Overreaction Monday: Kirk Morrison Talks World Cup, NFL & NBA

Overreaction Monday arrived in the dead of the NFL offseason, so the crew leaned into a grab bag of World Cup hype, NBA dominoes, and one genuinely wild idea for the future of American football.

The first overreaction set the tone: the U.S. men's national team, riding two wins, is going all the way. "We are on it, and we're going to the World Cup final," went the take, before the table immediately voted it down. "That is overreaction right there, man."

Nobody disputed the vibe, though. The team looks different now. "I just love that the more and more we see the US team, the more and more people are trying to fight for these tickets," one panelist said, noting the confidence and swagger that wasn't there before. Ticket prices have followed. "You got to sell a kidney," went the joke about Thursday's match, with one host musing aloud about sneaking into SoFi the way he once snuck into Pittsburgh's Civic Arena for a Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Mary J. Blige concert.

That led to the morning's most ambitious pitch: a World Cup for American football. "We got a World Baseball Classic. We got a basketball version of this, right? I need a World Cup for American football," the idea went. The pushback was instant. The closest thing, the table agreed, is flag football coming to the Olympics, and even there the U.S. has stumbled. "We already got beat. How we get beat by our own US team?"

The skepticism held. "It sounds great. But I don't think it'll be very competitive personally," Kirk Morrison said, dismissing the notion that NFL stars would dig into their heritage and suit up for other countries the way WBC players do. "Dudes don't even want to play in the Pro Bowl no more." The one crack in his resistance: money. "Put 50 million dollars in midfield, guess what?" Morrison said. "Okay, now we're talking."

The segment was interrupted by actual breaking news, delivered mid-overreaction. "Messi just scored," and with it, Lionel Messi became the all-time leader in goals scored in World Cup history. The table offered congratulations and a debate about where Messi now ranks, with one host calling him his version of Pelé, a player he never saw live but recognizes as a goat in real time. "Messi's probably first," came the verdict.

The NFL portion stayed light. Brandon Aiyuk's social-media flirtation with the Commanders drew shrugs, with Terry McLaurin cited as a reason the touchdown-leader prediction felt like a stretch.

The closer was Dusty May, who is leaving Michigan after two seasons to coach the Dallas Mavericks. The overreaction, that he'll have Dallas in the Finals in two years, got shot down fast. "I just want to get them to the playoffs," Morrison said. The conversation drifted to whether Kyrie Irving cedes the team to Cooper Flagg ("That's Cooper Flagg's team now") and to the brutal West, with the San Antonio "beast" and a healthier OKC looming.

It wrapped on a bigger thought: the NBA has gone eight straight years with no repeat champion. Morrison made his peace with it. "I like the variety myself. Your team has a chance every year."