← The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
NFL Teams That Actually Like Their Coach With Sheil Kapadia. Plus, Ariel Helwani on Tyson-Paul and UFC 309.
01:42:11
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- [00:11]
Ryan Russillo
On today's episode, we're talking football with Silkadia. Last night's Eagles win where the Eagles are on the super bowl line of teams. A little history in the Baltimore Pittsburgh matchup, but this is fun. Siri came up with it. Coach approval ratings. Can we come up with a definitive list of the NFL coaches where their fan base is like, yes, we love our guy. Listening to being a little bit longer than I thought. Fight weekend Huge fights. Jon Jones back in the Octagon against Stipe in New York, but also Mike Tyson against Jake Paul. Didn't think I'd ever say that. Ariel Helwani, who was my colleague and now is still, I guess, a contemporary. He's going to join us because he's in the building for the fight tonight with Tyson and Paul and he'll be at the ufc. So quick run through that. We've got life advice and the alliance, which has not gone well for me. This episode is brought to you by Chevy. Great football teams are built by having the right capability in the right positions. It's the same with great trucks like the Chevy Silverado. You start under the hood with four powerful engine choices delivering massive towing capacity. Then you've got available onboard technology that gives you extra peace of mind while towing. Finally, the rugged, purposeful design of the Silverado screams grit and determination just like a winning football team. Visit chevy.com to learn more. Shield Capadia. Perfect time to have him on the pod. You can check him out on the NFL Ringer NFL show that's out a couple times a week. So let's, let's do this. Let's talk about last night's game because at times, like, where's this going? I think a diminished Jaden Daniels changes things quite a bit for the Commanders, as we've now seen for a couple weeks. But on the other side with Jalen Herz, like, there are moments where I'm like, what? What is happening? Is 22 a fluke and shield. I'll present it this way. Cam Newton fans get so pissed off when I bring up his MVP year is an entirely fluky season for who he was as a quarterback. I don't really understand the argument that says that. No, that was in line with everything else because it just isn't. So there you go. And as I watch Hertz last year, I think he was hurt like he was. He was. We, we know that he was hurt. He was diminished physically. And then this year, even though I've started to, like, buy into the Eagles, here again, I spent a great deal of last night's game when they're going, you know, down 10, 6 before the touchdown or whatever, he had a third down throw to the left where it like hit the dirt. It was out of bounds. It hit the dirt. And I thought, is there any scenario here where the Hertz 22 season is his outlier season? Now, granted, his numbers are more in line with 22 than just the massive spike that Cam had going back to 2015. But as an Eagles fan, as somebody watches it, as close as anyone, what theories do you sort of dance with in your head, maybe without a conclusion about who Hertz is right now?
- [03:07]
Shield Kapadia
Yeah, I think he's. He's one of the harder guys to evaluate because there's no quarterback in the NFL with a better situation. I mean, look at their wide receivers, look at Saquon Barkley, look at the top five offensive line, and I think there is a chance. You mentioned it. I think he's a high floor player because his accuracy downfield is really good. He's going to be a threat in the run game for the most part in terms of turnovers. Hasn't necessarily been the case this year, but he's usually a good decision maker. So you add all those things together, it's almost like Russell Wilson with the Seahawks. You know that that's kind of the comp. And Russell Wilson had a lot more high efficiency seasons, but that's kind of the floor of the type of quarterback you have now. The accuracy Thursday night I thought was a bit of an outlier. I think he's been really accurate this year. I think his biggest issue as a quarterback is this term turndowns, you know, so it's not about the throws that he does make, it's about the throws he doesn't make. So when you watch the Eagles film every week there are throws available to him, particularly in the middle of the field where he does not throw the football. This has been his entire, even that season. You're talking about every season. He will not pull the trigger on throws that are open in the middle of the field. And think of every great offense in the NFL right now like that's the area of the field you want to expose. So that's my biggest issue with Jalen.
- [04:27]
Kyle
Hurts.
- [04:27]
Shield Kapadia
It shows up every single week. I know every quarterback has throws that they don't make, but his are more, I would say, than the average quarterback. So that, that to me is kind of the biggest weakness. And the area that if that gets fixed at some point, maybe the ceiling's higher. But we have a pretty big sample right now that he doesn't make those throws.
- [04:45]
Ryan Russillo
Are the Eagles on the super bowl line? So if we, we just, just did a. I don't want to do a full blown tear thing here. Tears are just getting worn out. Look, I love a tier, too. Who am I? Can. If we agree on Kansas City, we agree on Buffalo. And I think that just the quick premise would be if this team won the super bowl at the end of the year, we wouldn't be going on like, how did that happen? Right? So kc, Buffalo, Baltimore, Detroit, the nfc, it's Slim Pickens, man. You start going through there and you're like, all right, do I, do I take Atlanta seriously? Like, I don't know. Philly has to be on that, right? Philly has to be on this short list. Am I missing anybody? Do you disagree with any of these? Where are you with the Eagles?
- [05:28]
Shield Kapadia
Yeah, I think they should be because of what you just mentioned, the state of the nfc. If they were in the afc, I might be going, all right, their record's good, but I don't see them beating the Chiefs or the Ravens. Now they play the Ravens in a couple of weeks, so we'll see how they measure up. But in the nfc, I think the Lions are the favorite. And then you have the Eagles, the 49ers, I would still put in there. I think their ceiling is still that high. And I still like the Packers. I know it hasn't happened yet, but, you know, we haven't gotten to Thanksgiving yet. This could be a team that goes on a big run and by the time we get to January, we're saying, no, this team can absolutely get to the Super Bowl. So I think those are probably the teams I would look at in the nfc. And really it might come down to home. You know, home field. If Detroit comes to Philadelphia, Eagles are probably going to be favored in that game. If the Eagles go to Detroit, the Lions are going to be favored in that game. Same thing with the other teams I just mentioned. So that's kind of how I see it broken down.
- [06:23]
Ryan Russillo
I love the Niners getting in there. I love it because I am a just defiant Niners supporter, even though I had the packers winning the nfc. And I think you're right about the Packers. Like, the packers have this weird storyline where it's covered up by Minnesota's success early on. You know, they lose love for a couple games, but that actually doesn't matter. But love keeps throwing the ball away. And yet you look at the record and Granted, the seating thing with the division is going to play out weird because the division is so tough with Detroit in front of them. But you can't get the three teams that you like in the NFC without mentioning the Packers. I just, I just. And I think the Minnesota thing has changed. It is. It has changed dramatically here in three weeks where it was a fun, exciting story. It's like, look, they're proving everybody wrong. And at this point you're kind of like, all right, well, you know, maybe they end up closer to 500 than just running away with this division, which they weren't going to anyway because we knew how good Detroit would be. I want to spend a little bit of time on Baltimore, Pittsburgh. We get into this bigger coaches approval rating exercise that Saruti has been big on and I liked it. So we're going to do it with shield because I think you're going to be great at it. But looking at Lamar's record against Pittsburgh, if you're going through the previews this weekend, you keep thinking like one in three. How is it possible this guy's been in the league? And if you go through it, it's nuts. Like in 19, it's one game in 20 he loses. He won in 19, that's the last time he's beaten him. In 21 he plays him just once. And 22, he doesn't play him at all. And 23 just plays him once because he sent him at the end of the season. Season. But there's a COVID test in 20. He was hurt in 21, hurt in 22. And then last year they didn't want to play him in the game. So that's kind of crazy that Lamar's been in the league doing all the stuff that he's been doing. And he has a one in three record against the Steelers. You can get to one of the games, there's just a million drops and all this stuff. Do you think, I mean, it's very simple to just give you the answer of we know what this rivalry has been over the years. They bring it. It's a division game, all of these things. It's just different. Even though the talent gap would fill favor Baltimore in a lot of these years, especially at the quarterback position. But do you think there is something here, like something that's actually preventing Baltimore for getting done against this team knowing that, you know, granted, Lamar has been there for like less than half of the games since he's been in.
- [08:32]
Shield Kapadia
Yeah, it's been wild. The underdogs in this. When Harbaugh faces Tomlin. I don't know if you've seen those stats. It's crazy. Whenever one team's an Underdog of like, three points or more, that team has covered, like, 80% of the time or something. So I think it's a tribute to kind of the. The two coaches and a rivalry game and two organizations that are familiar with each other. I don't put much into the Lamar, like, you know, the Steelers give him trouble type thing because this is a different version of the Ravens offense than we've ever seen. Like, in the past, there's always been, well, if you take X away, you know, you can really slow them down, or if you do this, they can play any way you want. You want, you know, stuff the box and have Lamar operate from the pocket. He's doing that better than he's ever done before. He can throw to the middle of the field better than he's ever done before. And then if you go, you know, if you back off and say, all right, let's. Let's not let them hurt us in the passing game. Derrick Henry is killing you. They can really. They have answers for every problem that defenses have presented to them so far this season. Now, maybe it doesn't stay that way the rest of the season. And I know listeners are probably like, but they got to do it in the playoffs. I agree. They got to do it in the playoffs. But we can only go off what we've seen so far. Right now, they're the most complete offense in the NFL. They're the most efficient offense in the NFL. They're one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL. So I think it's a good test. Steelers defense is legit, no doubt about it. But until I see someone like, really stop that Ravens offense, I'm not going to say this version of that Ravens offense. I'm not willing to say that just because he's facing the Steelers. They're going to have a lot of issues.
- [10:02]
Ryan Russillo
I think the history that actually plays better for Baltimore, where. Where you go, you know, Lamar doesn't play in a lot of these for all the reasons that we've just stated. We know the record, we know the history, and this is how good we've been the first half of the season. Like, let's not. Let's not fuck around. Now, granted, it is Pittsburgh's defense. Would you take Pittsburgh's defense over any defense in the NFL?
- [10:25]
Shield Kapadia
I still am. The Vikings aren't as talented, but they've still been the best defense all Season long. So I think I probably still lean towards that Vikings defense. Maybe they get exposed at some point here, but they, they faced a bunch of tough teams. They faced the Niners, they faced the Texans. And they came out of that. Where you're going, wow, like. And when they face a bad offense like the Jaguars last year, I mean, those teams can't even pick up a first down. So I'm probably still Vikings number one. Steelers are in there. Denver has really played well defensively. Eagles we just talked about, I mean, their defense over the last like six weeks is among the best in the NFL. So that's. Unless I'm forgetting somebody. I think that's kind of the top tier. You know, we got to get more tier talk in, like you said.
- [11:07]
Ryan Russillo
Well, if you go just opponents yards per play, because I think it sifts through a lot of the nonsense. Philadelphia is number one. You know, the jets we could even mention. Actually Tennessee has a really good number there too. Houston, very good. Houston is really good at opposing yards for play play. You're right about that. And then you start going into just the straight yards per game. I don't know. Tennessee's. Their passing defense is better than everybody else in the NFL, which I would expect. But sometimes that can be really misleading because the opponent just doesn't care. Like, I remember one year the Raiders were terrible and then I think they were tweeting out how it was still like the best pass defense in the league. It's because everybody has a lead and nobody cares, so it doesn't really matter. So I like. Because even scoring can be married a little bit to who you are on the other side of the ball. And the Chargers have the number one scoring defense right now by like a field goal over Pittsburgh. I guess I'm more impressed with Denver and I, it's. I can't, I can't match it with the personnel with some of these other teams that we've talked about. Right. But knowing offensively it's going to probably be a grind for your defense and for your defense to continue to show up like that. I think that marriage, you know, this time of year can become really straining on a defense. There are defenses in the past that I've liked. Then when they know their offense has no chance, they start leaking numbers. And then people be like, what happened to the defense? It's like, because I think they share a locker room with their offense and they just know like, this is, this is so hard to ask us to carry you every single week. And you know, look, whatever. I think some of the Bo Nick stuff is a little mixed. I'm probably not as high on them as some other people are, knowing that that's the marriage. There are weeks where I'm like, denver did it again. They did it again on defense, even when they lose. So, you know, no, I don't think a GM would go through their 11 guys and say, I'd rather have those 11 than some of the other teams they've talked about. I just. I think there's an argument to be made. The Broncos have been the most impressive to be consistently this good defensively.
- [13:04]
Shield Kapadia
I would agree with that. And what I like about them is they know they don't have just the 11 guys who can line up and play. With this era of, you know, NFL defense where everyone's like, play your safeties deep, don't allow explosive plays. They blitz at a higher rate than any team in the NFL. So they're like, let's make something happen. We can't just line up and play. We have to be creative. We have to be aggressive. It might not work every week. It might not work against the best quarterbacks, although they did a great job last week against Patrick Mahomes. But, yeah, I would say they're one of the most overperforming defenses in the NFL. They've got a lockdown corner in Patrick Surtan. Other than that, like, you're really getting a lot from that group that doesn't have a lot of high profile players.
- [13:45]
Ryan Russillo
I also think Zach Allen needs more love.
- [13:47]
Shield Kapadia
Yeah, he's been great. No doubt.
- [13:49]
Ryan Russillo
Every time I'm watching Broncos games, number 99, for them to move the way he does at that size and, you know, I don't know if it's the accessories or what, but, I mean, there's so many guys that we'll talk about, and Zach Allen's never going to be brought up. And I'm not just saying it because he's a Boston College guy. All right, let's get to the exercise. The exercise is this. Who likes their coach in the NFL? My friends that every now and then check in with me. They all want to fire their coach. They'll be like, hey, don't you think we should fire our coach? And my answer is almost always no. It happens in college. As I was leaving Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge after another loss to Alabama, guys coming up to me, like, probably should fire Brian Kelly. I'm like, yeah, I don't think so. I think he's a really good coach. He's won Everywhere he's gone. And it's super disappointing to lose to Alabama, especially post Saban. But yeah, I don't. I think it's. It's a simple thing and I think it's a very. I mean, I get it. I totally get it. Monday, play calling. Can't believe, you know, when somebody will be like, I just don't like our play calling. I'm like, what specifically don't you like about their play calling, Doug? Like, what is it? So the idea was like, how short is the list going to be of the 32 NFL fan bases that are actually going to say. We could say today that fan base likes their coach. I think the yes list is longer than we thought at the beginning of this. Do you want to go through the nose first and see where we're at? Okay. Jets, Chicago, New Orleans. I mean, the Chicago things just do that every other year. Is Jacksonville a no at this point? It kind of has, right?
- [15:28]
Ariel Helwani
Yeah.
- [15:29]
Shield Kapadia
Oh yeah, no doubt.
- [15:30]
Ryan Russillo
Dallas is a no. Carolina, you can't really put them there first year in. Right. That's a. I agree.
- [15:37]
Shield Kapadia
It's not fair.
- [15:37]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah.
- [15:37]
Shield Kapadia
Yeah.
- [15:38]
Ryan Russillo
All right. Good, good. You can't just go bad. Team must not like their coach one year. And by the way, I'm happy for Bryce Young right now. I couldn't be happier for that guy. I think Philadelphia is on the no list.
- [15:50]
Shield Kapadia
There is this funny thing happening in Philadelphia right now where listeners to the Ringers Philly Special are like Sirianni's. You know, half the listeners are like, Sirianni's turned it around. You know, you're not giving him enough credit. And then the other half, and I don't know if I have those percentages right. Are with me where it's like, this is the most talented offense in the NFL. The front office hired the defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio. I don't know how much credit I can give him, but I don't know if you've looked at Pro Football Reference for this exercise. Do you know where Nick Sirianni is in the all time coaches winning percentage right now?
- [16:28]
Ryan Russillo
Oh, well, I did. I didn't look it, but I. I mean it's gotta be really good because it's not like they've been bad. And even last year, as disappointing as it was, what are they? 10 and one? So is he. Is he number one?
- [16:39]
Shield Kapadia
He is eighth all time in winning percentage.
- [16:43]
Ryan Russillo
I thought you meant. Right.
- [16:45]
Shield Kapadia
You got to go down to get to George Hallis and Don Shula from. From Nick Sirianni. So listen, they've been eight and two each of the last three seasons under him. I think the fan base is split right now. I would say more feel like, no, they're not winning because of him. Then they're, you know, he's adding something to the table.
- [17:03]
Ryan Russillo
We know he's not in the yes category. All right. Correct. All right. So any other hard nose right now? Because I have a bunch of maybes too, but I think I'm just too soft when it comes to wanting to fire every coach. Or maybe I'm right.
- [17:17]
Shield Kapadia
Hard nose I'm looking at here. Oh, Raiders probably right. I mean, Antonio Pierce. I can't imagine there's a bunch of Raiders fans going, this guy's given us what we thought we were going to get from him this season. When you look at their football team, is that too harsh?
- [17:33]
Ryan Russillo
I just don't know what the expectations were with the quarterback situation. It was almost like they took a gap year. You know where the Giants gap year, they paid Daniel Jones a ton of money. The Raiders went with the gap year quarterback. Like, yeah, we're just going to try this and it's going to be really inexpensive. So I don't know. I also, yeah, look, selfishly, I love Antonio so much. I probably didn't want to put him down here. But we can do it. We can do it. What about the Colts?
- [18:00]
Shield Kapadia
I think the shine's coming off a little bit. I'm on some group chat. Yeah, I'm on some group chats where I've been like, are you guys gonna, you know, you're not. You're not putting stiking into the hall of Fame first. First year now anymore. I guess there. It's hard to know who's pulling the strings. You know, was he pulling the strings with this weird quarterback situation? But at the same time, I think the expectations were higher that you thought you were getting someone who was going to develop a young quarterback. And that hasn't happened at all. I don't think they're a no yet. I think they're probably in the middle. They're not a yes either.
- [18:29]
Ryan Russillo
They're not a yes. Miami's not a yes anymore.
- [18:33]
Shield Kapadia
Agreed. Miami's. Yeah, Miami. Although, I mean, if you do look at it, when TUA plays, their numbers are. Have still been offensively very good. So I don't know, May. Is that a personnel thing? Maybe you should have done something, a backup quarterback to have stayed afloat. But yes, the shine has come off for Miami and Mike McDaniel.
- [18:52]
Ryan Russillo
Well, not beating good teams is an Overall problem, too. So I don't think it's. I mean, this is a very human thing where it's new, it's exciting. All the things about your personality are all positives. And then when you get fired, those same personality traits are like, no, he's a little goofy, but yes, because everybody gets fired when he's out in Miami. When it's over in Miami. I can already tell you what every one of those pieces will be. I could write them before they happen. Years. And I hope he gets to stay down there forever, because I like them, but it's just not what the job is. And it's just going to be. It's going to be the most predictable thing ever. The columns that are written when there's a new head coach in Miami, New England's, it's too early, but nobody's pumped about it.
- [19:47]
Shield Kapadia
Is that fair? Like I was looking at it, they're better than they were last year at this time with Bill Belichick. And I know the quarterback is different. A lot of the other pieces are the same. You look at the Drake May situation. Did they hand. Like, you can make the case. If I were Gerard Mayo's agent. All right, let's do that. If I'm his agent, I'm making the case. They handled this perfectly. They didn't throw him into the fire. They brought him along slowly. Now Drake May looks good. So they handled the quarterback situation well. Look at the rest of the roster. It's not very good. They're outperforming what they were last year. Give my guy a break.
- [20:21]
Ryan Russillo
I would say the defense, even with the lack of personnel, because this has been one of the most boring talent rosters in the league now for a while, you would say, well, how come the. How come the defense fell apart just because Judon's not here? You know, so even last year, the defense with Bill, with Steve, that ended up being a pretty good defense last season, but nobody thought they were going to be good. Nobody thought they were going to be good this year. And again, the carryover of the roster decimation is inherited. All right, so let's. Maybe.
- [20:58]
Shield Kapadia
We'll.
- [20:58]
Ryan Russillo
We'll flirt with the maybes and yeses here. All right? Give me. Give me the definitive yeses that you have, and I'll see. I imagine we probably have a lot of the same ones here.
- [21:06]
Shield Kapadia
All right, I've got eight. And this is. This is. They like their coach, not they should like their coach. Right? Because there is a difference.
- [21:14]
Ryan Russillo
Okay, eight. You have. You have less than I do. All right, good stuff.
- [21:18]
Shield Kapadia
I've got Andy Reid, Dan Campbell, Jim Harbaugh, Matt LaFleur, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh, Kevin Oconnell and Demico Ryan. Those are the eight fan bases where I think if you pulled them, I would feel very confident that it would be like over 75% of the fan bases of the fan base would say, yes, we like our coach.
- [21:47]
Ryan Russillo
No issues with any of those. Okay, now we want to get real difficult and, oh, a week three, like, okay, fine. If you're waiting for 100% approval, that's why baseball managers are screwed. Because if you're really locked into baseball and you watch all ones, you know, whatever, 150 of the 162, you're going to see constant mistakes. There's going to be bullpen mistakes, there's going to be pinch hitting mistakes. And so if the goal is to not have any of those mistakes, and I would say then just get in, have a different hobby, like, have. Have a different thing that you're going to be interested because there's just going to be multiple opportunities for you to be disappointed by those. But I think those eight are solid. I have no issues with those. So this makes it better. I'm going to throw four more at you.
- [22:28]
Shield Kapadia
Okay.
- [22:29]
Ryan Russillo
You kind of. You kind of got in front of it here by saying they do not should like their coach because they should like their coach is a longer list than the eight. Why would anybody be upset in Seattle?
- [22:44]
Shield Kapadia
I think that's just sort of on the fence probably right now. Yeah, I like McDonald a lot, but I think if you're looking at it, and you were a Seahawks fan, like, I thought the Seahawks had a chance to be a playoff team this season. And you thought, all right, he's going to bring this Ravens defense and it's going to be awesome. And I think part of it is talent and injuries they've had, but they've been mediocre in every respect of the team. Offense, defense, pass offense, whatever you want to look at, they're mediocre at it. And So I like McDonald. I think he's going to be really good. I think if you kind of pulled their fan base, they'd be like, this has been fine. This hasn't been like the most fun year we've ever had.
- [23:24]
Ryan Russillo
I think he's good. And I agree. I don't. I don't think their expectations should have been that high. And, you know, we can all play the injury game with a bunch of different people. Here, but, I mean, they've had some weeks going in with a D line where I was just like, I don't. I don't know what kind of chance they have on a Sunday afternoon. All right. Washington kind of follows along with the same thing here. I mean, look, they love Dan Quinn on the broadcast last night, but people do really like Dan Quinn. We could also throw that in there. It's way beyond expectations. They've marriaged this, the marriage between Kingsbury and Daniels. And all of this stuff has worked the rookie quarterback, the way that it rarely ever works, although we have recent history with C.J. stroud's incredible rookie year. The defense for Washington, like, I trust it week to week. I know it's a lot of points. Against Pittsburgh, that game got kind of weird with the field position stuff in it on both sides. But, you know, when I watch, like, there's names that I didn't know, household names types on that defense that have been around a little while where I feel like it's a group that, you know, it's. It can be a strength for them on a Sunday. So maybe it's too soon to put them in the clear. Like, you're good. We're all behind you, but I don't think anybody should be upset about Dan Quinn this year.
- [24:42]
Shield Kapadia
I think you're right. I think they belong in the first group of t fan bases that like their coach. I do think they like. I think the Commanders fans like Dan Quinn, especially because they were getting clowned for how the whole Ben Johnson thing happened last off season. And so they were very defensive about that. And now they got a head coach who has them competing for a playoff spot with a rookie quarterback. So, yeah, I think they belong in that first group. You're right.
- [25:05]
Ryan Russillo
Okay. All right. So I got Washington. I couldn't get Seattle. That's fine. That's fine. I have two more. No John Harbaugh from you.
- [25:17]
Shield Kapadia
John Harbaugh for me is a. There's this group of guys who have been around with their teams, and so it's kind of what you were saying earlier. As each year passes, you're going, oh, I haven't won a Super bowl since year. I think John Harbaugh is one of the best coaches in the NFL. One of the best coaches in the last 20 years. They are on my should list. I mean, been there for 17 years, has won over 60% of his games, has tried new things with Todd Mon. That wasn't like a guy he just hired because he knew him. Mike McDonald. That was a great defensive coordinator hire. He's been able to cultivate a coaching staff and they're competitive pretty much every single year. They had like a three year stretch where they were okay, but now they're just competing for Super Bowls and I know they haven't gotten over the hump. But yeah, I think Harbaugh is one of the best coaches in the league, but I had him in the should I don't know that Ravens fans. I think there's probably a segment of Ravens fans just like another team I'm sure we're going to talk about in a second that are like, this guy gets all this praise nationally, but we watch him every week and he hasn't done X, Y and Z. So it's like, you know, grass is greener type thing probably for some Ravens.
- [26:23]
Ryan Russillo
Fans with Harbaugh, he's just been there too long. You're right. And you know, it's a bit like the Bills Josh Allen thing where, you know, you geared up last year and then you run into the Chiefs and then you can turn it to something else. So the last one actually is a perfect segue because it's the exact same thing being there too long. Mike Tomlin, but the Steelers haven't won a playoff game since 2016. The funny thing is I used to think he was a little overrated because I just have to hear about it all the time. And then I thought like he was giving us the Tomlin quotes and Tomlin fashion because it sounded really cool and it always worked really well. So I thought it was a bit of an acting deal there with him. And I thought they had some bad home playoff losses, but it might only be like two. So I might have been unfair. And yet now I've become a way bigger fan of his because then I realized after the fact all the bullshit that he was dealing with stays the course. The team is still always competitive and a couple of these years recently I'm like, I don't think that team is any good and yet they're still competitive. And he does something incredibly unpopular with the Russell Wilson thing and it probably raises their floor floor a little bit. And clearly the deep shot thing has changed their offense here so he does something. So I like Tomlin more. Like I'm completely against the Tomlin currents. I was down on him when everyone loved him and now I like him more when he's never been questioned more. So again, I don't even know what I'm doing over here.
- [27:49]
Shield Kapadia
Yeah, the that stat and it gets brought up all the time with Tomlin that he hasn't won a playoff game since 2016. I'm just like, dude, look at the Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, Duck Hodges. Now, there was a year or two there with good Ben Roethlisberger and then washed Ben Roethlisberger, but it's like the most misleading stat in the NFL. You take a league average coach with those quarterbacks, they're not sniffing the playoffs, and you're complaining about not having playoff. They wouldn't be anywhere near.500 with duck, Hodges and Mason Rudolph. That's the year. Like, his hall of Fame plaque. Forget the Super Bowl. Just be like, this guy went over.500 with duck, Hodges and Mason Rudolph. Enough said. He doesn't need to do anything else in his career. So I think Tomlin's awesome. I mean, I know it gets overplayed, but 18 years without a losing record? Think of all the stuff that can go wrong in a season. Injuries, turnover, locks, schedule strength. And then what he's doing this season. I think he's one of the best coaches in the NFL.
- [28:48]
Ryan Russillo
We agree, but we can't put him on the happy fan base.
- [28:52]
Shield Kapadia
No, their fan base. Yeah, their fan base. I think Steelers fans. If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. I don't know. I've heard a lot of complaints over the years that, like, oh, man, he gets all. Again, it's like Harbaugh. He gets all this love from the national people. But this guy hasn't done X, Y and Z. I'm sorry. That guy is doing more with less most years.
- [29:10]
Ryan Russillo
What about Denver?
- [29:12]
Shield Kapadia
Got him on the should list. Listen, here's the thing. Sean Payton's like the most arrogant, most smug coach the NFL maybe he has seen in my lifetime. He thinks he's God's gift to football. That's true. It's also true that he's one of the best coaches of, like, the last 25 years. I'm sorry.
- [29:29]
Ryan Russillo
He is.
- [29:30]
Shield Kapadia
I mean, you look at what he did in New Orleans, and now they're five and five. They're over under for wins. I think this year was five and a half. Rookie quarterback. I know they're doing it a lot with their defense, but he did hire the defensive coordinator. So, yes, I think Broncos fans, I don't know if they like Sean Payton personally. They're probably like, this guy's. This guy's freaking annoying. But also, he's a very good coach.
- [29:55]
Ryan Russillo
Zach Taylor.
- [29:58]
Shield Kapadia
I don't think Bengals fans are in on Zach Taylor anymore.
- [30:02]
Ryan Russillo
Can we say that it's It's Zach Taylor's last. Like, what he did last season. Yeah, I like Zach Taylor.
- [30:11]
Shield Kapadia
He's in the middle for me. Yeah, he's in the middle for me. I don't.
- [30:14]
Ryan Russillo
But this isn't. I'm not a Cincinnati fan, so this is not. This is not about me.
- [30:21]
Shield Kapadia
I got two more shoulds here.
- [30:23]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah, well, I noticed you didn't say Shanahan, but I've talked to enough Niners fans who. They think he's the worst fucking coach in the world. So I can't talk about Shanahan with people. I cannot talk to them about it. And I just go, all right, fine. There are people that I respect that think he is the smartest guy ever. There's other people I respect that are just like, he sucks. And I think the he sucks part, he's a little. Little too harsh about it.
- [30:50]
Shield Kapadia
I might have skipped him. I had him in the first tier. I don't know if I said him or not, but I. He's the best offensive coach in the league. I mean, like, I don't know. He's gotten to the super bowl twice with two different quarterbacks. They're in the mix every year. They've hired defensive coordinators. Not this last group, but it's hard when your guys keep getting poached for head coaching jobs.
- [31:10]
Ryan Russillo
Three straight.
- [31:11]
Shield Kapadia
Yeah, he had good ones there. I mean, come on. If Kyle Shanahan were available after this season or if they were willing to trade Kyle Shanahan, it would be a crazy bidding war to get that guy as your head coach. I actually think there's some fair criticism about some of his in game. You know, the stuff we can see in game management. You know, why is he kicking a field goal there? That stuff, which I like to rip coaches about. Don't get me wrong. That's kind of the one area where he's not great. But you give him any, like, offensive personnel in the NFL, and they're going to be at least competent, and they're probably going to be good. I mean, he's just been an innovator. So, yeah, Shanahan's in the. In the first group for me.
- [31:51]
Ryan Russillo
Okay. But do you think that that's his approval rating? Because that's not what I get.
- [31:56]
Shield Kapadia
I actually don't.
- [31:57]
Ryan Russillo
I feel like you're shooting him. I think you're taking a should and putting him in the. I would be thrilled to put him in the. Yes. That's not the experience that I've had in talking to. It's not like I have a thousand Niners fans. My right. So I'm guilty of one of my least favorite things that I've seen. The polling of one phenomenon. You know, it's like, it's like, well, this is what I think is going on. Like, you talk to one fucking person, but then the Shanahan stuff, maybe it's, you know, it can be a bit like Shanahan's. Consider this genius for all the things you just laid out. And then when it's, I can't believe you went for the field goal. I. I can't believe that people are just like, looking at field goal decisions to just try to shit on a guy's entire ability to coach a football team.
- [32:42]
Shield Kapadia
That's my whole brand. All right, settle down.
- [32:44]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah, right, sorry. It's like the timeouts in basketball, because we don't know. Most people don't know exactly. Like, okay, what's happening here? Or whatever. It's like, did it work? Oh, well, they should have called the timeout because it's something we feel comfortable criticizing. Because you see it right in front of each other. I don't. Just because a guy decides from 48 out to go for, you know, 4th and 5 and it doesn't work. And the go. I don't know, man. I mean, I guess maybe I've just seen the ESPN Go Green graphic too much on the television. All right, so you have it at 10, then you have it at 10.
- [33:16]
Shield Kapadia
No, I had Shanahan among my eight. Let me count here. Let me. Four, five, six.
- [33:21]
Ryan Russillo
Oh, you have him in there. Yeah, that's right. I didn't. I had him in my. Maybe. That's why.
- [33:25]
Shield Kapadia
Okay, sorry. I have a couple other shoulds that you haven't mentioned here. I've got Sean McDermott in the should. I don't know if they do or not.
- [33:36]
Ryan Russillo
They don't. So I didn't bring it up as a yes.
- [33:38]
Shield Kapadia
Yeah, okay. Yeah. I mean, they've won 65% of their games with him. This will be their sixth straight season of double digit wins. And you can say, yeah, but they've got Josh Allen. Go look at that defense and that personnel. They haven't had a bad defense with Sean McDermott, and this was a reset year. They get rid of all these veterans and guess what? Their defense is like top 10, top 12 in the NFL by all.
- [34:01]
Ryan Russillo
They're missing five, like, really good players on defense and injuries last year. And then you're right, this was the. Hopefully Josh can help us get through a financial reset. Year. And. And they're doing it again. I agree with you, but we both know that's not the case in Buffalo.
- [34:16]
Shield Kapadia
Okay, that's one. And then this. I don't know if this is controversial or not, but I got Kevin Stefanski on the should list. The team sucks. And you can say, I don't know what his role was with the. You know, I'm sure everyone, now everyone's going to be like, well, I didn't want desean Watson. This guy wanted desean Watson, not me. That stuff's going to happen.
- [34:34]
Ryan Russillo
I love that stuff.
- [34:35]
Shield Kapadia
Yeah, I love that stuff as well. At the same time, I think he is a very good offensive coach. I think he's really good at the in game management stuff that I like to rip. Rip coaches for. I think he's pretty buttoned up there. I think he did a good job hiring a good defensive coordinator in Jim Schwartz. He's another guy that I think if they fire Kevin Stefanski after this season, I think he gets a head coaching job right away going into next year. So I think he's a really good coach.
- [35:02]
Ryan Russillo
You could check out Scheele and the crew on the Philly Special and of course the Ringer NFL show everywhere where you get podcasts and his work on ringer.com this is fun. This is actually more fun than I thought it would be. Great idea, Saruti. Sometimes in basketball, 30 points could be worth more than 30 points. And now you can get a 30% profit boost on 30 plus point scores with Vandals 30 on 30. That's right. The Ringer is teaming up with America's number one sportsbook to give you a 30% profit boost when you pick a player to score more than 30 points during Friday's NBA cup action. We thought this be a lot of fun. That's why the Ringer reached out to FanDuel and hooked this up for all of us. So now this Friday night, a big game for them means a bigger payout for you. Just looking at the Friday slate. Let's take a look at it. So, did a bunch of research for the gang on this one. Obviously Giannis being on a tear. 7 of 11 games, 30 points, nice little 59 spot. Problem is it's not playing tonight, so we don't have that for you. Then I was thinking Lamelo on the other side. He's had seven of 11 games with 30 or more points. But guess who Milwaukee is playing tomorrow? They're playing Charlotte. I looked at Jokic. Jokic, by the way, you realize on the season. He's averaging 30, 14 and 12 on shooting splits of 56% overall and 56% from three. He's had four 30 point games, also a 28, 27 to 29. He's questionable though tonight at New Orleans. So if he's not questionable I really like it. And considering where that line is right now it is looking like they expect him to be able to play here. So let's go with Donovan Mitchell. Mitchell has the Bulls at home tonight and just a few days ago on Monday against the Chicago team where I don't really like their defensive guard matchups. Now against Mitchell. Mitchell scored 36. So that my friends is the lean. So whether you want to ride with my picks or make your own, just look for 30 on 30 in the FanDuel sportsbook app or head to FanDuel.com Ryan for your chance to score a bigger payout this Friday. Don't miss your chance to find out how much 30 points can be worth with FanDuel's 30 on 30 must be 21 and older in present select states or 18 plus in present DC. Opt in required bonus issued as non withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms@sportsbook.fanduel.com gambling problem call 100 gambler visit RGH help. We've got some fights the next couple of nights. So very excited to talk to Ariel Helwani, who I can't believe you're doing this. Day of Man. So a massive, massive thank you. We were trying to figure it out and I was like, well we could see. So I know you're busy, so thank you so much for doing this.
- [38:15]
Ariel Helwani
Well, first of all, I would never say no to the great Ryan Russell. In fact, this is my Ryan Rusillo podcast show debut, which I feel a certain way about. Of course. We were colleagues at the Ringer for three years, never got the call and now all it took was for me to leave to get the call. Now this actually makes me feel better because Bill's had me on the show since leaving. You have me on so I never want to. Business is business. We can all be friends and support each other and so I didn't want to get shunned, but the first thing that actually came to mind when I left was like, all right, well there goes my dreams of ever being on the Ryan Russell show because now he's definitely not going to have me on. And so here we are on the morning of the biggest night of my my no one cares about me but my career. Getting a chance to talk to the legend himself. This is huge.
- [39:03]
Ryan Russillo
Okay. The reason I didn't have you on is that I. And I didn't realize I never had you on. I thought we had you on.
- [39:09]
Ariel Helwani
No, listen, it's. Okay.
- [39:10]
Ryan Russillo
This is. This is huge. Is that there can be some Bill stuff where it's like, all right, Bill guys and Ryan guys. And then there's some overlap. And then because Anik and I have known each other for 20 years, Anik was kind of my guy. And since Bill wasn't using Anik, then it was like, okay, so that's. I really had probably. And it wasn't even like, Bill and I argued about it, but there's definitely, like, a bucket of Bill guy and Ryan guys, and I felt like you were a Bill guy because I had Anik, and that's it. I've always liked your stuff.
- [39:37]
Ariel Helwani
Well, first of all, I love this. We're breaking kayfabe, as they say in the business. We're breaking the fourth wall. Anik is incredible. No apology needed there. He is outstanding at what he does. And I know you guys go way back, and, you know, the Boston guys have to stick together, blah, blah, blah, but I'm happy to be everyone's guy. I want to be everywhere as well, so please don't. And Bill and I don't really align on any sports topics and teams as well, so I can't necessarily call myself a Bill guy, per se. In fact, sometimes I think he just has me on the show when my teams are doing really poorly against his, just to stick it to me. Like he had me on last time after the Celtics killed the Knicks on opening night. And I was like, oh, this is why you call me back. But nevertheless, happy to be here. Happy to talk to you. And I'm honestly a huge admirer and fan of everything you've done your whole career. And I love the way that you do it your own way. You walk the walk, you talk the talk. You stick it to the man. You're not a corporate shill. I love it.
- [40:35]
Ryan Russillo
That was very nice of you to say. So thanks for doing it. So let's get. I guess we start. I almost felt like it was more important to start with Jon Jones and usc, but you're there. I mean, you were the guy for this Tyson, Jake Paul fight, and Tyson slaps him, and you're in the middle of this whole thing. So let me start with. And I just go wherever you need to go with that experience. Of the entire thing. Like you. And depending at a certain age. I had the Tyson cover of Sports illustrated. He's only 18, you know, following the career, it wasn't like I was such a huge fan of him, but he, everyone was just, Tyson was such a big, big deal. And we have this fight tonight where, you know, I'll get into how kind of how I feel about it and the outcome and part of me is like I wish this wasn't happening, but at the same time it's like, well, if something is happening that I'm going to be really interested in, why would I be upset that it's happening? So that's, that's kind of where I'm at with it, where I think there's a full circle Jake Paul thing where you're like, oh, this guy's going to do this. And now that he's in combat world and he's stepping into the ring every single time, we can get through the list of all those things. Like I have so much respect for anybody who actually gets into a ring against somebody else and does it for real. So that part of it we can talk about his opponents and all that stuff. But like he's actually doing that. And so if it's a spectacle, but it's a spectacle that people are interested in, then who's really to blame for this even happening tonight? So that's kind of my full circle timeline of reckoning with, yeah, I'm going to be watching it. I don't know if it's going to be any good, but I'm definitely interested and that's kind of what matters and why any of this stuff is on tv.
- [42:10]
Ariel Helwani
Okay, so so many thoughts and feelings and emotions. First of all, if I may, you know, I'm a kid who grew up in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and all I ever wanted to be was Howard Cosell. I used to go to my grandparents house, they had one of those dodgy pay per view boxes and I would watch these shows and I would watch these fights and I would watch the weigh ins. And I would go later in life when I was a teenager to a pool hall on decary if anyone's from Montreal will know that place called Jilly's. And I would watch the fights with my friends and I would tell them this guy said this about that guy and that's all I wanted to do. And so for me in these moments to be up there next to Mike freaking Tyson. I'm born in 1982. I was playing punch out with my brothers. I Remember the commercial coming on saying if you call 1-800-TYSON'S BACK, you can get the T shirt, the hat and the program for his fight against Peter McNeely. And now I'm there standing next to him, 58 or not. This is surreal stuff and I'm just so grateful and appreciative that I'm getting this opportunity. That's step number one, step number two. And I don't know if this is being talked about enough. This is on Netflix. This is Netflix's first live presentation of combat sports. They did the WWE deal that's starting in January, but this is the biggest streaming platform in the world and I'm a huge nerd when it comes to sports media. I listen to all the shows and podcasts and read all this stuff and I feel like this is kind of being overshadowed by the return of Mike and Jake Paul. But this is Netflix getting into live combat sports, in case you don't know. 280 million plus subscribers, one platform. It's not being broadcast on any other platform around the world. It's just Netflix. Brazil, India, Japan, Canada, us. Netflix, no pay per view, no added cost. It's just going to be there for you. A sign of the times. Who knows? We'll see. For now it's just a one off, but that's a huge deal in its own right. And then we get to the fight. I will admit when Nikisa Badarian, who's the co founder of Most Valuable Promotions with Jake Paul, told me back in March, this is the next fight, I was like, really? Mike Tyson, you guys went down this path of influencer, then Nate Robinson, then MMA fighters. And then it seemed, if you recall, he went down the boring, just traditional boxing path. He fought a guy named Ryan Borland, knocked him out, fought a guy named Andre August. Just the type of guys that you would fight if you have nine or so fights on your record. And people were rejecting that, they were like, no, no, no, we want spectacle out of Jake. We get enough of that in other places. We want spectacle. So now they go here, total left turn and it's Mike freakin Tyson at 58. And I thought the first thing that comes to mind is like, he's 58. This is not safe, it's not healthy. What kind of state is he in? All these things and more. And they go with it because Netflix and everyone involved wants the biggest spectacle possible. And that's what this is. Then we find out, once they announced the fight on July 20, it was supposed to take place initially on July 20. And sorry for going long here, but I'm just trying to give you the timeline. We find out on May 31 that Mike is pulling out of the fight because he suffered an ulcer on a plane. And so then you're like, okay, for sure this is dead, right? This is not happening. They reschedule it for November 15th tonight. And so you have some funny feelings. But I can tell you this. And I'm not paid by the promotion. I do not get paid by promoters. I will never get paid by promoters for the rest of my career. I'm paid by the network here. The experience that I've had on Wednesday and Thursday of this week is unlike anything that I've ever felt before. Wednesday was the press conference Mike was giving me, and I hosted it. Mike was giving me one to two word answers. Initially, I thought he was mad at me, but then I saw that he was doing that for everyone. He switched on. He's different. He's wired differently. And then we see what happened yesterday. And hand on my heart, the look in his eyes, the look on his face after that slap when I was standing next to him like this, like I'm holding a piece of meat, trying to feed a lion and terrified for my life, which I was, because he was being surrounded by four massive bodyguards who were holding each other's hands because they didn't want him to break free and attack Jake Paul. I have never seen that look, forget about fighters on a human being's face. If I would have said the wrong thing, I have no doubt that I would have been slapped. 58 or not. People could say whatever they want, and it's all very valid. That demon, that beast, never leaves. That guy. He is different. And he said it perfectly in the countdown show on Netflix. Jake Paul is a manufactured killer. The media made Jake Paul into a killer, made him believe that he's a killer. I am a natural born killer. And that gives me chills when I say that he's different. And you can't. You can't extinguish that. And we've seen that reemerge. What that means tonight, what that translates into, what this fight looks like, I have no idea. I can't wait to see. But I. I know that this man is coming prepared. And look at the shape that he's in. I. I mean, who would have thought, 58, that Mike Tyson looks like that?
- [47:07]
Ryan Russillo
Jake steps on Tyson's toes before the slap. You were in the middle of it. How real was all of that?
- [47:18]
Ariel Helwani
I knew you were going to ask me that. And I have too much respect for you to believe that you believe this, that you believe that this is scripted, that you believe. Because, come on, Mike Tyson doesn't do scripted. Yeah, I know. He showed up on WWE Raw in the late 90s. He was a special guest referee at WrestleMania 15. I watched it. I loved it. He doesn't know how to pull punches. He doesn't know how to do scripted. That was a thousand percent real. No one, look, if they would have said, okay, you know, I'm going to go in your face and you're going to shove me and all that. Did you see that slap? You can't script like that. That was insane.
- [47:53]
Ryan Russillo
It turned his neck. I mean, you know, but Jake also, you know, look, if we're going full scope, Jake is crazy enough to be like, just do it. You know, if it were to happen.
- [48:01]
Ariel Helwani
Yes. I mean, afterwards, he said he. He hits like. I don't know if we're allowed to say some of these words, like the B word.
- [48:06]
Ryan Russillo
Say whatever you need to say.
- [48:07]
Ariel Helwani
Yeah, he hits like a bitch and all this. I'm like, you know, you're talking about Mike Tyson. I don't care if he's 65 or 50. This is Mike Tyson. I would be terrified. The stepping on the foot wasn't like, hey, now, hit me like, I'm going to touch you and now you touch me. Jake does that thing where he, like walks up on someone. He does that in his face offs. And I guess he stepped on his foot and that set him off. But again, I was talking to his son, Amir Tyson afterwards. He's working some of the broadcast stuff as well. And he's in his mid-30s. This is the first time that he gets to see Mike, his dad, in this type of light. Because when. When Mike was in his prime, he wasn't born and he was pacing back and forth. He was. He was almost to a degree, you know, frazzled because he's like, people don't understand. They keep talking about his age. They keep talking about him being way past his prime. All this stuff. He doesn't. He doesn't play. He doesn't play fighting. He doesn't do YouTube boxing. He only knows one speed. And you get in his face, you pick a fight in him. He's getting paid. No doubt about it. He is going to go one speed. Now, again, does that mean 30 seconds of hell tonight? Maybe. Does that mean he gets caught trying to rush in? Maybe. But there was, in my opinion, my humble opinion, there was nothing scripted There was nothing planned about that. That was the beast being unleashed.
- [49:19]
Ryan Russillo
I like that you brought up the Jake Paul timeline, you know, because if you look at the fight cards over this run, where it is a little bit more spectacle, it's the MMA guys. I thought the Mayweather deal, like, you kind of knew that Mayweather would probably want it to be an event and, like, carry it a bit. You know, there are perhaps a couple exchanges there where boxing people would be like, okay, maybe Jake's got a little bit more, because that was also the other part of his. His journey through. This is like, this is a total joke. This is another stunt. And then you would listen to, like, boxing people, like, there's actually some. Some talent in there. And yet when he tried to go down the more serious path, then nobody cared about it. So I love that you remind us of that. You are in this world. What do people think of him? For the people that are educated and this has been a life in boxing, what do they think of where he's at right now as a boxer?
- [50:09]
Ariel Helwani
So he's extremely polarizing for many reasons. Number one, people say, like, he's a grifter, he's a clout chaser. He picks fights against people that he knows he can beat. He fights past their prime MMA fighters because he knows that he can beat them. He picks on the Mike Tysons of the world at 58 and says, oh, if I beat him, I'm now the baddest man on the planet. No, it doesn't work like that. Right? Mike's the baddest man on the planet in 1989, not quite in 2024. So he riles people up with these words. That being said, he's a tremendous heel. And what I mean by heel is the old pro wrestling term. He's a tremendous bad guy. He doesn't mind getting this heat on him and playing the bad guy. And he's been very smart and calculated. His, his. His decision to essentially pick a fight with the world of mixed martial arts for about two years, to pick a fight with Ben Askren, to pick a fight with Tyron Woodley twice. Anderson Silva, Nate Diaz, and of course, the Grand Pumbaa himself. Dana White was brilliant because MMA fans and the MMA media ended up covering him more seriously than the boxing media because it was Jake Paul versus the ufc. And oh, by the way, his partner and the co founder of his promotion, Most Valuable Promotions, is the former CFO of the ufc, Nikisa Badarian. So it's all very sort of personal between them. And I thought that that was smart, but that that storyline kind of came to an end. And so the question then was, all right, now that that's done and he beat all these guys, where does he go from here? And so, like I said, he kept saying he wanted to win a legit boxing title. And so he was having those fights and people kind of said, that's not what we want out of you. There's enough of that on espn, Top Rank or Dazn or PBC on Amazon, like, we get that. Just give us the circus fights. And so this opportunity presents itself and oh, by the way, he now says after this one, he wants to fight Canelo Alvarez potentially on Cinco de Mayo weekend, which is historically when Canelo fights. And I have no doubt that that is something that is going to be seriously considered by Canelo. A boatload of money, a relatively easier fight, and all this spectacle and all this pomp and circumstance. And so I do think at this juncture, the, the, the traditional, smart boxing people in the sport, you know, like the Teddy atlases of the world, they respect Jake Paul. As you said, anyone who steps in the ring deserves our respect. And I respect Jake Paul for that. It's not easy to fight. Go to your local gym, put on gloves and spar another human being. It is very tough now. Add the lights, add the cameras, add the millions of people. It is not easy. And so you earn our respect, at least mine when you do that. It's the sort of like Twitter, Internet half fans who say, ah, this kid is a bum. Ah, he scripts his fights, ah, he's just a YouTuber, ah, he's on steroids. All this stuff, they try to throw out these things because to them none of this really makes sense. This shouldn't really be happening. He shouldn't be getting this type of attention. But the story is extremely unique. He doesn't need the fights to be rich. He doesn't need to wake up and pound the pavement because he's already a multi, multimillionaire. He's just going out there and found this lane in boxing that was able to kind of reinvent his life and rejuvenate him. And he's found tremendous success. And the thing that doesn't get talked about enough, if I may, is that I think a lot of people, and I've heard this in the buildup to this fight, there's a lot of people worried that this is a referendum on the state of boxing. They use this same old storyline that the sanctity of boxing is being ruined. And how dare they ruin boxing. And look at how in the gutter boxing is. And this is just another sign that the UFC is better than boxing. And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. None of these people are watching Top Rank on Friday night in Norfolk. They're not watching Dazn Boxing tomorrow night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Boxing, let me tell you, is actually in an incredible place right now. It's as healthy as it's been in the last 20 years. There's superstars like Tyson Fury and Alexander Usyk and Terence Crawford in Noe Inouye. It's doing just fine. This is not a referendum on the state of boxing or any sort of indictment on the state of boxing. And if you are truly concerned about this ruining boxing or being some sort of sign that boxing is dead, do me a favor, watch the rest of the card. This is not a celebrity boxing card. The co main event is Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano, which is the rematch of the greatest women's fight of all time. These are two legit fighters. The rest of the card is all legit fighters. So they are actually doing the thing that boxing has never done, which is, oh, come for the circus. Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson. But please watch these other great fighters because they deserve the same type of attention and spotlight as well.
- [54:39]
Ryan Russillo
Who do you think wins?
- [54:41]
Ariel Helwani
Well, you know, Ryan, I consider myself a very sort of esteemed member of the press. I graduated from the School of Public Communications Newhouse at Syracuse University. And I was always told that if you are working a broadcast, you cannot make a prediction. The great John Anik would not make a prediction if he was calling a fight if you asked him about 309. So I must abstain. And I'm sure that, you know, Mike is a big fan of the pod, probably listening to this as he's about to make his, you know, last run before the fight. And if he hears that I potentially am picking him to lose via decision, and then I'm in the ring after he knocks out Jake Paul and I ask him a question, what's going to happen to me then? Then my blood is on your hands and I don't want that for you. So I must say thank you. I must say that the fans, the public, the general public are going to be the winners tonight.
- [55:31]
Ryan Russillo
I guess I would feel better about Tyson if the workout teasers were longer. You know, like, guys will send me Tyson, like throwing a combination. They're like, jake's dead. I was like, okay, but what about like the other 2 minutes? And 55 seconds of round with that. Worth noting.
- [55:51]
Ariel Helwani
Sorry to interrupt, but worth noting. Two minute rounds this fight. Two minute rounds.
- [55:54]
Ryan Russillo
Oh, is it? Yeah, two minute rounds.
- [55:56]
Ariel Helwani
Okay, so it's eight two minute rounds, 14 ounce gloves. So those two minutes go fast. But yes, you're 100% right. You know what's so fun about this? There's very few fights, at least throughout my career, that kind of break through to the mainstream. Let's be honest. You're not having me on to talk about some regular fight. And so it's great for me. I have a bunch of soccer dads that I'm friends with, dads at my kids school. They never want to talk to me about anything, but they keep asking me, are you working this? Who's going to win this? And that. And that's cool because that means it breaks through and it's really, really fun. And what I'm seeing is, you know, I'm 42. The guys who grew up in the 70s, 80s, 90s, they're like, please tell me that he's going to knock out this spoiled brat, this annoying kid with the stupid haircut and all this stuff. And then my kids who are 12 and 10, they think legit. They think that Jake Paul is boxing. Like, they think Jake Paul is Muhammad Ali. So they're like, oh, of course Jake Paul is going to kill this guy. So you have this generational clash of, you know, 40, 50 year olds who are like, one last ride, Mike, come on, do it for all of us who are playing punch out. And then the kids are like, ah, he's going to smoke the old man. And that's made this build, at least for me. Very fun.
- [57:06]
Ryan Russillo
Speaking of gloves, great transition into UFC 309, they're going to go with the old school gloves, which Jon Jones was worried about. Miyotic. You know, I was watching every one of his finishes last night, right? And I was thinking about like, how he would attack Jones. And for anybody that's loved the ufc, and you've probably heard this a million times, like, Jones will be my favorite fighter. I went to go see him live, you know, it was the kind of thing where I was like, I want to make sure I at least get in the building to see him fight once. I don't remember, I don't know what fight. It might have been Teixeira, but it was just one of those fights where I was like, he's up, he's winning, and yet he still wants to fight. Like he could, he could avoid any contact. Fifth round, but he still wants to fight. And then he starts bringing out the entire toolbox of every single thing that he can do. And that's what blows my mind about him. And now we know he's, he's jumped up in weight. You know, he's. He's got this belt since Ngannou. And I'm helping the audience along here. I'm not telling you certainly anything you don't know, but just kind of the timeline of like how we got to here with this fight at msg, when it felt like the buildup of this fight is like, nobody wants to be disrespectful. We're all excited that Jon is fighting here again, but there's all these other, like, layers and topics of whether or not this should have been the fight and then what it means if John wins this one. So I haven't really asked a question there, I guess give me just a blanket expectations of what you see for two older heavyweights that have had significant time off.
- [58:37]
Ariel Helwani
Yeah, I mean, it's almost a shame that both of these events are happening on the same weekend because I feel like both of them deserve all of our attention. And we have to split the conversation. This is a huge deal. Arguably, by the way, the most significant heavyweight title fight to happen at Madison Square Garden since March 8, 1971, when Muhammad Ali fought Joe Frazier. That's no hyperbole. There's only been two MMA heavyweight title fights at msg and just a smattering of a couple here and there in boxing. But this is a pretty big deal when you consider that Jon Jones is arguably the greatest of all time. And so he moves up to heavyweight after a three year layoff in March of 2023. And he smokes Cyril Gan. And so he then becomes the champion because Francis Ngannou vacated the title when he left the UFC and signed with pfl. And so the belt is somewhat disputed because he didn't beat the lineal champ, who's Francis, but it's Jon Jones. And everyone's like, all right, we've wanted to see him up at heavyweight for quite some time. This is great. Instead of calling out an active heavyweight, though, he calls out Stipe Mi, who's the most successful and decorated heavyweight champion in UFC history, but had not fought in two years at that point, and was knocked out in his last fight by Francis Ngannou, who John didn't want to fight. And so that fight was Miocic. Jones was supposed to happen last November. Unfortunately, two weeks before the fight, Jon Jones Messes up his shoulder, has to have surgery, then has elbow surgery. And the ufc, instead of booking Stipe against someone else or stripping him of the belt, just books it for the following year, same weekend back at msg. The problem is that's one more year that Stipe hasn't fought. And so now it's been, you know, three and a half years since his last fight. John hasn't defended the title since beating Cyril Gan. And there's a young man from England named Tom Aspinall who is the people's champ. He became the interim champion last November when Jon didn't fight. He has defended the interim title back in July in Manchester, and that's very rare. Usually when the champion is back healthy and there's an interim champ, there's a unification bout to get rid of the interim title. Jon in the UFC wanted to stick with the Stipe fight. So this has annoyed some people. That being said, Stipe is being disrespected in the buildup to this fight. Stipe is one of the best fighters of all time, and yes, he's in his 40s and yes, he hasn't fought. Yes, he's a full time firefighter now. He's still very, very good. Am I picking, you know, the upset? No. But I do think this fight is going to be a lot closer and competitive than people think. John's getting older as well, and at some point the rubber is going to meet the road. With Jon, I do think he's done a great job of staying out of trouble, but he's put a lot of miles on his body as well and done a lot of things to his body. And so let's see how this all plays out. I will say Jon looks to be in tremendous shape, way better than he did in 23 when he fought Cyril Gun. He, he's, he slimmed down a little bit as a heavyweight. He just weighed in this morning. But I, I, I don't think that Stipe is going to be a cakewalk. The, the, the big controversy is Jon is saying he will not fight Aspinall if he wins. Dana is saying he must fight Aspinall. And so we're in for some drama if everything goes according to the UFC's plan on Saturday.
- [61:43]
Ryan Russillo
Did John not want to fight Francis?
- [61:45]
Ariel Helwani
100%. I mean, that's not me, like, opining, that's John's words, that's Francis words, and that's the UFC words. Now you have to finish the sentence to be fully accurate. He didn't want to fight Francis for the money that they were offering him to fight Francis. So do I believe that Jon Jones is afraid of Francis Ngannou? No. I mean, I don't think anyone in the ufc, especially in the upper echelon, is afraid. But Jon Jones felt like there should have been a certain price tag attached to that fight. And guess what? I believe him. He's underpaid. Conor's underpaid. Every single fighter in the UFC is underpaid, especially the top dogs. And so with the money they were offering, he said, no, I'm not going to do this. It's not worth it. It's not worth my legacy. And this is essentially what he's saying about the Aspinall fight. He's younger than me, he's dangerous. At this juncture, I'm this close to retiring undefeated. Why should I risk it all against a young, hungry lion like Tom Aspinall? And so there's some calculation going on there, and he's riling people up with his words. But I do believe he has to be smart about things. And so if they are going to ask him to take a risk, he wants to be paid accordingly, and I have no problem with that. I think he's entitled to ask for that.
- [62:50]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah, he really shit on Aspinall this week, though. I mean, it was. But you know what? Dismissive.
- [62:54]
Ariel Helwani
It's good shit. It's good shit. This is heel shit. This is what we've always wanted out of John. We don't want, like, oh, preacher son John, like, he's saying some nonsensical things, but guess what? You know what he's doing? He may be doing it on purpose or not. He has turned Tom Aspinall into the biggest baby face in the business right now. This is Cody Rhodes circa 2024. This is Daniel Bryan circa 2017. Yesterday, they asked Dana White at the presser if he wins, is he fighting Tom? And he goes, yeah, he'll fight Tom. The place erupts. This is Tom Aspinall, who's not like, the biggest name in the sport, but because everyone feels like the man is holding him back, they've now turned him into a babyface, which, if this is all calculated brilliance, like, it's amazing. I love this stuff. I don't know if it is, but this is the unintentional byproduct of his chatter this week.
- [63:39]
Ryan Russillo
John's an interesting one because, you know, if you go with everything that he's gone through off the field to say, you know, outside of the ring, I guess it'd be more accurate if somebody's like, I hate that guy. I'd be like, I totally get it. I totally get it. What I try to do, especially when it comes to combat, I separate the two things, and I appreciate his skill. I appreciate his approach. We had him in ESPN for the day. We spent a lot of time together in the morning. And he. He was awesome, right? But he was also smart enough to know that he was at Bristol's headquarters and he was going to turn it on. And then I ran into him somewhere else, and it was a totally different John. And I've seen different. Different parts of it because he's. He's brought it all on himself. So I think at times when you're public, you have to show remorse and you have to soften a bit. And then as you're gearing up for fight week, it's like, well, I'm about to go fight Stipe, for Christ's sake. So, like, I'm not going to be nice this week. You're around it. You're certainly a lot closer than almost anybody. Like, what's. What's he like? What. What is John like? What's the best way to describe him?
- [64:50]
Ariel Helwani
Best way for me to describe Jon Jones is that he's a chameleon. He will sometimes. He's one of the most. He's one of the most fascinating people that I've ever come across. Because he plays different roles. He doesn't usually show you his true self. And so you nailed it. When you were with him in Bristol, he was giving you the Bristol version of John, as opposed to some people who are just giving you their same self. Regardless, um, I have always equated him to our version of Lawrence Taylor, Daryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden. A guy with superhuman talent who can't get out of his own way, who probably, in the end should have actually been, as crazy as it sounds, better than he was. But because of all the transgressions, because of all the stuff that he did to himself, he actually, I think, limited his ceiling, which is insane because he was that darn good and arguably the greatest of all time. So it's. It's. It's a very interesting conversation. And I'm conflicted at times because he is so talented. People ask me, like, who's the greatest of all time? And I'll say, like, well, there's two lists. There's the Everything goes list and there's the Never pop for a ped list. John can't be on that second list because he has popped for peds and that's a cloud over his career. Now he'll say it was a pinch of salt in an Olympic sized pool. All this stuff, it is what it is. Who the hell knows? But he's done some other stuff that has landed him in a lot of trouble and it has been ugly at times. The talent is undeniable. He's. He's an incredible, you know, he's an incredible fighter. But, you know, I've. I mean, I'll tell you one story. 2015, he gets into the hit and run accident. I don't know if you remember, he hits a.
- [66:36]
Ryan Russillo
Another car in New Mexico, right?
- [66:38]
Ariel Helwani
Yeah. Pregnant woman. He. Yeah, it was awful. He leaves the scene, he gets out of his car and runs away. That was in March. He didn't speak to anyone until November. I was lucky enough to speak to him. So I flew to Albuquerque and we were going to do this walk and talk in the park and he was going to open up about it. The road to getting to Albuquerque was the worst experience of my career. It's happening. It's not happening. It's on, it's off, it's on. It's on. The morning of the interview, I get a call from his PR person saying, we need all the questions. I don't write questions. I'm certainly not going to walk around with a sheet of questions. What are you asking me for? Like, you know what I'm here to talk about? It's up to you guys to answer whichever way you want. We don't know if we could do it. Then dah, dah, dah, nightmare. Do the interview. Interview is done. It's not live. Obviously we're about to post it. Two days later, his team calls me saying, you can't post the interview. We don't want the interview out there. He's going to fly to New York, we're going to do it again. Fly to New York, do it again. We just did a whole hour like it was, it was fine. It is what it is. No, don't do it. If you do it, you're never going to talk to John again. Blah, blah, blah. They were harassing me. Never experienced this before. I had to shut off my phone for 24 hours. I can't do that. I'm addicted to this thing. Because they were bothering me so much, I said, I don't care if this guy never talks to me again. It's going out. We agreed, that's it. And in the end it went out. And people were like, oh, that's a good version of John. He's never going to do this. He's never going to do that. And they were like, oh, thanks, Ariel. We appreciate it. I was like, yeah, thanks for making my life hell for the past week. Of course, he's done many things after that, but that's what I'm talking about. There's this. There's this part of him where he wants so much for everyone to like him, and so he says this, and then he really wants to do this, and then he thinks that the people won't like him because of this, and there's this conflict and these back and forth stuff. And so he's never quite figured out how to be himself. And so that's why I say this version, I think, is much more accurate. The one we've seen this week where he's like, yeah, screw that guy. I'm the man, and he can't tie my shoelaces. That, to me, is more accurate than the Preacher's son version that we saw of him back in the early days when he first made his UFC debut.
- [68:35]
Ryan Russillo
I watched the gone fight this morning, and it was, like, hilarious, because obviously, you know the outcome, but you're looking at his body, you know, the jump up to heavyweight, and you're going, oh, my God. And then it doesn't. And it doesn't matter. Like, it just. He is so skilled, and he's mean, too. Like, I know everybody's mean in mma. You know what I mean? Like, there has to be some level throughout your life how life sifts us all out of, like, no, this guy's actually, like, a real tough guy, and there's a meanness to him that is. I'm not saying, like, because he's meaner than Stipe. Like, that's why I'm picking him. It just that. That gunfight's just so funny to me because he's so out of shape. He rolls in there, and it just doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. So if he's in better shape now, you know, oh, he actually looks great. Everything.
- [69:21]
Ariel Helwani
He looks great.
- [69:23]
Ryan Russillo
I can't wait. Enjoy tonight. By the way, really cool way to start this visit with us. A full circle moment. I can't wait. Just because I will be entertained by whatever it is, and since I already have Netflix, it's even easier. It's even easier for me to pull it off.
- [69:40]
Ariel Helwani
Oh, man.
- [69:41]
Ryan Russillo
So thanks, man.
- [69:42]
Ariel Helwani
Yeah. It's a huge honor for me to be on here with you. Congrats on all your success. And yeah, I can't wait either. I hope that it's a great night. I hope everyone's healthy and there's no incident and it's a great night for boxing. And I just can't believe that Netflix is in the live, you know, combat sports business. That's a huge deal. And like I said, I don't think it's getting talked about enough. So thank you so much. All the best to my friends at the ringer and I'm happy we're still friends. One happy family. We could still be buds.
- [70:09]
Ryan Russillo
Sounds good, man.
- [70:10]
Ariel Helwani
Virtual hugs.
- [70:11]
Ryan Russillo
Enjoy the combat this weekend.
- [70:13]
Ariel Helwani
Thank you.
- [70:18]
Ryan Russillo
Okay. We did not ignore the alliance issues for any reason other than we wanted to save it. When we revisited the pick the alliance loss again last week, I was the only loser. It is without question the worst stretch I've ever had. And then Fanduel was like, hey, can you pick a 30 point score in the NBA on Friday night on top everything else? And I was like, awesome. So anyway, the other issue is that I'm losing immediately as the slate starts and then the rest of the guys are winning. So that's back to back weeks. The exact same thing has happened. I took us out of the running and then you guys all won your picks back to back.
- [70:56]
Kyle
Saturdays, it's back to back. Yeah. Where you were the. I think the noon eastern window and done. And then it's two out of three weeks where you were the only one wrong too. So it's, it's. It's been a rough go for.
- [71:08]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah. So two out of three weeks that I did it. Okay. All right, all right. I, I have a pick here. I wanted to go headliner game, Tennessee and Georgia. I don't know what to do with Nico. And then like initial thoughts are Georgia off that loss even though that offense now for like a week or. Excuse me, a month straight isn't exactly anything you want to be excited about. Laying ten and a half or nine and a half I think this morning. But with the Nico thing and then moving it around, I don't know what to do. So I'm going to go a little off. Off menu here. Let's go. Cincinnati at Iowa State. The line right now is plus seven and a half. You go through Cincinnati season, even the losses pretty close. Feels kind of like a big number for a Big 12 game. So I've tried to refuse the juice. The guys want to give me all the juice because they feel bad. It was more fun when I was at least winning. It was. We, we'd Lose the alliance, but I'd feel like I'd beat you guys. And now I'm getting my brains beat in. So here we go. Yeah, whatever it is.
- [72:13]
Kyle
Good luck.
- [72:13]
Ryan Russillo
Whatever. All right. Sorry, guys. I'm sorry. I apologize to you.
- [72:18]
Kyle
We're going to use the Juice, though. Ten and a half. Ten and a half. Two scores.
- [72:21]
Ryan Russillo
All right. I mean, look, Secretary of Juice.
- [72:25]
Kyle
Well, it doesn't help us if you don't.
- [72:26]
Ryan Russillo
If you refuse.
- [72:27]
Ariel Helwani
Newly appointed.
- [72:28]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah, right. I want to refuse the Juice because, I mean, just pick a fucking winner.
- [72:32]
Kyle
Take it on your own. That's fine. Yeah, but let us have the Juice.
- [72:36]
Ryan Russillo
I opened up the page. When I opened up FanDuel Sportsbook.com. it was just. I just kept scrolling. I was like, what do you, like, find one you like? Like, you don't even like anything. I mean, usually there's weeks where I'm like, oh, I like that. I like this. This feels good. Okay, I got screwed on that. Whatever.
- [72:55]
Shield Kapadia
This.
- [72:55]
Ryan Russillo
I just opened it up and was like. Like, it was awful. All right, moving on. Moving on.
- [73:01]
Kyle
Yeah, I'll. I'll go. I'm going to take Texas minus six and a half on the. All just went by a touchdown. I know there's a lot of people that are on Arkansas a little bit nervous, but this is kind of like a. I don't know, I feel like this is a good spot for Texas. It's like everyone's kind of doubting them, you know, hey, are they actually this, you know, the second best team in the country? I saw some people questioning whether or not they even make the playoff.
- [73:19]
Ryan Russillo
I believe in Danny Canal.
- [73:20]
Kyle
I believe in it. Wasn't gonna name names, but there you go. There's others, though, not just Danny.
- [73:25]
Ryan Russillo
Well, there's just nothing more predictable than at the end of the year where you just start looking at some of the teams that are ranked. You're like, hey, does this team actually maybe suck? And it's like, what did you just watch for two and a half months? Like, do you think they suck? You don't?
- [73:37]
Kyle
I don't think they suck. So I'm going to take them to win by a touchdown.
- [73:39]
Ryan Russillo
There you go. Siri likes them.
- [73:41]
Ceruti
I like lsu. Moneyline at Florida. It wasn't hard to Google this game and find a couple websites that say they like LSU over Florida. And I think that's good enough for me.
- [73:53]
Kyle
Google, not that nice.
- [73:55]
Shield Kapadia
I'm going back to the well.
- [73:56]
Kyle
Penn State minus 24 and a half. Purdue, not a great football team, only.
- [74:01]
Ryan Russillo
Not good this year.
- [74:02]
Kyle
They've played three other top 10 teams. Notre Dame 66 to 7. Oregon 35, nothing. Ohio State 45. Nothing. So 24 and a half seems pretty well within range there. The James Franklin special. Love that.
- [74:14]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah, they're good. Look, teams that can be. They take it out on Purdue.
- [74:18]
Kyle
All right, that gets us to plus 482. Boys, this is the week.
- [74:23]
Shield Kapadia
Gotta be one. Yeah.
- [74:25]
Ryan Russillo
If we win this one, we're probably up for the year.
- [74:28]
Kyle
It's going to take a few more.
- [74:29]
Ceruti
Let's put a million dollars on this one.
- [74:31]
Shield Kapadia
Taking some victory laps? Yeah.
- [74:33]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah. No, not quite. All right, enjoy. We'll see. I know what I'm going to be doing. Be like, why? I'm going to have people over all my friends and be like, why is Iowa State, Cincinnati on a main screen? Like, don't worry about it. Just always going to stay well rounded, well versed. Okay, while we're here, we'll finish up with Couch Money Research. Research leading the way at four and six. Couch a steady two. Seven and one and fading. The public has been a disaster. One and nine. All right. Okay. The biggest public money bet as of this morning, Cincinnati plus one and a half. So we're going to go Chargers minus the one and a half. This line swung the other way from the open where the Charger actually the dog. Here I am. This. We've never done this before. For the pro pick is Pittsburgh plus three at home against Baltimore. I like Baltimore. So I'm going head to head with the smart people on this one. Give me Baltimore minus three. And a lot of it has to do with all the Lamar stuff that I've talked to Sheila about. So just think if there's a week that it's going to happen. But yeah, so we'll go head to head. So there will not be a 30 weekend, right? Oh, no. Check out all of the odds on sportsbook.fanduel.com youm want details?
- [75:53]
Ariel Helwani
Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.
- [75:58]
Ryan Russillo
What's up?
- [76:00]
Kyle
I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.
- [76:02]
Ariel Helwani
I have every toy you can possibly imagine.
- [76:05]
Kyle
And best of all, kids, I am liquid.
- [76:08]
Ariel Helwani
So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.
- [76:12]
Ryan Russillo
Life advice. The email address lifeadvicerrmail.com it's turning into quite the community. Half the emails now and I sift through them, I'm like, this feels more like a Friday feedback. I really know what to do with these.
- [76:25]
Ceruti
You guys aren't.
- [76:26]
Ryan Russillo
No, but I. That's Actually not my reaction originally. Probably back in the day, I'd be like, you guys better? But it's fine. We just tag them and we send them over to the Friday feedback deal. But there's just a lot of good stuff in there. I'll tell you right now. Really impressed. Good emails. You're walking around, little lonely on a Friday. Maybe one of your emails was one of the good ones. You know, I gotta.
- [76:48]
Kyle
I got a good story really quickly. So I got my hair cut yesterday.
- [76:51]
Ceruti
We know.
- [76:51]
Kyle
Yesterday, dude.
- [76:52]
Ceruti
I think jawline looks better. I mean, you look. Is that like that? Did you get it today? It looks like that's. You got professional gel job in there.
- [76:57]
Kyle
Is that just, you know, fiber? I got it done yesterday. It's a little powder action.
- [77:03]
Ceruti
I love the hair powder, by the way. I'm into that now.
- [77:05]
Kyle
It's. It's a game changer. But so I get into the chair, and I've been going to this barber for a long time. He's in West Harford. What's up? Shout out James. And he goes, hey, you got any pretzel buns left? And I was like, I. But I know he doesn't listen to the pod. He knows. He knows that. Kind of, like, vaguely what I do. But I was like, wait, did somebody tell you to say that? And he was like, yeah. The guy in the chair before me was like, hey, did you still cut Cerudi's hair? And I didn't even know who this guy was. And he was like, yeah, he's actually coming in right after you. And by the way, he's like, do you want to stay? He's going to be here in, like, five minutes. The guy was like, no, I'm good. And he just left. But I guess the guy told him to ask my barber whether or not any pretzel buns left. So I did not. I ate them all. Not wasteful.
- [77:45]
Ryan Russillo
West Harford famous. I actually was going to start this by asking you where we're at right now with pretzel bun inventory out.
- [77:52]
Kyle
We're done. Ate them all.
- [77:53]
Ryan Russillo
Kid doesn't fuck around.
- [77:54]
Ceruti
Put the team back. Nice job.
- [77:57]
Kyle
Yeah. Had a couple sandwiches, but a couple.
- [77:59]
Ceruti
Extra sandwiches this week.
- [78:01]
Kyle
Didn't need to eat five pretzel buns in a matter of a week, but I did it.
- [78:05]
Ryan Russillo
You guys are never getting pretzel buns at your house ever again. By the way, the haircut in particular, which European soccer player do we model this look after?
- [78:13]
Kyle
I don't know. It's like. It's actually A little bit of, like a flat top situation. I feel like it's a little too puffy. Cause I had it really long and now it just wants to go straight up. So it's a little aggressive. I feel like right now we're also getting family pictures tomorrow. So that was kind of in the mix.
- [78:25]
Ceruti
Great timing, Great timing. This is gonna be a great one.
- [78:27]
Ryan Russillo
God, Saruti can do anything. All right, let's get to some emails here. Maybe one sort of forum ish feedback thing.
- [78:37]
Ceruti
Just I'm a little. I thought you guys were going to say something about my new 50 cent poster, but nothing.
- [78:42]
Kyle
Oh, your screen's cut off. Hold on, let me see.
- [78:45]
Ceruti
Oh, that is the 2004 famous picture Vote or Die 50 Cent.
- [78:51]
Kyle
Where'd you get that?
- [78:53]
Ceruti
Just a little.
- [78:54]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah, that is cleaning.
- [78:55]
Ceruti
They're kicking us out of offices and they're just taking inventory. And this one wasn't going to make it. So I was like, I could fit that in my trunk and. And now it's in my home. All right, we could move on. I just. I thought you guys would have said something.
- [79:07]
Kyle
No, I like it.
- [79:08]
Ryan Russillo
I regret not saying anything. All right, if it makes you feel better, do we do something on deodorant? Because we got a lot of people that are really smart chiming in about the deodorant thing. Do we. Do we help everybody out with this one?
- [79:20]
Ceruti
Sounds like you want.
- [79:21]
Kyle
There's gonna be another. Like, I could take it or leave.
- [79:23]
Ryan Russillo
It, but sounds like you take it or leave it. Maybe we just leave it for Friday feedback. How about we do that? We'll just. We'll just leave it for Friday feedback. But we will do a little bit of a just a feedback thing here because it's quick. 5, 9ish, 160 bench, 225 times 3. I've turned into runner guy, but don't want to be the runner guy. Who talks about being runner guy. Player comp is the most average floor general point guard imaginable with the motor of a thunder guard on a switch with James Harden. No life advice beyond Kyle shout out Dyson, sending me headfirst back into a throwing dice. Praise with my friends. I realize it just takes one guy who carries dice. The rest will come naturally.
- [80:04]
Ceruti
Yeah, Twist my arm, why don't you?
- [80:07]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah, there's a link to something else here I'm not going to get into. All right. Yeah. There's just so much feedback here. So let's sift through it here. All right. Paternity leave question for ceruti this is ceruti related one here. And yeah, you didn't get a lot of Ceruti hate after your position on deodorant, so don't worry about it.
- [80:27]
Kyle
That's good. I was surprised. Okay.
- [80:29]
Ryan Russillo
All right. No, actually most of it was all like fairly reasonable. There was one guy that I think was trying to suggest that like once you're known as the natural guy, everybody adapts. And I was like, this guy lies to himself regularly, huh?
- [80:43]
Kyle
Yeah, people don't care after a while. That's not true.
- [80:46]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah, I may even read that one later on because it was fascinating. Anyway, what's up Life Advice gang? Huge fan, 37 years old, 612-25-AVID Jim Goer, but nothing impressive enough to not get shamed by Ryan. I don't shame. I don't think you put in the work you know better than you know what's you know what weighs more than 0 pounds. 1. My life advice question is specifically for surety, but I think the hypothetical conversation with Ryan and Kyle will be helpful as well. I own a small business that provides a great income and lifestyle that allows me to not have to work in the business, in the business, except when I want to. I have a great team that runs day to day. I still work a normal 40 plus hours a week on the business. My wife and I are expecting our first child, a boy, in February. We are of course, ecstatic. I've heard Saruti talk about the generous paternity leave offered by Spotify and how he approached his leave. He mentioned, as I have heard from many other dads, that the first few months can be tough on dads because the baby needs the mom so much more. It's just science, right? My wife, my wife works in healthcare, is planning on taking four months of continuous leave after birth. Being that my business offers me so much more flexibility than most. I of course want to be present for my wife and new baby in the beginning. But I'm curious if I should really think about taking more time away from the business and work from home in the months after my wife gets back to work. Our current plan is to have the child go to full time daycare when my wife goes back to work. Being that Saruti and his wife recently navigated this, I'm curious to know how you would approach this or how you might handle your own leave differently if you were to have a second child.
- [82:15]
Kyle
All right, so this guy owns his own small business. That's. That's what he said.
- [82:19]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah.
- [82:20]
Kyle
Okay, so that, that definitely changes It. I will say the first one, there's a. You have a lot of downtime. You have a lot more downtime than you'd think you would have. The problem is you can't do anything for long periods of time. Like, you have to kind of go hour by hour, really. So there would be times when I would be like, sitting there being like, man, I could, like, do something right now, or I could be on my phone, or I'm, like, looking up stuff, but then, you know, 45 minutes later, you're in, like, the middle of a diaper situation or your wife wants to take a nap. So, like, you can still do things. I would say, if you have any flexibility. And this is what I did when I. When I was off, because it was like, in the middle of the World cup, and I really still wanted to do the World cup podcast with that I do on the. In the gambling feed. So I still watch. And the beauty of that too, by the way, was because the games were so late, because it was in. Where was it? Qatar. Right. So, like, the time zone was amazing. I wake up at, like, three in the morning. There'd be games on, so I'd just be watching stuff. It was awesome. I do feel like it was great. It was actually pretty awesome. I mean, if you're going to be up, you might as well watch the world.
- [83:18]
Ceruti
Yeah, all right, all right, that's a good point.
- [83:20]
Kyle
I. I would say if you. Because it's your own business, I. If you can do both, and if you can sneak in times to find ways to do work and maybe assist the other employees that you have, like, it's going to be really hard at the start. You're going to be scared shitless. Like, the first week, two weeks, three, even a month. Like, you just are constantly terrified that you're going to, like, ruin your kid, even though it's likely that you're not going to. So that's scary. But I would say the months after that, you're going to have more flexibility. You're gonna be able to. You're gonna have the downtime to do specific work stuff, but you might have to do it on a weirder schedule. Right? You might have to be working later nights or, you know, maybe waking up early in the morning. So I'll say just from personal experience, like, I was kind of bored. Like, we got six months and I took three. And at the end of three, I was like, I need to get back. Like, I'm just like, there's. What am I doing here? And Our daughter went to daycare I think around the four month mark. So there was like a little bit of a weird gap there. Once you went to daycare, it was like totally easy. So you'll kind of have to navigate that. But because it's your own business, I would say if you could try to do both, I mean you're not going to be working 40 hours a week, but you can probably do some tasks and still feel like you're in the mix. And also because a lot of it is just supporting your wife, right, because the baby doesn't really need you early. It depends on if she's breastfeeding or not. That's, that's a whole different thing. It's mostly just like letting your wife nap, making your wife dinner, like, you know, putting the baby down, giving your wife a break. So a lot of that stuff takes up some time. But I think you're going to be bored. So I would say try to do both if you can.
- [84:42]
Ceruti
That's some good, that's some like real good advice where it's just like, dude, I know you're thinking, do I need to do all these things, like take all these precautions? You're like, just, it's going to be a lot, it would be a little easier time wise than you think.
- [84:53]
Ryan Russillo
So cool.
- [84:54]
Ariel Helwani
Maybe you could do.
- [84:54]
Ryan Russillo
Not a lot of laughs in there, but yeah, well, mix it up.
- [84:59]
Ceruti
You can maybe deputize someone at work. Like, listen, I'm going to be doing 80% of my stuff because I'm going to pick my spots at home. But you know, maybe if you want looking for a little more responsibility in this company, you know, we could test you out.
- [85:11]
Ryan Russillo
It's so different because he owns the business. So it sounds like he has enough self awareness that he doesn't want to be like, hey, because I own the business, like, see you losers later. But I think what Ceruti said, it doesn't mean because you're on maternity leave, you'll never be able to do anything. You probably drive yourself crazy if you were just like, hey, full shutdown mode. Maybe there's a window you have to do that right after when you bring your child home for the first time where you're just like, I need a break and I can't have like something lingering mentally that I have to deal with. But because it's your own business, I, I don't, I don't know if he's worried about like how, how people are going to feel about it. I mean, it sounds like the thing's Pretty self sustained.
- [85:51]
Ariel Helwani
Yeah.
- [85:52]
Ceruti
He's already making mailbox money for the most part.
- [85:54]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah. So, you know, a lot of times the paternity leave, like, if you're on air, I just don't know that they're going to be like, cool, here's four months. So I don't really have any frame of reference for this, you know, like, hey, sorry. I'm surprised by that.
- [86:11]
Kyle
I think you'd be surprised by that. I think there are people that are just like, I'm taking my time and honestly, I respect it. It is an awkward. I mean, we talked about this the last time we talked about it. It's awkward because, you know, it's great that you get this time and we get this time, but also you still kind of feel bad about taking it. And I would just like, you talk to all, like the old head guys and they're like, oh, yeah, well, I had my kid and three days later I was back to working 60 hours a week.
- [86:32]
Ceruti
Still football at Thanksgiving, you know, it.
- [86:34]
Ariel Helwani
Is what it is.
- [86:35]
Kyle
Cool. I don't know. Does that mean we should just like, be miserable forever? I don't know. Like, I have these hours, I have these days. I want to use them. But you also don't want to take advantage of the system. So it's a weird, delicate balance. But you're the guy, you're the owner. So I would, you know, if you. If you're still, like, really invested and feel like you need to be there, then. Then I think you'll have opportunities to be there. But I also would say, on the other hand, take the. If you can't take the time.
- [86:56]
Ryan Russillo
It.
- [86:56]
Kyle
It's a really. It's really cool. Like, you're never going to have that. I mean, if you have a couple kids, you have it a couple times in your life. Or you. You and your wife and your baby could spend a ton of time together. Like that does matter.
- [87:06]
Ceruti
Brian, you gonna. You can do the office thing. Oh, I thought you were gonna do the Meredith thing.
- [87:09]
Ryan Russillo
Damn.
- [87:10]
Ceruti
I thought I. I thought I knew it better than this.
- [87:12]
Ryan Russillo
What? The reason I had. That's why I.
- [87:14]
Ceruti
My third kid was for the.
- [87:15]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah. Was it the third kid? She says, yeah. No, but, I mean, that's a really good point. Right? You're only going to do it so many different times, but because you're in charge, because it's your business, you can probably get away with whatever you want to. And the nice thing will be is that if you show up and be like, you know what? I'm just going to go in today. Even though I'm within this window. You can do that, too. So I just think it makes it entirely different where I do think that there are certain jobs that people would have for paternity leave. Like, look, I mean, this is a horrible comp, but, like, if I said if I had a kid and then was like, all right, I'll see you guys in four months. You just be like, really, like, okay, cool. Let's see what your numbers are. The first pod back after not releasing one for four months, it just.
- [88:02]
Ceruti
We have to bank so much life advice.
- [88:04]
Ryan Russillo
It'll be fucking terrible. Yeah, it just. It wouldn't happen. All right. My girlfriend's sister keeps flirting with me. All right, Kyle can probably help with this. 165203. Handsome. All right. Player comp. Franz Wagner. I'm not going to overwhelm you with speed, but I score in a lot of ways. Yeah, sounds like this email. Anyway, I have a peculiar problem. My girlfriend, who I've been dating for a couple months, has a sister who's very nice to me. She's constantly complimenting my features and playfully touching me in a way that doesn't necessarily cross any boundaries in each individual instance, but is incredibly consistent. But it is more than just that. I was talking to my girlfriend and she mentioned that her sister is always interrupting when we were doing stuff together. And she said that the sister only really bothers her when I am over at the house. The final straw, and this is no joke, was me and the sister were together. My girlfriend was showering, and she asked if I wanted to, quote, stretch her out before bed.
- [89:02]
Kyle
This is, oh, well, apparently getting adult film here.
- [89:06]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah, I know, right? Or just a lame Hallmark one. Apparently she has a. I got caught up watching that vineyard one, the Hallmark vineyard deal. There's like a series. I was like, that's not how that boat would look. I think it was shot. I think it was shot in Victoria. Apparently she has a stretching routine that is usually solo, but she apparently wanted my help that day. I declined, of course. So there was a stretching routine. She wouldn't just walk up to him, be like, hey, you want to stretch me out? That would be a little forward. I declined, of course, but it was at a point that I. It was at that point that I started to recall everything that had been happening. It's always tough to prove someone has a crush on you, but you guys have to trust me when I say that. The signs are clearly there. We trust you, man. Yeah. And my girlfriend Even gives. Seems a little bit bothered by her sister's behavior at times. Unfortunately, there seems to be no good way to address this problem. If I bring it up to the sister, she will naturally say that I'm a paranoid freak and will tarnish the relationship forever. If I bring it up to my girlfriend, then I might be jeopardizing her relationship with her sister on the basis of a hunch. But if I just let this continue, I'm afraid it will get out of hand at some point and the fallout will be immeasurably worse than if I had addressed it before. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Yeah, tough spot. Tough spot. I mean, good spot.
- [90:15]
Kyle
Better than news, everybody. Like, wait a second.
- [90:16]
Ceruti
Nice to be liked. That's true.
- [90:18]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah. What's her handle? Nice to be liked.
- [90:22]
Ceruti
I think I would just live in this sitcom sort of situation, like, you know, like rom com movie situation until it, you know, she says it at the wrong time in front of the sister or something like that. And I'd be like, whoa, what's going on with you? But like, but like trying to like, you know, tell the sister about a past moment that happening that happened. And maybe like, if you're trying to.
- [90:43]
Ryan Russillo
Sorry.
- [90:43]
Ceruti
If you're trying to tell your girlfriend about something your sister said to you and it wasn't there, maybe she's wondering if you're paraphrasing. Are you? Sewing division. So I think I would just live in this weird spot until there became like a clear moment to address it. Or maybe the sister will just take care of it for you and just, you know, do something kind of gross in front of, in front of your girlfriend. And then it's like, great, I don't have to say anything. You saw that, right? I think, I think I would just live in that weird sort of scenario. Be careful when you guys are drinking.
- [91:11]
Ariel Helwani
I don't know.
- [91:12]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah, look, it would be nice to know if this is something she has a history of.
- [91:21]
Ceruti
Like, was this happening in high school? You know, boyfriend thief.
- [91:23]
Kyle
Yeah, you ask around. Yeah, right, right.
- [91:26]
Ryan Russillo
And I mean, this is a thing, right? And sometimes it's the best friend where, you know, the best friend just ends up being like really flirty with the girlfriend or boyfriend. Some of it gets back to like a subconscious thing that you're doing. Or sometimes you're consciously doing it because people are competitive, maybe the sisters are competitive and all that kind of different stuff. And like, yeah, I understand being delicate. Of like, if you go to the sister away from your girlfriend and be like, hey, you need to chill out. And then she's like your, hey, ego. You know, she just turns it back around on you, says you're an egomaniac, then says maybe something to the sister.
- [92:03]
Ceruti
That's like a minus 500 bet right there.
- [92:05]
Ryan Russillo
That's right.
- [92:06]
Ceruti
You can bank on that.
- [92:07]
Ryan Russillo
And then it's just going to turn into some kind of conversation that is even close to, like, what's actually happening. Because she, she's going to be defending her. She'll be like proactively defending herself now that you've addressed it. So she's not going to tell an accurate version of the story.
- [92:22]
Ceruti
You may have just created a wild card. Right.
- [92:24]
Ryan Russillo
People aren't going to do that. Be like, you know what? He's totally right. And to be fair, I've been a little aggressive and I asked if you want to straight. She's not going to do any of those things. So then it can become a weird layer that gets thrown onto it where it's not even accurate. Now you're defending yourself against something that didn't even really happen. Right. With your girlfriend. Now if you say to the girlfriend, you know, you gotta understand that dynamic. I would ask, I would kind of go, failure to soft launch on this one where you go, hey, what's up with your sister?
- [92:53]
Ceruti
She's really a texture or something. What is that?
- [92:56]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah, just, just do it that way. Like at the right time, you know, not at the beginning of a dinner or something, or it's like your big night out, but like some moment where you can go, hey, what's up with her? Like, she's awesome, but what's up with her? And then you've kind of just open the door and then maybe she goes down that road. Or she's like, I noticed that.
- [93:14]
Kyle
Even though it's happening again. Yeah, right.
- [93:16]
Ryan Russillo
If she's like, oh, no, have you seen fear? So here's what I would try to make it out to be as if she's kind of. Even though you initiated the topic, she controls the conversation. Now, granted, if she shuts you down immediately and just like, what are you talking about? It's going to be a little awkward. But I, I do think there's a way to do this where you're not just dropping a grenade into the relationship. Like, you're just going to look, if you were smooth enough to pull this off and you said you were handsome and you know the sister's hitting on you all the time, then she's probably not looking for reasons why to break up with you. Or anything. But I think, I think there's a very delicate way to do it where you can intro it in and then if she takes over the conversation and it's not like, it's like you didn't even really do it, and then you're going to get more answers and then she's going to have more awareness to it. And if your goal is to actually just be with this, your girlfriend long term, like you're into her and you can see a future and all that kind of stuff, then, you know, just tread lightly with it. If you don't really care, then who gives a shit about any of it? It's just going to be a fun story you're going to tell. You probably hook up with a sister in five years.
- [94:30]
Kyle
That's one thing you could do. Yeah, I was just gonna say, like.
- [94:32]
Ariel Helwani
If you're.
- [94:36]
Ryan Russillo
If that's one way.
- [94:38]
Kyle
If you're, you know, if you're, if you're just girlfriend or boyfriend right now, it's kind of like, what's the, what's the harm? You know, I think, does it become easier, I guess or harder if, like you become, if, you know, you get engaged and then you're married and then she's doing this, probably harder. Right. But then you actually have, probably have more levers to be like, hey, what the hell is going on? Because you and your wife then would probably have a lot more harder.
- [95:00]
Ryan Russillo
But you're right, like there's, there's real stakes here.
- [95:03]
Kyle
Yeah.
- [95:03]
Ryan Russillo
You know, or then even then, I would say maybe you do pull her aside. But like, you've navigated two years engaged in the whole deal and like, it's never been brought up and it continues to happen. Like that's, that's kind of crazy to wait that long to get to that point to then maybe say to the sister first. But I think you bring it up with the girlfriend because if you, if you say something to the sister with your girlfriend not being in the picture, the sister is going to craft a version of the story where she's never going to take any responsibility, any blame for the things that you're this concerned you just in the first place. Right.
- [95:37]
Kyle
You also have a good story too. Like if you do do the soft thing where you're like, hey, what's up with your sister? And she asks you specifically what the stretching story is. Weird. Like, that's, that's a, that's a check for you in the wind column. Because that's, that's not normal. Hey. Yeah, it just kind of got these weird vibes. She asked me to stretch her when I was doing. When I was getting in the shower. Like, it was weird.
- [95:55]
Ryan Russillo
That's a tough one, though.
- [95:56]
Kyle
Sniff test.
- [95:57]
Ryan Russillo
Yeah. Yeah. No, I know. Because if you bring it up and then she goes exactly like terse, she doesn't, you know, you're kind of hoping that she kind of goes off and talks and takes up all of the conversation instead of her immediately, like in one word, going, tell me. You know, two words. Yeah. Must suck, dude, be so hot. Yeah. Good luck. Let us know. Let us know how that goes. All right. We promise we'll have some deodorant stuff for you in Friday Feedback because we had some really smart people chime in, and honestly, I think it backs up a lot of stuff that we said. It's okay.
- [96:36]
Kyle
We're gonna do a Friday Feedback either next week or the week after, too.
- [96:38]
Ariel Helwani
Yeah.
- [96:38]
Ryan Russillo
So maybe let's just. Here's the teaser. You don't have to throw away all your deodorant today. All right. How about that? How about that? I mean, that's. That must make you feel good going into the weekend. You get that CVS coupon, you're like, all right, today's the day. Wipe it all out.
- [96:57]
Ceruti
Find the guy with the key.
- [96:58]
Ryan Russillo
There you go. Yeah, no, get laundry stuff instead. All right. Thanks to Wargon, thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Ceruti. Ryan rillo podcast on YouTube and also please subscribe on Ringer Spotify must be 21 and older. Present in select states. For Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18/ plus and present in D.C. gambling problem, call 1-800- 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 hopeny in New York.