WATCH: Pat McAfee hits ‘universe ball’ shot, predicts Michigan State basketball will win the national title

WATCH: Pat McAfee hits ‘universe ball’ shot, predicts Michigan State basketball will win the National Title

Well, I think this settles it, we can cancel the games and call Michigan State basketball the men’s national champion. On Thursday, Pat McAfee, who has a producer who is a huge MSU fan, said that if he hit his ‘universe ball’ shot in his studio, it means that Michigan State would win the national title.

And he hit it.

You can watch it below:

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Watch: New Colts QB Joe Flacco appears on ‘Pat McAfee Show’

Here is Joe Flacco’s full appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show”

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Joe Flacco hasn’t been introduced to the local media yet, but he did make an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” shortly after signing with the team.

Going into his 17th season, Flacco will be joining the Colts as the backup to young quarterback Anthony Richardson. He signed a one-year deal worth up to $8.7 million.

Flacco earned the AP Comeback Player of the Year award in 2023 after helping the Cleveland Browns reach the playoffs despite not being on a team at the beginning of the season.

Here’s his full appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Thursday.

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It’s modern day confusion for Pat McAfee over Mater Dei’s name

Confusion reigns on the Pat McAfee Show over how to pronounce Mater Dei.

Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones and Pat McAfee couldn’t figure out how to pronounce Mater Dei, a football powerhouse program in California. The confusion happened on a recent episode of the Pat McAfee Show on ESPN.

Insert a joke here about the value of a West Virginia education (McAfee and Jones are former stars at West Virginia).

(All joking aside, West Virginia is a very good university and is among the best in offering graduate degrees online as well as having renowned programs in engineering and nursing)

The moment on the Pat McAfee Show was a modern day ‘Who’s on first?’ You’ll get the pun in a moment.

But Jones and McAfee’s discussion about Mater Dei (Santa Ana, California) led to more confusion than answers. The confusion centered on how to pronounce the prep football program’s name.

 

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Mater Dei finished third in the nation in the final USA TODAY High School Sports Super 25 and is tied for the most Super 25 championships all-time with De La Salle (Concord, Calif.)

They were the high school home after all of Bryce Young and Matt Leinart among others.

The program wins, a lot, and is always loaded with top recruits. In the class of 2025 for instance, four-star defensive back Daryus Dixson and four-star wide receiver Marcus Harris are among the stars on this year’s Mater Dei team.

Mater Dei finished last season 13-1.

C.J. Stroud shows off comedic chops on Pat McAfee show

C.J. Stroud shows off comedic chops on Pat McAfee show. #GoBucks

C.J. Stroud joined The PatMcAfee Show on February 9 while promoting the C4 energy drink on radio row during Super Bowl week and was put in a fairly awkward position. As most are aware, McAfee plays it pretty fast and loose with his guests and has hosted a wide variety of guests including prominent comedians, Bert Kreischer and Tom Segura.

Despite the two comedians bombarding the set and partaking in their favorite hobbies, which are inappropriate humor (which I love) and drinking, Stroud showed why he is the future of the league and stayed composed and fired back some funny shots.

One of the most memorable moments was when Kreischer asked, “How many push-ups do you think I could do right now?”

Stroud clapped back with a confident “I got three and a half”.

As Kreischer started to do his push-ups, Stroud throw out another gem claiming “It stink in here now.”

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Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo on Patrick Mahomes: ‘I’m trying to get him to play defense too’

#Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo revealed his scheme to get Patrick Mahomes to play for his defense in 2024.

Steve Spagnuolo signed a contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs this week after the team’s historic win in Super Bowl LVIII.

The veteran defensive coordinator has turned into a Chiefs legend since joining the team in 2019, and has earned his stripes as one of the NFL’s top assistant coaches.

After finding success with his unit in 2023, Spagnuolo told Pat McAfee this week that he wants to try something new: Get quarterback Patrick Mahomes to play on his defense.

“Patrick is a team guy,” Spagnuolo explained. “He’s all about winning, he’s all about team. When you’re on the other side of the ball that makes you feel tremendously good… You watch Patrick Mahomes operate day to day, he walks by my office every day on the way to the quarterback meeting room, or whether he’s on the field, it’s always about making all the other guys better.”

When McAfee asked if Mahomes’ experience growing up around professional locker rooms with his father might help him be a great teammate, Spagnuolo made his pitch.

“I’ll tell you, what I’ve been trying, I’ve been trying to see if he can be the first two-way player,” Spagnuolo said with a smirk. “We can get him out there to play safety, get him out there to play corner… I don’t think coach Reid is going to go for it, but how about that, right?”

It remains to be seen if Reid will take Spagnuolo seriously in this regard, but one thing is certain; the coordinator and quarterback are prepared to do everything necessary to secure Kansas City a three-peat, even if it means Mahomes takes on an ironman role.

Roman Reigns almost made it, The Rock never did: 5 former WWE wrestlers who actually played in the NFL

Take a walk down memory lane to start football season with a look at WWE wrestlers who were in the NFL.

When it comes to WWE wrestlers who once dreamed of playing in the NFL, it’s often a case of close but not quite.

Take the company’s top star, Roman Reigns. Then known as Joe Anoa’i, Reigns was a pretty good college football player at Georgia Tech, earning All-ACC first-team honors in 2006. But after going undrafted in 2007, he was signed by two teams, then released prior to the ensuing NFL season.

(He did, however, play a few games in the CFL, and we’d say he’s done alright for himself since then, what with the whole Undisputed WWE Universal Championship thing and all.)

How about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson? Negative there as well. After his college career at The U (a.ka. the University of Miami), Johnson also went undrafted, and found his true calling after a short stint on a CFL practice roster.

Yet there have been a handful of others who gave the NFL a shot before seeking out pro wrestling and have actually experienced the thrill of playing football at the highest level. Let’s take a quick spin through some of the WWE wrestlers who were in the NFL first, and in the ring second.

The Rock talks ‘Cody crybabies’ with Pat McAfee

The Rock seemed to antagonize some Cody Rhodes fans just a tad ahead of the WrestleMania 40 Kickoff event.

What does Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson think of Cody Rhodes fans? He loves them. Well, most of them.

There are others he’s not as fond of, the people who have been making their voices heard nonstop for nearly a week now. accusing The Rock of “ruining” WrestleMania 40 — even though at the time of this post, no matches featuring him, Rhodes or Roman Reigns have been made official yet.

Johnson appeared on The Pat McAfee Show today in Las Vegas to explain why he thinks those fans are “Cody crybabies” (h/t Wrestling Observer for the transcription).

I’ve known Cody for a long time, he’s a buddy of mine, The American Dream Dusty Rhodes and my old man Rocky Johnson, they were boys, they tag teamed together down in Florida. We used to go down to the Rhodes house a lot when I was growing up. So, we’re tight in that way.

I love Cody, I love his passionate fans. Then there’s the other passionate fans of Cody and they’re called the uh ….what? Oh Cody crybabies, yeah, that’s what they’re called.

It was the Cody crybabies. These are grown ass men. ‘Oh, Cody has to finish his story!’

That makes it sound like The Rock is full speed ahead to challenge Reigns, though it’s no longer quite as certain that Rhodes is as comfortable about how things are playing out. The American Nightmare posted to his Instagram account earlier today that he had “made my decision” with regard to WrestleMania, a right he has within WWE storylines as the winner of the Royal Rumble.

One thing everyone agrees on is that this evening’s WrestleMania 40 Kickoff event, which is slated to include The Rock, Rhodes and Reigns, should settle exactly how the WrestleMania main events should look in a little less than two months. Until then, Johnson is going to have to keep hearing from disgruntled Cody fans, especially if he continues to poke at them like this.

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James Harrison calls out Steelers for abandoning the ‘standard’

The expectations the Steelers have for themselves isn’t what it used to be.

Back in James Harrison‘s day, the Pittsburgh Steelers played a different brand of football. Hard-nosed and smashmouth were two descriptives that went hand-in-hand with Steeler football.

The team is now in a transition period, only they’ve lost their way and, with it, their purpose — or the standard, as it’s often referred to.

“The expectations has become we don’t want to have a losing season,” Harrison said on the Feb. 7 episode of “The Pat McAfee Show. “I’m not throwing flak at anybody, but the Pittsburgh Steelers standard is to win Lombardis. When you go into that building, there’s six of them sitting there. And, right now, we’re not even winning a playoff game.”

“I think we need to get back to the standard of Pittsburgh Steeler legacy, the lore. And that’s just not what it is.”

The Steelers are in the process of retooling their staff ahead of the 2024 NFL draft. Though they’re far from being in the Super Bowl conversation, it appears Mike Tomlin is making moves in an attempt to get them back on the right path.

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Lincoln Riley goes on the Pat McAfee Show after making big changes at USC

Lincoln Riley talked to Pat McAfee with one prominent goal in mind.

Lincoln Riley did a “media tour” after being hired as USC football coach. He decided he needed to do another media blitz on Monday, talking to several different high-profile sports personalities. One of his stops was with the Pat McAfee Show on the ESPN family of networks.

Media outlets are naturally interested in Riley’s thoughts on quarterback Caleb Williams, the favorite to be taken with the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. There is a lot of speculation that the Washington Commanders will try to trade up to the Chicago Bears for the No. 1 pick and bring Williams home to the DMV, where Kliff Kingsbury — who served on Riley’s 2023 USC staff — has been hired as offensive coordinator. Riley discussed Caleb Williams’ NFL outlook in his conversation with McAfee.

If there was a clear-cut purpose attached to Riley’s “media tour,” it was to tell the nation — specifically recruits and transfer portal prospects — that USC is now serious about defense. The Trojans have moved beyond Alex Grinch and have hired a set of elite defensive coaches, the latest one being former Los Angeles Rams defensive line coach Eric Henderson, who is impressing everyone with his knowledge of the game and his energy on the recruiting trail. Riley is trying to send a message about the new USC. We will see if it pays off.

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Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes said they were getting a taunting penalty if Justin Tucker missed his FG

Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes had something special in mind for Justin Tucker if he’d missed a kick on Sunday.

The strangest feud of the 2024 NFL Playoffs almost escalated in a very funny way, according to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

While talking with Pat McAfee and company on the former Indianapolis Colts punter’s ESPN show, Kelce revealed that he and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes were planning on taunting Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker if he had missed a kick during a key moment of Sunday’s AFC title game.

Mahomes even popped in the interview to back up with Kelce’s recollection.

The tiff started when Kelce and Mahomes kept moving Tucker’s kicking equipment before Sunday’s game, which the Ravens kicker alleges had never happened to him in the past during warmups.

Mahomes countered by saying that it’s only ever against the Ravens that a kicker won’t move when the Chiefs come on the field, and Kelce agreed.

According to Kelce, he and Mahomes were more than ready to take on an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to mock Tucker openly if he’d missed a field goal attempt during the fourth quarter to cut the lead to one score.

Tucker made the kick, but it’d be Mahomes and Kelce who would win the game.

This whole situation feels like everyone probably owns a little bit of the blame, which makes it much less serious and much easier to laugh about.

The Chiefs would get the last laugh in the end, but we’re guessing Tucker and the Ravens wouldn’t mind a playoff rematch next year to add fuel to this budding rivalry.

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