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April 8, 2024 - Doug Collins Podcast
01:03:00
Don't Stare at the Sun You'll Go Blind
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You want to listen to a podcast?
By who?
Georgia GOP Congressman Doug Collins.
How is it?
The greatest thing I have ever heard in my whole life.
I could not believe my ears.
In this house, wherever the rules are disregarded, chaos and mob rule.
It has been said today, where is bravery?
I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found.
It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered, and this majority say, be damned with anything else.
We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do.
Why?
Because we won an election.
I guarantee you, one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't gonna be that fun.
Hey everybody, welcome back.
Friday's Finest is back on us again.
We've got James Shipp with us today, going to get into a little bit of politics, a lot of money flowing around in the presidential campaign.
What's it a sign of?
Is it just a sign of everything getting back to normal or is it a sign of the sugar high of coming off of a primary win?
Now everybody's consolidated the Republican side, Democrat side has been raising this kind of money for a long time.
We're going to talk about it with you up here in just a minute.
Going to also look, just real quickly at some of the House Senate race.
I was in Washington this week dealing with a lot of groups that are coming together, which some of the first times we've ever seen, you know, I think Republicans actually are trying to understand that they work better together than they do apart.
So we'll see how that sort of comes apart with the RNC and also with outside organizations as well.
Lots on the political front, though, I think you just dig in.
As I've said before, this is going to be a long, long process.
Polls at this point do not live and die on polls.
They're great snapshots for this moment, this time.
Absolutely zero relevance for November 5th at this second.
Just something to take into account as we go forward.
Also today, I just got things from, you know, from the Final Fours to the Oakland A's to the Tropicana closing to How Do You Like Your Eggs to WrestleMania 40 and The Rock Returns as a Heel.
We'll see all that here today on Friday's Fights.
We'll be right back, right after these breaks.
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All right, we're back after a break here.
Got a lot to discuss.
Chip, shouldn't I dive in real quick on this?
A lot's been made over the last week, too.
We got a little bit into it last week with the big Biden fundraiser that happened to be at the same time as the Massaqua, the police officer who lived in Massaqua, the New York City police officer who died.
A lot was made of the political side, and I think Trump won the political on that.
Lot was made of the fact, $25 million, Radio City Music Hall, all the big names.
It sort of reminds you what the Democrats have been doing for a number of election cycles here.
They have all the star power, all the movie people, everybody else, and they still struggle in many times with votes and turnout because, again, they don't see the disconnect.
But $25 million, nothing to sneeze at in one event, although they've been playing for a little while.
In return, this week, one of the things I thought was very interesting, there's a lot of consternation about the change in the RNC, not from a lot of the Republican Party workers, but there was a lot in general with the Ronald McDaniel situation, Laura Trump coming in, Michael Weiley out of North Carolina.
They announced $65 million in March.
Big haul.
Donald Trump's doing a fundraiser in Mar-a-Lago this weekend, another $35-40 million predicted this weekend.
Also, there's frankly another fundraiser coming up in Atlanta next week with Trump that should probably raise a fairly good amount there too.
So where do you make it?
I mean, money's always at lifeblood.
You and I have had other conversations about that this week.
It's an interesting issue, but is this just pent up or is this really sort of where you would expect it right now?
No, I think it's a big deal.
I mean, 65.6 million, I think, was the final number for March.
I mean, that's a staggering amount of money to raise in one month as a political committee.
I mean, they would have...
They would have looked good raising half that amount.
I think their cash on hand, Politico reported their cash on hand coming out of March was like 93 million and 93.1 million.
Kudos to, you know, the Trump apparatus, Chris Lasavita, Lara Trump, Susie Wiles, that whole apparatus that decided to go in and take over the RNC. And, you know, it looks like it's paying early dividends.
You know, there was a lot of, you had mentioned consternation.
And I mean, there was some buzz out there that, you know, the committee had struggled to raise money and was going to continue to struggle to raise money no matter who was running the operation in the show there.
But that's just not the case.
I mean, you know, any any anybody who said that the committee won't be able to raise money because they'll you know, their donors are concerned that it'll go to pay attorneys for Donald Trump certainly doesn't look that way with their March numbers.
And so, you know, look, twenty five million dollars for, you know, what, three, four former Democratic presidents, Radio City Music, all that's great.
Biden's had a significant cash advantage.
He will continue to have a significant cash advantage.
But as you said, you know, when you have two nominees of the respective major parties running for president, They're both going to get a tremendous amount of earned media, and even the bad earned media that Donald Trump gets, he's able to parlay and take advantage of.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the $65 million number.
Of course, that puts a target on their back for fundraising, for expectations moving forward in April, May, June, but You know, kudos to them.
They did a great job and they quieted a lot of critics really quickly.
Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing as you look at it is going forward.
And I think I explained it on another interview.
I said, you know, also part of this is that finally the debris is out of the woods, out of the way of the primary.
So, you know, there's none of this, well, I may, you know, look, I like so-and-so.
I like Haley.
Let me give her a hundred thousand.
You know, now, and again...
I know for most listening to this podcast, because let me explain something to you, $65 million, the question that really comes here is how much of that was big dollar donations?
Now, one of the things you've got to answer, and people are getting to see this, is the...
Event at Mar-a-Lago.
$825,000 I think is the max that you can spend, that you can put into a, and you can do that per couple by the way.
So you've got some people that will actually, couples that will write a $1.6 million check in essence to do that.
I don't know a lot of people that can do that, but undoubtedly they're out there.
Chip, I haven't seen this.
I was curious if you had.
Did they say that it was mainly big dollars coming back to the party, or did finally the small dollar actually kick in again?
Well, the reality is, Doug, we don't know yet, right?
Because it's only April 4th, and so they released these numbers via press release, and so we haven't been able to look at that data.
My guess is it's probably a mix of both.
Like you said, I don't know that I can ever remember a joint fundraising committee, and that's what the fundraising apparatus is.
It's a joint fundraising committee, and for those that are listening that don't understand what that is, is you essentially partner up with Thank you.
They write, you know, one check.
And you're exactly right.
I think the numbers 800 and 814,600 dollars that the RNC is set up with Trump, all the Trump entities.
And so, yeah, it's pretty staggering.
A husband and wife can give over $1.6 million in what is essentially federal money.
And non-tax deductible.
It's a new space.
Yeah.
And non-tax deductible for all of you out there who think anything else.
They're not doing this for tax deduction.
They're giving it away.
Yes.
In a sense, you and I know a couple of people that can do that and a few more that I've learned across in my lifetime.
But it is interesting to see that there's that grouping of people.
Because the interesting thing about Mar-a-Lago, if you look at the headliners for this weekend, you see a lot of the business community.
You see a lot of, you know, the entrepreneurs, the builders, the Woody Johnsons, the owner of the New York Jets.
You know, you see those kind of, I'm surprised Bob Craft isn't on that list as well.
But you see, and it's a totally different group, and it goes back Sort of the traditional, if you ever thought about the Democrat-Republican kind of party, although the Democrats always wanted to say they were the men and women of the people, they're really the men and women of the elite entertainment establishment, whereas the businesses always tended to run toward the Republican, and that's sort of showing up here.
Curious question, though, and this is going to be something for those of us who, you know, we look at down ticket kind of stuff as much as anything.
We all know that there are states like Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, even Nevada, some others, that the Republican parties are just, they're suffering, okay?
Hand to mouth, they're not able to raise a lot of money, they either got debt, they've had issues coming up.
A lot of the times in the past, I know some, and Georgia may be one of those, and others that have depended on that infusion of cash from RNC to kind of help.
I'm not sure that's going to happen this time.
I think with the way this is set up, especially with the Trump Organization and others, what do you see in that and how you make that be effective?
I think it'll be a state-by-state basis, right?
I mean, most of these states have state chairmen who are...
You know, who are quote-unquote Trump people, right?
And so, you know, for those state parties who, you know, Chris Lasavita believes, you know, are going to be good stewards of that money, and let's face it, that's a lower postage rate, right?
You get lower postage rates with party committees.
And, you know, you can do certain things better at the state level than you can strictly with RNC dollars.
And so, yeah, you'll see a little bit of a mix of that.
A lot of the field operation will run through, you know, what used to be Victory, and I guess it still is.
It's 47 Victory, something like that.
A lot of different bank accounts at the end of the day, it's still the same people calling the shots.
I think you'll see that on a case-by-case basis.
I'll tell you what's going to be interesting to watch, Doug, is how the Robert F. Kennedy candidacy shakes itself out.
It's something the DNC has taken very seriously.
They're going to be spending significant dollars to run negative ads on We're good to go.
Without Robert Kennedy on the ballot, and with Robert Kennedy on the ballot, he still had a three-point lead, but Kennedy was at 11%.
And so, you know, how does that play itself out?
I mean, you know, Kennedy family is certainly very progressive, very liberal, very, you know...
Very Democrat, but the vice presidential nominee that he picked is certainly a progressive.
But, you know, there are certain parts of Robert F. Kennedy's platform that do appeal across party lines.
So, you know, I was a little surprised to see that, you know, Kennedy getting 11% doesn't look like it significantly takes away from Biden.
But I have to think at the end of the day, it probably does.
Well, and here's the only thing, and before anybody gets all, you know, and I think one of the things you have to really take into account, though, in the issue of the third party is, remember, electoral votes, except in two states, are winner takeoff.
So, and right now they're trying to change that in Nebraska to take that one Omaha seat that would typically be a Democrat and move it out.
So, the way third parties can affect Is if they take away enough from a candidate to get down to where they lose a state.
They're never in there going to win a state.
None of these third parties are going to win a state.
There's no way that's going to happen.
But if they take away, say it's a 46-47 race in Wisconsin between Biden and Trump and Two or three percent of voters who said that their second choice, and I'm going to use this as an anomaly, would be Biden, but yet they voted for Jill Stein and they voted for Robert Kennedy.
That's how they affect it.
And look, I agree with you.
Democrats are spending a ton of money.
Republicans aren't really going to have to spend money on Kennedy right now, because if he had picked a more middle of the road, that would have been a different story.
But he didn't.
He went far left.
He went hard left to that uncommitted voter in the Democrats.
So, going to be a lot of interesting things there.
I think it'll affect some of the interesting issues of seeing fundraising on the Senate level, the House level.
I was with Kellyanne Conway this week, and Kellyanne is...
One, if anything, if you've ever watched Kellyanne, Chip, and I know you have, she just bluntly says most anything.
And I've noticed in the last two years, she's gotten even worse or better from my perspective.
She don't care.
And she just flat out says it.
And...
That was one of the things that she's brought up time and time again is this issue of the third party right now.
Let it ride until it sees what it's going to do.
Because in the end of the day, one of the campaigns has got to deal with it.
But it's also the bluntness of the fact that you've got to do...
The messaging in these Senate races and these House races.
And she made something about the House.
She said, look, for all you people out there that believe 60 seats are in play, you're idiots.
There are no 60 seats in play.
It may be 10 to 12. There's not going to be...
And she said, I didn't say there's going to be a red wave in 2022. She said, because there's just no avenue for waves is that much.
She said, could it be?
Yes.
But the reality is, 90% reality is it's not going to happen that way.
Do you think people really understand that in the country, especially the hard Republicans and hard liberals?
No, probably not, Doug, but going kind of piggybacking on what you were talking with third parties, I don't know if you saw today, but no labels came out today and made an announcement that they are ending all their efforts at fielding a candidate.
And Wall Street Journal, who broke the story and had the exclusive on it, said that they interviewed no less than 30 candidates.
And they got nobody.
They got nobody.
And I did a little bit of kind of looking into that when Jeff Duncan's name popped up as somebody who was looking at that.
And when I read a couple of those stories, a party can get itself on the ballot in 17 states.
And so no labels is on the ballot, was going to be on the ballot in 17 states.
But there are 33 states that the candidate has to work to get him or herself on the ballot.
And if that process really isn't going, probably three months ago...
I mean, you know, that window's closed.
And so, you know, I'm not surprised, but I did kind of get a chuckle when I saw that.
It just came out today that they're closing the books on fielding a Unity candidate.
Yeah, I probably will be not getting any lovable phone calls from the No Labels people.
I had an interview there earlier today on that issue, and they said, are you surprised by this?
I said, I just died laughing.
I said, this is the most hilarious.
I said, I'm shocked.
I said, these people live in a rainbow and unicorn kind of world.
We're a 50-50 nation, okay?
There's a little bit in between.
But this idea that you're going to slap a Republican and a Democrat on a ticket and everybody's going to say, oh, this is the greatest thing ever.
That's bullcrap.
It just don't happen.
Get over it, you know?
You only live in New York cocktail parties.
If you've heard me say it once, you've heard me say it a thousand times.
We don't make the rules the voters do.
And consultants don't make the rules.
Candidates don't make the rules.
The media doesn't make the rules.
The voters always get the final say.
And right now, this is what they want.
And you have a small segment of the country that wants something else.
Well, they've got Robert F. Kennedy to choose from.
They're not going to have anybody on the no labels ticket.
And so they're just going to have to fight within the confines of the construct of what we have now.
The only hope that they ever had, no labels actually ever had, and this will be our last sort of statement on this, is if they could have pulled a Joe Manchin-Mitt Romney ticket.
And that one would have had interesting results in two states in particular, Utah and West Virginia.
Both Republican states.
Yeah.
And maybe not as much in West Virginia.
If anything, it possibly could have flipped it to a Democrat.
That would have been the problem in West Virginia.
Utah, literally, it could have affected...
They could have got electoral votes, possibly, in Utah.
Yes.
Because Utah's been that Republican, very solid Republican, but very different Republican.
Well, you remember, I mean, you remember the first time Trump ran, Evan McMuffin, McMullen, McMuffin, whatever his name is.
McMuffin, yeah.
I mean, he ran and was from Utah and I think got 17, 18 points.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
And he was a staffer.
Oh, yeah.
You know?
And so, yeah, it absolutely would have been, you know, different had no label succeeded at recruiting a Joe Manchin, Mitt Romney type.
But even that, that's the rainbows and unicorns deal that, you know, like, you know, that's just a one-off.
All right.
Well, that's enough politics for now.
Let's jump into lots of what is a sports weekend, a fun weekend.
And we bring in for this, of course, the always energetic, always ready to go.
He's there.
He's with us.
He's our Texan by way of New Jersey, James.
Hello, everybody.
See, we build you up, James.
You know, you're not going to show your face with us today.
I'm going to tell you why.
Hold on.
Let me get to it.
So...
I was playing basketball before for like an hour, and then I hit the gym, and then I realized that we had to start, and I was like, uh-oh.
So I ran out of what I like to call the Iron Penitentiary, which is my garage with a couple of dumbbells, and came in here and got ready to go.
So I'm gross, just going to be honest about it.
My shirt looks like I went down Splash Mountain.
So for now, we're going to keep the camera off.
But you know what?
I promise everybody next week, you'll see all of me.
Okay, Chip, what he's actually saying, Chip, is he knew we were going to talk WrestleMania 40 and he didn't want The Rock jealous.
That's what it is right there.
Yeah, that's right.
That's exactly right.
That's right.
What does he call his?
The Iron Paradise, right?
Something like that?
Yeah.
His travel gym.
Now, I got a couple of soft foam squares in a garage with some dumbbells and a kettlebell.
Guys, let me tell you something before we go on.
I just saw, just saw this...
Burglars steal $30 million in cash from a Los Angeles storage facility on Easter, possibly one of the biggest heists in Los Angeles.
I love heists.
Oh, wow.
The criminal in me loves hearts.
Who would keep that much cash in the storage facility?
Yeah, that's the great...
Oh, I'm sorry.
I read it wrong.
Money storage facility.
I may have...
They didn't rent a garage at a public store.
Yeah, I'm fixing to say that group better be looking over their shoulder at all times because there's a cartel looking for them somewhere.
I'm telling you right now.
You know, the Russian mob is going to be out on them in about two seconds.
Yes.
Anyway, I just saw it, so I forget I mentioned it.
Anyway, let's go into the fun stuff.
Let's do it.
A two-headed story here.
The Tropicana in Las Vegas, for those who have been to Las Vegas, mob era casino.
This was one of the first ever, you know, come in.
This is the 1957. It had...
Everything that you thought about Las Vegas, and even the movie, if I'm not mistaken, it had some of the...
The Costello family, and the Vegas mob, there's some of the stuff that you see, remember the old Goodfellas movies, all these kind of things.
All this, they had the first show, girls.
Anyway, it's closing down.
Godfather was filmed there a little bit.
Diamonds are forever filmed there.
And it's going to be the new home of the Oakland A's baseball team or the Las Vegas, whatever.
I guess they're going to keep the A's going on.
Didn't realize this until today.
I'm just going to be honest with you guys.
I didn't realize where this was until I associated it with the Tropicana.
For those of us who've been to Vegas many times, this is right when you come in McCarran Airport.
This is the main road that comes down to MGM. It will be on one side of the street.
This baseball park is going to be on the other side of the street.
The Excalibur, New York is on one corner, and you got the Luxor, the big pyramid, and then you got the other one on the other end down there.
That's right downtown.
I mean, you're putting a lot of stuff right there on the boulevard.
Yeah, well, you are, but think about the journey the Oakland A's have been on.
I mean, this was already delayed a year.
Now we know it's going to be another two years.
I mean, they're not going to start playing baseball there.
That venue's not going to be ready until 2028, Doug.
They're going to play in Sacramento for three years.
They've already played three—well, they're in their third— You know, what I call lame duck year in Oakland.
They can't get anybody to come to the Oakland Coliseum to watch baseball.
I mean, you just got to feel bad for them, right?
I mean, you know, it'll be six years, assuming that they are on schedule and they make first pitch in Las Vegas in 2028. It will have been six years since the announcement was made that Oakland is moving to Las Vegas.
And Oakland wasn't a great venue for baseball anyway.
After they made that announcement, nobody came to the games.
They're not going to be an attractive franchise for free agents.
It's just kind of sad if you're on the Oakland A's.
You've got to play in a minor league baseball park for three years.
And they say, well, we're going to play temporarily here.
Well, temporarily to me is a year.
Yeah.
I mean, they're playing there for the next three years.
Yeah, it's not.
I don't know.
It's not good.
Look, the one thing, James, though, we've talked about this a little bit more in the past.
You're now going to have, when it is officially built in 28, by the time it opens in 28, you're going to have two of the most elaborate, sophisticated stadiums in the country about a mile apart there in Las Vegas.
And I'm hoping to actually go out there.
This might be something we talk about because we...
The Falcons, I believe, actually go to the Raiders, if I'm not mistaken.
I think they're supposed to play out there this year.
Or did they play last year out there?
I can't remember where that game was.
Yeah, but you're right.
They do play the Raiders.
I just don't know where.
Yes.
I like that idea.
Yeah.
Listen, you know I'm up for a road trip, so I'm all in.
But here's the thing.
The traffic is already hell on this trip.
That is going to be unreal.
But let's take a pause for a moment, right?
The Vegas Knights have been a success.
Yes.
The Aces, the WNBA team, has been a success.
Yes.
I know it's not the most happy thing in the world.
Time out, James.
This is my offensive part of the entire thing.
There is nothing successful about the WNBA when it is automatically funded by the NBA. I'm not talking about just money.
I'm talking about the actual success of the team.
I'm talking about how the team succeed.
They've won championship.
Golden Knights have won a championship.
We're talking about now the Raiders are on their way up, hopefully, right?
With the new head coach.
They got Devontae Adams is all in.
Max Crosby's all in.
You never know what you're going to do in this draft.
You bring a baseball team here.
Now, I know baseball is dying in America.
We know that.
We don't have to be told that.
However...
If they turn two franchises successfully as far as they're winning, maybe it can happen for the Raiders and maybe it can happen for baseball.
Vegas is going to be the hottest town for sports.
We're going to be talking about them in the future because we all know basketball is coming.
That's just a fact.
You can tell me whatever you want.
They've been trying to get something there since 2007 when they had the All-Star game there.
Vegas is going to be, it's already insane as is, but it's going to be a legitimate sports town in the next 10 years.
Well, the question will be, though, is look, Oakland had a history, the Raiders, I mean, let me rephrase that, because you can't go just Oakland, LA, the Raiders franchise, okay, the Davis family has always been, I mean, they played, they spent money, they've done that, okay, that's, I mean, the Raiders just needed the place to thrive a little bit better.
Sure.
The Vegas, in my understanding, the Vegas Knights, the hockey team, which has been very good, has a very well-fed ownership.
Right.
And they can play and they can bring people in.
They can do that.
The concern I would have about the Oakland A's is going back to Moneyball.
I mean, this is a team that played Moneyball.
This was a team that Brad Pitt says, here's the Yankees.
Here's the league average.
And here we are down here.
And they've never really gotten out of that.
Well, that's...
But that's what Vegas is for, right?
Isn't that what Vegas is for?
Is it really changing, though, Chip?
Well...
Yeah, look, I mean, there was a reason Stan Kroenke moved the St. Louis Rams to Los Angeles, what was it, 12 years ago, 14 years ago, whatever it was.
Yeah, you go to a bigger market.
I mean, you go from an Oakland market to a Las Vegas market, and there's a lot more available to you.
But they're going to have to wait, Doug, right?
I mean, who's going to own the A's four years from now?
Four years is a long time.
Three years is a long time.
Is it profitable to get in on baseball?
I'm not saying it's not.
I'm just saying that's a good question, right?
Because when you hear about people buying teams, right?
Alex Rodriguez spent his entire life in baseball and he's trying to buy a basketball team.
Right?
I mean, he's fighting over the ownership of the Wolves right now.
They have to go to court over that.
So, is it profitable to have a baseball team?
Well, if you're in Vegas, it probably is, especially with the way gambling is going.
Well, it's also going to be inside stadium, which helps them, so...
Well, and look at the density of what's on the Strip.
I mean, goodness gracious.
I mean, you know, you'll take the economics of 82 baseball games a year all day long with the density that always exists 365 days a year on the Las Vegas Strip.
So, you know, I mean, you know, the A's right now in Oakland are averaging like 6,000 people a game.
I bet they don't have any trouble filling that stadium.
Oh, if I'm in there, I'm going to drunk stumble into the A's stadium myself.
That's right.
Well, I mean, look, if you want to go spend four hours and not lose any money, go pay $40 or $50 to go watch an A's game.
I mean, look at it.
Absolutely.
You know, the sad note coming out of Oakland, there was a piece of paper that was left, and somebody found it.
It was posted on social media.
It was, like, from one of the ushers, and it had what they do about this attendance.
And if attendance was below 5,000, they closed, like, two of the gates for people to come in.
They don't even man them because there's not enough people to bring them in.
And you know, it's really sad, you know, for all the liberal hype of San Francisco.
So let's be very honest here.
The San Francisco Oakland area, that area is far bigger than Las Vegas.
Okay.
As far as population, everything else.
Although the right, the 49ers, by the way, are not in San Francisco.
Anybody that believes they're in San Francisco has never driven to their field.
It's an hour south of downtown San Francisco.
Really?
I didn't know that.
Was Candlestick in the same spot, though?
Candlestick stayed roughly in the same area, yes.
Oracle...
Oracle helped a lot of that.
But yeah, and that's the only one.
Golden State, I mean, you know, they moved out.
But really, it's just an area.
To me, I'm tired of the, you know, it gets impolitical a little bit.
They have destroyed San Francisco.
And they've destroyed the area around Oakland and everything else.
Palo Alto, Stanford, which is about an hour.
Really, if you want to know where the stadium is for the San Francisco 49ers, it is really south of Sanford.
In Palo Alto.
It's actually in Palo Alto.
It's just south of Palo Alto.
I mean, no one can even afford to live there.
No.
Let alone, right?
Like, I mean, my buddy, he makes very good money.
He was deciding where to live after New York City.
And he moved, he was in California and he was in San Diego.
And he goes, I was in San Diego, couldn't afford it.
And that was cheaper than San Francisco.
He's out in Denver now.
He's enjoying it there.
But he was like, it's not even, it's not worth it.
Why do I want to, I make good money.
Why do I want to spend it all on an apartment?
You know what I'm saying?
I can't imagine someone buying a house out there.
Yeah, no.
The average is just impossible.
And you expect those people to go to a game?
Yeah.
If you've ever been to downtown San Francisco in the last few years, it's a scary place.
Are you saying I should skip it on my trip?
I wouldn't.
I'd be careful where I stayed.
Fair enough.
It's a homeless museum right now.
So what you're saying is I can live somewhere for free if I shack up with the homeless?
Yeah, right down the street and crap on the street because that's what they're doing right now.
You know, it's pretty sad as you go.
And you got major corporations that are all moving out of it.
And it's this whole liberal utopia kind of thing just gone bad.
I got one for you as we switch off Oakland for a minute.
Stefan Diggs has now left...
They got rid of him.
I think it's a better way to put it out of Buffalo, sent him to Houston, Texas.
Houston, Texas has gotten loaded this offseason already.
But I did notice something just hit the wire.
The Texans did away with the last three years of Diggs' contract and allows him to go free agent after this year.
That changes what I was about to say because...
I'm going to be honest.
You know I'm a Diggs fan.
I will always be a Diggs fan because he got me to the NFC Championship game, which we got blown out by the Eagles.
I hate you, Nick Foles.
But I was going to say, as good as Stefan Diggs is, and he is one of the best receivers of this generation, I genuinely believe that, especially with Josh Allen.
The Texans had a great locker room last year.
And that was my first thought was, you sure?
You have two good receivers, really good receivers.
That one just got hurt.
They might have won that second playoff game and they had tanked out.
Let's be honest, they could have.
It's a possibility.
And you bring in Stephon Diggs in here?
But if you're saying that this is basically like, hey, if you're cool, we'll keep you.
Otherwise, we're going to dump you.
I kind of like the move by the Texans only giving up a second-round pick.
Yeah.
I mean, it's not even bad.
No, look, I mean, I think it's a great move for the Texans to only give up a second-round pick, right?
I thought, you know, I thought that Buffalo was going to – well, Buffalo probably did ask for more, but I thought they were going to do more to get rid of him.
And, you know, I guess they decided after shopping him on the market, the best they could get was a second-round pick.
And I think, you know, James hit the nail on the head.
I mean, no one can question or no one should question Stefan Diggs' talent.
But, you know, he's not the best locker room guy, right?
He's not.
He's an eye.
He's, you know, no eye in team.
I mean, that's not Stefan Diggs.
You know, he wants the ball.
And if he's not getting the ball, he's going to complain and bellyache, even if you're winning.
So, you know, he's got a new opportunity and a clean start in Houston.
Let's see how he takes it.
You know, but it didn't work out real well for Buffalo.
And then, you know, in the big games, too, it didn't look like Stephon Diggs was really stepping up.
And, you know, there was some friction there with him and Josh Allen.
So we'll see.
We'll see how it plays out.
But, you know, Buffalo's got to upgrade at the receiver point.
Well, I think there's Buffalo a chance.
I mean, you're going to see them take in about...
I think their first two picks will be wide receivers.
I think they'll actually...
I think they may actually jump up.
Buffalo may try to jump up and take a wide receiver a little bit more.
I think you're going to see...
I mean, I think this is going to be the unwritten story of the draft.
And we all have went back and forth, and I've already told you that I think the whole...
Probably the first two or three picks of the draft are going to be bust.
But...
Based on the quarterback projection here.
But I think you've got some wide receiver picks that go later in the round from a Harrison to, you know, these other, you know, McConkie out of Georgia.
I mean, there's some...
There are going to be some receivers picked that are going to be 10 and 12-year, you know, players in the NFL. And you're going to see some...
I think this draft is just going to find some players like that.
Teams like Buffalo.
Teams like Kansas City.
Teams like, you know, the ones that are always...
Sort of making the right decision are going to be picking up some bargains in the mid-late rounds of this first and second round draft.
Yeah, and remember, I mean, last year was the draft of Puka Nakua.
I mean, he was a fifth round, a fifth wide receiver at a BYU that, you know, nobody had ever really heard of.
And, you know, he goes to the Rams and just, you know, is Rookie of the Year and lights it up.
Tank Dell was the third round pick, right?
I think.
Yeah.
We're talking about two.
There's a lot of value on that receiver position in those mid-rounds, and that's exactly right.
Speaking of Stephon Diggs, I think he was a fifth-round pick for the Vikings.
Somewhere down there.
Listen, you can find...
Outside of Brock Purdy, a couple of guys, you're not going to find that quarterback deep.
Let's be real honest.
Yes, we have Tom Brady.
That's the one shining example.
And Brock Purdy, yes.
All right.
Wait, James, I mean, and again, I don't have the data in front of me, so I'm just sort of off the cuff in here a little bit.
Maybe the three of us.
I think most of your decent quarterbacks have been either late first round.
I mean, you got a few exceptions, don't get me wrong.
Right, I'm talking about 20 years.
Late first to fourth round is where you picked up a lot of the quarterbacks who've actually made differences in the league.
Lamar was a first-round pick.
Am I wrong?
I'm saying super deep into the draft.
I don't think you're going to find that quarterback.
Maybe I'm wrong.
I'm trying to think who was that low.
There just have been a ton of busts up top.
Let's be honest.
That's for sure.
We discussed this all day, but the Bears taking Trubisky at number one is still the worst decision in the history of that franchise by a million people.
And they're going to make up for it in this draft, Doug, when they take the great Caleb Williams and ruin the Vikings' chances at anything for the future.
Oh, that division is going to be so impossible.
Another day.
J.J. McCarthy, Vikings starting quarterback.
I'm almost willing to go out right now.
Chicago's sub-500.
Oh, you're nuts.
Did you see their defense last season?
At the end, the last five, six games of the season, they had one of the best.
Yeah, did you want Caleb against any competition?
Caleb is going to...
I am so looking forward to next year, you eating these words.
But then I also don't want that to happen because we're going to lose every game to the Bears now because we've got to cover Keenan Allen and DJ Moore.
Chip, I love giving James heartburn on both ends.
I mean, this is just, you know, what is it?
As Lynn used to say, I get two licks at the sucker here.
I mean, this is...
That's right.
I mean, that's what happens when you're a Vikings fan.
I want to be right, but I also don't want to be right.
Like, I... J.J. McCarthy is the rising stud of the whole thing.
It's nuts.
Look, again, there's just some amazing picks here going on that I'm not sure I understand.
I'll tell you who...
Okay, while we're sort of out-guessing here, think about this.
I may have a different opinion.
I'm going to go back to our old buddy, Chan Gailey.
I think, given some stability, and I know I get laughed at, and I know that me well, given some stability, Baker Mayfield could actually turn out to be a decent quarterback.
He's proven that every time he's been given the stability.
I think, I mean, but everybody keeps writing him off.
I think you're right, Doug.
I'm with you.
Listen, when they said, oh, the Vikings might end up getting Baker Mayfield if Kirk leaves, I was like, you know what?
That's not the worst thing in the world.
When he had a little bit of shine in Cleveland, he took him to a playoff game.
And then this year with Tampa Bay, he was like, oh, I have one of the best receivers in the history of football.
I'm just going to throw to him almost on every play.
And guess what?
They went to the playoffs.
I'm with you.
Chan Gailey deserves it.
We should find a way to tweet.
Chan Gailey doesn't have Twitter.
What am I talking about?
We're going to get Chan on.
We're going to have Chan on.
We'll probably do it after the draft.
I'd love to see his reaction after the draft.
Oh, for sure.
I love it.
And have Chan on to talk about it.
As we go.
And also, I can't wait to also see if he's talked to Saban since Saban, you know, hit into retirement because he's become unleashed at this point.
As we go.
Hey, another quick question, Chip.
I've been wondering about this since we have the on the ground, our in-flight reporter there in Dallas.
Is it as quiet in the Dallas sports media about the Cowboys?
Is it basically as everywhere else?
I mean, what's being said?
It's anger.
Well, it might be.
Yeah, I can't wait to hear James' answer on that.
It's anger.
They are pissed.
That photo of Jerry Jones writing Scribble, that really got the media going here.
So, I don't know.
Again, I can't listen to the radio here because the people here are just delusional.
Oh, wow, like a Mets fan.
Yeah, I mean, we're not delusional.
We're in hell right now.
I think that's what that's called.
What are we, 0-5?
Way to start the season, boys.
But they're like, Jerry Jones said, I'm all in, and then didn't make a single move this offseason.
That was positive.
I think, what did they get?
Eric Hendricks?
Come on, man.
Well, not only did he say we're all in and, you know, we're going to make moves to make sure we're there.
I mean, he didn't make any coaching changes either.
And that was, you know, and I agree with that decision, by the way, but I don't think it made sense to fire Mike McCarthy just because he, you know, he carries around the same curse that the Cowboys have had for a long time, you know, probably inherited.
It's like the Auburn curse.
But, you know, that being said, I mean, nothing.
And you got the Texans out there making moves and I think it was Stephen A. Smith that said, you know, Dallas might be America's team, but Houston is Texas's team.
Oh, it is now.
Listen, Dallas will always be America's team because for some reason we're like, oh, Staubach was there in the 60s.
Let's stick to that.
But...
It's an absurd thing that Dallas has this...
I don't get the stranglehold that they have on America.
I get it in Dallas.
It's the same way.
I get the Mets and the Yankees having a stranglehold in New York, but they're not anywhere else.
Even as much as the Yankees fans are popular in other states...
It doesn't even hold a candle the way Dallas travels in America.
And it's like every kid that was born in the 80s saw Dallas play well and they're like, well, that's my team forever.
You're idiots.
All of you.
Oh, man.
I'm sorry.
Chip, he didn't even see the Steelers Cowboys in the 70s.
That's right.
When it was good and bad, I think that's where it actually came from was the 70s when you had the Staubach, Bradshaw, Swan, all that going on.
Sure.
It was fun.
There was a competition.
And then in the late 80s and early 90s, it was them and San Francisco.
It takes it out.
Hey, one of the other things we've got coming up this weekend is the Final Four on both men's and women's coming up.
We've had some UConn have some travel issues and now all the conspiracy.
We didn't mention this, but since I was going to say conspiracy theory, before we get going, this is Friday's Finest.
How many of y'all have been looking at social media on the apocalyptic eclipse stuff coming up?
I can't wait.
Is this like 1999 revisited here?
I mean, the preppers are out in force.
I'm a big fan of preppers.
They're psychopaths and I love them.
Okay, James.
Yeah, I haven't gotten into it, Doug, just because of the area of the country that we're in, right?
We're just going to get to see very little about it.
But, yeah, man, if I was on that line, or I think James is out there, you get to see it.
We got a whole sign outside by our house that says, show up to the event to see your eyes go black.
I'm all for it.
Hey, okay.
Now, one, it was really interesting the other day, and of course, from a theological background, again, let me just say, as...
A pastor is someone who studied this a little bit.
The scripture is pretty clear.
You're not going to know the day or time.
Okay, let's just put this in perspective here.
You know, there is coming a rapture.
For those of us who believe the rapture is coming, it's coming.
But it also said, quit worrying about it and keep living.
But it also said you're not going to know the day or time.
There'll be signs, but you're not going to know when it's coming.
I saw this on a person who did this, and I'll respect their, and if it happens, God bless them, they picked it.
But they took the swath from 2017 across the U.S., and there was like seven towns of Salem, which if you're in the biblical terms of peace, that it crossed over.
This one...
Hey, it's coming up this way and it crosses seven towns of Nineveh.
I'm just putting you out there.
Judgment.
Judgment.
Seven times, seven years, both ways.
I mean, and it just said, you know, he's coming sooner than you think.
Folks, if you're out there, let me just say this about the eclipse.
Go see James in Dallas and take your sunglasses and watch it and say, wow, this happens two and a half times every year on some part of the earth.
It's cool, but don't go heading to the Montana Hills and then say these three states determined that there was an emergency declaration and everything else.
And for those of you, you can leave Chip and James out of this.
Go to the DougCollinsPodcast.com, hit the email button, and just fill up my email basket from there.
That'll be fine.
But, you know, get a grip.
Get a grip.
All right, speaking of getting a grip, final four.
North Carolina State, Purdue, I think could be probably one of the best of the night, of the weekend.
Oh, for sure.
Zach Eadie versus D.J. Burns?
I've never looked at...
The big man is so back in every way, NBA and college.
I am so excited to watch these two go at it.
Zach Eadie is just a 7'4 monster, and DJ Burns is just all beef.
That kid just comes at you with everything.
He's got touch.
I can't wait to watch it.
Chip, what about Alabama making it?
Alabama's all upset because nobody's talking about it.
They said, oh, we're talking about our football team.
We made the Final Four.
Look, I mean, look, you got the two best teams in the country in the Final Four in Purdue and UConn, and then you've got a four seed and an 11 seed.
And, you know, the irony is the one versus 11 matchup between Purdue and North Carolina State has a smaller line than the one versus four matchup between UConn and Alabama.
Alabama's 11 and I have...
Yeah, I think that's more of a testament to UConn blowing people out than it is anything.
But let's talk about the run NC State's been.
Oh my God.
It's unbelievable.
They had to win their tournament to get in.
And they had to win five games in five days.
Were they on an eight-game or nine-game winning streak right now?
Nine-game winning streak.
It's insane.
I mean, so, you know, look, I think Purdue beats North Carolina State, but I wouldn't bet against North Carolina State because there's a lot of people that have lost a lot of money over the past.
Save it for Connecticut because they're going to turn Alabama inside out.
Yeah, this is where we'd input the clip from the hangover that says, when you're in Vegas, you're on a heater, you don't leave the heater.
And North Carolina State's on a heater right now.
The women's basketball, I mean, it's good to watch, if you like to watch women's basketball.
I think the storyline...
Is getting overblown with Buecher and with Kaitlin Clark.
I mean, it's fun to watch.
That's going to be an interesting game, the Iowa-Connecticut game.
Then you've got, of course, the other North Carolina State school we're not talking about here.
They've got both men and women in the Final Four.
That's the first time that's ever happened.
Against an unbeaten South Carolina team.
I think this is South Carolina.
I think South Carolina, it'll be closed.
All of these games will be relatively closed.
I think South Carolina comes out in the end.
I'm curious for y'all.
I don't care.
Iowa, UConn.
What do you think?
Chip, you can go first.
I'll go ahead.
Yeah, look, I... I mean, I think it's a coin flip, Doug.
And I know you're not supposed to say that on podcasts.
You better give it a take, Chip.
I'm trying to pick between the two, but I'm going to go out on a limb and I'll take UConn plus two and a half.
Because UConn's coming into this Final Four not like any Final Four on the women's side that they've ever been in.
How many Final Fours has UConn been in on the winner's side where they're not the biggest story?
And they're probably the third story behind an undefeated South Carolina team.
And, you know, and, you know, Kaitlin Clark in Iowa.
So I think that's a good spot for Gino Ariema.
I think he's relishing it.
And I think, you know, Iowa...
You know, it's tough to play two huge games.
I mean, what a big game they had to get up for for Angel Reese and LSU. So I'm taking Geno and the Huskies, and I think the Huskies play for a national title twice next week.
One in the men's bracket and one in the women's bracket.
I'm so excited for this.
I think people do forget that there was, and again, this is for basketball people because obviously women's, you know, it's...
It's only blown up, and I know this is the most horrible thing to say, but it's blown up since Kobe Bryant passed because he was forcing people to really get into it because of his kids and everything.
And I kind of, it stinks that he was almost like, I don't want to use the word martyr, but it's almost like his legend is keeping, has really put a stamp into there with Sabrina Ionescu.
But Paige Beckers was the talk of the town for basketball when she was getting recruited.
It was the same class as Caitlin Clark.
If Caleb Clark was not mentioned in that breath at the time, and now these two literal heavyweights in this sport are going to go at it, I hope it's...
Because I grew up when I watched basketball, my favorite thing was seeing two people go at each other.
I think that's what saved the NBA in the 80s, where it was literally bird and magic going at each other.
They had teammates, and we all know they're Hall of Famers, but it was the two guys going at it.
These two going at it right now are going to...
I'm very excited for it, honestly.
Can we take a moment, though, to talk about the numbers that the LSU game did?
12.3 million viewers.
That's more than everything in sports outside of the NFL. One NBA game last season had more views.
That's it.
One.
That's where we are right now, though.
It's a phenomenon.
To put it in perspective, you had also the game last week with Purdue and O'Fiddle.
Who did Purdue beat to get in the Final Four?
Oh, they beat Tennessee.
Yeah, that game actually had more eyeballs than the Iowa game.
Did it really?
Yes.
That's just worse for the other leagues.
I saw a tweet about it that said, NBA, if you don't think you have a problem, you have a problem.
Oh, they do because it's...
Listen, I love the sport to death, but...
Ever since the—I really believe that the All-Star Games are part of the problem.
It's like, do these guys really care about anything during the regular season?
They just don't.
It's clear they don't.
And it also is, you know, seven-game series.
People are waiting to see how they turn out.
Like, oh, well, if it's going to a sixth or seventh grade, maybe I'll watch.
But it's really not important to me until the finals if you're not a real big fan.
But, like, the world is watching the tournament.
The world is watching the women's tournament.
The world watches football because it's once a week.
That changes everything.
One game, one win, you're on.
Yep, I agree.
I agree.
Look, I think there's a lot going on right now.
I think the betting probably has helped.
I mean, and I'm...
Georgia, we're not even going to get into this.
Georgia somehow figured out a way to mess up sports betting here in Georgia another year.
You're not getting it yet?
No.
It didn't pass.
Unbelievable.
Didn't even get a vote.
Alright, Jeff, let's get our VPNs, put them out in New York.
It did in the Senate, it did not in the House.
Yeah, it did not in the House.
Is it a moral issue?
Yeah, it is.
Doug, you were a pastor, okay?
Yeah.
Like, you were a pastor, and there's no part of you that's like, well, that's it.
God's going to smite all these people.
I just, I don't get it.
Yeah, I mean, it's a big issue, but it become a very much of a moral issue among...
Here's an interesting thing.
Chip would appreciate this.
And for those of you who follow up on it, a year ago...
The bill came out of committee, unanimous out of committee in the House.
Okay?
I want you to think about that.
So there's a bigger committee.
It's regulated industries.
I bet there was one who had it anyway.
Came out unanimous.
Had both Republicans and Democrats.
All Republicans voted for it.
So it was like 18 Republicans voted for it.
Something like that.
They whipped the bill.
In other words, they did a whip count.
Who's going to vote for it if it comes to the floor?
They had 23 out of 106. Republicans.
On a blind, on a non-attributed, who would you vote for this bill?
Only 23 people said they'd vote for it.
So my conspiracy is there's a Georgia mafia that doesn't want to give up its reign of gambling.
And that's the only thing I can think of.
Because the amount of money that gambling is...
I mean, I don't know the numbers.
I could be wrong.
But as far as I know, everybody is doing it because it's making states money.
Am I wrong?
No, I think the number I said was 23. It was somewhere ridiculously low that they would never run to the floor.
But Chip, I think you and I both see that it's the way it spun.
And you have members of the House in Georgia and the Senate in Georgia.
You have to remember, these races, they're not paid, but it's a job that you have to want to do.
I did it.
I get it.
But if you get challenged from your If you're in a conservative rural area, there's two things that you frankly have trouble voting against.
That's teachers and gambling.
And it's just there.
I don't...
And this is personal.
Personal, personal.
I'm clarifying this when I say this.
I do not...
Have a biblical prohibition against this.
I don't find one.
I don't think you ought to be un-good stewards, but if you go, frankly, and you buy a $50,000 car and you're paying a car payment you can't pay, that's being un-steward.
That's not being good stewards of your resources either.
Okay?
I can get the alcohol part.
I get the...
And I'm not saying I get it.
They're all adamations from a moral, biblical perspective.
Gambling is one that's sort of I won't say amorphous, but they focus more on the outer edges of what happens with gambling.
You know, the mob scene or the addiction issues.
But you also never see these same people who vote against sports betting for addiction issues also make Georgia a dry state.
Right.
It's fugazi.
It's like you're lying to yourself when you're like, well, I'll allow alcohol, but I won't allow gambling.
Let's be real.
Yes, I know people have lost their house to gambling.
People die every day from alcohol.
Like, don't pretend it's not.
Other bad choices, too.
Yeah, yeah.
The point is, it's a choice for someone.
Yeah.
But anyway, we didn't get it, so we don't have to worry about it for another year.
So, you know.
Helps us out unless we have friends in other states, and so that's about it as we go.
Hey, as we get ready to go here, look, a couple of the quick things we've got going on.
You know, by the time we meet again, the eclipse will have happened, and if we're not here, then you won't hear us again on the Duck College.
Well, I might die.
You guys might be fine.
Yeah, I'll have the fine.
We'll see how it all works out as we go forward.
Also, just a real big concern just from an overall perspective.
Huge issue in the Middle East right now.
Iran is not happy about Israel taking out one of their, this is more of a serious topic here to end on, not happy about taking out one of their top leaders in Syria.
That could actually explode.
And again, this goes back to what we've talked about politically, Chip, you and I. These are issues that can affect elections in big ways.
So we got it up and a lot going on.
All right, final rounds.
We'll start with Texas.
James, what's your final?
My final is that you said something during the beginning that I have questions about.
Okay.
You said, what kind of eggs do you like?
What is this coming from?
There was a crazy article I ran across that said, you don't need to eat like a soft or an easy, over easy or other egg that has a running center because you might get AVM flu.
Who's the egg Nazi writing this thing?
Leave my eggs alone.
Yeah, look, I'm all for all eggs.
I'll eat eggs any day of the week, twice on Thursday.
Yeah, I'm good.
But yeah, that's where it came up.
That is so stupid.
All right, well, real quick, if I die from staring at the not sun, I'm sorry, I'll have to find a new producer.
Okay, well, just make sure you go get a welding glass or something and you'll be fine.
We'll get it.
Chip?
Parlay the number one seeds on Saturday in the men's tournament.
Purdue-UConn, one of them is going to be your national champion.
So parlay the money line on both of those.
And we'll watch a good game on Monday.
And when we come back next week, we'll talk about the championship, both on the men's side and the women's side.
Sounds like a winner.
All right, my last one is a funny one.
In South Georgia.
Yes, it's coming from South Georgia.
Down in Bainbridge, in the county of Decatur County, Georgia.
Decatur County Commission, it's not DeKalb County for those who might get interrupted there.
They are looking to put a 200 acre animal husbandry facility that will eventually house 30,000 monkeys.
I'm not making this up.
Why?
I don't know.
I guess to do medicine, to do other kinds of things that they're going to test them with.
That just sounds like the beginning of Planet of the Apes.
Yeah, there's only 14,000 people in Bainbridge, Georgia to start with, and they're looking at putting in 30,000 monkeys.
I wish we could make this up, but that's why we have Friday's Finest, so you can find out the best, the latest, and the strange here on the Doug Collins Podcast.
Glad to have you with us.
We'll see you again next time.
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