Footballers AMA + Coaching Changes, Giant Heads

Summary

Fantasy Footballers - AMA + Coaching Changes, Giant Heads
Release Date: January 10, 2019
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
Episode: Footballers AMA + Coaching Changes, Giant Heads

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Introduction and Host Banter ([00:00] - [02:08])

The episode kicks off with Andy Holloway and Mike Wright engaging in their signature playful banter, immediately setting a fun and relaxed tone. Andy enthusiastically promotes fantasychamps.com, encouraging listeners to celebrate their fantasy football victories with custom trophies:

Andy Holloway ([00:07]): "You need to celebrate. And you go to fantasychamps.com get yourself one of those beautiful trophies."

Mike introduces the podcast from pristineauction.com Studios, while Andy humorously notes the absence of their third host, Jason Moore, who is on a family vacation:

Mike Wright ([00:45]): "Podcast coming to you from pristineauction.com Studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright."

Coaching Changes and Fantasy Implications ([07:03] - [15:13])

The hosts delve into significant NFL coaching changes and analyze their potential impacts on fantasy football. This segment is rich with insights and humor, providing listeners with both information and entertainment.

Packers Hire Matt LaFleur ([07:05] - [08:23])

Andy and Mike discuss the Green Bay Packers' appointment of Matt LaFleur as their new head coach. They debate the implications of this hire, emphasizing LaFleur's offensive mindset and his alignment with quarterback Aaron Rodgers' preferences.

Andy Holloway ([07:25]): "If I'm Aaron Rodgers, I'm probably pretty happy to have an offensive minded head coach from the McVeigh tree."

Mike highlights LaFleur's background, including his time with the Tennessee Titans and under Sean McVay with the Los Angeles Rams, underscoring his offensive expertise.

Cardinals Hire Cliff Kingsbury ([08:23] - [11:16])

The conversation shifts to the Arizona Cardinals' hiring of Cliff Kingsbury as head coach. Andy expresses skepticism about the decision, questioning Kingsbury's NFL experience despite his successful college coaching record.

Andy Holloway ([10:56]): "NFL experience, yes. Opportunities as offensive coordinator, success as offensive coordinator. I'm not sure I know if he has the experience now."

Mike defends Kingsbury's prowess, detailing his consistent offensive rankings at Texas Tech and USC, yet remains uncertain about his fit in the NFL context.

Mike Wright ([11:16]): "Cliffy K will come in and he'll be incredible or it's going to be terrible and you go try to find the next guy."

Buccaneers Hire Bruce Arians ([12:15] - [13:45])

Andy announces Bruce Arians as the new head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, viewing this as a positive move for players like Jameis Winston, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin. The hosts discuss Arians' affinity for vertical passing and its benefits for the Buccaneers' offense.

Andy Holloway ([12:37]): "Bruce Arians loves the vertical passing. Great news for Jameis, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin."

Broncos Hire Vic Fangio and Rehire Gary Kubiak ([13:45] - [14:05])

The Denver Broncos bring Vic Fangio as their new head coach, emphasizing a defensive-focused approach. Concurrently, they rehire Gary Kubiak as their offensive coordinator, sparking discussions about the balance between defense and offense in their strategy.

Cleveland Browns Hire Freddie Kitchens ([13:45] - [15:13])

Freddie Kitchens takes over as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, replacing Greg Williams. Mike applauds Kitchens' journey from offensive coordinator to head coach, highlighting the smooth transition and Kitchens' positive impact on the team.

Mike Wright ([13:57]): "This is a great success story of a guy playing his way, earning his coaching his way, earning his way into a head coaching job."

AMA Segment ([16:00] - [57:03])

The heart of the episode is the AMA (Ask Me Anything) segment, where Andy and Mike answer questions from listeners sourced from YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. This segment provides a deeper look into the hosts' personal lives, their podcasting journey, and fantasy football strategies.

How the Hosts Met ([19:19] - [21:42])

Andy shares the origins of the podcast, recounting his friendship with Jason Moore, which began in high school and blossomed through their shared passion for fantasy sports and collaborative ventures in a Facebook gaming company.

Andy Holloway ([19:25]): "We worked together for six, seven years together. That company started to shift and that's when we started the podcast."

Challenges in Starting a Podcast ([21:42] - [23:05])

Mike discusses the initial challenges, primarily focusing on self-confidence and the struggle to establish credibility in a saturated fantasy football podcast market.

Mike Wright ([21:55]): "The hardest thing for me was confidence, like believing that you had something to offer."

Andy adds that consistency was key to building their reputation and industry dominance.

Advice for New Podcasters and Analysts ([25:32] - [28:19])

Mike emphasizes the importance of finding a unique voice and differentiating oneself in the crowded fantasy football space. He advises podcasters to embrace their individuality and focus on entertaining their audience.

Mike Wright ([25:32]): "Find your voice... get used to it."

Andy underscores the necessity of authenticity and relationship-building, noting that new mediums like YouTube and social media offer diverse platforms to express unique perspectives.

Andy Holloway ([28:11]): "You need to entertain. That's an important piece that can be easily looked over."

Personal Questions ([Various Timestamps])

The hosts tackle various personal inquiries, sharing candid insights about their lives:

• Waist Size: Mike humorously deflects by advocating for stretchy pants.
• Adoption Experience: Andy and Mike open up about adopting their daughter, detailing the emotional journey and unique experiences involved.
• Hobbies:
  • Andy discusses his wife's passion for raising poison dart frogs and maintaining a biosphere at home.
  • Mike reminisces about his brief stint with World of Warcraft and his family's quirky interests.
  • Brooks shares his love for bowling, although he hasn't been participating regularly.

Fantasy Football Specific Questions ([33:31] - [56:55])

Listeners pose questions related to fantasy football strategies and league management:

• Auction Drafts: Mike expresses his appreciation for the flexibility of auction drafts while acknowledging their length and complexity.

  Mike Wright ([33:31]): "They are long. Very, very long. If you thought your fantasy draft, your Snake draft, was long, buckle up if you're going to do an auction draft."

• Adding Dynasty Teams to Existing Leagues: The hosts discuss methods for integrating new teams into dynasty leagues, emphasizing the importance of protected players and structured expansion drafts.

  Mike Wright ([48:33]): "The best solution I've heard for a dynasty is that everyone gets to protect six players or whatever, depending on your roster size."

• Kicking Friends Out of Leagues: Andy and Mike offer strategies for managing inactive or toxic league members, advocating for open communication and, if necessary, co-owner arrangements to maintain league integrity.

  Mike Wright ([44:39]): "It's been gentle and for us, and we've maintained the friendship."

Nickname Discussion ([53:07] - [54:43])

The hosts discuss the spontaneous creation of nicknames for their fantasy teams and themselves, highlighting how these nicknames often emerge organically during the show. This segment underscores the lighthearted and creative atmosphere of the podcast.

Andy Holloway ([53:35]): "Most often the moments on this show and the nicknames on this show happen on this show."

Conclusion and Upcoming Content ([57:03] - [58:19])

Wrapping up the episode, Andy and Mike promote their custom nickname T-shirts available at shopballers.com, showcasing a list of creative and humorous names like "Booty Scoot," "Cam Newton," and "Mark Waltenberg." They hint at upcoming "Truth" episodes with the return of Jason Moore and maintain their engaging rapport, ensuring listeners are left anticipating future content.

Andy Holloway ([58:04]): "Back with the Truth episodes next week. Jason will be back. Going to dive in. Going to be fun."

Mike Wright ([58:19]): "Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on TwitterFFballers."

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Notable Quotes

• Andy Holloway on Starting the Podcast ([24:11]): "It's the fantasy football space. There's a lot going on, there's a lot of people writing, there's a lot of people doing podcasts now. It's very cluttered, it's very, very noisy."

• Mike Wright on Auction Drafts ([33:31]): "They are long. Very, very long. If you thought your fantasy draft, your Snake draft, was long, buckle up if you're going to do an auction draft."

• Andy Holloway on Nicknames ([53:35]): "Most often the moments on this show and the nicknames on this show happen on this show."

Insights and Takeaways

• Coaching Hires Impact Fantasy Strategies: Understanding the new head coaches' philosophies can help fantasy players anticipate player performances and adjust their strategies accordingly.

• Building a Successful Podcast: Consistency, unique voice, and entertainment value are crucial in standing out in a saturated market.

• Engaging with the Community: The AMA segment exemplifies the importance of listener interaction and building a strong community around the podcast.

• Creative Branding: Spontaneous and humorous elements like nicknames contribute to the podcast’s unique identity and listener engagement.

Conclusion

This episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast skillfully blends insightful analysis of NFL coaching changes with a personable and engaging AMA segment. Andy Holloway and Mike Wright provide valuable fantasy football advice while sharing personal anecdotes, fostering a strong connection with their audience. The blend of professional insights and lighthearted humor makes this episode both informative and entertaining, catering to both seasoned fantasy football enthusiasts and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, foot clan. When you win something, Mike, you might not know anything about this, but when.

[Mike Wright]

You win, you shut your mouth, sir.

[Andy Holloway]

You win something, I'm a winner. You need to celebrate. And you go to fantasychamps.com get yourself one of those beautiful trophies. They got the gold trophy, the crystal trophy, they got that Lombardi style trophy, they got fantasy football rings to celebrate your title the right way, all custom engraved. So put your team name on there and then, you know, Mike, you can brag once you do that appropriately. Check it out. Fantasy Champs.com welcome to the Fantasy Footballers.

[Mike Wright]

Podcast coming to you from pristineauction.com Studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Andy Holloway]

Ah, welcome in. Welcome into the Fantasy Footballers podcast for Thursday January 10, 2019 is here and the fantasy footballers are here with you. It is a two man band today. Mike is here. Not really two. I mean it. Brooks is back there. He's back, back, back behind the camera.

[Mike Wright]

Two and a quarter.

[Andy Holloway]

We keep backing him up. Just, just about 30 yards back. Well, the stance, 40 yards.

[Mike Wright]

It's legendary.

[Andy Holloway]

That's, that's rude. He smells wonderful.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, what was it, Tuesday's show? I insulted his intelligence. Now I have shifted to his physical. His infuriating body odor.

[Andy Holloway]

No, if you want infuriating body odor, it's Jay Gris.

[Mike Wright]

Never upset the.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason will be back with us next week. He is wrapping up a family vacation. Congratulations to Jason.

[Mike Wright]

No, right now, Jason's gathering the truth. Oh.

[Andy Holloway]

For next week.

[Mike Wright]

Because all next week, that's when the Truth series starts. We break down the truth of what happened with these fantasy football players. Guys like, oh, I don't know, Derek Henry. Yeah, we got, we got a top 20 running back here. Or do we?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's. Well, we're not going to tell you yet.

[Mike Wright]

Nope.

[Andy Holloway]

Today's a special show. Today we've got, we've got some news to break down, a lot of it coaching related. We'll talk about the fantasy implications of the moves that have been made. But most of the show is going to be spent on a very special fantasy footballers AMA an Ask me anything mailbag. Where we, well, where do we solicit questions from brooks? Everywhere.

[Brooks]

Everywhere.

[Andy Holloway]

YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Facebook. So that's where you gathered.

[Mike Wright]

The corner. I saw him out there.

[Andy Holloway]

The corner. Oh, people from the corner.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I saw Brooks going out there.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I see where you went. Yeah. So we have questions about everything and anything. We'll be answering them on the show today. Very excited about that. It's always fun to you know, people have questions about the show. They've been listening for years. Maybe you don't know something or you want to know something. Some of them are nickname related. I know that. But we've also got. By the way, you can follow us on TwitterFFballers. We're on YouTube. YouTube.com TheFantasyFootballers subscribe. Click the bell over there and TheFantasyFootballers.com is the website. Now we have a little quick question of the day. Now, Brooks prepared a who am I? And we've done these before where he gives us little hints and we try to figure out who this person is. Now, most of the time, I'm in on the. I'm in on the secret, but without Jason here today, I'm not in on the secret. I'm guessing with you, Mike, which is a weird place to be where I'm guessing alongside. Now, Brooks, you're gonna break these down for us. Can you give us the clues, see if we can figure out this. Who am I?

[Brooks]

Yeah, I think I can handle it.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, so let's do it. Let's do it. Let's see how good I am.

[Brooks]

Who am I?

[Andy Holloway]

Brooks, this is all.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, game over.

[Andy Holloway]

You win.

[Brooks]

Let's move on to the news.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, news time. No.

[Brooks]

All right. These are all half PPR scoring, by the way, because that's what we prefer here at the fantasy football.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, all right.

[Brooks]

Okay, first clue. I finished as the wide receiver. 22.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh.

[Brooks]

In total points.

[Andy Holloway]

Wide receiver. Fancy. 22 in total points. Now are you talking about.

[Mike Wright]

I'm not going to guess yet.

[Andy Holloway]

Robbie Anderson. Okay. I just want to guess on every clue.

[Brooks]

Number two. I did this in just 12 games.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, why did you. 22.

[Mike Wright]

All right, in 12 games I have a guess, but I'm gonna save it.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, give me, give me one more.

[Brooks]

Now we brought up the truth episode.

[Andy Holloway]

Coming up next week, Nate McMillan.

[Brooks]

So Truth episodes next week.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Brooks]

So I got some stats from that consistency stat.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, so this is supposed to help us along? Yes.

[Brooks]

This is a two parter. So three A is. I was tied for number four. Inconsistency among wide outs.

[Andy Holloway]

How many games did he play?

[Mike Wright]

12. 12.

[Andy Holloway]

And so I've got a guess too.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And because I'm going with. He missed four games due to not injury.

[Andy Holloway]

And three. Oh, really?

[Brooks]

3B.

[Mike Wright]

3B. Give it to me.

[Brooks]

Izzy had zero great finishes, but he had zero bust finishes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that sounds like the guy I'm thinking of.

[Andy Holloway]

Who do you got?

[Mike Wright]

He's got A majestic beard. Am I right, Brooks?

[Brooks]

Yeah. And what you said earlier is actually hit number five.

[Mike Wright]

Give it to the people.

[Brooks]

So we'll skip four. The four games I missed were not. Were not because of injury.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Brooks]

You want the last one There were.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, we'll give us the clue.

[Brooks]

All right. Last clue is my team is still in the playoffs.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. So there were two players this offseason who are a hot topic of discussion. Did you take the draft discount because they were suspended for four games. That was Mark Ingram and that was Julian Edelman. Right, Brooks.

[Brooks]

Correct.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Job. Nice job.

[Mike Wright]

And because he was. He was awesome. But he never won you a week. But you were. You were very glad that you sat him on your bench for four games.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, where I thought he was heading was now. It got ruined when he said zero great games and zero busts. But I thought he was heading Cooper Cup's direction. I thought maybe Cooper cup had worked himself up.

[Mike Wright]

How many?

[Andy Holloway]

20. He didn't play as many as I thought.

[Mike Wright]

He actually like eight games. Nine.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. He ended up like in the 40s at wide receiver where I thought maybe he had done enough, but. Be interesting to see where Julian goes next year as well as Cooper Cup.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see what the Patriots do with the wide receiver position. They have to. They have to do something.

[Andy Holloway]

No more Josh Gordon.

[Mike Wright]

Nope.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

News and notes from around the league presented by Sleeper.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, you ready for this?

[Mike Wright]

Coaches aplenty. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Coaches everywhere. Packers have hired Matt LaFleur as the head coach.

[Mike Wright]

Cramming up your cram hole, LaFleur?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, we're going dodgeball?

[Mike Wright]

Might as well. We already have the fitness consigliere.

[Andy Holloway]

Look, it doesn't have to be a complicated joke to get said here on the fantasy football.

[Mike Wright]

No. And that one got Brooks good.

[Andy Holloway]

So, look, different opinions. I've tried to poll some of the packers fans. You know, are you excited? Are you not excited? Are you confused as to how to think? At the end of the day, I would imagine this is where Aaron Rodgers wanted the hire to head, which is an offensive mind. Matt LaFleur served under Sean McVeigh. He was the Titans offensive coordinator for just a year, right?

[Mike Wright]

Yes, just for a year. Because he. Last year, I should say two years ago, was the Rams oc And before that, he was down with Matty Ryan for his MVP year.

[Andy Holloway]

And the thing is, is it's. It's easy to look at the Titans and say they didn't have a great offensive year because they didn't and they ran the ball a ton.

[Mike Wright]

It's very, very.

[Andy Holloway]

So it makes it so easy to say. But I mean, I look at the Titans offense and I kind of say they never got into a rhythm. Marcus Mariota was injured throughout the season. You know, I don't know if I judge Matt LaFleur's career off of one season in Tennessee.

[Mike Wright]

So the packers did not.

[Andy Holloway]

The packers did not. And if I'm Aaron Rodgers, I'm probably pretty happy to have an offensive minded head coach from the McVeigh tree. Sean McVeigh, he's changing the world right now.

[Mike Wright]

He needs to be collecting royalties because there are coaches all over. They're just getting money.

[Andy Holloway]

I know how to be a head coach in the NFL. Step one, I got it. And. Yeah, put the camera on me, Brooks. Step one, I'm in my 30s. All right.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

That's a good one. I'm 34 years old.

[Mike Wright]

It's the new teens.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Step two, obviously I got a real kind of like baby beard.

[Mike Wright]

Right, Right. Not full beard, not stubble.

[Andy Holloway]

But it's not a full beard.

[Mike Wright]

It's a tweener.

[Andy Holloway]

It's groomed. Like a groomed. Step three, sunglasses. You put them sunglasses on. Do I not look like Cliff Kingsbury now do. So that's all. And that's it. I mean, that's really all.

[Mike Wright]

That's. That's how you have to. Well, no, you're forgetting the step where you were at. You kind of look like Sean McVeigh. Or you were around him, maybe you got some of his aura, some of his.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, his master dripped onto you. Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So you tap it behind your ears. It's funny, man.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, let's talk about that again, because the Cardinals hired ex Texas Tech head coach, ex USC offensive coordinator Cliff Kingsbury as their new head coach. 39 years old, sunglasses aplenty. Nice beard.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Got a Mortal Kombat vibe going on with his name. Looks like Johnny Cage.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

I'm still trying to narrow it down what I want to. What I want to call him. But what a wild ride, a wild wacky ride for Cliff Ek, who goes from being essentially relieved of his duties as a coach.

[Andy Holloway]

He was the head coach for Pat Mahomes. Everybody out there when he was at Texas Tech, he was Pat Mahomes head.

[Mike Wright]

Coach Takes a demotion, a coaching demotion to go be USC's offensive coordinator, which that's still fine. I mean, that's a still prestigious job.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Transition to the head coach of an NFL franchise.

[Andy Holloway]

What he needs to Put some cookies in the mail for Sean McVeigh, because this is the trend. This is the newest trend now. I don't like it. At the end of the day, I don't like the hire.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, really?

[Andy Holloway]

No. At the end of the day, I don't. And I'm a. We're Cardinal fans out here. We're in Arizona, and I want to like it. But the problem that I see with it is that you know Sean McVeigh for all his unique characteristics.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

NFL experience, yes. Opportunities as offensive coordinator, success as offensive coordinator. Been around the NFL game. I'm not sure I. What I know of Josh Rosen, what I know of Cliff Kingsbury. I just don't know if he has the experience now. His offenses were great in college.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I have the numbers up in front of me.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

So as a head coach, six years at Texas Tech, only one time did his offense finish outside of the top 23. And that includes 2015, 2016, when he. Where he was the second best offense in college and the fifth best offense in college. This is what. This is what the NFL is doing.

[Andy Holloway]

It is. It is.

[Mike Wright]

They are. The new rules are transitioning things to the pass game. So the curmudgeons at the NFL have to accept that it's a passing league. It's no more Mike McCoy running up the middle every single time. That crap doesn't work anymore. So I like the hire from the perspective of it's everything. It's not another retread where you're just going to be okay or mediocre. I think that Cliffy K will come in and he'll be incredible or it's going to be terrible and you go try to find the next guy.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, he needs a great. They need a good defensive coordinator and experience.

[Mike Wright]

That's part of why McVeigh was so great, is he gathered very smart people around him that let him focus on what he does best.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Yeah. Bruce Arians surprise head coach once again, this time of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Look, this is great news for Jameis Winston.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Bruce Arians loves the vertical passing.

[Mike Wright]

Great news for Jameis, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. And also, is there a possibility that DeSean Jackson changes his mind, changes his mind? Says, I've seen what you do with fast guys, so maybe I want to stick around.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it'll be very interesting to see. Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is the new Broncos head coach. And the Broncos have brought back Gary Kubiak as their offensive coordinator. So any feelings there? I mean, Fangio is the Defensive minded guy. It's great for Chubb and Von Miller, but yeah, that doesn't help much. We care a lot more about what Kubiak's going to do there and he's been a competent play caller.

[Mike Wright]

He's been a good oc, so I'm fine with it.

[Andy Holloway]

Todd Bowles still hasn't signed a contract as D coordinator. He's going to choose between Tampa and that new Chicago opening.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I think Todd Bowles had his mind made up until Vic Fangio took the job opening things up in Chicago, which would should give any defensive mind pause when you say, wait, the Chicago, the Chicago jobs open?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah, you might want to jump in there.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to at least try to.

[Andy Holloway]

Get that with Khalil Mack. Thoughts on Freddie Kitchens being head coach of the Cleveland Browns? Freddie Kitchens was the offensive coordinator. Greg Williams was the head coach. He's been relieved of all duties.

[Mike Wright]

Look, I try to keep things positive on this show. We rib people, of course, but Greg.

[Andy Holloway]

Williams, you're not a Greg Williams fan.

[Mike Wright]

My opinion on Greg Williams is well known that. Not a big fan. Not a big fan of bounty gate, how he carries himself, how he thinks that things should be run in the NFL. Not a big fan. So the fact that they went with Freddy Kitchens actually brings me great joy. We were talking about this in the studio. That, that we just imagine the brass in Cleveland, they're interviewing Freddy Kitchens. They're just like, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, sure. But meanwhile they're just, they're texting Baker, saying, yo, hey Baker, you like Freddie? Should we bring him in?

[Andy Holloway]

Thumbs up, thumbs down.

[Mike Wright]

If he gives the thumbs up, this is where we are. So this is a great success story of a guy playing his way, earning his coaching his way, earning his way into a head coaching job.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So congrats. I mean, this is good for Baker.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Great news. Do we know is he going to maintain play calling duties as the head coach?

[Mike Wright]

I have not heard that yet.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, so.

[Mike Wright]

But it's at least going to be his offense.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. He was with the Cardinals from 2007 to 2017 before he transitioned to be the running backs coach. Then he was promoted offensive coordinator. So in less than a year he goes from running backs coach to head coach, which is probably the least weird case of all these starting head coaches. Josh McDaniels says his the book is closed and head coaching interviews for him. He'll probably be back as offensive coordinator. Then he'll probably be playing the eventually replaced Belichick role.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's probably what he's got to go for now.

[Brooks]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

I want to get into this AMA and spend a lot of time in there. But real quick. Picks for the divisional round. We've got the games coming up. One of the most exciting weekends of the year. I'm sure people want to know who we have in these matchups, so. Colts, Chiefs, Chiefs. As do I. Cowboys, Rams.

[Mike Wright]

Rams.

[Andy Holloway]

As do I. Chargers, Patriots.

[Mike Wright]

Chargers.

[Andy Holloway]

So do I. Eagle. Saints.

[Mike Wright]

Saints.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. We don't have any changes here. Brooks, are you. Do you have any different picks? I know you're a Cowboy fan.

[Brooks]

I still pick the Rams to win.

[Andy Holloway]

How about the Patriots game?

[Brooks]

That's the only. That's the different one, I think. Patriots. You got to go to Patriots.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I understand that. I understand that. So we shall see what Nick Foles does in New Orleans.

[Mike Wright]

If Nick Foles can win this game. Do they start building the statue on Monday or Tuesday?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you know, they probably get ready to play the Rams.

[Mike Wright]

I'm talking about the city.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I know. I know.

[Mike Wright]

I.

[Andy Holloway]

Look, we'll see, right? We'll see what happens. That was today's news and notes. Hey, listen, remember, you want to play Dynasty, Go play it on sleeper. Get the sleeper app. Play Dynasty. No ads on the app. Great platform. Always innovating. Check it out. All right, Mike, you ready for this?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I'm ready. Mailbag.

[Andy Holloway]

I was really hoping you. Yeah, I really was.

[Mike Wright]

I'm not gonna let everyone down.

[Andy Holloway]

So we. We did a no holds bar. Ask us anything you want. Ama tried to pick. I know Brooks picked the majority of these questions. We tried to pick ones.

[Mike Wright]

A lot of questions about my waist size, which is, frankly, rude.

[Andy Holloway]

Did you end up figuring it out, or is that more of a. Are you more of a stretchy pants guy?

[Mike Wright]

How dare you ask me that question?

[Andy Holloway]

Can stretchy pants be a waist size?

[Mike Wright]

Yes. You have to get a large or a medium.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, okay. So you get it. Okay, I got you.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, we're not animals.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, but, I mean, when you go to buy slacks, do you ask for the stretchy pants?

[Mike Wright]

If everything could be stretchy pants, the world would be a happier place for a long time. I don't know if you realize this, but the voyage for men's jeans and women's jeans, we have come a long way.

[Andy Holloway]

Tell me about this, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

The ladies jeans, they've been stretchy for a very, very long time. Meanwhile, us dudes are watching Brett Favre commercials going, yep, Wranglers, they don't move. That's how I like it. And then all of a sudden, you.

[Andy Holloway]

Know who loves those Wranglers? Greg Williams.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah. Oh. But he's like, can I get him in khaki? Can I get him high and tight in the crotch? These ones move a little bit too much. I can step forward more than a ruler.

[Andy Holloway]

He gets them wet and leaves them out in the rain.

[Mike Wright]

Wants to harden them up, make them extra crispy.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

Anyway, but jeans now stretch, and it's so much better.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, yeah, yeah, we need that. We need that.

[Mike Wright]

I do.

[Andy Holloway]

I told you today, Mike, I. When it comes to personal pizzas, I can't. I can't not finish.

[Mike Wright]

Well, it's personal.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, that's on them for saying.

[Mike Wright]

That the size is personal.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, guess what? The Bucks just hired Todd Bowles.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, that answers that question.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's settled.

[Mike Wright]

That means the Bears said no.

[Andy Holloway]

So everybody out there, since we record the day before, they're like, yeah, we know that. But now you know that. We know that. Right. All right, our first question on today's Fantasy Footballers AMA comes from Instagram. This one's from Paul M. Palm, and he says Palm something. It's Palm. But Paul.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. How did you three guys meet? Do you want to handle this one?

[Mike Wright]

Well, I'll tell the tale of. I met Jason. Actually, you should probably start, because you met Jason first.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, well, I've known Jason for a very long time. We. He's a couple years older than I am. We met in high school because Jason chose to enter himself into the freshman.

[Mike Wright]

You're going to be really shocked at this.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Jason, the junior was in the freshman Spanish class, all right. And I was in there. No shame as a little freshman. And when you go to high school, all the freshmen are quiet and scared little children. And here's boisterous Jason Moore. And we started. Actually, our friendship. Started playing fantasy basketball way back in high school, became good friends, played real basketball all the time. He'll tell you if he was here, how many times he beat me because I was, like, 5 foot tall. And so we met each other.

[Mike Wright]

He.

[Andy Holloway]

He went off to college. We reconnected when he started a business doing Facebook gaming. All right, this was back in the farmville heyday. We had a Facebook gaming company that he started, and he grew it with another partner up to. There were 25 people there at one point in time. And I worked for him at that company. I was the COO of that business. And Mike was hired a couple years after I started.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I found Jason. I got a bachelor's in game design. And I quickly needed a job. And there's a gaming group, I think igda. Is that what it is?

[Andy Holloway]

It is, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So it's like minded people who make video games and meet. And Jason gave a speech and I went up and I wowed him.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you said, hire me, man.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I said, I do bleeps and the bloops.

[Andy Holloway]

And so you did game audio design for us and we worked together. And basically the best way to paint this picture of our three friendship was that we, we were fantasy football fanatics in the midst of our regular job here at that company. And so we worked together for six, seven years together. That company started to shift and that's when we started the podcast. So we met through basically that business, working together and doing our fantasy leagues together. And that's how we got started. Does that answer that one? Good. Brooks, well done. Well, does it answer it?

[Mike Wright]

Well, Superman does. Good.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I was gonna say that was. I learned that in freshman English. Twitter question from johnhicks33.

[Mike Wright]

I'm gonna believe that it's from John Wick.

[Andy Holloway]

John Wick has sent us a question.

[Mike Wright]

Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

What was the hardest thing about starting up your own brand and podcast? Ooh, do you have an answer for that one? I mean, there are several things.

[Mike Wright]

I'll speak to the podcast side. The hardest thing for me was confidence, like believing that you had something to offer, believing that the advice that I was giving was actually relevant and will help people win. And so it's, even though, I mean, I was winning and doing well, it's still, there's that level of confidence of a, of a person pulling up the podcast for the first time going, who's this guy who's got a really high pitched laugh? And he's just, he says he knows what he's talking about at that time.

[Andy Holloway]

A man bun.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yes, the man bun. The much larger beard. So I would say that was the hardest part for me was just believing in myself.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, we believed in you, Mike. I appreciate that, but no, I would kind of piggyback and just say that like anytime you're starting a brand, you're starting a business, like credibility isn't built in, like, I mean, you don't just get it necessarily.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

And so, you know, that's kind of seeing what you're saying. But from a credibility standpoint, you can't replace time in an industry, you can't replace time in a business. So you have to be consistent. I think for us, it was a matter of being very Very consistent early on in the podcast and then letting time pass. I mean, you only earn credibility. You succeed. And as you are consistent in what you're doing. So I think the most challenging thing was establishing industry dominance. Industry dominance. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Industry credibility early on. But. But, yeah, I mean, in terms of the barriers to entry, I mean, the podcasting field, you can buy a microphone.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

You can flip on the switch. I mean, the barriers to entry aren't. Aren't intimidating. Instagram question from Henkel Media. When you guys first started doing the show, how many times did you think about quitting out of fear that it wouldn't succeed?

[Mike Wright]

Zero for me.

[Andy Holloway]

It's zero for me too. And that's just a byproduct of, I think we happen to start it and have success so fast.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

With the listenership. And we. Some people don't know this. We launched the show in February of 2015 and this was dead doldrums for fantasy. I mean, there's no more dead time than February when the super bowl ends and there's no football being played. And we launched it then because we were fantasy fanatics and we said there needs to be a year round show where people are talking about the same stuff we're talking about. But I think that inadvertently we just picked a good time because there were other people like us and we didn't even know if we should wait until the regular season. Remember, we thought long and hard about.

[Mike Wright]

We did.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, man, do we wait until August when the football season goes in? And so I don't think we ever really. I never was worried about quitting because I never, you know, we never got to that point where we were teetering on the edge of success. It was just kind of like we started it, people listened and it picked up. So. Sound good?

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, next question. Twitter question from Whisperers. And we got a lot of questions like this. What advice do you give to new podcasters or analysts trying to make it in the world of fantasy football? I. This is probably the number one question I've received over the last five years.

[Mike Wright]

Yep. And my advice for this is always. It sounds cliche, but it is the honest truth. It is the fantasy football space. There's a lot going on, there's a lot of people writing, there's a lot of people doing podcasts now. It's very cluttered, it's very, very noisy. So you have to figure out what is it that makes your show special and unique. And the easiest way to do that is. Is the old cliche of find your voice. And that's difficult.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I don't think there's just one way to do it anymore.

[Mike Wright]

Right. But my top tip for finding your voice is when you first turn a microphone on me, me, me, and you're speaking into it, One, it's going to be intimidating because it's just a strange thing to talk into a microphone, hear yourself in headphones. You just got to get used to it. Two, there's going to be a little voice inside your head that says, don't say that, because that's not the proper etiquette. That's not what. That's not what a professional would do. Now, I'm not. If you're doing, like, if you're a nasty. If you're a nasty person, don't. You should keep the switch on. Keep those terrible thoughts to yourself. But I'm saying, like, I. When I was. When I found that confidence and I felt most liberated, it's when I finally turned that voice off. I. Any terrible joke, I think of, oh, gosh, I throw it out there, 2% of them stick. But those 2% are so sticky.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I think it's more about not. Not that sticky. So sticky. What I think what it is is you don't want to be inhibited by this ideal in your head that. That success or your voice or what you have to say has to mimic or look like somebody else. If you get started in this business trying to be Matthew Barry or any of the other established people in the industry, we don't find success that way. And I was going to say, like, 10, 15 years ago, the way you found success in this industry was you were a writer.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Or you were a stat junkie and you just grind it. I don't think it's the same way anymore. And this is to extend beyond podcasting to just. A lot of people want to be in the industry. They want to be an analyst. You got to build relationships. Social media is brand new to the world of fantasy football over the last five years. There are YouTube channels, there are Instagram channels, there are blogs, there are podcasts. There are so many different mediums in which you can express that one unique thing you bring to the industry.

[Mike Wright]

Also remembering this is an entertainment field. You need to entertain. Yeah, I think that's really.

[Andy Holloway]

You're not wrong.

[Mike Wright]

That's an important piece that can be easily looked over.

[Andy Holloway]

Twitter, Ale bonding. Lots of questions like this one as well. Probably one of the more frequent ones we get as well. Do you guys have other jobs or is this Your only job?

[Mike Wright]

Mr. Ale Bonding. Thank you for your question. This is it. This is our full time job.

[Andy Holloway]

We are and has been for a while.

[Mike Wright]

As the kids say, hashtag blessed.

[Andy Holloway]

And somehow I feel worse now.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's a little tongue in cheek, but legitimately we feel extremely fortunate every day that it's probably once every few weeks we have the moment where you're like, guys, this is, this is our job.

[Andy Holloway]

We're sitting in a room with a cardboard bear.

[Mike Wright]

So.

[Andy Holloway]

But Paul Giamatti running the switchboard.

[Mike Wright]

But the past four years, this has been our only job.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And that, you know, we don't take it for granted for looking at it four years later. We want this to maintain and build and keep the relationship with you guys strong. And so that means, you know, we're in it. We're all the way in. I sometimes people build a relationship with the show and they're like, just please, please don't, don't go. Do something else or don't go. We don't have any ambitions to do something other than what we're doing right now.

[Mike Wright]

So that's right.

[Andy Holloway]

Doesn't mean life doesn't change. But this is our passion, is what we love doing.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So do you want to ask the next one?

[Mike Wright]

The next question is from Joe Calderon says who does the voiceover for your segment drop intros.

[Andy Holloway]

This is a very common question, by the way. The segment drop intros for both this show and the Spitball.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, that's a professional transition where if this.

[Andy Holloway]

So if you're not listening, you know, you got two shows right now, now that the fantasy season is over. If you're not listening to the Spitballers podcast, like, if you like us talking about something, which is what we do on this show. I think we talk about nothing on the Spitballers podcast.

[Mike Wright]

We talk about absolute ridiculous scenarios.

[Andy Holloway]

And that's a once a week show.

[Mike Wright]

And if you didn't get it drops on Mondays. This we also do then a fun draft of random stuff into to tittleize the appetite and the imagination. This past draft we did was all about us being in a grocery store in a fight to the death using only the food around us.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. A food fight to the death. So if you want to check that out, the segment, all the segments have a little different vibe to them.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

But that's the Spitballers podcast. But who does the voiceover Mike? We'll never tell.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. We did say ask us anything, but we didn't say we would answer everything. That's one of the trade secrets that Mr. X. He says we shan't reveal him.

[Andy Holloway]

I want to imagine it's kind of like, you remember the Fifth Element movie, where they have the little multi pass, the little creature on the desk of Zurg or whatever his name is. Do you remember this?

[Mike Wright]

His animal.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, his little animal.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I want to imagine we have just kind of like this secret guy in a box that just comes out. He just comes out and does our intros and then goes back in the box. It's a creature.

[Mike Wright]

It's actually Jason's child.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, it's his son.

[Mike Wright]

He's got a very manly voice for his very man.

[Andy Holloway]

He's. What is he, eight years old? Yeah. Instagram question from Jack Becker or the Jack Becker. I don't want to get confused. Oh, he said at Footballers dad, which is my Instagram handle. Wondering if your daughter is adopted. Assuming that she is. And then how was the adoption process? Asking for a friend? Yeah, my wife and I, we did adopt our daughter. We were there the day she was born, so the experience was unique as I could ever imagine. You know, we have two older boys and our daughter's adopted, and the process is a whirlwind. Anybody out there who's been through it, obviously there are a lot of different ways that adoption happens, through foster care and through the state and through private adoption and those type of things. This person's asking for a friend because he says that the wife and him would like to adopt over the next year or two. My wife and I simply had a passion for mothers out there that are in difficult situations and have made the brave decision to give up their child to adoption. And that's how kind of. We always had that passion from the time we got married and knew we wanted to adopt. And so that's kind of what that came out of. So, yeah, it's. It's. It's an experience. Every one thing. I know because we have a lot of friends that are in foster care that work with adoptive parents. I've never heard an adoption story that's the same as the. As somebody else's. They're all very, very unique when it comes to the relationship with the birth parents and the circumstances surrounding them. So definitely a whirlwind. I probably can't remember all the details anymore.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

But we're very, you know. You know, we're very thankful for the opportunity we have to adopt, so. Instagram question from Cody Newman. Opinions on auction drafts. Just general opinions on auction drafts.

[Mike Wright]

They are long. Very, very long. If you thought your fantasy draft, your Snake draft, was long, buckle up if you're going to do an auction draft. They're. They're fun. I like the aspect that you can get anyone. That's the biggest downside of the Snake draft is if you have picked number eight in the first round, you know, five players that are literally impossible for you to get, and that can be a big bummer. That's what auction drafts opens up. It's gaining popularity. It's still not my favorite way. I don't. I just. I really like the. The idea or the snake draft of playing the game of who's going to come back to me getting infuriated when a player gets taken right before you or you being the one who infuriates someone else because you draft a player.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know if my passion for auction drafts gets watered down by being in a lot of leagues as opposed to, like, if my only league was an auction draft, I might be all about it every year.

[Mike Wright]

Auction people.

[Andy Holloway]

That's what I was gonna say. If you like oxen out there, you love auction. It's like board game people, right? You ever met a board game person? They don't just kind of like board games.

[Mike Wright]

You be careful.

[Andy Holloway]

Board.

[Mike Wright]

Talking about catan.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

I love me some catan.

[Andy Holloway]

Settling in. Oh, but I like auction draft.

[Mike Wright]

I'm the king of the sheep.

[Andy Holloway]

Unique, but we live in the redraft world, right? And the Snake draft. Snake draft. I mean. All right, Mike Brenland wants to know, where does that. Now, it's not ungodly.

[Mike Wright]

It's.

[Andy Holloway]

Where does that godly 5 drop come from? So people don't know where that's from. So surprising.

[Mike Wright]

The origin story of that. My background, I don't know if you can tell. I'm a little bit rock and roll. I've been known.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm a little bit country.

[Mike Wright]

I've been known to get down with the rock. I'm a big fan of especially classic rock. And not that Van Halen is classic rock. Sammy Hagar left Van Halen, of course, and he's very famous because he cannot drive.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I can't.

[Mike Wright]

55. And I just. And I just would. I was reminded of the song anytime the number would come up. So I just started singing it and more and more. And it got to the point where it was, yeah, we got to have a drop for this.

[Andy Holloway]

So that's really all it takes here on the show. It doesn't. It doesn't take much there's no formal process.

[Mike Wright]

Remember when we were talking about not being professional on a podcast?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. We might not be for everybody.

[Mike Wright]

Well, speaking of unprofessional, this one's from Twitter. Ryan Kohler says, why do you say Michael Thomas the way that you do?

[Andy Holloway]

Are you talking about Michael Thomas?

[Mike Wright]

That is. That would be the one.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't remember.

[Mike Wright]

I know. You started it.

[Andy Holloway]

I did. I think. I think we say Michael Thomas that way because we said Michael Thomas that way one time.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

That's normally how those things start. So at one point in time, it was Michael Thomas like you were.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe we're just trying to speed through it.

[Brooks]

Is there something Silicon Valley related that or is that different?

[Andy Holloway]

Michael Thomas.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no, that was okay. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I miss Mad Asia.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah. Love Oziota.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, here's a question. Jackie Thorpe, did any of you play football in school? I can say definitively, even without Jason being here, no.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

None of us played football in school.

[Mike Wright]

However.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, Big. However.

[Mike Wright]

Big, however, is we dominated the rec scene as early 30 year old playing flag football.

[Andy Holloway]

That's correct.

[Mike Wright]

On the community fields. We even took down.

[Andy Holloway]

I might have been late 20s during that period.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I don't remember. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Probably early 30s.

[Mike Wright]

But we have played many, many seasons of the flag football.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Yeah. We've had a lot of fun.

[Mike Wright]

So we know what we're talking about.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, that's eight on eight, full blocking. All right, so we've had people tear acls.

[Mike Wright]

We have had many surgeries.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So if you want to come at us with the. Well, you never play. You get out of my face.

[Andy Holloway]

We've had some.

[Mike Wright]

Because I've played flag football.

[Andy Holloway]

We've had some industry people come out and play with us.

[Mike Wright]

We have. Remember what TJ.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, we had TJ and us come out.

[Mike Wright]

4 for 4 came in. He was a lot better than us.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

He's young and fit.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm the quarterback, by the way.

[Brooks]

I came out to watch you guys play.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. What'd you think?

[Brooks]

And then I knew that it wasn't for me.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Brooks]

I couldn't handle it.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

The moment.

[Andy Holloway]

Brooks is the real independent, unbiased voice here.

[Mike Wright]

The moment I knew sports were not for Brooks, we had a. When he first got into town and we were trying to get the year of health going on.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And he was brand new to the area. Wanted to get him included in our routines.

[Mike Wright]

Like, Brooks, come on out. We're going to do some 2v2 basketball.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, God bless your heart.

[Mike Wright]

And I Mean, I'm not good. Andy and Jason are both very good at basketball. I'm terrible. Brooks is not as good as I am. And by the end, no, look, I'm confident I could beat Brooks.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. All right, me too.

[Mike Wright]

But by the end. I've never seen a man transform from. Brooks is a. He's a mid great Midwest. Got that pasty white skin. His skin looked like he was the devil. It was so red. He was so gassed, it seemed like he couldn't function.

[Andy Holloway]

And then you gave it your all, didn't you?

[Mike Wright]

And then we.

[Andy Holloway]

A year's worth of effort into one game.

[Brooks]

That's the only time I came and.

[Mike Wright]

We set up the next one and the. Brooks, like, nah, I'm out, guys.

[Andy Holloway]

Here on out.

[Mike Wright]

I'm done.

[Brooks]

You guys. You guys were afraid I was insulted or you hurt my feelings or at some point or something.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Dunked on you. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So, no, we played a lot of flag. None of us played football in high school. I don't think any of us played well. Jason played some basketball in high school.

[Mike Wright]

I did nothing.

[Andy Holloway]

And I played baseball.

[Mike Wright]

I did nothing in high school. It was great. I played a lot of video games. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

James Fisher has a question from Twitter.

[Mike Wright]

Oh.

[Andy Holloway]

Have you ever. Have you ever worn makeup for your videos? You're darn right we've worn makeup for our video.

[Mike Wright]

On the reg. Get in here. What is it? This is. And we get the good stuff, too.

[Andy Holloway]

They're not sponsored.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Not a sponsor. This is because we. We're told it was good.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Our extensive knowledge up front, Mac. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Let me.

[Andy Holloway]

We're very glistening. It's. It gets hot in here. And we've been told that we need to put powder on our foreheads, so that way we don't reflect. We have the light back into the YouTube cameras. But that. I mean, if you're on video, you.

[Mike Wright]

Got at least powder up. Nothing wrong with that.

[Andy Holloway]

Nope, nope. You can tell every once in a while, Jason, or one of us will forget. And you can tell you'll be shiny. It's like the bat signal off the forehead. All right, Instagram question. Which one of you has the weirdest hobby? So that's a good question. Like stamp collecting or magic tricks or Lord of the Rings fandom. Weirdest hobby. I have realized since I've become a father that my hobbies are few and far between. Unfortunately. Like, I don't. There's never, like, a downtime where I'm like, man, I'd love to start building.

[Mike Wright]

Models right before the show and before children. I lost. Lost is way too strong. I enjoyed like a year and a half to two years of World of Warcraft, which you would call a weird hobby if you don't. If you've never experienced the talons.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, you play guitar. That's not a weird hobby. It's a normal hobby. My wife and I guess by extension I get shared in with this weird.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, this one's weird.

[Andy Holloway]

So my wife became a green thumb about three years ago and just started buying plants. And my house is filled with plants. Well kept plants. That's not the weird part, but that's not the. I'm just trying to.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, set the table.

[Andy Holloway]

You don't go straight into raising frogs.

[Mike Wright]

That's not the weird part.

[Andy Holloway]

But we do have a biosphere, little tank in our house. And we have poison dart frogs in this. In this thing. And we've got, you know, the three kids that love the frogs. But really my wife loves the frogs more than anybody else.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. But you got to talk about what's in the laundry room.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, well, you do. We also have a bearded dragon. And then there's the laundry room, which has some of the things bearded dragons got to eat. A bearded dragon's got to eat. So gotta eat. In the laundry room is where my wife grows cultures, different small insects to feed these creatures.

[Mike Wright]

There are. There is a bucket of cockroaches.

[Andy Holloway]

That is another way to put it.

[Mike Wright]

It's terrifying.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Yeah. That hasn't left Mike since he found out about.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Brooks]

And I like bowling a lot.

[Andy Holloway]

Brooks likes bowling. Do you still bowl, Brooks?

[Brooks]

Not. Not as much as I'd like. Not in the regular.

[Andy Holloway]

I will crush you.

[Mike Wright]

Oh. Footballer's bowling its own.

[Andy Holloway]

We really need to do that. And I will not crush you. But I like competition a whole lot, so we got to do that.

[Mike Wright]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Fat Tommy. Fat Tommy won.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

You know what Fat Tommy won reminds me of? For no reason? Tony Meatballs.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man.

[Andy Holloway]

If you're out there listening and you go back long enough to remember Tony Meatballs.

[Mike Wright]

Or if you're Tony.

[Andy Holloway]

Or if you're Tony Meatballs. When we had the voicemail hotline, one of the first callers on the regular was a guy named Tony Meatballs.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

And he would call in with fantasy questions. Always great questions. Yeah. I just hope you're out there and you're okay. Tony, you know, Eddie Spaghetti. Tony Meatballs, I need you back. What is the best way of kicking someone out of your league that is a friend all right, this is a tough question from Fat Tommy. We talk so much on this show about building a great, strong league and that one or two bad owners ruins the league for everybody else. What do you do? How do you kick? How would you go about that, Mike? I know you'd never kick me out because I'm tremendous.

[Mike Wright]

No, you're a fantastic addition to the league. Kicking someone out, it's. It becomes difficult when they are seemingly all about the league. The couple people that we've had to move on or retire from our league of record. I mean, it was. The writing was on the wall and it was. They had a. They had a foot out already. They just needed the permission.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

To us.

[Andy Holloway]

To be like that is the case sometimes.

[Mike Wright]

Do you really have the time and the passion and energy? And each time we've had to have that uncomfortable conversation, they've all said, yeah, you're right, I probably shouldn't be in the league anymore. So it's. It's been gentle and for us and we've maintained the friendship. But kicking out your friend who likes to be in the league, but they just are a poison for the league.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, most of the time you just gotta level with them and keep the conversation to the league and why it's important. Sometimes you might just need to leave them in the league if they're a really close friend. I'm not saying under every circumstance you kick out an owner that's inactive. It might be more important to you.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe they improve once you have a conversation of like, look, this game is dumb, I get it. But we take this very seriously. And if you're going to play with us, we need you to take it equally as serious.

[Andy Holloway]

And I've got a. There's a magic. There's a magic trick to be had in this situation. A little stepping stone to saving any awkwardness.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

It's called the co owner. If you can get that person, maybe they're not as active and you can just kind of ease in and say, noticed that you weren't really active. We're trying to get really active owners. Is there any way that you'd be willing to do a co owner situation, stay in the league, but then have somebody to help out manage the interesting. Right. Could happen.

[Mike Wright]

Interesting.

[Brooks]

Kind of like what you guys are saying, the expectations need to be made clear during the season to everybody.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, and that's where like creating some sort of doc or something where you're saying, hey, here are the basic rules or tenants of the league. It doesn't have to be some like 30 page document. It can be like five really important things about the league. You know, you're always doing this. If this doesn't happen, then this happens. You know, you just want the league to be fun for everybody, especially if there's leagues with money involved.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Instagram from Hyrule.

[Mike Wright]

So, like I was earlier in this show we had someone asked which a very nice question, but it's clearly specifically for Andy. Only Andy can answer the story about adopting his daughter. Then Hyrule comes in here with this question and I've. I'm triggered. I feel attacked.

[Andy Holloway]

Why is that, Mike? Because this is a very open question. Anybody could be the answer. The question is simply who has the biggest head?

[Mike Wright]

Because it's me. It's me. And it's.

[Andy Holloway]

You've accepted.

[Mike Wright]

I've accepted the large cranium that I have. It's mine. It's the only one I've got.

[Andy Holloway]

There's a running joke based in reality on this show where Mike, when we go to these different events, conferences, live shows, whatever, look the full take a picture.

[Mike Wright]

There's the rule about the camera adding 10 pounds, but a photography camera adds 3 pounds to only Mike's head.

[Andy Holloway]

His head looks twice as big as everybody else's head in all pictures.

[Mike Wright]

It makes no sense.

[Andy Holloway]

And the thing I'd be worried about, Mike just being honest with you, leveling with you.

[Mike Wright]

It's not the tumor, is that the.

[Andy Holloway]

Older you get, from what I see, it's getting bigger in Hollywood, Your ears and your head, they just get bigger. So we're talking John Travolta level head. We're talking.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you could get there.

[Mike Wright]

Am I going to get that Aikman head?

[Andy Holloway]

You could get the Troy Aikman head.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no.

[Andy Holloway]

So I'm sorry.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no.

[Andy Holloway]

At some point you're probably going to have to cut your hair back just to try to reduce the perception of your head. It's tough. It's a tough situation. It's clearly Mike, though, right, Brooks? No questions. No questions.

[Mike Wright]

Do they do like skull shaving? Skull shaving? Just thin it out a little bit.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, my God. Yeah. Mike's under. Mike's out this week. J. Gray's filling in.

[Mike Wright]

He's getting his skull reduced. Complications, except for two months from his skull shoot.

[Andy Holloway]

No, we're doing more industrial, like magic style stuff with you. We're going to have the cameras just a little. You're going to sit back in your chair a little bit. This is like how they did Lord of the Rings with the hobbit stuff, you need camera angles to get your head smaller. Oh, man. That's all right. Facebook. Adam has a question. He wants advice on adding on a dynasty team to an existing league.

[Mike Wright]

That's really hard.

[Andy Holloway]

You got dynasty team is loaded up with players everywhere. How do you add on to an existing league?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man.

[Brooks]

So you're probably having to add two teams.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you have to add the two because you have. You want the teams to be even so somebody's not on a bye week every week. It's. It's messy, it's complicated. But I feel like the best solution I've heard, I've never experienced it, but the best solution I've ever heard for a dynasty is that everyone gets to protect six players or whatever, depending on your roster size, from their own roster. And then the two new teams get to do an expansion draft from the existing teams.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And I think that's the only way that you can really do that successfully. I mean, you have to have. You know, there's just nothing on the waiver wire in the majority of these dynasty leagues. Those teams have no chance if they're not drafting from the existing pool. So some sort of protected. I mean, it's much like they do. You know, they do expansion drafts on professional leagues.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Where you protect a certain amount of players and then the rest are eligible for draft picks, and then those players probably alternate picks. And, you know, it's doable. It's not impossible. We expanded a dynasty league from 10 to 12.

[Mike Wright]

It was a keeper league.

[Andy Holloway]

Keeper league. I mean.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And we did that via draft pick organization and stuff like that. All right, let's go to this one. Comes in from Twitter. Brooks 2020 at Brooks the Judge.

[Mike Wright]

Wait a minute. That's real.

[Andy Holloway]

That's real. There's a Brooks the Judge.

[Mike Wright]

No, there's not Brooks.

[Andy Holloway]

How's that feel?

[Brooks]

It's interesting.

[Mike Wright]

Is this related to you at Brooks the Judge? Well, it's a avatarless. If this was the patron, I like.

[Andy Holloway]

How he said it has to be as though there couldn't be one person that's a judge in the world named Brooks. That's great. We did our lives revolve around this.

[Mike Wright]

I changed my answer of who's got the biggest head.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Well done. All right. If you started a band together, what would the band name be and what instruments would you play? I could tell you this. I'm playing guitar. Mike, I know you're a better guitarist, but you can play bass.

[Mike Wright]

That's fine. My heart is I'm a bass player.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. And I can only play slap it to bass. I can play, like, a chord progression.

[Mike Wright]

On the old acoustics, a little GCD action.

[Andy Holloway]

I can get 1, 4, 5, getting to the ace and the. You know, the. The D minors.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah. Oh, minor and major.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Now we're talking.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Josh Rosen. Here we go. Jason. Can he keep a tune? Is he. Is he more of a symbols guy?

[Mike Wright]

I feel like he's.

[Andy Holloway]

Do we give him the triangle? He's the cowbell.

[Mike Wright]

He's the weirdest. And it's. It's a documented fact that drummers are just weird.

[Andy Holloway]

So that works.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. We'll put him on the drums. We'll be a three piece.

[Andy Holloway]

How soon till he drops the drumstick?

[Mike Wright]

I mean, that's really factoring the clumsiness.

[Andy Holloway]

Three quarters of the song has no.

[Mike Wright]

Drums because they're weird. But they're also some of the most coordinated people you've met.

[Andy Holloway]

Right? That's the problem. You might need to move them on to something a little.

[Mike Wright]

We'll put him on the drum machine. He's hit the play. He's the dj. He's DJ Moore.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, DJ Moore.

[Mike Wright]

And he's like these people who are like, I'm a dj.

[Andy Holloway]

We got there.

[Mike Wright]

I got an Apple playlist. We got.

[Andy Holloway]

I got an Apple play. He can handle that. Okay, dj. We need a band name, though. Wow. I mean, that's a tough one. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Off the top of your head, coming up with a funny band name is.

[Andy Holloway]

Big Benny and the Jets.

[Mike Wright]

Big Benny?

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know.

[Mike Wright]

Who's Big Ben? Are you Big Benny?

[Andy Holloway]

No, that's. Well, you are the Big Head.

[Mike Wright]

Oh.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know, Brooks, if you think of a good band name for us, throw it out there. Okay. All right, I. You probably won't. Where can I buy this season's nickname T Shirt? That's from Brad. The nickname T Shirt is in the works. It's basically done. It is not online. Mostly because of my fault. Yeah, it should be up. It's done. The shirt is done.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. Shopballers.com is where you will be on.

[Andy Holloway]

Shopballers.Com if you ever want some footballers gear.

[Mike Wright]

You want to rock that out. You want to be repping the fly out there.

[Andy Holloway]

Here are the names on the shirt. Booty Scoot and Cam Newton. Mr. Be All Hot Locket, the Infinity Stone, Donald Schwarzenegger, Red Dead Dixon, Josh Stallion, Jared Garf, Fitness Consigliere, Tariq the Dinosaur Hunter. Mark Waltenberg and Carry On, My Wayward Son. Those are the ones on the shirt, and they're coming out. How often do you guys. This is from Katie Hill.

[Mike Wright]

You got to read that.

[Andy Holloway]

Handle at Hiding from my Kids.

[Mike Wright]

I love it.

[Andy Holloway]

Aren't we all?

[Mike Wright]

I love it.

[Andy Holloway]

How often do you guys decide on nicknames beforehand? And how often do they randomly spill out of your mouths during the show?

[Mike Wright]

I don't know if we've.

[Andy Holloway]

I think there might have been one time you mentioned that you had a nickname in mind, but you didn't tell us.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

I think every nickname from all the shirts and seasons. The rest have come on the show.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And they're just spur.

[Andy Holloway]

Can't even remember which one you thought of beforehand. It might. It might be none. It might be none of them. So most often the moments on this show and the nicknames on this show happen on this show.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

So that's. That's what makes them great. You never know they're coming. That's why they're legitimately surprising us. Like the funky news drop, which.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, we're going back to that. Next question. Twitter. Zach Williamson cuts 13. Do you get starstruck interviewing players?

[Andy Holloway]

Do you get starstruck interviewing players?

[Mike Wright]

The first few times, it was terribly odd. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know if starstruck's the way I would describe it, though. It's a little intimidating. And people have different agendas. Like, some of our interviews have been a process of, like, a media day. Right. Where they're going from interview to interview, and you're just kind of getting it done. Others have been less like that, more personal. Yeah. So certainly been intimidated by that, especially earlier on when we hadn't done it a lot and we wanted to do right by the interview.

[Mike Wright]

Interviewing people is definitely a learned skill over time.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean, because you will interview them much worse when you are paranoid and afraid and you have a laundry list of questions and things like that. You need to be able to react to them.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Melvin Gordon was a very large man.

[Andy Holloway]

That's just a statement. Melvin Gordon was a very large man. Was a very large man indeed.

[Mike Wright]

He looked like a superhero.

[Andy Holloway]

Bigger head than you.

[Mike Wright]

Slightly bigger biceps.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, okay. Than you.

[Mike Wright]

Slightly.

[Andy Holloway]

Slightly. Yeah. Well, it was funny.

[Mike Wright]

Calves are the same, though.

[Andy Holloway]

Didn't we see we interviewed Ronald Jones and then Melvin Gordon the next day.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And kind of got the. Got the understanding of, like. Okay. That's why they say Ronald Jones is undersized. Or that's why they sell Melvin Gordon's humongous. Yeah. That's interesting. How many leagues is too Many John Martin wants to know.

[Mike Wright]

It's all in the eye of the beholder.

[Andy Holloway]

It really is for us. There's levels of leagues, I think we have like 3, 4 that we super focus on, that we're all in on, and then other ones that we kind of share together when we're in industry leagues or things like that.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's up to you. For me, three is kind of the magic number of leagues that I can hit the waiver. I can hit Tuesday at night on the waivers and not go, ah, crap, I got to do this league, too.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, last question here on today's AMA. Appreciate everybody sending them in Instagram question from Pat Figueroa. 7. What's our Instagram handle so people can go follow footballers?

[Mike Wright]

Andy snuck his in earlier.

[Andy Holloway]

So you did. You mean footballer's dad on Instagram?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. You should also follow at Fantasy Hitman on Instagram. It's either one, they're great accounts or both, they're Grammys.

[Andy Holloway]

They're so wonderful. What is your favorite type of league? Redraft, keeper or dynasty? You had to. You had to pick one to play the rest of your life, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

I would go with the keeper.

[Andy Holloway]

The nice balance of.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, keeper is my favorite. Dynasty will be my second favorite. And redraft is still great, but if I got to order it, it's third.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'm with you on that, actually. And I. What's nice about a dynasty league is I feel like, you know, if you told me I had to be in three keepers or three redrafts, that would be less attractive than spreading those out. Because dynasty, you don't have to have that big formal, you know, draft day. You've got your rookie draft. You can focus on the draft in the keeper league or the redraft league. It's nice. It's a nice compliment. All right, that is it for today's show. But before we leave, pristine deal of the day. Yeah, that's so endearing. As is this offer.

[Mike Wright]

If it doesn't bring a smile to your face, you don't have a mouth.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Mike Evans signed Buccaneers jersey on pristine auction.com yesterday. It sold for $77.40. Who do we have on the wall today?

[Mike Wright]

Not Mike Evans. Good work, Brooks.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, gosh. All right. Mike Evans signed Buccaneers jersey. Hundreds of daily auctions. Pristineauction.com. thank you.

[Mike Wright]

We have a Todd Gurley up there making the account for Pristine Auctions free. We love those guys.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you're going to hear about it because there's a Pristine deal of the day. Every single day. All right, that is it for today's episode. Thanks for hanging out with us. Kind of a fun different show today. Back with the Truth episodes next week. Jason will be back. Going to dive in. Going to be fun.

[Mike Wright]

See you next week, Foot Clan. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on TwitterFFballers.