“This has to result in a change of hearts and attitudes. That’s how this is going to get solved… and the only way that’s going to happen is communication.” – Tony Dungy on improving social injustice

“I’ve talked to 25 coaches the past week. Everyone is on Zoom calls, talking to their team, having team meetings. The past three days, no one is discussing X’s and O’s, offseason programs.” – Dungy

“We’re at a point right now where we have to decide, as a country, what are we going to do? Are we going to truly be about change, or are we just going to offer lip service and make people feel comfortable until this happens again?” – Anquan Boldin

 “In many cities, you don’t necessarily have big business, so sports teams and universities are the business…Think about all the ancillary businesses that are absolutely dried up.” – NBC News Senior Business Correspondent Stephanie Ruhle on the financial impact of the sports void

STAMFORD, Conn. – June 4, 2020 – Mike Tirico hosted today’s episode of Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN and was joined remotely by:

• • NBC Football Night in America analyst Tony Dungy
  • PGA TOUR golfer Jim Furyk
  • Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith
  • Five-time NTT INDYCAR Series champion Scott Dixon
  • NBC News Senior Business correspondent Stephanie Ruhle

 

The Rich Eisen Show followed Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN, as host Rich Eisen was joined by:

• • Former NFL WR and co-founder of the Players Coalition Anquan Boldin
  • Sports Illustrated senior writer Chris Mannix

 

Following are highlights from Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN:

Tony Dungy on improving social injustice: “This has to result in a change of hearts and attitudes. That’s how this is going to get solved. It’s not going to get solved by protests, it’s not going to be solved by [saying], ‘We are going to win the streets back by dominating the streets and getting people back in order.’ This is going to be done by a change of hearts, and the only way that’s going to happen is communication — talk, listening and trying to see everyone’s point of view. How can we come together as a country and make this country better?”

Dungy on Drew Brees’ comments and apology: “We have to listen. One of the things I was struck by, that was the first time I heard the whole quote (by Brees), and all I heard for many hours was the first part, ‘I disagree with anyone who kneels for the National Anthem.’ So, hearing the whole thing, I feel differently by it. I am a friend of Drew Brees as well. I would love to have a conversation with Drew, and I think I will and explain to him why I see it as proper and I think a little differently when people kneel. But we have to be careful we don’t let this whole thing get going in another direction. Drew and I may disagree whether to kneel for the National Anthem or stand with my hand over my heart, but we agree on what has to change and we agree on what we have to do to make our country better. So, we can’t be afraid to say what is on our mind, we can’t be afraid to listen and disagree and have a civil conversation and move forward. Yes, Drew feels like he could’ve said it a lot differently. He did apologize for that and I respect that. As a Christian, I think that’s what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to accept apologies when they’re given from the heart and I believe this was from the heart…When I hear the whole comment, I would love to talk with Drew. Yes, I hear what you’re saying, now here’s what I feel when the National Anthem is played. Yes, I had relatives in the military, and I understand all of that, but this is not about the military, this is not about the flag. This is about something different and let’s have that discussion. We can do that, and we have to do that if we are going to get this situation solved.”

Dungy on athlete activism: “I absolutely do think they’re seen in a different light now. I’m old enough to remember Muhammad Ali in 1967, and when he did not step forward and go into service, he was vilified and many people thought that it was un-American. And then five years later or six years later after the war, he is looked at completely different. He became a hero for those of us standing for human rights. I think the same thing is happening with Colin Kaepernick, and not just Colin, but all the guys who were kneeling…We did some shows and talked to young men on why they were kneeling and what their purpose was, and it was beautiful. But now it is maybe being seen in a different light and maybe understood a little bit better. That is what we have to walk through.”

Dungy on a coach’s role during this time: “I’ve talked to 25 coaches the past week. Everyone is on Zoom calls, talking to their team, having team meetings. The past three days, no one is discussing X’s and O’s, offseason programs. This is what they’re talking about and it has to be this way. These coaches are saying, ‘Men, we have to stay together, we can’t let this fracture us.’ There are going to be different feelings, different ways of approaching this, but we are all on the same page. We want to see America better, want to see the cities we live in better and how can we, as a team, stay together, with different ideas and backgrounds, but the same goal? We want to win a Super Bowl on the field, and we want to make our city a better place to live off the field. How can we do it together? That’s what coaches have to emphasize.”

Dungy on the importance of coaches: “I think it is going to be absolutely critical for coaches to deal with this. Talent doesn’t win in the National Football League, unity and togetherness wins. If you’re not unified and you’re not together, you’re going to have a tough time functioning this year. If I’m a head coach right now, that is the first thing I am talking about with our players. How can we come together and be unified as we go forward? How can we have some action steps and goals in mind, but let’s not get fractured? Let’s be a group of young men wanting our country to be better.”

Dungy on team ownership roles: “I think that is so huge. That was one of my criticisms during this whole kneeling process that we had a couple years ago. I felt like…if I was still in the game, if I was still coaching, I would have asked our owner to come down and meet with our players. Let’s talk about what’s on their mind. Hey, if we don’t want them kneeling for the National Anthem, let’s not take that one and half minutes before the game, let’s give them a platform. I’ll give up 20 minutes of my press conference time. Will our owner facilitate that for our players and give them some time maybe on our local TV station to talk about what’s on their mind, why they are hurting and what suggestions they have? I think our ownership has to be involved and they have to become part of the solution.”

Dungy on how athletes can impact change in their cities: “So much of it is the emphasis that we put on it. I know in Tampa and Indianapolis, we had a number of guys who did awesome things out in the community and we covered some young men at different teams who were trying to be part of the solution and going and visiting police precincts and trying to pull team groups together and visit there and have the police come in and talk to these young people. There’s so many things that can be done, but just using that voice and that personality, I think we’re going to have a number of creative things that can be done, but it’s got to start in ways that we can change hearts and we can change attitudes. I can’t wait to see what our players are going to come up with. I think we’ll have some things that we’ll be really proud of.”

Stephanie Ruhle on social and economic injustice: “The protests sparked around George Floyd, but they’ve also exposed so much more that needs to be addressed. That’s around income, education and equality. It’s about the last 10 weeks, the entire country has been on lockdown and look at the jobs number. Another 1.8 million people today applied for unemployment, so that’s over 40 million people. When you dig into the numbers, it is disproportionately African Americans. Why? Because those people have lower-paying, service worker jobs. Between February and March, we saw one in five black women lose their jobs. This takes us back to opportunity, education opportunity. We have to start addressing these injustices because in the last couple of days we’ve seen a lot of influencers in the African American community speak out and so many of them are in sports. Our answer can’t be that the only influential blacks are in the sports world. CEOs in America are able to work right now because they can work from their home offices. We’ve got to address these income inequalities from the beginning because so much of this unrest is rooted in financial instability.”

Ruhle on the impact of sports on local economies: “In many cities, you don’t necessarily have big business, so sports teams and universities are the business…It’s not just the teams, owners and fans like us missing watching the games. Think about all the ancillary businesses that are absolutely dried up that we’re not even thinking of and they don’t come back until sports come back…We are in such a tender moment. A really sad part of this, connected to sports and restaurants, that’s what connects us. One of the few things where there is a sense of community is eating together, drinking together and sports together. Right now, we are losing all of that…Maybe all of this coming together, is an opportunity to start to solve this.”

Jim Furyk on how he has spent the pause in the PGA TOUR season: “For the first six weeks, no clubs. Everything went away. I putted a lot in the background, but no golf course. Our family decided to hunker down at home and the silver lining was great quality time…The past couple weeks, getting ready for Colonial (next weekend) I’ve been working hard and I do think we are a sport where you can socially distance…I was nervous about it, but it’s worked out so far.”

Furyk on the atmosphere and fans at the Ryder Cup: “I think it’s one of the things that separates that event from the rest in the entire world. The roars, the cheers, the home and away matches you don’t see anywhere else. The players just love that atmosphere…It would be sad to see it played without fans.”

Mike Smith on his 2018 Triple Crown: “It means I can die right now and be happy. It’s life-changing when you’re blessed enough to pull something like that off. Still to this day, it’s the most unbelievable feeling I’ve ever felt in my life.”

Smith on employees at the horse track: “They’ve always been the unsung heroes. Without them, the game couldn’t go on at all…We’re all a family and it’s brought us even closer together.”

Scott Dixon on Saturday’s 2020 NTT INDYCAR Series season opener on NBC at 8 p.m. ET: “I think it’s difficult for the teams and everybody in the industry, but what is normal right now? The biggest thing we have to focus on is that we’re extremely lucky to be back racing…Things will look a lot different, none of us have been on track since February or March. It’s a one-day in-and-out exercise. Short practice and qualifying straight into the race. It’s definitely going to be difficult for these rookies.”

Dixon on advice heading into Saturday’s race: “Texas is definitely its own beast. It’s high stakes and a high-bank oval. Being out of the car, I think there is a lot of built-up tension…Take your time. The race will take a while to play out, figure your car out, be aware of your surroundings.”

Following are highlights from The Rich Eisen Show on NBCSN:

Anquan Boldin on the past week: “I think I’m at a point now with what’s going on in our country of trying to pinpoint the problems that we’ve continued to come across time and time again in this country. Obviously, you have to be sleeping under a rock in order to not know what’s going on in our country right now, especially with that what happened with Mr. (George) Floyd, what happened with Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery recently. The thing that keeps coming back is how does this keep happening and how does it keep happening without accountability? And I think that’s the question that I’ve been looking at and trying to answer, and I think for so long we’ve missed the mark. We are talking about community policing, we’re talking about body cameras. We’re talking about all of these solutions and none of them hit the mark. You can do all of the community policing you want, and you have a situation — let’s just say you do community policing for 10 years and you have a situation like what happened in Minneapolis happen. All of the work that you’ve done and your department has done for the last 10 years with community policing goes out the window when there is no accountability for what’s happening. The reason I say that is because there’s a fight in this country that has to be had. A lot of people have avoided that fight and the fight that I’m talking about is qualified immunity. That’s the thing that nobody is talking about.”

Boldin on ‘qualified immunity’: “What I mean by that is there is language in, number one, the Supreme Court, and there is language in union contracts that allows for officers to not be held accountable. So, number one, in the Supreme Court — which is actually something that I think people are starting to look more into as of recently…One of the things that’s really jacked up is prosecutors, like attorneys — your state attorneys and your district attorneys — these prosecutors who have complete immunity. Meaning, no matter what they do, they’re not held accountable.”

Boldin on policing: “A lot of people don’t know that there are contracts between cities and the unions, the police unions, and there’s a lot of language in the contracts that allow for officers to go unpunished. Every contract has different language in it, but there’s two parts to those contracts. There’s one part that talks about the financing and there’s a second part that talks about the discipline and that’s where we as a nation have to start looking because what kind of system allows an officer with 18 prior complaints — two of them being shootings — to continue to be on the force?”

Boldin on how people can act to help: “I think there are a lot of actionable items because, unfortunately, we don’t have a justice system. We have a legal system, and legal systems are completely different than justice systems. So, when we’re talking about actionable items, I think one of the easiest things to do is, number one, to register people to vote, but also to educate people on why you’re voting, who you’re voting for, and what they stand behind…There are a lot of people on those ballots, a lot of people who you don’t hear anything about…Yes, you will have your  presidential elections, but your local elections are those people who will directly impact you on a daily basis and I would challenge people to not only find out who those people are, but find out what their job entails and find out what policies they stand behind.”

Boldin on the Players Coalition: “As the Players Coalition, we’re an entirely separate entity from the NFL. The Players Coalition is a player-led initiative that is fighting all the injustices in this country and we stand on four different pillars: education, economic advancement, criminal justice reform, and police-community relations. For us, those are the four places where we’ve placed our efforts trying to combat the injustices in this country.”

Boldin on the role sports can play in society: “I think sports could play a huge role…In order for that to happen, people have to be open and honest. I think a lot of times, we beat around the bush on certain subjects. We’re not completely honest about things that go on and then the conversation — I keep hearing people saying, ‘There’s a conversation that needs to be had.’ I don’t know if that’s the right way to say it because I think we all know what the problem is. So, it’s not so much of a conversation, and I’m at the point now where I’m kind of tired of talking and I’m more about putting action to what it is that we’re talking about.”

Boldin on if he’s interested in running for office: “No, not at all…For me, it’s about helping those that don’t have a voice and I know we say you can do that from office, but a lot of times when people get into office they seem to be handcuffed with what they can do…We have to shine a light on those things that are truly the problem, those people that are truly the problem, and I think until we do that and deal with the real issues…and unfortunately if we don’t, we’re going to be right back here again because you have to understand, this isn’t the first time this has happened. This isn’t the first time people in America have protested. This has gone on throughout our history, and people are outraged for quite some time and then it feels like everyone gets back to their normal way of doing things. I would hate for this moment to pass and there not be any type of change come about from it because we’re at a pivotal point in our country. Either we’re going to fight this, or we’re not. Either we’re against this, or we’re going to accept it. So, we’re at a point right now where we have to decide, as a country, what are we going to do? Are we going to truly be about change or are we just going to offer lip service and make people feel comfortable until this happens again?”

Boldin on Drew Brees’ comments: “If I were in that locker room, I would tell Drew, ‘Unfortunately, you have not been listening.’ From the moment players started kneeling, they had to repeatedly say it’s not about the National Anthem, it’s not about the flag, and players have told you why they are kneeling. I think every time somebody did an interview, they first started off by saying it’s not about the flag, it’s not about the flag, it’s not about the anthem. It’s about African American black men and women dying far too often at the hands of law enforcement. So, if you took what you just said from the conversations that we’ve been having over the last couple years, number one, you haven’t been listening at all to what your brothers in the locker room have been saying. You’re trying to tell a group of people how they should handle the injustices that have been happening to them since the beginning of this country. That’s disheartening, and it makes you wonder are you really about trying to bring about change, or do you just want things to be comfortable in the way that you do them?”

Chris Mannix on the NBA’s plan to return: “They have a got a format right now. I don’t think they have crossed all the hurdles yet. We still have to get the players on board, and I believe they are going to have a call tomorrow to discuss this format with the leadership committee.”

Mannix on the health and safety protocols of the NBA’s plan to return to play: “Health and safety protocols have to be negotiated directly with the union…the particulars, at least as of 20 minutes ago when I was texting with two general managers, are still unknown to a lot of people.”

–NBC SPORTS–

Today at Noon ET on NBCSN – Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico – Guests Include NBC Football Night in America Analyst Tony Dungy, PGA TOUR Golfer Jim Furyk, Hall of Fame Jockey Mike Smith, Five-Time NTT INDYCAR Series Champion Scott Dixon, and NBC News Senior Business Correspondent Stephanie Ruhle

Today at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN – The Rich Eisen Show – Guests Include Former NFL Wide Receiver and Co-Founder of Players Coalition Anquan Boldin and Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Chris Mannix

Today at 11 a.m. ET ON NBCSN – NBC Sports Football Flex Features Nos. 29 and 30 on Chris Simms’ Top 40 Quarterback Countdown

STAMFORD, Conn. – June 4, 2020 – NBC Football Night in America analyst Tony Dungy, 14-year NFL wide receiver and co-founder of the Players Coalition Anquan Boldin, PGA TOUR golfer Jim Furyk, INDYCAR driver Scott Dixon, and Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith highlight today’s guests across Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico and The Rich Eisen Show on NBCSN.

Today’s Lineup on NBCSN (7 a.m. – 4 p.m. ET):

7 a.m. – 9 a.m.	PFT Live (LIVE)
9 a.m. – 11 a.m.	PFT Live
11 a.m. – Noon	NBC Sports Football Flex
Noon – 1 p.m.	Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico (LIVE)
1 p.m. – 3 p.m.	The Rich Eisen Show (LIVE)
3 p.m. – 4 p.m.	Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico

 

Lunch Talk Live begins at Noon ET on NBCSN, with Dungy, Furyk, Dixon, Smith, and NBC News Senior Business correspondent Stephanie Ruhle joining Tirico on today’s episode.

The hour-long show airs weekdays at Noon ET on NBCSN, with an encore at 3 p.m. ET, and streams on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. Select content and interviews will additionally be hosted on NBC Sports’ YouTube channel and social media platforms. The full show will also be available on The Mike Tirico Podcast.

Today’s Lunch Talk Live guests, which feature dynamic and cross-sport pairings, include:

• • NBC Football Night in America analyst Tony Dungy
  • PGA TOUR golfer Jim Furyk
  • Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith
  • Five-time NTT INDYCAR Series champion Scott Dixon
  • NBC News Senior Business correspondent Stephanie Ruhle

 

The Rich Eisen Show, which will be presented live on NBCSN from Monday through Friday from 1-3 p.m. ET through June 12, follows Lunch Talk Live today at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Today’s guests on The Rich Eisen Show include:

• • Former NFL WR and co-founder of the Players Coalition Anquan Boldin
  • Sports Illustrated senior writer Chris Mannix

 

At 11 a.m. ET on NBCSN, NBC Sports Football Flex, a one-hour show showcasing the most topical news and analysis from NBC Sports’ digital football content, features Nos. 29 and 30 on Chris Simms’ list of the top 40 NFL quarterbacks.

“We are in the midst of the pain that comes in the process towards progress,” Michael Irvin told Eisen yesterday about the protests across the country.

Click here for more quotes from yesterday’s shows.

–NBC SPORTS–

“We are in the midst of the pain that comes in the process towards progress.” – Michael Irvin on protests across the country

“You have to think about the future. You can’t look at what’s happening now (in our country) and [be] thinking that it’s over. This is not the end, it’s a new beginning.” – Ed Reed

 “I’m excited to be the leader of this movement in our sport.” – Bubba Wallace on his role in NASCAR

STAMFORD, Conn. – June 3, 2020 – Mike Tirico hosted today’s episode of Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN and was joined remotely by:

• • NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace
  • Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott
  • Winnipeg Jets RW and captain Blake Wheeler
  • Navy football coach Ken Niumatalolo
  • INDYCAR driver and NBC Sports motorsports analyst James Hinchcliffe

 

The Rich Eisen Show followed Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN, as host Rich Eisen was joined by:

• • Pro Football Hall of Famer and NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin
  • Pro Football Hall of Famer Ed Reed
  • ESPN NBA Insider Brian Windhorst

 

Following are highlights from The Rich Eisen Show on NBCSN:

Michael Irvin on the past week: “It’s big for us as a country and as people, a hell of an emotional roller coaster. From coming off of three months of showing solidarity and common ground to beat this invisible devil that we call COVID-19, to smack right into this situation where after showing unity, now we are perceived to be fighting each other as a race, it’s just insane what we’ve been going through.”

Irvin on the protests and COVID-19: “I was amazed at everybody coming out, everybody speaking about how important it is that we do the right thing. And then I am equally amazed at the throwing away of the security or the fight in COVID-19 because…this is as great a threat to us as COVID-19. That’s why you see people in crowds like they are, in crowds now coming off three months of not being around anybody. You’re throwing all of that into the wind and that I feel good about that everybody is saying, ‘Wait a minute. This is dangerous.’ This right here, this racism, this kind of stuff coming from that place and headed towards that place — coming from the police towards African-Americans — is as dangerous as COVID-19 and we’re skirting everything to say enough is enough…We are in the midst of the pain that comes in the process towards progress. The ugly has to be shown and we’ve seen the ugly in the (Ahmaud) Arbery case with the Gregorys…We saw that man get shot just jogging and then we see the ugly with Derek Chauvin just sitting on this man’s neck…as he cries out for help. You see that kind of stuff and you say…‘Where are we as a country?’ But to see all these people come together, all these people come and say ‘enough is enough,’ it’s pain to see all of that, but that’s progress. That’s progress because now people are starting to hear what we as African Americans have been saying for quite a while.”

Irvin on what he wants people to know: “I want us to understand, yeah, we are in pain now, but there has been great progress and we are going to see more progress. Now, now, now things will start changing.”

Irvin on law enforcement in America: “We need law enforcement for our protection. What we do not need is black men being persecuted and executed…The police officers who do wrong is the systemic issue we have that perpetuates itself that we have to root out of this country. I apologize to all of the people out there who do the right thing that get sucked into the few people that are foul and do the wrong thing…We have to get to the issue that’s above the (police) officers.”

Irvin on Dak Prescott’s contract negotiations: “He has won a lot of football games over his first four years. So, to say he doesn’t deserve the money isn’t totally correct. He does deserve the money, that is the market and he is a starting, winning quarterback in this NFL. It’s just a matter of getting it done and they will get it done…And Dak will be, for a moment, the highest-paid quarterback before Patrick Mahomes gets his (money).”

Ed Reed on how to make progress as a society: “We have to have better communication. We have to address the elephant in the room as people…Everybody needs to speak on it. Everybody from all walks of life, all backgrounds, ethnicities, creeds…When you play sports, when you’re on a team with people from different walks of life, and you have to look after each other and count on each other, race and all that stuff goes out the window when you are in the locker room…When this world and country functions as a team does, and in order to win a championship and in order to be successful, you have to be on the same page.”

Reed on the current climate in America: “A lot on the mind as always…but I have a son, I have my nieces, my nephews. I have a bunch of kids that my foundation helps out. So, you have to think about the future. You can’t look at what’s happening now (in our country) and (be) thinking that it’s over. This is not the end, it’s a new beginning. Just thinking about these kids and their future.”

Brian Windhorst on current discussions around resuming the NBA season: “We’ve had a very long run of dark days, and this is a good moment. I don’t want to rain on that moment. The vote of owners tomorrow is not going to decide whether or not there is NBA basketball. I know that’s what it’s going to seem like. What is going to decide NBA basketball is if the virus continues to recede…I’m already sensing that people are forgetting the whole reason it is going on this way, and that is safety.”

Windhorst on training concerns surrounding players returning to play: “Everybody that you talk to in the NBA on the training side are worried about these players who went cold turkey or vastly reduced their normal workout loads and haven’t been able to play any five-on-five basketball. They all have said you have to have time to build back up.”

Windhorst on talks between the NBA and NBPA: “Adam Silver has kept (President of NBAPA Chris Paul and Executive Director of NBAPA Michele Roberts) alongside the entire way here. They’re not being surprised with any proposals…In fact, Michele Roberts is so confident in the working relationship with Adam Silver that she said she doesn’t even think they’ll take a vote. So the union, I believe and I don’t know for sure, as far as I know, the union will be willing to sign off.”

Windhorst on the proposed schedule: “This schedule is going to be unfair. There’s 13 teams in the West playing eight games. Guess what? Not everyone is going to play the same schedule. Zion Williamson is a made-for-TV player, he’s probably going to have to play more difficult games than the Phoenix Suns. There’s going to be an inherent unfairness and fans and teams are going to complain about it and they’re all going to be right, but they’re all going to have deal with it…My expectation is that there will be five or six games per day…I think you could have afternoon playoff basketball.”

Following are highlights from Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN:

Bubba Wallace, who will be the featured guest on a new episode of The Dale Jr. Download tonight at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN, on NASCAR’s restart and compacted schedule: “We kind of knew that NASCAR really wanted to push the initiative of being the first sport back, right? We knew that missing some of the races, we were going to have to really put in some crunch time and get after it to make up some races that we missed…Having a two month break and jumping straight into Darlington, it was like, ‘Ok, this was a gamechanger here.’ So, we made the best of it.”

Wallace on this past week and being the only African American driver in the Cup Series: “It’s been busy. It’s been a good busy. I feel proud to take on that role. A lot of people are like, ‘You shouldn’t have to feel forced to speak on this topic just because you’re the only one.’ I don’t feel forced. I feel I want to do it, I want to speak on it…This isn’t the first unarmed black man shooting that we’ve had. I’ve seen every single one of them. I’ve seen the videos and all the evidence and read all the news, and, for us, it was almost better to stay silent just because we represent sponsors, teams. It’s just, you don’t know what bridge you could cross the wrong way and end up potentially hurting your reputation and your career and so that’s always been the tough side of motorsports because you got to have the backing to keep you competitive and keep you going through. That all changed for me when I saw the Ahmaud Arbery video. I was really shaken to the core like I’ve never been before. I thought — I felt, I didn’t think — I felt inside of me to stand up for what’s right and to speak my mind and what goes on. Then we had Mr. George Floyd lose his life in the tragic deal there and it’s just been tough, to be honest with you, to decipher it all, to go through it all and try to process everything that’s going on and come up with the right messages…I don’t have the answers, no one does. No one has the answers to solve today’s problems, but…it’s all of us coming together to be one and come together as a community to help battle this issue that’s been going on for many years — it’s not something that has just come about,  it has been going on for hundreds and hundreds of years — to finally put an end to it. Like I said earlier, I’m excited to be the leader of this movement in our sport and I am encouraging, I reached out to drivers today about being more vocal and stepping up and helping deliver a message that our sport desperately needs.”

Wallace on fellow drivers’ response when he reaches out to them: “It’s tough, I get it. We’re a lot of white guys that drive in circles for a living, drive in ovals for a living, and don’t have these issues. They don’t go through it. So, I can understand if it’s tough for them to speak on a matter that doesn’t directly involve you, but I feel like it’s got to indirectly impact you enough to stand up for our community, for our sport, for our fans that don’t have it so easy, that go through discrimination each and every day. So, that’s the message that I’m trying to push across that it’s not about us. I’ve gone through my struggles with law enforcement and been discriminated against and I’ve been on the opposite end of, ‘Oh, you’re Bubba Wallace. Oh, we’ll let you go.’ And that’s not right either, but it helps out on the insurance stuff so I’m not paying for so many tickets, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about our neighbors, our brothers and sisters — the ones that never get off easy just because of their skin color and I feel like, and I keep saying this and I think it holds a lot of power, Mike, you don’t know everybody who follows you. I don’t know everybody who follows me. You don’t know what type of day they’re having. You don’t know if that one follower is going to wake up and carry a ton of hate and cause more mass destruction on a community, on a race or whatever. And also, you don’t know if there’s one person that follows you that deals with that discrimination, but the words that you say and that we say, could change their mindsets just by that. So, I think it’s better to not be silent and not try just because we’re afraid of saying the wrong thing and hurting people that are supporting us. It’s the people that are looking up to us for those words to help make change.”

Sean McDermott on addressing his team this week: “We wanted to approach it head on, so we addressed it Monday. We addressed it in our team meeting and our ownership came out with a statement a little bit later that afternoon. We just feel like communication and overcommunication is of the utmost importance in times like these. We also want to listen and make ourselves available to our players.”

McDermott on watching the George Floyd video: “Very disturbing, very disturbing video to say the least. Very disappointed. Overall ashamed, to be honest with you. There’s nothing more that I want than for our country to come together. We certainly have enough challenges in front of us in our world today, and so I’d love to see our country and our world come together as one, as one team, and really unify.”

McDermott on QB Josh Allen’s leadership and setting up workouts with teammates: “As we know, playing on the field and playing well on the field is important. A big piece of that position is the inherit understanding that that position is a leadership position as well. And so, Josh has taken a huge step this offseason…I think it’s also a great example, when you look at that picture, of, to me, what America should be about. Guys together, showing their love and support for one another and working together for a common purpose.”

McDermott on dealing with the virtual offseason and high expectations: “You don’t win games this time of year…What we’ve tried to do is create a culture where we understand that we’ve got to earn things. That’s no different from where we were three years ago when we first got here when people weren’t expecting a whole lot from us…Our players have done a really good job of embracing that mindset of having to earn everything.”

Ken Niumatalolo on moving the Navy-Notre Dame season opener from Ireland to Navy: “We’re excited to play here. They’re going to be the best team we play all year and it’s still going to be a really, really hard game for us, but we’re excited.”

Niumatalolo on speaking with his players this week: “We had a team meeting two days ago…and I’m on my 13^th season as a head football coach, and it was the best meeting that I’ve ever been involved with. Really it was just an open forum for my players to be able to talk. The majority of my team are black young men and being able to hear their opinion and what they thought, but also to hear some of our white players and players of other races speak. It was one of the most productive, best meetings I’ve ever been with…All I can say is wow. It’s just a super special meeting.”

Niumatalolo on what made the meeting great: “The honesty, the messaging. I think for our white players to hear our black players describe what it’s like for them and things that they had to endure growing up, it was eye-opening. These are guys that they know very well. They’re in the same locker room, they live together, but they still don’t know the things that they go through. Having one player explain that after the Trayvon Martin incident a few years ago, his parents had to teach him about not wearing a hoodie when you go into a store, don’t have your hands in your pockets, and I think just all of the other players, that’s foreign to them. It’s foreign to me as a father. I can’t imagine that those are the kinds of discussions that you have to have with your kids, but those are realities. So, I think those kinds of things and just the honesty. There’s a lot of emotion and a lot of hurt. It lasted about an hour and it was basically the players talking. The most productive, educational meeting I’ve ever been in.”

Niumatalolo on coaching at Navy: “I feel like I can have an influence on these young men, and they’re great young men…If I can have just a small piece in helping these young men go out and be better husbands, fathers, teach their children even on these kinds of cases, with racism, anything, just to help them be better people, I feel like I’ve been a successful coach more than winning games.”

Blake Wheeler, a Minnesota native and University of Minnesota alum, on Minneapolis: “It was pretty surreal, to be honest with you. To start off, just talking to my family…and hearing some of the things going on back home, it was almost like you couldn’t believe it. I think we’ve been really proud of the community back in Minneapolis for how they’ve come together to peacefully protest and it demonstrates, even after some of the destruction of the city, you’ve seen so many Minnesotans come out and help these local small businesses rebuild and clean up and kind of start to turn the page.”

Wheeler on speaking up on social media: “I think it was such a traumatic instance, and especially when it happens in your hometown. I sat there for, it seemed like a couple of days, with my wife and just wanted to say something and just not really knowing how to put these thoughts into words. It was the first time I ever had to do something like that and finally was able to kind of get out what I wanted to say. I think what pushed me over the edge a little bit was by not saying anything, by staying silent, you’re not helping. You’re not helping push things in the right direction and I believe the right direction is getting as many people to speak up as possible.”

Wheeler on the reaction to his post: “Through the people I know, there have been a lot of really positive responses and I think it’s been a lot of positives of, ‘I’m really happy you were able to say what you said. I feel the same way and I’m glad that you were able to say it and I want to speak up too.’ So, clearly, we live in a world where we’re not all going to agree on everything…but I truly believe on this particular issue we can all get behind this.”

Wheeler on the NHL’s potential return to play: “Our safety is at the top of the list and from what we’re hearing, there’s going to be a lot of testing and I think the players are good with that. We just want to make sure that we’re not taking these needed tests away from people that really need them.”

James Hinchcliffe on preparing for Saturday’s 2020 NTT INDYCAR Series season opener on NBC at 8 p.m. ET: “It’s going to an incredible challenge. You look at what the NASCAR guys have done, and they jumped straight into the race. They didn’t even get practice or qualifying…but they were coming off having started four or five races before that. We haven’t raced since September…I haven’t actually been in an IndyCar since that last race at Laguna back in September, so there’s definitely going to be some dust to be blown off.”

Hinchcliffe on his three-race deal with Andretti Autosport for this season: “It certainly stacks some challenges…Even with everything closed down during the pandemic, I didn’t get the opportunity to sort of get immersed in the team…So, we’re doing a bit of a crash course…I went in and sat in my car for the first time on Friday, so just about a week out from actually racing would be the first time I ever actually slid in it, but it’s a great group.”

Hinchcliffe on returning to racing on Saturday at the Genesys 300 from Texas Motor Speedway: “We’re all professionals, we’re all in the same boat…Ultimately everyone knows it’s a place you have to respect. As long as you respect the track and respect each other, hopefully we can get through that, get through Lap 1 and then put on a good show.”

Hinchcliffe on the rescheduled Indy 500 in August: “We definitely thought about how hot it’s going to be. It’s the first place your head goes…We’re obviously hopeful that we’ll be able to share that experience with some fans because it is such a special event.”

–NBC SPORTS–

Today at Noon ET on NBCSN – Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico – Guests Include Buffalo Bills Head Coach Sean McDermott, NASCAR Driver Bubba Wallace, Winnipeg Jets Right Wing Blake Wheeler, Navy Football Coach Ken Niumatalolo, and INDYCAR Driver & NBC Sports Motorsports Commentator James Hinchcliffe

Today at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN – The Rich Eisen Show – Guests Include Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin, Pro Football Hall of Famer Ed Reed, and ESPN NBA Insider Brian Windhorst

Today at 11 a.m. ET ON NBCSN – NBC Sports Football Flex Features Nos. 31 and 32 on Chris Simms’ Top 40 Quarterback Countdown

STAMFORD, Conn. – June 3, 2020 – Pro Football Hall of Famer and NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin, Pro Football Hall of Famer Ed Reed, Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott, NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, Winnipeg Jets right wing Blake Wheeler, and Navy football coach Ken Niumatalolo highlight today’s guests across Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico and The Rich Eisen Show on NBCSN.

Today’s Lineup on NBCSN (7 a.m. – 4 p.m. ET):

7 a.m. – 9 a.m.	PFT Live (LIVE)
9 a.m. – 11 a.m.	PFT Live
11 a.m. – Noon	NBC Sports Football Flex
Noon – 1 p.m.	Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico (LIVE)
1 p.m. – 3 p.m.	The Rich Eisen Show (LIVE)
3 p.m. – 4 p.m.	Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico

 

Lunch Talk Live begins at Noon ET on NBCSN, with McDermott, Wallace, Niumatalolo, Wheeler, and INDYCAR driver and NBC Sports motorsports analyst James Hinchcliffe joining Tirico on today’s episode.

The hour-long show airs weekdays at Noon ET on NBCSN, with an encore at 3 p.m. ET, and streams on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. Select content and interviews will additionally be hosted on NBC Sports’ YouTube channel and social media platforms. The full show will also be available on The Mike Tirico Podcast.

Today’s Lunch Talk Live guests, which feature dynamic and cross-sport pairings, include:

• • Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott
  • NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace
  • Winnipeg Jets RW and captain Blake Wheeler
  • Navy football coach Ken Niumatalolo
  • INDYCAR driver and NBC Sports motorsports analyst James Hinchcliffe

 

The Rich Eisen Show, which will be presented live on NBCSN from Monday through Friday from 1-3 p.m. ET through June 12, follows Lunch Talk Live today at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Today’s guests on The Rich Eisen Show include:

• • Pro Football Hall of Famer and NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin
  • Pro Football Hall of Famer Ed Reed
  • ESPN NBA Insider Brian Windhorst

 

At 11 a.m. ET on NBCSN, NBC Sports Football Flex, a one-hour show showcasing the most topical news and analysis from NBC Sports’ digital football content, features Nos. 31 and 32 on Chris Simms’ list of the top 40 NFL quarterbacks.

“Be calm, speak the truth and…we have to reach out to all our fellow citizens and make friends with people who don’t look like you. If we can do that, we are going to turn this around,” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told Eisen yesterday about his advice to today’s athletes.

Click here for more quotes from yesterday’s shows.

–NBC SPORTS–

“Be calm, speak the truth and…we have to reach out to all our fellow citizens and make friends with people who don’t look like you. If we can do that, we are going to turn this around.” – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on advice to today’s athletes

“We can’t have silence and we can’t have violence. We’ve got to find a way to get to the middle.” – Vanderbilt football coach & former NFL WR Derek Mason on protests

“(He’s) just a guy that doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. So I just hated that I was on the bad end of a rare mistake from him.” – Chase Elliott on his altercation with Kyle Busch at Darlington

“This is the best possible scenario, I think, for the Belmont Stakes…We should have a very strong field.” – NBC Sports horse racing analyst Randy Moss on the shortened Belmont Stakes

STAMFORD, Conn. – June 2, 2020 – Mike Tirico hosted today’s episode of Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN and was joined remotely by:

• • NASCAR driver Chase Elliott
  • Vanderbilt head coach and former NFL wide receiver Derek Mason
  • NBC Sports horse racing analyst Randy Moss
  • NBC Sports Bay Area Warriors Insider Monte Poole
  • NBC Sports’ Ahmed Fareed

 

The Rich Eisen Show followed Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN, as host Rich Eisen was joined by:

• • Basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

 

Following are highlights from The Rich Eisen Show on NBCSN:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on his thoughts waking up this morning: “It is kind of like I am caught between hope and history. I hope that our nation is going to make the changes it needed to make to realize its place and what it means and how important it is that we uphold what the founding fathers actually talked about. What Mr. Jefferson wrote in the Declaration, that all men are created equal, we got to make that a reality. I think the events of the past week or so have really shown through all of America how much that is not a fact. We have to fix that. We have to fix it.”

Abdul-Jabbar on advice he would give to today’s athletes about speaking up: “Be calm, speak the truth and…we have to reach out to all our fellow citizens and make friends with people who don’t look like you. If we can do that, we are going to turn this around.”

Abdul-Jabbar on his experiences with race issues growing up: “I remember the very first time I became aware of it. I was 17 years old, and a young man named James Powell was killed by a police officer named Thomas Gilligan. Harlem erupted into a riot and I could have got shot. Being out on the street was dangerous. It hasn’t changed any, it is the same exact issue. Colin Kaepernick tried very hard to demonstrate peacefully about this very issue and what happened? He was ostracized, he lost his job, he was blackballed. This is the issue he was trying to talk about. It seems that the powers that be did not like him bringing it up.”

Abdul-Jabbar on his Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times: “Just that people have to listen. The criminal justice system is tainted with racism from top to bottom. It discriminates and it makes people suffer and that has to end. It has to end. We have to find a way to make criminal cops accountable…The overwhelming majority of cops are good cops and they suffer too when bad cops do what they do. We need to find some means to hold bad cops accountable and keep them from destroying everything they destroy — families, our trust in the law. They squander all the good deeds of all the good cops. Something needs to be done about that.”

Abdul-Jabbar on how we come together: “We come together every day. In our nation, especially in the cities in our nation, people of incredibly varied backgrounds come together and work together and continue to make this the greatest nation in the world. That’s what America is about, and we got to keep that happening. We can’t let bias and discrimination make a mess of it. We can’t do that. We have to find a way to cope.”

Abdul-Jabbar on voting and being equal under the law: “The whole idea of promoting voting and making the vote available, making it possible to vote, I think is part of what our democracy is about and too many, especially in red states, they are trying to cut this back claiming that there is voter fraud, still voter fraud. Voter fraud is not a problem in our country, unless the Russians are meddling in our elections. We have to make the idea of one man, one vote and everybody equal under the law, we have to make those two things a reality. I am hoping that people can hear that.”

Abdul-Jabbar on his thoughts on the 15th Amendment: “Just consider all the efforts to keep black people from voting. In the reconstruction of the south, any black people who tried to vote were dealt with violence. That is a tradition, that is an American tradition. Black people voting in all elections without harassment is a very recent phenomenon and sometimes that phenomenon seems to fade into the wind.”

Following are highlights from Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN:

Derek Mason on George Floyd and the current protests across the country: “I think right now, as we sit in this country, I think we are at a point now where there’s got to be conversation as to where we want to go. Here’s what I know: I know a young man was on the ground, trying to ask for help. I believe he did everything right and at the end of the day, he loses his life. That’s the story for a lot of young people across the country. Men of color have really had to sort of figure out exactly how to feel right now and that’s a tough thing. I just gave one man’s perspective and my perspective is this — we can’t have silence and we can’t have violence. We’ve got to find a way to get to the middle. A lot of times violence comes when anger has gotten to the boiling point and we’ve reached a flash point, and right now, we’ve got a flash point in America.”

Mason on his own experiences and having difficult conversations: “I remember being 16 years old and my step-father, who’s a military man…he gave me a lanyard to put around my neck and that lanyard was to put my driver’s license and my registration so that if I ever got pulled over, I never had to reach suddenly across or I didn’t make a movement that was misconstrued as being a quick sudden movement whereas to cause attention to me. It’s those conversations that I think our counterparts and people who we love and people that we share locker rooms with and even share cubicles with, a lot of times don’t understand. That’s been in the life a lot of young black men in America and I can say this much, at the heart of any issue is a heart issue, and right now, this is a heart issue. We’ve got to look at the morality of where we sit today because again, a young man did everything right and found himself in a position where he lost his life. I think that’s where we sit. Right now, I have players that want to know, ‘Coach, what do I do and what happens?’ We’ve got to be able to speak to their fears and anxieties, but also we got to be able to talk about empathy and compassion because if we don’t empathize or we don’t understand — and I’m talking about counterparts — if we don’t empathize and understand, then there’s never going to be an opportunity for us to sit together…and at least listen to a solid conversation about what we can do to get it right. Because right now, it’s totally broken and it’s totally wrong.”

Mason on college coaches speaking to their players: “We have to have transparent and legit conversations. We also have to be able to acknowledge what these young men are going through…I think the idea is that there better be an opportunity for you to understand what these young men are going through, because if we don’t, what we’re going to see even within our own locker rooms — which is a place where I think we can fix a lot. Our locker rooms do what society can’t do, ok? You have people that come from different places all the time, different value systems, different experiences, and what they learn how to do is listen to one another. That’s where I believe coaches can have one of the largest impacts on what’s going on right now…The locker room is a place where it’s not about things that divide us. It’s about things that unite us and for us to sit and listen to each other’s stories and understand one another. It’s how we can really start to bridge the gap because you got to touch one person before you can touch two. So, we got to find a way to get this right.”

Mason on the George Floyd video: “It’s not just color. I think right is right and wrong is wrong, and I think so many people saw this (video) that I think there’s an opportunity here. If we can get past the silence and the violence and find ourselves getting to the middle, the conversation can be real.”

Chase Elliott on his altercation with Kyle Busch at Darlington on May 20: “We’ve talked on a couple of occasions and we’ve run a couple of races since then. I get it, people make mistakes…I think my frustration with him at the time was one, we were going for a win so that is always frustrating, and two, he’s just a guy that doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. So, I just hated that I was on the bad end of a rare mistake from him. We’re fine.”

Elliott on his family background in racing: “I feel like there’s certainly been pros and cons with it over the years. I’m thankful for my family heritage in it because I’m not sure that I would have ever found racing had that not been the case. When you grow up around something like that and you have that type of vantage point as I did as a kid, you gain an appreciation and you gain a respect from an angle that a lot of people don’t get to see.”

Elliott on how NASCAR drivers feel about the condensed schedule: “Honestly, I feel like everybody has really enjoyed it. I think it’s been a lot of fun and I think, I don’t want to speak for everybody, but certainly for myself, it reminds me a lot of my short track racing days and just the simplicity of that and I think that’s something NASCAR has really been missing for a long time now…I think we’ve been lucky to have this opportunity to try new things and I think we’d be making a mistake not to carry some of these things forward.”

Ahmed Fareed on MLB negotiations: “For a lot of reasons, this was going to be most difficult for baseball. One, because the players’ union and MLB have had a contentious relationship throughout, even when times were good…But I do think they’ve been handed the toughest situation of all the leagues, too — how to complete an entire season from beginning to end.”

Fareed on the length of the MLB season: “To get to 100 games, even to get to 82 games, I think they have to hammer something out within the next week.”

Fareed on the historic implications of shortening the MLB season: “I think even the truest baseball fan, the diehard, the traditionalist out there, realizes that 2020 is completely different. We will probably never see anything like this again, we hope that’s the case, and so to have any baseball at all, you’re going to have to bend what you think is reasonable or expected. If we do that and we play 50 or 60 games, that’s going to be pretty exciting…I would legitimately think that any of the 30 teams could potentially get to be a playoff team.”

Monte Poole on the role of athletes in society: “You look at our country’s history, at least the last century or so, so many of the civil rights…progressions have been related to sports…I think it’s important for (today’s athletes) to know that they do have a platform, that people do pay attention to what they say if they say it intelligently. Many athletes are starting to say things that I think are good to hear for society. We’re watching things unfold on a daily basis, hourly basis, that tell us right now it’s a tipping point, and to hear the voice of well-known athletes who do have that platform, I think it’s needed and I think it spans all races and all ethnicities. It’s an important time in America’s history to take a stand and decide what our future is going to look like.”

Poole on the NBA’s potential return in Orlando: “None of the potential options that I’ve seen include all 30 teams. It’s all 20 teams or 22 teams, teams that are either sitting on a playoff berth or in position for a playoff berth — sort of a play-in tournament and I think that’s what has the momentum right now. I suspect that they will begin to play basketball without fans sometime late next month…I think we already have come to the conclusion that the 2020-21 season is going to start way late this year, probably around Christmas Day.”

Randy Moss on living in Minnesota: “It’s very distressing and, no matter where you live, I would think it’s almost impossible to see that George Floyd video and not feel some sense of outrage…Here, I think the violence has abated — or at least it did last night — and as of yesterday, the community maybe is beginning to heal. There’s been about $2.5 million in donations to rebuild or restore or repair some of those businesses that were damaged. So, hopefully here in Minneapolis and everywhere, we can come out of this and hopefully on the other side, hopefully we’ll be able to say that George Floyd didn’t die in vain.”

Moss on the horse racing industry operating during the pandemic: “While racetracks are able to operate, the major racetracks are making far less money than they would be making ordinarily. But they’re making enough money that even if they had to cut the purses, the show can go on and they’re giving the owners the revenue to feed and take care of these horses.”

Moss on the shortened Belmont Stakes, which will air on NBC on June 20, as the first Triple Crown race: “This is the best possible scenario, I think, for the Belmont Stakes. A mile and a half didn’t really make any sense to run as the first leg of the Triple Crown because a lot of these horses haven’t been racing. They’ve been inactive and it wouldn’t be fair to the horses to ask them to run a mile and a half, and if they tried to ask them to run a mile and a half, a lot of trainers wouldn’t even run their best horses. It would be a much-diminished running of the Belmont Stakes…We should have a very strong field.”

Moss on the Triple Crown: “Is there going to be an asterisk if a horse sweeps the Triple Crown and the Belmont Stakes is a mile and an eighth instead of a mile and a half? Yes. To be honest with you, yes. But it still would be quite an accomplishment for any horse that’s able to beat the best of their generation at a mile and an eighth around one turn, and then in the Kentucky Derby and then on the first Saturday in October at the Preakness.”

–NBC SPORTS–

Today at Noon ET on NBCSN – Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico – Guests Include NASCAR Driver Chase Elliott, Vanderbilt Football Coach & Former NFL WR Derek Mason, NBC Sports Horse Racing Analyst Randy Moss, NBC Sports Bay Area Warriors Insider Monte Poole, and NBC Sports’ Ahmed Fareed

Today at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN – The Rich Eisen Show – Guests Include Basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Pro Football Hall of Famer Ed Reed

Today at 11 a.m. ET ON NBCSN – NBC Sports Football Flex Features Mike Florio’s Interview with Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Pace

STAMFORD, Conn. – June 2, 2020 – Basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Pro Football Hall of Famer Ed Reed, NASCAR driver Chase Elliott, and Vanderbilt head coach and former NFL wide receiver Derek Mason highlight today’s guests across Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico and The Rich Eisen Show on NBCSN.

Today’s Lineup on NBCSN (7 a.m. – 4 p.m. ET):

7 a.m. – 9 a.m.	PFT Live (LIVE)
9 a.m. – 11 a.m.	PFT Live
11 a.m. – Noon	NBC Sports Football Flex
Noon – 1 p.m.	Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico (LIVE)
1 p.m. – 3 p.m.	The Rich Eisen Show (LIVE)
3 p.m. – 4 p.m.	Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico

 

Lunch Talk Live begins at Noon ET on NBCSN, with Elliott, Mason, NBC Sports horse racing analyst Randy Moss, NBC Sports Bay Area Warriors Insider Monte Poole, and NBC Sports’ Ahmed Fareed joining Tirico on today’s episode.

The hour-long show airs weekdays at Noon ET on NBCSN, with an encore at 3 p.m. ET, and streams on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. Select content and interviews will additionally be hosted on NBC Sports’ YouTube channel and social media platforms. The full show will also be available on The Mike Tirico Podcast.

Today’s Lunch Talk Live guests, which feature dynamic and cross-sport pairings, include:

• • NASCAR driver Chase Elliott
  • Vanderbilt head coach and former NFL wide receiver Derek Mason
  • NBC Sports horse racing analyst Randy Moss
  • NBC Sports Bay Area Warriors Insider Monte Poole
  • NBC Sports’ Ahmed Fareed

 

The Rich Eisen Show, which will be presented live on NBCSN from Monday through Friday from 1-3 p.m. ET through June 12, follows Lunch Talk Live today at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Today’s guests on The Rich Eisen Show include:

• • Basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
  • Pro Football Hall of Famer Ed Reed

 

At 11 a.m. ET on NBCSN, NBC Sports Football Flex, a one-hour show showcasing the most topical news and analysis from NBC Sports’ digital football content, features Mike Florio’s interview with Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace.

“The biggest challenge, in my opinion, is open and honest communication. You have to talk to people, you can’t hide. You have to be visible and show empathy,” Basketball Hall of Famer and former Detroit Mayor Dave Bing told Tirico yesterday about challenges facing today’s city mayors.

Click here for more quotes from yesterday’s shows.

–NBC SPORTS–

 “The biggest challenge, in my opinion, is open and honest communication. You have to talk to people, you can’t hide. You have to be visible and show empathy.” – Basketball Hall of Famer and former Detroit Mayor Dave Bing on challenges facing city mayors

“One thing if you look at our country in the past, sport has been the bonding and pulling together of our country.” – Pistons coach Dwane Casey on the importance of sports

“We are lucky enough to work in a business where diversity is prevalent. Not everybody has that and it’s important to have conversations with your organizations, friends, groups of people you may not know much about and have those tough conversations.” – Timberwolves coach Ryan Saunders

“I’m hoping that both sides actually stop thinking about their own good and start thinking about the fans…Let’s not be selfish about it, let’s think about the fans.” – Pedro Martinez on negotiations surrounding MLB’s potential season

STAMFORD, Conn. – June 1, 2020 – Mike Tirico hosted today’s episode of Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN and was joined remotely by:

• • Basketball Hall of Famer and former Mayor of Detroit Dave Bing
  • Baseball Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez and his wife Carolina Martinez, who runs the Pedro Martinez Foundation
  • Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey
  • Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Ryan Saunders
  • NBC Sports motorsports commentator Kyle Petty

 

Following are highlights from Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN:

Dave Bing on the Detroit riots in 1967-68 and how that compares to today: “You have to wonder what has changed? Racism is just an ugly thing that if any one of us had the ability to eradicate it, I’m sure we would in a moment. What I saw in Detroit in ’67 and ’68 was even after all of the disturbance of the burning, looting, shooting, and fighting. We had a professional baseball team called the Detroit Tigers that really pulled our city back together because they were in the midst of the World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals. I’ll never forget how important sports was to bring people together. What I’m saying now, with no sports, I’m not sure what’s going to bring us back together.”

Bing on race issues in America: “The politicians that we listen to, the leaders in our different communities that we listen to…nobody seems to have an answer. The answer has to be (that) we have to get rid of this hate. The race issue is here and has been here for a long time. We have to face it dead on.”

Bing on if we have made improvements on issue of race in America: “I think it depends on the persons in the conversation. In sports, we all have one goal in mind (and) that’s a team winning. We talked about it quite a bit. The general population seems to be afraid to talk about race. If we don’t talk about it once again and talk about the impact it has, especially on people of color, we’ll never be able to solve the problem. So, it starts with conversation, but has to end with action.”

Bing, a former Detroit mayor, on the challenge of mayors to inspire a city in crisis: “The biggest challenge, in my opinion, is open and honest communication. You have to talk to people, you can’t hide. You have to be visible and show empathy. You have to understand what people are going through across your whole city. People learn to trust you in terms of what you do and don’t do…You have to respect people from an intellectual standpoint by telling them the truth, telling them what is, and telling them your plan is on a going forward basis.”

Bing on advice he would give protesters who want to voice their opinion: “I think you have to respect their First Amendment right, they have the right to protest. You would hope they would protest peacefully. What happened in Detroit and what’s happening in so many of our major cities now — the burning and looting — makes things worse because when all of this is over and all the damage that has been done on a fiscal standpoint has to be dealt with.”

Ryan Saunders, a Minnesota native, on the current situation in Minneapolis: “Obviously with George Floyd’s murder, it’s senseless and that’s what Minnesota feels right now. This is a community I grew up in and I’ve known this community, it’s a special group the way they can come together. We’ve seen a lot of bad and hard moments in this last week here. It’s a trying time for so many, but unfortunately, for a lot of people that don’t look like me, have to have these types of emotions on a daily basis.”

Saunders on his statement regarding George Floyd: “We are lucky enough to work in a business where diversity is prevalent. Not everybody has that and it’s important to have conversations with your organizations, friends, groups of people you may not know much about and have those tough conversations. That was kind of my reasoning for speaking out and I think we have to stand up in what is right.”

Saunders on conversations with his players: “We have done some larger Zoom sessions with our group and I’ve tried to reach out in the right way, whenever the right time looks like. A lot of these guys have experienced some of these daily trials and battles — one player had told me when he’s on a run, he puts his cellphone on his arm as opposed to his waistband because he doesn’t want people to mistake it for something else. That just struck me and it’s hard to hear because I’ve never had to feel that way…I’m able to walk out my home right now and go for a run and where my cellphone wherever I like to. I want to make sure I bring up as best as I can and listen to become more educated about everything.”

Dwane Casey on speaking with players about police relations: “With players, we talk about being smart when getting pulled over and making sure you are respectful. Once you are pulled over in a police situation, you are not in control, they are in control. Accept that, be respectful, ask questions, but be respectful because you don’t know if you get that bad policeman in that situation.”

Casey on how to change the perception of police officers in America: “Every city I have worked in, there have been racial issues. I tell people all the time, wherever you go, racism is in some form there. As far as an action plan, I reached out to the chief of police in Detroit to try to combine the police league and the Pistons Academy — bringing together policemen and kids in the community to try to build that bond, relationship, understanding, and the communication for young kids. I think one thing that will help in all departments is to get together with policemen in their training phase and not wait until 10-15 years. Let’s start building those relationships with policemen to understand who they are and, once they go through the technique and policy part of those programs, I think that will help build relationships down the road.”

Casey on how sports can bring people together: “I think sports, whether baseball or hockey, no matter what the sport is, there’s a common denominator and feeling of, ‘I know you and you know me.’ No matter what color you are, we are working together with one goal…One thing if you look at our country in the past, sport has been the bonding and pulling together of our country. That’s why I think it’s important for baseball to get started and the remainder of our (NBA) season to get started, to give people that common bond, something to pull for, be that glue to bring together our society, and get things back to normal. Again, a lot of people are hurting and it’s not going to go away quick.”

Pedro Martinez on his foundation’s COVID-19 relief efforts in the Dominican Republic: “We knew once the pandemic actually hit the country, that somehow we needed to chip in to help the less fortunate people…What we did was create a group of more than 40 players and started raising money to buy meals and medical protection for the nurses and doctors to try to beat the pandemic a little bit easier.”

Carolina Martinez on the Pedro Martinez Foundation’s COVID-19 relief efforts: “Honestly, it has been a blessing for us to be able to stand up for our country…This past week has been even more impactful for us because we were able to visit really remote areas of the Dominican…and it was amazing to see how the people react when they see somebody coming with food or they see somebody coming with masks. The fact that we can sit here and be a voice for them…for me and Pedro, has been our most gratifying experience with the foundation.”

Pedro Martinez on MLB’s potential return: “I’m hoping that both sides actually stop thinking about their own good and start thinking about the fans. I think this is the perfect time to have their baseball teams out there to help forget a little bit about what is going on…I hope that the players’ association and MLB realize how important it is to bring some sort of relief to the people.”

Pedro Martinez on the negotiations and importance of fans: “The economics, which is the dark part of baseball — the business part of baseball, it is dirty, it’s dark — and I hope that they take into consideration who pays our salary, what the people do for us, how important the people are…and at least bend your arm a little bit to try to find a middle ground for the negotiations. Let’s not be selfish about it, let’s think about the fans.”

Kyle Petty on Brad Keselowski’s win at Bristol Motor Speedway yesterday following a late crash: “(Keselowski and his crew) made a decision with 40 laps to go to change left side tires and that put them in a position to run back through the field to be in a position in case something happens…That’s the one good thing about when you run a Cup race. If you’re not good enough to win, you can put yourself in position in case something happens to capitalize on it.”

Petty on Keselowski winning two of the past three races: “Winning breeds winning. Winning is a habit and no matter how you get there, once you get there, it becomes a good habit, a great habit. These guys have put themselves in position the past couple of weeks.”

Petty on NASCAR’s return to racing: “The sport has represented itself well on the racetrack. We have had some solid races, some good races. Bristol was a great race…I think they have done everything right, checked the box on everything, and I think NASCAR made huge strides and put more eyeballs on our sport…I think that’s been important for the future growth of the sport.”

–NBC SPORTS–

Today at Noon ET on NBCSN – Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico – Guests Include Baseball Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez & Carolina Martinez, Basketball Hall of Famer Dave Bing, Detroit Pistons Head Coach Dwane Casey, Minnesota Timberwolves Head Coach Ryan Saunders and NBC Sports’ Kyle Petty

Today at 11 a.m. ET ON NBCSN – NBC Sports Football Flex Features Chris Simms’ Top 40 Quarterback Countdown, Including Jarrett Stidham at No. 35

STAMFORD, Conn. – June 1, 2020 – Baseball Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, Basketball Hall of Famer and former Mayor of Detroit Dave Bing, Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey, Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Ryan Saunders, and NBC Sports motorsports commentator Kyle Petty highlight today’s guests on Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico on NBCSN. Due to the situation in Los Angeles, The Rich Eisen Show will not air today. It is expected to return tomorrow.

Today’s Lineup on NBCSN (7 a.m. – 4 p.m. ET):

7 a.m. – 9 a.m.	PFT Live (LIVE)
9 a.m. – 11 a.m.	PFT Live
11 a.m. – Noon	NBC Sports Football Flex
Noon – 1 p.m.	Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico (LIVE)
1 p.m. – 3 p.m.	PFT Live
3 p.m. – 4 p.m.	Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico

 

Lunch Talk Live begins at Noon ET on NBCSN, with Martinez and his wife Carolina Martinez, Bing, Casey, Saunders, and Petty joining Tirico on today’s episode.

The hour-long show airs weekdays at Noon ET on NBCSN, with an encore at 3 p.m. ET, and streams on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. Select content and interviews will additionally be hosted on NBC Sports’ YouTube channel and social media platforms. The full show will also be available on The Mike Tirico Podcast.

Today’s Lunch Talk Live guests, which feature dynamic and cross-sport pairings, include:

• • Baseball Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez and his wife Carolina Martinez, who runs the Pedro Martinez Foundation
  • Basketball Hall of Famer and former Mayor of Detroit Dave Bing
  • Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey
  • Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Ryan Saunders
  • NBC Sports motorsports commentator Kyle Petty

 

An encore presentation of this morning’s PFT Live with Mike Florio and Chris Simms will air at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN following Lunch Talk Live today.

At 11 a.m. ET on NBCSN, NBC Sports Football Flex, a one-hour show showcasing the most topical news and analysis from NBC Sports’ digital football content, features Chris Simms’ countdown of the top 40 NFL quarterbacks, including Patriots QB Jarrett Stidham at No. 35. Click here for more information on Simms’ countdown.

 

–NBC SPORTS–

Tony Dungy Speaks with Mike Tirico About the Situation in Minnesota

 “I’ve probably actually physically met 20 of them. There’s probably 70 guys I’ve never actually shaken their hand or said hello to.” – First-year Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule on meeting his team

“In the bottom, the relegation situation, that’s really where we’re going to show you some television gold.” – NBC Sports’ Rebecca Lowe on Premier League’s return

“The game is getting harder to officiate. The players are getting faster and it’s a tough game to officiate…Give them a tool to get the major calls right.” – Mike Pereira on advantages of a potential Sky Judge

STAMFORD, Conn. – May 29, 2020 – Mike Tirico hosted today’s episode of Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN and was joined remotely by:

• • NBC Football Night in America analyst Tony Dungy
  • Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule
  • Philadelphia Flyers left wing James van Riemsdyk
  • Former motocross racer and Motorsports Hall of Famer Ricky Carmichael
  • NBC Sports’ Rebecca Lowe

 

The Rich Eisen Show followed Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN, as host Rich Eisen was joined by:

• • FOX Sports NFL Rules analyst & former NFL official Mike Pereira
  • The Athletic’s David Aldridge
  • Actor Mike O’Malley from TNT’s “Snowpiercer”

 

Following are Tony Dungy’s comments to Mike Tirico on Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN about the situation in Minnesota:

Tony Dungy, a University of Minnesota alum and Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator from 1992-95, on the situation in Minnesota: “It’s tough. My heart is just breaking right now. I spent eight years there — four years as a student, four years as an assistant coach with the Vikings. My brother still lives in the Twin Cities area and it’s just hard to watch this. You see people who are frustrated, they’re upset. Maybe not handling things in the best way, but they’re very frustrated and they’ve seen this kind of cycle. We’ve got to do something to not only give them hope, but to restore love and respect to everybody and that’s what I’m praying for.”

Dungy on protesting: “I remember when Dr. King got killed. You walk outside and you’re just, ‘Boy, I can’t believe this.’ And then you go back inside, and you watch TV and you see all the places all around the country with similar type things here — burning, looting, just frustration. Anger coming out. I guess what I come back to, just a couple of years ago on the show, we had a lot of young men from the NFL who were protesting peacefully, and they were taking a knee during the National Anthem. The thought then was, ‘Hey, let’s hear from people. Let’s find out what’s going on.’ And I don’t think we treated it that way and so now you get this. Well, how can we react? How can we respond? That didn’t work and you’re seeing anger come out. Anger is not the way to solve things, it really isn’t.”

Dungy on if having access to video inflames these situations a lot quicker than in the past: “It definitely does. You can see it almost instantaneously. You see the visual picture, you don’t have to have somebody describe it to you…It’s hurtful to explain to my young boys this is wrong. But in the words of my dad, what are we going to do to make this situation better? How can we help?”

Dungy on protesting and police relations: “There are people who feel like the only way I can help is to show my anger and frustration, and that is part of it. We have to have these voices heard, but we also have to do it in a respectful way. We have to show love to everybody and figure out how we can move forward. I have friends on the police force here in Tampa, my uncle was the Assistant Chief of Police in Detroit, Michigan in those ‘60s…‘60s and ‘70s, a rough time. So, I know we can’t point a finger at every single policeman. We can’t just blanketly say the police department does this, police do that. We have to look at individual cases and we have to figure out a way that we can get some response and some satisfaction to the families of George Floyd and to the people who are saying, ‘No one hears our voice.’”

Dungy on how to protest in a peaceful and effective manner: “That’s what really hurts. I’m very familiar with that neighborhood in South Minneapolis and driven by there hundreds of times. There’s a lot of minority community leaders, there’s minority businesses, and to see that area just get taken down like this, it’s very sad. So, how do you get your voice heard? How do you express your feelings? How do you come up with solutions and do it in a way that moves forward? That’s the frustrating thing, but that’s what we have to come up with. That’s what people, I think, have to understand. My dad used to tell me all the time, ‘What are you going to do to make it better?’ You go back to those 1972 and ’75 (seasons) and I’m in college playing against Warren Moon. I’m leading the Big 10 in passing, Warren’s leading the Pac-10 in passing and neither one of us gets drafted. What are you going to do to make the situation better? Well, I chose to go to the NFL and see if I could make a career and become a coach. Warren went to the Canadian league and showed people that he was good enough to play and came back and had a Hall of Fame career. So, I think you have to look at different ways to strike out and do it in a positive way. Make a difference, have your voice heard. It does get frustrating, there’s no question about it, but frustration can’t be the driving emotion.”

Dungy on the role of sports and athletes in times of crises involving race: “I think we do have a responsibility. I know when I came to the Steelers, Mr. Rooney, our owner, he talked about not just playing for the Steelers, but being part of the community. Being part of the community means stepping up at times when we need. Yes, it means community service, but sometimes it can be speaking up and saying, ‘You know what people, we need to stay calm. We need to stay peaceful.’ Leadership — we need to listen to these voices. I saw a tweet from Zach Ertz, I saw one from Carson Wentz, I’ve seen one from J.J. Watt. Guys saying, ‘Hey, we have a voice.’ And that’s awesome. You applaud that. That’s what these guys, to me, were doing. We did a piece on Kenny Stills and Mike Thomas in Miami, and they were responding to something that happened in Minneapolis. Kenny Stills has ties to Minneapolis. Philando Castile was shot by a police officer four years ago and that was part of what they wanted to get across and that’s what they told us on our show, ‘Hey, we need to be a voice for those who may not have as strong a voice as we do.’ I think that’s very appropriate for our sports figures.”

Dungy on if sports do a good job of bridging a racial gap in 2020: “I think it absolutely does because you have communication. You have guys sitting in the same locker room and, unfortunately you can’t do that now because of this pandemic, but it would be very, very awesome to have guys in the locker room discussing this situation now. What can we do? How can we as a 53-man group help make the situation better. If the Minnesota Vikings were right there in Minneapolis right now, it would be some awesome discussion between those leaders. In a sports locker room, you can have that back and forth together with mutual respect and that’s what I think we need.”

Dungy on advise to coaches: “Definitely come together, definitely address it. Hear every voice and try not to react with emotion and anger, but react with the thought going forward — how can we build respect in our country? How can we build respect for one another and go forward? How can we make things better?”

Following are additional highlights from Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN:

Matt Rhule on Panthers owner David Tepper: “I think he’s just a difference maker in terms of the way he thinks. Weekly, if not daily, he’ll call me with a question, as we go through these difficult times, of something else to think about. I’d like to think I have contingency plans. Well, he always puts something in front of me to make me say, ‘I better think about that.’”

Rhule on meeting his new team: “I think of the 90 guys we have on the team, I’ve probably actually physically met 20 of them. There’s probably 70 guys I’ve never actually shaken their hand or said hello to.”

Rhule on making the transition from college to the NFL: “When you’re in college, you’re in control of everything, and when you come to the National Football League, you’re not. You’re not in charge of how everything works…At the college level, you can get away with being a tyrant or saying, ‘Hey, just do it because I said so.’…I really saw the impact of personal relationships…I think that will serve me really well here at this level.”

Rhule on turning the Panthers around: “The hardest jump is to go from good to great. Going from bad to good is not quite as difficult.”

Rebecca Lowe on new Premier League schedule: “They are extending Saturday and Sunday so that will be a rather long day in the studio, but it’s exciting …All you have to do is sit there. We’ve basically got you covered for the months of June and July.”

Lowe on what to watch for upon the PL’s return: “Liverpool to win the trophy after thirty years plus one hundred days, which is actually the time from the last game to the first game in this pandemic break…(I’m) also interested in Sheffield United, who are newly promoted, sitting there in seventh position and an unbelievable season they have had so far. How high can they finish? And then look below Sheffield United, Tottenham and Arsenal are at 41 and 40 points, who should be much higher up. And in the bottom, the relegation situation, that’s really where we’re going to show you some television gold.”

James van Riemsdyk on this year’s NHL playoff format: “I think in the past, we’ve kind of liked the re-seeding model a little bit better than the pure bracketed style, but I think we’re still trying to sort through what we think is best for this situation.”

van Riemsdyk on advantages of round robin formatting for the top seeds: “Look at a team like Boston, for example. They had such a great regular season to date, and we want to make sure that they’re…placed properly and acknowledge the season that they’ve had so far.”

van Riemsdyk on his comfort level returning to the ice: “You realize how again, everyone is prioritizing the safety aspect…Nothing that we do will come at the expense of that. So, just knowing that that’s our thought process, I think it makes me comfortable.”

Ricky Carmichael on the athletes competing in Supercross: “These guys are incredible athletes. Power-to-weight ratio and what these guys are able to sustain — the heartrates, the cardio, mentally…and the risk involved…Someone who is able to tune into the broadcast, they will see…these fine riders and what they’re able to do on a 230-pound motorcycle is absolutely incredible.”

Carmichael on becoming a racing analyst: “I just want to be able to share my experiences with the viewers and give some insight on the broadcast of what these guys are going through. I kind of act as if I have my helmet on and what I would do in certain circumstances and try to relate that to the general fan watching or someone who has never watched.”

Following are highlights from The Rich Eisen Show on NBCSN:

Mike Pereira on the difference between withdrawing a proposal and tabling a proposal for the fourth-and-15 rule: “If it’s withdrawn, it can’t be brought up until next year and is basically dead. If it’s tabled, they will have to look at a few more things. I think they brought up some good points…such as giving teams more opportunity to get the ball back if they are behind.”

Pereira on the tabled fourth-and-15 rule: “There’s too many unknowns about the thing. I get worrisome of what would be a fix? You could look at a fix, at maximum, it could take you to the 40-yard line and couldn’t go beyond that. That’s unrealistic to shut down a play midstream because you make it beyond the 40-yard line. To me, the Sky Judge proposal is more important, but it’s getting less discussion as we go forward.”

Pereira on the advantages of having a Sky Judge: “The game is getting harder to officiate. The players are getting faster and it’s a tough game to officiate. Who gets all the criticism? The officials. Give them a tool to get the major calls right…Let’s just hand them a different aid so their overall performance improves.”

Pereira on the NFL removing last season’s pass interference replay rule: “It’s simple, there is no way to make a judgement call like replay and attach two different standards to it. You want to call it one way on the field, but if it gets challenged or reviewed, you call it a different way in replay. It probably could have worked if you used the same standard.”

David Aldridge on prioritizing the importance of sports: “It’s very difficult for me to be all about sports with everything that is going on in our country. We all are understanding that sports are important to people. I want sports and the games to come back because it will help a lot of people, but I know there are people not thinking about that right now. I would like people to know that entertainment and distraction is not what everybody has in the front of their consciousness.”

Aldridge on the status of the NBA’s return to play: “I think the NBA union is much better in terms of cooperation with the league than the baseball union is. That just seems to be spiraling out of control in baseball. For basketball, there’s a joint committee coming up with scenarios…They aren’t anywhere near finished yet, but they are working together.”

Aldridge on potential site for NBA playoffs: “The union has signed off on Orlando being the site for the playoff tournament.”

Aldridge on how the NBA players union is helping team owners: “Basketball players put money in escrow for the owners in case the season would be cancelled for whatever reason. So, the owners have some financial certainty on the losses for this year.”

Aldridge on the potential site of an NBA Finals: “I think right now, there has been talk of Houston being a possibility. (Disney Executive Chairman and former CEO) Bob Iger has been pushing very hard for Orlando and Disney World. I think most players and their agents are pointing in the direction of Orlando.”

Aldridge on what he learned watching “The Last Dance”: “I can’t say I learned anything…That’s because I’m old and was there for most of it. There are things you forget, like Dennis Rodman going to Vegas during the season. It just re-emphasized to me the phenomenal job Phil Jackson did coaching for those three years because it could have gone off the rails 100 times.”

Mike O’Malley, a Patriots fan, on Tom Brady: “Of course, I’ll root for Tom Brady in Tampa. Tom Brady has brought New England fans and, in fact, NFL fans, so much joy in terms of how he performed. I know a lot of people don’t like him because he won a lot of Super Bowls and beat their teams. As someone that rooted for the Patriots growing up, he has brought so much joy to our family.”

O’Malley on Rob Gronkowski reuniting with Tom Brady in Tampa: “I think Rob Gronkowski was not thinking about going back and playing and I really think he was retiring. I would like to talk to him and find out what the inside story was.”

–NBC SPORTS–