Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast on the hiring of AP, quest for a new GM, assembling a staff, an awesome offseason
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00:00 Hi everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas
00:06 Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:08 It is great to be with you guys today.
00:10 I love every single day getting to talk with you guys via the podcast.
00:15 Thank you.
00:17 We have grown exponentially and tens of thousands of you listen to these podcasts and I just
00:23 want to personally take a moment and thank you.
00:26 Obviously AP was hired last night.
00:28 You saw many of our stories I'm sure.
00:32 Before I get to that I just want to address something very very quickly on a personal
00:37 level that's important to me.
00:42 Yesterday in the news I'm sure you saw the reports that there were a lot of people from
00:47 Sports Illustrated that were laid off.
00:50 I'm not going to get into my company's business.
00:52 They haven't forbid us from saying anything.
00:56 I just don't think it's appropriate for me to talk about their business.
01:00 If they want something out there they'll tell it.
01:03 I will tell you numerous stories that I read, I just quit reading them, were not 100% accurate
01:10 at all.
01:12 So I'm just going to let that go.
01:14 We're here.
01:15 We're working hard for you with our Raiders coverage.
01:17 Nothing changed.
01:18 We had 12 stories yesterday, 12 or 14 stories yesterday.
01:21 100% free content covering things from every single angle.
01:29 The reason I wanted to address it was I'm being conservative here which is my nature
01:35 and my tendency.
01:38 Hundreds of you, direct message, email, those of you who know me on a personal basis, text,
01:49 so many comments, Twitter comments, whatever, Hondo, are you there?
01:55 You say yes.
01:56 I heard from some of my critics that were hoping I was axed.
02:01 I'm here guys and wish you nothing but the best.
02:04 Thank you for listening every day to find out what you hate about me.
02:07 I appreciate that.
02:08 So I just wanted to address it super quick.
02:13 It's difficult because you don't want to spike the football, yeah, my job is safe, when there's
02:18 people that you know and care for, many, some you even love and who had a bad day.
02:29 And so trying to find that appropriate ground and I just wanted to address it once and tell
02:35 you how much I appreciate you and how grateful I am for you.
02:38 Thank you all.
02:39 Please continue to share, subscribe, like, tell people about our coverage and I'd appreciate
02:45 that very much.
02:46 Thank you so much.
02:47 Let's get into it.
02:49 AP's hired, which was the right move.
02:52 It was something that I've been telling you all along.
02:54 I expected, no, I additionally told you I expected Champ Kelly to get the job and I
02:59 still do.
03:03 But I want to discuss with you my feelings about the hiring.
03:12 I want to then talk a lot about AP and then go back to the general manager situation because
03:20 that's my job as an analyst.
03:22 First of all, I've said it numerous times and I say it all the time because sometimes
03:26 I think the media has a sense of entitlement that I'm the media, you must listen to me.
03:35 That's ridiculous.
03:39 I don't like media who, I like media who presents information, who are analytical and
03:49 I don't care if they give opinion, but don't try to tell me what I have to believe.
03:54 I'll give you an example.
03:56 I've said numerous times the people that wanted Harbaugh or Vrabel, I think they have legitimate
04:01 arguments.
04:03 I don't think that they were foolish.
04:04 Now, I have called opinions foolish when I know things to be false.
04:09 I'll give you a couple of examples.
04:12 When Josh McDaniels was the coach of people said, Mark Davis doesn't care.
04:15 Okay, you're allowed to feel that way, but it's foolish.
04:22 You may not agree with him.
04:24 You may think he made a mistake and I think he made a mistake yesterday and I'm going
04:27 to talk about it in a minute.
04:29 But I've never questioned Mark Davis's desire or care, his integrity.
04:39 So this is how I would say to you, I said this before any hire was close, right after
04:50 Josh McDaniels and you can go back and watch podcasts and read what I wrote.
04:54 The Raiders had gone to a system where the coach picked the GM and they're not in that
05:00 system today.
05:03 So don't hear that.
05:04 What I've talked about, I think the best organizations, the owner picks a GM, the GM picks his coach.
05:16 Now I believe based on people in the building telling me that Mark's desire going into the
05:25 process was let's get a general manager, whatever we know based on reports, Champ Kelly was
05:32 in interviews last week.
05:34 Okay.
05:36 That certainly looks very positive for him.
05:37 I still think he's going to get the job.
05:41 But my point is I would not have, and Mark didn't ask for my opinion.
05:49 I think it would have been more conducive for the organization to pick your GM before
05:55 you pick AP.
05:57 I just think that would have been, it would have clearly delineated the lines of, okay,
06:04 here is the silver and black epistemology of how we're going to run.
06:08 And that is going to be, you know, general manager accountable to an owner.
06:13 Everybody's accountable to the owner, but the general manager picks their coach.
06:17 Now I'm going to tell you why that's important.
06:21 If they go and pick Champ Kelly, it's not as much of a big deal because Champ will be
06:26 the general manager.
06:30 But if it's not Champ Kelly, you have now put AP behind the sticks because now you've
06:36 gone out and hired a general manager that that wasn't their choice.
06:41 And that doesn't make a general manager a bad general manager.
06:45 Very few people get these jobs.
06:49 And so when a general manager comes in, you want to let them pick their guy who's going
06:56 to run their system.
06:59 Now you almost create an area for there to be animus or disagreement.
07:06 I think that's probably a better word than animus.
07:07 Sorry about that.
07:09 And so it almost creates a little bit of attention.
07:14 And in the back of that guy's mind is, I didn't hire him.
07:19 Didn't hire him.
07:23 And I'll give you a good one.
07:26 I knew my wife very well when we got married and she knew me very well.
07:31 I mean, we met on September 9th, 1981.
07:34 It was a Wednesday.
07:35 She was 10.
07:36 She was 8.
07:39 We'd known each other a long, long time.
07:42 And so when we got married, I knew there were things about Shannon.
07:51 I know that.
07:52 So for example, my wife is an antiquer.
07:55 She collects these clay pots.
07:58 I don't even know what you call them, but they look like moonshine jugs and they're
08:02 big clay pots.
08:07 They're just made out of the same stuff the moonshine jugs are made of, but it's like
08:10 you take the lid off the moonshine jug.
08:12 She collects them.
08:13 I knew that.
08:14 I knew that was some big deal to her.
08:18 Got a lot of them in my house.
08:20 But I don't really say anything.
08:22 Why?
08:23 Because I knew it when I married her.
08:25 Now if I didn't, I'd be like, "Hey, what's up with all these clay pots?"
08:32 Very similar.
08:34 Imagine going to a job where you have a new boss who didn't hire you.
08:41 Maybe they don't like the way you do whatever you do at your job.
08:44 And their answer is, "That isn't the way I want it done."
08:47 It just creates what happens if the new general manager, no matter what they say, because
08:52 I don't think they're going to lie to get the job.
08:54 I really don't.
08:55 But, "Okay, well, that's not my coaching style," or "That's not the way I want rookies
09:00 played," or "That's not the way I want all..."
09:03 You just create...
09:04 And it just seems to me at times, before I came to Cover the Raiders, and now it's been
09:09 five years, before I came to Cover the Raiders, everybody talked about there just always seems
09:17 to be drama around the team.
09:20 And I didn't really understand that.
09:23 This seems like one of those areas where you're creating a place of drama, potential.
09:28 And I don't want that.
09:30 You just want stability.
09:31 Your players have clamored for stability.
09:34 You've clamored for stability.
09:35 And I think it's a concern.
09:37 So we're going to go back and talk about the general manager's role in a minute, which
09:40 has at the time of this taping has not been fulfilled.
09:44 I'll give you the latest of what I know, and we'll move on from there.
09:47 But now let's talk about AP.
09:49 Great hire.
09:50 This was the guy you needed to hire.
09:53 Now, he is a first year coach, going to be a first year head coach.
09:59 That's where I think hiring the general manager first was so important, because you want there
10:07 to be continuity.
10:08 You want there to be a spree to core, to use a Marine Corps term.
10:14 You want that to be how this functions together.
10:21 I think you have to let a coach pick his own staff.
10:26 But how much is he going to be able to do prior to a GM being named?
10:34 Now I want to address a couple of things about it.
10:37 So I think AP was an ingenious hire.
10:42 I knew this several weeks ago, that he was very appreciative for all that the offensive
10:51 staff did for him, but that he was not going to let everybody go, but was going to let
10:59 a lot of the offense go.
11:01 There was a particular thing he wanted.
11:04 So this goes back to the general manager situation.
11:06 He inherited Bo, and Bo Hardegre did a great...
11:09 Bo Hardegre did everything that Antonio Pierce wanted.
11:16 Bo Hardegre will get great references from Antonio Pierce.
11:21 There's no animus.
11:22 There are friends.
11:24 Great respect.
11:25 Okay?
11:26 But he inherited Bo.
11:29 And as good a job as Bo did, and you may not like the job that Bo Hardegre did, but Bo
11:34 Hardegre did exactly what Antonio asked.
11:38 And Antonio Pierce liked Bo Hardegre.
11:42 I know that for 100% fact.
11:46 But it still wasn't how he wanted things.
11:48 So when the year is over, and the year went good enough that AP gets the job, but still,
11:58 "Hey, thank you.
11:59 You did everything I asked.
12:01 Appreciate it.
12:02 God bless you.
12:03 But I need to go get a guy that's going to do it exactly the way I want it."
12:06 It's the same principle with the general manager.
12:10 So I just checked again to make sure last night and was told, and you may have seen
12:17 the tweet or the social media, that the entire offensive staff is not going to be entirely
12:23 let go, but nearly entirely.
12:26 A lot of people ask me about names.
12:28 I'm not going to get into the names.
12:29 I think that is...
12:33 We'll let AP do that.
12:34 It's his staff.
12:35 It's not mine.
12:38 I don't think fans will be too shocked who stays.
12:41 Now, there may be some people that say, "Hey, I didn't come here with you.
12:49 So I think maybe I want to go somewhere else."
12:50 And that goes back to the general manager thing, but that's their right.
12:58 So let's just wait and see how that plays out.
13:03 But I think you can probably figure out the usual suspects.
13:08 But great hire by AP.
13:11 Again, I do not like the timing.
13:14 I think you set your organization up for some drama, and I think you set your organization
13:17 up and your new coach with some unneeded down the road tension.
13:27 That said, AP is...
13:30 I 100% expect Patrick Graham to return if he does not get a head coaching job.
13:36 100%.
13:37 Now, could he say, "I don't want to come back"?
13:42 He could.
13:44 He's going to have tons of offers.
13:47 Maybe there's an organization that says, "Listen, what are the Raiders willing to pay you?
13:52 We'll double it."
13:55 And the Raiders are not broke at all.
13:58 But I'm just giving you the semantics of how this could end up looking.
14:04 I also expect Marvin Lewis, former Bengals coach, to be part of the staff.
14:11 I think Tom Coughlin, former Giants coach, is going to have a big say in helping to steer
14:17 AP.
14:20 I've heard some people try to use that as a criticism against AP for bringing these guys
14:25 around.
14:26 I mean, what rock did you just crawl off from underneath?
14:31 Seriously.
14:34 He knows what he doesn't know.
14:37 And he's self-assured enough and confident enough to go bring in proven, successful guys
14:47 for direction and wisdom.
14:50 Man, there's wise counsel there.
14:54 And we know you don't ignore the voices of wise counsel.
15:01 So that doesn't make sense to me in the least bit that people are being critical of AP for
15:05 that.
15:06 But it does not surprise me.
15:07 I have learned people are critical of people for everything.
15:12 But to me, I would be concerned if your young coach was not going to people.
15:19 I'm 52 years old, fixing to be 53.
15:24 And I am a father, obviously.
15:28 We thought we were done with it, but Dexter came into our lives and God said, "No, you're
15:33 not done yet."
15:34 And well, with babies.
15:37 And at this point in my life, I have several children.
15:41 And I still will talk to people for advice on parenting.
15:49 Always getting it from people I respect.
15:52 You know, Shannon and I have seven children that are graduated and adults in their lives.
15:58 And then Dexter, who's at home.
16:01 And just the other night, we were talking to a couple in their 90s who went through
16:06 children older like we are and get some great wisdom.
16:10 All right, Rick Gosling, who is considered by many the greatest NFL writer of all time,
16:18 still on the Hall of Fame.
16:19 He's the guy that Jerry Jones spoke to about he could get any number of coaches to coach
16:25 the Dallas Cowboys and Jimmy Johnson left.
16:33 That was Rick.
16:34 I mean, this guy is one of the most respected.
16:37 To this day, you guys have seen him on the podcast.
16:41 He is one of my dear friends.
16:43 He is my mentor.
16:45 Anytime I write a big article, he puts his eyes on it.
16:48 He reads it.
16:49 He edits it.
16:50 He gives me his insight and analysis.
16:54 I don't think that's a sign of weakness.
16:56 I think it's a sign of maturity that says, hey, listen, I'm all in.
17:02 I'm all in.
17:03 You know, I want to do my best.
17:07 So I applaud AP for that.
17:11 The players were ecstatic.
17:14 I will tell you that my phone was, what about champ?
17:18 What about champ?
17:19 What about champ?
17:21 And people want him here as well.
17:24 It's a big deal.
17:25 And again, I'm going to talk more about the GM in a minute, but AP has already been working
17:34 on what kind of a staff he would assemble.
17:36 I can tell you right now.
17:37 And what's funny is if you watch NFL Network or other NFL media, everybody's already talking
17:43 about the free agents that are going to want to come here.
17:48 I know it for a fact.
17:50 I was talking to a very big free agent this year, a big one.
17:58 I don't remember if it was last night or early this morning.
18:00 I'm sorry.
18:01 I'm exhausted.
18:04 And they said to me, hey, I'd love to come to Vegas.
18:10 I'd love to play for AP.
18:13 And we chatted about a couple of things.
18:16 But there are a lot of free agents now that want to come here for a lot of reasons.
18:22 First of all, and foremost, everybody loves the AP style.
18:28 They want to play for a coach that remembers it's a game and we got to have fun.
18:33 They want to play for a coach, a hundred percent committed to winning.
18:36 They want to play for a coach that says, listen, we're not married to a system.
18:41 We're married to winning all of those things.
18:44 Not getting into politics, but there's no state income tax in the state of Nevada.
18:51 I know many, I'm going to guess and I'm guessing conservative, but I know 10 or 15 guys that
19:03 picked states to play in specifically because they had no state income tax.
19:11 It's like getting a raise.
19:12 And again, not getting political.
19:15 It's just the reality of the fact.
19:18 Some of those men I know happened to be Republicans.
19:20 Some happened to be Democrats.
19:21 But when it came to their dollars, they picked a place that didn't have the state income
19:26 tax.
19:27 So now you've got the best stadium in the NFL and the Legion is the nicest team headquarters.
19:32 And let me tell you, it isn't even close.
19:38 The Intermountain Healthcare building is just pristine.
19:45 All of the pools, all of the tubs, all the hot, cold tubs, the indoor fields, the outdoor
19:51 fields, the outdoor fields are just manicured like golf greens.
19:57 It's just a beautiful facility.
20:01 Mark Davis did a phenomenal job.
20:02 They want to play there.
20:05 That's important to them.
20:08 And all the things begin to line up.
20:11 But what happens if you bring in a general manager?
20:17 I guess let's just move to that conversation.
20:21 You know what you have in Champ Kelly.
20:23 Champ Kelly wanted you.
20:24 Champ Kelly recommended you to Mark Davis.
20:28 You know what you have in Champ Kelly.
20:29 He knows this roster.
20:31 He reported for months.
20:34 When he and Dave Ziegler got here two years ago, the Raiders scouting department was horrific.
20:43 Archaic was the word that I had been told by other NFL teams.
20:47 They totally revolutionized it.
20:50 Now it's one of the best in the NFL.
20:52 And Dave Ziegler put Champ Kelly in charge of that.
20:55 That's all Champ Kelly.
20:59 That's all Champ Kelly.
21:02 And another reason why I think he's going to go with Champ is if you're not, you would
21:11 have already named that guy to help get him ready for the combine.
21:15 Because he's going to be looking for a different kind of player.
21:17 He's going to have to meet with AP, understand what AP is looking for.
21:21 He's going to have to begin to assemble a staff.
21:24 This close, he would probably keep the staff or a lot of them to get through the combine.
21:34 But then he's still working without his guys.
21:40 So that is where you sit now.
21:42 So you've got Champ.
21:44 Now what I'm hearing is it's down to only two guys.
21:47 Ed Dodds, who's the assistant GM in Indianapolis.
21:51 He's been in the league 21 years.
21:53 He's been with Indianapolis seven.
21:56 He was with Seattle prior.
22:00 Super respected guy, very respected.
22:06 Very good at what he does.
22:08 Has yet to get that opportunity to be a GM of his own team.
22:12 He impressed Mark Davis the last go around and is a potential viable candidate.
22:20 So let's assume, and again, I think it's going to be Champ.
22:24 But let's assume it's Ed.
22:27 So Ed comes in now.
22:30 When you could have named him before, you're dragging it out.
22:34 Okay, who are his guys?
22:39 What's he do here?
22:40 Let's meet with AP.
22:41 Now does Ed say to AP, I'm going to go buy the groceries.
22:45 This is what I want you to run.
22:48 You're the guys for it.
22:50 Or does he say, okay, you were picked before.
22:54 So what do you want to run?
22:55 I'll go get you those guys.
22:58 But then oh, by the way, if it doesn't work, hey, Mark, come on.
23:02 This isn't what I would have done, but you hired the guy before.
23:05 That's the animus situation.
23:06 It just makes no sense to me.
23:10 But if you hire Champ, the making of no sense is delineated.
23:19 So you find yourself now that there could be a wild card, but what I'm hearing is it's
23:25 down to those two.
23:28 And now it's who's going to be your general manager.
23:33 Either way, the general manager is going to have the traditional authority that you want
23:38 a general manager to have.
23:40 And I think that's good for the Raiders.
23:41 I think that's Mark Davis making a very wise decision.
23:46 At the same time, at the same, excuse me, at the same time, sorry, somebody asked me
24:00 the other day, oh, you're always sniffling lately.
24:02 I'm sorry.
24:07 In the North country on a hunting trip.
24:09 So you spend some time out there below zero.
24:13 And that happens when you warm up.
24:15 So what do they do?
24:20 Again, I think Champ's still going to get it.
24:23 I maintain that.
24:24 I stick with that.
24:26 But it just seems to me the Raiders missed a clear chance to announce Champ, have a press
24:35 conference on Monday and let Champ announce AP.
24:40 That didn't happen that way.
24:42 And this is where it sits.
24:43 Now the waiting is for who's going to be the general manager.
24:47 I don't understand why there's a wait.
24:50 Make a decision.
24:52 It's in the best interest of your franchise.
24:57 You don't have to extend things.
24:59 All the requirements of the Rooney rule have been met.
25:03 Make your pick.
25:04 So again, not reporting it as factual.
25:08 I still think they're going to hire Champ because if they don't, it just will have been
25:21 handled wrongly.
25:23 And that's not a slam on dots.
25:27 You can make a strong case for him as a great and viable candidate.
25:32 So why set him up to fail?
25:35 Or why set your head coach up to fail?
25:39 Just seems to me, you just do things the right way.
25:42 Makes life easier.
25:43 I have learned that sometimes that's not how the Raiders rock and roll.
25:49 But that's where it sits today.
25:51 Waiting now to figure out what they're going to do on a general manager.
25:56 Again, AP is already working on staff, who he wants on his staff.
26:02 There's no delay here with AP.
26:04 He is off and rocking, which is what we would all expect from him.
26:11 And now the team, Champ is still working as if he's the GM.
26:16 His staff is still working, preparing for the draft, preparing for the combine.
26:20 They're doing everything they can do.
26:23 And the wait is for yet again, another puff of silver and black smoke to come out of the
26:28 Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center.
26:30 Don't everybody, there's a general manager.
26:34 I don't expect a press conference until after a general manager has been picked.
26:41 I would say to you that I'm guessing Monday, but who knows?
26:48 You never know, do you?
26:50 But I think today is a good day in Raider Nation.
26:53 You got yourself the coach that understands the culture, understands the people, and understands
27:06 how it all works.
27:07 Now I have to tell you a funny story.
27:09 As you guys know, I've had several members of the organization give me hoodies.
27:15 And even Wayne Mayberry, my buddy, the violator, he sent me a text last night reminding me
27:23 that I told you guys I would do Honda in a hoodie when AP got hired.
27:28 You know me, you know Wayne.
27:31 I'm going to, I'll do it next week when Zeke is on with me.
27:36 But I had people in the organization give me, three people gave me hoodies, Raider hoodies.
27:44 So I wore one when they beat the Chiefs.
27:47 I told you the next time I wear one will be when they hired AP.
27:53 So I'll do that later this, well, this coming week.
27:56 And then the third one would be when they beat, excuse me, when they win a playoff game.
28:04 So there you go.
28:05 Those are the three times I'm going to wear a hoodie I've already done once.
28:08 I promise the other one will come next week, Wayne.
28:10 And but that.
28:15 So I get a phone call from one of the players yesterday.
28:22 So excited.
28:26 So excited about AP getting hired.
28:29 To which he says to me, and I'm going to clean it up a lot, how excited he is that AP's hired.
28:36 And he goes, I know you won't wear Raider gear.
28:40 And I told him, I'm a media guy, it's inappropriate.
28:43 Just like when AP yelled out Raiders, and he didn't hear the media respond.
28:48 One person, a lady, Mayra Gomez, who works for the team, so she did nothing inappropriate.
28:54 That's not our place.
28:55 We're not fans.
28:56 In fact, they remind you before every game, this is a working press box, no cheering in
29:00 the press box.
29:01 If you cheer, you will be asked to leave.
29:02 Why?
29:03 Because it's unprofessional.
29:04 It's unprofessional.
29:05 He goes, I know you won't wear Raider gear.
29:11 And I said, you're right, I won't.
29:15 Even though he gave me one of the hoodies, and I did wear it because I told him I would.
29:21 But he said to me, he goes, I'm going to send you, he sends me a picture of these Nike,
29:25 all black Nike tennis shoes that AP likes to wear.
29:32 And he says to me, these don't say Raider on them.
29:36 I said, yeah, those are nice looking shoes.
29:37 To which he says, I need your size.
29:40 I want you, I'm going to buy you a pair of these shoes I want you to wear to the games.
29:45 I said, no, you don't have to do that.
29:47 He goes, oh, no, no, no.
29:50 These shoes look good.
29:52 Now I explained to him, I'm a 52 year old fat guy.
29:56 I'm not going to look good.
29:58 I know I do wear a lot of Nike's.
30:00 But I said, the black shoes aren't going to make me look good or bad.
30:03 He goes, yeah, they won't.
30:04 I said, I know, but they look good.
30:08 And so there's a lot of excitement.
30:10 And I want to end today with this.
30:14 A couple of things, actually, but they all work in tandem.
30:20 It's been a long time, a long time since the Raiders had an off season of joy.
30:33 When Rich got hired, I mean, got fired and Josh McDaniels was brought in, that entire
30:40 off season, there were people who were saying, all right, let's give it a shot.
30:44 People this is never going to work.
30:48 Even that off season, there was tension.
30:50 Last off season was horrible.
30:55 It's been a long time since Raider Nation.
30:57 I mean, it is a long, I mean, you got February, March, April.
31:03 May, June, July.
31:06 You got six months till training camp.
31:11 Six.
31:12 Yeah, you got some OTAs and mini camps in there and you got combine and draft, but you
31:18 got six months till you got legitimate football back.
31:25 As a Raider fan, come on now, there's got to be some semblance of, I get to enjoy the
31:37 next six months.
31:38 I get to look forward to football.
31:41 You get to look forward to the, I mean, I've got AP as my coach, who's brought back the
31:52 Pat Hendricks, out of the face, you know, who's brought back the, we're going to talk
32:01 our crap.
32:02 We're going to do our thing.
32:05 Enough's enough.
32:06 I mean, you got that now.
32:09 You got six months of this, of anticipation, of excitement, of joy.
32:22 Now listen, Raider fan wears Raider gear, whether you guys are 17 and O or you're O
32:27 and 17.
32:28 I applaud you guys.
32:30 You guys are awesome.
32:32 That's Raider fan.
32:35 But now you got six months.
32:37 Six months.
32:38 Every chief fan you see, just remember Christmas day, we coming.
32:46 Six months of it.
32:50 You're at six months of every Charger fan you see.
32:52 How you doing?
32:54 We're coming.
32:56 And guess what?
32:59 We're going to black out your stadium.
33:07 Does anybody, Hey, next time we come to SoFi, every Bronco fan you meet, every Lions fan
33:20 you meet, every, every Eagle fan, every cowboy fan, oh, dear God.
33:28 Every one of them.
33:31 You get to wear your black Nikes.
33:36 You guys are going to have so much fun with this.
33:38 This is going to be one of your best off seasons in a long time.
33:44 Enjoy that.
33:47 This is going to be an off season where you're not fighting with the guy next to you about
33:52 whether or not you like Josh McDaniel in the Patriot way.
33:56 It's dead.
34:01 Someone asked me last night in a national show.
34:04 How would you describe AP if you couldn't just say the coach of the Raiders?
34:09 I thought about it for a minute and this is exactly what I said.
34:16 I said AP is the monument, the gravestone to the Patriot way in the desert.
34:30 It's dead.
34:31 It's over.
34:32 It's dead.
34:36 Years ago, I had just a very dear friend who was my boss in the TV and media business.
34:43 His name was Jim Wareham and he was working at a very large radio station in Chicago on
34:50 the day that Elvis died.
34:52 Now, for a lot of you guys who are very younger, you don't understand this.
34:57 You just go to Twitter or X or IG or you go to your phone.
35:02 For us older folk, we're going to appreciate this.
35:05 They had 50 phone lines and everyone was lit up like a Christmas tree.
35:10 Is it true Elvis is dead?
35:11 Is it true Elvis is dead?
35:12 As soon as you'd hang up on one, the line was instantly filled.
35:18 He told me that day they needed help on the telephone line.
35:25 All he was doing was dead, dead, dead.
35:30 It wasn't being disrespectful of Elvis, but he was trying to get through to as many people.
35:34 Listen, AP being the head coach of the Raiders, ring, ring.
35:41 Let me find it.
35:44 Give me a second.
35:45 Oh, where'd it go?
35:46 I put my glasses on.
35:50 This is what AP being the coach of the Raiders means.
35:57 Patriot way, dead.
35:59 Patriot way, dead.
36:01 Patriot way, dead.
36:04 It's gone.
36:07 Good night, sweetheart.
36:10 Well, it's time to go.
36:12 Hear how, and it is your off season.
36:16 We want you to enjoy it.
36:20 My wife last night, she comes down the stairs when she found out that AP got the job.
36:27 She's got on a Raiders shirt.
36:29 She's so excited.
36:30 She could hardly stand it.
36:32 She goes, "We got a guy, we got a guy."
36:36 I'm like, "All right, sure thing."
36:39 She was just so excited about it.
36:42 I know you guys were too.
36:43 You've been fans a lot longer.
36:44 My wife's been a fan since the last 10 weeks of the season.
36:53 This is your time now.
36:55 I want to challenge you.
36:57 I love the game of football.
37:00 I love it.
37:02 I love it because my dad was my hero.
37:06 Still is.
37:07 He's been gone almost 10 years, but he's still my hero.
37:10 Best man at my wedding.
37:14 Don't have enough words to thank God for my dad.
37:20 My father for many, many, many years, decades, was a season ticket holder to Michigan State
37:26 football.
37:29 The two earliest memories I have of my life was sitting next to my dad at Michigan State
37:37 football games and riding in his piggyback while he hunted.
37:49 He carried me on his back.
37:52 To this day, I love hunting and I love football.
37:57 Really the third memory of my father is the most important, was his love of the Lord.
38:02 That's where I think I love the Lord because my dad so emulated it.
38:11 Football to me reminds me of my dad.
38:17 He just loved it.
38:18 He loved the physicality.
38:21 He loved the violence.
38:25 He loved how you just line up and it's man on man and the one that wants it the most.
38:31 He was my dad was a warrior.
38:33 So he respected when the game of football, it was not a Raider fan, but he loved watching
38:41 the Raiders on Monday night because that way they just physically imposed their will.
38:49 So I love the game.
38:52 I love the game of football because it is one of the few places as a country, we're
38:58 not black and white or brown or yellow or red.
39:06 We're not Republicans or Democrats, we're not conservatives or liberals.
39:09 We're not Christian, non-Christian.
39:13 It is one of the places where we come together and it's people.
39:20 And we're coming into an election cycle where a lot of people are going to try to divide
39:25 us.
39:29 And when we remember, it's about people.
39:36 When we remember this game of football unites us, I think we're better for it.
39:47 You guys know, I don't hide it.
39:48 I love Wayne Mayberry, the violator.
39:51 Love him.
39:52 Great friend.
39:54 And that's something that I learned about the black hole when I started covering five
40:03 years ago, is the way you see every socioeconomic group in the black hole, every color, every
40:13 religion, every politics, but in that black hole, they're all Raider fans.
40:17 It's who they are and they're just precious people.
40:22 Precious.
40:25 And I'm going to challenge you over these next six months, there's going to be so much
40:31 junk that can divide.
40:33 Celebrate and enjoy these next six months.
40:40 For some of you, it's been a hard time.
40:42 I got to tell you, I love you guys' emails and comments when I asked you to send me your
40:49 memories or whatever.
40:51 Been a fan since 78, been a fan since 63, whatever.
40:57 And I can't tell you the amount of email I get from people that talk about how frustrating
41:07 they are as Raider fan or it's been 40 years since we were legitimately competitive.
41:13 And how many of you Raider football has brought stress to your life?
41:20 Well, they move from the bay and all of them, I'm not minimizing them.
41:25 They're all legitimate.
41:27 Okay, well, I understand you're frustrated that the team's left the bay.
41:33 I get it.
41:34 But they have.
41:35 I understand you were frustrated with the experiment of the Patriot way.
41:41 Sorry.
41:44 Understand that you're frustrated with the losing.
41:45 I get it.
41:47 But you got six months now of legitimate hope.
41:57 Six months of, and this isn't a guy that's coming in, bringing hope and you're like,
42:06 no, you had nine games with him.
42:08 You know what you're getting with AP.
42:11 That man ain't fake.
42:12 There's nothing synthetic about Antonio Pierce.
42:16 He's authentic.
42:17 He ain't synthetic.
42:20 He ain't foe Antonio Pierce.
42:23 He's the Antonio.
42:24 You know what you're getting.
42:25 Let me tell you something.
42:30 Everybody on the schedule next year knows what's coming.
42:34 It's going to be a fist fight.
42:38 Straight out of comp.
42:41 We coming.
42:42 Their physicality is back.
42:47 You've seen them do it.
42:51 You know, now they're going to have a new offensive look.
42:54 Someone said, what's the look going to be?
42:56 AP, physical, hounding.
43:01 I'm asking you to enjoy this.
43:05 It's going to be a great off season.
43:09 It's going to be great to write about.
43:13 I think champ Kelly's going to get the job.
43:16 I hope he does.
43:18 But if it's Ed Dodds, he's a great GM candidate.
43:24 You've got your coach.
43:27 There is no reason for animus or anger or frustration because now you have something
43:37 to replace it.
43:39 See, faith is the substance of things hoped for.
43:49 If AP had never coached, you could hope, but he had.
43:55 So your hope is substantive of what you saw.
44:02 Now you're sitting here going into next year with faith.
44:05 It's going to be a good year.
44:09 I appreciate all of you.
44:11 You don't have to spend your mornings with me.
44:14 You choose to.
44:16 And I love it.
44:19 I love hanging out with you, talking Raider football with you, talking NFL football with
44:25 you.
44:27 And I just hope that you hear me when I say I appreciate you.
44:34 I read something a while back that talked about a huge percentage.
44:40 And I don't remember now if it was 75, 85, it may have even been 90% of Americans said
44:50 that they don't feel like they matter in people's lives.
44:55 It went all the way across all socioeconomic groups, all political, all religious, all
45:00 religions, gender, everything.
45:04 A huge percentage of Americans did not feel appreciated that they didn't feel like they
45:09 mattered.
45:12 You matter to me.
45:14 I'm grateful for you.
45:17 I am sure all of you have many people in your life who tell you that.
45:21 But if you don't, then just let Hondo Carpenter tell you, you matter to me.
45:27 And I appreciate you.
45:29 And remember, I'm Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's FAN Nation Las Vegas Raiders
45:33 Insider Podcast, part of the Fans First Sports Network.
45:37 Remember, you can follow me on IG @HondoSR.
45:40 Can follow me on Twitter @HondoCarpenter.
45:43 Go to si.com/NFL/Raiders to read all of our articles.
45:48 We'll have a ton.
45:51 You can also upper right hand corner, click on newsletter.
45:53 Please do that.
45:54 Please, please, please do that.
45:57 And we won't spam you.
45:59 We won't sell your information, but three days a week, you'll get an email with our
46:03 biggest and best stories.
46:04 So you're constantly not missing anything, but do all of that.
46:08 I hope you have a great week.
46:10 I hope whether you're going out and enjoying the great outdoors, maybe you're going to
46:13 get a chance to do some hunting or fishing, going to watch football for sure.
46:16 But I know one thing you're going to be doing, you all got it.
46:21 Faith, now you got all excited.
46:23 You got your coach.
46:24 I have a feeling all over the world because our listeners are all over the world.
46:29 In fact, we got a couple of guys coming on as guests on my podcast who are members of
46:35 the UK parliament, but we're going to have great podcasts coming, but I know what you're
46:41 going to be doing wherever you are in the world today.
46:44 You may be in Ireland or Scotland or Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada, wherever
46:54 you are.
46:56 I just have a feeling there's going to be a random outbreak, but greater.
47:04 I won't respond back, but my wife will.
47:07 God bless you all.
47:08 Thank you so much for sharing today with me.
47:11 I hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.
47:13 God bless you.
47:14 We'll see you again tomorrow.
47:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]