← The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
New CFP Rankings. What’s Still in Play? Rockets and T-Wolves Deep Dives. Plus, Matt Barkley Shares College and NFL Stories.
01:12:18
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- [00:11]
Ryan Rosillo
On today's episode of the podcast, the College Football Committee has released their rankings. We'll get into some of the hypotheticals even though we're not supposed to. Also, my favorite game of the NBA season so far, Houston's overtime win in Minnesota. Deep dive on both of those teams. We've got Matt Barkley talking about his time as a quarterback, what he would do differently and being projected to be a top 10 pick to end up going in the fourth round. But it was good, it wasn't sad. And we've got life advice and the alliance. I want to get to a couple things here. Houston and Minnesota, awesome NBA game, maybe my favorite of the regular season. We'll get to that in a few minutes, but we're going to start with the College Football Committee rankings. Here they are in order. Remember, this is little different because it's not the bracket, but it's Oregon 1, Ohio State 2, Texas 3, Penn State 4, Notre Dame 5, Miami 6, Georgia 7, Tennessee at 8, SMU at 9, Indiana at number 10, Boise State, Mountain west team at 11, Clemson at 12. Remember, Arizona State is the highest ranked Big 12 team at 16. And in front of them they've got South Carolina, Ole Miss, Bama. So Bama's actually 13 at this point. Okay, so prior to the Ohio State game for the Hoosiers, I was like, look, if Indiana's 11:1, I can't do it. But I also, as I try to remind everybody every single year, it's like sometimes we'll be like, well, last year the committee did this and then two years ago the committee did this. It's like, okay, well that may be the profile of the team, but you also have to include what you're comparing that team to. And I didn't think that all of those SEC teams would lose on Saturday night. They did. We know it was a terrible night for the conference to get that extra team in. And now Indiana looks like they're going to be in the playoff and they're a 30 point favorite against Purdue, who's probably the worst power for program in college football right now. So I don't know. Even though I try to remind all of us, like be ready for some of these surprises, the stakes get raised, weird stuff happens. Maybe we already saw that all on Saturday night. I don't think Purdue beating Indiana is on the menu. You also could start talking about South Carolina against Clemson if you wanted to. But I think the point maybe this will surprise some of you. If I just step back from what happened on Saturday in The total picture of where we're at with some of these last teams, I think a lot of you think I would argue Alabama back in not going to happen. I mean, it's just. I mean, unless everybody just lost around them. So I don't know if having them at 13, maybe it's the Georgia win, but collectively their loss against Oklahoma was the worst one of what happened on Saturday. Auburn's the worst opponent to lose to, but at least it was a multiple overtime game where Bama just again does the worst offensive game they've had in like 20 years. So the collective of it, I'd have a harder time arguing them than even A and M. Ole Miss, certainly South Carolina. I mean, Ole Miss losing to Florida, people may not want to hear it, but when Florida goes to overtime with Tennessee competitive against Georgia, beats Ole Miss, beats LSU over the course of six weeks. Like, I just think Florida's a decent football team now right now. But there's just not going to be a Bama argument for me. I don't know what's going to happen with Clemson, South Carolina. The winner of that starts to get a little chesty. But you still have to just factor in the automatic bids that are going to happen here and the seating thing and the way it plays out with the actual brackets. I think once we see the visual of it and the final piece, like, there's a version of this, you're going to go, what? Wait, this is. This is what it's going to look like. And this team has an easier path despite having this kind of thing. So I think the overall lesson, at least for this year, is the committee likes the Big Ten. I think they like the standings part of it. And there was an interesting answer from the committee chair, Ward Manuel, who's the AD at Michigan, and he was asked about hypotheticals, and his answer was really good. He's like, we don't do that. We shut it down as soon as it happens in the room. I think his point was, over the last few weeks, we've had 14 of the top 25 teams lose. So you don't know and you can't do hypotheticals. I think it's the perfect answer for somebody tasked with something like this. That's just impossible and opens itself up to criticism from every single angle. There is no system wherever we be, like, hey, this is the system. This works great. Because the first thing we do, as soon as we see the system, we're like, all right, let's tear this apart. And I've been doing this One before the system even was in place. So, you know, I'm guilty of it too. But the non hypothetical thing, like I said, is a great answer. It's the right answer. It's the answer they have to give us. The same way when we had asked committee chairs in the past, do you rank the conferences? Do you prioritize one conference over the other? And they were like, well, no. Well, the reason they said no is if they said yes, then we would ask them, well, how did you rank the conferences? And then they can't tell us. So they can't tell us any hypotheticals. I just don't know how you would do this. I don't know how you would ever look at sports and not do hypotheticals. Whether it's me doing this professionally for over 20 years and be like, I wonder if this would happen. Or think about how you talk about sports with your friends. I think this team would beat that team. Pretty simple concept. Been doing it a long time. I think it's fairly normal. I don't like, think about basketball. It's like, well, if this guy had played with this guy or this guy had been on this team or this guy had more help or that guy didn't have as much help, it's literally all we do. When I talk about assumptions going into the start of a season with college football because of the sports we really care about, it's the one we know the least about because of the turnover, the ages and everything else that's happening. But like Texas bringing back 15 starters from a playoff team with their NFL quarterback and the coaching staff intact, there's a good chance I'm going to think that team will be good the next year as opposed to Washington, who loses. Everybody has one returning starter and their quarterbacks. On the Atlanta Falcons, like, I don't think that's a difficult thing to figure out. It's the same way with the Bills and Niners. I thought the Bills and Niners would both be good this summer. I might be wrong about the Niners. I'm going to be right about the Bills. So if you figured out a way to talk about sports without including any hypotheticals, then congrats, because you are much better at doing this than I am. Not hypothetical. The Houston Rockets are one of my favorite basketball teams in the NBA. They win at Minnesota last night, won 17, 111 and overtime again, I think it's the best game of the season. Just the effort level and the chaos. And it wasn't like it was the most beautifully played. But it just felt like it was so important. It really felt like a playoff game and it was just intense from start to finish. Do you know that the Houston rockets are the 3 seed today? You probably did know that. Did you know that Memphis was the fourth? I bet you that would surprise a few people. Minnesota's lost three straight overtime. Houston really fell apart offensively towards the stretch of regulation and then not much to show there in overtime. Down to the final position against Boston. The Toronto loss though was the one where you're like, how did that happen? They had three days off before that. Did they have off too much time? Who knows? Whatever, let's do a little audit with them because the Timberwolves are now your 11th seed in the West. That team does not get in 8 and n on the season. Not what you'd expect from a team that was growing in the right direction with their playoff run last year. So if we look at the profile of some of the things here, because they had some offensive numbers that were concerning their late offensive stuff. So let's look at that overall. Offensively, they were 17th in the league last year. The winning numbers, they were the best defense by like two points per 100 possessions. Just a dominant defense in today's NBA. They were eighth. And shooting, they were eighth. And rebounding rate, they had some fourth quarter and clutch stuff that I didn't love. Fourth quarter offense, 16th, clutch offense, 22nd. Their net clutch rating was 27th on the season. So you're like, how like I'm supposed to take this team? Yeah, they were just that good defensively. And I think the ant stuff, his superhuman powers was enough to like in some close games. Despite the number profile being like, that's alarming. Still something to go to. So if you look at them this year, they're actually better on offense, 17th to 12th. The problem is defensively, they're a mess. They're 12th compared to where they were last year. Same shooting numbers, rebounding, they've gone from 8 to 18. Fourth quarter offense has actually improved a little bit. Clutch offense has gone the other way. They're 26th in clutch offense, but a better overall net rating. Again, this early in the season, some of the clutch stuff can be a little misleading. It's super misleading. Well, I don't know if super misleading. I just don't know that we have enough numbers. If you go like clutch player numbers, there's like, I look through it with Ant, there's nothing that's like really alarming. He's actually, you know, there's he's not getting to the free throw line a ton because he's taken so many threes. So it's still about the defense. Them being 8 and 9 is still about their defense. Even if last night's an example of the nights I don't like their offense. The Randle drives where he's just driving. I'm just going to drive to the hoop. Although the good thing for Timberwolves fans is that you're used to just a big guy going like, all right, I'm just going to drive through everybody with cat. So you've replaced that with Randle. Although Randall's had much better moments from, you know, a couple of the early, early things that I saw from him. A lot of like Ant, Bayless out stuff. He's taken 21 shots a game. It was just under 20 last year, so that's about the same. But he's taking way more 3, 7 last year, 11 this year. But he's hitting 43%. So, yeah, less free throws because he's taking more threes. But when he's hitting it at that kind of number, it just feels like late in games a little bit it's just him. Sometimes it works because he's that good, but he's just tasked with, let me see if I can get free because everybody's loading up on him defensively. Yeah. So the clutch stuff is a little weird. I think the one thing that I've noticed here is that DiVincenzo non factor last night couldn't make a shot. Jaden couldn't make a shot for him. But Overall, the corner three numbers from DiVincenzo and McDaniels are just bad. So far, DiVincenzo was like 40% from threes, 30 some low 30s. Overall, he's 26% on the corner threes. Jaden's 30% of the corner three. So that shot's going to be there on drives from Ant. And look, diving Jenzo is not going to shoot that bad of a number I wouldn't expect, but that's kind of clogging him up a little bit. I mean, as much as I've talked Rudy too much and where I'm at, because there may be no more pointless notification in society than Rudy waving his hand up in the air on a cut saying, I'm open, like, cool, enjoy being open. This round thing, you're not getting it. But he played so hard last night. Like sometimes I see him going after loose balls at that size and I'm like worried he might not get up from it. But yeah, you know, the offense just kind of fell apart on them. And there's some shooting stuff from guys that probably should shoot better numbers from the corners. Certainly divincenzo that he'd expect to be better. I know Conley's been out, but I don't really know much Conley has left in the tank. Maybe Conley would help unlock some of their problems by setting something up as opposed to just ant fix it for us. All right, well, what about Houston? Because they won. I've got you. Don't worry about it. Rotation Ry, let's take a look. So Houston closed with Shun, who was terrific. Triple double for him and also was smart in the way he was attacking Rudy because Rudy was in foul trouble there late. They also had Jabari, Dylan Brooks, Fred Van Vliet, and Amin Thompson. All right, so no Jalen green. He played 23 minutes, but once Green was subbed out, that was it. Fourth quarter overtime, we did not see him again. Thompson played 38 minutes. Tari Easton actually left the game here, too. So the Tar eason Jabari conversation that I'll continue to monitor here, that left him like they didn't have to make a decision because Tari had left the game. So Jabari ends up closing this one out. So, yeah, we mentioned the Jalen Green part. I loved watching Houston play. Thompson had a strip on one of the guys from the Timberwolves. Just a huge, huge defensive possession. Just overwhelming the ball handler with his length, size, athleticism, and then finds a way, like, through traffic, a contested layup, like it was just a huge moment. And everybody goes nuts. As far as his shooting, he had a corner three. He had that huge play that I just talked about. He's at 32% now on threes. I know it's not great, but he looked like last year at 14%. Because much as you may love his athleticism and those. Those little moments with him as a basketball player, we're like, wow, that looks a little different. You're like, is he actually going to be so bad of a shooter, though? It's just hard to find a way to close with him on the floor. Well, I'm not telling you 32% is enough to get him into the hall of Fame, but the fact that it's an improvement and that corner three that he took last night, I just thought, okay, you know, we continue to build with this guy here a little bit. The Houston annoying talking point is just going to keep happening because of the depth and all the young Guys and them kind of figuring it out, and the Jalen Green momentum going the wrong way, the Jabari stuff probably not improving enough. And that the hope would be that it could be a Shingoon, Jabari Tari, Eason Thompson, Jalen Green closing five. Because when they paid Dylan Brooks and Fred Van Vliet all that money, the hope was probably again, where there's still even a couple other guys in Whitmore and Reed. We're not even talking about here yet. Where you're thinking the perfect scenario is you hit it with all your draft picks, which is totally unrealistic, and that there's going to be a couple that are disappointing even picking that high. But the hope would be that would be what the five would be and then kind of see how the rest of the assets play out around it because they have some financial decisions to make. Now. Brooks still has 21 and $20 million left, but Van Vliet, who has a team option for 45 million. But it's clearly really important to what they do. And the trust that Udoka has in him, it's like, do you, do you bring him back now? You have to eventually, like, you hope you're in a position where you have to pay a bunch of younger guys. I think they were brilliant with the Jalen Green ext attention. Like, we're going to pay you, but we don't know that you're that guy yet. And if you are, then you'll be able to figure out a way to get out of the deal and get all the money that you thought you were going to get this time around. I think other teams would have just given in and been like, wow, Jalen Green's just sort of our guy. And maybe other teams wouldn't have this much depth, this much youth, and other teams would have been like, all right, whatever. We don't love doing it, but we'll give you the four year max rookie extension because I guess that's just what we're supposed to do. So I'm actually, I don't know if proud is the right way to describe how I feel about the Rockets decision and the way they handle that, but I'm just, yeah, like, good for them. So the only concerning thing, like long term, because I think some of the stuff will happen with Houston and okc, these two young teams, like, which roster would you actually rather have? Well, I'm not even talking about the drafts assets here. You take Oklahoma City's roster because they have a guy who is a top five player in the NBA in Gil Alexander. I don't think really any smart people would even debate that kind of thing because right now, the way it projects, even as much as I love the Rockets, you're like, who, who is on that team? Like, how high, how highly ranked is the number one option or whoever ends up being the number one guy out of this group for the Houston Rockets, how high can that player be as an overall player in the NBA? And as much as I love him right now, saying anybody who's could potentially project to be a top five would be a massive, massive reach. And that's where I wonder if Houston just goes, let us play this out this year, guys. Let us see how we're doing and then we'll make a decision this summer. It's not that big of a deal, but the longer you drag out some of your younger players who maybe aren't developing enough or don't even have the minutes to prove their value. Like I just wonder like what's the trade value for Kaminga right now? Sure, some teams still kind of like them, but would it be enough now to get you really excited where the unknown can actually still get you more excited than the known? And that's kind of how I look at that Rockets roster and I promise I'll try not to do that. But Bill and I will probably trade half the team every Sunday for about three months once we start up in February. Sometimes in basketball, 30 points could be worth more than 30 points. And right now you can get a 30% profit boost from those ringer with Fanduels 30 on 30 during Friday's NBA cup action. That's right, the Ringer is teaming up with America's number one sports book to give you a 30% profit boost when you either pick a player to score more than 30 points or bet on our new exclusive 30 on 30 special markets. Like any game to have Both teams scored 30 plus points in the first quarter. Thought this be a lot of fun. Bill reached out to FanDuel and hooked this all up for us. So you are welcome. Go to PAX Slate tonight. No games Thursday. Happy Thanksgiving. But 9am on the east coast, noon Eastern New York at Charlotte. The pick here. I haven't picked Lamelo yet and here is why. Because if you look at the month of November, he has scored 31, 36, 33, 38, 35, 31, 35, 50 and 44 in games. Nine times. Nine times LaMelo has gone over 30 points. So whether you want to take a ride with my pick or make your own. Just look for 30 on 30 in the FanDuel sportsbook app or head to FanDuel.com Ryan Ryen for your chance to score a bigger payout this Friday. Don't miss your chance to find out how much 30 can be worth with FanDuel's 30 on 30 must be 21 and older in President select states or 18 plus in President D.C. often required bonus issued is non withdrawal profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply including any token and expiration and max wager amount. See terms@sportsbook.fanduel.com gambling problem. Call 1-800-gambler or visit rg help.com so much of what we want to do can seem impossible. Big ambitions, lofty goals. Are you there yet? Me neither. But believe it or not, that's a good thing. The highest achievers among us are the people still striving, still reaching for something. It's those people who approach the impossible and embrace it. There's a vehicle for people like that. It's called the Defender. The entire Defender lineup is engineered to meet challenges head on with legendary capability off road or in the city. Its tough, rigid body design and refined details make the journey ahead not possible, but comfortable. It's an icon reimagined for the next generation of Explorers. Discover the full Defender lineup@landrower USA.com that's Land Rover USA.com joining us now on the podcast is somebody that I really enjoyed watching in college. I saw him live a few times. He's got an NFL career too. And I would say maybe has the highest approval rating of any athlete that I've talked about. Because I said we're getting Matt Barkley on the pod. Like three different guys were like, oh, he's, he's just the best. So Matt Barkley joins us today. What's up, man?
- [18:59]
Matt Barkley
How we doing? We good?
- [19:01]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, man, I know you're down in the O.C. so, yeah, I was, I was making the rounds. And some guys that have worked with you and training and a bunch of different things all talked about you. And I know some of your USC family up here as well. So speaking of sc, I remember the first time I saw you play live. I went up to Austin back when I was still working at espn. So flew the Connecticut deal, which is usually Hartford to Salt Lake to like Portland. And then you drive to Eugene or you can do the third leg and fly to Eugene. And we were Stanford, Steve and I were on SC sideline. So your sideline at the start of that game. Okay. And I think I Remember you saying something, you correct me here, but you had said something like, I. I don't care about the noise. Like, I like it loud. It was so loud on that first drive that I remember talking to Steve going, like, I wonder if he likes it right now. And then. I know it was a tough Saturday for you, but I'm. I'm sure you probably remember the silent count pretty early with that game.
- [20:00]
Matt Barkley
I do. And that came up a few times that year because we started the year off with a bang, playing in the Horseshoe against Ohio State.
- [20:10]
Ryan Rosillo
I was there for that one, too.
- [20:11]
Matt Barkley
And that was still. Austin was loud, but that game was one of the loudest environments I've ever been in. Like, even a concert where you're a front row and the speakers, like, right here. That game in the Horseshoe was another level. And so from that point on, I remember we played up at California, and they said the same thing. They, like, of course, whatever beat writer was asking, like, is it going to be loud? Are you going to care about the noise? I'm like, no, we've. We've dealt with the noise. We can handle it. And they actually printed out little, like, pamphlets and put them on every single seat to make sure that the crowd was loud, that wasn't loud. But when we got to Austin, they. They just brought a different level of. Especially with that overhang. If you've ever been up there or even seen it on tv, that. That stadium was. Was rocking.
- [21:04]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah.
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Matt Barkley
Yeah.
- [21:05]
Ryan Rosillo
The overhang on the visitor side just cycles the noise back down on top of you. And the sideline for the visiting side at Auton is so small, like, they could touch you. Yeah. If you were to walk behind the bench, like, if you're grabbing a water or whatever, there's. There's no room, and it's. It's so on top of you. And then I just remember you guys going down the field or at least trying to, and it was like, this is. This is a lot. And look, Oregon was rolling at that point, but it was. It was kind of a fun start to, like, how. How is this. How is this going to be handled? And look, it was a big day for the big day for the Ducks. Look, man, you've been out of it now. This is your first time. What. What is this like? What is this like not being connected to a team in the NFL.
- [21:48]
Matt Barkley
Yeah. 11 years in the league, first year without football for me since 2000, since I started playing in middle school. And so it's been a little bit of an adjustment, a little Life change. A lot of time at home earlier this year, doing carpool twice a day, taking the kids to sports, and kind of soaking up, though, family time that, that I, I kind of missed out on, especially this time in the fall because it's such a duality of seasons, literally and figuratively. But we're all in, in the fall, and then I have all this time normally in the off season, but I'm still training and kind of doing my routine. But this year I kind of saw the writing on the wall and thought there was a small chance I could be playing. Actually got a few calls during preseason, but just kind of felt in my heart like it was done. My kids are nine, eight and almost five, and the thought of being away from them for four months was not too appealing. And so I just, I just knew it was time. And I've already, already got plugged in with a, with a new job in my next, next career, next chapter of life. And so I felt like the transition has been pretty seamless. I miss ball, I miss the boys, I miss the locker room. You know, just stuff that's hard to replicate outside of football. But getting hit on Sundays and the travel and, you know, living all over the place, just living in one house year round like that in itself is, Is a blessing. So it's been, it's been a great year.
- [23:33]
Ryan Rosillo
Were you paying attention to preseason, though, going like, well, if this guy isn't there and this system or whatever, and, and maybe checking the waiver wire every day. Were you, were you still doing that? Even though if mentally you thought this might be it for you?
- [23:47]
Matt Barkley
There were a few spots. I kind of narrowed it down in my head to where I would only take a couple calls. It had to be a good situation, either something on the West Coast, a system I'd been in. Like you mentioned, I didn't want to start from scratch all over again and go through that whole deal again, but if I can kind of plug and play, which I've kind of done over the last couple years, it's kind of been one of my strengths, that of, of why teams would sign me because I can kind of pick up an offense real quick and be, be a cheerleader, be a coach in the room, essentially. So that that list was kind of small of, of who I would say yes to. But at the same time, it was nice watching preseason stress free and, and not. Not worried about anything or, or cuts or what would happen.
- [24:39]
Ryan Rosillo
Okay, so I got to know Leonard a little bit up here. Being in Manhattan beach and We've had him on, we've talked about it, I've talked to him about it off the air where he's like, look, I come in, I'm not in anything even close to a system that matches the things that I'm good at. And then it took me kind of bouncing around a little bit. He's like, by the time I think I really was comfortable and figured it out at that point it was just too late. Did you ever have the moment where you felt like, okay, now I actually know what I'm supposed to be doing, what I'm being asked to do, but since I've never really been the starter, I'm the mid round pick, like I'm just not going to get the same opportunity that maybe I would have when I was first coming into the league.
- [25:19]
Matt Barkley
Obviously if I know what I knew now as a rookie, yeah, things would be different. But I think timing and being in the right situation at the right time is such an oversight that so many people just forget about. And I think we're seeing it more like with some of the quarterbacks in the league like fellow Trojan Sam Darnold. Like he, I've always known he's talented, he was just in a bad situation for most of his early career and finally gets a chance to break out with a good team, a good coaching staff who believes in him. And then look at him now, he's having an unbelievable year. So not to say that I would have been like a Hall of Famer if I was in the perfect situation. But yeah, I mean I got drafted by Chip Kelly who I love playing for, but running Oregon's offense wasn't necessarily like my forte. Right. And had an unbelievable time with got to be behind Michael Vick and Nick Foles and soak up all the Philly had to offer. But even that in itself was like, that wasn't the best start that I could have had for my career. At the same time I learned a lot through that process of what it meant to one, be a backup, to learn from watching rather than being under center. And that was a whole new process in itself of how do I get better, how do I still compete when it's just either scout team or you know, off season OTA type stuff. And so I think that in itself helped set me up for a 10 plus year career primarily as a backup of being able to help a team not just on the field but in the QB room, in the locker room, doing community service stuff and just kind of being a voice for the team. In a sense. But, yeah, I mean, a lot of that. There's. There's so many factors that go into a successful career. And I don't think I learned it too late, per se, but kind of hit my stride probably a little later than. Than I anticipated.
- [27:27]
Ryan Rosillo
What was the best QB room you were ever in?
- [27:29]
Matt Barkley
Well, that e. That Eagles room was legendary. That was probably. That was probably number three, I think after. After that, I got traded to Arizona, and I was with Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton. Blaine Gabbert was there for a little bit. I grew up watching Carson at usc, and so being in the same room with him, I think he was 10 years older than me or something like that, kind of towards the tail end of his career. But that was almost a dream come true just because I learned so much from him. How he prepared, how he studied, took care of his body, was a leader, all that stuff. That was probably my second favorite room. And then being in Buffalo for four or five years with Josh. There were a few different guys over that term when I was there as a. As a third quarterback, but I think the year that Kyle Allen was there was a fun year just because we were all buddies. We've all known each other for a while, and it was just. It was a good vibe. We were all in it for each other, helping Josh the best we could. That was. That was probably top tier.
- [28:39]
Ryan Rosillo
So what was Josh like when it was early versus what we're seeing now? Because, I mean, I know what I saw, and it was like, I don't know. And. And it's really funny, too, because I remember watching that Patriots game where he had the turnovers, and then he did an interview with Chris Long this summer where he specifically pointed to that game of being like, well, some of the stuff that I do, like, I just can't. I can't do it anymore. Now he's turned into maybe the second best quarterback in the NFL. So I didn't know in the beginning, even though we all loved his physical talent, you were there firsthand. What was that transformation like? Because you obviously had a second stip with the Bills.
- [29:08]
Matt Barkley
Yeah, he's really turned it around. And I think what people liked about him coming out of college was just, he was a gunslinger, and that strong arm could throw it wherever he want, but it wasn't always accurate. And I remember, I think I played him in preseason in 2018. I was with Cincinnati, and we went up to Buffalo, and he was throwing it so hard, but, like, sailing it over guys or throwing a slant 110 miles an hour. And I think from. I mean, it's been six years, seven years, or whatever it's been. He's grown in so many ways. Of one, his mechanics have gotten so much cleaner, so much more efficient. He's comfortable with his motion, and I feel like he's just comfortable in the system to trust, taking those underneath routes, taking shorter routes, trusting his guys to catch and run. And he's, he's making great decisions with the ball. He's, He's. When he's running it, he's protecting the ball and himself more, which was kind of an issue early on with the turnovers. But he, He's. He's the hardest critic of himself. And so he's really taken it personal to, to get better in those areas. And it's, it's showing up. I mean, he's having a hell of a year. I think he's got a good chance to be even mvp, if not take the Bills very far in the playoffs.
- [30:33]
Ryan Rosillo
So you mentioned Darnold. Between Darnold, Baker, Golf, even Geno, where I think like last year was the popular for him. It took even kind of longer for some of these stops. I think Darnold probably in that same work, Goff immediately was a starter. Baker's been a starter pretty much other than that Rams stint, which we knew he was going to be a starter there. But of the reclamation storylines, like, which one, is there one that surprises you the most or is there one that you're like. That's the one I'm most proud of. I mean, I think you might pick Sam because the SC ties there, but anywhere you want to go with that, because we're seeing something that doesn't necessarily always happen historically in the league.
- [31:08]
Matt Barkley
Yeah, I probably most proud of Sam. Yeah. Just from knowing him for so long and, and I was with him in Carolina when he was at the, at the tail end when he was trying to figure out he was on ir, not happy with the situation. And you could just tell like, he's a competitor and wanted. Wanted to play, wanted to be great. And again, now that he finally has that situation, super, super pumped for him. I think Jared, I always saw Jared as a competent, great quarterback. And I think even in. In LA or with the Rams, I think he did a great job. And again, now he's surrounded by even a better cast and he's, he's rolling. So that's not really a surprising move. Baker, I think has, has done the most like rising from the ashes in the sense just from his overall Tenure in the league and the ups and downs. And I think his maturity and leadership have really, really popped. And, and you could see it from almost the, the stigma he had as like, he's not a winner, he's not a team player, he's not a leader. He's defied all that. And again, playing at a really high level.
- [32:32]
Ryan Rosillo
Baker went through Carolina, Sam went through Carolina. I know it's not apples to apples as far as staffing, but why was it so bad? Because now people are asking the same stuff with a different coaching staff, with Bryce Young, what makes it a bad situation?
- [32:52]
Matt Barkley
I think for a lot of teams in the league, it starts at the top, the very top. And for whatever reason, some teams just have the wrong priorities or don't provide the right resources or are too quick to either move on or they've just made bad decisions in hiring, whether that's coaches, front office or players. And it was a unique situation. I mean, my situation in Carolina was unique because I signed there thinking I was when. When Sammy got hurt, thinking I would be there to back him up, help PJ Walker. The next day after I signed is when they brought Cam Newton back. And so that just threw everything for a loop and everything was like turned on his head. And I was like, what has happened right now? And I love Cam, I love spending time with him, but he was not 2015 Cam. And I think it really was a move to sell tickets and to get the hype back. Like there were more Cam Newton fans for that first home game he came back than there were Carolina Panthers fans. And it was just an interesting like observation kind of looking from the outside in as to the decision making process of that. But I mean, coaching turnovers, player turnover, getting rid of guys, GM turnovers, like there's been a lot of high turnover rate in that building as a whole. And that's hard to be consistent and win when there's that many changes year in, year out.
- [34:29]
Ryan Rosillo
God, I forgot that it was like to the day, the timeline with Cam, it was wild. Did he ever have fun with you? Did you think you were actually going to start for like two days?
- [34:38]
Matt Barkley
Yeah, I mean, well, we had some great QB meetings and, and that. So that week that was with Joe Brady was the OC actually, who's in Buffalo now and love that guy. And I spent all waking hours of that week learning the offense, learning the system, pretty much memorizing the whole game plan as the backup, making sure I was going. And Cam came in and he had like a couple third down Plays and like five red zone plays, got in and scored two touchdowns on the, on the goal line plays that he had, you know, on those QB sweeps or whatever, just running it in. And I was just laughing just at like the prep that I put in and to be ready and to know everything and he gets in and. And scores and does his thing and he felt on top of the world. Everyone was fired up. Yeah, we beat Arizona and it was just kind of a what is happening moment. And then the rest of the year, once we started getting into things and was it going to be PJ starting? Was it going to be Cam starting? It was. There wasn't this like there. No one was really in sync as to what was going on. And we were trying to figure it out. And when you have to figure it out midseason, not in OTAs or in training camp, is. It's never really the best situation.
- [35:59]
Ryan Rosillo
Okay, what does Shanahan do that you can talk about with other quarterbacks that like those of us watching on TV don't understand?
- [36:07]
Matt Barkley
Kyle is a. He's a master game planner and I think, you know, there's a lot of really bright coordinators and coaches in the league. He does an unbelievable job of one focusing on the run game. I think so many coaches are quick to pass and find the answers in through the air. He has mastered running the ball first and utilizing different schemes, motions, personnel and I mean you utilize your juice check, you know, if you have a base personnel but you can spread them out and empty stuff like that really helps. And so he really just kind of sees all levels from top to bottom of how he can either expose the defense or utilize what he has to make a good play. And I'm pumped for him. You know, when I was there with him, he was trying to figure out who the quarterback was going to be. Hoyer was brought in there. He drafted two quarterbacks in that first year. So we had four quarterbacks on roster. And he still kind of wanted. I think he wanted the Kirk Cousins, the Jimmy Garoppolo at the time, couldn't really get anyone. Finally got Brock and has been been rolling with him. So he has his guy who can understand and comprehend everything and run that offense efficiently. And again, he's just fantastic at run first, emphasizing blocking on the edges. All those receivers do a great job blocking and scheming up with different personnel and different putting Debo in the backfield, in the slot outside. And you know, now that Christian's healthy too, he's got weapons.
- [37:49]
Ryan Rosillo
So when I hear they're opening up the playbook for him. What does. And I'm not even talking about specifically the Purdy, but can you see that if you know a system because you were with a bunch of teams, can you watch a Sunday and go, all right, they're now like in the middle of the playbook or they're the back pages of the playbook. Can you see those things? Because you know, some of these systems, even, probably even the play calls.
- [38:14]
Matt Barkley
Yeah, yeah. Whether it's like gadget plays or just different concepts. Because a lot of coaches can kind of get stuck running their system and forcing players to fit that mold. Right. And they don't really branch out. Whether it's comfortability or just an ignorance to not wanting to expand or, or do something different. Like, like Brian D. He's one of the, the greatest play callers I've been around too. Especially in Buffalo when he had Josh of, of fitting that mold and I think his time in college helped reinforce that. Where, you know, we have our base offense, but we're going to put some things in that fit you best, not just slap a playbook on you and like make it work. There's, there's a lot of coaches around the league that do that and it's pretty obvious as, as to why it doesn't work. But Shanahan did a great job. Dave's. A bunch of other coaches do, do a really good job of, of really forming an offense around a player to their strengths. That makes sense.
- [39:22]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, no, it does, it does make sense. But if you're like say you were, you became a coach in the NFL, right. And they're drafting. I mean it's different if we're talking about like a top 10 pick because that guy's supposed to turn your franchise around. If you were draft that high means you weren't that good as opposed to, you know, the mid round pick guy, like a Purdy's. Maybe there's already some things in place. Like if they were saying, all right Matt, like you've been through this, like what's the best way to do this? What's the best system? Like who's the guy you think is the best at like structuring everything around that rookie quarterback for him to have the best chance, what would your plan be?
- [39:58]
Matt Barkley
Well, I thought I mentioned D. I thought he took a unique approach from when he came from Alabama. He saw the trend of college offenses being very simple. Right. And both in terminology and the plays they were running, whether it was the zone read type stuff or the, the quick throws and the concepts that they were using. But he noticed how these college players were learning a playbook. And it was kind of the one word. We called it nascar. When you want to go in the ball, no huddle, just call one word play and go. We installed offense with one word plays first and then unpacked it after. They had like an overall view of what was going on and as opposed to dumping every formation, every motion, every shift, every possible run combination, every concept, pass concept, it was kind of the reverse of that where it was here, here's what we're going to be running most. And it paints you an, an overall picture of what's going on so they can understand like the concept and both sides of the ball or not offense, defense, but left side, right side, so they see the concept coming together and then it was, you just dive deeper into unpacking that. And I like that approach. I think it helped those guys transition from, from college into learning. I mean it was a real pro style system. It was, there are a lot of checks, there are a lot of audibles. It wasn't the simple like old school Baylor where it was, you know, half the side doesn't even run around and they just are resting up for the next play where they can take off deep. It was, it was complicated. But he simplified it to, to make it easy for those guys to, to learn.
- [41:54]
Ryan Rosillo
When I watch Mahomes like everybody else, you're just like, you know, do you sometimes go like, I can't believe we technically play the same position?
- [42:03]
Matt Barkley
Yeah, he's made some mind blowing plays. Whether it's throws either. You know what one of the number one golden rules of playing quarterback is? Don't throw it across your body, right. If you're running to the right, don't throw it back across the field over the middle to your left. And he see his, his vision down the field, both inside and outside the pocket is, is incredible to where you're like, no, no, the ball's in the air and you're just like, no, no, no, what, what are you doing? And then whether it was Tyree Kill back in the day or Travis Kelsey, just all those guys are moving together and I think it's the way they practice just having, I've never been with him, but hearing Andy Reid talk and, and you know what they do, whether it's those laterals they do in practice, you know, just for fun, that show up in a game where the scramble drills they do to where everyone's kind of flowing with pat Knowing that there's going to be a play made and you want to be a part of that. It shows up on Sundays, and so it's not out of the blue, like all those crazy plays, but some of them are definitely like, how did that just happen? Yeah, without a doubt.
- [43:14]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, hey, man, I am. It's this career, and this is where I want to finish. I imagine, like, now that it's over. And we talked about in the beginning of, like, those moments of, like, if I had known this, but, like, you're a story that I bring up a lot before the draft because we know that had you come out the year before, you're looking like a top 10 pick, and then you have the shoulder injury and you go in the fourth round. How difficult was that for you to think about the different starting points that you would have had if you just left, by the way, a place that you clearly loved because, you know, SC was. I think your relationship with SC was a lot stronger than a lot of the guys that had to make that kind of decision or whether or not they wanted to leave school. So when you look back on that, how difficult was that time for you?
- [44:01]
Matt Barkley
I think looking back financially, yeah, would have probably been the smart decision to leave early. But there was. There were so many more factors that led me to stay. I mean, the sanctions and finally being able to play in a bowl game. We finished that season. We. We had that win up in Austin in 2011, so we beat Oregon, we beat UCLA 50 to 0, which was like, we felt on top of the world. We felt like we should have won the Rose bowl that year if not done something better. And so the fact that we could finally come back in 2012, for my senior year, playing the bowl game, when we had all this momentum, all these guys were staying. We had high hopes. And, yeah, it didn't work out the way that we envisioned it or that we wanted it to. But again, I think the lessons I learned from that season, both on and off the field, just in leadership and gaining more knowledge from football and being with Lane for another year, they helped set me up for the league, whether that was the first round or the fourth. And so could it have turned out differently? Probably, yeah. But I'm not the type of guy to either regret or kind of wish for something different. And my stories, my story turned out the way it did and very grateful for, yeah, 11 years in the NFL and who knows what would have happened? I could have been one of those guys that played too early. And, you know, you have A two, three year career or whatever that was. And so again, yeah, I don't look back and wish something would have been different. Although, yeah, bank account might have been a little different.
- [45:43]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. Maybe earlier on. But it sounds like you're on your way to making up for that, so. Look, man, I really appreciate it. We have some mutual friends. They think the world of you and enjoy a more relaxing fall.
- [45:55]
Matt Barkley
All right, awesome. Thanks, Ryan. Appreciate it, man.
- [46:02]
Ryan Rosillo
The alliance. Here we go. We're gonna really, really go for it here. No juice, no special help, no training wheels. We were trying to. No breaks, plus a thousand. Yeah, no breaks on this one. It was a lot more fun, but it wouldn't help me. Shit. Let's see. Wargon, the tea is yours.
- [46:28]
Kyle
Yeah, I'm. This threw me for a loop. Serudi came on this morning and was like, hey, no juice. So I'm going to do Texas minus five and a half, first A&M. I don't know. I wanted a big game.
- [46:40]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah.
- [46:41]
Kyle
Well, no breakdown. Yeah.
- [46:43]
Ceruti
Hey, man, they call him Big Game Mike around the office.
- [46:47]
Kyle
That's true.
- [46:47]
Ryan Rosillo
Guys changing it. Shit. Lines are moving just off of that call. All right, I'll go. I'll go. Notre Dame minus seven and a half at sc. You know what? Are you good? Let's see.
- [47:02]
Kyle
I like it.
- [47:04]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. Tons of passion off of that announcement. What do we got? Service Academy. Kyle Wargon.
- [47:11]
Ceruti
What do you think I should do? No, I'm just kidding. I'm going to take a four leg parlay. Whatever he says, that's what I'll do. I'll take army minus six and a half. I mean, does Russia even have a football team? I don't think so. So we're, we're. We're rocking with the Patriots this weekend.
- [47:25]
Kyle
Nice.
- [47:26]
Ceruti
Minus six and a half at home.
- [47:28]
Ryan Rosillo
That's Arvic. Book it.
- [47:29]
Kyle
Hell yeah, brother. I'm going to go with the over 50 and a half in the Oregon Washington game. Rivalry game. Not the season Washington wanted, but I think they could put up some points in this game. And you know, I think Oregon, you know, still.
- [47:45]
Ryan Rosillo
Robert game.
- [47:45]
Kyle
They're going to. It could get out of hand with them alone. So over 15 and a half and they in the Pac Northwest rivalry game.
- [47:52]
Ryan Rosillo
Okay.
- [47:54]
Kyle
And that gets us to almost plus. I think it's like plus 1200. Just under plus 1200. So we're throwing Hail Mary for the boys.
- [48:01]
Ceruti
We've earned it. We've earned it.
- [48:03]
Ryan Rosillo
So three. Three favorites in an over.
- [48:06]
Kyle
Hell yeah.
- [48:09]
Ryan Rosillo
New guy alert. Yeah.
- [48:12]
Matt Barkley
All right.
- [48:13]
Ryan Rosillo
That's what we got so you could check out all the lines and and stay up to date with the alliance on sportsbook.fanduel.com youm want details?
- [48:21]
Ceruti
Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.
- [48:25]
Ryan Rosillo
What's up?
- [48:27]
Kyle
I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.
- [48:30]
Matt Barkley
I have every toy you can possibly imagine.
- [48:32]
Ceruti
And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.
- [48:39]
Ryan Rosillo
Life advice email address lifeadvicerrmail.com Get Kyle we've got Steve, as always. And let's get to a few of these. All right, the Tickle monster strikes again. 2962255405 squat 275 bench NBA comp Lance Stevenson with Greg Odin's knees I've got a real issue in my hands. One of my best friends, let's call him Alex, 31, has a peculiar joke. He won't let go. He refers to this bit as the Tickle Monster. It started harmlessly. I even found it funny the first time it happened. It always follows the same pattern. Usually occurs after a couple beers at our favorite brewery. You'll be sitting at the bar top. He'll look over at you saying, do you mind if my friend stops by? If you make the mistake of saying you don't mind, your response is immediately met with aggressive jabbing, tickling on both sides of your torso, resulting in a full body reaction, disturbing you and anyone unfortunate enough to be sitting on the bar stool next to you. Unfortunately, this bit has continued to occur has become one of the most annoying things I've ever experienced. I made the mistake of stating how much I hate it, which has only led to an increase in frequency and complexity of the bit. The delivery's gotten more intricate, taking on a I think you should leave style. This is right in your Q zone. Let me think about it for a minute. He stretched the joke out with longer, more tactful leads, eventually luring you into the event of the inevitable Question do you mind if my buddy stops by? The tickling action will take place and he will then proceed to act like he can't believe what his buddy just did. Think of that episode when Tim Robinson crashes the hot dog shaped car into the building, then acts like he can't believe what happened while being dressed in a hot dog suit. I've tried several ways to remedy this issue. Ignoring it, doing it back. Threatening violence, actual violence. Nothing works. Violence simply leads to him dropping into a wrestling stance, forcing me to defend a takedown. Alex Was a collegiate wrestler and firmly believes in the mantra, big trees fall hard. What do I do here, fellas? Alex is one of my best friends, and he will be in my wedding. However, this behavior has got to stop. If his buddy makes an appearance at my wedding, it will be hands on site. He's showing up. The tickle monster showing up.
- [50:50]
Ceruti
The photographer is going to catch it, too.
- [50:53]
Ryan Rosillo
Sincerely, concerned friend and a tickle monster victim. Disclaimer. I recognize this email may sound fake, but I assure you it is not. It's a real issue, and I'm at a total loss on how to remedy it. I mean, look, obviously the violence thing was the first thing I thought of as we were going through it. I had a guy at university who was a little bit older. We had connections through. I don't know, it was a family thing or a local thing or whatever. So there was some deferential stuff from your boy again. Skinny dude, walking around campus, but respectful of the elder statesman. And whenever I'd see him, I'd kind of see him from across the quad, and there'd be a rise, smile, and he would kind of. His eyes would glint, and I would kind of see. And then all of a sudden, just right into Titty twister. Singles, doubles, Just vicious, nasty titty twisters. He would get him inside of my. My block, and I. I hated it. I hated it so much. And titty twisters suck. Donna McNabb does them. I hated it. Yeah, got me a couple times. And so I was like, I hate this so much. And then I saw him towards the end of the year, and he was coming over, and I told my buddy that I was walking with. I was like, if he grabs my nipples, I'm just.
- [52:08]
Ceruti
Cut that out.
- [52:08]
Ryan Rosillo
I was just so, you know, like, I'm gonna go nuts. All right? So I'm just telling you, be ready, cuz I'm gonna assault him. He was like, seriously? I was like, you don't understand the backstory. I was like, this guy's gonna come over, he's gonna twist the hell out of my nipples. He's like, all right. And the guy goes to reach in. And I went. I mean, Jeff Schwarz would have been so proud. I got both my hands inside, technique, nice. And just shoved him as far as I possibly could. And even though he was bigger and I wasn't that big then, I was so ready and amped and the adrenaline was already going in anticipation of this transaction that I. I just destroyed him because he wasn't. He didn't think I was going to do anything. And I was like, stop fucking doing that. Fucking had it with that. And it stopped. I also never talked to him again.
- [52:57]
Ceruti
How was he. How was his placement? Did he find the nipples or was he just grabbing, like, skin and he had weird bruises around.
- [53:02]
Ryan Rosillo
He just did it. He would, like, go over the top and then down technique. Parry it. You know, like, the first few times, you're like, what the hell? And then you would be like, okay, try to parry this out or whatever. But then again, if you're. Parry. If you show it too early, then the guy comes around with a hook and he just. He had this thing, and I hate it. I just. It hurts. It sucks. It's not fun. And honestly, we don't really talk about anything. We. There wasn't much else to the relationship except this exchange. That was the structure of the relationship, right?
- [53:35]
Kyle
That's the most important.
- [53:36]
Ryan Rosillo
There's Rosilla. Let's twist his nipples off, you know? And there would be bad ones, too. Like, three days later, it's like, what is going on with your chest? Like, pus coming out with some older guy that. My dad did some work on his house or something. So, yeah, that was it. We never talked again. So maybe I overreacted, but it doesn't even sound like that's going to happen because this guy likes physical contact. He doesn't care about violence. You are a huge guy. This guy's what, 6, 2, 2, 55? Clearly pretty strong. And I could say, slap the shit out of him. I think the only move you can. You can come up with here is the next time you're out, you just. You sit four stools away from him to prove a point. Like, hey, good seeing you, man, but I'm not sitting near you.
- [54:19]
Ceruti
You could train yourself to not be ticklish, I think. I think there's a way to do that.
- [54:26]
Ryan Rosillo
I think.
- [54:26]
Ceruti
Because the only person I love this. The only time my tickle monster comes out is with my wife. Right? That's the only time. And I gotta say.
- [54:32]
Ryan Rosillo
Is that what you call it?
- [54:33]
Ceruti
A very. No, but I'm just trying to. I'm just trying to.
- [54:37]
Ryan Rosillo
God damn it.
- [54:38]
Ceruti
I'm just trying to stick with the theme of the email here.
- [54:41]
Ryan Rosillo
Perfectly delivered.
- [54:42]
Ceruti
Well, the only time my friend stops by is when my wife's there. Did you get that? And I gotta say, one of the lower points in my life is when the tickle doesn't work. And she just looks at me and I'm like. I'm, like, inadequate. I'm like, Impotent. Now. I don't know what this is.
- [55:00]
Ryan Rosillo
The advice. This is it. Right now you're going to have to ask. Ask different people in your life, strangers to tickle you constantly to build up your tolerance.
- [55:08]
Ceruti
Yes. You need tolerance in that midsection region.
- [55:10]
Ryan Rosillo
Like the princess bride with the guy with a poison.
- [55:13]
Kyle
Just at the gym being. Asking random guys. I know, it's just kind of weird. I'm trying to build tolerance up.
- [55:19]
Matt Barkley
Blade.
- [55:20]
Ryan Rosillo
Here's my new workout thing. It's not so much my back or my steps. Can you tickle me 10 minutes a day, every other day?
- [55:25]
Ceruti
Don't let me know when it's coming either. You can't let me know. You got to. It's like when Bobby Bachelor's going to shoot that guy. He's like, I don't want to know when it's coming. The fleshy part of the thigh.
- [55:34]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, That's.
- [55:35]
Ceruti
I feel like sick to my stomach when I do something like that. She just looks at me. I mean, especially. This guy's going to be in like a bar in public.
- [55:41]
Kyle
It's.
- [55:42]
Ceruti
I think it's really going to fuck him up. So I think that's really. I think that's what you should try to do.
- [55:46]
Kyle
I think that's the right call. I have nothing to add to that. I will say. Is this like a wrestler thing? Like the dudes that touch other dudes and they'll, you know, like, how it's. There's like. There's the. There's the. Yeah, the nipple twister.
- [55:56]
Ryan Rosillo
They do touch guys a lot in wrestling.
- [55:58]
Kyle
So, yeah, I feel like it's a wrestler. I didn't have any wrestling friends and I didn't have any friends who are like inappropriate touchers in that way. So I don't really have much, like, real life experience on this. But, like, I just like, who is that guy? Because, like the wet willie guy or, you know, the Indian burn guy. There's probably a different term for that these days. Who knows? But, you know, like, I don't. Those are just like. Who does that? I don't.
- [56:21]
Ryan Rosillo
Dudes do it. Dudes do it. I mean, look, my high school, there was another guy. There was another guy, one of my freshman roommates, who. I don't know if it was a prep school thing or what, but, you know, the first couple of weeks we're living together again, you're just. You're like being born all over again. 18, and you show up to college, you're like. You're out of the womb in an Entirely different way. You're delusional, though, also. So you have this, like, odd independence arrogance where you're just like, now it's real. It's like, dude, you're like, seven years from even being real, and then probably like another 15 from you even having any clue. But he would post shower, like, if you were sitting down on the futon playing Sega or like, sometimes I would be, like, I don't know, hunched over a chair. It's probably not studying, but you get the point. However, you'd be situated in a dorm room, and he would purposely drop his towel and spread himself and scream, staring at you. And you would just be like, jesus Christ. Yeah, And I know dudes do, like, just. This isn't breaking news to dudes that have been dudes for a long time. But it was. I was like, where. Where does one pick this habit up? You know? And then the other roommate, like, was like, we got to tell him to stop doing this. And luckily, he was a pleaser, so he was. We were like, dude, can you never do that again? And it was done because he was. He was like. He went the opposite. The problem is this guy's a wrestler, and he just knows he can screw with you the whole time. So the violence thing doesn't work. It probably doesn't even hurt him. He's probably tickling really hard, too. We're probably talking about, like, forceful. Two fingers, stiff. Might leave jabs in the rib cartilage.
- [58:05]
Kyle
Yeah.
- [58:06]
Ryan Rosillo
So you can try to, like, go, I'm just gonna stare you down and not laugh. Probably is pretty aggressive.
- [58:11]
Ceruti
Yeah, you're right.
- [58:13]
Ryan Rosillo
What if you wear body armor?
- [58:14]
Kyle
That's what I was thinking. Like some spikes on the side. Yeah, yeah.
- [58:19]
Ryan Rosillo
Like those pigeon things people put on a boat.
- [58:22]
Kyle
Or like an electric somehow, like, you know, taser situation on the side where he just touches it and gets zapped.
- [58:28]
Ryan Rosillo
Just smear yourself in horse dung.
- [58:32]
Kyle
You might have bigger problems than that.
- [58:35]
Ryan Rosillo
Hey, man, let me pull up a chair. Yeah, I think, like, maybe a army navy store. Like some sort of old school, covert.
- [58:47]
Kyle
Covert body parallel warfare situation. Yeah.
- [58:50]
Ryan Rosillo
Flak jacket. Just throw it on under a hoodie, chain belt, and he just gets in there, snaps a digit. That probably put an end to it.
- [58:59]
Ceruti
Yeah, I guess I didn't. In my whole thing. He's definitely tickling that guy way harder than I'm tickling my wife. But I guess I didn't. I didn't. It's probably. You're right. It's probably, like, real strong. Might even be, like a three Finger, you know, real jab. It might not be as easy to train yourself for that. Like, that's like, you know, that's more than a spot.
- [59:16]
Kyle
You can't think about it down the prank route, you know, you get like, those, like, fake blood pouches. Put it on your side. He dabs you, and all of a sudden, obviously wear a shirt and outfit you don't really care about, but you just start bleeding out. And he starts freaking out, and you're like, oh, my God, like, what did I have on? It's like, is it a razor blade? What's going on? You just. He just like, you kind of scare him into never doing it again. Who knows?
- [59:36]
Ceruti
Thinking of arrested development. And that's why you don't tickle.
- [59:41]
Kyle
What was his name? Was it that guy? Was it Gene Parmesan?
- [59:45]
Ceruti
No, that was a different guy. That was. That was the. That was the. The spook guy, but not the, not the one. One armed guy.
- [59:53]
Ryan Rosillo
Forget that guy. What a great name. Gene.
- [59:55]
Matt Barkley
Gene Parmesan.
- [59:56]
Kyle
Yes. Incredible.
- [59:59]
Ryan Rosillo
That's the kind of stuff with, like, writers, right? Like, what was the moment where you guys are throwing around what his name could be and who came up with Gene Par. And what was the reaction, like, in the room? I don't know. All right. Asking someone to take a photo on the plane. All right. 511, 170. No gym stats lift four times a week. Listening to the pod for five years. Player comp. Walmart. Eric Bledsoe. Kind of like that, but so could go there for a little while. I don't know. What would the Walmart version of him be? Slower, probably. Not as good as the pick and roll. Turning the corner on it. But get some shots up, maybe stocky. Well, 511, 170, though. Eric Bledsoe. Eric Snow maybe flew this weekend from Boston to Naples, Florida. And I took the aisle seat, as everyone knows is the best seat. Is that confirmed?
- [60:45]
Ceruti
You flip me back to windows.
- [60:48]
Ryan Rosillo
I was aisle guy forever.
- [60:50]
Ceruti
I know. And now I'm honestly, I feel like they. If you're, if you're, like, trying to get the extra leg room and like, have your knee out, I feel like there's a not a non zero percentage of flight attendants who are actually looking forward to smashing you with that bar card because they go down once and they're like, all right, you know, guys were coming through, elbows in or whatever, but I don't hear it. And I've, I've, I've been, I think, maybe purposely smashed with that rolling bar cart. Like, is this guy seriously gonna be in the aisle after we said so.
- [61:19]
Ryan Rosillo
Remember my flight to New Zealand aisle? They hit me so hard. So hard. It almost like people were coming over me and I was like, I do not want an apology from anyone. I do not want. This is not an issue. We're good. My leg doesn't work, but we are fine. Because I don't want people videotaping me. Yeah. Because I was. She smashed me so hard. She's like, I told you to move. I was like, well, we are on a 12 hour flight in the middle of the night and probably a few people are sleeping.
- [61:45]
Ceruti
Right.
- [61:45]
Ryan Rosillo
Exactly. Just to guess, you know, get some limbs here, move around. Yes, I flew coach.
- [61:53]
Ceruti
Good for you to reconnect with the people. And also it's nice to be able to show.
- [61:58]
Ryan Rosillo
Buddy the other night. He's like, you don't always fly private. I'm like, first of all, that's not even obtainable at this. Obtainable is not the right word. That's not even desired. How about that? And yeah, I'll fly coach. I'll fly.
- [62:12]
Ceruti
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
- [62:14]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, I don't know, sometimes you look at the price and you go, I'm not paying that much more for this. You know how many hoodies that could be? High end hoodies. All right, so we are all in agreement. That window's actually the best. Now, now I know some people are gonna say like, well isle, you're in control and people don't have to get up for you. I think every flight should be allowed one absolute. Like everybody in the aisle gets it. Hey, I gotta get up. I got to get up once. If you're tanking beers and you're one of those air airplane drinkers in your window, you're an asshole because then you're just going to be getting up all the time.
- [62:47]
Ceruti
But I think there's a weird camel on those flights. I don't need to get up at all most times.
- [62:53]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, you're like Scott Hansen of the Heirs.
- [62:56]
Ceruti
Yeah, unless otherwise I'll be like, listen, I'm going to blow my nose like four times and that'll be it. Like if it's one of those, you can't be a. I was just listening to press box. Tough to be a sniffler on a plane. So you got to really take care of that.
- [63:06]
Ryan Rosillo
Especially the last few years. Although it's probably gotten better from peak. Did you just make a noise? 20, 20, 20, 21. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. All right, so we're all. We're all on the same page with the window being the best. There's gonna be a lot of people saying we're totally wrong about this. But I would ask like are you so scared of disruption that you like the aisle? Because you don't have to ask anyone to get up. Like I like to. I don't know. Like I don't. I don't want to be the guys constantly like hey, you got to get up, you got to get up. Shit's plugged in tablets guys work or whatever for yourself every once in a while and Exactly. At some point you need to probably get up and no one's in charge. No one put aisle in charge of window. Right. I don't read that on my ticket.
- [63:53]
Ceruti
Same price.
- [63:54]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. Okay. That feedback alone is just going to be. Can't believe you guys. Who likes middle? Michael Scott. Remember that?
- [64:05]
Ceruti
The tickler probably likes middle.
- [64:06]
Matt Barkley
It's true.
- [64:07]
Ceruti
More access.
- [64:08]
Kyle
Way more access.
- [64:09]
Ryan Rosillo
That was such a great, a great deal on. I think it was one of the writers in the office like post after it was done, he's like I can't stop thinking of Michael Scott ideas. It was like he fly southwest. He flies southwest and he sits in the middle first.
- [64:27]
Kyle
He just wants to meet people. Meet more people.
- [64:29]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. What's this guy's question? Yeah, because we got like a couple photos on floor. All right. So anyway, we're flying into Naples. Great view out the window. Was it was thinking about asking the window person to use my phone to take a photo of the beautiful ocean. I ended up not doing it. It could have been weird. Just wanted to hear your guys thoughts on this. Thank you. Love the pot. I love it. It's just a very simple question that I don't know. We have a simple answer for thoughts.
- [64:53]
Ceruti
Ceruti's face said it all.
- [64:55]
Kyle
I hate it.
- [64:55]
Matt Barkley
Yeah.
- [64:56]
Kyle
Yeah, I hate it.
- [64:56]
Ryan Rosillo
Wow. That's. That was predictable.
- [64:58]
Kyle
I wouldn't do it. I also don't understand like. Like you really need a picture out of a plane window of the ocean.
- [65:05]
Matt Barkley
Yeah.
- [65:05]
Ceruti
I think there's some fireworks on Friday you could take photos of.
- [65:08]
Kyle
Like there's just so many pictures. Exactly. There's just, you know, I'm not. Granted I'm not a picture guy in general. I just think like you can google most images and find stuff like I don't need it on my phone. People only want to do this to post in their stories to act like they're cool because they've been somewhere. I am very anti this. It's probably not a big deal. I'm admittedly saying that, but I would.
- [65:28]
Ryan Rosillo
Definitely not do this. Yeah.
- [65:29]
Ceruti
Unless you're, like, flying over the fucking Lord of the Rings mountains in New Zealand and you're like, wow, that's.
- [65:33]
Ryan Rosillo
That's Milford sound. Yeah, I've done it.
- [65:35]
Ceruti
Thanks. Yeah, I knew it.
- [65:36]
Ryan Rosillo
I knew.
- [65:37]
Ceruti
I knew you would. Remember. No, this is. If you're a picture guy, you know, plan for it, but don't. Don't. Don't bring your weird. And now I'm judging you, and I'm like, is this really important? Whatever. Like, I think, what if it was awesome?
- [65:49]
Ryan Rosillo
What if this guy's super. I love coastlines. I love topography. It's a passion. It's a mild passion. I really got in and studied it. But, yeah, no, I really like it.
- [66:00]
Kyle
Okay.
- [66:03]
Ceruti
Listen, if that's so important to you that you want the window seat because you're like, you know, this is going to be a great chance, you know, about four hours in, we're going to be passing over one of my favorite C's. You know what I mean? Fine. But I think if you're, like, shoving your shit across my life, it's just. I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't have to like it, and I don't have to. I don't have to say yes or no, but it's just, we're good. Especially if there's still more. More hours left in the flight. You're like, what else is going to happen? What else is on the table for this?
- [66:31]
Ryan Rosillo
Sounds like they were coming in, man. If you're heading into Naples, I think you really want to peek out. Now, I can understand somebody in your aisle being like, all right, country mouse, head of the big city, you know, hey, boss. Nice to meet you. You know, I don't think it makes.
- [66:42]
Ceruti
You an asshole, but it's just unpleasant.
- [66:44]
Kyle
It doesn't make you.
- [66:45]
Ryan Rosillo
You're going to get judged, though. You're going to get judged.
- [66:48]
Kyle
It's one thing to be like, hey, could you open the window? I want to see out the window on the flight down, on the way down. A picture, even then.
- [66:55]
Ceruti
I don't think I can do that.
- [66:56]
Kyle
Oh, see, I think that's totally.
- [66:58]
Ceruti
I think you're. I think isle is incomplete.
- [67:00]
Ryan Rosillo
What if it's the Grand Canyon window?
- [67:01]
Ceruti
Is complete control of their window. Grand Canyon. That's the thing, though. That's the thing that matters. It's not just our income.
- [67:06]
Ryan Rosillo
Not just for the fight, though.
- [67:07]
Kyle
Kyle. I'm just saying, for a specific part on the way down. Cool view. That to me is totally fine. Not the whole thing.
- [67:14]
Ceruti
Could you open the window and I'll crane my neck right in front of you so I don't know.
- [67:19]
Ryan Rosillo
I like it. Ask. Just see what happens. Then you'll have a story that'll do it for life advice. Thanks to Morgan thanks to Kyle thanks to Ceruti. Make sure you check out our YouTube page and subscribe to Ryan Rosilla podcast Ringer Spotify must be 21 and older, present in select states. For Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino are 18 plus and present in D.C. gambling problem. Call 100 Gambler or visit rgh-help.com, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY in New York.