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- [00:01]
Luke Burbank
So what is this new project you guys have for Sally?
- [00:03]
Kelly Kilburn
Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. So this new project we have, it's called the New Medusas, and we think it could really use the Sally Reid touch. So it's a show about three women who run a salon in Soho who are just trying to get by, and they have snakes for hair, and they turn dudes into stone. Okay, so right now, the show, it's a little. I don't know.
- [00:33]
Luke Burbank
Mm.
- [00:34]
Kelly Kilburn
And I think that you, Sally Reid, could bring to it more of a. Mm. I don't know what you mean. So right now, the show, it's more. Yeah. And you could bring it to more of a. Yeah, I think I know what you're saying.
- [00:52]
Andrew Walsh
I. I have a client right now that's bringing to a Fox show that before was just.
- [00:58]
Kelly Kilburn
So we're looking for less and more.
- [01:02]
Luke Burbank
That actually wasn't in the email.
- [01:03]
Andrew Walsh
TBTL.
- [01:09]
Kelly Kilburn
Dear tbtl, you're so amazing.
- [01:15]
Andrew Walsh
And I.
- [01:16]
Kelly Kilburn
Know you're gonna do better.
- [01:19]
Luke Burbank
Luckily for me, I've processed all my.
- [01:20]
Andrew Walsh
Feelings, and I've gone through the five stages of grief.
- [01:23]
Luke Burbank
Denial, ang, Internet commenting, cat adoption, African dance, cat, returning to the adoption place.
- [01:29]
Andrew Walsh
Watching all the episodes of Murphy Brown and not giving a flying fart. Whoa, watch out, Says that bird. Ew. It's got a snake. Oh, it's chasing a jackal. Oh, my gosh.
- [01:38]
Luke Burbank
That's the voice of the youth of America.
- [01:41]
Andrew Walsh
Have a good show, dummies.
- [01:42]
Luke Burbank
What you do is so important. Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Wednesday edition of tbtl. This right here, this is the show that just might be too beautiful to live. This party is gonna be off the hook. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. You paint your bald spot? What bald spot? Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, where the. Just the walk from my little house out here to the Madrona Hill studio was really testing me this morning.
- [02:20]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, my God.
- [02:23]
Luke Burbank
I know it's not a particularly interesting thing to say, but we are just right. I mean, are we. Actually, I was gonna say we're right in the teeth. In the teeth of the wintertime lousy weather. But I don't know. I mean, statistically, are we. Is January statistically worse than February? And yes, I did say February. I'm trying to train myself to include that weird ass R in there. Anyway, that's all right, folks. The good news is we have made it to episode 4000, 636 together. Let the Fun begin. We're all gonna be okay as the temperatures drop a bit around here. In fact, there's a very slight chance of snow later in the week here at the Madrona Hill studio. I will be able to stay warm because my main source of reliable heat in my house, which broke the other day, is warm working again.
- [03:14]
Andrew Walsh
It's working. It's working.
- [03:17]
Luke Burbank
Cause I fixed it and I can now do anything. I'm very proud of myself also. I think the makers of Marty supreme should be pretty proud of that movie. I think the. The film is pretty good. The acting is pretty decent.
- [03:29]
Andrew Walsh
You know, it's just living truthfully in imaginary circumstances.
- [03:32]
Luke Burbank
It's also one of the rare instances where Andrew and I have seen the same movie whilst still in theaters. And so we'll try to get to Marty supreme today. And if we have time, we talk about a person who is being mentioned as maybe the greatest athlete in the world. I mean, I figured he had to be in sport, but he wasn't in sport. He's like a teenage dart player from England who has won his second world championship. We will again, time permitting, talk about that. And then, speaking of recognized dart masters, let's welcome this guy to the program. Longest running cobra of the show. Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships and the time he's putting in in the basement on his darts project.
- [04:17]
Kelly Kilburn
The world needs to see the madness.
- [04:18]
Andrew Walsh
That is my upper torso.
- [04:19]
Luke Burbank
Okay, he is Andrew Walsh, and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.
- [04:23]
Andrew Walsh
Good morning, Luke. I don't usually do this, but I take issue with something that you said in your intro today, which is really. Yeah, you're always like, you should listen to my intros instead of spacing out. And then I listen to him and I attack you immediately. I think they. I know this is a positive thing. I actually think that certainly in the back half of 2025, you and I, I think, saw a lot of the same movies in theaters together. I mean, not together, but.
- [04:45]
Luke Burbank
Right. I mean, we saw Friendship, the Tim Robinson movie.
- [04:49]
Andrew Walsh
That's a good one, I think. Didn't we both see Sinners in the. I did not see Sinners One Battle. We definitely saw both. And I think you saw it twice. Right. You took two bites of that battle.
- [04:59]
Luke Burbank
I threatened to, and then I didn't. But I feel. I feel like I've seen it twice because as a certain kind of white guy with the Internet profile, I have. I watched the movie, and now I've watched endless numbers of people talking about the movie. And playing clips from the movie and breaking down shots from the movie. So I feel well familiar with the content.
- [05:18]
Andrew Walsh
One of the reasons this is sort of on my mind is. And obviously I don't have the data to back this up. And the financial situation is what the financial situation is. And I know that we keep on hearing kind of more and more bad news about the potential future of the actual theater industry, right? Especially with that merger everybody's talking about and what that could do to theatrical releases. But, like, I don't know what the money bottom line is, and clearly it's not great. But I gotta say, I feel like the industry has done a good job post pandemic of making these films that people at least like you and I, who enjoy a certain kind of film and a very vast majority of Americans, like, maybe not majority, my apologies, I'm being hyperbolic there, but that a great number of Americans are going out to sea as events, starting with the Barbie Hymer summer. To sinners, to weapons, to battle after another, you know what I mean? I feel like there have been a lot of theatrical events lately, and it makes me. It just makes me happy.
- [06:15]
Luke Burbank
Well, I think part of it somehow.
- [06:17]
Kelly Kilburn
Hotbreak feels good in a place like this.
- [06:21]
Luke Burbank
There's nothing more dangerous than Luke Burbank having recently read an article on the topic that is at hand. But I actually, we could just talk Marty supreme now. Why not? We've been threatening to do it for a couple of days and how it relates to sinners and how it relates to box office performance and things like that. So I think I'm wondering if. Well, let me put it this way. I was reading an article the other day that's kind of putting forward a sort of a conspiracy theory, which is that the trade publications, right, which is like Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, almost all of them are now owned by Penske Media. Penske Media is owned by a guy named, I think, Jay Penske, and his dad is Roger Penske, who is like a, you know, oil and like, motorsports guy. And Roger Penske is like a Trump dude. And here's the point. There has been this kind of. There's been this. A tremendous amount of love for Timothee Chalamet and his kind of quote, unquote, domination of the box office around the holidays. I think there was an article in Variety that was like, chalamet is king of the box office.
- [07:27]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, yeah. Dunes would be another example of getting people out too, I think.
- [07:31]
Luke Burbank
Dune. Yeah, that was a really good movie. I guess what I was going to say is I, I feel I'm with you. I feel like, well, there have been event movies because yeah, we both saw. I didn't see Dune in the theater one or two, but I loved those movies. But like I have the same feeling as you. And then I'm reading this article and the thrust of this article is basically that for all of the love for Timothee Chalamet as a person and as an actor, the movies that he's actually done are not the number one movies of the holiday era. They're just beloved by the critics and maybe in some way. And that in fact Sinners, which did better in a lot of senses, got no love. Was sinners also an A24 film?
- [08:08]
Andrew Walsh
I don't know.
- [08:10]
Luke Burbank
But that like basically Ryan Coogler, when he made Sinners, he negotiated a deal with the studio that they were mad about, which. The rights, he gets all of the rights to the movie back in like 20 years or 50 years or something. Probably 20 years. And that was kind of like he had the leverage to do it. But it was seen as basically sort of pro labor, pro creator, pro artist. And that there's been kind of this low key campaign to not put a lot of help behind Sinners, which was a more successful film than say Marty supreme. Because, because, you know, probably it's a largely black cast. Ryan Coogler is, you know, you know, a very creative, strong and front and center black man in entertainment. And that there's just basically these kind of like weird forces that are at play as they are often in this country. And that in fact the, the, the, the. The sort of celebration of Timothy Chalamet's box office heroics are greatly overstated. But what jumped out to me in the reading of that article was seeing the actual movies that are making all the money because they kind of suck.
- [09:17]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, that's where everything I said before was from the heart, not the brain. Because like, obviously, hey, that's my move. The types of movies that you. I guess I should have reframed that just by saying that like I am personally happy to see that the industry, which is clearly in trouble, is still creating at least cultural events. Cultural events.
- [09:37]
Luke Burbank
Weapons also put that on the list.
- [09:39]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, exactly. That speak to me. And people who like movies the way I do, which, and these are not like art house films, but they're also not like what brings money into the box office are like family films, like part four of a franchise that the whole family can go to. And that's what supports the industry. And that is not meeting what it needs to meet. Right. Box office.
- [10:02]
Luke Burbank
Well, that's just the part that. That's just the part I completely forget about because I don't have young children. Because I don't really go see like Avatar 6. The smell of water.
- [10:10]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
- [10:10]
Luke Burbank
And like. So when I was reading this article about how.
- [10:13]
Andrew Walsh
Don't tell me how it smells. I heard.
- [10:16]
Luke Burbank
I'm taping that. Like it's like just in passing. They're just kind of like. They were sort of, I guess, you know, level setting, if you will, or putting in context like where Marty supreme is doing at the box office. And I'm just seeing movies that. That are above it that I didn't even know were out. And it is like the Avatar movie which like if you pinned my. And again, peace and love to people that like love the Avatar movies and have gone and enjoyed watching those movies with their friends and loved ones. That's great. I. I saw the first one in the theater because it was such an event because of the 3D stuff. I'm not trying to yuck any yums, but like I just. There's a whole world of cinema and again a whole world of the cinema that actually seems to be. Be making the money still. That is totally off my radar because it's because I don't have a kid and because I don't care about, you know. I mean, I don't know you probably. I saw you typing up some box office numbers.
- [11:11]
Andrew Walsh
I want you to just say because I have taste if we can.
- [11:16]
Luke Burbank
I was hoping you were getting me some box office number.
- [11:18]
Andrew Walsh
Wednesday. Yeah, I'm looking at something. I'm looking at the. The numbers dot com. Avatar. The smell of water is number one. It looks like Zootopia 2. There you go. Number which. I don't know what's going on.
- [11:30]
Luke Burbank
Probably cute movies. I bet you people have a lot of fun at Zootopia movies. I'm not trying to. I'm not trying to, you know, denigrate those move that movie. The Avatar 1 is. I will just be honest. I just said I wasn't gonna Yuck yums.
- [11:42]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, yuck it up.
- [11:44]
Luke Burbank
I mean like I just, I. I try to climb inside the brain of somebody who is. I mean it's more somebody's than any other film on that list. Are like I gotta see what the Na' Vi are up to.
- [12:00]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. Yeah.
- [12:01]
Luke Burbank
Like what it's going. And it's looking. It is getting. The production value appears to be getting worse. You know what I mean?
- [12:09]
Andrew Walsh
Sitting in the theater with the glasses. But I'll. I mean, I saw the first one. I mean, just for the record, like you say, like, I'm not trying to hurt anybody's feelings here and everybody can like what they like, but I'm also not gonna sugarcoat it. The first one came out a lot. And then of course, What.
- [12:26]
Luke Burbank
Oh, oh, that's an avatar. Like a clear metaphor for the war in Iraq.
- [12:31]
Andrew Walsh
Was it specifically Iraq? I mean, it was definitely about imperialism and white saviorism and, you know, the. But which, you know, good topics to explore and look internally now more than ever, but handled with an absolute sledgehammer of obviousness and just like, what's the name?
- [12:48]
Luke Burbank
What was the name of the. Like the. The bad guy General?
- [12:51]
Andrew Walsh
You're asking the wrong dude. I saw this in the theater when it first came out, you know, so.
- [12:56]
Luke Burbank
We are coming off of, of course, like one battle after another where Sean Penn's character is named, I believe by it's not Time. That's not the name the character has in the Pynchon novel, is it? But it's an. Is it a reference? I mean, they call him Lockjaw, which is like a very intentional, like. I think it's a very intentional, kind of like, I don't know, on the nose naming, but. But with a point of view. I feel like the. I forget the name, but I feel like the bad guy. In the first avatar, the general's name was like General Bad Guy. It was like he, like his name was also a thing that he was. And I was like, oh, Jimmy Cameron. Maybe just go back down to the bottom of the ocean and think about this for a while.
- [13:35]
Andrew Walsh
And am I right that they're looking for. They're trying to obtain Unobtanium.
- [13:40]
Luke Burbank
The thing is called Unobtainium.
- [13:42]
Andrew Walsh
I will say, as a quick aside, you know, I'm still reading Inherent Vice, the Pynchon book, which. I'd always heard this. Not always. I'd recently heard this about his books, which I had never read before. But yeah, everybody. I didn't realize how much humor are in his books. And like, yeah, everybody has ridiculous last names. Just ridiculous names in his books. But. So it very well could have been Locked Jaw in the book as well, or something potentially even worse. Possibly one thing while we're talking about promotions here, and I'm just gonna swing onto another vine here, but if we wanna hone in on Marty Supreme a little bit, which is really, really hard for me not to call Burt Wonderstone still, even after you explain to me the difference between the two movies. And I did see Marty supreme, but one thing, we're talking about promoting movies and, like, what gets people in the door. And I didn't realize this until after I had seen Marty supreme, But I guess a 24 put more of a marketing blitz on this.
- [14:37]
Luke Burbank
I was telling you about that.
- [14:38]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, did you? Did you mention that to me? I had forgotten that. And then I'd read it again after seeing the movie. And what I thought was interesting was my first impression of Marty supreme, as you probably remember, was I came into the theater as the trailer was already playing because I walked out to get some more napkins or. And I thought it was a joke. I thought it was a parody of sports movies or Rise to the Top kind of exceptionalism movies. And I thought it was a joke. And then I thought, oh, this looks terrible. And then you told me that it was half of the Safdie brothers who did it. Who did Uncut Gems.
- [15:14]
Luke Burbank
The Haftie Brother.
- [15:14]
Andrew Walsh
The Haftie Brother. Which is the opposite of a dumb. I just don't like cliches, right? I don't like tropes that just keep getting rolled out and cliches that keep getting rolled out. And so when I saw this, I'm like, oh, what a stupid, stupid thing. It's just like every other cliche sports movie, only this time it's ping pong. It seemed literally laughable to me. You told me, no, it might have some edge based on the DNA of the creative team. And you're absolutely right about that. But here's my point on this. When Veeves and I saw the film, I saw something that I have not seen in a really long time, which is groups of people leaving the film in the middle of the film.
- [15:47]
Luke Burbank
Really.
- [15:47]
Andrew Walsh
I'm not talking about a mass walkout, but we saw it on New Year's Day, kind of coincidentally. We were just kind of like moping around, kind of hungover, and we're like, we want to. Having our breakfast over at IHOP and Genevieve's. Like, well, Marty supreme starts in 20 minutes. Wanna amble over there? I'm like, all right, fine.
- [16:02]
Luke Burbank
Oh, so was it at Oak Tree or whatever they call that?
- [16:04]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, exactly. Which is one of my favorite things. When Veeves and I are just having like a very late brunch over there, just like, kinda nursing our wounds, and there happens to be a decent movie playing across the parking lot, and so we can just sort of extend our ways of the day. Yeah. But then I go in, and of course it's New Year's Day, which is kind of a big movie day for people. And so it's super, super crowded. And I think that the day I went there, a lot of people who are casual moviegoers who are like, well, it's New Year's Day. We usually go, what about this ping pong movie? Oh, yeah, I saw the trailer for that. That seems fine. Like, I think they put, they made. And my apologies for being a little bit insulting or snobby here, but I think they purposely made a very pedestrian looking movie that, or I'm sorry, trailer that hits all of the sort of like trophy looking things that would, you know, attract a general audience and then you're in there. And then again, I don't want to. I don't, I don't think we're doing a spoiler conversation. When something kind of gruesome happens where, let's just say some structural integrity of a building gives out and something somewhat gruesome and scary and involving animals happens. That is when I started to see a group of, group of three that were a bit older than me kind of shuffling out the door. And then later on, maybe 20 minutes later, some more people left. And it wasn't a mass exodus, but I was like, oh, I. I have this thing now where I think A24 was trying to make it look like a movie in the trailer that somebody like me wouldn't like. And because of that, you brought people into the theater who were not ready for the intensity of like sort of an uncut gems light at times.
- [17:42]
Luke Burbank
I called it some cut gems.
- [17:44]
Andrew Walsh
Some cut gems.
- [17:45]
Luke Burbank
Yeah. And we saw it in. We saw it on Christmas Day. We saw it the day it came out in Los Angeles. So we were in. We were like in there with the film people. Right? Like the, the kind of like. I think everybody who was in that movie theater in Los Feliz is like literally probably in the film industry or something. You know what I mean? But I totally agree with you. I think probably what A24 wanted to do was obviously sell as many tickets as possible and they probably had parallel promotional tracks going so that the trailer is very, very, very down the middle. You're right. It's one of those like classic kind of sports Triumph movie looking things. But then you had. Yeah, this sort of. I was almost more so than the movie. I've just been fascinated with the whole like earned media, unorthodox promotion of the film, starting with like, they released this like 17 minute Zoom conversation that was Chalamet talking to a bunch of the people that work on like promotion for the film and different things. And he's just being like insane in the zoom. And it's all a put on to go viral, but it's actually pretty well kind of executing. A lot of times when they. We try to do those. People try to do those fake real things and hope they go viral. They're very. They're pretty quickly found out and. Or they just look kind of silly. This didn't really have like. Everybody knew that this was in order to be viral, but everybody thought it was pretty funny. He's like obsessing over this particular color of orange, which is also part of the plot of the movie. And then, you know, they had all these blimps, these Marty supreme blimps that were flying around in different cities that were that same color of orange. One of the most subtle things was there's this British rapper. Do you know about the SD the Kid thing?
- [19:24]
Andrew Walsh
No.
- [19:25]
Luke Burbank
So there's this British rapper named SD the Kid or something. Who is his. His shtick is he you. No one's ever really seen his face. He's always wearing kind of like, you know, not a balaclava but some kind of wrap around his face. So all you can see are his eyes. And he had some hit song kind of in the uk, real kind of. I don't even know. I don't know the terminology anymore for different kinds of hip hop. But it felt kind of grimy to me. Like not in a. I don't mean that as a. A pejorative, just kind of a grimy kind of rap song. This British, real thick kind of British accent kid. But there became this conspiracy theory that it was actually Chalamet because if you zoomed in on his eyes, his eyes looked exactly like Chalamet's. Like actually quite. There was a huge similarity. Also a white guy, also very kind of slender, about the same size. The thing is, Chalamet is like a known hip hop head. He's like very well versed in the world. He can kind of like rap. He kind of has bars, as they would say. So then it was like, did they create this SD the Kid character as part of the Marty supreme promotion then.
- [20:29]
Andrew Walsh
Did that loop back around in any way?
- [20:31]
Luke Burbank
Yes, it did. Because eventually Timothee Chalamet shows up in this like SD the Kid music video where he's re recorded. He's basically doing a guest spot on an SD the Kid song, but he's rapping about Marty supreme and the song is actually pretty good. I don't know if I could really effectively find it on the fly. Let me see. Timothy just spelling Chalamet could take me the next four minutes. Timothy Shallow, 45 minutes. S D Kid rap. Let's see if I can find this. Okay, let's see. This is the Timothy Chalamet section. This might have a little bit of. Okay, this may have some swears in it. I. I don't know exactly, like, all the lyrics to this song, but this is SD Kid, okay? SD Kid featuring Timothy Chalamet. Okay, this is a remix of this SD Kid song, But this is Timothy Chalamet rapping about Marty Supreme. Okay, take a listen to this. So this is the SD Kid guy. And here comes Timmy. I'm jerking.
- [21:48]
Andrew Walsh
It seemed like they shall let me chill and trying to stack a hundred million girl got a billion what the. With a wonderful feeling Head to the ceiling Head to the since 2017 I'm living the dream Getting the cream I'm living on theme I'm doing the things.
- [22:02]
Luke Burbank
I've just been walking around for the last, I would say three weeks, just going, it's Marty Supreme. It's Marty Supreme. It's in like, that's the constant soundtrack in my head is. It's Marty Supreme. It's Marty Supreme.
- [22:12]
Andrew Walsh
Do we ever see him and S.D.
- [22:14]
Luke Burbank
Yes, we do. He is not S.D. kid. He is not. I We can confirm here on tbtl. Breaking news. He is not SD Kid. They are apparently different people, but all of that is to say, like, they really threw everything at the promotion of this movie. And I'm totally with you. I bet you their calculation was we'll run the super basic B trailer. That'll get the families in the door. And then we'll also have Timothee Chalamet wrapping My Girl worth a billion with SD Kid for a certain other brain rot sector. And me, apparently.
- [22:45]
Andrew Walsh
It is interesting. So for people who haven't seen it, it sort of. It is like. And. And if you happen to be familiar with uncut gems or. All of the time Luke and I have spent talking about uncut gems. Uncut gems, the movie that came out, what would you say, Luke, five more than five years ago now.
- [23:00]
Luke Burbank
Probably more than five years ago now.
- [23:01]
Andrew Walsh
Which I don't mean to take this over. That's way more your passion fandom than mine. But I watched the movie and I enjoyed it, but it was always a movie that I said, I don't want to watch it a second time because it is like, it is just an adrenaline rush from the very, very beginning. I think it's an excellent movie that does exactly what it's trying to do. But what it's trying to do hurts me in a way. Again, but it's just about one character. Just keeps digging himself deeper and deeper and deeper, but it never stops. It's got music that is always thrusting it forward and it's always people shouting over top of each other in this very realistic way that I totally appreciate. But also, like, seeing it once, I thought was good enough for me. I will say that after watching Marty Supreme, Burt Wonderstone, and then got to watch Marty supreme for the first time, Genevieve said to me, she's like, maybe I would watch Uncut Gems. I said, maybe I would watch it again because Veeves hasn't seen it at all. And I've been like, but it did remind me what good filmmaking does and how it sucks you in, even if it's an uncomfortable watch. But it also does just have elements of that tropey. Sort of like what I do is more important than what everybody else does. And I have, again, it's both about American exceptionalism and individual exceptionalism. But I think that it's a statement on that. Right? Like, I think the fact that they made this movie about somebody who plays ping pong, and at one point he literally tells another character, well, your life doesn't have meaning. Mine does. And we know that shit like that is taken seriously. It's funny you played that rap. They didn't swear I did. I'm keeping it real. Not Timothy, but like, in another movie that was maybe about boxing or even mountain climbing or something, you would take that line more seriously. Like, well, I have purpose in my life and it is to achieve this greatness. But to put that on the backdrop of. Wait a second, you're talking about ping pong, which is maybe insulting to ping pong, but, like, I think there's a reason why they kind of chose this story to sort of, like, I don't know, would you say, belie that a little bit or expose that a little bit?
- [25:07]
Luke Burbank
Well, okay, this is where it might get a little spoilery. So if you don't want Marty Supreme, AKA Burt Wonderstone, AKA some cut gems, if you don't want it ruined for you, you might want to skip ahead a few minutes. But here's the thing. I actually feel like, well, a couple things. I think they're very much playing with the kind of typical way these movies work because the Marty supreme character is generally unlikable. I would say. Yeah, like, he's extremely selfish. He will use anyone that he can at any time to advance his interests. And what I think is kind of funny is. And this is the spoiler part, he doesn't, like, win the world championship. It's not like Rocky. He doesn't go to the Olympics and then knock out, you know, Apollo Creed or whatever. Like, he doesn't even get to play in the big thing. And honestly, I feel like the ping pong is kind of like by the time we get to the. The climactic scene where he's facing off with his rival, but it's not even a real game. It's like a. Just a. You know, and again, I'll keep saying this, but this is spoiling some of the plot of the movie. By the time we get to the, like, his big ping pong triumph, it's kind of like, who gives an F? Like, it's not a real thing. He's not getting all this money and all this endorsement. The. The whole orange ball thing has apparently evaporated. Like, none of it really comes together for him, you know, and you're not.
- [26:31]
Andrew Walsh
Necessarily even rooting for him to win. Like, even though, like you said, it's not the championship, it is still set up in the movie in that structure of like, this is the big game or the big match at the end. Right. But. But you also sort of hate him at this point.
- [26:44]
Luke Burbank
Yeah. And I will say kind of, because they don't draw it out really. There's nothing.
- [26:49]
Andrew Walsh
That final match, I felt like that hits all the. I mean, it's literally down to the very last point, and then you got to win by two. And it's like, what?
- [26:57]
Luke Burbank
I didn't. I guess what I mean is I didn't see a slow motion of the ball hitting the table and the dust. The talc comes up from the ball and he's diving and he hits it and the ball clears, and all of a sudden the crowd goes like. I just felt like it was still, for me anyway, compared to other movies of the kind. Like, basically there's like three ping pong scenes in the movie. Right. It's like he's mostly just like. He's like kind of. He's. We see him kind of hustle a guy, but we don't even really see him do it. We just see him entirely the creator. They have a bunch of money because we understand he hustled the guy. We have him.
- [27:32]
Andrew Walsh
That's a good point. They don't even really show that. Yeah.
- [27:34]
Luke Burbank
Like, at the ping pong club, the table tennis Club, which by the way, I freaking love the casting in this movie. One of them is George Iceman Gervin, who was a real NBA player. I look over and I go, friggin Iceman.
- [27:45]
Andrew Walsh
Which one is he? Who is he?
- [27:46]
Luke Burbank
He's the guy who's in charge of the ping pong club. He's based on a. Well, a lot of the people had teeth.
- [27:53]
Andrew Walsh
No, but I mean the guy who's behind the cage and has really, really big teeth.
- [27:57]
Luke Burbank
I don't think so. He's a very tall black guy and he's based on an actual guy who. There was a guy in New York City in that era who was a black man who ran the city's kind of premier like table tennis hangout club. And that's who George Gervin is based on. But it's just funny that like George Gervin was like a all star for the San Antonio spurs in the 70s and 80s. He was called the Iceman. He just pops up. There's just like so many ran like the casting of the movie also I really enjoyed. But all that is to say I kind of felt like the. So we. So Addie and I leave and I was like, what did you think? And she was like, it was pretty good. Then we go to this diner next to the theater called like Fred62 there.
- [28:34]
Andrew Walsh
Oh yeah, isn't that one of those. That's. I think I went there once and always felt like I should have gone back. Very classic. Like very classic. Yeah, yeah.
- [28:42]
Luke Burbank
Super dinery and it. Perfect. It's Christmas night. They had a table, but it's also packed. But they had a table. We sat down and everyone in our area had just seen the movie. So we're like kind of all kibitzing on, like what did we think of it and stuff. And what I was really surprised by and the guy that was sitting across from us, it was the weirdest thing. It was this really nice guy. It was his teenage son and then his wife came in a little bit later. And I had the sense that this guy was either a movie actor or a director or someone I should have known. And you know me, I'm pretty keyed in on faces. He just, he was super nice. But we were talking about the movie. He was like, yeah, I saw it in New York at the. Whatever at the Tribeca Film Festival or something. So I was like, okay, noted, you're probably in the industry or whatever. And he was like, could have used some editing. He's like, I liked it. Could have used some Editing. And Addie was like, I liked. It could have been 30 minutes shorter. And it was like. What I was surprised by because I had a lot of excitement about this movie going in was in that little focus group in Fred 62 in Los Feliz. The general response to the movie was good acting, pretty good movie. I don't know. And I kind of feel like that's also a little bit how I feel about it. Was that how you and Veeves felt about it?
- [29:52]
Andrew Walsh
I don't know. It turns out. By the way, the guy you were sitting next to, Sergey Brin.
- [29:58]
Luke Burbank
Oh, God, I get that guy's number.
- [30:00]
Andrew Walsh
We keep.
- [30:00]
Luke Burbank
We keep crossing paths.
- [30:02]
Andrew Walsh
I looked him up later. I was like, so that's what he looks like. If he ever sits next to me at a fancy restaurant, I'll know what he looks like.
- [30:08]
Luke Burbank
I.
- [30:11]
Andrew Walsh
Weirdly. And I'm pretty like. I feel like I'm kind of a stickler for that running time thing, that runtime thing. It didn't feel overly long, given the style of movie. To me, for some reason, I had not heard that until you just said it right now. And I don't think that that was something that I was thinking, leaving the theater. Honestly. I guess I liked it because I was thinking like, well, now I want to kind of maybe at least go back and see if I can handle another dose of uncut gem. So I definitely left feeling generally positive about it. I remember I had a few ticky, tacky plot things leaving the theater that you're probably thankful that I can't remember right now because they're not super important. But there were a few. Felt like there were a few holes or at least, you know, depletions. What did we used to call it when we said there wasn't a hole in the ozone layer, but there's a depletion or something like that.
- [31:04]
Luke Burbank
Yeah, the hole is being depleted.
- [31:06]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. There's some areas where I've been.
- [31:07]
Luke Burbank
Thin spots.
- [31:08]
Andrew Walsh
I'm not sure about that.
- [31:09]
Luke Burbank
The back of my head. Yeah, Throw a little topic on that ozone layer.
- [31:13]
Andrew Walsh
Right. Throw some of that on the Marty supreme plot. But those were pretty ticky, tacky. I think I generally liked it. And it was. I'll tell you what. And this is where I'm a little bit bummed that I didn't do more of this before this conversation was. I left with my own feelings about it and kind of didn't want to leave that world. Like, I came home and I remember I needed to take a shower because I had just seen that Movie? No, I did need to take a shower because this was New Year's Day and New Year's Eve was a late one. My friend and I did something I never ever do, which is I got out of bed and just went directly to IHOP with Veeves. I was telling somebody I felt like I slid there like a snail on his own slime, but.
- [31:52]
Luke Burbank
Can I ask a quick question? I don't want to be personal, but the last that we talked about it, you were going to be staying. You were going to be rolling solo on New Year's Eve because the party you'd been invited to was a shoes off party. What ended up actually happening?
- [32:05]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, well, I ended up going to the Eagles with Veeves. It was. What happened was, and this was sort of the key about it was it wasn't so much a party, but Genevieve had been hanging out with some friends and had come home. This is like, I don't know, in December at some point and said, oh, well, so and so a good friend of ours had invited us over for a very low key New Year's Eve. So I don't even think it was a party. I think it was gonna be, you know, maybe us and maybe a couple of other couples, maybe.
- [32:30]
Luke Burbank
I see.
- [32:30]
Andrew Walsh
And so that's why I was kinda like, I don't. That's not my move for that particular night.
- [32:36]
Luke Burbank
I thought that V was gonna go to that and you were gonna just stay home.
- [32:39]
Andrew Walsh
There was a possibility if that had continued to evolve, but that whole thing ended up just kind of falling apart. And I don't think it had to do with my disinterest in it, although I was pretty straightforward about it. So anyway, nothing was really happening. So we end up going to the Eagles and then we show up at the Eagles and there was a sign on the door by the cranky bartender that just said, closing at 9:30. And we're like, well, that's a bummer. But I had a feeling that that was just like sort of an escape plan in case he did. In case there were people there that he didn't feel like dealing with. He could have gone home at 9:30. But luckily it was like, it was kind of perfect because it was kind of like, oh, it was a real, you know, it was our own club. It was busy enough. Yeah, it was like busy enough to stay open, but not like some sort of crowded New Year's Eve crazy bar situation. So it was a really good time. And I don't know when we ended up leaving.
- [33:24]
Luke Burbank
So you were Moving slow. The next day you slimed right over to IHOP and then slimed across the parking lot to the movie.
- [33:32]
Andrew Walsh
Exactly. And so. So I'm sort of just like sort of by the time we're out of the movie. And I don't know, it's somewhere between maybe it's five o' clock or something in the evening.
- [33:41]
Luke Burbank
It's a million o' clock based on how dark it is. Except it's actually 4:30.
- [33:45]
Andrew Walsh
I was gonna say it was already dark out, so sometime between 2 and midnight. But anyway, so I just remember I left the movie. This is such a bad review. But I just say that I left the movie curious and animated and thinking about it and turning it over and not dismissive of it and wanting to stay in it. And, like, I came home and I took a shower. I guess this was my original lame point, which is like, I dialed up some podcast I'd never heard of that had like, four movie critics or aficionados, like, breaking it down. And I listened to, like, the first 10 minutes of that and meant to go back and listen to some more. So I definitely felt like this was a movie that was effective in some way. And again, my own personal thing that I'm sort of, like, obsessed with is I am somebody who's always had a negative reaction to the sort of individual exceptionalism storylines, which I feel like our culture especially celebrates in films. And maybe it's one of the reasons I do hate that sort of tropey thing and because this movie was taking that format. I mean, you and I even talked a little bit about how Boogie Nights kind of fits that behind the Music sort of. That's a sort of different arc. That's the, like, Rise and then fall again. Whereas this Rise and Then, and this has a pretty good ending, I think, a pretty good ambiguous ending that says things will continue to evolve for the characters. But it's also a movie where halfway through, I turn to Veeves and I'm like, I don't think there's one person I'm rooting for in this. I think I dislike every single person, which was a problem with uncut gems. I'm like, I don't. Also, do you think this movie Marty supreme the character? Do you think it makes the main character in Uncut Gems more likable by comparison? Like, is Adam Sandler? Has it been just too long since I've seen that movie? But, like, I feel like I watched.
- [35:30]
Luke Burbank
It last week so I can weigh it on.
- [35:32]
Andrew Walsh
I just did a little bump of it. You did a full line of Marty.
- [35:35]
Luke Burbank
Sepree, a fat rail of Uncut Gems, but.
- [35:39]
Andrew Walsh
Okay, good. You're the perfect person to ask, is Adam Sandler's character actually more redemptive or.
- [35:45]
Luke Burbank
Likable than actually Marty Howard Ratner?
- [35:47]
Andrew Walsh
And that is something, right?
- [35:49]
Luke Burbank
That's something, yeah. At his core, you know, Adam Sandler's character in Uncut Gems is someone who's gotten in over their head, but is trying to, in his own way, fix things and make things right and is not.
- [36:01]
Andrew Walsh
Not.
- [36:01]
Luke Burbank
I mean, the people that he's using are people that are worse than him. It's people that he has bar, like, basically it's bookies, like, and then he's also getting kind of abused by people, whether it's Kevin Garnett not giving him back his, you know, Furby diamond or his special, like, Opal that's from, like, some mine in Africa. Like, so he's sort of like, kind of a victim as much as he is a perpetrator. And he does have a good heart. I mean, that's the thing. And with Marty supreme, it's like Timothee Chalamet's character. And again, this is, I think, ultimately what makes this a good movie is that if this movie was in different somebody else's hands, it would be Forrest Gump. I mean, literally down to the ping pong. Like, it would just be like, guy with a heart of gold does this thing nobody thinks he can do. And the woman by his side believed in him all along. And it's like, no. She's also kind of full of shit potentially. Like, no, He. He's like, everyone. I mean, to me, the takeaway from the movie is, at least in the world of this film, everyone's kind of on some level looking out for their own interests, and that's just kind of an end. And, you know, I hope that's not how real life is, but I see a lot of evidence currently that is, to a degree, how real life is. So I thought it was a really good, really well made film. I guess what I thought was interesting was a lot of the feedback I saw online, even just in places like TikTok from normal people, was there was this kind of meme going around. It was like, so, like, they. They, like, the Marty supreme people really got me to spend two and a half hours with my family on Christmas watching a movie where no one's likable.
- [37:30]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
- [37:31]
Luke Burbank
Like, because there's also this kind of like, this idea around American Christmas, like American Christmas Day or New Year's Day, like holiday movie going. The kinds of movies that tend to come out at that time are the kind of movies are Harry Potter. They're like the movies that you're gonna go to with your family and you're. It's like, it's not gonna ask too much of you. And like, back to what you started out saying, Andrew, with the trailer. I think a lot of Americans went to this. Not as many as went to Avatar, but a lot of Americans went to this movie like with the fam. And they were like, oh, oh, this is not the movie that I thought I was going to want to see.
- [38:05]
Andrew Walsh
That ping pong movie. Okay, yeah, like, yeah, we usually go to see a movie on New Year's Day. That's what I sort of thought. When I showed up at the theater and it was so crowded, I was like, oh man. So, yeah, I think, I do think I'm really glad I saw it. And I will say this, you mentioning that diamond, I mean literally, it's called Uncut Gems, but you were reminding me of some of the specifics of the plot points. I think I'm once again good on Uncut Gems. I just don't think I can do it again. And again, that's not a criticism of the movie. That's just a statement on my personality and what I can sort of handle in a stress filled movie.
- [38:38]
Luke Burbank
Well, it's funny because even though this is a hafty film, as in Half of a Safdie, this is, I believe, Josh Safdie. And whereas Uncut Gems was Josh and Benny making it together, there's definitely a stylistic thing. So the beginning of Uncut Gems, it's this kind of almost like dreamlike, weird space voyage to getting into this gem. This, this, this particular. Yeah, I guess we'll call it a gem. And how it gets into kind of like the heart of the earth and.
- [39:06]
Andrew Walsh
Then it's, you know, I mean, I forgot about this. No, I don't remember it at all, but I know where you're going.
- [39:10]
Luke Burbank
And it's got this weird kind of music with it that's just kind of like. It's hard to describe, but it's like, it's a very like non literal start to the film. And that's exactly what they do with Marty supreme with a spermazoa making its way to an egg. It's very, very similarly shot. The music is similar. Somebody else pointed out online that basically the opening of Marty supreme with like the sperm going towards the egg is a direct rip off of ikea. I think it's Three Men and a Baby.
- [39:40]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, it is, Yeah. I think Genevieve turned to me and said that. Yeah, she's. She did. She turned me. She said, this is how Three Men and a Baby started.
- [39:46]
Luke Burbank
Yeah, it's like.
- [39:48]
Andrew Walsh
Because I remember saying to her, I got the time if you got the.
- [39:50]
Luke Burbank
Diapers, like, so, you know, that was also just kind of a funny thing. Now here's what I have uncovered, and I feel like, Andrew, once again, I am not getting enough credit for this, both on the ascendant social media platform Blue sky, and. And with anyone else I've told about this. And I don't expect you to be any different, but I uncovered something in my research that is not being talked about at all. I might be the only person who's pointing this out, which is the actor who plays Timothee Chalamet's. I don't know if you'd call it love interest. You would call it the possible mother of his child. His, you know, kind of ride or die in this movie is played by an actress named Odessa A. Zion. I thought she was phenomenal. I mean, I didn't really think there were any bad acting performances, but I thought hers was one of the absolute best in the movie. Just incredible. And I was like, wow, I need to know more about this actor. So I kind of look her up and I'm poking around and then I'm just like in the bowels of her Wikipedia page, and I realize, oh, her. Her. Her last name depending. Like, she has like, a few names. Like, I think a Zion is maybe her. Her father's last name, but if you look at some versions of her name, she also has, like, Adlon in her last name because her mom is Pamela Adlon. Her mom in real life is the voice of Bobby Hill from King of the Hill. Her mom is Bobby Hill.
- [41:13]
Andrew Walsh
That's interesting.
- [41:14]
Luke Burbank
Right? Thank you. I'll take it.
- [41:16]
Andrew Walsh
Because you're just mad that nobody thinks.
- [41:18]
Luke Burbank
It'S interesting or I thought maybe there's another engagement. I just feel like in the discussion around this. And that's not to take anything away from the great acting of Odessa Azion, but I do think it's funny that this, like, really great acting performance turned in by this. This. This young, relatively young actor in this movie. And I'm. I'm hoping anyway that she gets lots of award attention. Cause I think it's really good. Is also literally, her mom is like, you know, Bobby Hill. Just. There's something so. And by the way, I think King of the Hill. I think our listeners and you, Andrew, will also acknowledge this because King of the Hill is one of those shows that's actually got a lot more going for it intellectually than it would appear on the surface. It kind of seems like a funny cartoon, but it actually gets into a lot of more interesting stuff. But that being said, there's this kind of like highbrow, low brow thing of like, of like, you know, this very probably, like, well, critically acclaimed film of Marty supreme with this critically acclaimed performance by Odessa A. Zion. And it's like her mom is Bobby Hill. I just love that.
- [42:20]
Andrew Walsh
That's interesting. Yeah, I had no idea, I had no idea who. I didn't know a woman voiced Bobby Hill, to be honest with you.
- [42:25]
Luke Burbank
Yeah, actually, you know what? Her, her, her mom, the, the actress, Pamela. Pamela Adlon is her name. And she was also in a show that I really, really loved called Better Things where she is a. She's like a single mom with a. Oh, and you know who played. This is. None of this will be interesting to you, but not, not interesting. But this isn't the kind of stuff you track. But. So there's this show called Better Things where Pamela Adlon plays like, a single mom in Hollywood who's kind of a working actor, and her kids are great in it. The writing is really spot on. It's a very good show. I highly would recommend it. One of her kids, though, is played by Mikey Madison, who just won the Oscar for Anora, that film.
- [43:10]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, yeah, Which. I never saw that, did you?
- [43:13]
Luke Burbank
I did, and I liked it.
- [43:14]
Andrew Walsh
I need to see that.
- [43:16]
Luke Burbank
I feel like Anora is sort of. It's a maximalist film, if that makes any sense. Like, it's like, it's not, it's not subtle, but I liked it. I think it's really well done. It's, you know, she plays basically like a stripper who gets into a relationship with this sort of like Russian oligarch's son. And like, everything that's happening in the movie is the maximum of, of what would be happening in a movie like that. Whether it's the drug use, the sex that's happening, the, the, the, the, the threatened violence. You know, it's, it's not, it's not quite as propulsive as Uncut Gems, but it's, it's not far off. It's another one of those movies that, like, you're not, you're not just like, sitting there kind of enjoying it from a relaxed perspective. You're kind of like leaning forward, like, God, what's going to happen.
- [43:59]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, probably never. Click on it. Because that's the thing. I, I, I'm more likely to see a movie like that. It's no mixed nuts if it's in the theater. You know what I mean? When I'm at home, I kind of don't look for the things that are gonna have me on the edge of the couch. Whereas I love seeing stuff like that in the theater. Cause I think maybe. Cause I do get distracted at home. Like, I need to have no distractions be in a theater. The only distraction is this is just a reality. And I think we've talked about this a little bit. I don't remember where you are on this. It both has to do with my age and also my consumption habits. But I think it's been years since I've gone to see a movie without having to take a restroom break at some point during it. I think. You know what? Nope. Yep. I almost made it through Marty supreme and then I realized, wait, we haven't seen a final grand ping pong battle yet, so I know that I better go. And I did go because I remember thinking, I can tough this out. But I always drink a large soda like the doctor orders. And at some point in the, like, last third of the movie, I have to go use the restroom, which is a real, you know, that's a real life change for me, I think.
- [45:03]
Luke Burbank
I didn't go in Marty supreme, but it almost killed me. It almost killed me because we, that it was a small theater in the movie theater in Los Feliz, and it was really packed. So Addie and I were like in the third row. And it was kind of one of those ones where it was like there was four seats on one side of the theater, then maybe eight seats on the other in an aisle. And I didn't want to have to walk basically the entire, like, length of the movie theater in front of everyone. And so I think I just, I just tried to hold it. But then of course, I'm now the guy because same thing. We saw J. Kelly. Becca and I saw Jay Kelly in the theater, which is weird because it was released like three days later on Netflix.
- [45:42]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
- [45:43]
Luke Burbank
But there was another one where, and I think I mentioned this at the time. We both said, well, it was kind of cool to go see it in the first of all. I think it was in like, you think I would know the difference because one is much larger than the other. I don't know if it was 35 millimeter or 75. Maybe 75. There's some kind of a way, a format they can do at the Hollywood Theater in Portland that's. That's somewhat unique. And it was being shown in that millimeter of film. So we were both like, you know, again, back to the distraction thing. Like, it's kind of nice to just lock yourself in with a movie and your popcorn and your snacks. At least with my attention span. Because, yeah, if I was watching and I liked the movie, J. Kelly, if I was watching it at my house, I would have probably been tempted to at some point kind of glance down at my ice cream cone, if you know what I mean.
- [46:29]
Andrew Walsh
You know, I do know what you mean, but out of context, that sounded.
- [46:34]
Luke Burbank
It did sound a little dirty. That's a reference to a commercial we were talking about yesterday about where they're trying to basically make it look like iPhone users are vanilla. And so they show everyone who has an iPhone instead they're holding like a soft serve vanilla ice cream cone. And there is in that commercial a scene where they're in like a opera performance or something, some kind of a thing where everyone's paying attention in this darkened theater and this one guy is trying to subtly stare down at his ice cream cone.
- [47:02]
Andrew Walsh
You know, I was thinking more about our conversation about that yesterday and later on I thought of another point that I thought would be kind of in your column of arguing about the effectiveness of.
- [47:11]
Luke Burbank
I'll allow it.
- [47:12]
Andrew Walsh
But unfortunately, I can't remember what it was. But at least know that I was thinking about that.
- [47:15]
Luke Burbank
Thank you. I appreciate it.
- [47:26]
Kelly Kilburn
Thank you, baby.
- [47:28]
Luke Burbank
All right, it's time to thank some of our donors. These are the folks who are keeping TBTL happen five days a week. We do this five days a week, 52 weeks a year, and it's a hundred percent listener supported. No advertising, no government grants, no. No other streams of income other than people who like the show and would like it to continue and are donating money each month. And we are incredibly grateful for folks like. Aw, it's my pal Kelly Kilburn in Seattle, Washington.
- [48:06]
Andrew Walsh
Right here in Seattle.
- [48:07]
Luke Burbank
Yes, sweetheart. I've known Kelly for years and years and years, and Kelly is just an absolutely awesome person. And it's always fun to see Kelly's name on the list. Thanks, Kelly.
- [48:18]
Andrew Walsh
I went bowling with Kelly one time.
- [48:20]
Luke Burbank
I don't think I realized that you gotta one up. Me?
- [48:23]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, I would be surprised if you weren't there. Did you go bowling? Me and Kelly and a gang of people about probably 15 years ago on Capitol Hill.
- [48:32]
Luke Burbank
That sounds like a thing I would have probably been at.
- [48:35]
Andrew Walsh
Seems like you live.
- [48:35]
Luke Burbank
One time I was in Seattle and I rented an Airbnb because I didn't live there, and I was hanging out with Addie and Kelly, and I think one of her friends came over and we sat on the roof of this Airbnb and had a drink.
- [48:47]
Andrew Walsh
Nice.
- [48:48]
Luke Burbank
What was that? So you're bowling?
- [48:49]
Andrew Walsh
No, I wasn't invited to that.
- [48:50]
Luke Burbank
She actually requested that. You're not invited.
- [48:52]
Andrew Walsh
Wow, Kelly. Well, thank you. You know what? You can disinvite me anytime, as long as you.
- [48:57]
Luke Burbank
I'll tell you who.
- [48:57]
Andrew Walsh
That's actually really sweet. Thank you.
- [48:59]
Luke Burbank
A huge Andrew Walsh. Stan is Bobby Smolinski.
- [49:03]
Andrew Walsh
Bobby. I can't keep Bobby away from me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you, Bobby.
- [49:07]
Luke Burbank
Thank you, Bobby. Thank you, Bobby.
- [49:11]
Andrew Walsh
That's very nice. I don't want to ruin it.
- [49:12]
Luke Burbank
It's like two letters off or one letter off if you decide to spell baby incorrectly. Hey, thanks to Rachel, right? Yeah. I could get to go either way. Rachel Criswell is in Mount Vernon. Excuse me, Maine is me. I always. That one. That always surprises me.
- [49:33]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. Because Ma was Massachusetts.
- [49:36]
Luke Burbank
Yeah. This is where I'll go into the Gary Goldman riff about the state abbreviations. That's my yearly thing I like to do. Thanks, Rachel. Thanks to Micah Shapiro, who's in Elk Grove, California.
- [49:49]
Andrew Walsh
Very nice. Thank you, Micah.
- [49:52]
Luke Burbank
Thanks to Bridget Schobbs of Chicago, Illinois.
- [49:56]
Andrew Walsh
Shared a stage. Yeah, Bridget once during the quiz. Right. Wasn't she up on the quiz for the Chicago. I believe we did.
- [50:03]
Luke Burbank
I believe so, Bridgie. I'll be in Chicago next week doing. Wait, wait, don't tell me. On the 15th of January, maybe I'll see some of y' all out there. There. Thanks, Brigid. Appreciate you as well. And then Chad Wilson is in Seattle, Washington.
- [50:18]
Andrew Walsh
Indeed, we know Chad. Thank you, Chad.
- [50:20]
Luke Burbank
I wonder what it's done for people of the. With the last name Wilson. Fairly common last name in America, but because of the movie Castaway and all the times where Tom Hanks is yelling Wilson to his best friend, the Wilson volleyball. I wonder if if as a Wilson people. If people just. When they see Chad, they yell wilson.
- [50:38]
Andrew Walsh
Maybe I know that you wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that.
- [50:42]
Luke Burbank
I don't know. I've said this before about like my name. Although this is really dropped off like, you know, there was a time where, you know, my name being Luke was a very kind of notable to people because of Star wars. And they would say, luke, I am your Father. It has been probably five years since anyone has said that to me. I did tell you that the woman cutting my hair a while ago tried to make like a.
- [51:06]
Andrew Walsh
Yes, that's right.
- [51:07]
Luke Burbank
But like an updated Star wars joke where neither she nor I knew the name of the person. She was like, the character she from.
- [51:13]
Andrew Walsh
Like, the sea or the prequel or whatever it was. A paladin is a paladin.
- [51:18]
Luke Burbank
No, it was like Padwa. I think she was referring to, like, maybe a Natalie Portman character who is maybe the mom of Luke Skywalker. But. But, like, what. What I don't get anymore is a Luke. I am your father. But what I was gonna say is I always enjoyed that because I just felt like it's got. It's given us something to start off with in the conversation. It's making somebody feel like they're being clever, which is a fun feeling. I've had it once or twice, about maybe three times, maybe four times or five or six. But no, I don't. I don't mind. I'm not someone who's personally ever been put off by somebody using a sort of easily repeated, repetitive way of, I don't know, saying hi to me or talking. So hopefully Chad is taking all the people screaming Wilson at him in stride is what I'm trying to say.
- [52:02]
Andrew Walsh
I have a theory about the Luke thing, by the way. The Luke Star wars thing. I think that what happened was. Well, obviously we know why it was so popular at the time. Star wars was a phenomenon, but eventually that sort of lost ground while former Seahawks, I want to say, tight end Luke Wilson rose to prominence. And so now people are always like, hey, are you Luke? Luke Wilson of the Seahawks with two L, two L's? Is that how he spelled his name?
- [52:28]
Luke Burbank
I think it was W, I, L.
- [52:30]
Andrew Walsh
L, S, O, N. Yeah, exactly. So it's more like Wilson. That's right. That's a combination of both. You and I would be shocked to.
- [52:40]
Luke Burbank
Hear that he's probably not young anymore. Let's see here. I'm going to.
- [52:44]
Andrew Walsh
And also, I would assume that tight ends probably have a. Maybe less of a lengthy career than even a wide receiver, given the fact that they're kind of. Am I right?
- [52:53]
Luke Burbank
Former professional. No, you're right. He's a former professional football player.
- [52:57]
Andrew Walsh
Whoa. Are you on Wikipedia? Look at that mustache and hair that he's got going on. He's had a mullet. I can't think of the word.
- [53:03]
Luke Burbank
2025. Yeah, he looks. It's always so interesting when these players and he's not the most extreme example. The real extreme example is usually with linemen, but like you said, you see some of these guys after they leave the league and you realize how many calories they were forced to consume in order to maintain their bulk that they needed. Like, you know, I'm thinking about who was the Cleveland Brown.
- [53:30]
Andrew Walsh
Joe Bitonio.
- [53:32]
Luke Burbank
No, although he. Joel Betonio. Joel Betonio was crying, by the way, about possibly retiring from the Cleveland rounds just the other day. I almost sent it to you.
- [53:42]
Andrew Walsh
Remember, he's the one who did the rap. I know you're talking about. You're talking about.
- [53:45]
Luke Burbank
He was.
- [53:46]
Andrew Walsh
He never missed a snap for, like, forever. And his name is.
- [53:49]
Luke Burbank
His first name is Joe something. Yeah, but he. This is embarrassing, but it was. It was wild because, like, he became a broadcaster pretty shortly thereafter, and it was like he did not look like the same human being.
- [54:02]
Andrew Walsh
Joe. Joe Thomas, right?
- [54:04]
Luke Burbank
Joe Thomas. Yeah.
- [54:05]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. That he is. He. He really was. The moment he was able to get on a microphone, he did, but not in a thirsty way. People just love him. I think he's a really good guy and is a very natural sort of talent on the air.
- [54:16]
Luke Burbank
Yeah, definitely. But, like, yeah, I was. I was listening to the, like, one of the Seahawks games this year in the car, driving somewhere, and I guess there was some sort of a ring of honor thing that had a bunch of the former, like, Seahawks linemen that were being honored in some way, like from, you know, 10, 15 years ago. And Steve Rabel said, like, something to the effect of, like, you would not recognize any of these men on the street.
- [54:38]
Andrew Walsh
God, I love Steve Rabel. He is, man. He. And he and Dave Wyman are really, I think, really special broadcasters. As far as former. As far as former players who are. Wait, I have Rabel, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Former players.
- [54:51]
Luke Burbank
Remember that thing that, like that. That little commercial that did Stu. Send it around in our text chain that was basically like something from the 80s. It was a commercial, some crossover with the Seahawks. Seattle seahawks of the 80s. And some. I don't know if it was a local restaurant or business of some kind. And. And one of them is Steve Rabel while when he was a Seahawk.
- [55:14]
Andrew Walsh
I don't. I don't. I know that you wouldn't have seen it because you got him muted, but I know Der sent around some, like, full, like, half hour 90s celebration of the Seahawks that was like. It was like Holmgren's Heroes or something like that. Is that what you're talking about?
- [55:31]
Luke Burbank
No, no, this was like just a little commercial. That again, I think I feel weirdly like it was Stu, which is funny because he's not even based in Seattle. But it was like in the Kremlinals. It's probably now like, you know, weeks and weeks back. But what it was was getting to see old Steve. Do you remember? I feel like I had a nickname for Steve Rabil that wasn't his real nickname. Like I, we were talking the other day about, about Sportsline with Wayne Cody and I swear to God. And maybe it was just like, like in passing, like, you know, somebody called him Rainbow Rabes, like Steve Rainbow Rabel or Rainbow Rabes. But I went around my whole life thinking that was his nickname. And then I think, I think we had him on Ross and Burbank. And I said something like, yeah, it's. How'd you get the nickname or Steve Rainbow Rabes? He goes, no one's ever called me that. Like I, I was, I was carrying around this nickname for him for years and years and years. That's apparently not his nickname. But no, I love the dynamic between him and Dave Wyman. I just love everything that Dave Wyman does and I love that Dave Wyman is kind of like the, he's sort of the anti broadcaster broadcaster which I like to think of as our lane. Andrew.
- [56:43]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, come on, Dave.
- [56:44]
Luke Burbank
I'm more like the anti talented broadcaster. But he like in the way that like. Because I will sometimes if I'm listening to other football teams broadcasts on. Usually I'm doing it on like serious satellite because they've got every single game on there. And it's, it's really interesting to hear the different kinds of dynamics between the different radio broadcast teams on the different teams for the different teams. Like, like the guy in Philly is very old and very kind of like pro. He sounds like he's like maybe like, you know, anyway, he's, he's a definitely an older guy and very like throwback. Then you get some kind of young guys that are really high energy on other teams. Steve Rabble is, you know, he's somewhere in the middle. But then Dave Wyman is just like so understated. I just kind of love it. It sounds like an insult. He's not low energy in a bad way, but he's just like low energy in a. I'm not being fake way. I'm just talking about this the way that I feel about it, which has authenticity in my mind and the love.
- [57:42]
Andrew Walsh
Between those two, which manifests as just ball busting constantly. But it's from this place of just like love that like kind of comes out of the radio. And also in football because I don't listen to a lot of football broadcasts, especially outside of our region. Is it usual to have two former players? Isn't it like with baseball, you usually have like the person calling the plays is like a broadcaster and then the color commentator is the former player. Is it unusual in football that we have. Are both of the main voices in our broadcast booth or former players?
- [58:14]
Luke Burbank
I would, I would go so far, Andrew, as to say, I bet you we are the only team in the NFL. This is a very fun trivia question. I've never thought of this before, but I bet you're right. I bet you were the only team in the NFL where our, our color, our play by play guy and our color commentator both were like starting players for an NFL team and for the same NFL team. Like that's, you know.
- [58:38]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. And that they're calling the team that they both played for.
- [58:43]
Luke Burbank
But yeah, because you're right. The play by play guy is never a dude who also played in the NFL. That's the play by play guy is a. Is a tiny person who grew up watching football and obsessing over football and thinking about football from the sidelines and then you know, like, meanwhile we're doing it.
- [59:02]
Andrew Walsh
I've gotten so many requests for a no point.
- [59:08]
Luke Burbank
NFC championship game version from what year.
- [59:11]
Andrew Walsh
He's gonna throw down the middle. He's got a man. Come on. The game is over. The Seahawks are going back to the Super Bowl. This is more than 10 years back.
- [59:22]
Kelly Kilburn
When you roll with the Seahawks. Marshawn lynch beast Mo with his dreadlocks, rolls and passes the ball to the end zone. Touchdown. You know we're gonna get the crown in the Super Bowl 2014. We get the ring, the bling. Listen to the crowd sing. Seahawks, Seahawks. Yucksy yucks. We block that offense. To say we'll lose is such an offense and nonsense. We got the best defense. Speaking the other quarterback comes with the expense of the act of being sacked. I hope the Broncos have enough time to react to the level of game. The Hawks are bringing that evening a Super Bowl Sunday. Cause they're gonna go all the way for the win. Starting when the game begins. All the way to the end of the game. And to go down in fame as the super bowl champions of this year. This team should be feared. You better saddle up when you roll with Seattle Broncos.
- [60:07]
Luke Burbank
Seem like now Andrew, who's the AFC number one seed?
- [60:16]
Andrew Walsh
Denver Bronco Oh, I see what you're going for there.
- [60:18]
Luke Burbank
I didn't know we could very well be playing the Denver Broncos in the super bowl this year, which would make this K dude and little Hoagie song, once again, extremely relevant.
- [60:31]
Andrew Walsh
We got to bring them back together. We got. I don't know why they.
- [60:35]
Luke Burbank
We've been unsuccessful in locating them.
- [60:37]
Andrew Walsh
Well, I think we wanted to.
- [60:39]
Luke Burbank
I actually give them privacy.
- [60:40]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, it was one of those things where they were kids. I mean, somehow they're older than us now, but they were kids, obviously, when they recorded that. So I. And we just, you know, somebody that was going around, they made that, put it on SoundCloud or something, then took it.
- [60:53]
Luke Burbank
And I think Ders, by the way, speaking of people who have blocked the one who hipped us to that again.
- [60:59]
Andrew Walsh
Like, again for whatever it would have been 12 years ago or whatever. And so we never wanted our listeners to, like, trying to find these people and, you know, and try to amplify the fact that we're using that on the show not because we feel like we're stealing something, but just because this isn't what they asked for.
- [61:14]
Luke Burbank
You know, I also have something on here called Seahawks. Seahawks Fixed bass rap. Was there a version of that song where the bass was unfixed and I needed to fix it?
- [61:25]
Andrew Walsh
You might.
- [61:26]
Luke Burbank
I mean, let's see. Oh, it's the same song.
- [61:28]
Andrew Walsh
Same song.
- [61:29]
Luke Burbank
Yeah. So this is the one I should start using because it doesn't have the extra Steve Rabel in it. But anyway, let's just do this because I do think that, first of all, we're in the badlands now. And second of all, I do think a lot of our listeners are pretty. Pretty hyped up about. About what's been going on with the football team, and we haven't. You and I haven't been talking day to day for a while since some pretty big stuff has gone down. But like, yeah, heady times for the Seattle Seahawks as the. As the number one seed in the nfc and. And, you know, a buy this week and a. A. It's not going to be a clear path, but at least a plausible path to the Super Bowl. One of the stats that you've probably heard them throwing around on sports radio is like, they're. The Seahawks have been the number one seed in the NFC three other times, and all three times they've gone to the Super Bowl. So that seems to portend good things potentially.
- [62:19]
Andrew Walsh
And somebody's been sending around a meme where it's also the years where there's been a new pope selected, I believe. I don't know if you've seen that as well, but. No, everything's looking up. The octopus is pointing in our direction, it sounds.
- [62:31]
Luke Burbank
That's right. Yes. So, yeah, I mean that, like, now, the other. This is a total sidelight issue, but it's. TikTok has figured out that in the aftermath of the Seahawks beating the 49ers in that kind of big, you know, clinching game that was, like, for the number one seed in the nfc, and the difference, of course, was, like, so drastic between, you win that game and you think, particularly if you're San Francisco, you win that game, you literally never have to leave the Bay Area, including the Super Bowl. But after that, all that TikTok was delivering to me for days was Niners fans being mad watching the game. And, like, we've talked about this before, like, I understand how it would identify me as a football fan and maybe even as a Seahawks fan because of videos that I'm letting watch. Well, no, I guess if it identifies me as a Seahawk fan, then it can identify that I want to see sad Niners fans. But it's just such a weird thing that it.
- [63:24]
Andrew Walsh
It.
- [63:24]
Luke Burbank
It's figured out that I'm interested in football, but also that I'm interested in seeing the team that the Seahawks just beat, seeing their fans upset. Like, it can deliver me that content.
- [63:34]
Andrew Walsh
This is more of a question about TikTok than sports. But, like, how confident are you in this day and age that those are real?
- [63:42]
Luke Burbank
You mean as opposed to AI or.
- [63:44]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, just like some Seattle Seahawks. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's plenty of people who are filming themselves being sad during a game, but also because it is just such a rich vein for people who love one team and kind of hate the other to, like, feast on the tears. I could see a lot of people making AI creations of the fans of the opposing team looking miserable.
- [64:06]
Luke Burbank
I think I can, at this point, can still tell what if it's AI or a human? But here's what I would say. So I don't think it's AI, but I do think it's humans just farming for clicks.
- [64:16]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
- [64:17]
Luke Burbank
So in other words, I think that this human who might be a Niners fan or might not be a Niners fan has figured out that he can videotape himself. And a lot of it's real Kayfaby, too. Like, it's them being kind of like, oh, the Seahawks have no chance. And they're like, you know, they're sitting in a comp. They're sitting in a gaming chair. Like, they're sitting in a gaming chair in, like, a room in their house with, like, four screens going. And. And they're almost being, like, the heel who thinks the Seahawks have no chance. And then they're. And then at the bottom third of the screen is actually the game. It's actually plays happening, you know, and it's them. It's like they're playing the. They're playing the role of a person who I am looking to see be disappointed.
- [65:00]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
- [65:00]
Luke Burbank
And so I think you're right. I think that it's total. I think it's probably an act, and yet I still watch it.
- [65:06]
Andrew Walsh
Well, that's what. Yeah. I mean, this is obvious, and this is really a conversation we could have been having in literally 2005, let alone 2026. But I think I forgot that it's 2026. For a second, I should have said 2006 to 2026. But it's always a question of, yeah, but why were you filming that? Somebody sent a meme around the other day. We're actually carved out time to talk about the Seahawks, and I feel like I'm leading us away from it. But did I tell you that somebody added me? There's like a quite. I don't know. Serious is the right word, but a group of people who play darts at the Eagles that I have really nothing to do with who are getting more and more serious about playing darts. There's a dart league and dart teams that play.
- [65:51]
Luke Burbank
And you're not interested in participating?
- [65:53]
Andrew Walsh
No, I'm just a little nervous about it. Whatever. Now, I've played with some of those people a couple of times when I happen to be there, but Darren, kind of one of the ringleaders of it. Darren's whole thing is just like, I was talking to Veeves about him the other day in complimentary terms. I think Darren's whole energy, and I think you've met him before, is just like, I want people to be happy. I want you to be involved, whatever you want. Like, he's just always, like, he just has that energy about him. And so it's really important to him that I am part of this dart thing, which I'm not really part of, but he added me to a dart text chain. Okay. And so I'm constantly. So I am now part of a text chain with tons of random phone numbers. I don't know, Maybe I'm gonna say there's 15 people on this chain who are just like, we tossing tonight? Oh, I don't know. I think they're playing disc golf or whatever in the main room or whatever, and people are, like, tossing and stuff all the time. I don't remember exactly how did I get on this topic of darts? I literally have forgotten.
- [66:54]
Luke Burbank
Well, wait a second.
- [66:55]
Andrew Walsh
What I was talking about.
- [66:56]
Luke Burbank
Well, it could have. I don't know. We were. Could have.
- [66:59]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, I know. Oh, this is such a small aside. Somebody on that text chain. Oh, my God, I can't believe how far away I am from my point. Somebody on that text chain was like, are we tossing tonight? And they posted, like, a meme of somebody throwing a dart and hitting the dartboard, and the whole dartboard falls down and then falls to the the ground. And I was just like, yeah, but why were you taping that throw? Like, that particular throw, it was clearly a handheld. Like, they had it rigged that way. And again, this is a meme that was so potato quality and so grainy. It probably was, you know, older than Addie, but. And so it's just. I don't have to, like, I don't have to apply the Pruder filter to everything I see online, but I always do have the. Yeah, but I don't know. I've just never been down with people who are like, oh, we're near the end of this game. Let's just like. Like, let's make sure we're recording the room here or whatever. It always just is just like, can you just be in the moment and not record your emotions in case you can capitalize on it later?
- [67:56]
Luke Burbank
Yeah, I agree with that. But I do think that because of the advent of Twitch, I think there's this whole world, which I don't watch, but there's this particularly, like, for different. For younger generation, it's super common. Like, there are people that are making wild amounts of money by just watching other people play video games and then just, like, freaking out about it because they become personalities. You know themselves as the watcher, either the player of the video game or the watcher of the video game. So there is sort of a format for this, which is, generally speaking, not for me, but you're absolutely right. Like. Like, I hadn't thought about it this way, but it's like, these people are definitely trying to get clicks. They're definitely. They've realized that, like. And I'm sure that if I was a Dallas Cowboys fan, I would probably see the same person being like, you know, like, Pittsburgh Steelers fan crashes out when Cowboys win, and then he's all steelers doubt. And then he's just like, cowboys have no chance. And then a good thing happens for the cowboys. And he's like what? Screaming, spinning around in his gaming chair. And I'm just like, you got yours, bro. But it's like I also know that this is basically totally faked and like I wouldn't watch wrestling because I know it's fake, but this is a kind of kayfabe that I can kind of of hang with. Quick digression into darts because we were talking about darts. Have you been following any of the Luke Litler thing? No, not this guy who's the greatest dart player in the world.
- [69:20]
Andrew Walsh
People send me because they know I like to play darts in my basement. I've seen this name because people will throughout the year have been kind of sending me this or that. But I'll be honest with you, I haven't really clicked into it too much. And then I saw this on the show sheet today. I was like, ooh, what is this? But I haven't gone deep on it. But I know that he's a young guy who's like, like real good at darts, right?
- [69:40]
Luke Burbank
Yeah, basically he just won, he's 18 years old and he's just won his like second world championship, which is like a huge deal in Europe, I guess darts. I mean that this, this, the place that they play is, is called Ali Pally and it's like the something palace. It's the whatever, I can look it up too. But like, like this place is friggin packed with people. Like this is a huge sport over there and I don't want to get into is bowling a sport. But like it's kind of interesting because they were like the New York Times or the athletic article that I was reading about him was saying that like they were quoting like people on the Pat McAfee show saying like this guy, what he's doing as far as his dominance in the world of darts might make him the greatest athlete in the world right now. And I was like, is it? But I mean you are doing something, you're throwing, you're moving your body, you're stare. I mean there's a lot of hand eye, a ton of hand eye coordination, a ton of muscle control. Like it's got to be as much a sport as many other sports. Like I don't know if I wouldn't consider chess a sport because I don't think you have to be able to physically move the pieces that I mean you could probably, if you needed something adaptive help you could. It's mostly a mental game, but I think darts is. I think we can call darts a sport, right? Definitely.
- [70:57]
Andrew Walsh
I mean, I mean, does it matter? I guess is the. Is the big question, which is. And you just said that. I'm not trying to just totally destroy the conversation or undermine your premise. I'm just trying to wrap my head around it because it's like the McAfee thing, because the quote was something like, well, based on the stats in his sport. So let's just say that we're calling darts a sport. I think I would, I would definitely call bowling a sport. Use that as kind of our throwaway line. Like, is bowling a sport? Because it's always like a good topic, bowling. I have no question about darts. It sort of seems like, well, yeah, it seems like a little bit of a stretch for me. It doesn't really matter to me too much because I don't have like kind of ego invested in it one way or the other. But when you try to make the argument, well, if darts is a sport and this guy, if you look at his stats and how it compares to every other person who's ever played the sport before him, that would make him the best athlete, like now you're just messing around with numbers to kind of make a viral point or whatever or make a hot take or whatever it is that we all do. But like obviously an athlete who plays. Let's just go back to football, though. I'm not even. Maybe there's another sport you can make, a basketball probably even more so. Right? Like the actual physical prowess of somebody who wakes up at a certain time and goes into this, this exercise regimen of just like that is just beyond my understanding and diet so that they can be, you know, whether you're talking about Tom Brady or, you know, whoever it is, like, there's just no way you can say this 18 year old kid is a better athlete than Tom Brady in his prime or whatever. I think that that is a little bit of just sort of trying to make a point.
- [72:34]
Luke Burbank
What really jumped out at me about this whole thing though was not that this guy is you know, obviously like sort of the Tiger woods of his sport in that he's winning this world championships very early and could maybe end up with the most of all time, which I think is like 14 or something. Something. But it was way down in the article. They say the only time Littler lost composure was when a wasp repeatedly flew at his head in the fifth set when he was up three to one. He was down a leg when the wasp, which made headlines at the beginning of the tournament, buzzed near him, perhaps attracted to the bright yellow and purple shirt worn by Littler, whose nickname is the Nuke. And then I was like, what? This wasp that made headlines? So then I go find this other article about these wasps that keep stinging the players during the frigging Darts World Championships at the Alexandra palace known as the Alley Pali, which is, like you.
- [73:30]
Andrew Walsh
Were saying, the preeminent it is the.
- [73:33]
Luke Burbank
Like, you know, what would you call it? The Vatican of this stuff? The cradle of. It's the highest level of dart competition in the world. The Alexandra palace, home of the PDC World Championship since 2008. And they've apparently got a wasp problem. I'm reading from the athletic here. This is Eduardo Tansley writing. A wasp affectionately known as the Ali Pally Wasp has got closer to the players and the action than the thousands of fans in attendance each day. The Alley Pally Wasp may sound like another creative nickname in the sport, known for Peter Snake Bite, right, And Johnny the Ferret Clayton, among others. But its myth has been creating a Buzz since the 2012 championships. This this year, the world number 114, urine Vander Veld used wasp spray on stage to contend with it, only to be left flapping when it flew. Nearby. Ross smith was stung three times on his left hand following a third round victory in 2023 and must have had flashbacks when he was stung live on air after his victory in this year's first round. So follow along with me, Andrew. People are bringing wasp spray to their little podium area where they have their stuff before they play these darts. This one dude was stung on his left hand three times while competing. And then during a post match press conference was again stung by one of these wasps in the Alley Pally. What the hell is going on?
- [75:09]
Andrew Walsh
This seems so solvable.
- [75:11]
Luke Burbank
I mean, I don't have that many wasps in the Madrona Hill studio and this place is far less, sort of. It's far less in the spotlight. Like, I feel like you could make sure there were no, by the way, it's a yellow jacket. I also looked this up up because I actually saw. So I'm going to play you a little bit of this press conference where this guy is getting stung by the. What they're calling a wasp. I did learn all yellow jackets are wasps, but not all wasps are yellow jackets, right? Because when I saw the actual. I think of a wasp really as being like a mud dober, like one of those ones that has a very kind of like, noted and kind of like long. Would you call it a thorax?
- [75:51]
Andrew Walsh
You know, like the fat bottom bees.
- [75:54]
Luke Burbank
A fat bottom bee, Right. And this more like a yellow. Like a yellow jacket.
- [75:59]
Andrew Walsh
Right, okay. Yeah.
- [75:59]
Luke Burbank
So then I was like, oh, are they calling a yellow jacket a wasp? And I looked it up and actually yellow jackets are wasps. So they were right. But here is this guy getting stung. It's a little hard to follow. This is a guy named Ross Smith. Again, think about sports where you need your hand to not be paralyzed. I'd put darts at the very top of the list. If you think about a wasp sting being a mini paralysis eventually, like, it's insane to me.
- [76:21]
Andrew Walsh
This is going on to the World Dance Championship.
- [76:23]
Luke Burbank
Here we go. I think, you know, leading up to this, the last couple of days have been a bit nervy and stuff. I think we all are, if we're honest with you. Everyone wants to just get through that first round and get on after Christmas. I'm happy now. I will relax. Hopefully you'll see a better Ross.
- [76:38]
Kelly Kilburn
We hope so, because we know how.
- [76:40]
Andrew Walsh
Well you can do. You've made some mega strides in your career over the last couple of years. Do you think you can be a dark horse horse in this tournament?
- [76:46]
Luke Burbank
Yeah, without a doubt. I honestly, I believe. Oh, there's the wasp.
- [76:51]
Andrew Walsh
The Alley Pali wasp is here.
- [76:52]
Luke Burbank
It's just done me. It's just stung me like a good. And.
- [76:57]
Andrew Walsh
We apologize for the language.
- [76:59]
Luke Burbank
Sorry about that. So let me just understand this. How many times have you been stung by a bee in your life, Andrew? I'd put it at what, under five? Maybe not counting. Okay, maybe not counting your childhood in Ohio.
- [77:11]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, not counting child. Because I was gonna say kid. We would step on bees all the time. We were constant. But as an adult. As an adult, I remember one time I was absolutely shocked. It was in New Hampshire. I grabbed something that. It was near a beehive in there, or. I don't even remember if it was a wasp or a bee, but it stung me right in the hand. I grabbed something. I didn't know that a wasp was on it. And the reason I remember that was because it was shocking. It was a shock to the system.
- [77:38]
Luke Burbank
Because if you in adult life, unless you work in agriculture or some particular field that brings you or you have a hobby that brings you out into a particular part of nature, I would say the average adult who has a mostly indoor life and job will be stung, I would say, a maximum of three times in their adult life. And it'll Be things just like you described. We're to believe that Ross Smith was stung four times during like a two day period at the World World Darts Championship. That's not where the story ends, by the way. Similar luck followed the wasp this year for the World Championship's first Kenyan player, a guy named David Munua. It landed on Munua's face before he won two sets to upset the world. Number 18, Mike De Decker. I got it. This is the guy from Kenya. I got it. I tried to put it in my pocket to stay with me because I love going through tough things. Muniana said. Is that the match?
- [78:38]
Andrew Walsh
Is that the problem? People think it's good luck. I had scanned this article you sent, so I saw that some people say it's good luck. Like, because I'm not saying that any sport wouldn't be more difficult if wasps were in your face. I would say almost any sport would be more difficult with wasps.
- [78:52]
Luke Burbank
But I put this at the top of the list.
- [78:53]
Andrew Walsh
I'd put it damn near the top of the list. I mean, listen, if you're, if you're facing a major league pitcher and you're at the plate and there is a wasp flying around, that's also. But you know, we're talking about these moments of real concentration and you're in. But it's an indoor sport where it's pure concentration. You just got to get this little tiny pointy thing into a very tiny little part of a formerly cork board, you know, and we can't do something about the wasps. Like I feel like it's the equivalent of being like, well, Sofi Stadium is really beautiful. We have a wild boar problem. I mean there are some wild boar problem. You know, there's some wild boar roaming the field. But aside from that, like, like it's a really great playing experience. It's just kind of like, can we do something about the wasps at the Shangri La of darts?
- [79:44]
Luke Burbank
I know. I mean, I could not believe how sort of extensive the wasp problem appeared to be at this thing. Like again, it wasn't one they go, by the way they go into basically they bring some like science into it later and say it's probably not the same wasp because the average lifespan of a wasp is one to five years. So these would probably be different wasps over the different years there. But like I was here was my theory, by the way.
- [80:12]
Andrew Walsh
Wait, so they really think there's only one flying around at any given time?
- [80:17]
Luke Burbank
Well, I mean this is what they say. Let me get to the. Let's see.
- [80:20]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, I'm sorry to put you on the spot because I had. I had scanned the article and it did seem like they were talking about it like the wasp. But I thought, well, they were.
- [80:28]
Luke Burbank
I mean, they're being a little cheeky.
- [80:30]
Andrew Walsh
To keep it sort of British. Yeah.
- [80:31]
Luke Burbank
But here's what they. They. Let's see if I can get back to.
- [80:35]
Andrew Walsh
Clearly they have a wasp problem and that they should just take care of one way or another. Like you find a way.
- [80:42]
Luke Burbank
Right. It says somewhere if I keep. Oh, I can't find it. Now, they basically said that. I think they're kind of joking around about it being the Ali Pally wasp, but then they were clarifying that it would be unlikely it was actually the same wasp, because this is over the course of multiple years. So. Yeah, it's just there is a wasp problem there. My theory is that I bet you that wasps like spilled beer. And I bet you there's almost nowhere other than maybe Oktoberfest. There's probably nowhere in the world where there's more beer being spilled than the Alley Pali World Darts Championship in the stands.
- [81:19]
Andrew Walsh
I think, I mean, having just been educated about high stakes gaming from watching Burt Wonderstone, I feel like. I mean, when you get to this level, I don't think it's guys.
- [81:31]
Luke Burbank
Not the players. Not the players. Oh, you.
- [81:33]
Andrew Walsh
Just the people who are watching. Oh.
- [81:34]
Luke Burbank
Maybe I'm saying there's a stadium full of drunk Brits and I would guess that there's like a lot of. That just seems like a sticky floor to me.
- [81:43]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
- [81:44]
Luke Burbank
I can see not the competitors, but the fans.
- [81:46]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. People in Green Bay right now are like, I don't know. Hold my beer.
- [81:49]
Luke Burbank
Hold my beer.
- [81:50]
Andrew Walsh
Don't hold my beer. I'm holding my beer.
- [81:52]
Luke Burbank
Except they're outside. This is what I'm saying.
- [81:54]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, that's true. Yeah.
- [81:55]
Luke Burbank
So I think you can spill beer. This is my. This is my theory that I'm concocting on the fly, so to speak. I think you can spill beer outside and be relatively okay. I think a bunch of spilled beer indoors and stickiness, it seems like that's my theory is that's attracting these yellowjackets slash wasps. But it is still crazy to me that for with all of this pressure and all of this, you know, there's a lot of money on the line. By the way, this Luke litler guy won 1.3 million, I don't know if it was pounds or dollars for like winning his, his second championship. And it's also kind of Funny, because they say in the athletic article that, like, there's nothing that proves that you're becoming a dominant athlete. Like, people are booing you. And apparently a significant portion of the. Oh, you know what?
- [82:35]
Andrew Walsh
His name is Lou.
- [82:37]
Luke Burbank
I just.
- [82:38]
Andrew Walsh
His name is.
- [82:39]
Luke Burbank
I'm gonna write a letter to the editor.
- [82:40]
Andrew Walsh
Yep.
- [82:41]
Luke Burbank
I am realizing that the person who wrote this article misunderstood what was going. Very likely, miss. Somebody named. This looks like a very Irish name that I can't pronounce. Kaomi o'. Neill. Kaomi o'. Neal. I think Kaomi o', Neal, writing for the Athletic, misunderstood that they were saying Luke. And this is something that, of course, I know very well because I did think that was kind of an interesting. Here we go. Perhaps nothing signifies a team or player supremacy more than a booing crowd. He was jeered by some of the 3,000 strong crowd during his 42 win over Rob Cross. I promise you, they were saying, Luke.
- [83:24]
Andrew Walsh
I. Yeah, I totally am bored. Because that's so common now. Like, I was. I feel like I was watch. It was watching some NFL matchup over the weekend, and I didn't have any context for the teams or the players, but when one. I want to say, maybe it. Was it a kicker? Was it actually the ill fated Ravens kicker? Was he a Luke, too? I don't know. But you hear all of a sudden a crowd booing, like, off, and you're like, yeah, his name is Loop.
- [83:49]
Luke Burbank
His last name is.
- [83:50]
Andrew Walsh
And we're so used to that. When you hear booing, you're like, oh. Oh, this person's. This is.
- [83:54]
Luke Burbank
This is his Cooper cup. Makes a catch.
- [83:57]
Andrew Walsh
Right? Yeah.
- [83:57]
Luke Burbank
At Lumen Field, we're gonna say Coop.
- [83:59]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, exactly.
- [84:00]
Luke Burbank
Like, yeah, that's funny. It's. I'm almost petty enough to like, email that writer and say, I think as someone named Luke, who occasionally enters public spaces, like on a stage, not to the degree of the Darts World Championship, but I could say that to me, the likely scenario is that they were saying Luke litter.
- [84:21]
Andrew Walsh
Well, this one, the second the graph after it. I want to give the writer a.
- [84:26]
Luke Burbank
Little antagonizing the audience.
- [84:28]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. He said that Littler made his feelings known in an onstage interview afterwards, thanking the crowd for paying for his prize money after his victory in the final. And it was a bunch of money, and I lost it up there, he would later admit. So maybe they really were booing him, or at least he interpreted it that way because it sort of seems like he was saying like, oh, yeah, you're going to treat me like that? Well, then I'll clap back.
- [84:54]
Luke Burbank
Yeah, I guess I would have to be there, but my lived experience as a Luke makes me wonder if there was some misunderstanding of what was going on there. But anyway, back to the Seahawks. What do you think is going to happen? They going to go to the Super Bowl? Andrew.
- [85:05]
Andrew Walsh
Oh man, oh man, oh man. We don't. And this is a real. This is coming from a place of ignorance. Let me tell you what I said to you on the show. This is not going to answer your question. I'll try to come back around to it. But I'll say this as a very casual football fan these days. You know, I started the season saying about how I was like very, very casually watching the games, if watching them at all and not really caring that much, but that there really is like, this team has been so good. I have no problem admitting to being a little bit bandwaggy about it and making more time and trying to watch the games when possible and, and the fact that it ended up being so close in our division, which is so infuriating in some ways that we have such a tough division we have to make our way through. But exciting, the fact that the last two regular season games have been such high stakes and the second to last one against the Rams on national television and like kind of a, you know, like a solo slot in the broadcast schedule was so unbelievably dramatic, that Ram Seahawks game. And I think that maybe you and I, I can't remember where we were in our broadcast schedule, so I don't know if we ever talked about it, but that was so dramatic and so amazing. And then to know that the next week we're going to face another division rival for the actual title of, you know, winning the division as well as an important seeding place, you know, in the playoffs. Like, I feel like we've already gotten two weeks of playoff football. And it's amazing as of right now, though, because I find the playoffs so unbelievably complicated. I don't even know what our. We don't know the next stonework jumping to yet, do we? We don't know who we'll be facing in two weeks.
- [86:44]
Luke Burbank
No, we don't know exactly who it will be, but we know we will be at home. Yep. So that's like, that's, that's. That seems to help. Although, oddly enough.
- [86:54]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
- [86:54]
Luke Burbank
Yeah, exactly. We're one of those teams that's. Well, in the. During our entire time, you know, with Mike McDonald, we've been really good on the road, like it's crazy how good we've been on the road, but that being said, I still, I think, would rather be at home. So it looks like we are going to play the winner of the Rams, Carolina.
- [87:15]
Andrew Walsh
Okay. Yeah.
- [87:16]
Luke Burbank
Which kind of sucks, actually.
- [87:17]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
- [87:18]
Luke Burbank
Because, like, go Carolina is what I would say. Definitely it's going to be Ked Woodley week here on next week because, like, you know, it would. The Rams are a really, really good football team and it would be a major bummer if we just had to turn right around and play them again. Again, we are at home, which is, I think, kind of helpful. And, you know, I do think our defense is. Is really, really, really legit. And I think that we. I mean, we've. We basically, you know, we made Brock Purdy look pretty bad. We've. We have made Stafford look less good than he normally is. Like, I do think there is something to our defense and I also think the emergence of our run game game, it helped that we were running in San Francisco, who was really banged up and has a pretty bad defense right now, mostly because of injuries. But, like, you know, the fact that in the last, like three, four games, our run game has been solid. Like, if. If our run game is working, I think we're very, very, very hard to stop. Somebody else was pointing out that the Seahawks are like one of the very rare teams that is like top five, both offense and defense. That's like a pretty, you know, you. You often get a team that's got a great offense but allows you defense or vice versa, and we somehow are, you know, pretty competent in both departments. Also, we've been winning games even when Sam Darnold isn't playing well.
- [88:38]
Andrew Walsh
I was going to ask you about the last game we watched because you and I did not watch it together. I should make that clear. But I was watching with a bunch of folks at the Eagles and I enjoyed the game and I was relatively locked in on it, but I couldn't hear the announcers and it wasn't like watching at home and really, like being glued to the commentary and everything.
- [88:56]
Luke Burbank
Yeah.
- [88:56]
Andrew Walsh
And so how. How did Darnold do in. It sounds like I'm.
- [89:01]
Luke Burbank
It's a lot of Ds, dude.
- [89:02]
Andrew Walsh
I heard it. How did he end up doing. How did his stats look after the San Francisco game? Because I remember somebody holding a sign during that game that said, in Darnold, we trust. And I was like, really? And we were already winning by that point. But I was like, in Darnold, we trust, because I saw a lot of astounding running plays both between Charbonnet and Walker. But, like, it sort of seemed like that's how we won that game. And I still get nervous when I see him holding that ball. Like he was a good job of not turning it over. And I think he's being very, very careful with the ball now. But did he have an especially good game?
- [89:39]
Luke Burbank
He did not have a bad game, and he did not have an exceptional game, but he did exactly what they wanted him to do, which he did not turn the ball over.
- [89:47]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, yeah.
- [89:48]
Luke Burbank
And that's the main thing. Like, we were kind of like, it feels to me like the beginning of the season when our defense was still kind of trying to get locked in. He was putting up these huge numbers because we sort of needed to outscore teams, and he was turning the ball over a lot. I think he might have the most fumbles in the league this, or at least the most turnovers at quarterback position of anybody in the NFL this year. But as the defense has gotten better and better, they've basically, I think that Clint Kubiak has changed the play calling to really, really, really minimize risk. And so it's not quite as fun as seeing him, you know, know, throw over the top to JSN, you know, and JSN getting 200 yards in a game or whatever, but it's working. In the words of Coolio. And so the number one thing we needed Darnold to not do was not turn the ball over. He didn't turn the ball over, and he did convert, you know, a pass or two when we needed it. It was again, the run game was working that we, you know, we had, like, almost 200 yards rushing. So that was, you know, it's. Again, it's not flashy, but it is a way, I think that we might get to the super bowl is just. Our defense is, you know, phenomenal, and then we just don't mess up on offense and we just. And basically you wear the other team down. I mean, that's exactly what happened to the Niners was like, they, on their one decent drive, they end up throwing that interception, you know, because you just like. What we basically do is we try to make the other team go, like, 90 yards for every score. So there. I mean, that's why the other thing is the Seahawks go for it on fourth down less than any other team in the NFL, which makes me mad, because I want to say this, too. Along with uncovering that Bobby Hill is the mom of. Of Odessa, a Zion from Marty Supreme Wonderstone I also feel like I was saying to you six, seven years ago, all teams should be going it on, going for it on fourth down almost all the time.
- [91:40]
Andrew Walsh
Time.
- [91:40]
Luke Burbank
And, and you said Genevieve kind of was of the same opinion back in the day.
- [91:43]
Andrew Walsh
Certainly if you're anywhere around midfield and any.
- [91:47]
Luke Burbank
Or, or.
- [91:47]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, or in on the opposing side of the field.
- [91:50]
Luke Burbank
Right. But I would even say if you're on your own 40 and it's 4th and like less than 2, like I have. I was always saying the, the downside of, of turning the ball over on downs is, is extreme. But the chances of continuing the drive, the upside of that is so huge. And if you do it five times and you. And it's successful four out of the five times, it's like it was such a no brainer to me. And, and I was always like, what are they doing? And now that is totally the, that is the conventional wisdom of the NFL is like you always go for it on fourth down. If you're on the 50 or closer to the end zone you're trying to score in, if it's like less than, let's say three yards, like it's just a given now. And I'm like, yeah, I've been saying that. How am I the greatest mind in football?
- [92:34]
Andrew Walsh
That's your only question. And it is interesting, the Seahawks sort of buck that trend given that they have the. And I think it's official during the regular season, a defense that gave up the least points in the NFL. I think I'm right about that. Right. So, yeah, you would think that like you'd even double down on that. But you know, the. I, I'm not too. There was a time in the last game where I was like, really disappointed they didn't go for it. I think it was the last game. Maybe I'm thinking of a different play. But it's working out for him so far. Exactly. Well, that's, you know.
- [93:03]
Luke Burbank
Well, that's the math. The math from Mike McDonald is instead of going for it on fourth down at the 50, we're gonna punt it and we're gonna make you, the other team, go further. We're gonna make, we're just gonna try to make it so that you always have to go 80 yards or 90 yards on every drive. And we just think that we're gonna stop you at some point in that process. And by the way, they've been right. Like, they're just like, we're not giving you any free yards. We're just gonna, we're gonna Be a defense first team that runs the ball and you know, and, and basically just makes. Makes your offense score on our defense, which teams have not been very successful at doing so. You know, I, you know, I mean, let me lay out by the way, that by this might be almost exactly what happened the last time we went to the Super Bowl. Andrew, I have a feeling that we. This, like this could line up very similarly to years past. I have this feeling that we beat one of the years we went to the Super Bowl. We beat Carolina at. I think it was called Century Link. Then like I think Jake Delome and the Carolina Panthers came to Seattle and they were a, you know, they were. They were a playoff team, but not a particularly threatening playoff team. And I think we beat them pretty soundly. And like, golly, if the, if somehow the Rams can just lay an egg in Carolina and then we can just sit back and wait for the Bryce Young leg led Carolina Panthers to come to Seattle. Famous last words, by the way. Now watch them come and beat us. But like, I would feel so much less stressed about that than I would about the Rams coming. That being said, as you and I were talking about off air, I think yesterday, Andrew, to beat the Rams at home to continue our march towards the super bowl would also be pretty frigging satisfying.
- [94:48]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, that's the thing. Because correct me if I'm wrong about this, but we did beat them twice this year, right?
- [94:54]
Luke Burbank
No, we beat them once. We split it first game of the season and then we beat them them the last. The second to last game of the season.
- [95:01]
Andrew Walsh
Okay, gotcha. And. And we also split with the 49ers of course too, which would have given them the leg up this. This last game if they had one. Correct. Okay, that's. That seems right. Yeah. I mean it would be absolutely more delicious to beat the Rams again. But it, I mean it was a little bit. I feel like we kind of got into a similar conversation about who we wanted to face. Like I think maybe regarding the Astros or something when it was the Mariners getting into the postseason and like how delicious that would be. Even though do we really want to face a team that sort of has traditionally sort of had our. Or whatever because the highs are going to be higher and the lows are going to be lower if we lose to that team. I feel like. But let me ask you this. This is a weird place to take this, but it's just sort of like I did not listen to a lot. I haven't had the radio on that much this week. For some reason. But I did hear that the past two days have been a bit of a bloodbath when it comes to head coaches jobs. And I know that's the time of year where always teams are making decisions, especially losing teams are making decisions about whether or not to continue with their coaches. It seems to me anecdotally like this year has been more than ever. We're seeing, I think that we're up to maybe seven coaches who've lost their jobs now, which means there's going to be a lot of openings, which means we're probably looking at maybe losing a Clint Kubiak or something like that going into next year. Huh. And is that something that's on your mind?
- [96:19]
Luke Burbank
Well, it'll be a bummer, but I think that, yeah, I think we're going to definitely lose him. It's funny to see all the folks in Baltimore that are just like, pulling their hair out now because. Because the new narrative in Baltimore is they should have fired John Harbaugh last year and promoted Mike McDonald, you know, like. Or like, like, you know, at the beginning of last season. Like, basically everyone in Baltimore, or a lot of people in Baltimore are very bummed that Mike McDonald is the Seahawks head coach, the number one seed. And that. Although, I mean, honestly, like, I think that I don't. I don't know. John Harbaugh, I think, has been a pretty good coach, and it didn't help that his star quarterback was hurt for significant portions of the season. Like, I don't. I would be. Not that this is the John Harbaugh experiment, but I have a feeling that John Harbaugh is going to get hired immediately somewhere else and is going to continue to be a pretty good coach. Like, I don't know, I wouldn't have gotten rid of him if I were.
- [97:10]
Andrew Walsh
The Ravens, but, well, the Ravens, I, you know, we have a. We have a friend slash listener who is a rabid Ravens fan. That's how we became friends. In fact, when I was more of a Browns fan and I was getting texts from our friend Tierra yesterday, that's. I guess the news was out for an hour and I had missed it and she had texted me. She's like, finally, about time. She's a hardcore Ravens fan. She's like, we should have done this a long time ago. We wasted the best years of Lamar Jackson under him. Just sort of like, always knocking on the door, getting close, but never really delivering anything. So I'm not taking a stance on this. I'm just saying that from the Biggest Baltimore. Yeah. I'll take Ravens fan that I know they're glad to see him gone. Here's my hot take on it.
- [97:49]
Luke Burbank
Yeah.
- [97:50]
Andrew Walsh
Andrew Stefanski to the Baltimore Ravens.
- [97:53]
Luke Burbank
Yeah, that's what I've seen.
- [97:55]
Andrew Walsh
Really?
- [97:55]
Luke Burbank
Kevin.
- [97:55]
Andrew Walsh
Kevin Stefanski or Kevin Stavansky rather. Does I say Andrew? Yeah, because I mean he's in the division. He, he's faced that team a lot. He will be facing his former team. Like I sort of. I didn't know that that was the buzz, but that's what I was trying to start.
- [98:09]
Luke Burbank
I know it is the buzz. So you, my friend, you've got your finger on the pulse. Very handsome man. Man. Isn't he also. I mean he's a one time.
- [98:18]
Andrew Walsh
You're talking about Kevin Spansky or me?
- [98:19]
Luke Burbank
Talking about both of you. I'm talking about Andrew. Andrew Stefan.
- [98:22]
Andrew Walsh
Okay. Appreciate it.
- [98:24]
Luke Burbank
But not only. I mean he was the Cleveland Browns head coach but was he also he's not like a Saint Ignatius or Walsh High guy. He doesn't go that far back.
- [98:32]
Andrew Walsh
Not that I know. I can't remember. I can't remember where he came from before he became the Browns head coach, but I feel like he came from another Midwest team. I, I did he did he actually do sometimes do some time. Did he spend some time with the Vikings? Maybe. I sort of feel that like maybe somebody in our text chain had more background when he came. I actually feel bad for him. I think he's a great coach who would have. I think he had the Browns do things. You know, the Browns broke their playoff, you know, dirt drought under him. You know, like I think that he's had to deal with an impossible organization.
- [99:09]
Luke Burbank
Greatest and only good Browns memories of the last absolutely five years.
- [99:13]
Andrew Walsh
I've been, I've been getting a little bit more Brown curious lately. Again, I don't even know why I'm still mad. Obviously mad at them for all their past sins and I'm mad at them for moving. They're now in the process of moving the stadium out of Cleveland. And like it's like I don't know why but maybe I'm just softening up a little bit or I'm just like very afc. I've been finding my eyes like during a non Seahawks times. But when I'm still like in the kitchen puttering before my volunteer gig, I'm like, well I got to put a game ON and if LeBron Browns are playing, I might as well just see. I think you also losers are doing well.
- [99:45]
Luke Burbank
That's the thing. I think you're naturally attracted to underdog stories. Now, first of all, you're from the Greater Cleveland area, so you've got a connection to that team. But I think, I feel, my theory is if Cleveland right now was like, if they were 13 and 3 and they were killing it, but their quarterback was DeSean Watson, you would actively.
- [100:03]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, no. It's the fact that desean is pretty much out of the picture now, but. But it's not the people who put him there, not the people who made the decisions. I mean, look, I can.
- [100:10]
Luke Burbank
I can.
- [100:11]
Andrew Walsh
I can whip myself up into anger again very quickly. I'm not saying that I'm. I'm breaking out any Browns jerseys anytime soon, but I have been finding myself a little bit more curious about it. And it's not like I'm some. Geez Louise. What is the name of their quarterback now? The coach Prime's kid?
- [100:29]
Luke Burbank
I couldn't. I couldn't tell you.
- [100:30]
Andrew Walsh
No, you do. He was. He was supposed to be. He was supposed to go first in the draft, and he did. Coach Prime's kid.
- [100:35]
Luke Burbank
Oh, Shador Sanders.
- [100:36]
Andrew Walsh
Shador Sanders.
- [100:37]
Luke Burbank
Is he their quarterback right now? That's.
- [100:38]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure.
- [100:40]
Luke Burbank
Little I know about them.
- [100:41]
Andrew Walsh
I haven't watched the last couple of games. I'm pretty sure that they put him in. They didn't have. Have a lot of choices after a while, but I'm pretty sure he closed out the season for him.
- [100:49]
Luke Burbank
Yeah. Yeah, that's. I could see you buying low again with the Cleveland Browns, like, just getting back in at the basement, because I do feel like there's something like. About them being kind of like, brought low again through their bad decision making that now is going to, over time, make them an appealing team for you to kind of like, start re. Engaging with. As far as the Seahawks go, you know, the NFL is so weird. One thing you and I were talking about off air yesterday was how many years ago. I was watching the game at you and Genevieve's place on Capitol Hill. I was holding Momo. I was many, many Jameson's in when the beast quake mode or Beast quake run rather happened. That was when Marshawn lynch and the Seahawks, who were really bad that year, but they somehow won the NFC west because it was like a terrible division. We got to host the New Orleans Saints, who were a, like, way better team, and we just somehow beat them. So the, you know, these playoff games are. Are weird. I think I would say if. If the Rams get knocked off. My prediction is if the Rams get knocked off before they come to Seattle. If Carolina beats the Rams, I think the Seahawks have a pretty good chance of going to the Super Bowl. The only team in the NFC that really, really, really concerns me is the Rams. I think we are pretty, pretty demonstrably better than every other team in the nfc. So if we don't have to deal with the Rams and we have home field advantage until the Super Bowl, I like our chances of getting to the Super Bowl.
- [102:20]
Andrew Walsh
Eagles kind of scare me, but not because I follow them closely, just because they're the Eagles.
- [102:24]
Luke Burbank
That would be the. The team that I would be the second. That's the team I'm the second most concerned about would be the Eagles. But I could also see the Eagles getting knocked off by like Green Bay or even the Bears or something. Like, I don't know. I feel like, yeah, I wouldn't love playing the Eagles, but I, for some reason feel slightly more optimistic about playing them than the Rams. The Rams just loom large. They just, Even though we just beat them, they're my new Houston Astros, is.
- [102:51]
Andrew Walsh
What I would say.
- [102:52]
Luke Burbank
Like, yeah, I feel like we just can't. You know, Sean McVay is a really good coach. Stafford's having the season of a lifetime. Like that guy Verse, Jared Verse. It's like they get. They get rid of Aaron. Aaron Donald retires, who was like my bet noir are. And then they've got this new freaking guy, Jared Verse, who's like a superhuman on the defensive line, just does crazy shit. Like, in fact, that was that game against us, right where he blocked. Was that against the Seahawks where he blocked a field goal and then ran it 80 yards for the touchdown. And this is a guy who's like enormous. He's just like a. And he's a shit talker too. It's like, I just feel like I get nervous when I think about the Rams because they do seem to kind of have our number right now now. But. But then again, this whole season is a gift because if I. There was literally no one who was predicting that the Seahawks would take. Would win the NFC before the season. I mean, the predictions for the Seahawks ranged between best case scenario, Maybe they win 10 games and they sneak in to. A lot of people were like, oh, they're going to be like the third team in the division. Like, they're not even. They're going to be actually lousy because Sam Darnold is going to be a downgrade over Gino know, and. And they're not going to be able to protect him and, you know, Sam Darnold's success in Minnesota was a total illusion. And, like, there was a lot of naysayers. That's the other thing that Tick Tock keeps delivering to me are like, sports knowers before the season. In fact, I think it was. It might have been our friend P. Fletch who sent me a. Like, a clip of, you know, the guy, Nick Wright that you and I really like.
- [104:20]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, of course.
- [104:21]
Luke Burbank
It was a clip of Nick Wright just, I think, talking about how horrible the Seahawks were going to be this year.
- [104:26]
Andrew Walsh
How's his team doing? Doing?
- [104:28]
Luke Burbank
Oh, yeah. What's. What's his team? Who's he root for?
- [104:30]
Andrew Walsh
The Chiefs.
- [104:31]
Luke Burbank
He's a huge guy.
- [104:32]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
- [104:33]
Luke Burbank
Yeah, yeah, right. That's going to be an interesting realignment. Like, I mean, who knows? Maybe they'll get it back together, but it's weird to live in a world where the Kansas City Chiefs are not relevant.
- [104:43]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. In football, let alone, I mean, not. You could have even just said not dominant, but then to even say not relevant is a possibility as well.
- [104:52]
Luke Burbank
Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, we'll see what they do next season. But it's just so, so hard to be really good for a long time in this league because of the salary implications and because if you have, like a really good A. Patrick Mahomes at quarterback, you can't afford to pay anybody else. So you've got to try to do with all this smoke and mirrors and. And it's just, you know, it's. It's a very hard league to stay on top of for years and years and years. And typically what happens is when your time in the sun stops, you go away pretty fast. Meanwhile, somehow the Patriots have bounced back pretty quickly post Belichick. Although peace and love to our listeners in New England. I don't. I'll believe it when I see it. I kind of tend to think that the Patriots are a little overrated. I think that they're. They've had a pretty. Pretty light schedule, but anyway, they. They've come back quicker than I expected, I guess.
- [105:41]
Andrew Walsh
As. As.
- [105:42]
Luke Burbank
And Vrabel is a Saint Ignatius or a Walsh High guy. Right.
- [105:45]
Andrew Walsh
Vrabel isn't.
- [105:47]
Luke Burbank
Vrabel isn't Mike Vrabel.
- [105:48]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, sorry, I was getting him confused with our Seahawks announcer. Yeah. Vrabel is Steve Rabel. Yeah. Yes. Not Steve Rabel, but Mike and. And also we would have overlapped. Right. You're looking this up now. He would have been at Walsh in what, like, maybe his last year was.
- [106:07]
Luke Burbank
He graduated in 93.
- [106:08]
Andrew Walsh
Okay. And I graduated in 95. Yeah. So we overlapped a little bit. And I did play football. I mean, there is a chance that he and I. I mean, I didn't play in any games. The whole thing was just a mess of a joke of a joke of a mess. And me and. And trying to play football my freshman year. Year. And I believe I quit and then came back at one point. It was just.
- [106:26]
Luke Burbank
Can you imagine how I would be dining out on the story of having been potentially on the same field as Mike Frabel?
- [106:32]
Andrew Walsh
But you, even at the time, you would have known. Like, I literally can't name one person in real life that I was on. I just don't remember and I don't care. And I just block out that part of my life. Whereas you would remember the names of the people that were on the team, especially.
- [106:45]
Luke Burbank
I would be exaggerating about my contribution.
- [106:47]
Andrew Walsh
And you say, I almost bought Mike Vrabel.
- [106:50]
Luke Burbank
I almost bought Mike Vrabel. I taught him everything he knows about football when he and I were on the same Walsh High team.
- [106:56]
Andrew Walsh
That's right. He used to say, hut, hut, hike. I told him, do hut, hut, hut.
- [106:59]
Luke Burbank
I told him, do Omaha.
- [107:00]
Andrew Walsh
Omaha. Omaha. All right. Yeah.
- [107:03]
Luke Burbank
Last thing I'll say, Andrew, is today is the 7th of January, which by my math means it is.
- [107:09]
Andrew Walsh
Oh.
- [107:12]
Luke Burbank
I'm sorry. In. Yeah. In 43 days, the San Diego Padres and your Seattle Mariners square off in Peoria, Arizona. The first spring training game is February 20th. It's in 43 days.
- [107:24]
Andrew Walsh
You know, I thought you were going to say today is January 7th, the TBTL anniversary. Oh, yeah. I'm just realizing that. And I'm also realizing that officially, I must have said this last year, too, now that we're dialing in on this. So my anniversary of Genevieve falls on the same day as the anniversary of TBTL. Today is our 25th anniversary.
- [107:46]
Luke Burbank
That's almost as important.
- [107:51]
Andrew Walsh
43 days away from the Padres.
- [107:53]
Luke Burbank
Thank you.
- [108:03]
Andrew Walsh
All I care about is when is the Vetter Cup. That's what I want.
- [108:08]
Luke Burbank
We are. We're only 162 days out from the better cup, Andrew.
- [108:12]
Andrew Walsh
That's the only thing I care about.
- [108:14]
Luke Burbank
Ugh.
- [108:14]
Andrew Walsh
I'm already. I'm pre. Annoyed. I'm pretty annoyed at that weekend.
- [108:18]
Luke Burbank
Skipping right past all of the spring springing and the fun of. Of. Of early baseball and all of that. And you're going right to. And the fact that the Mariners are likely going to be pretty decent this year, and you're going right on over to Annoyed at the Vetter cup.
- [108:33]
Andrew Walsh
I'm excited. I'm excited.
- [108:35]
Luke Burbank
Well, congratulations on your anniversary with Phoebe's.
- [108:37]
Andrew Walsh
That's a. Thanks.
- [108:37]
Luke Burbank
I appreciate it. 25 years.
- [108:39]
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. I don't think we're doing anything this evening, but that. The.
- [108:44]
Luke Burbank
Ihop.
- [108:44]
Andrew Walsh
We're not, probably not going to ihop, but that is why we're going to. That's. That's what the Vegas vacation is. Vegas, baby. Vegas getaway. Yeah.
- [108:51]
Luke Burbank
So are you gonna watch Swingers to get ready for the trip?
- [108:54]
Andrew Walsh
Oh, my gosh. I don't know how else to. I'm gonna know. I'm gonna watch Leaving Las Vegas. That is kind of the difference between us, right? You were. You were obsessing with Swingers while I was obsessing over leaving Las Vegas. And that might be the. The difference between you and I.
- [109:09]
Luke Burbank
Big, if you want a snapshot of. I mean, listen, not that I haven't also lived that life myself, but, yeah, you're right. I was going more towards the, like, picking up the beautiful babies in Vegas, by the way. Not something I never did successfully, but like, trying to be Vince Vaughn. And you were like, well, if it doesn't go right, I could be Nick Cage.
- [109:26]
Andrew Walsh
I could just literally drink myself to death. Or at least have that.
- [109:29]
Luke Burbank
Well, I'm glad. I'm glad that that isn't the course that your life took. No. All right. All right. Well, listen. And thanks for hanging out with us today, everybody. We are going to be right back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio for all of you. So please come on by for that. In the meantime, happy anniversary. Happy TBT Eleversary. And. And have a great Wednesday. We'll see you tomorrow. Please remember, no Mountain Too tall.
- [109:52]
Andrew Walsh
And good luck to all. What do you say we go out.
- [110:01]
Luke Burbank
And get some Carvel?
- [110:03]
Andrew Walsh
I got the time if you got the diapers.
- [110:05]
Kelly Kilburn
Power out.