Well, look, oh, I like that. Um, obviously we've got the 65 game rule where you have
to play at least 65 games to be eligible for these awards. I'm not taking, uh, so far
everybody's play, you know, on they still got enough games. None of those, these guys have
missed 18 to where, so I'm not projecting like , oh, they're not gonna make it. So I'm going
with guys that once you're, once you missed it , you're off the ballot. alright, at number 5.
Jalen Brown, nice. I don't know if people thought he'd be higher. He's having a
phenomenal year, career high in points, rebounds, assists, uh, 2nd seeded in the East,
4th seed overall as far as 4th best record in the league. Great season, um, great
two-way player, could be. Maybe first has a shot I guess at first team all NBA and
so, uh, congrats to Jalen, and he can move up again if some guys are eliminated because of
the games. All right, at number 4, and this, this was the battle who, which one do I take
Cade? Do I take Jalen? I went with Cade ahead of Jalen because when you watch them, not
obviously Jay Jaylen. And is the superstar for the Celtics, but you watch Detroit, everything
runs through Cade because he's really their only guy that can consistently create his own
offense. They don't even have like a Peyton Pritchard type guy that can create some stuff.
So Cade is doing it all. He's a phenomenal defender. I was talking to a Hall of Famer this
week who said. Cade Cunningham reminds him whether you agree with this or not, of
around our test with point guard skills. So he's talking about his toughness, his strength,
his defense, all that. I, he's not as good as a defender as our test, but he's big and strong,
yeah. So the Hall of Famer that you're talking to, basketball Hall of Famer, yes. But famous
enough that you don't want to mention who it is. Yes, very famous. What? Heck yeah. You
think you know who it is? I don't know who it was, but you wouldn't just be like, you know
what, I actually talked to no, no, no, somebody like, oh, that's, that's nice. Oh wow,
you talked to him. He's a big name. He also doesn't want to air out. What might have been
the most confusing player comp I've ever heard . Look, so he's like on our test. If our test
played differently and if Cade were better at defense, I'm like, huh? All right, number 3,
number 3 was a battle. I thought about making him number 2. I knew you would. You thought I
was going to. No, I, I predicted this, OK. I went with Wimby at 3, you know, it speaks for,
so he's gonna be Defensive Player of the Year if he makes the 65 games, leading the league in
blocks for the 3rd straight year. Uh, obviously got it offensively as well. So Wimby
at number 3 for them to jump from 34 wins to right now the number 2 seed, what 1 loss behind
OKC. If OKC loses tonight against Denver, then Spurs would be technically number 1 because
they have the tiebreaker with, uh, OKC. All right, at number 2, this is it. I got Shay. I
got Shay. All right, now, Shay, a lot of people have him number 1, have him as the front
runner to win the MVP. He is, Nick, right now on pace to become just the 5th
player ever to average 30 or more points in 4 straight years. Can you name the other
4? What a question. Thank you for asking me. Uh, Michael Jordan, obviously.
Wilt. I do not believe Kareem did it. No. I do not believe Iverson did
it. No, Durant didn't do it. Oh man, this is unfair, brew, but I like it
so much. Um, I'm going to say the 3 years without Shaq and the next year, Kobe.
Oh, I lost, I lost. Oscar. OK, yeah. And this one you probably wouldn't have gotten.
Adrian Danley. Adrian Dantley, big score in Utah. I was gonna say him next. All right, so
look, SGA right now, SGA is the, the odds on favorite right now, but I got
yoked. I, I mean, here's the deal. First of all, he's on pace to become the
only player ever. To lead the league in assists per game and rebounds per game,
that's a historical, I mean, that's a phenomenal like accomplishment. You just don't
see that combination ever. Uh, and, oh, and he's also averaging 29 points on
58% shooting, 41%, I believe, from 3, and 83% from
the free throw line. I have to imagine the only guys, the only guy who's ever
led the league, led the league in assists and led the league in rebounds in their career is
Wilt. Well, Wilt, yes, Wilt actually the year he, he. He led the league one year in total
assists, but Oscar Robertson was assists per game. Like it was a good, like what was at 8.6,
I think. Oscar was 9.7, and yeah, but he led the league in rebounding that. How do you know
that I'm just an encyclopedia when it comes to boots. Uh, uh, here's the other thing though,
and, and this is the thing. Look, I threw out the rebounds and assists. That's historic, but
check this graphic out. He is on pace, Jokic. To have the highest PER
player efficiency rating ever for a single season, that's the top five. So nobody's ever
hit 33. He's at 34+ right now. Now look, big
men get the advantage because of the rebounds, but because he gets so many assists, that's why
he's always high. Jordan has the 8th highest ever. He's the only guard in the top 10. LeBron
has the 9th highest ever. He's the only forward in the top 10. So again, centers get an
advantage, but that's incredible. Like, so I, I, I just think, Nick, it's hard to deny those
historic numbers for him, and that's why I got him ahead of Shaq. Uh, Vikings just watched a
QB that that walk win the Super Bowl. Sam Darnold, 14 wins, 4300 yards, nothing to shake
a stick at. Next thing you know, guy's he's covered in confetti. Um, so they're meanwhile
they're trying to still address their QB situations. Uh, here's what Kevin Siefert wrote.
Vikings EVP Rob Brzezinski today on their QB options. I don't know that we're ruling
anything out. We have not a ton of time, but we have a couple of weeks, so we're exploring
every option that could be out there. It's casting a wide net, I guess I would say. Do you
think that wide net includes Aaron Rodgers? I don't know that it does, but it should. They
are the one team in the NFL that I think should go after Aaron Rodgers. Just, oh, that's
they're the only one. I, I can't think of another place that fits like Pittsburgh. It's
time to move on, you know, and think of one when you're done. Hey, I, I wanna hear cause I
looked at this is the one I think fits because of this reason. They're built to win now.
Everywhere else on that roster, they're built to win now. You got Brian Flores and a good
defense that I think would be even better than it was last year if they were competitive, you
know what I mean, if they felt good about their offense and so on and so forth. Obviously
you got great receivers. Addison is a good #2, not to mention Justin Jefferson at #1. TJ
Hawkins and tight end, like they are ready to win now. The fact that they won 9 games last
year was abysmal in that division with abysmal quarterback play and JJ McCarthy, look.
Some will say it was stunt his, but he, it would not hurt him to sit under the feet of,
at the feet of Aaron Rodgers and learn for another year. Rodgers sat 3 years. This would
be the 3rd year for JJ McCarthy. Now, it would probably Kill that, you know, him getting this
huge contract initially, but that's not the, the focus for him right now. The focus is just
proving you're a starting caliber quarterback. Fos is staying in the league, yeah, so you sit
behind, you learn under Rodgers, you sit for a year, and then maybe a year from now you can be
the guy, um, and look, I don't, you guys know how I, I've talked about Rodgers' struggles in
the NFC title games and I kind of feel like there's a cap. Obviously won the Super Bowl
early in his career. I don't think they win the get to the Super Bowl, but I think they
could get to the playoffs and have a good year . And I think the owner is looking for a, look,
we need some W's, and Kevin O'Connell is a great coach, shouldn't be on the hot seat or
anything, but he needs to have some W's too. So I just think this. would be they're a team
that if you just Nick make the playoffs, win or lose a playoff game, that's a good team
and you also want Justin Jefferson to keep him happy, yes, because he's a good guy. He's not
at some point he may say something he'd be within his rights, but you wanna keep him happy
and help him put up some numbers. So I, I agree with a lot of what you said and in part
before I get to my surprise Rodgers team. I just, here's the full list of quarterbacks who
either are available or could be available, and what you're gonna see is, man,
it is slim pickings. So Daniel Jones, we believe is just gonna stay with the Colts, but
he is a free agent and he's not helping Achilles, right? Malik Willis is gonna be
expensive. And then you're down after that, it's a lot of oof, the old guys
post Achilles, Rodgers and Cousins, Kyler, who you're gonna have to trade for, and he, he has
a contract. I, I think Kyler, I, I think Kyler might actually have just enough trade value
where he doesn't get cut. They get like a 5th round pick for him. Mac Jones, you'd have to
give up a. They don't want to trade him. No, but if somebody offered the 35th pick, yeah,
because Mac has the opposite situation of Kyler, which is it's such a good contract, you
know what I mean? People would might want to, and then you're Geno Tua, Anthony Richardson,
we're gonna talk about in a minute, and then guys who I think are just backups in Jimmy G
and Fields. So they. If you don't have a starting quarterback and you don't get Malik
Willis, and you're not drafting Fernando Mendoza, Aaron Rodgers might be just your best
option. So you might have a lot of options. With that said, Uh, what
is, what have I said Patrick Mahomes is gonna be doing this offseason? Oh, he's gonna be
dancing at Travis Kelsey's wedding. And then what is he gonna be doing? In week one starting
week one, I didn't know. I thought you're talking about the weddings. No, no, cornhole.
They have like a fun stuff. I have, I have said that repeatedly. I have not reported that.
It's just what I believe is going to happen. I think there are worse options for Aaron than
if, if we find out in the offseason, listen, the Chiefs are targeting week 4 for what it
takes, what a take for him. I love for him to be like, hey. Yo, you
This is a, this is a really kind of cool end note, where you can't end on a down
note. You're, you, you're there with a team that can win the Super Bowl. You are the
stabilizing force the first few weeks of the year, and then you're in the background. I
think there's, I, I, because I think you, but what I love that. I mean, you love it because
he's Mr. Chief and he's saying the Chiefs, but I don't think that makes sense. Like if I'm
Rodgers, why do I wanna be a backup? Well, the thing is, it's, I totally agree you don't wanna
be just a backup, but if it's like. What's the good comp for this? It's like,
um, Alec Baldwin and Glengarry Glenn Ross. I have, I have like a very small defined
role where I am the star for 15 minutes. I am, you know, I'm the, but that remember that team
wasn't strong last year. So those 1st 4 games, he could go 1 and 30 and 4. So listen, you
would have to be, I, I believe last year for the Chiefs was an aberration. If you think, no,
they're just now not gonna be a good team, then that's an awful job, you know what I mean?
Not without Mahomes. I don't, I like, you think he would play well enough. He's not
mobile. He's gonna be getting rid of that ball quickly. I think that being. The starting,
again, I think Patrick's gonna start week one, to be clear. But if Rodgers is still unsigned
and we're into the offseason, it's like, OK, Patrick's target date is October 1st or
whatever. I think that is a really cool potential in, I think it is a
potentially a better story for the end of his career. Than going 9 and 8 in Pittsburgh again,
I think that's, I love it. If it's a Vikings story, I feel like from the list of
quarterbacks you put up, it's Kirk Cousins. If it's an Aaron Rodgers Rodgers, yes, I just
think that he has the jersey it's like I have the jersey. A lot of it's just, but what are
you gonna do with now? You, you're right, you will put up numbers and Justin Jefferson would,
but you're not, I don't know that Roger Cousins much better than Cousins right now. No,
I agree with that. I'm just saying the feeling around that team, if Kirk Cousins is there, I
don't think. The feeling is he's gonna lead us to the Super Bowl with Rodgers, even though I
don't think he'll lead him to the Super Bowl. I think they would look at it like, I don't
know. Oh, this is Justin Jefferson. Like, oh, let me pull up my stat sheet with your cousin,
but, but what about playoff wins? I love your theory on Rodgers, but the reverse, obviously.
Well, that's the at the end. So that's the other thing that I end of the season Philip
Rivers where if you're Rodgers, you could wait until August and see like if the, if the Chiefs
thing happens, the, and if not, yeah, that's what I'm saying, wait until and see if somebody
goes down. The risk there is being the risk is . Unintentional
retirement. Meaning the like that, the teams that are viable contenders, their quarterbacks
stay healthy. And then it's like, oh man, I was ready. I was ready to step in for a Colts
Daniel Jones situation. It didn't happen. And now what do I do down? Say it again. Bo Nix
goes down, but you can't bank on no AFC championship game like you signed Aaron
Rodgers, the right, the Philip Rivers situation something in the world. Pillow will
win for validation, vindication for Alex Pelo. He has
won the Indianapolis 500. It is Indy 500 champion Alex
Bau, who has brought his wreath. Good to see you, champion. Good to see you too. No, I don't
wanna try your gross milk. Watch this. It's not because there's a lot I think.
I thought I, I just said it. Your champion Alex Pelo,
his 10 Honda and Gadasi Racing. Alex Pelo celebrated with the Astra Cup for winning the
season. He did come in 2nd to Joseph Newgar, who I'm just saying I'm saying. Thank you, sir.
I don't like that introduction, but, uh, thank you. Alex, always a pleasure. We'll see you
when the season starts. Joining us now is friend of the show, IndyCar champ,
Indy 500 champ, Alex Blow. Alex is preparing for the start of the new
season in Saint Petersburg. Thank you as always, Alex, for making time out of your busy
day to join us. Absolutely, I, I can never say no, guys, er, it's great to be back here,
um, it's also great to, to get the season started finally and uh yeah, we're ready to go.
So, Alex, last year, we talked about how there was one only thing to check off your
list, winning the Indy 500. You are already a 3-time champ, back to back champ. You then won
the Indy 500, you won your 3rd straight championship, you won half of the races on the
season. How is it realistic, if at all possible to duplicate, much
less to excel past that this season? It's tough to,
to replicate, man. I, I think 2025 for us was magical. It was one of those seasons where I
had the best car, I had the best team, I had a lot of confidence in myself with the car. Uh,
we got lucky when we had to get lucky and uh we were able to execute perfectly. So although
I would love to repeat and I would love to get another 500 and then another championship and 8
wins, I know that it's, it's pretty tough to do. So we're working towards that, like we, we
prepared this offseason as like if we had a terrible year in 2025, we just know that
everybody's working hard to catch us, so. Um, yeah, we're excited, we're excited to get
started again. I'm, I'm excited to try and see what we can bring in 2026, but at the same time
I know matching 2025 will be tough when you've accomplished so much, Alex, like, do
you draw on anything for motivation? Michael Jordan used to famously kinda make up slights,
you know, that would get him motivated. Do you do anything like that or is it just in you like.
I, I wanna be the GOAT. I wanna win every race , or, or do you have to look for something else?
Uh, look, what I really like about, uh, racing and motor sport, it's just, uh, spending time
on track, working with my mechanics, my engineers, uh, my team, and trying to, uh, be
the best that day. For me today was, uh, I was super motivated, not for the end goal of, uh,
winning the championship or on Sunday. It was about today and just trying to be the fastest
we could, um, so I don't really have like a, uh, an end goal honestly. I, I think we need to
give 100%. Uh, every day to try and win as many races as possible, um, and I just love
working with cars, so, um, yeah, I don't know. I, I just hope that I can continue to do this
for a long time and keep on fighting for wins, championships, and 500s, but I don't really
have something that motivates me. It's just the love or the passion for this sport. Alex,
if you were looking for something, and I do like that you're so locked in. And I'm
surprised you didn't mention it, bro. But we had paddle award on the show, and Brew declared,
I'm a paddle guy from now on. Now we didn't know you were gonna be on. We thought we would
maybe paddle would win some races before India , and now all of a sudden we got Alex Pelo on.
So I'm surprised you didn't, here's the deal. You, Nick has
harmed you. I, let me, please, let me, let me speak, um. This is my turn now.
I didn't wanna bring it up, but you said it. Um, I know Nick is my guy. Um, I know that we
are, we're brothers. We're more than that. I skipped the paddo interview out of loyalty to
you. I wasn't even there. I was like, we're talking to another Indy racer. I'm leaving.
That's OK. I, I, that he has to do that. That's part of his job. But, um, I know, I know
he's pushing for me. I, I needed somebody. Wild's got new guard. I needed somebody. So,
um, Alex, this is from Bob Parros on, uh, Fox. Sports.com top 10
indie car drivers of all time. You know, we got Mario, you have some legendary names, not
just in indie, but in overall sport. Mario Andretti, um, Al Hunter, AJ Foyt, Michael
Andretti, uh, and then there you are at 10. Do you think about your place
in racing history or is that just a distraction to you? I,
I don't think about it, but I saw this, uh, graphic today, and I, I just, uh, I, I cannot
believe it. I, I feel like I'm still that 5 year old guy, uh, that, uh, has an amazing life
and an amazing opportunity to drive fast cars for a living, and, uh, for me to be surrounded
by those names and those great drivers, it's, it's insane. Um, but now that we have the
opportunity to try and go up that that grid, and we're P10 now, hopefully in a couple
of years we can be up in the top 5 or top 3, but honestly that that just fuels me. It gives
me amazing energy to to try and continue to work harder and improve just my game. Yeah,
and also, I mean, I'll say it, Alex doesn't have to with respect to Bob Pocker who does
great work. Uh, I mean, a little low. I mean, the, the guys won, the guys had 5 seasons on
the Indies, 6 seasons on Indy, won 4 championships, won 3 in a row. I mean, I think
it's top 6 at least, but it doesn't matter. I got a question for you. Utah, I wanna ask you 2
questions about your offseason. One is offseason work and one is non-work. I totally
just intuitively know, like when a basketball player is like, yeah, I was working on my game
in the offseason, what that looks like. When you say, you know, in the offseason, working to
get better, how much of that is physical fitness? How much of that is, this sounds
ridiculous, driving practice, and how much of that is working on the car and making sure the
car is to your liking? Like, what does your offseason training really entail?
I would say 50% is physical because that's really the only training we can do for people
who don't know. We are not allowed to go test. It's not like other sports where you just start
practicing your own sport like basketball or football. We can only do simulators and we have
a couple of days of testing. On preseason, which we've done this past month, but we only
get like 3 days of testing with our car and like all other competitors during the year.
That's it. We don't practice anymore, so for me it was 50% physical, but the other 50%, it's
all about like watching videos, watching onboard cameras, watching the TV feeds, and
seeing what we can do and a lot of data. Uh, with my engineers to see how can I, how can I
improve, like checking how can I brake a little bit later, a little bit deeper, how can
I manage the tires better? Like there's so much stuff that we can do as drivers to, to
prepare and to improve year to year that, uh, yeah, there's a, there's a lot of work that we
can do behind the scenes. OK. And when you actually do have downtime, I'm always
interested in this with drivers because our show is very distinct. Kind of driving
personalities, if you will. Brew drives a literal race car, like a literal fast race car
sports car. KW doesn't even drive. His wife, uh, he rides
shotgun. His wife drives him because, and I quote, you drive like an old lady. And so she
doesn't let him drive. I am here for you. I could see you feeling like anyone else driving
is maddening or if you're like, man, finally I don't have to drive. So when you're back home
in Spain or you're actually taking time off, are you driving? Are you in a pretty aggressive,
insane driver? Like how does that work? Uh, I'm not aggressive. I, I, well, I, I think
I'm not aggressive. Um, I, I, there's some people on the, on the road that irritates
me, like when you're going, uh, on traffic, like, uh, I guess like for everybody, but
honestly I'm, I'm a very safe driver. Um, I think I'm very lucky that I get to go fast on
track, so I go, uh, only at the speed limits, uh, on the road here in the US and also in
Spain. Um, but yeah, I, I like to drive. I don't like to do like huge road trips, um, but
I like to drive if it's less than 3 hours. I love it. I, I've got an interesting question
for you. So Phoenix, the, the, the desert Double, they're gonna have the IndyCar and the
NASCARs on the same track, same weekend, I think IndyCar March 7th, the next day
NASCAR. Any thought about doing both? Have you ever thought about that? Ah,
I, I love, I love watching NASCAR. I would love one day to try one of those cars, but I
feel like our way of driving is very different . Um, I think I could maybe be quick on a one
lap, but I know I would get destroyed on race, on races just because of how those cars are and
also how they race. They race very aggressively, and, and I think I would get
destroyed there. So maybe one day in the very future. Um, but yeah, not now. I'll just be a
fan for now. Are there, is there any other style, and I apologize, you may have done this,
and I just, my research is bad, but like 24 hours of Le Mans, the different things like
that, like, do you, as I know you have a long. Career in front of you and you talked about
wanting to run down those guys on that list, but on like the, you know, ultimate racing
career bucket list, are there certain little, little check marks that you're like, hey, one
day I need, I want to win that. I want to compete in that type of thing. Yeah, I'm, I'm
doing actually this year with Accra. I'm doing Daytona and I'm doing some endurance races. I
did Le Mans two years ago, I believe, in 2024, 2023. With our
schedule it's tough though. Like that's in the middle of our summer schedule. Like we're super
busy this year. I won't be able to do it, but it's one of those races that, as you said, it's
on my mind to try and fit it on. My calendar and try and win one day. It's a very different
style of racing to what we do. It's like 24 hours as you said, but I love it. I think it's
one of those events that if I have the opportunity to be on a good car, I need to take
it. Well, Alex, thank you again for your time. Best of luck on Sunday. IndyCar season kicks
off. We will see you probably in the winner's circle and also in Indianapolis. So have a
great season. We'll see you in Indy.