I love my family. And now paused and he
Speaker 1: thought about it, like for two or three or four seconds,
Speaker 1: just to pause, and he said, well, then, Alex, if
Speaker 1: that's the case, you've won more championships in life than
Speaker 1: I have. And Alan had three Super Bowl champions at
Speaker 1: that point. So it was really touching and it really
Speaker 1: spoke a lot to Alex about what he cared about.
Speaker 1: Said he loved his team, said he loved his family,
Speaker 1: and he loved his community, and that's how he lived
Speaker 1: his life. Beautiful thing, it really is, and it speaks
Speaker 1: to the character of mister Spanis and the Spanahs family.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously everybody wants to win, but you look
Speaker 1: at life and sometimes there's there's more important things. So well,
Speaker 1: you see, you see, you see how the Spanis family
Speaker 1: treats people. They're some of the nicest people on the planet.
Speaker 1: Brothers and the Sistian and I know Dean and Susie
Speaker 1: best and their children, Ag and John, And if you
Speaker 1: can't get along with them, you better take a look
Speaker 1: at yourself. And I know that there's always tough things
Speaker 1: that go on in people's lives, you know, losing games,
Speaker 1: tough decisions that have to be made, you know, people's
Speaker 1: you know, and and and it's not always just the
Speaker 1: beautiful panacea. But these are some really really caring and
Speaker 1: giving people. And you know, I know we're talking about
Speaker 1: the book, but but but I think over the course
Speaker 1: of time, with performance and time, you know, the people
Speaker 1: out here in Los Angeles are going to come to
Speaker 1: love this team and they're going to be the Spanel's family,
Speaker 1: and the Chargers are worthy of the support. There's no
Speaker 1: question about it. And you know, we talk about just
Speaker 1: people in general. And this is why this book is
Speaker 1: so important, because you got to know all these people
Speaker 1: on a personal level. You can speak to things that
Speaker 1: you know. Fans just see on television that you had
Speaker 1: a front row seat to all of this, Jim, and
Speaker 1: I'm so thrilled for you and thrilled that this book
Speaker 1: is out for the world to either listen to or read.
Speaker 1: Where can people get it? And you have to mention
Speaker 1: the audible and everything that goes into the audible book
Speaker 1: because there's some fun little bells and whistles in that one. Well,
Speaker 1: you can get it at wherever you buy your books,
Speaker 1: any of the great bookstores, your local bookstores, all the
Speaker 1: big massive bookstores, Barnes and Noble, Amazon dot com, or
Speaker 1: you can go to talking to Goats dot com all
Speaker 1: one word talking to Goats dot com and then you
Speaker 1: can order it right there from wherever they'll get it
Speaker 1: to you overnight. Um. And the audible book, Uh, the
Speaker 1: audio portion was what was it? That was something? Uh?
Speaker 1: And uh it it turned out really really cool and uh,
Speaker 1: some some people who I'm indebted to my friends, uh
Speaker 1: came and did some uh did some work on the
Speaker 1: book for me. So Vin Scully, the great Vince Scully,
Speaker 1: the best sportscaster of all of our lives. Um he he.
Speaker 1: He voices the introduction to the book. Uh, Bob Costas,
Speaker 1: my dear friend who I worked with for a long
Speaker 1: time at NBC. Who's the best of us? Now, I
Speaker 1: mean he's the best of the best, Bob. He is
Speaker 1: part of the preface. So he read the preface and
Speaker 1: he also did the lineup like a lineup card. He
Speaker 1: reads the table of contents and it's a it's very
Speaker 1: entertaining and great. And then Tom Brady, who has been
Speaker 1: my partner on Westwood One Monday Night football and who
Speaker 1: I've interviewed hundreds of times, wrote the foreward. And he
Speaker 1: read the foreward and I'm so honored that he would
Speaker 1: put his name on this book. I can't tell you
Speaker 1: the gratitude that I have for him and how how
Speaker 1: that makes me feel. And I'm really thankful and grateful
Speaker 1: to Tom. So he reads the forward. Carol Burnett. The
Speaker 1: last chapter, chapter twenty is I'm not writing another book,
Speaker 1: And the last page of this book is about Carol Burnett.
Speaker 1: It was somebody that I watched as a youngster, and
Speaker 1: it was in total awe of So Carol Burnett has
Speaker 1: a portion that she contributes to the last chapter on audio,
Speaker 1: the great Carol Burnett. And finally Snoop Dogg, who's been
Speaker 1: a longtime friend of mine. Snoop Dogg reads and raps
Speaker 1: the acknowledgements and so everybody whose name was in there
Speaker 1: gets a little little flavor from Snoop And so that
Speaker 1: was a that's a big, big thrill for me and
Speaker 1: a big treat. So and I thank all those folks.
Speaker 1: There's something for everyone in the audio portion. There's something
Speaker 1: for everyone in the audio portion, and also the book
Speaker 1: talking to Goats, the moments you remember and the stories
Speaker 1: you never heard. It's out, now, go get it. Jim Gray,
Speaker 1: it's a pleasure, sir. I really appreciate you spend us
Speaker 1: some time with our chargers, listeners and readers, and you
Speaker 1: better believe they'll be getting that book. Well, the Chargers,
Speaker 1: you know, Al Davis used to say this, so you
Speaker 1: know what, the Chargers have greatness in their future. All
Speaker 1: used to say, I can't take the Raiders saying and
Speaker 1: apply it to the Chargers. Everybody be upset with that,
Speaker 1: particularly Alan Mark Davis. But the greatness of the Raiders
Speaker 1: is in its future. But I'm telling you, the Chargers
Speaker 1: have greatness in their future. And the quarterback that they
Speaker 1: have now, the players that are on that team, and
Speaker 1: that beautiful stadium that they're playing in, and the ownership
Speaker 1: that they have, it's a very very bright future. Chris,
Speaker 1: thank you for being so kind with your words and
Speaker 1: for taking the time to read the book and to
Speaker 1: talk about it with me. Jeff pleasures all mine, sir,
Speaker 1: We'll see down the line. Thanks Chris. All Right, guys,
Speaker 1: that's gonna do it for us. A big thanks to
Speaker 1: Jim Gray, Matt money Smith, and Rich Gannon for joining me,
Speaker 1: and of course thanks to you all for listening. Be
Speaker 1: sure to download and subscribe to the Chargers Podcast Network
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, be sure to tune
Speaker 1: into the Final Drive presented by Microsoft Surface after the
Speaker 1: game on Sunday, complete reaction from the Chargers taking on
Speaker 1: the Dolphins down in Miami. Have a great weekend and
Speaker 1: until next time, I'm Chris Hayrey.