HOUR 2 - Rockets NEED a Good Offseason + LeBron Watch + Who Goes Worst to First?

Summary

Payne & Pendergast — HOUR 2: Rockets Need a Good Offseason | LeBron Watch | Who Goes Worst to First?

Date: July 1, 2026
Hosts: Seth Payne & Sean Pendergast
Source: SportsRadio 610 / Audacy

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Episode Overview

In this hour, Sean and Seth dissect a critical offseason for the Houston Rockets, lamenting the team’s quiet free agency against an increasingly competitive Western Conference. The discussion shifts to the blockbuster news about LeBron James leaving the Lakers and explores the philosophical side of “happiness” in NBA free agency, as well as LeBron’s legacy in LA. Later, the hosts break down NFL teams most likely to go “worst to first” in 2026, drawing parallels with the Texans' own turnaround.

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1. Bobby Bonilla Day: The Power of Deferred Payments

[01:10 – 04:04]

• July 1st is celebrated as “Bobby Bonilla Day” in baseball, when the former Mets player receives his annual $1.193 million check, a deferred salary payout lasting through 2035.
• Sean marvels at Bonilla’s foresight, calling him “ahead of his time, man” [01:35].
• Seth argues for young athletes to “do something way too conservative with at least part of your [salary], that makes sure you’re set for the rest of your life.” [02:41]
  • Quote: “Just shut up and take your steady dose of how much per year?” – Seth [02:42]
• They share an amusing fantasy of Bonilla receiving his check from a “telegram boy on a bicycle” [03:38].

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2. Houston Rockets Offseason: Stuck Pressing Their Faces to the Window

[04:04 – 18:54]

Frustration with Rockets Inactivity

[04:04 – 06:02]

• The hosts evoke “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” comparing Rockets fans to Charlie peering in as other teams feast on offseason “candy.” [04:45]
  • Quote: “That’s what I feel like as a Rockets fan right now.” – Matt [05:01]

Fred VanVleet’s Knee Injury: Should Fans Be Worried?

[06:03 – 09:13]

• They discuss recent revelations about Fred VanVleet’s serious knee injury (ACL and both menisci):
  • VanVleet: “So my whole knee exploded. Right. But you gonna come back better, though, Wash for sure.” [06:20]
• Seth downplays the apocalyptic language, comparing it to media overreaction to past microfracture surgeries with Clowney.
  • Quote: “It’s unique to each individual injury exactly how bad it is.” – Seth [07:50]
• Conclusion: It’s wait-and-see, but VanVleet’s status clearly has influenced Houston’s point guard moves.

Additions: Point Guard Depth and Marcus Smart

[09:14 – 11:49]

• Rockets have traded up to draft Bruce Thornton and signed Marcus Smart, moves exacerbated by VanVleet’s injury rumors.
• Both agree these were necessary moves even before the injury:
  • “They didn’t have good backup point guards last year.” – Matt [09:30]

Chemistry: From Contenders to Question Marks

[11:50 – 14:28]

• A year ago, post-Durant trade, Rockets were seen as legit title contenders (Vegas odds: +850). Today, those vibes are gone.
• Sean credits last year’s “amazing chemistry” but sees it now as deteriorated, replaced by uncertainty:
  • “That’s my biggest question about them now compared to a year ago is how much does this team like playing with each other?” – Matt [12:08]

Rising Competition: The Spurs Leapfrog Houston

[14:29 – 15:54]

• San Antonio’s lightning-fast rebuild (“HOV lane”) is a real problem for Houston.
  • “You’re not only nowhere near OKC, you’re not near San Antonio.” – Matt [14:41]
• Victor Wembanyama has exceeded all timelines, knocking Houston further down the West pecking order.

Offseason Disappointments: No Sizzle, Only Depth Moves

[15:55 – 18:54]

• Free agents and big names are vanishing: Giannis, Kawhi, Morant, Lamelo, with Jalen Brown the only star possibly available (and Rockets reportedly uninterested).
• “If you’re someone that was looking for some sizzle this offseason…it’s not going the way they drew it up when they traded for Durant.” – Matt [16:53]
• Odds are now +4500 to win the title, a stark fall from a year earlier.

Notable Moment

• Seth quips about sabotaging Wembanyama with jokes referencing old anti-French rhetoric in Texas [15:13].

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3. LeBron James Leaves the Lakers: Chasing "Happiness”

[20:40 – 29:39]

Breaking the News: Where Could LeBron Go?

[20:40 – 22:04]

• LeBron will not return to the Lakers; Brian Windhorst says LeBron is “looking for happiness, not money.”
  • Quote: “How do you define happiness? Well, how does anybody define happiness? It’s fluid.” – Brian Windhorst [21:34]
• Seth riffs philosophically, reading elements of happiness from ChatGPT: peace, meaning, agency, connection, gratitude [22:06].
  • “He literally has free agency. So, agency, one of the five factors here…” – Seth [24:24]

Odds and Scenarios

[22:05 – 24:57]

• Golden State is the favorite (-1000), with the Cavs (2:1), Celtics (8:1), Spurs (10:1), and Heat (12:1) trailing.
• Seth muses on whether LeBron would find “meaning” returning to Ohio or Miami.
• The Rockets are long shots at 66:1; hosts joke about LeBron accepting a mid-level exception to pair with Durant, questioning their fit.

LeBron’s Lakers Legacy: The Bubble Title and Fan Reception

[25:16 – 30:29]

• Jeanie Buss’s statement about the “toughest imaginable circumstances” of the COVID title becomes a target for Sean and Seth’s barbs:
  • “No, they had to go live in a luxury hotel and play basketball.” – Seth [26:30]
  • They argue all teams faced the same adversity; the bubble wasn’t an unfair hardship.
• They agree LeBron’s Lakers tenure falls flat emotionally:
  • “He’s way down on the mural, right?...He doesn’t even come close to the actual mainstay Lakers legend.” – Seth [29:33]
  • Lakers fans don’t consider LeBron “one of us”; his L.A. years felt like a “hired gun.”
  • “Just announcing, hey, I’m not coming back yesterday... that’s just not, you know, in general, especially when you compare it to Kobe... He has been a somewhat hired gun throughout his career.” – Matt [29:34]

Notable Moment

• Kendrick Perkins’ comical rant about Rich Paul ghosting him (“turtle head, snotty nose ass”) [31:12].
  • Quote: “He got used. Like, you’ve been calling me all year and now when I need you, where are you at? Yeah, you ghosted me.” – Matt [32:01]

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4. NFL: Which Team Can Go Worst to First in 2026?

[40:02 – 49:33]

Reviewing Candidates

[40:02 – 42:35]

• The “worst to first” trope, inspired by the Texans, is considered among last year’s 8 last-place teams: Jets, Browns, Titans, Raiders, Giants, Lions, Saints, Cardinals.

Most Likely: Detroit Lions

[41:32]

• Both hosts say Detroit, despite a tough division, is best-positioned, especially if they overcome losing OC Ben Johnson.
  • “They’re easily the best of those eight teams.” – Matt [41:32]

Dark Horses: Titans & Raiders

[43:33 – 47:03]

• Titans: Overhauled roster, potentially a defensive resurgence under Robert Saleh, and intrigue around QB Cam Ward.
• Raiders: Clint Kubiak’s offensive acumen could quickly improve their outlook, especially in a loaded AFC West.

Unlikely Flips

[47:35 – 48:48]

• Jets and Browns seem poised for continued struggles; Cardinals called a “train wreck” with little hope for a dramatic rise.

NFL Tanking & PR

• The hosts note some teams manage to “get away with being bad perennially, yet with people still crediting their approach and their process.” [48:19]
• Seth jokes about franchises successfully managing PR through rebuilding efforts.

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5. Fun & Viral Bits

[33:04 – 36:26 & 51:16+]

Social Media Fame: The Case of Freddie, the German Superfan

• Freddie’s viral US soccer “naivete” led to backlash and account deactivation.
  • “He’s kind of gone through the Arian Foster experience… in the early stages, you get nothing but the positive people, but the more notoriety you get, then the negative people jump in.” – Seth [35:25]

Escaping Tickets with NFL Coaches’ Contacts

• Seth claims to have a “foolproof” method: fake text chains in his phone with all 32 NFL coaches to charm football-fan cops [51:32].
  • “Cops are biting on dad jokes way better.” – Seth [52:19]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Enjoy your diabetes in the future. That’s how I’m trying to handle it.” – Seth, on being jealous of other NBA teams’ spending [05:05]
• “This is not going the way they drew it up when they traded for Durant.” – Matt [16:53]
• “It might not matter where he goes as long as he has that agency.” – Seth, on LeBron’s happiness [24:42]
• “Just announcing, hey, I’m not coming back yesterday... that's just not... he has been a somewhat hired gun throughout his career.” – Matt [29:34]
• “Cops are biting on dad jokes way better.” – Seth [52:19]

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 01:10 — Bobby Bonilla Day and athlete financial advice
• 04:04 — Rockets' offseason woes; free agency envy
• 06:03 — Fred VanVliet’s knee injury and implications
• 09:14 — Rockets’ point guard additions
• 11:50 — Chemistry lost: shift in team vibes
• 14:29 — Spurs’ leap and Rockets’ odds
• 15:55 — No big splash for Rockets, trade market dries up
• 20:40 — LeBron leaves LA, chases “happiness”
• 25:16 — LeBron’s Lakers legacy and the bubble title debate
• 31:12 — Kendrick Perkins’ comic rant
• 40:02 — NFL worst-to-first candidates breakdown
• 47:35 — Teams with no hope; tanking & PR strategies
• 51:32 — Viral plans: getting out of tickets with NFL “contacts”

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Tone & Style

The conversation is sharp, humorous, and banter-heavy, featuring relatable metaphors (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” for NBA envy), philosophical asides, and playful digs at NBA and NFL personalities. Sean and Seth blend philosophical pondering with inside-sports references, keeping the energy brisk and audience-engaged.

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For anyone who missed the episode, this recap covers every major storyline, notable zinger, and underlying subtext from an hour packed with Houston sports angst, NBA summer drama, NFL speculation, and plenty of friendly ribbing.

Transcript

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[Seth]

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[Matt]

All right, Pain and Pendergast with you on a on a Wednesday. Astros win last night. We'll talk about them a little bit more later. Six to four. If you, if you missed it, us playing in the World cup tonight. Lot going on for July 1st, by the way, July 1st also, Seth, this happens every year. It's a tradition like no other. Adam Schefter tweets. Happy Bobby Bonilla, Deferral day. Oh, Bobby Bonilla, former third baseman for the New York Mets, set to collect another 1.193 million from new York Mets today, as he will every July 1st through the year 2035. Bobby Bonilla, ahead of his time, man, he's probably the most famous deferral salary taker in the history of baseball.

[Seth]

He, to an extreme degree.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

Like even, even by modern standards, there's very few people that defer it as long as he's deferred.

[Matt]

He signed it like back in the early 90s with one of the things

[Seth]

that ended up breaking the family that owned the Mets. Yeah, they had like all these. It was remember because Benilla's. It was when they went bankrupt. I can't remember the name of the previous owners. When they went bankrupt. That was one of the things that people were curious about was like, oh, wait a second, is this going to affect money as payments and it did not.

[Matt]

It is not payments. It is not. But what a smart, not a great.

[Seth]

Look, look, people are going to tell you like, like when you factor in inflation, it's actually a dumb move. It's only a dumb move. It's only a dumb move if he handled all of his other money brilliantly. I always advocate young athletes.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

Do something that does. Do something that's way too conservative with at least part of your thing that makes sure that you're set for the rest of your life, you know, even, okay, oh, no, I didn't earn my maximum. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Just shut up and take your steady dose of how much per year?

[Matt]

1.193 mil. 1.2 million.

[Seth]

No, but the inflation, it's not that much. You got that? Then you can make as many mistakes as you want elsewhere and you're gonna be just fine.

[Matt]

Peace of mind is a big deal, man.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Matt]

Peace of mind of one point of a check. I'd like to think too, Seth, that back when he signed this deal, you probably. That was probably back in the time where you actually got a physical paycheck. I like to take the. Bobby Bonilla gets a check for 1.193 million or, you know, with taxes taken out or whatever. Whatever the net is. I like to think he walks out to the mailbox and gets that check on like, you know, July 3rd. It gets cut on the 1st.

[Seth]

I like to think of it as that. It's more he receives it. It's in his contract that like an old. A guy dressed up like an old time telegram boy has to ride up on a bicycle.

[Matt]

Yes.

[Seth]

Like an old timey bicycle with his hat on and everything. Yeah. And he rings his bell.

[Ad]

Yeah.

[Seth]

He hands Bobby Bonita the check.

[Matt]

That's something I would put in the contract for sure. Yeah. So. So congrats.

[Seth]

That's also being smart with your money.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

You can't put a price on frivolity.

[Ad]

You can't.

[Seth]

No.

[Matt]

Frivolity is big for the. For the Rockets. Not a real frivolous off season so far. I was thinking about this yesterday. I'm like, man, I'm trying to think of. I'm trying to think it's. Anything that's happened good for the Rockets so far this offseason. Only because as I'm sitting there yesterday at Avalon Diner, eating my omelet and I'm watching the news of free agency start to roll in here, the big one is LeBron James not going back to the Lakers. That was the. That. That was the big news yesterday, somebody not going back to their team. We'll get to that in a minute. But I'm like, man, I feel like as a Rockets fan, you're watching these trades go on, Seth. You're watching free agents, like, big ones are going to start either resigning or signing with other teams. And I feel like Charlie in the first 10 minutes of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, when he's got his face pressed up against the window and all the rich kids are inside, like, eating all the free candy. The candyman in there is giving them chocolate, and they're all got strings of hard candy, and Charlie's got his face pressed up like, man, that's what I feel like as a Rockets fan right now.

[Seth]

Enjoy your diabetes in the future. Yeah. That's how I'm trying to handle it.

[Ad]

Enjoy your diabetes.

[Seth]

I'm looking at all these other teams.

[Ad]

Yeah.

[Seth]

Enjoy your luxury tax issues and whatnot.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

We're being fiscally. We're running it back.

[Ad]

Yep.

[Seth]

We even put a hashtag in front of it. Everybody's working up about it.

[Matt]

That's right.

[Seth]

They were chanting it just randomly in the streets the other day.

[Matt]

Amen.

[Seth]

Down on Kirby.

[Matt]

Yep.

[Seth]

The Netherlands was doing their march or whatever, and a bunch of Rockets fans were assembled yelling, run it back. Run it back.

[Matt]

Couldn't quite hear it because of all the Dutch people, but yes.

[Seth]

Oh, and over the screams of Fred Van Vliet in his most recent knee.

[Ad]

Well, that's.

[Matt]

That's where I wanted to go. I. And I'm curious. I. There were three things that, to me, that just jumped right to front of mind as I'm watching the off season. And for the Rockets, I'm going to count the off season as the. The day they lost to the Lakers is when it started for the Rockets. That's when the. When there were still, you know, several teams playing in the playoffs. The Rockets were in their off season, the front.

[Ad]

Let's.

[Matt]

Let's talk about Fred Van Vliet first. So how do each of these things make us feel about the Rockets right now? Just to reset. This was Fred Van Vliet on his podcast saying that the. His knee injury was worse than we had initially heard.

[Seth]

Dr. Lowe did it. So I end up. And then what was up.

[Matt]

What.

[Ad]

What probably never was disclosed was I

[Seth]

did ACL and both meniscus. So my whole knee exploded. Right. But you gonna come back better, though, Wash for sure.

[Ad]

I've been.

I've been working.

[Seth]

I've been grinding low cold.

[Ad]

Okay.

[Matt]

He's Gonna come back as Dr. Lowe Cold.

[Seth]

I feel like saying that my knee blew up and then also just saying, yeah, Dr. Lowe's got me. I feel it puts a lot more pressure on Dr. Lowe than it should. Yeah. Than he is. If his knee did indeed blow up. I just. I do think. I think that Fred Van Vliet was speaking a little bit colorfully there, I hope. Now, depending on what his meniscus damage was to both menisci. Like, that could be really, really bad, or it could not necessarily be all that big a deal at all. It's kind of. Do you remember when Javion Clowney, remember, it was disclosed that he had micro fracture?

[Matt]

Yeah, I remember being like, this sucks. Yeah.

[Seth]

People freaked out. And I, like, it was really. It was an annoying year for me because I tried to explain to people, because I've been through a bunch of surgeries, that the micro fracture, it got a bad name because so many old athletes were trying to do it just to salvage their last couple years. So people would hear about a micro fracture, and it was usually with some 30 who's trying to get one or two more years. And they thought, oh, it never works out where. No, it's actually relatively common. It's just that you haven't heard it used in this context. So people thought the Clowney was done for back in 2015. He's still playing football right now.

[Ad]

Right.

[Seth]

So I think likewise with, like Fred Van Vlietz says his knee blew up. It's like it's meniscus damage, and it happens a lot. It's not all that uncommon, except that it's. It's. It's unique to each individual injury exactly how bad it is.

[Matt]

No, I get what you're saying. I'd rather not heard that from Fred Van Vliet, but I get what you're saying. Like, you're, You're. You're saying it's. It's quite possibly this is not anything to worry about.

[Seth]

Yeah, it might not. We just have no idea.

[Matt]

Right.

[Seth]

We don't have any clue right now.

[Matt]

We're just.

[Seth]

I mean, Fred Van Vlieto makes some bold statements at times. Yeah. Like. Like the spurs aren't. Haven't proven anything, which, you know, ultimately, I guess. Sure. They proved a hell of a lot more than the Rock.

[Matt]

That was a bad take by him. I forgot about that. Like. Yeah, like the. The spurs who ended up making it to the NBA Finals. So. But. But as far as this offseason goes, it's certainly not something that makes me feel Good. Hearing that from Van Vliet. And I think we're looking at the mo. The initial moves that have been made by the Rockets. One, I'll count the Bruce Thornton, the trade up to draft Thornton out of Ohio State, an older collegiate point guard, and now the signing of Marcus Smart.

[Seth]

I.

[Matt]

You know, on the one hand, you're like, oh, look, they're making all these moves for point guards. It's right after Van Vliet says this about his knee. I'm sure the team knew about the severity of his knee injury, the stuff we didn't know about it. But on the flip side, I'm like, well, yeah, this is what we were asking them to do, regardless. It was to go get some depth at the point guard position and not cobble it together anymore.

[Seth]

We'd want them to do that if you had traded for Antetokounmpo or just there was a bunch of moves that you have to do with or without a big move.

[Matt]

I think. I think even if we hadn't heard that cut from Van Vliet, these are things we would have wanted them to do. Like, they just. They didn't have. They didn't have good backup point guards last year.

[Seth]

Right. Yeah. They had no options. It's just, you were left and you did nothing about it. You just utilized like, oh, boy. Turns out we were in a really precarious position. Let's just stay exactly where we. In our. In our worst possible scenario. Yep. What do you think the. Just as far as. Just to frame it. Yeah. This year compared to last year? Because largely. Okay, let's say. Let's say for the sake of argument. Okay, Fred Van Vliet's going to come back and he's going to be just fine. You're like, okay, so how are they different now, if you, like, compared to a year ago or a little. Little less than year ago after they had traded for Durant.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

And let's assume Fred Van Vliet, for the sake of this exercise, is going to be healthy, like. And all of your young core of players are a year older.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

Like, where should they be? Should you regard them and if you could ignore everything that happened, you know, in the playoffs and everything. Yeah. Would you. Would you still say, okay, they've got just as much of a likelihood of winning the championship. No.

[Matt]

No. As we felt a year ago.

[Seth]

No.

[Matt]

I mean, it felt. Think about it.

[Seth]

So we. So were we dumb a year ago?

[Matt]

No.

[Seth]

Well, we were. Because if Fred Van Vliet had played the whole year, do you think that just there was no chance of them winning the championship?

[Matt]

No, no, no. So a year ago, I actually wrote about this for the Houston Press today. A year ago, we were 10 days removed from them trading for Kevin Durant.

[Seth]

Right.

[Matt]

A year ago we were talking about them being a legit NBA title contender, that they had this young core that all of a sudden ascended to the two seed. And you added Kevin Durant to that.

[Seth]

Right.

[Matt]

And now I don't feel that way at all.

[Seth]

I know you. Yeah, right. I know you don't feel that way now. But I'm saying, like, what if you. What on paper is different about this team now compared to then other than like. Like, if we just make that. Make that little leap and say, okay, if Fred Van Vliet's going to be healthy and play like his normal self this year?

[Matt]

Yeah, I get. I mean, I think they. On paper, the only thing different from a year ago is they just signed Marcus Smart.

[Seth]

It's the same team, and they're actually right. So we were errant and. Well, of course, no, because then Fred Van Vliet doesn't play. So, like. So you think. You think even if Fred Van Vliet had been healthy, that this team wouldn't have done anything impressive in the playoffs?

[Matt]

No, I don't. Because there, there, there became. Because Fred Van Vliet was around the team all year. This is where I'm going with this, Seth. My feeling about the biggest difference with this team now compared to a year ago. Everybody a year ago was talking about, oh, this chemistry is amazing. Boy, you blend in. Kd and he's getting along with everybody. There was a lot of chemistry talk with this team a year ago about how good things were, and somewhere along the way, it deteriorated. That was a big topic with the Rockets. So that's my biggest question about them now compared to a year ago is how much does this team like playing with each other?

[Seth]

Yeah. And I. And I guess some of that. It's always dependent on, you know, when things are going well on the court, it just tends to. Everything else tends to look a little bit better off the court. Yeah. And vice versa. There's a chicken and the egg dynamic I just want to like. So right now, The Rockets are plus 4500 to win the championship.

[Matt]

They were like plus 1500 a year ago.

[Seth]

They were. After the signing of Kevin Durant, they were plus 850.

[Matt]

Plus 850. So I was way. Yeah. So, I mean, they're the, the experts are saying eight and a half to one a year ago and they're saying 45 to one now.

[Seth]

Yeah, I mean it's a big difference and like a lot of it. And I, and I guess that's where I'm just trying to check myself that I'm not being drastically, you know, reactionary to just the fact that, okay, in the playoffs without Kevin Durant on the floor, without Fred Van Vliet the entire season without Stephen Adams, that yeah, you're going to, you're going to look like a drastically different basketball team and including during the regular season without. And I know we talk about it so much and we lived with it for so long, you feel like, okay, look, I can't just sit here and act like losing an above average point guard and Fred Van Vliet, but not a great point guard made that much of a difference. But it had a trickle down effect to every area of the roster. It did that. It's a drastically different basketball team without Fred Van Vliet. Yeah, you.

[Matt]

Yep. I think the big. To me, the other thing, you know, because I'll. So I'll cite the chemistry of the team and the question marks there. The other thing is, and this is another to me, another thing that, that is not broken the Rockets way this off season. And I'm defining the off season for the Rockets as the second they were eliminated from the playoffs. The San Antonio spurs got in the HOV lane when it came to their rebuild. Yeah, the Spur, like we most fans of Western Conference teams not named the OKC Thunder, thought, okay, that's, that's the team, that's the Dragon we've got to vanquish is okc. They won a title with a bunch of young guys and they've locked those young guys in for the next several years. As it turns out, Victor Wembanyama, who we knew this was going to happen eventually, that he was going to become this alien, it just happened. That whole thing, that whole core they put together with Castle and, and Dear, and I know Dear and Fox had a bad playoff, but that core they put together obviously focused on Wemby got great way sooner than anybody thought they would.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Matt]

And that's a problem for the Rockets. I think there are a lot of that, I think that's baked into them being 45 to 1 right now is they're not only nowhere near OKC, they're not near San Antonio. You got two teams you got to get. You just lost to the Lakers with no Luka Doncic, granted, without Kevin Durant. But I Think that's. To me, that's the biggest thing.

[Ad]

And.

[Matt]

And throughout the course of the season, not having a real point guard and then whatever was going on behind the scenes with this team, which was discussed enough around the league to make me think there was something to it. And we know the Burner account thing with Durant, that felt like there was something to that. That's the biggest question to me because on paper, with Van Vliet coming back, they're. They're very similar to what they were a year ago. But the feels on that, the vibes on them are just way, way different.

[Seth]

We might have three it in our own hands and just try to somehow sabotage Wembanyama in San Antonio. Yeah. Just make him demand a trade. At some point. You go back to bring a dream. Bring up a bunch of the old headlines about anti French sentiment after 9 11. We'll educate him about freedom fries.

[Matt]

Yes.

[Seth]

And San Antonio is leading the charge on calling them freedom fries instead of French fries. Yeah. Yeah, boy. This is where. This is where you want to represent your country.

[Matt]

Yes.

[Seth]

San Antonio.

[Matt]

Let's pull poison the water.

[Seth]

It's funny you said has always loved the French.

[Matt]

Yep. This is. This is how fast a track the spurs got on this year. You just mentioned the Rockets. Odds were what, eight and a half to one going into last season to win the NBA title.

[Seth]

On average.

[Matt]

Yeah, on average. The Spurs 65 to one. 65 to one. So people just weren't counting on that, you know, and I think that's a big thing. I think the other thing, too, if you're a Rocket fan, for some Rocket fans, I think there are Rocket fans that are cool with running it back and seeing what this team can do. But if you're a Rocket fan that was looking for a big swing this off season by the front office, the names are all flying off the board. You know, the Giannis to Miami, Kawhi to Toronto. I know there's a few Rocket fans out there that would have been interested in John Morant. I'm not one of them, but he went to Portland. Even Lamello Ball some would have been interested in. He went to Minnesota. Jalen Brown's the only one it feels like is still out there that's sort of a trade candidate. And reportedly the Rockets don't want Jaylen Brown.

[Ad]

So.

[Matt]

So. So if you're someone that was looking for some sizzle this off season, like some move to make it feel like they move the needle with this team and get off of being. There's like this is not going the way they drew it up when they traded for Durant. They're 45 to 1 to win the title right now.

[Seth]

Yeah. And. Well. And I think the signing of Marcus Smart pretty much precludes them going after Jaylen Brown, if only because. All right, they. They're hoping that Fred Van Vliet's gonna be the starter. They don't want to be caught with their pants down again this year if they don't have him. But now you've. Unless something weird happens with Fred Van Vliet, which I think, like, be actually impossible at this point.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

From a contract standpoint. Yeah. That's. They're going to run it back. Yep. It's funny, though. Their odds last year before they got Durant to win the championship were still better than where they are right now.

[Ad]

Yeah.

[Seth]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Matt]

I think. Because I think people were looking at the team going, okay, they got knocked out in the first round, but it was by Golden State, who had a lot of old heads on there with playoff experience. They went to seven games in that series, and the biggest thing was the regular season. They'd gone from being literally a.500 team the year before, when they were 41 and 41, to the 2 seed in the West. So I think it was easy to look at them and what were their odds, actually, what was the actual number?

[Seth]

It was before they were about 12 to 1.

[Matt]

Yeah, before the Durant. I mean, they were viewed as a kind of fringe contender before that trade. So. Yeah, yeah, that's. Boy, that is a 45 to 1.

[Seth]

Now, remember is the only thing about the. Jalen Brown. And again, okay, the reports are that the Rockets are. Don't. Don't want or have any interest in him. I went back and looked yesterday, and kind of leading up to the Durant trade, it was. In the few weeks before it, there were a couple of reports and anonymous sources that said that whatever interest there had been had cooled and that Durant actually isn't interested in. So I try to take all of those with a grain of. Of salt, but I just. It does feel. It doesn't feel like they're going to have to. Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart might be the most notable thing that happens.

[Matt]

They might be. That. That might be. Yeah, it might be the most notable pickup that they make. So. So that's kind of like the. Just things. Just. If you're a Rocket fan looking for some reason to believe that 45 to 1 to win the title is just flat out wrong, there's not been a lot that the basketball gods have given you to move off of that. It's just, it's unfortunate.

[Seth]

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[Seth]

The hallway?

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It only happens every four years, and this time it's here. The biggest tournament in the world. Stadiums shaking, flags waving. This is history and you want to be there. But real life can make it tough. Work busy schedules and the price. That's where Priceline comes in. Priceline has millions of deals on flights, hotels and rental cars so you can go see it live. So find a great deal and make the trip happen. Rally the crew. Go see the game live. Turn your dream trip into reality. Book now with Priceline,

have you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life? It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life? Because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough? Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming you. People think okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming youg wherever you get your podcasts.

[Matt]

LeBron James announced yesterday he will not be returning to the Lakers next season, but he is going to play next year. Will tell you who the favorite heavy favorite in the clubhouse is to land him. But this is Brian Windhorst of ESPN saying that LeBron is looking for happiness, not money. Rich Paul has made it clear that LeBron's number one priority for this season is happiness. Happiness. It's not money. So you don't. I mean, we're going to count the money. We're going to figure it out on the, on the salary sheets and whatnot. But it's not going to be necessarily who's got the most money to offer. So now you're going to your follow up question, Matt is, well, how do you define happiness? Well, how does anybody define happiness? It's fluid, so I'm not sure he's got his mind made up here. It may take him a period to decide what his happiness is going to be. And there's several teams that are going to probably try to present their version of what his happiness can be, and we'll see how that process plays out. There's something about Windhorst's squeaky voice talking about happiness that he's just trying to be happy.

[Seth]

Like we're all of a sudden got into a philosophy, YouTube or something.

[Ad]

Yeah.

[Seth]

Brian Winhorse or Alan Watts.

[Matt]

When I heard that, when I heard that cut and, and I heard Windhorse ask rhetorically, like, how does he define happiness? I'm like, oh, I can't wait to hear the answer. And then his answer was, how does anyone define happiness? How does anybody define happiness?

[Seth]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Matt]

Fair question.

[Seth]

I asked Chat, how do you define happiness?

[Matt]

What did the Chat tell you?

[Seth]

Chat told me I define happiness as a durable sense that your life feels worth inhabiting.

[Matt]

You think LeBron has that or you

[Seth]

think that's a little too low a bar for LeBron? I feel like LeBron feels like the entire world feels like his life is worth inhabiting and that he is the crown prince.

[Matt]

Yes.

[Seth]

So I, I think, I think he's got a higher bar than that. Okay, so peace, meaning connection. Yeah. Agency.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

And gratitude.

[Matt]

Okay. These are. What are this? The five elements of happiness that you're

[Seth]

reading to me right now. Some combination of these things. I think he'll be at peace, not at war with himself, as long as he goes to a team that's competitive.

[Matt]

Right, right, right. The favorite in the clubhouse is Golden State at minus 1,000. So 1 to 10. They're a, they're a heavy favorite to land him, but Sham Charanya says any contender could be in on LeBron.

[Seth]

Like Perk said, he just listed a couple teams.

[Matt]

Like Denver is a team that makes a lot of sense for LeBron.

[Seth]

I wouldn't rule any team that goes into next season that feels like it has a legitimate chance to contend and have interest in LeBron James as a suitor here because he's a free agent and so. And there's, there's not a ready made spot for him necessarily.

[Matt]

Okay. The other favorite, Golden State's the heavy favorite right now at minus 1,000. You got to risk. You got to risk $1,000 just to win 100 the other teams that are sort of, you know, hanging on the front, the Cavs are easily the next closest. For him to go back to his home state of Ohio and play for the CAVS again is 2 to 1.

[Seth]

And then the meaning, part of happiness.

[Matt]

That would be the meaning. Yeah.

[Seth]

Like your days connect to something you value.

[Matt]

Yep.

[Seth]

He values Ohio.

[Matt]

He does. He does. Yeah. Celtics 8 to 1. I don't know if any of these teams bring any of the elements you're talking about, Seth.

[Seth]

Celtics. I feel like, I don't know, that might be the gratitude. Maybe like appreciate that chance to play for that, that of the, like one of the old, old guards. He's had some of his in the NBA.

[Matt]

He's had some of his greatest games in his career against the Celtics in the postseason. I know that The spurs are 10 to 1 and then the Miami Heat would be the other homecoming. That would be 12 to 1 for the Miami Heat.

[Seth]

That would be meaning and connection. If you went to the Heat.

[Matt]

Yes.

[Seth]

Agency. He has like, literally. He has agency. Yeah, he literally has free agency. So agency, agency, one of the five factors here. You feel you have some say in your life. Yes, I feel like he has that 100% to an extreme degree, both in basketball and life.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

Yeah. It might not matter where he goes as long as he has that agency.

[Matt]

Um, if any contender could be in on LeBron. I was just like in my head, like, you know, just sort of fantasy booking this thing. Now the Rockets, for what it's worth, are 66 to 1 to land LeBron.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Matt]

Be kind of fun if the LeBron accepted like the mid level exception to come to come play here. I just, you know, I, I don't know that Durant is the superstar that people want to gang up with. I don't know how many, I don't know how many friends Kevin Durant has among that amongst that aging superstar ilk.

[Seth]

You know, that's the tough thing. It's like, all right, look, we knew, we didn't, we didn't expect Durant to come in and provide vocal leadership or anything.

[Ad]

Yeah.

[Seth]

But now I'm at a point where I'm actually entertaining the thought of, hey, maybe, maybe LeBron would really be able to get and motivate this 35 year old to be the best version of himself or this 37 year old. How are 38? How old's Durant now?

[Matt]

He's going to be 38. I think he was 37 last season. Yeah, yeah.

[Seth]

So, yeah, that's, that's. I It just doesn't feel like a good fit.

[Matt]

Can I tell you a pet peeve also of mine that. That is. It's in this statement from the. From Jeannie Buss to LeBron after LeBron announced he's not coming back to the lakers. It says, LeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in history. Okay. I have no problem with that. We will always be thankful for his eight years with the Lakers. Okay. Including the title he led us to in 2020. Sure. Under the toughest imaginable circumstances.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Matt]

Including the title he led us to in 2020. Under the toughest imaginable circumstances. These teams that won Covid championships.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Matt]

Acting like Covid was something thrust upon them and not everybody else.

[Seth]

Right, right. And that they had to go. No, they had to go live in a luxury hotel and play basketball.

[Matt]

There's players from the Lakers who've said it was easier to focus in the bubble.

[Seth]

Sean. It's all the. Remember the metrics we got from all the body tracking? Everything.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

But that was, like, the fastest version of basketball we've seen in the NBA, because guys were fresh. They were undistracted. Like, it was. If anything, while everybody else was locked up in there, like. And all the other people locked up in their own crappy apartments, some of them with spouses they despise.

[Ad]

Yeah.

[Seth]

Meanwhile. Yeah. The NBA players had to go live in a luxury hotel and play basketball. Those were the toughest possible imaginable.

[Matt]

With no travel, they were literally living in the Grand Floridian at Disney World. Like, it was. It was Bubbles in Orlando, right? Yeah.

[Seth]

Yeah, it was. No, no. Yeah. I count myself amongst the people that during the shutdown was like, oh, I've got no obligations to leave the home. This is awesome. Yeah. Yeah. You can miss me with. These were the toughest imaginable circumstances.

[Matt]

And I'm not even. And if you're accurate, I'm not even talking about whether it's true or not that it was tough. I'm talking about, like, yeah, the toughest imaginable circumstances for all the teams.

[Seth]

For all the teams. Exactly the same situation. Like, yeah, I. That's.

[Matt]

That is a pet peeve of mine. Because you know what? It is.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Matt]

The fact of the matter is that people don't view that title as a real NBA title.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Matt]

It was the only one that LeBron won while he was with the Lakers. In fact, LeBron had. LeBron had way more disappointing seasons as a team with the Lakers, and then he had seasons that met or exceeded expectations. There he Missed the playoffs a couple of times. He got knocked out of the first round three times out of the eight seasons he was there. So whenever teams do this, I always feel like it's them trying to prop up a title that nobody wants to prop up. Yeah, we won the COVID title. It was the toughest. I don't. You heard it was during a pandemic, like. Yeah, a pandemic that was not exclusive to the Lakers.

[Seth]

It was. Everybody was playing under the same circumstances.

[Matt]

Mad talking about it.

[Seth]

No, no, no, no. It, you know, I don't want to, I don't like putting asterisks on championships or anything. But for, by and large, you know, Lakers fans, if you had asked them in the year, let's say, let's say if you'd asked them just the beginning of 2019. Okay, what's your, you know, what's your expectation on number of championships that you're going to win over the next few years? Yeah, they probably would have 3, 4, 5.

[Matt]

Yeah, yeah. With LeBron they would have said multiple for sure. For sure.

[Seth]

There was. What LeBron did was led them from a period of what, six or seven years where they weren't in the playoffs at all. Yeah, he led them out of the dark and within a couple of years got him to an actual championship. But then after that, it's largely been a disappointment in terms of just what he's not going to be.

[Ad]

He.

[Seth]

I would guess in Lakers fans minds. Yeah, he's way down on the mural, right.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

He doesn't even come close to the, the actual mainstay Lakers legend.

[Matt]

No, no. Kobe, that. I put it out there on Twitter yesterday and did get some replies from Laker fans who kind of. Some said it in a gentle way, some said it but in a much more harsh way. It's just like, yeah, he's just not, he's not one of us is kind of what it was, you know, like he, he, he has been a somewhat hired gun throughout his career. I, you know, I know going back to Cleveland had some. Had some emotional feel to it, but it felt like, and I know it was eight seasons there, so he was there for a good long time. But you know, just announcing, hey, I'm not coming back yesterday was. That's just not, you know, in general, like, especially when you compare it to Kobe, who was there his whole career. Magic, who was there his whole career. Kareem, who was there in the second half of his career but retired a Laker.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Matt]

You know, Shaq might be the closest thing to LeBron because he played for so many teams, but Shaq is just beloved there.

[Seth]

Yeah, no, no. You did the old thing where you're like, hey, here's six guys in a boat. Which one are you pushing out? I think 99% of Lakers fans are shoving LeBron.

[Matt]

Yeah. And I'm not even bringing up guys like, you know, Jerry west and Elgin Baylor.

[Seth]

And guys, that's what I was wondering with Elgin Baylor. That would be the one that would test. That would test whether you're a ball knower or not. You're a 24 year old who's like. Who's kicking Elgin Baylor out of the boat. Yeah, you murderer.

[Matt]

Yeah. And he did go run the Clippers for several years right across town. This was funny yesterday. I. I'm still trying to find out why Kendrick Perkins was so mad at Rich Paul. LeBron James agent. This was Kendrick Perkins yesterday as the news was coming out that LeBron was not going back to the Lakers.

[Seth]

Rich Paul.

[Ad]

Okay. Rich Paul, little turtle head, snotty nose, ass called me all throughout the season. Every time I'm on tv, I get a text message from him. I've been calling them for two days now and he been ignoring me.

[Seth]

We got a problem.

[Matt]

Help me out. Text page. Why is Kendra. Is Kendra Perkins mad at Rich Paul? Because Rich Paul was kind of doing that thing where he's sort of using perk maybe with.

[Seth]

He was mad that, yeah, he couldn't get a hold of him when he actually needed him. He was kissing up. He was kissing up to Kendrick Perkins all season long. But then now when he would really like to maybe have a conversation or get some information or whatever, giving him the stiff arm.

[Matt]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[Seth]

That is kind of. It feels to me he's like, he's kind of calling him phony.

[Matt]

He got used. He sounds like he got used. Like, you've been calling me all year and now when I need you, where are you at? Yeah, you ghosted me.

[Seth]

I also feel like there's a 50% chance that Kendrick Perkins told Rich Paul he was going to say that. I don't know. His might be at work.

[Matt]

Wwe. Yeah.

[Seth]

Did you call him? What was the insult?

[Matt]

Snotty knows. Hey, Ben, can you play the beginning?

[Seth]

Rich Paul.

[Ad]

Okay. Rich Paul, little turtle head, snotty nose, ass.

[Matt]

Okay, rate that.

[Seth]

The turtle head. You know what? I kind of see it because there's always like Rich Paul has a lot of pictures. He doesn't smile in his pictures very often. And it's. There's one of Those cartoon. Cartoon turtles that always has kind of like a. It might have been from Looney Tunes. I can't place it. Who always had kind of a mopey look on his face. Everything. I think that's where he might be getting the turtle headed.

[Matt]

Okay. Okay. Did you happen to see that. That Freddie, German soccer superfan, shut down his Twitter account. You were spot on about this.

[Seth]

I guess. Yeah, I must.

[Matt]

He had.

[Seth]

I had seen something about how he had planned on shutting it down when all of this was over.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

And I thought maybe I just got. Maybe I got a bogus account. But they are within six hours of me bringing that up. He did actually shut down.

[Matt]

He shut down his account. And then I saw something that looked like a statement from him later on last night and I was out, so I forgot to bookmark it or whatever. But where he explained, like, didn't know it was gonna go this way on Twitter. It took longer than I thought for it to go this way. With Freddie.

[Seth]

Freddie, somebody actually found out his actual identity.

[Matt]

Well, I don't think found out his identity, but they found some tweets on his timeline from several years ago.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Matt]

Where he had actually been to the United States before.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Matt]

He'd actually eaten raisin canes before. You know, Freddie, the character of Freddie over the last couple weeks, this GE was. Was this kind of doe eyed, naive, roaming the countryside, foreigner here in America, seeing all that's good in America for the first time.

[Seth]

But I guess as I understand it, though, it's not like he ever claimed that this was his first time in America. I think people just assumed that.

[Matt]

Okay.

[Seth]

And he said he'd been to some of the big tourist destinations before, but he'd never just gotten out and amongst the people and out in the country and driven it all like the. Like he has before. So I, I stand by Freddie on that part of it. I don't think he was fraudulent in that regard.

[Matt]

Here's Freddie explains why he deactivated his account documenting his World cup travels. He said, hey, everyone, just want to let you know why I deactivated my account. I've seen multiple people post this. I'm assuming this is him, but it's social media, so I'm going to caveat here. He said, one, this was the plan all along, before we even started the World cup trip, deactivating it, as you just said. Two, too many people seem to have a problem with us having a genuinely good time here in the country. And this is ruining the fun a bit for us because we really just wanted to document our road trip and never expected that people would have a problem with it. People are digging in my 22,000 posts to find a handful of, in their opinion, controversial posts and post them without zero context to make me look like a bad person. He goes on to say several more things, but it's a combination. It sounds like Seth of him, A, planning to do that anyways, but B, also getting a real feel for what it's like to be an American icon. Which is getting built up to get torn down, right?

[Seth]

Well, no. And especially on social media, you know, it's almost like he's kind of gone through the Arian Foster experience. Remember Arian Foster when he first emerged, he was just like, oh, wow, this media darling. Everybody loved him and everything. And then as soon as Arian Foster maybe just spoke his mind about a couple of things, all of a sudden it just turned drastically and Aryan got very disenchanted very quickly because you do you see, like, oh, that was all just. You know what? It's tough because it wasn't all fake love. The problem is that in the early stages, you get nothing but the positive people. But the more notoriety you get, then the negative people jump in.

[Matt]

Oh, yeah.

[Seth]

And it's hard. It's hard because it feels like been one big wall of humanity when in fact, a lot of the positive people are still out there being positive, but they're shouted down by the extreme cynics and negative Nellies and whatnot.

[Matt]

Yeah, they're. They're. Yeah, it's just a way louder voice. Right? And it's a voice that. It's the louder voice and it's the one that makes you feel bad.

[Seth]

It's the one that gets your attention easily.

[Matt]

Yep, yep.

[Seth]

I saw, you know, Benjamin Solak when he was on Garrett Williams podcast. He was talking about how, you know, I was lucky. I got into. I was doing a lot of film analysis and everything on Twitter back before Twitter got so toxic. And I'm like, when was that? He said 2020. I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no. This is what happened. This is what happened. Ben Solak. It's when you have a certain number of followers, when you only have a few, it's a pretty fun place. It's like once you reach a tipping point of a certain. I don't know whether it's like 10 or 20,000 or whatever, all of a sudden, that's when it's like you can't say a single thing without. You can't go on and Tweet. I like dogs. Without somebody just somehow trying to call you a war criminal because of it.

[Matt]

Yep, yep, yep. That's why you got to stay out of your mentions, man. As best you can, stay out of your mentions. All right, so, so there you go. That's, that's the latest with Freddie the. The German super fan. All right, coming up next, let's circle over to football. Uh, NFL.com the eight last place teams last year we were part of one of these a few years ago. Texans did a worse to first under D'. Amico. Ryan's back in 2023 and they've been a good team ever since. Who's got the best chance of pulling one of it? Feels like one team does it every year. Who's got the best chance this year of the last place teams in the NFL to go from worst to first? We will. We'll dig into that coming up next.

[Ad]

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[Seth]

Now with Priceline, USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day like superheroes and

[Matt]

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[Seth]

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[Matt]

I've got ideas.

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[Seth]

Queen Carvania stood haloed by the morning sun. An army hung on her every word. My champions, I have sold my chariot on Carvana. Twas a lovely suv, an inexplicably queenly offer. They're even coming to the Castle to collect it.

[Matt]

Tonight we feast

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[Seth]

Pick up fees may apply. Hey y', all, Poodle and Maddie here from Reality Gays.

[Matt]

Grab your favorite thong because for the first time we're heading to the villa

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for the new season of Love island usa. I can't wait to watch Ariana Baby

[Matt]

Stephen at these shiny oiled up adults who I'm pretty sure aren't there for the right reasons. From the home wrecking bombshells to the absolute wreckage of movie night.

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Pull up a Dave Ed and join

[Seth]

us every Wednesday for all the Love Island USA drama.

[Matt]

Find Reality gays wherever you get your podcasts. Hi Pain and Pendergast. Good to be with you on a on a Wednesday. We'll get to the Astros at the top of the hour. All right, Seth, here are the teams in the NFL that finished in last place last season. You tell me which of these teams gut feeling has the best chance to do what the Texans actually did a few years ago, which is go from bottom of the barrel in their division to winning the division not once but twice. These were the eight last place teams. The New York jets, the Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders, the New York Giants, the Detroit Lions, the New Orleans Saints, the Arizona Cardinals. You got to pick, you got to pick one to go worst to first.

[Seth]

You know, a lot of times immediately I'd go to the weakest division and you know, so I would go immediately to the NFC south. And yet the, the NFC south is a weak division and yet has teams that are solidly mediocre in it that have some upside where you can see the Falcons or the Bucks perhaps over performing expectations that I just don't feel like the Saints are quite there ready to do that. So I'll kind of weirdly go with one of the stronger divisions and I think the Lions probably have the best chance at it.

[Matt]

They're easily, easily the best of those eight teams.

[Seth]

They're the best of those teams. They happen to be in a tough division, but you just look at the, the major players and they did have some losses like David Montgomery and whatnot. But really one of the biggest question marks is just that, all right, are they going to be able to figure out and overcome the loss of Ben Johnson, the offensive coordinator at some point? Ironically enough, he's in the division itself. Yeah, but I don't believe in the Bears and I don't believe in the Packers.

[Matt]

Right.

[Seth]

To the extent that I don't feel like, oh, none of those Teams are, you know, like, I don't feel like none of like that. That the other teams in the NFC north can't be supplanted.

[Matt]

Yeah. And the Saints too. I just know. I don't know if I'm ready to believe that Tyler Schuck is a division winning. Even in that division.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Matt]

That he's a division winning quarterback. So I'm with you on that. If it weren't the line, like, what's the next. Can you make any case? Because, you know, I'm citing the Texans from a few years ago doing it. They looked a lot more than like the jets and the Browns and the Titans and the Raiders.

[Seth]

And I think there's teams right now where some of the bad teams, some of them, you can look at them and say, okay, I think they're doing good things. Like the Giants. I think the Giants are doing good things. But even most sane and rational Giants fans right now would tell you they're really optimistic about the season and they expect them to win six or seven games. Right. You know, like, they really. They feel like they're all in on Harbaugh's kind of. We've got an adult in charge now and we're doing the same things systemically or the right thing systemically. That if they go, if they win seven or eight games, they'll be like, all right, cool, we're on the right track.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

I think that, like. So I think the Raiders are doing probably the right things. I don't know. We don't. We got to remember that Fernando Mendoza still by, by like normal standards in a, in a draft, like if you were going in next year's draft very easily might not have been the number one overall pick. Without question.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

You know, just even with the national championship and everything.

[Matt]

Yep.

[Seth]

So I guess the, the only. So the teams that feel like they're doing the right thing and might actually flip it quicker than people expect. I feel like the Titans are kind of being slept on in that. We talked about this yesterday. They flipped over pretty much half the roster. And like, that's never a certain recipe for success. Lots of teams flip over half of the roster and continue to suck the next year. But a lot of that change was on the defensive side of the ball. And I think Robert Sala is going to end up having. Having that defense play really well. And then they made, they made important improvements or changes on the offensive line. They draft a receiver in the first round and then it just comes down to, okay, man, what do they get out of Cam Ward. What is Cam Ward? And if that's good, then all of a sudden the Titans could be a really good football team. Yeah, they're the ones that they'll. They'd least. I think they'd be the biggest surprise in a lot of people's minds. But I think it's because people just don't think about the Titans all the time. No.

[Matt]

Well, they're the ones that to me the formula to do it most closely resembles the Texans resurgence a few years ago. From worst to first. Yeah, they've assembled some young pieces. You know, in their case, their quarterback already has a year under his belt, whereas C.J. was a rookie, but a really good one. The biggest thing to me is their coaching change. I mean, they literally got a guy who kind of comes from that same ethos as d' Amico Ryan's. You know, the difference is Salah has, is coming into this job with some head coaching experience already from his time with the jets, but a defensive head coach, a good defensive head coach who cut his teeth in the Shanahan tree, you know, and in a division that I know that The Jags won 13 games last year. I know the Texans won 12 games last year. But it's, you know, neither of those teams are viewed as world beaters yet. You know, they, they, they both won a bunch of regular season games last year and they were both gone after the divisional round of the playoffs.

[Seth]

The Raiders are in. The Raiders are interesting. Just because Clint Kubiak did an amazing job with the Seahawks last year and I feel like that's been under discussed that, I mean, by and large I listen to a lot of podcasts, I read a lot of articles and other than people out of side of Seattle, I very rarely see people mention that. Oh yeah, the offensive coordinator that got the absolute best out of Sam Darnold is. He's gone and he's not there anymore, but he now is with the Raiders. And look, we saw in that Texans game versus the Raiders that man Ashton Gente was a lot better last year than his statistics would suggest. And that with the right offensive coordinator. And remember also that the Raiders went through two different offensive coordinators over the course of the last couple years that Clint Kubiak might really get a lot more out of that offense more quickly than people expect if he, if Clint

[Matt]

Kubiak in that division wins, if he's above.500 for the season. I know coach of the year usually goes to first year coaches that have a really big turnaround. You know, sometimes the. Sometimes the, the velvet rope is. You got to at least get into the postseason to do it. But I tell you what, when you just look at the head coaches in that division, if Clint Kubiak goes nine and eight in a division that has Andy Reid, Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh as the other three head coaches, I mean those are, those are three of the, I would say 10, easily 10 most respected head coaches in football.

[Seth]

Well, and I think also the Raiders defense was better than wherever they were statistically in a lot of ways. I think by EPA they were 16th on defense last year. But that's. Well, playing opposite of the worst offense in the league. And just kind of like when you watch Browns games. Last year, when I would watch Raiders games, there are a lot of those types of games where wow, boy, that defense is impressive until like at some point over the course of three quarters of your offense not doing a damn thing, the dam breaks, you know. So two different spellings of damn there.

[Matt]

Yes, yes. The ones I look at here that have no chance to me. I just think the J. I feel bad for Aaron Glenn. I just don't think it's going to end well for him there. They've got Geno Smith at quarterback. This. That jets team feels like one Seth that's kind of built to go 3 and 14.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Matt]

And then have an offensive head coach come in and coach Arch Manning or Julian saying or one of those guys. I feel bad for Aaron Glenn, but that's what that feels like. The Browns feel a little bit that way too, just with a better defense with Todd Monk and Monken is an offensive coach. But he, he. That feels like a short timer to me. And then the Cardinals. The Cardinals just feel like a train wreck to me. Jacoby Brissette holding out.

[Seth]

Jacobi Brissette holding out. I think that I, it's funny because sometimes the, the, the real truly nerdy NFL fans or writers seem to like be they approve of what the Cardinals current strategy is. And yet, you know, it's not like you think that all of a sudden this is the year they're going to turn it around. Yep. Anything. I want to be one of those teams that gets away with being bad perennially, yet with people still crediting their approach and their process.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

It's like the Browns were like that. The Browns, their first go around the first time they tanked intentionally that a lot of people were doing that with them. Oh yeah. You know, the Bears. What's his face up there in. The Bears got that. He got the Benefit of the doubt for multiple Ryan polls. Yeah, I mean for. And it's looks like it might start being the. But like the ability to manage the media while you're tanking. It's a really big deal because at some point usually somebody. Somebody loses their stomach for it. Either either the head you either you get a head coach that flips out and makes the GM look bad or the owner loses, the owner freaks out and he blames the GM for the strategy that he approved. So yeah, credit to the guys that can manage the PR on that stuff. The Cardinals seem to be doing pretty well.

[Matt]

No doubt. Hey one just shifting gears here real quick. Apparently one angle we played that audio of the body cam footage with Diana Rossini getting pulled over and getting out of the ticket by showing the Viking fan cop that pulled her over. Yeah, sort of a screen grab or a, you know, just a. Showed her on the phone a text conversation that she was having or had with Kevin o', Connell, the head coach of his favorite team. And he was blown away by that. He was smitten. The cop was Tony Farmer. Noted Rossini Vrabel sleuth posted yesterday. He said if you have really good speakers, take a listen to this, take a listen to the body cam footage. And I didn't notice this the first time, but he is correct if you listen really closely. She told the cop, keep in mind this is like at 9 o' clock in the morning because the Sean McDermott news was breaking. It broke it like 9 o' clock in the morning on January 19th. She told the cop, I'm coming back from Foxborough. I've been in the car five and a half hours, which it was apparently was snowing. So that's why normally it's like a three hour, four hour trip. It was snowing that day. So naturally Tony Farmer looks to see if she did any reporting or posting or whatever about the Patriots. That would be the Patriots Texans game. Yeah, she was at the Patriots Texans game, evidently said I'm coming back from Foxborough. I've been in the car five and a half hours.

[Seth]

You can hear her legs are exhausted. Yeah, well that's Farmers like my thighs are quivering. Yeah.

[Matt]

So this is a business trip and you didn't do any reporting on this particular game, eh?

[Seth]

Oh yeah, yeah man.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Seth]

So Brable was distracted to begin with.

[Matt]

That that's my take on this is as I'm looking at this through a Texans lens and I'm like man, C.J. throwing these four picks, your team loses to a guy who had Half his mind on the game and half his mind on whatever was going to happen after the game.

[Seth]

I did, by the way. I came up with a foolproof plan for getting out of tickets, which is. I've got 32 of these. I did. I changed my wife's name in her contacts. The koc, Kevin o'. Connell.

[Matt]

Okay.

[Seth]

So to get out of it. To get out of. I've got 32 different head coaches. Coaches. But the Koc one says, it looks like I'm having a text conversation with Kevin o'.

[Matt]

Connell. Oh, nice.

[Seth]

And it's. And I say, hey, koc, how do you feel about law enforcement officers? And KOC replies, I don't like them. I love them. So you get a. So I get a. You know, you get a little bit of name dropping, but also a little bit of a dad joke in there. I tested non dad jokes. Yeah, they didn't test as well.

[Matt]

Okay.

[Seth]

Cops are biting on dad jokes. Way better. Yeah.

[Matt]

So you did the research on this?

[Seth]

Yeah. So I'm going to do. I'm going to do 32 of those. And I'll never get as long as the guy who pulls me over is a fan of an NFL team.

[Matt]

That's his long.

[Seth]

Yeah, basically, I. Basically, I have a license to speed you.

[Matt]

But you have. But you're. You're not just football, you're a sports talk radio host. You could expand this if they like baseball or soccer.

[Seth]

Yeah, that sounds like a lot of work. Coming up with 32 fake text conversations was a lot of like, that was. It was a. You know, that's going to be two hours out of my day.

[Matt]

It is a lot of work. I'm just saying if you get bored, you can always expand it if you want to. All right, into the 8 o' clock hour we go. Let's circle back over to the Astros. Last night we were angry about an abs challenge from Monday. We're thrilled about this one that happened last night that opened the door and might have been the most important at bat of the game. We will have that for you coming up next. Are you looking for a pro football

[Seth]

podcast that doesn't put you to sleep with spreadsheets or insult you with mindless hot takes? Football is fun. Why shouldn't your football podcast be the same?

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[Matt]

NFL podcast with Dan Hanzus and Mark

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