← The Right Time with Bomani Jones
The Right Time with Bomani Jones
Spencer Hall on the Absurdity of the proposed 24-team College football Playoff | 05.21
00:55:59
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- [00:01]
A
Wave. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Right time, A Wave Original presented by FanDuel predicts. My name is Bomani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. It is Spencer hall on a Thursday. What's going on, man?
- [00:29]
B
I honored to be here. I'm awake and comb my beard. That's about what I can do for you.
- [00:34]
A
Greatly appreciate it. I've been over here being a fucking engineer thing. They don't tell you about the whole do your studio from home thing is I'm a. I'm an on air talent and that also has to be a studio engineer. Like little things that seems when the IFB stops working now you got to break out the other chords, everything. And I am not a troubleshooter. I don't know the checklist.
- [00:53]
B
Well, listen, you can figure out those problems, which is why you got that little gold statue back there and I got a cat wrapped in Hamilton.
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A
Yeah. I don't know. I think you're a little better at the fixing part than I am. Like, I do think that, like, when it comes down to all of this, like, no matter what the work from home is, you become the it man. You become all these jobs that the importance of you might not have necessarily appreciated prior to this.
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B
Yeah. Nobody's going to help you. You are your own. I've written this before, but you are your own park ranger. Okay.
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A
That's right.
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B
Yeah. You're like, hey, who's the bear? It's you. You're also the park ranger. Congratulations. You have to do both jobs.
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A
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is. Hit me, man. But we got a lot we're going to get to, including some fun LSU ness that actually doesn't quite involve Lane Kiffin. But I want to start with what seems to be the hottest topic on the streets of college football. And it seems to be very interesting to me because the topic is the idea of expanding this college football playoff to 24 teams that, correct me if I'm wrong, is only 12 right now. Right.
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B
Last I checked. Yeah.
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A
Okay. Yeah. Like, we're just going to blow past 16, apparently, and get to 24. And there are not very thing, very many things that people across the board in college football have in common. What seems to be the unifying force at this moment, A hatred for the idea of a 2014 playoff. Everybody understands that this is a horrendous idea except the people who make decisions.
- [02:16]
B
That's right. Let's get inevitability going. You know when you're about to get hustled, it's when somebody says, hey, it's coming. Hey, AI, it's a rocket ship. You better get on board. You know you're about to get suckered is what you're about to get. And in the case of a 2014 playoff, there is this move to make this inevitable, right? Oh, it's coming. It's coming. Now, I don't doubt that because none of us are in control. If the Big Ten in the SEC want this, then it's going to happen. Frankly, I think if the Big Ten wants this, it's going to happen one way or another. All right. They've got the most hand right now and they have the broadcast partner with the least shame.
- [02:55]
A
I actually think that an underrated change that has happened in college football that I think that there's a discussion of within college football circles that really hasn't broadened out is the fact that the Big Ten, despite not possessing what used to be the most important thing to have in college football, which was real estate. Real estate with players. Right.
- [03:18]
B
Yeah.
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A
This is this doomed post integration pre. Now that is what doomed the Big Ten is that they had to go get their players from the other parts of the country. And then when the SEC decided, you know, this racism is interfering with our ability to win some games, and they decided to lean in on that, or even just the existence of USC, the existence of the pack 10, all of this, the big 10 went from, I want to call it 1968 to 1997 without getting a share of a national championship because they didn't have the real estate. However, they have the money. And when I say the money, it is the money at the absolute top end. And now where the. It just means more crew and the power the SEC had over everything else. No, Indiana is a national champion now, like the Big Ten, low key, runs the game. And it's feels a little counterintuitive, if I may be honest. It does.
- [04:12]
B
And you have to understand where this started. It started with the Big Ten network and it started with the expansion to California and New Jersey because the Big Ten decided to try to win on the spreadsheet. And it's working. That's what they did. They looked at it and they said, what we need is our biggest. Like they looked at it like a business. Where's your biggest profits? Where is the bulk of your money coming from? It's coming from TV rights. And TV comes down to markets. And they added Rutgers and they added UCLA and usc. Therefore, the most viable television property will be the Big Ten. Because you and I see football and everyone else who's dealing with this as a commodity sees numbers. And they tried to win on a spreadsheet and right now they're doing it. I think it'll work for a while. Mind you, everything only works for a while. This particular model, there will be something to counter it. I believe one thing that is going to happen when it comes to nil is I believe you will see that right now money is extremely important, but cohesion is more important. Right. So financially, the Big Ten will continue to win once everyone figures out what Signetti's already figured out in terms of the on the field performance, which is that we need dudes who know what they're doing. That's the model. That's it. People go, well, what did Indiana do? Your practice hours are limited, player mobility is at an all time high, and, you know, cohesion is at an all time low. All Indiana did, and I'm saying all jokingly, what they did was astonishing. Get everybody together, create a product where everybody knew what they were doing and do about three or four things really, really, really well. That's something that Alabama could not do. That's where we're at.
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A
Yeah. And I think, number one, shout out to you, Jim Delaney,
- [06:05]
B
make fun of the dude. As stodgy and boring a lawyer as has ever lorded over an administrative position. Dude was right. Like, dude was 100% right about what was going to win out financially. Right? Yeah. Is it good for the sport? I don't know. Like, like, that's. By the way, I'm the only person who's going to say that. And they're like, this is good for the bad or bad for the sport. I don't know. This is not a patient. I can't give you. I can't give you a, you know, a tox screen or blood work and be like, yep, college football doing great. Ratings are up. Ratings are great. There's still demand for it, which is better than 98 to 99% of the stuff that's offered by broadcast television. Are there problems with it? Immense problems. Instabilities that could be exploited and that could lead to the destruction of the sport itself, by the way. Biggest problem is the sport itself. Right. However, was Jim Delaney right? Yeah, he was 100% right in the SEC by being lazy, by the way, here's where I get to do something Fun the SEC by being lazy, bucolic little hilljacks with absolutely no real ambition to build their own thing. Right. And to keep everything just the same. We're going to keep our office in Birmingham. We're going to let ESPN do all the work. They picked the wrong horse, and now they're going to have to change.
- [07:29]
A
Yeah. Like, I think the one thing I did think that was underrated. When the Big Ten made the move before even get to California. Right. When they made the move into D.C. and they made the move into New Jersey, they also made the move into two states that quietly produce a lot of players. Quiet within state schools that can never keep them.
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B
Yep.
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A
Right. And so it was like, you know, Penn State has really run Maryland already as it was. Right. Ohio State and Michigan already were getting their guys that they wanted out of New Jersey. But let's go ahead and just like, fully lock that in.
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B
Right.
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A
Like, same way I felt about Texas A and M. Congratulations, boys. You joined the SEC so that the SEC could come get all the players.
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B
That's right. And then the deal for the schools is very simple. We'll give you more money than you've ever had before.
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A
Yes.
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B
And you will spend it. In fact, you've already spent it, which is even more incentive to join the schools that they added in those areas. Financially addled, cash damaged. All right. Broke. Rutgers has no money. Rutgers is never going to have any money. That's not the point.
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A
I mean, Maryland, too.
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B
Maryland, deeply troubled in terms of athletic finances and not really anything the Big Ten cared about, because they weren't looking at your finances, to be honest. They weren't looking at your academics. Not that they're bad, but they weren't looking at those, despite whatever protest the Big Ten may offer. Right. I love, by the way, the Big Ten being the Big Ten, saying like, well, I don't know, the SEC makes some academic compromises. I mean. Yes. And this is not a yes, but. All right, this is a yes. And you're adding Rutgers and Maryland, both fine schools. Not exactly public IVs.
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A
No, no. Although I don't know what any of them are anymore because your alma mater is claiming itself as a public Ivy now. And that just comes.
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B
Look at what they're turning out, buddy.
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A
Hey, I mean, you're the best one they got, brother. Like, I. Like I was out there, they were telling me they were the top 10. I was like, what?
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B
Yeah, not for long.
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A
Yeah. And I looked at the rest of the list and I was like, you're telling me that Florida's a better school than Wisconsin now. Like, is that, is that, is that the. Oh, okay. Well, we're. We're.
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B
All right.
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A
Whatever you guys say.
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B
I, you know, how's this? You can get the education you want at Florida or you can avoid the education you don't want at Florida. Those are both options for you. That is a great point.
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A
But this 2014 playoff idea, I guess they had a good year with this 12. This 12 was better than it had been in previous years. They appear to be a little more parody because there used to be such. Like, they. That first round was just a complete and total waste of time, though. I guess a lot of this year's first round was a waste of time. Aside from. Was it Alabama, Oklahoma, where they ran that back or where, where we thought Calum Debore. Do you. There's a moment where you saw the look wash over his face.
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B
Oh, I'm not going to get fired. Yeah. Thank God. What. What a revelation. And by the way, everyone in Alabama still in on that. Like, they are. They're going to ride this for a minute. Yeah, yeah.
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A
Like, this is, you know, this is what we've got. I just. Nobody's in this for this playoff. Like, I think everybody spent all that time talking about we need a playoff. A playoff that we never needed, by the way.
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B
Right.
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A
And I think my thing about the playoff is the worst thing that you could do in college sports is to standardize what success is or to standardize what the goal is. Like, one thing that made this work, a zillion different people with a zillion different goals. And everybody can find their own piece of happiness within this as you turn this into kind of the NCAA tournament type situation. And unlike college basketball, where you have a bit more parity among conferences and it spreads around, although that clearly is dissipating also with college football, we're now only really talking about 60 schools or so. And a 2014 playoff in a world with 60 schools means just 36 miserable teams.
- [11:30]
B
It does. And when you talk about whether we need a playoff or not, we don't need any of this. Like, none of this is a need. The college football thrived without a post season for a very long time. I will remind you, bowl games were a kegger. Bowl games were a party. Go look at old photos of Bob devanney and Bear Bryant at bowl like banquets. They're hammered. They are hammered and trying on each other's hats. Like, that is the guys. The guys are at tables and they are clearly drinking beer even though they are 19 years old. We did fine without any of this. This is a TV product. But if you're going to give me a TV product, okay, then you need to understand we need to start cutting things up a little differently so it feels like everyone's involved. But where can you look for inspiration for this? The epl. Look at, look at soccer. Soccer has all of these thousands of rivalries and cups and regional cups and competitions. Now they can do that because they have a longer season and also because they don't play a sport that's basically an organized car crash. But you can probably mix a little bit of that in. Why isn't there a more of a thing about an opening jamboree? Why don't we have more of an opening September thing that's organized and that actually means something. The NBA has tried to do this and I think, by the way, with greater success than people are willing to admit. Right. Like the cup, you know, creating some sort of making the season more memorable. This is something that people struggle with, not just in college football. It's not unique. Don't pretend you're special. Everyone struggles with this. This is, by the way, every time we talk about the first round of the playoffs, I don't know what people are necessarily all aggie about because they say, oh man, the first round. We got to do something about the first round. What's the greatest tournament in American sports? Oh, the big dance. You know what happens in the big dance in the first round? Trouncing, lots of trout saying, lots of whooping, lots of beat em downs. Okay? Tons of them. We get excited because once every 80 games or so something interesting happens and there's an upset, right? But almost never between the top and the bottom. It's usually somewhere in that, like, you know what, 412 range, somewhere in there. That's what you get excited about. We get excited about upsets in college football anyway because they're so rare. They are so rare. This is a sport of giants and dwarves, right? That's what we're talking about here. And nothing about putting them in a different arrangement or stack changes that. Yeah.
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A
Like this is. I guess my thing is I always appreciated that one month break, right? Like we get through also getting rid of conference championship games. Wild to me, the SEC championship game to me is the surest bet of a good time that this game has provided us quite a long time. Right? Like the idea, why do we need that? They are antiquities. They are going away. But the unit of enjoyment and this has always been the conference. Right. Like, it's. It's more like it goes from rivalry rivals to conference, and then we work everything else out. Like winning the SEC championship is a thing, has been a thing, always will be a thing. Except it's not. Because they're going to make this go away. Because they're like, we could make more money if we sell this as a first round playoff game. And you're just not going. You're not going to convince me that that's going to be more fun.
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B
I don't think it's going to be more fun. I think that there are a number of forces that are at play here that we're not all going to make it. Like, they're not all going to make it in terms of getting from this stage of football to the next stage of football. One thing that I think everybody can agree with is that we want more diversity in scheduling. One thing that is going to cripple that is the fact that we need less diversity in scheduling. And by that, I mean we need fewer cupcake games.
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A
We.
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B
You cannot have this product, and you cannot make every part of it count and thus maximize your potential at every point. If we're conceding to the locals that this television slot, which is your primary source of revenue, needs to be replaced instead of a quality game, we put Charleston Southern in there. I'm sorry, Charleston Southern. I always pick you because that's just like. That is the most. Like, when you're playing the video game, that is the most FCS blank team. To me, it's always Charleston Southern in there. But cash games where you're buying an easy win can't happen. If we are going to say the primary value of this sport is as a television product, that cannot happen. Right? Yeah, that cannot happen. However, it's very lucrative for schools to do that also. Schools do that because they want an easy win. Right. So.
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A
Well, also, easy win and a point that Barry Switzer makes in his autobiography that I think is important. A game that's not so destructive to your players.
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B
Exactly.
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A
Now, granted, very destructive to Charleston Southern's players.
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B
There's the same amount of damage, Bo. We're just apportioning it this way.
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A
Yeah. Dion said that when he was at Jackson State. It's like, hell, no. We ain't about to go out there and get beat up by these boys and come back over here. What are you high? No.
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B
It's not worth the check. It's not. Go play somebody else. Which is, by the way, I think that's where again I go to like we've, these are problems people have dealt with before. Greg Sankey knows this by the way, because Greg Sankey famously caught reading a book about the construction of the English Premier League. We're going to end up with a highly tiered system where there is a little bit of movement in between those tiers. I do think we'll get, I think we already have something like relegation. We really do. Right. We don't send teams down anymore, but we send teams up, teams get promoted, teams enter fbs, they enter new conferences, they change conferences all of the time. I think that'll become more regimented over time eventually. I do think we have had a team relegated before. Temple, right? Temple got booted out of the Big east for freeloading so hard on the Big east that they had to do something that just never happens. They booted them from the conference.
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A
And keep in mind the Big Ten never kick Northwestern out.
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B
Never. Yeah, never. Like if it were going to happen, that would be the team.
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A
Vanderbilt never got tossed.
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B
Nope, nope. Poor Mississippi State has some bad years, but we were never ever, ever going to tell them not to come to Thanksgiving. Like that's, that's happened and I think that's probably where we're headed. Are these good or bad things? I'm just telling you where they're going. I think there's going to be, I think there's going to be positives to all of them. I'm not an optimist but I do think there's going to be some good things about that. Like I love the fact, I love the idea of a stacked schedule where we don't have a let up where they all count, right. And where we, we actually make every single game count and where it literally would mean more is EC every single week. I would love that. I don't think it's going to happen yet.
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A
I gotta say though, I like 11 and one teams.
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B
Right. I like you like a juggernaut.
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A
I like 12. Like that's part of the fun is the potential to build to being the 110 team or whatever it is. Like you get that loss and it's, it's different at different schools. Like the year South Carolina was doing that and then they lost to Navy, I believe it was like along the way. Like I, I, I, I, I appreciate it like that. A bunch of nine and two teams, like a bunch of 10 and two teams. Not really that interesting, right? Like if Indiana had done this by being 10 and 2 and then walking through the Playoff. It's not nearly as cool.
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B
It's not nearly as cool. We like that number. We like big number. We like big scary team. I love a big scary team. We're not going to get that as much.
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A
No, it's over.
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B
Yeah, I don't. I don't really. And by the way, that'll make what Indiana did. I think that's only going to wax. I think that's only going to grow in stature as we get further and further away from it. And I think, by the way, they are a great team, like an all time great team. I do believe that because you don't win that many games in that fashion against that many different teams with that many different approaches without being legitimately great. But they caught this moment just perfectly. And I think people will catch on to this model. They're not going to be as good at doing it because they're not Frank Signetti or Kurt Signetti. They're not. They're not going to have the exact same lack of competition in this field. I think everybody knows what they did. They're just trying to figure out how to do it on their scale.
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A
Yeah, yeah. We're just messing up something everybody liked.
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B
I mean, are we, like, that's the thing is that, like, it's a fair
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A
question as to whether or not, I guess it evolves and it turns into something else or are we just old?
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B
There's that.
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A
Well, there's that. But this is an old people's world. This is an old people's game. Right? Like, the things that are charming about this are things that are charming to old people or have been. I think the thing to me is that I think reducing it all to a television show misses the point. And I think that, like. So, for example, yeah, I find it weird when fans of rap cite the sales of their favorite rapper as an argument as to why that's their favorite rapper.
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B
Right, Right.
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A
Like, I don't care how much money these people make off of this thing. Right. This isn't a thing. Now with college sports, it becomes interesting that some of the money stuff does matter, especially now that you have to pay the players. Like, there's an understanding that, that the revenue. The revenue affects a lot of the things that you say that you enjoy. Right?
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B
Yeah.
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A
But the fact that they can make more television money off of this, or more accurately, the fact that a bunch of people will watch a game on television is not, to me the indication as to whether or not this is good. Make, like making these games more attractive to people. Who don't care as much is. Yeah, I guess. Right. I think that's the. That's the thing.
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B
Okay, Okay. I could buy that. I also see this, though, that I understand this thing's going to move past me.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Like, it's going to. It's going to be here after I'm gone. And whether it's going to be as popular or not, I can't predict that. But I can say this. The thing that has always made it different is that it's localized. And the further we move away from that kind of like regional or community thing, the weaker I think it gets. And that is, by the way, something that I don't think moves that easily. I think people say that like, oh, okay, well, now you're just going to turn it into another corporate sport, buddy. You can't move lsu. It's not like the Colts. It's not like the Rams, it's not the Chargers. Dude, you know, you can't pick up the University of Alabama. It's still gonna be there. Right. And as transient as the American population can get, some people just stay put, dude. And for some of them, it's the only rubric they have to say that they're from that place.
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A
What?
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B
Like, if you're from Texas.
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A
Yes.
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B
Right. Like, I think you claim Texas. I, at this point, claim Atlanta. I don't claim Georgia. You know, But I, you know, I'm a Gator fan, and that is a part of my life staked to that spot. If you're a Texas fan of any sort. Right. Then. Then it was because you were there. And that's going to have a weight that I think, and a brand identity to speak to those people who like to hear it in those words. Yeah, it doesn't budge. It really doesn't budge.
- [23:21]
A
Can you think of how crazy it would be if you woke up one morning and it was moving trucks pulling out of Baton Rouge and they're like, yeah, removing to Vegas. They cut us a nice deal to move into the Dome. We're moving to Vegas.
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B
If I could see any school doing that, by the way, I always thought Auburn was. Auburn was. Auburn could pick up and move. Yeah. They would maintain that as, like a park, the campus, but they could move Texas A and M. Texas A and M. That was my next thought. You could just take off like a spaceship, go somewhere in the Middle East. Right. Like, it's because they're basically oil money anyway.
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A
Yeah, well, they'll get up. Texas A and M would get up and move to get away from Texas and then realize, like, they did. We really kind of miss these guys. Although actually they didn't realize it, like, when Texas was like, we're coming to the SEC. Texas A& M is like, wait a minute. That's our personality.
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B
Yeah. Oh, no way. I. I really do enjoy, by the way, that at one point in this conversation between Texas and Texas A and M, A and M gets called nerds. Yes. That's amazing. That's incredible. If you're like, so between these two Texans, if you're outside from Texas, you would just be like, you all look the same to me. But in State, it'd be like, yeah, I don't know. You nerds think about math.
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A
They're the most ironic nerds on earth because they have all the nerd hallmarks.
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B
Oh, yeah.
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A
They're just from rural Texas.
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B
Yeah, just from rural Texas. And they're the ones who quietly. If you see people in industries like little bespoke industries, like the guy who figures out for the United States as a whole whether you are selling counterfeit honey. Right. This is like a very specific thing. He's at A and M. Yes. Right. Like, if you want, like, the Matlock of agricultural fraud, the guy who figures it out. Right. They're at A and M. They're specialized. They're extremely technical. Some of the. This is one of the things that I have learned covering college football is that there are little specialties in schools that are much smarter than you ever imagined. Some of the most brilliant people I've ever met with the Clemson nobody. Like, people who are legit. Drop them anywhere, they will figure it out. People went to, like, Clemson or Texas Tech or A and M. This little
- [25:41]
A
kerfuffle has got to be good for A and M. Right.
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B
Nothing but. Nothing but good. Absolutely. Great for them.
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A
And for those of you who don't know, it's all about price of crude down there at A and M. Right. Like the money at UT is a lawyer money. Steady, constant, Right. That A and M, buddy. It come out the ground.
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B
This is it. Texas writes the contracts for the land and sometimes owns it. A and M, they'll figure out what you could grow on it or get from under it.
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A
Yes.
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B
That's what they figure out. And by the way, A and M, right now, in terms of that recruiting class, we're making some calls, right? Son, I know that things are scary right now, geopolitically, but have you considered how much hay some of us are about to make from it?
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A
Yes.
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B
Have you considered how much the price of crude is. I know it hurts at the pump right now, but wouldn't it be nice if it helped you in your bank account? If it felt good for you, we can help you with that.
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A
And also, their money may be up and down, but that's better than the money that Miami's offering you, which may not be money. Yeah, yeah, you look like money, but it might not be money. And I'm not even talking about funny money or old school funny money. It just might not be actual money.
- [27:01]
B
This is the thing. We can offer a lot of different services now in terms of your benefits package in a way that even before we could not. Right. We could offer some funny money. What about an investment opportunity? Oh, what about the classic, what if you want a job? What if you want multiple jobs? Right? What if we want your uncle to get a job and your dad and your mom? We could put them all on the payroll. These are things that can all happen right now. What a tie. Bed. Oh, I. I love the intersection of geopolitics and college football for a lot of reasons. I do have a master's in international affairs, believe it or not. But I love it specifically for Texas A and M&LSU, because right now, people go, oh, man, is this sustainable, dude, this is America. None of it's sustainable. Why are you asking that question? Are you Danish?
- [27:52]
A
It's all about right now, baby.
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B
Are you. Are you planning ahead for the betterment of the community? Oh, that's cute. That's very cute. Next Wednesday, crude's going to be at like 500 a barrel. Come to LSU, come to a and M. You want to counter the menace of the Big Ten, don't ever let him figure that out. Don't ever like that mess, that kerfuffle. Keep it going. It's great. We'll get so many defensive tackles.
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A
That's right. LSU is refinery money.
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B
Because A&M oil money. LSU, we take the oil, we get it from point A to point B. Right? I love. This is. If you want to know how bizarre your conversations around college football can get, an argument with an LSU fan can end with, you need to thank me for being warm in the winter. What?
- [28:42]
A
Yes.
- [28:43]
B
Yeah. But they're not entirely wrong, right? LSU is like refinery money, pipeline money. The people the know how, right to get the transport and logistics.
- [28:53]
A
You and I need to write the book about, like, some across the country, where the money comes from. I don't have the title. I don't know. Whatever it is. Like, I was talking to my buddy Demetri and he was telling a story once about. Telling me a story about the beef that they have at Alabama. Like the split in the money is the, the. The iron money up north and the timber money down south. Yeah. Like once you know where the money. A lot is explained at every program. Once you know where the money comes from. Miami money. Don't ask, don't.
- [29:29]
B
It's pretty much any Miami question, right?
- [29:30]
A
Yes.
- [29:31]
B
Like, where does it come from? Stuff. Stuff. Meta. It's like Miami will come and go because their money is. Comes from a meta. Economy. It's an economy on top of an asset. On top of an asset. Sometimes it's cooking. Sometimes, brother, it ain't A and M in Texas that's going to vary. Like A and M particularly is going to vary with crude. If you look at Kentucky or as this look at Alabama, people go, man, how does Alabama have money? Well, let me introduce you to the glory. That is offshore coal mines. And by offshore, I mean overseas. That's coal money. Coal money and shipping money. Right. The port of Mobile and coal taken out of the ground in Colombia helps fuel Alabama football. Like that is. Those are two of the things that do it. They're not alone in that. And those aren't the only things that do it. But where the money comes from is absolutely crazy. Do you know. Do you know where Texas tax money comes from? It from one guy.
- [30:28]
A
Yeah. He's got a gazillion dollars.
- [30:31]
B
Yeah. And where did that come from? That's oil as 100% oil. Like that is. That is a. That is a petrochemical empire. That is doing that right there. Where does Michigan's money come from? Where are they spending money from? They're spending money from Ross and from a bunch of other dudes. Because Michigan has a lot of rich.
- [30:49]
A
You left out the one who matters now. I'm sorry, who isn't even a Michigan graduate. He's just tricking on one Ellison, who
- [31:00]
B
happens to be dropping money for them. And by the way, I'm saying for
- [31:03]
A
people who don't know, it's not Ellison. That's the Michigan fan here.
- [31:07]
B
No, that would be Ellison's girlfriend.
- [31:09]
A
Not. Not his wife.
- [31:11]
B
Nope. Girlfriend. Girlfriend who occasionally points and says, that's a good quarterback. You should go get him and Ellison from his. From his Japanese. Japanese style dojo right in Malibu where he keeps buying property to like get further and further away from people. Just peels off a couple mil. Here you go.
- [31:30]
A
Right. Like, I mean, because the bottom line is boosterism is tricking, right? It is we don't have a lot of secondary tricking, like second order tricking is what we've got here. He's tricking on her by tricking on Michigan. That is different.
- [31:47]
B
Yeah. And it is different, but it is pretty much like when you go, why are you doing this thing that you'll never see a dime from? Right. It's because you're getting something out of it.
- [31:57]
A
Yes.
- [31:58]
B
What is the incentive? Right. Am I stunting? I'm stunting for someone else in this case, which is very interesting to me. That's different. Right. If you look at why other boosters do it, why does Phil Knight do it? Well, Phil Knight, I think, saw the University of Oregon as both a home, but he also saw it as a way to market Nike. Yes. Right. You know, like, he essentially purchased the House of Speed. He essentially, you know, made the cult of Steve P. Fontaine and then was like, hey, you know what would go well with that? How about a football team?
- [32:31]
A
How about a football.
- [32:32]
B
How about a football team? By the way, that's never been consistently good. Never. Prior to Phil Knight starting to throw down.
- [32:39]
A
If I'm not mistaken, Rich Brooks record at Oregon is under 500, and there's a street named after him.
- [32:45]
B
That is correct. That is correct. And then after that, you just get a program that became his show pony and Phil Knight's on the headset. Like, there are photos of Phil Knight on the headset there. If you are a booster with money, you can get as involved as you want to for whatever reasons you want to think of that freedom. There's no board governing you. No one's going to get on your ass about, you know, like, the ethics of being too involved. It's your pet. You can do whatever you want. It's past cash the reward that you get, the control that you get. Right. I get why people do it. Right. I don't. At a certain point, the money doesn't matter anymore.
- [33:28]
A
Yeah. Although I'll say Ellison before we go into break. Ellison got a lot of money. You know what else? He owes a lot of money. And that's going to be the. That's that, that, that, that. That guy. His tricking is not a permanent condition. But coming up next, we have fun LSU stuff. And wait till you hear what I'm going to tell you about Kim Mulkey. You can predict the playoff action all the way to the finals with FanDuel predicts. All you have to do is sign up to get your $25 bonus, follow all the playoff dishes, swishes Wishes and misses. Every move is a potential plot twist. Predict the spread, the total points and even the game winning moments that make the playoffs where one run, one rebound, one shot changes everything from opening tip to the final buzzer. Stay locked in with every pass, every play and every moment that moves us closer to crowning a champion. Sign up now for your $25 bonus on FanDuel Predicts offered by FanDuel Prediction Markets LLC, a registered futures commission merchant 18. Bonus is non withdrawable and expires 7 days after receipt. Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Manage your activity with our consumer protection tools. Restrictions apply. See terms@fanduel.com predicts bonus offer terms. We are back with Spencer Hall. Have you seen this thing with that dude Will Wade, the basketball coach at, at lsu, who is like, we ain't had just a flagrantly shameless guy like Will Wade in quite a while. My thing about that sort of guy is you got to be a little more charming with it, right? Like if you're going to be the. We'll call it Renegade, right? That's the, that's the cute way to put it. You gotta like, if you're gonna be Barry Switzer, you gotta have a little something to you about. If you're gonna be Jerry Tarkanian, you gotta have a little something to you. If you're gonna be John Calipari, you gotta have something to you. This dude just does the stuff. And now his new thing is who has been drafted in the. In the league before but still has some eligibility and maybe 25 years old. How'd you like to come play for LSU again?
- [35:35]
B
In an era of increased player mobility and the free market, we seek experience. That's it. These. Everybody's learning the question. Everybody's learning the lesson that BYU learned in the 80s. Hey, it's a lot easier to win games if These guys are 22, 23, 24 years old.
- [35:51]
A
Yes.
- [35:52]
B
You're going on a mission trip. That's great. Let me send you some protein powder. Let me send you a list of workouts you can do anywhere in the world.
- [35:59]
A
Just Kansas State.
- [36:01]
B
Kansas State. Kansas State learned that lesson. Indiana obviously learned that lesson. Will Wade understands that you want experience, age, size and cohesion. That's it.
- [36:15]
A
Well, it's become a metaphor for America, which is we ain't trying to build shit, we ain't trying to grow shit. We just trying to buy low, right? Like you, you go do all the hard work, right? We'll just come in and Scoop the dude up once the chance come. That's why the NCAA tournament in the NFL draft. Now look where they do. It's all the. In the draft, we saw this. The. The heartwarming story is the guys coming from small schools. They. Those small schools may be way stations. They may stop there for a little while, but that's not going to be the name that's on the screen at the end. So those dudes are all getting harvested like this is everything else. The rich people let you take all the risk and they just come in right fast at the end.
- [37:00]
B
And it's the smart thing to do if you're them. We don't have to develop talent anymore. Yeah, we don't. There are some places that still try to do that. Georgia. Georgia does not take a whole lot of transfers, by the way. Clemson in college football at least has decided they're just not going to do that. And thus far, it hasn't cost Georgia. It's really cost Clemson in terms of their overall performance. It cannot be denied at this point that. That it really has damaged them and they're standing nationally. I think it's going to catch up with Georgia. But point being, you don't have to do that anymore. You can just. This is. Again, we're going to go back to soccer. Right. Hey, little team. Crazy little team in Argentina. That's crazy. You got this amazing guy. I think we'll take him. We'll take them in Naples. That's. That's. Or. I'm sorry, we'll take them in Barcelona. Right. Big boys came in to get Maradona. Right, Right. You don't hang on to them. You're just developing them. And there is a niche for that. There are teams that are going to make their living off of that. I think there should be transfer fees across the board in college sports because I think that's one way of recognizing the value of the work that these smaller places.
- [38:16]
A
Yeah. I told you. When I was working on that story about Trader Dad Shamblaz, I talked to Tony Anise. He's the coach at Ferris State. He was like, dude, we lost seven guys.
- [38:23]
B
Yeah.
- [38:24]
A
To D1 programs, like FBS programs.
- [38:26]
B
Ferris State should get a check for each one of the. I think those guys should get checks, too. Yes. Yes. 100%. Like, I think they should be paid. But at the same time, if you are more than a way station, if you have made these players better, identified them, scouted them, and then have the rights to make them better, get some compensation in return.
- [38:47]
A
Right, right. Now, I want to put a pin. And what we were talking about LSU right fast. But I want to point something out that's interesting. I think, as you mentioned, Clemson, as I've noticed. So we put out a pod on Wednesday. It was me and Joel Anderson, and we talked about. We wound up talking about this ncaa, naacp. The talk they have about boycotting. They're saying Southern schools, but they're being, they're, they're, they're saying sec, Right? Because one problem with this is the mouthpieces appear to have any fucking clue what they're talking about. Or at the very least, they don't know anything about the world that they're talking about. Like, in my opinion, I think they have a cartoonish idea, these white people, and they're like, we go hit them.
- [39:27]
B
What really matters. They're, they're, they're.
- [39:29]
A
Football is how we wind up calling Tim Waltz coach, right? They're like, hey, I know what those people think is important, and that's how we're going to get them. Right? But I saw Hakeem Jeffrey stand up and say, who is not. He's a congressman, he is not an NAACP representative. But anyway, he got up there and said. And he specifically said, these SEC schools, these SEC schools, these SEC schools that I'm like, Clemson over there.
- [39:52]
B
Like, yeah, SEC schools. That's where. Right, that's where the problem is.
- [39:59]
A
Florida State.
- [40:00]
B
Yeah, the sec.
- [40:02]
A
And that's where I'm like, oh, guys, we haven't thought about this at all. This is just a press conference right now. I get you, I see what you're going for, but I saw a thing on the Internet where it was like, make the SEC rosters as white as their legislatures. I'm like, oh, we're really just talking about the sec. Oh, got you, Got you. Guys, guys, what do we do? What do we do?
- [40:25]
B
Yeah, I mean, I think black athletes should be able to be in a place where they could simultaneously vote and attend a school within 200 miles of their parents house.
- [40:35]
A
That. That'd be nice. It's tricky. It's tricky, right? It's just, I just. Again, my concern. I talked to Joel about this was my concern is it feels like it's a lot of here's what y' all can do and not a lot of here's what we gonna do. And I know it's a lot of here's what y' all can do when they don't even recognize that there's more than one conference that exists in a lot of these States just had that thought. One thought out there. Now I want to get back to this LSU thing that you're going to love. Okay? And yes, these are, this is breakneck pace in this back half of the show, but you're going to love this. Okay? Ryan and I talked about this. Now Ryan's an LSU grad, so it's different with him. But like, I don't like Kim Mulkey, but I love her. I love the mere fact that she exists. I love her ridiculous get ups. I kind of love the fact that she's like a high school valedictorian with a 4.0 who seems to have like this warm relationship with Michael Jordan. Jordan. And has politics that I absolutely abhor. Okay. Like, like all of these things are the case. I also kind of love that with all of those things being the case. Like, she reminds me so much of Texas in the sense that she's the white woman that's riding for everything. I hate. But go look at those teams she trotting out there, right? Like, she's like this. This is who she chooses to hang out with. Okay. Right. It's all over the place. I want you to guess what Kim Mulkey's middle name is. And the hint that I'm giving you is that it starts with a D.
- [41:58]
B
Deanna, take one more. This is gonna be a miss. It's a brick. Daphne, last hint.
- [42:09]
A
It ends in an E.
- [42:16]
B
I'm gonna go. Diane.
- [42:19]
A
Dwayne.
- [42:20]
B
You're kidding me.
- [42:22]
A
D U A N E. Dwayne.
- [42:29]
B
Dwayne.
- [42:30]
A
Dwayne, Dwayne.
- [42:32]
B
Like do. Is it Duane? Is it Dwaid?
- [42:36]
A
D U A N E. You try
- [42:39]
B
to tell me her middle name's Dwayne Dwight. You like, like Dwayne, like the guy with 36 shell and 3006 shells in his cup holder.
- [42:49]
A
That is correct.
- [42:50]
B
Like Dwayne.
- [42:51]
A
Like, that is great.
- [42:52]
B
Yeah, like Dwayne, he's doing real well. He's got his. He's got his own truck now.
- [42:56]
A
Yeah.
- [42:57]
B
He's running the whole business. He's, you know, that second marriage is going good. Kids love him.
- [43:02]
A
Yes. You know, plays the slide guitar.
- [43:04]
B
Yeah. Old boy used to run around in the day. But like he's, you know, he's a little old for that now. And he's good.
- [43:09]
A
Yes. I love the Dwight. I love that. By the way, Dwight and Dwight are two names that could either be hashtag white Dwight or black Dwight or hashtag black Dwight or White Dwight. Either way, like, like they, they, they, they fit both and don't fit both at the same time. But, yes, this woman's middle name is Dwayne. She is Kimberly Dwayne Mulkey. That's the country's name of all time.
- [43:34]
B
She puts me in so many, like, bodies because I don't like. Because I don't like her. But, you know, you got to say, okay, listen, I got to give her credit on something. That's a legendary college basketball player.
- [43:44]
A
Yes.
- [43:44]
B
Like, she's. She was incredible as a player. She obviously has results as a coach. I would rather set myself on fire than root for her, but I have to at least give her the resume, you know?
- [43:59]
A
Yes.
- [44:01]
B
And at the same time, too, I understand this kind of person, because first of all, this. Only her middle name being Dwayne only adds to my. I came from nothing. I deserve everything. Give me nothing, and I will get something, and I don't owe the world shit. That's her thing. I get that. There are a million people out there like her. Right. In terms of that attitude, in terms of results, pretty minimal. Like, not many people can stack up what she stacked up. Right. She's part of this cast at LSU right now. That entire institution has just decided to go black hat.
- [44:36]
A
Yo, Laid Kiffin, Will Wade and give Mulkey that. Is that. That you want to talk about? What's the word? A triumvirate.
- [44:44]
B
Yeah, that's something. Just full black hat, like. And Mulky is probably the like. People will say, well, Lane's outrageous. Lane's not outrageous. Lane has no boundaries.
- [44:54]
A
Yes.
- [44:55]
B
That's the thing. You're mistaken. Sloppy and brilliant for somebody who's outrageous. That's not him. Lane just doesn't. Lane takes all the food on his plate and mashes it up all at once. He's just a hyperactive dude who can't organize and has a knack for brilliant play calling. He really is. He's a brilliant play caller. And for some. I don't understand how he recruits. By the way, if you've been in the room with him, I don't get it, but he's good at it. I don't know how that works, but it happens. Mulkey's the one who. You're like, man. You had a player who was imprisoned in Russia, someone who earned you money. Yeah. Earned you money. Got you money as best player you ever coach. Best player you ever coach. Legendary player. And all you had to say was, I'd like to see her out of a Russian prison. That's all you had to say. She didn't she Didn't. Like, like, hey, do you have anything to say about your player who's in a Russian prison for, like, some kind of dodgy reasons?
- [45:59]
A
Nope. Yeah, I had forgotten she did that.
- [46:03]
B
No off, no comment.
- [46:05]
A
Bo.
- [46:05]
B
I hate a lot of people. I don't know how many of them deserve a Russian prison. Probably three or four.
- [46:12]
A
Russian. A Russian prison.
- [46:14]
B
A Russian prison. You're stuck in a Russian prison and you can't at least say, hey, my heart goes out to her. You can't say, well, that sucks. You know what if she had just said, hey, man, that sucks. That's more empathy than you demonstrated or wanted to talk about. Right. And this is. Before we get into anything else about Kim Mulkey.
- [46:35]
A
One of my ultimate. I wish I'd have that one back. Is when Britney first got locked up. We were doing the first season of Game Theory and we had some jokes about how you ain't want to have to guard Brittney after she got out the joint when she showed up with the Russian tattoos and all of that stuff. But that's when we thought she was only going to be in for maybe a week or two.
- [46:53]
B
No, no, no, no.
- [46:54]
A
She did. We did. We didn't expect her to do all that time. And I would have liked to have had that one back to taking that one back.
- [47:03]
B
Hindsight is 20 20, and you know what? In the circles you move in, Bo, you might get to have that conversation with her.
- [47:10]
A
I could. And hopefully she did not see it because she was in a Russian prison and a little too busy to be concerned with television shows on hbo.
- [47:19]
B
If you do get to have that conversation with her, I can watch Fake a heart attack at the same time. If you need that. I'll. I'll volunteer.
- [47:25]
A
I had somebody on the staff the second season who was woke than a and was not happy about the fact that we had done that the previous season. I'm like, look, you should have took the job. We can't do nothing about this now. We just can't. Like, I don't know if I ever told you the story. My dad tells the story about how, you know, this is back. We used to talk about people being ugly. Like, we don't really do that anymore. And he was having a conversation with another. Another couple, and he was talking about how somebody was ugly. Now I'm going to use an example of someone who is not ugly so that I cannot be accused of saying somebody is ugly in public. Right? So we'll just throw it out there. Let's just say the ugly person's name was Sanaa Lathan, who obviously is not ugly. Just a placeholder. He's going on, boy, some people so ugly, they just can't help it like that. So Lathan and he just talking and talking and he's noticing so getting a little weird in there. And he don't understand why it's getting so weird. He's like, what the problem? And his homeboy says, and he's sitting there next to his woman and he goes, people always tell my wife how much she looked like Sinat Lathan.
- [48:25]
B
Yeah.
- [48:26]
A
And I told you, I've asked my daddy 10 times in this story. I'm like, well, what did you do next? And he said the same thing every time. I just started talking about something else. There was no purpose in staying in this moment. And so he just went on to something else. And that's how I felt about Brittney Grine when she was stuck in jail. We just gonna act like we ain't do that shit.
- [48:45]
B
Post through it. Just post through it.
- [48:47]
A
Yeah.
- [48:48]
B
That's about all you. That's about all you can do.
- [48:50]
A
Shout out to Mo Jizzle. You know what I'm saying? You remember Mo Jizzle? I do. Oh, man. Like, that is such an I way too online reference. But for those of us who were there, if you knew the story of Mo Jizzle, boy, Mo Jizzle was just like, I have nothing to gain by acknowledging what these people are saying about me.
- [49:09]
B
Just. Just post. Just post through it, man. That's about all you can do.
- [49:13]
A
Keep going.
- [49:14]
B
Yeah, yeah. Also, we didn't know she's going to be there that long.
- [49:17]
A
She's going to be there that long.
- [49:18]
B
Yeah. It's an unreasonable, like, it was always a little edgy.
- [49:22]
A
Right? Like, I don't want to pretend like I didn't know that. We was always just kind of on the edge. But at the same time, the joke was really funny.
- [49:29]
B
I mean, on the full cast the other day, I made a Paul Walker joke that I probably should have pulled back. But you know what? It's out there right now. Nothing I could do about him.
- [49:38]
A
Okay, I'm going to tell you the best game theory joke that we decided not to pull. It killed in the room and it did not kill in front of the studio audience, but I think it would have killed television. We were doing something. I think it was a sports washing issue. And we were talking about the idea that the Germans were using the 1936 Olympics for their sports washing, but we ignored the Fact that the United States uses sports watching all the time in all the ways, including the 1936 Olympics.
- [50:08]
B
Right.
- [50:08]
A
Like, that was like Jesse Owens. Like, somehow we were the good guys. Oh, yeah.
- [50:12]
B
Cause Jesse was gonna go home to a nation that welcomed him and had allowed him to participate fully in society at every state.
- [50:19]
A
Yeah. And instead he returned home to a country where he was not invited to the White House by the President of the United States, who was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And I'd ad libbed in the table, read about Roosevelt not honoring Jesse Owens for winning all those medals for running. And I said, what a hater. And there was that brief moment where people were like, what? Oh, whoa,
- [50:54]
B
whoa, hey.
- [50:56]
A
Now, I think there were multiple levels of interpretation that one could have had in that moment. I think that we should have pasted in a super laugh track and it would have worked, but everybody was just a little bit afraid. But I'm sorry, that shit was funny. I don't. I don't feel like I got to be that concerned about how racist feel. Especially dead ones.
- [51:17]
B
You can listen, you can cut this. But my favorite joke of all time, my favorite political joke, at least, you know, Mort Saul was, I'm unfamiliar, 50s, 60s, humorous. He had a gag. Verna von Braun wrote an autobiography. Wernher von Braun was the scientist who got. Got us to the moon guy who, you know, was one of the cornerstones of NASA rocket propulsion. Genius. And he also happened to use slave labor to build V2s for the Nazis. Oh, okay. You know, we all got a past. And he also, you know, bombed London as part of his, you know, helped bomb London, help kill civilians as part of a German military machine. Anyway, the name of Werner von Braun's autobiography was I Aim for the Stars. It's a killer title, right? Like editor, fist pumping. Right? Like, yeah, that's good shit. Mort Saul is like. It should have been called I Aim for the Stars, but sometimes I hit London. And I have relayed that anecdote like 400 times, and I crack up every time. I'll never have a line that good. Never. Shout out to Ryan Brumbley, who currently
- [52:40]
A
is doing a great deal of a great job of producing as he just sent me a text that said, and I quote, feels like a great time to end. That is Spencer Hall. Check him out on Channel six. And incredible newsletter that I highly recommend you guys check out and the shutdown full cast. My brother, I appreciate you.
- [52:56]
B
I appreciate you. Thanks.
- [52:58]
A
Ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here on the right time.
- [53:01]
B
We do this four days a week.
- [53:03]
A
Ryan Brumbley handles everything behind the scenes. Thank you, sir. Hit the voicemail live. 323-59-67-767. Remember, follow the right time. Subscribe like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. We'll tell inappropriate jokes about you. Take it easy.