Hour 2: Paul Finebaum and Yankees Celebrations

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This is The Michael Kay Show Podcast.

Michael Kay (0:34)

I gotta get more Kay.

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Listen live weekdays at 1 on the Espn New York app and your smart speaker.

Paul Finebaum (0:41)

Welcome back to the show.

Michael Kay (0:42)

Hour two of our two hour radio program here on Espn New York and also on the Espn New York YouTube page presented by the Parisman Firm. And during the football season, every Tuesday at this time, we're going to get the opportunity to talk to Paul Finebaum. And he joins us now. Paul, how are you doing?

Paul Finebaum (0:59)

Michael, doing great. It's really fantastic being back.

Michael Kay (1:03)

Well, I appreciate you spending the time with us each week now. Couple of big stories. So let's go back first before we move forward.

What did you think of Texas coming back against Ohio State? And was that really the true coming out party for Arch Manning as a big time quarterback?

Paul Finebaum (1:20)

Yeah, I mean, really for all of last season, we've been waiting for a moment like this. And he had it against some lesser teams. But to do it against the number one team in the country, especially like that. And Michael, I have a lot of friends who turned the game off at halftime. There was about a one percent chance on the FBI of Texas coming back.

There were so many mistakes made by Ryan Day and his club. I mean, that game should have been put away. And I realize you get you see that in every sport. You get a big league and you get blamed for for blowing it. But it was really inexcusable considering he's got the best player in the country and Jeremiah Smith at the wide receiver position. He barely saw the ball in the fourth quarter. Ryan Day tends to do this under enormous pressure. What's really interesting for a program like that, that is now the third loss out of four. They lost the last two at the end of last season to Indiana. Then they got just rolled by Miami in their first CFP game. And now this and after all that, they're still possibly the best team in the country. But it was really more about what Arch Manning did.

In a frenzied home environment where in college football, that really matters a great deal.

Michael Kay (2:31)

Let's just go back a second to Ryan Day. I've got a lot of friends who are Ohio State fans. A couple of years ago, they won a national title. But they don't think that Day is a good coach.

I don't want to put that on you. But are you impressed with him as a coach?

Paul Finebaum (2:44)

No.

I was actually in New York a week ago. The Yankees unfortunately were out of town. They came back the next night.

And I kind of said it too quickly when I was on first take. But I said he's choked away a lot of big games. And some people made a big deal about it. But he has. You remember, what was it? Was it the year Ohio State won the national championship? They were undefeated. They had Michigan come in and they lost the game. There was no excuse for it. That's the biggest rivalry on their schedule. They ended up winning the national championship. But it was a frenzied, pressurized situation. And had they lost in their first playoff game, it's possible Ryan Day would have been fired. That's how unpopular he became. Winning the title, as you know, takes care of all the ill. But he would not be my coach if I was in charge of a program. He doesn't really...

You have to really be a dunge to screw up at Ohio State. The athletes there are enormous. They have everything that you need, especially money. But I think at some point he's going to burn out and maybe go to the NFL, because I just don't think he's got the DNA to be a long-term success in college football.

Michael Kay (4:02)

Now let's go back to Arch Manning. There was a clip, if you could read lips, where Arch Manning said, I'm going to play like I don't give a bleep. Do you think he was given too much of a bleep in the first half?