← The Ryen Russillo Show
The Ryen Russillo Show
Celtics Couldn’t Close, Ethan Strauss on Why People Hate the Thunder, Fan Culture & KD’s Legacy, Plus Trent Dilfer’s Back!
02:02:41
Loading summary
Transcript237 lines
- [00:00]
A
Hey Priscilla Listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.
- [00:08]
B
Stella Blue Coffee is more than just great coffee. It's coffee with a purpose. Introducing We Brew to Rescue a nationwide campaign using proceeds from our new Ready to Drink cans to help fund 1000 pet adoptions this year. Every can you crack open helps a real pet find a real home. Simple as that. Made with 100% Colombian coffee, each 11 ounce can delivers smooth drinkable energy with a boost of protein. Available in Espresso Cafe Mocha and Espresso Sweet Cream. Built for mornings, long days and everything in between, Drink Cell Blue Fuel your day and help save a pet's life. You can follow our progress in real time throughout the campaign, but by watching the adoption tracker on our site. Grab yours now@stellabluecoffee.com Amazon and select retailers nationwide.
- [01:14]
A
The Ryan Rosillo show is presented by DraftKings. You can also check us out every single episode on Netflix. On today's show, I'll break down two of the games last night as New York and Phil Philly get it done and we'll spend some more time on San Antonio later this week. I've also got some time with Ethan Strauss on anti NBA player audits, anti OKC sentiments, and we'll talk a little bit about Durant. Trent Dilfer is going to join us, his take on this quarterback class for the draft and what happened at UAB and life advice. The NBA playoffs are here and DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA, brings excitement to every game day, the whole postseason. When the lights get brightest, the best players in the world know exactly who they are. Playoff stars turn it up round by round, and DraftKings turns it up with them from the first round all the way to the Finals. Bet player props bet live. From the opening tip to the final possession, every bucket, every dime, every clutch takeover matters. And only DraftKings sportsbook keeps you in on the action all the way through new DraftKings customers bet just $5 and you get $100 in bonus bets instantly. Download the Dr. Sportsbook app. Use the Code Ryan so you're ready for the moment. That's Code Ryan. R, Y E N. Turn five bucks into $100 in bonus bets instantly in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800- GAMBLER or 1-800-meyer-SET NEW YORK Call 877-78-977, hope and wire text hope and why Connecticut called 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org on behalf of Boothill Casino in Kansas. Wager tax pass through May apply in Illinois 21 and over in most states. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. Responsible gaming resources see sportsbook.draftkings.com promos Limited time offer we're gonna keep it rolling here with the NBA playoffs. Just a heads up to spurs fans. You've advanced, you moved on, you toyed with Portland last night, and we're gonna have PJ Carlosimo on tomorrow, who had a bunch of those games. He was actually broadcasting a bunch of those games. So we'll do more on the spurs kind of moving ahead and closing out in Portland because there wasn't a ton of drama there. I'd probably have a bigger Portland theme thing I could do maybe some obituary segments here. That seems a little harsh for a Portland team that should feel kind of good about at least the direction that they're in right now with the roster. And, you know, just it's something to feel good about if you're a Portland Trailblazers fan, right? Based on recent history. So we start in New York, where this game was decided in the first quarter. They're up 3, 2 in the series against Atlanta. They won every single quarter of this game. The bench thing that I thought was a big factor for how this series would go kind of went back to the way it's probably supposed to go, and it was pretty overwhelming. If you look at New York's four bench guys that they're going with right now, it's Mitchell, it's Clarkson. And just a shout out to Jordan Clarkson. Whether it was regular season games and some moments here in the playoffs, there's a level of intensity from him. The hustle stuff like what usually is not part of the hey, come in, score a bunch of points like you're going to be a bucket for the second half of your career. You're probably always going to come off the bench. But in those down times where our top scores are not in, like, you can kind of create everything on your own and that's good enough. You're going to keep getting paid. Those guys almost never hustle and Clarkson for whatever reason. I just, when I had the list yesterday when I was talking about that On a good 10 minutes for our YouTube audience, I was like, there's just a list of players that I feel better about, guys I liked who now I'm in love with, guys maybe I was indifferent of. I'm like, hey, I got to give him a little bit more credit, but that's more of a Clarkson appreciation over the course of what he's been for the Knicks than it is specific to last night in game five. So then you've got Alvarado, a couple shots from him and then McBride, that's plus 56 for those four guys against the top four bench guys. So it's not just a full bench compared to the other bench because the game ended up being a blowout. So a lot of guys played, gave Vincent minutes. Kaminga kind of back to, you know, the non game two and three Kaminga, which is totally understandable. At least you got those good games out of him. You know, he did have a play where he got blocked by Mitchell Robinson and it was a tough attempt. I mean it was like, you're really going to try this. And he went up. Mitchell ate him up with it. Live ball. And Kamiga wanted a challenge like, well, dude, that's not how it works. And then you had Tony Bradley playing some minutes. That group those four guys A minus 45. So a couple of things in that first quarter. Dyson Daniels gets a bunch of easy ones. So there's a way you go, hey, you gave him some offense. I did not like Dyson Daniels game last night at all. He had a play later in the first quarter because Tony Bradley came in and played a good chunk to close that fourth quarter. Dyson's driving, so at least he's on the ball. But there's something to be said overall of a Dyson Daniels, Tony Bradley lineup that you're running out there together because you're like, hey, two guys we don't have to defend. And I'm going to say this all the time. I don't know how you survive in today's NBA playoffs playing a lot of minutes with players that nobody has to guard offensively. Like the ideal scenario is is there at least a threat? Is our fifth worst offensive option of like the closing group or a starting group here, like the real guys that we're talking about? Is there at least something that the other team has to respect defensively now it can be a center. Your center doesn't have to be Steph Curry. It's nice when they're Chet. And that's why even if Chet is not like some freak number one offensive option, his value is so incredible because he provides like that real spacing. If they want to play one big. If they want to play Hartenstein at center, obviously. And it is Hartenstein because that's what he said. So I've always tried to keep myself honest with that one. But when you're running out Tony Bradley and Dyson Daniels together, that's probably not going to go well. So Dyson has a drive and then he kicks it out to Tony Bradley, who, guess who's wide open at the three point line. Tony Bradley. Nobody's even near him. I mean, it's the furthest I've ever seen. Like, I don't even know who the closest defender was supposed to be. And Dyson, like, that's just not thinking the game, who's been playing long enough. And he's a player I do like, but you've been playing long enough to avoid that kind. Like, no kidding, he's wide open. So now Tony Bradley stuck with the ball. He's not going to shoot a three. Now it's five against the four guys. Somebody has to come back to him. Like, the whole possession is chunked. Dyson had another play where he drove and Reggie Miller was great to bring this up and point it out. He drives, he has a wide open layup right at the hoop. Then he kicks out to the corner for a miss. 3. You know, like those are two decisions where it's like, what's, what's going on with you? All right. It's not the reason they lost the game because again, on the box score, it's pretty good. They Got it to 2320 with Jalen Johnson with a terrific dunk. After Jalen Brunson was trying to sell a three where he jumped into the landing area again. And then the funny thing is then he got an outlet because he was back there. And then he had to like, make the layup and then kind of limp for a little bit to continue to sell that. He was like, hey, I was mad I didn't get that call. And Brunson was awesome, right? So Brunson was great last night, but on this specific play, the reason I bring it up is that it was Johnson being forceful, which is something he's had a problem with with Josh Hart's defense. And when I looked at his game last night, there was more paint attempts, but he was only one of eight inside the paint. And this was the make. And there was another play that was almost the exact same thing where he's splitting two defenders in transition. And it's like, just get free throws, man. And he threw the ball out of bounds on a pass that either his teammate wasn't expecting or he just kind of freaked out a little bit. And that's totally fine. There's a long list of terrific players in the NBA. The first time they get the experience, this stuff, they're just not totally comfortable. But it was a common theme. Guys were not comfortable for Atlanta again last night. That game was 23, 20 on the dunk that he made. And then the rest of the way, what is it, 12, 12, 12, zip. You know, they were up. They just. From that point on, the Knicks ran away with it in the, in the first quarter, they shut, they shut down CJ really good double teams on him. 3 attend, only 6 points. You'd think with the defensive alignment here, with CJ getting stuck with Mikhail Bridges, there'd be more out of Bridges. He, again, isn't really doing much offensively. I think it's worth the Knicks staff just being like, is there something we can do here where we can just let him kind of work on an empty side and back CJ down and get that nice turnaround, that stuff that Bridges is just so good at when it's working. Like some of these things that you should be doing. Like, I think San Antonio should probably flirt with Cornett and Wembanyama in the second round, playing together just to see what it looks like, how it feels, if it's something they feel like they have to go to against okc, if it's both of those teams, likely in the Western Conference finals, going up against Chet and Hartenstein, because the two man big lineup stuff that they were doing at Phoenix. Granted, Phoenix has no choice with their, no chance with their personnel, but when I'm watching OKC do that stuff with those two big guys, I'm like, man, that is nice when it's good. And it also looks really good because it's Phoenix. But it was like, hey, maybe San Antonio should run out some of that stuff in the second round. Just get those guys a little bit more familiar on the playoff level together. So I do think that there's some value and going, all right, we're up 3 2, probably going to win this series. Is there anything we can do for. For Mikhail Bridges and some of the CJ Defensive possessions for him? Atlanta never recovered after this. So there you go. New York's up 3 2. They'll win the series. Boston, Philadelphia, Boston up 31 going in. They lose. This is classic Boston. This group loves to make things hard on themselves. The crowd was dead early, probably because they just thought like everybody else, hey, they're back home. They figured this whole thing out. And team when they lose, I don't really Blame players and coaches for not necessarily saying anything too interesting. But then sometimes with Boston, you just get so sick of hearing about the shooting variants. Like, hey, we didn't make our threes, we're fine. All these shots were good. Your shots were not all good. You guys take some terrible, terrible shots. There's some fourth quarter stuff I watched again this morning, and I'll get to it in a moment here, because Embiid's really the story of what Game 5 was. But Boston's offense of like, we're still good when they lose because the three point shooting percentage isn't terrific. It's like, yeah, you guys just say that every time. And then sometimes it's like you guys actually sucked on offense and you took bad shots and you let Embiid off the hook defensively in that fourth quarter. Embiid in the first half, I'll admit him coming back, as I'd said, after Game four, it kind of went the way I thought it would go. Like, he's going to get his points. He's incredible. If you get him on a nice catch in rhythm, 15ft right at the free throw line, it's a layup for him. It's great to touch, as you're probably going to see from anybody that size. But I thought he was a net negative in the first half. Like, he's getting his points, but the guards aren't quite sure what they're supposed to do around him. And defensively it's a mess. I mean, I could if they had. I don't know that I was going to get real critical of Embiid, considering this is post surgery and he's running around out there, which is commendable in itself. But if he's out there and we're breaking down games, I mean, there's just so many plays where it's like, this guy has no chance defensively. He's not going to get back into the play. He doesn't have the win for it. But it also kind of looks a lot like some of the regular season stuff before the surgery. So I thought it was a net negative. And I'm like, Boston, I'll figure this thing out. Then the second half happened and Embiid was so much more forceful on offense and Kata was in foul trouble. It was very clear when Vuccavic came in the game or Luke Garza, especially in that second half, he's like, all right, I'm going to start working here, because, you know, Embiid had a number in the first game that he played, that's game four. 15 of his 21 field goal attempts were outside of the paint. You're just like, all right. And I thought it was a lot of the same stuff in the first half, but the second half he's a completely different guy. And it's not just about the numbers. And having 18 points in the seventh half and the second half on seven to 10, and that's with only four free throw makes. So it wasn't like he was just living at the line getting all these calls. He was getting deeper. He was far more aggressive. It was like something clicked with him or maybe you know, to consider everything that he's gone through here. Maybe it took a game and a half of him to go like, all right, I feel better. I feel better right now because there are some other plays where you could tell there just wasn't a ton of lift from him. But offensively he handled some double teams really well. And when he got aggressive and when he got deeper, it opened up things for everybody around him and everybody starts cooking. Grimes has an incredible game. So his offense, seriously, the second half of game five, even though you can get all the points and the shot attempts, all kinds of stuff, I thought he was a completely different guy. However, on defense, he is still the same guy. And Boston, for whatever reason. And again, I watch it this morning because I was trying to be fair about it, but Boston just decides to go, hey, this problem that they have with Embiid, who doesn't want to move around on defense, like, we need to attack this more, we need to not let him off the hook. And I'm going to go through this and I'm going to be fair because I think Boston, the beginning of that fourth quarter, was trying to involve him in a lot of the stuff because it felt like, hey, are they going at it? Legs brought it up in the broadcast if you don't believe me, because I'm waiting for it going, hey, get this guy, like in decision making situation, you know, get this guy further out. So as long as you're attacking him, then maybe they're undersized and something's a little bit easier to the rim. There's also a vuch k to conversation of at least with Vucc, he has to go out there, respect it. I don't know that he's going to do it with Garza. Katie can play off of him, but I don't think Missoula's had a great series. And I brought up the coverage in Game 1 that Philadelphia didn't necessarily figure out. And then in Game 2, Philadelphia clearly was like, hey, they're going to just be in this deep, deep drop. They're never going to change it. Let's attack it. Boston doesn't change it at all. I bring it up, and then guess what I'm not saying, because obviously not because I brought it up. It's just something that I noticed. But first thing I'm looking for in Game three is like, I wonder if they're going to change this. And they completely, like, it was just a way different concept of, like, we have to keep them honest and show something here on the side ball screen. And look, I don't like being critical of coaches, because whether it's whenever you get access to any of these guys, like, it'd be like commuting to work every day for 20 years, and it takes you 45 minutes. And then after 20 years, somebody's like, oh, you go that way and there's some other way that takes 15 minutes. And then you realize you're not even happy that you have a new shortcut. You just can't believe that you didn't see things or understand things the same way. And that's generally how I feel about people that are doing it at this level. And there's 10 guys on these staffs, and there are moments where you go, Some of these teams get really, really stubborn. And even though I thought that they were trying to find different ways to get Embiid involved defensively there, When I look at the field goal attempts in the fourth quarter from last night, I counted, like, 13 shots, as opposed to two that were, like, shots not at Embiid at any point versus two that were at him. I mean, they made three field goals in the fourth quarter, and there was a play that made it 86, 82 Boston. At the end of the third quarter, where I was like, okay, they're fine. They're on this. Tatum has Vuch. All right, so there's a defender on Tatum. Vuch has Embiid with him. Vuch starts the screen too high, and Tatum sees it. And I'm watching him going, wait, this is kind of wrong. And it was really simple. Tatum's like, just go back down and now make Embiid come up. Because right now, Embiid doesn't have to travel. You're doing him a favor because you're sitting the screen so early. Embiid gets to pick this whole thing up without having it to actually go down and follow you and then come back up. So Tatum, like, resets it. They do exactly that. And then guess what? Tatum gets clear and then he gets Embiid at the rim because Embiid has no lift and he finishes. So I was like, okay, that's a really good sign. It made it 86, 82. Like they're going to just try to wear him out. And the Philly guards deserve a lot of credit. The beginning of that fourth quarter, they were trying to do some curls towards Embiid. They were trying to do a couple different things. And the initial on ball defender did a really good job of like rerouting this stuff and fighting it. So it wasn't like a direct line right to Embiid. But then Boston just for whatever reason, because they just seem to do shit like this too often. And I don't know if it's the lack of additional point guard because I think Tatum is terrific at manipulating everything. I think he's underrated as what his duties are essentially being their point guard and all these huge possessions. And I saw it work in 24 where he's playing center on defense and point guard on offense and he deserves more credit than he gets for that. But Boston, you know, I let's see if it's close in game six. Here's what I promise you. I promise you they make more of an effort of getting Embiid involved in more of those plays because when the first few things didn't quite work out and Jaylen Brown makes more shots that I think are terrible shots than maybe any basketball player I'll ever see in my entire life, it works, and it works at a clip where he is allowed to do all that stuff. But it's also letting Philly get away with having an absolute target back there defensively. And Boston actually predictably got caught in this rut of taking themselves out of an advantage that they had. TastyTrade has a suite of probability tools so you can make smarter picks for your portfolio. You could trade stocks, options, futures and more all in one platform. Tastytrade offers low commissions, including zero commission on stocks, so you can keep more of what you earn. The platform is packed with trading features like backtesting, which lets you simulate your trading strategies using 10 plus years of data so you can test your ideas about potential Cinderella stocks. Active traders can use features like Ladder trading mode, one click Trading and smart order tracking to manage their positions during crunch time. If you want to learn to trade or discover new strategies, tastytrade has dozens of educational courses you can access for free and with your account, get live Stellar support from Tastytrade's deep bench of experienced trade desk reps during trading hours. Visit tastytrade.com Barstool today. You can earn a double commission rebate on Your stock and ETF option trades up to $3,000 total for your first 30 days when you join tastytrade today. Visit tastytrade.combarstool today to learn more. Tastytrade Inc. Is a registered broker, dealer and member of finra, NFA and sipc. Terms and conditions apply. Joining us on the show the first time I think we've ever had him on the show. You may have read his musings at House of Strauss on Substack. It is Ethan Strauss who back in the day worked at ESPN with me and always has kind of an interesting way of looking at the NBA. It's good to see you man.
- [20:51]
C
It's good to see you too. You look at me as somebody who maybe works with you at espn. I look at you as somebody I've been following for damn near decades. Tales from the Couch this is very exciting for me to be here is what I'm saying.
- [21:04]
A
Yeah, Tales from the couch is like an 0809 thing. So we're getting close, getting close to it. So thanks for doing this. We have, I think similar interests sometimes. It's just observing things and then going like are we wrong? Is everyone else wrong? And I think OKC is a good starting point. They sweep again in the first round. They are the epitome of what we think we root for in being a homegrown team, doing it the right way. Their tanking window was extremely limited and there's nothing about this team. I don't know that there's anyone that's done something. There's no KD to the warriors thing, which I completely understood. People being like I hate KD now and now I'll always root against the Warriors. So they're similar Goliath elements to the warriors of the teens, early 20s. And then what you have with OKC being on maybe the front part of that story. But it seems like people really hate this team right now and I don't know if I have all the answers.
- [22:12]
C
Yeah, isn't that funny? We're given everything we supposedly like and then people hate it. Even stuff that shouldn't be an issue at all. Like how they do interviews together after the games. There's a backlash against that, that they're doing this sort of show of teamwork and non selfishness and that makes people roll Their eyes and grow. Now, what I like about the OKC backlash is that it's a backlash about the refs. Absent a conspiracy theory, you almost never get that with the NBA and with a hatred of teams. When it's the Lakers against the Kings in the early 2000s, it's, well, the league wants the Lakers to win, and that's what's going on here. Or they want to elevate a certain player. Nobody actually thinks maybe. There are certain crazy corners of the Internet, I'm not aware of where they think that Adam Silver in the NBA wants the Thunder to win. Nobody actually thinks the NBA wants this to happen. And yet there are all these people who are angry at this favoritism or I don't even know what they. What to call it that people are reacting to. So that, to me, is just super interesting. It makes you want to go, what's going on here?
- [23:23]
A
That's why I always get so upset about the lottery. Like, even going back to the infamous. Like, sometimes we get results. You're like, oh, okay, this thing is fixed. And you go, okay, well, why would they put Duncan in San Antonio? Why would they put Wembanyama in San Antonio? We had the Jim Rome infamous question to David Stern. I think it was after the Chris Paul disaster of him being traded to the Lakers, and then it not happening, which, again, was very specific because the NBA actually collectively owned the Pelicans at that time. But then you had Anthony Davis go there, and then Rome's like, hey, the fix was in. And, I mean, all people to do that to was Stern. There's just. For every time that there's a potential conspiracy, there's probably 10 times as many examples to disprove the motivating or rooting interest of what is actually being criticized. Yeah.
- [24:09]
C
And, man, Stern responded to that in a way you would not see Adam Silver respond to anything, which was to rhetorically ask Jim Rome, when did you stop beating your wife, if memory serves. So that was a different era of the NBA. Now, what's going on with okc? And I love what the Thunder have done in many ways. I have immense respect for them as an organization. I think that they've become the best team of this era through their own quality. But part of what they're doing, I think, is reflective of their advanced understanding of the rules and how things are adjudicated.
- [24:44]
D
And.
- [24:44]
C
And in so doing it, they're pissing a lot of people off. Now, it's a funny thing where the NBA has gotten with the reffing I think it is downstream of what started years and years ago with Mark Cuban, as we were discussing offline, where Cuban comes in and he tries to make the art of NBA refing into a science. And there are some good reasons for that, especially post Donahue, that you want to have everything standardized, that this is a foul, this is the rule, but it's a little bit like the Supreme Court interpretation of porn. You know it when you see it. There are things like that in basketball where you don't necessarily need a complete definition of everything to just the specific degree to know how to call it. What's happened with the NBA as they've tried to science refine, as they've done the two minute report after Cuban, as they've tried to just make everything the letter of the law, not the spirit. What you have happen in that case is this really interesting weird thing where certain things that we've always known to be illegal are suddenly legal because you can't specifically nail it down. You know, there are these gather steps where the ball is just spinning forever and guys do what looks like traveling in any pickup game, but that's not illegal. You've got the push off that's now a shoulder bump because it's hard to adjudicate contact. And I think what the Thunder have done, in many ways what they've been successful in is noticing what the refs completely understand to be a violation and then to take advantage of the scenarios where the refs are a little bit unsure and frankly terrified because everything is subject to review and 2 minute report and everything else. And I think that's what they're benefiting from.
- [26:35]
A
Yeah, I don't know that anybody would watch anything, Ethan and go. I really appreciate the long term planning of maximizing the interpretation of a rule book. Like no one's ever going to say that when they see SGA push off on somebody and then if somebody breathes on him, he's at the free throws, he's at the free throw line. Another thing that you brought up there too, that I think is really important and it's interesting to listeners is that the Cuban timeline of his influence on we're officiating right now is that I think he's fucked it up. And it makes all the sense in the world that Cuban comes in, he's an incredibly confident, brilliant guy. And what's the easiest thing to do is you walk in and be like, hey, this officiating thing's wrong. It's like, yeah, but it's a bit of policing there's some policing in how we can't have it all be ones and zeros here. And Cuban's like, well, I want ones and zeros. There have been so many people that have pointed this out to me over the years. It's like he came in and was like, this is all wrong. And he was so proud of it, about how vocal he was going to be about fixing this stuff in the beginning. I remember him doing all these interviews, and he's so impressive and he's so convincing, and he kind of set the NBA on this path of. All right, well, these are these incredibly clear defining lines of what is or what isn't. And now you're like, okay, but nobody should get that call. Like, nobody. Nobody should be doing anything. Then you've also cycled out some of the older officials that just. Kevin Garnett has that clip that makes the rounds on Twitter all the time, where he talks about, like, this guy, Steve Javi would do this. Pavetta would do this. Monty would do, like, all these different guys. I don't think that would go over really well if you had it today. Steve Javi telling a young player like, hey, do you want to play today? Like, can you imagine Devin Booker or any player going like. He actually said to me after I complained, do you want to play today? That wouldn't go over well. That official might even lose his job. But this way of trying to clean it up has made it less appealing. And I wonder if OKC is actually this rare team of what they're doing works, but everybody just hates that it works. And it's not even about that. You know, I don't know.
- [28:53]
C
I completely agree. And I love that you brought that up. I love that clip, by the way. And we are missing it. Even if it couldn't fly today, we're missing it because, let's put it in simple terms, what happened. Authority has been taken from the refs and given to the rules. That's what's happened. And I think a lot of us miss ref authority, which is, hey, Joey Crawford's going to.
- [29:17]
E
He's.
- [29:17]
C
Joey Crawford's going to call Joey Crawford game, right? Steve Job, he's going to call a Steve Javi game. And what that means is that maybe it's a technically. Technically, that's a foul when you flopped when you threw your arms under another guy's arms. But maybe Joey Crawford's going to look at you on the floor and go, get your ass up. You know, get back. Let's play basketball. And that's what's going to happen. I think people prefer that. They prefer somebody who's an authority and a veteran having this more artistic sense of this is how a game is and I'm calling my game than trying to turn basketball into the umpire box where there are only strikes and balls. I just don't think basketball works that way. It's a non contact sport where there's a degree of contact all the time. It just requires somebody who knows the game to interpret it and be an arbiter versus totally deferring to a rulebook, which then leads to all this gamesmanship and optimization we see from these players.
- [30:17]
A
If we go through the dislike list, the warriors dislike made sense post KD being there. Well, pre KD, I'm talking 15, 16, but yet the basketball. I remember being on the air just thinking, I can't imagine how much it would suck to hate them. Whether it's. You grew up rooting for a different team that just hated the Warriors. Maybe there was something about Steph you didn't necessarily like, but there was such an appreciation for it. Like, I'd be like, you're missing out on not being able to fully appreciate this. If you're rooting against this stuff with KD going there, then of course I think like everybody, I completely understand people going like, I hope they lose every single game. And instead they might have been the greatest five to ever play in the NBA. So that one made a little bit more sense. Toronto went through this weird phase where their fan base is when they're good, they feel like they're the most aggrieved for like a very simple reason that I think is completely irrelevant. It's like they think that all Americans are upset if the Raptors win a championship the same way they're probably upset. Like, sometimes I'll notice things where I go, oh, this is because this is the way you think that you're assuming everyone else thinks this way. The way they feel about Canadian hockey just having this massive drought in the NHL playoffs, like the fact that this country, this is their game, they look at it as disrespectful that Americans keep winning all the time. We don't think that way about the Raptors. We don't care. But okc, whether it's a small market thing, whether it seems like the media presence that I see online that is so Pro Thunder to a point that I would argue it's disgusting at times. For you're like, dort's not wrong here. I have to like this for me to be objective, I have to like this Dort play. That doesn't make any fucking sense.
- [32:12]
C
I'm so sick of these guys tripping over Dort's feet, You know, what are they thinking?
- [32:17]
A
Yeah, I mean, I think Presti's a God. I think the coaching staff has done an incredible job. Not with just the. The great players, but the development of all this stuff. They are doing it the way you'd hope your team would do it. There's so much to compliment. I can't say enough great things about Presti, but at the same time, maybe it is. Isn't it funny to think like the anti OKC movement could be basically things that aren't even about them. It's about the way they're talked about by their surrogates and perhaps them doing the best job with the rules, both in the front office and on the court.
- [32:59]
C
Oh, I think there could be an element of that. And we see this all the time in sports and other capacities where your greatest strength is your greatest weakness or is indivisible from a weakness. And okc, that culture is all about control and discipline. And then I think that filters out to message discipline. And it's not really a bend, don't break kind of messaging. And often it breaks when you put it up against what's actually happening and what Dort's doing. And I say all that as somebody who is fascinated by the thunder. And I have a lot of praise for what they've done. I would love. I probably can't do this. The ship has probably sailed. But if Sam Presti called me tomorrow and said, come down here, I need somebody to write a book about what we've done and what this culture is and how we. We operate. I've heard enough things about them and I'm fascinated enough by them that I would love to do that. But I don't think he's going to call me or anybody else because the culture there is one of insularity. And to what you're saying, I think that some of that has helped them succeed. Whatever they're doing has helped them to succeed. It has not helped them in the broader conversation about themselves, though.
- [34:20]
A
This is connected. And I think both of us agree that we're trying to do this without falling into the too online category, which, again, we're both. When you do this job, extremely, it's very hard to not be too online. But the shift from great player, however long that list is, you could be really stingy with it. But let's say it's like the seven or eight players in the league. These are the guys. And then that guy loses in the playoffs. I think that player used to just lose in the playoffs. And then we came back the next year without deciding to go back, as if we're ripping through previous year's tax returns and going, did I miss anything? And you know, whether it was Jokic in this series where it's the Game three defense and it's like, okay, you know, whether you're an SGA guy or maybe back when Embiid was in it, Embiid was a big part of this, but there just seems to live this version of content where the entire thing is if the guy that's not your guy is having a bad series, God forbid he's eliminated before he's supposed to. Now let's start assessing the last five years of accomplishments. Was it always this way and now we have access to it, or is this just what it is now?
- [35:41]
C
Oh, there's so much going on with this. I find this topic interesting, and it's not just about going through the tax returns of a player and calling them a fraud. It's also about determining who on a team that won't is the only person who gets the credit. I was talking about this with Klosterman when he was on my podcast talking up his football book, which is excellent, but we didn't really do this. Is it Brady? Is it Belichick? Type of thing that we started to do for an individual team. We said the coach is great, the players are great. You're all great. You're all winners. That's. That's you. That used to be how we handled it, but something's happened where it's more 0sub and there can be only one person we decide is the winner. And then if you talk about extremely online, one of the most common Twitter X prompts I see is so and so when he doesn't have such and such. Right? That sort of thing where so and so when he doesn't have such and such and I don't know, it's a dog pissing all over the floor or whatever. It's the hypothetical loser. That's what's big right now. Even if you've been a winner, we're going to create a scenario for you where you hypothetically would have been a loser, and we're going to talk that up. That's not something we had back in the day. Maybe it's somewhere there, but it wasn't as prevalent. This idea that even if You've done well. We're going to really kind of slight it and go, hey, Draymond Green, if you were drafted by the Pistons, you would have been a bum. So that's how I'm going to regard you as opposed to regard you as what you've actually done for the Warriors. Now, I don't want to blab too much about my musings and my theories on this, but I do think part of this, Ryan, is actually because the traditional media got softer. I think you used to have writers and reporters who would call guys out and teams out for being frauds, often unfairly, but you had a bunch of Danishness who would do that sort of thing. But as players got their own platform and as a lot of these really prominent media members got agents who had the same agencies as the players, they started to kind of shy away from that kind of talk. And often that kind of talk was unfair. And what happened is, into that void, I think that stepped the fan media, where they started to almost be negative as a counterbalance. Where I'll go to 49ers YouTube if I want to hear a guy called a bum, I know I'm not going to get that on espn. So I think that just saying.
- [38:17]
A
I need someone to say a guy on this team is a bum.
- [38:22]
C
Hey, we all need it sometimes. We all need that Stephen A. Smith clip where he was calling Kwame Brown a bum or just expressing a negative opinion, right? So you got an absence of that in the mainstream. And I think it's. By the way, it's almost like you're getting an overcorrection.
- [38:39]
A
It's never going to happen on any of the broadcasts because the partnership, it is. It is very clear if you're calling an NBA game, you're not going to be negative. Like you are going to be told, like, you cannot get negative. The home broadcast is. Is just a homer broadcast for almost every one of the markets, which I've just come to accept as a league pass warrior for however many decades now. Like, I don't. I don't even think about it. Doesn't. Sure, there can be a night where it bothers me a little bit, but I like where you're going with, is that there are times I'll read something and the first thing I know is someone from the team. We've got a friendly involved. And they were like, hey, why don't you do this feature on this guy? One of my favorite ones ever was there was a Rockets reporter who basically talked about the brilliance of James Harden spacing, also known as taking possessions off. But the whole thing was, he's not doing this because he's not engaged. He's doing this because he presents this threat even at 40ft away from the hoop. Look at all the spacing. And the reporter, either because they didn't know better or because they were just thrilled to have this access and to be chosen, they went ahead with it. And as a basketball guy, I'm reading it being like, I can't believe, like somebody wrote this stuff. There was a feature once on J R Smith, and it wasn't a traditional basketball writer, where he basically said that J.R. smith is so good that he takes bad shots because he's trying to challenge himself.
- [40:21]
C
That's so crazy.
- [40:23]
A
Yeah. Like, are we, are we looking at two, two forces working against each other where there's more just absolute worship in today's media, which is then being battled by non traditional media. And these aren't even media members. It'll be some feed where it's a guy who's maybe tweeted 80,000 times about, fill in the blank, whatever team you want. And his messaging is just going to be, I don't have to follow any rules, so this is what I'm going to do all the time.
- [40:59]
C
I'm a little distracted by the J.R. smith example. I do want to address what you're saying right there, because that is a dynamic. But I once asked him after a game about Steph Curry and he said something to the effect that Steph doesn't take bad shots or doesn't hunt bad shots. And I asked him if he also uses the same methodology. And he said, no, I don't. And he almost looked wistful. He said, I'd probably be a much better player if I did. And I just like that honesty from J.R. smith. So I wonder if that writer got onto that now.
- [41:34]
A
The writer was actually just excited he got to hang out with J.R. smith. It was, if he could have hooked up with him, he would have. And I'm not even questioning anyone's sexuality. I just, it was. I read it and I went, this guy really likes JR Smith. And again, I don't think he was a traditional sports writer. So I think he was having a lot of fun with it and, you know, whatever, if this gets back to him, I hope you had fun.
- [41:57]
C
Yeah, well, there's an aspect of that too, where I don't want to call it jock sniffing or whatever, but that's just a real impact of in person, celebrity and why media to an extent has been co opted in the more mainstream venues. And I think it, it, it's less that, it's more that they can hit back. And that's what it is. It's that if you slammed a player or a team, they just yell at you in the locker room and they didn't have much of a platform. But when Kevin Durant got mad at me, I'm acutely aware that he has a far bigger platform than I have. And I think everybody hears footsteps and it's an underrated dynamic. And why coverage got softer in traditional media, because that's something nobody says, Ryan. Nobody goes, look, I would say certain things, but I'm a total coward and I don't want to be made fun of on social media and I fear a cool athlete making fun of me. And so that's going to dictate a lot of what I say. And yet that's part of it. But these fan media or just people on the Internet, they could just kind of do whatever and say whatever and then that becomes part of the conversation which you're saying, where it's almost the people who are friendlier to teams than players are arguing against those people and we've just got a basket case discourse.
- [43:17]
A
Do you miss covering it?
- [43:19]
C
Oh, I miss aspects of it. I totally miss aspects of it. I don't miss the totality of it. But how could you not miss aspects of covering the Golden State warriors during that run? The thing I miss most of all is being on a road, on the road for a big playoff game and just feeling that tension and energy in the building and also knowing that this is big time basketball, that in some cases the country is watching this. But to feel a lot of that, there are just, there aren't many places that you can get that feeling. People could say if you go to a rock concert or all those people in the stands and they're going through something that's happy usually, but they're not going through terror together, they're not going through fear together. Maybe I'm a sicko, but one of my favorite things was when the warriors came back in that game six against the Thunder, the Clay 41 point game six, and man, maybe I'm going to really hear it from Oklahoma City now. Again, I love you guys, I respect you guys. But to me, there was something so memorable about seeing the sorrow and pain of the crowd there that knew at some level that Kevin Durant's leaving and it's over. Even if they didn't completely know, they just knew something had died in there. I saw the Thunder Dancers. They were weeping. Sam Amick of the Athletic, a fan, nearly got in a fight with him because there was just so much anger and emotion pouring out of those people in that moment. And I don't do anything in my life now that's anything like that and has that sort of vividness to it. So I can't do that stuff now. I've got my family. I can't be on the road all the time. The industry has changed. It's not as great an industry anymore, but yeah, I definitely miss certain aspects of it.
- [45:15]
A
Let's talk about your guy. Kd.
- [45:17]
C
My guy.
- [45:19]
A
This is a lot of stops. I don't know that we can grade the Houston stop as unhappy, but it's not the ending. I don't know what the ending was going to be if he were fully healthy. They should get past the Lakers if he's playing in this entire series, but who knows? They would lose in the second round. Houston, la, I think la, with missing two players is maybe the only team I would have picked him against in the first round anyway. So even had they advanced with him, I guess there's a bit of an out saying, hey, this is a really disappointing season, but I think the whole season should be looked at as a disappointing season. And now they're on a Durant timeline, which then impacts what kind of decisions they'd be making this off season because it's not about planning for the future anymore, as they have been for so many years. I like kd. There's. He's one of those guys. There's way more about it that I like than I dislike. But is this going to be somebody when the career is all said and done, where you go, hey, it's two rings, but people are going to respect him less because of the transaction and the team that he went to. And it seems like every place he went, it always ended the same way, where he just felt like, this doesn't work for me. It's like, well, where does?
- [46:35]
C
Yeah, well, I think Colin Cowherd nailed the comparison to Aaron Rodgers, that there's something to that, that you've got an individually brilliant player, but he's kind of about himself and he views his job as just doing his job. And it's not the same way Tom Brady would view his job, which is everything, which is, look, if the defense doesn't perform, that's also on me. I know I'm the quarterback, but I could conceivably be helping here or there in any kind of way. And I think back to the Patriots documentary and was it Amendola who said, we, we were coached by Bill, but we played for Tom? I don't think the guys who've played for KD over the last decade or played with KD for the last decade thought of themselves as playing for KD in the way that Andre Godala would openly talk about playing for Steph Curry. And that matters. That's a real thing. Just because you can't put it on a spreadsheet or represent it statistically, that's real. It's actually real. That at the star of your team has these leaked dms about how everybody else on the team is garbage for very specific reasons that. That, that just might impact team chemistry. That's not just us being these old fogies buying into mythology. And all that matters is the talent. No basketball has to something to do with the connectedness of these teammates to one another. And I just don't think that's something that Kevin Durant, as a veteran, ever really maxed out. I think his view of it was, I'm great. If we're failing, you're failing me. And to be clear, he is great, and he's been great for a long time, but I do think that winning at the highest levels from the leader often requires more than that. And that's where he's come up short.
- [48:34]
A
I don't know that he'll. Does it matter to be loved? Steph will be loved forever. And Steph's one of the greats of all time. He's homegrown, the whole thing. We even talked to Anthony Slater, who's covered that team forever, now is national with espn, and I was kind of like, why would you be okay these last couple years when you're still this good? Who cares? Who really cares 20 years from now? He never left. You know, he played with one franchise. Like, it's. It's a cool part of the Kobe thing. It's. It's a cool thing for Dirk, but maybe, maybe I'm overrating it. And again, I'm not trying to compare, like, what I would do in that situation, because no one cares about any of that kind of stuff. But then on the other side of it, like, do you think Durant goes, why do you guys care that I'm not going to be loved by one fan base? Is he maybe more at peace with it than we realize? And that's why he can't understand the criticism of it?
- [49:34]
C
Maybe. I can't speak to what Satisfies him in the end many years from now. But I think it's good we place more of a value on staying with one team, maybe not for your entire career, because that's a little restrictive. I don't mind that Jordan played a couple wizard seasons, but it's easier to associate a guy with one thing, then try to go through your memory and go, oh, yeah, he played for them and then he played for this other thing. And then. And often when they do that, they're doing it to advantage themselves. Let's be clear. I'm not trying to get into a LeBron Jordan argument, but, yeah, there's a case for you're picking your spots, you're trying to pick the best spot possible. And if you don't rack up championships when you do that. Now, we're not going to call you a bum to hearken back to what we were discussing before, but that's going to enter into our calculus when we're trying to rank everybody and we're looking at what Steph Curry's done in his career versus what you've done in your career. And if you're happy with being top 25 instead of top 10, then we've got really no issue to discuss with you. This is just amongst ourselves and our conversation. So that's how I view it. I think that it impacts how we talk about basketball, the people who care about basketball and basketball history. But if he doesn't care, well, then he doesn't care, and I can't argue with that.
- [50:55]
A
Yeah, that's fair. Are you doing anything on lottery reform? Is that in the queue?
- [51:01]
C
I'm so sick of Adam Silver giving me homework, man. That's how I feel about it. Just. I'm not saying it's the most complicated thing in the world. I'm not saying it's the worst thing in the world. I just looked over it. I was talking about it with some people in NBA media. There are some good things about it, there are some bad things about it, but overall, if I were to give a critique of the Adam Silver era, it's just too busy. It's too busy and it often fails the Can I easily explain this to my dad? Test. I'm not saying that's the most important test the NBA cares about, but it's a test that I care about. And that's why I prefer what it was like in the old days of the lottery, where it was just flattened odds for all the teams that missed the playoffs. Now, obviously, you worry about the incentive to Just miss the playoffs altogether. I think that you could give more of a financial bonus to the teams that make the playoffs. In my hypothetical system, that's not coming back. But the advantage of my system is it's simple. I can simply explain that. And the NBA has gone through this issue where every problem that tries to fix the solution, it might have a case. But you just think about all the tinkering they did with the All Star Game. And if you can explain that to your dad, good luck. And it's just this is getting lost in the noise. It's a competitive attention economy out there. You need to be able to cut through with something that makes sense. This lottery reform, maybe it's good, maybe it's bad, but that's, that's the first thing I'd say about it. It's just a little bit busy with the. The worst teams went from having the best chance at winning the lottery to still having a chance at winning the lottery, but not the best chance at winning the lottery. The teams that kind of suck now have the best chance of winning the lottery. Oh, man, it's, it's, it's busy is what I'm saying.
- [52:50]
A
The 3, 2, 1 lottery teams 14, 15, 16 that don't advance the plan are in the lottery. Now there's some odd stuff there that you look at going, hey, do I want to get blasted in the first round or do I want a much better chance of getting the number one overall pick than I've ever had before? Like that's going to lead to some stuff, but it doesn't mean that I don't like this, like there's no solution here that doesn't then invite some other problem in here. The same way when they tried to flatten the odds in 2017, which then led to more teams going, wait a minute, if I have a better chance now as opposed to what they're trying to do is correct tanking for the worst teams then have just invited more teams into tank so they'll vote on this. May 28th. This is kind of the soft opening. No team can have a number one pick back to back year. You can't have three straight top five picks which would impact some teams here. And again the fourth worst record may have like the same chances as some of these playing teams. But the relegation zone is the really interesting thing on top of some of the protection language here, where the relegation zone means that you're sort of fighting to stay in this, to have more lottery balls than the teams with the worst records. So I'm willing to give it a chance instead of just sitting here like so many people going, hey, this sucks and they should have done this, including abolishing the draft, which I love the theory, but I just. What's the point? It's never going to happen.
- [54:10]
C
Yeah, I think there are some legitimate issues.
- [54:12]
A
I was trying to get all the stuff in there.
- [54:15]
C
It's a lot. I think that there are some legitimate issues and counterarguments to this and how it's going to punish teams that are truly bad, that are truly bad and not give them a ladder out of it. But I think a lot of the negative reaction is just new idea fatigue. The NBA throws a lot of new ideas at you, and it's one after the other. And it's often to fix problems that it was committed to fixing beforehand. And they flattened the odds to deal with tanking, but now there's a new idea to deal with tanking. So sometimes it's less about what's being said and it's more the sense people have of everything. With the NBA is another complicated thing to solve things that should be taken for granted. We should take it for granted that teams are trying to win basketball games. You should take it for granted that if your star is healthy and you go to watch him play in a game that he'll be playing in the game. I think a lot of it's that. I think the backlash is too many, too many ideas, and I sympathize with them trying to solve a problem. I appreciate how MLB addressed a lot of the issues that people have with baseball. Again, I just ask them, whatever the solution, just make it simple enough, simple enough that you can explain it to people. I think they don't focus enough on that part of it.
- [55:35]
A
Yeah, I think the fatigue part is totally fair, but I think there's just a lot of this kind of gets back to some of the content conversation. It's like, hey, new lottery proposal. Well, I got one for you. We had so many emails about how all these people. I don't know what it is about fixing tanking where people get really excited as if. Hey, this email. Go ahead.
- [55:55]
C
No, I'm sorry to interrupt you. I. I can completely believe what you're saying because I had the same thing and I was shocked by the amount of emails I got about it because my newsletter isn't necessarily NBA, NBA heavy. It's a lot of sports media, other stuff, but there's something about when a man especially reaches the age of 20 through 45, he becomes an expert at fixing tanking in the NBA and an obsessive is what I'm noticing.
- [56:26]
D
Yeah.
- [56:27]
A
And I don't. It's like, you know, these emails are not being forwarded right. Like, we're not sending, we're not a conduit to like, hey, Jake and Des Moines, like, great job, you fixed tanking. And look, some of the proposals are really good. Like one team sent me a thing, but it led to a shorter season. So I was like, look, first line, shorter season. Then, you know, go back, go back in your room and get back to work on this kind of stuff. Because like that whole thing, it's probably never going to happen. I'm willing to give this a chance because I remember when the playing thing was announced, I was kind of like, what's going on here? And I didn't quite give it the credit it deserved the play in's fine. The games themselves, I never was arguing with the games would be bad. I just didn't like in certain Scenarios, if a 7 seed had this many wins and a 10 seed had this few wins, that somehow, like, even with the advantage the seventh seed is going to have, they shouldn't have to prove themselves all over again. If you're at high 40 wins and now it's like, oh, you got to play one extra game. I'm like, well, I don't think that's great. But so far the playing part of it's been terrific. The in season thing, because of my error on the plan, I was like way more locked in on what it was. I was like, this is just really not even that disruptive. And you know, if you're going to your TV partners being like, hey, we're giving you an event or giving you this something that feels just a little spicier than that, plays kind of the soccer model with it all. So I know people wanted some more dramatic changes that were more, I don't know, maybe aggressive is the way I should say. But I'm willing to have an open mind about this one. Knowing that there's going to be a problem with this, if you go into it knowing that this solution will also have other problems, you're going to be less disappointed.
- [58:08]
C
I feel like we're watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. They're talking about how you have to enter in a relationship even though you know there's going to be a breakup. I have a solution to the shortened season thing that doesn't require shortening the season. I believe in this one and wish I could claim full well, that. Okay. But if that fails, I've got a backup. If the time travel doesn't work out, I call it the Andrew Sharp idea. Over at the Goat podcast and Stratechary, he's advancing this notion that they should just give the ball back to the ref after made baskets to slow down the game because maybe what we don't desperately need are fewer games, especially because they're not going to do it. They're just not going to shorten the season. I think what a lot of fans don't like is when it's 150 to 147 at the end of these games. And it also makes an individual possession boring. We've done possession inflation with pace and space and they're just pushing the ball constantly. So I think if you slow the game down that way, make it more half court, we get back in line with games that resemble what they used to resemble. An individual possession means more. And then I also think you'd get fewer injuries because just running these guys like a marathon contributes to the injury factor. So that's something I want the lead to consider. That's my email that I'm sending to them that they're probably not going to read. Similar to the lottery reform emails that. Well, I read them, but I don't. I don't do anything with them.
- [59:41]
A
Check ball.
- [59:43]
C
Yeah.
- [59:43]
A
How about Andrew?
- [59:44]
F
How about.
- [59:45]
A
I love that one from Andrew. I don't know, I just like that it's so simple. I don't know if it works. So he's basically saying ripping the ball out of the bottom of the net and then just having everybody run full speed the other way constantly. The wear and tear of that because you know we're due for another injury. We're going to get. One of these other guys is going to get hurt. We didn't even make it to game four before we lost Ant.
- [60:07]
C
Yeah, and I'm no doctor. I know Andrew's no doctor either. But even if it doesn't mitigate the injury problem, again, I think it's just better when there are fewer possessions. And look, people talk about how ugly some of those old New York Knicks 90s playoff series were. Maybe they were. But I was very entertained watching them because when a guy missed or made a shot, it felt like a big deal. And it doesn't always feel like a big deal when there are so many more possessions. So curbing possession inflation I think is important. And I don't think enough people in the league have been talking about it. And this is at Least one idea to do that.
- [60:52]
A
Mars Blackman. Is it the shoes? This is another one that's making the rounds that you have these injuries because nobody wants to wear high tops because they don't look cool.
- [61:06]
C
I don't know. I don't know if that matters. I know they put out that book Born to Run about how minimal issues would lead to fewer injuries. And then science, science and people said that that book was wrong. I know in the Philippines, guys play pickup basketball and flip flops. I'm not saying there's no impact depending on the technology or are they, are
- [61:29]
A
they defending shooters in the corner in the Philippines?
- [61:32]
C
I mean, we got to do an investigation. I think Rafe Bartholomew wrote a book about basketball in the Philippines and maybe he could get back to us on that one. I am not so persuaded, but I also don't have any background to call BS on that. But I don't think it's the shoes. I think it's how much they're running. I think it's their defensive responsibilities. I would tend to look at that more than I would look at the material.
- [62:00]
A
The amount of ground that's being covered is inarguable. Even John Konkak would say, hey, this era, as great as mine was, this era you were just covering where I don't even know how anyone can ever. I ran into an old school guy the other day and I was like, well, they're covering so much more ground. And he just looked at me like, oh, here we go. And I went, wait. I'm like, I should be rolling my eyes at you. That was actually at a pickup game where there was not intense amount of coverage. There's nothing less effective than a jab step against a 50 year old defender. Yeah, because you already have the space. You already have enough space. You don't have to use a jab step on them. Just something out there for the kids that are getting a little bit older. Check out House of Strauss. Ethan Substack. And there's also a audio element to it and his podcast as well. Keep up the great work, man. We enjoy it.
- [63:01]
C
Thanks so much for having me, Ryan.
- [63:05]
B
In sports, winning takes more than talent.
- [63:07]
D
It takes strength, reliability, and the drive to go the distance. Sound familiar? That's the same DNA you'll find in a Chevy Silverado.
- [63:15]
B
As capable and dependable as a winning team, Chevy Silverado shows up and gets the job done.
- [63:20]
D
It won't flinch when the pressure's on.
- [63:22]
B
It doesn't take plays off when it
- [63:24]
A
comes to trucks, Chevy Silverado is football Guy approved.
- [63:28]
C
To learn more About Silverado, visit chevy.com
- [63:32]
A
it's been a bit. We're thrilled to have him back on the podcast. Friend of the show Trent Dilfer joining us from his office at Limscomb. It's good to see you, man.
- [63:42]
D
Good to see you, brother.
- [63:44]
A
Let's talk about this quarterback class. Let's talk about the Rams decision at Ty Simpson. I know that's kind of how we were talking on the phone the other day. Your thoughts on Simpson of the Rams.
- [63:55]
D
I love it. And I think as we talk further about all the things going on with draft analysis, the college football game, you know, as we dig into quarterbacks, I'll be able to give a little more of a why. But, you know, this model has worked. Drafting a high ceiling prospect that hadn't played a ton of college snaps from a system and then letting them grow underneath a really good quarterback. I think it's, it's a brilliant move by the Rams. I think you don't draft, you don't judge drafts the next year. You know, I think that's the biggest mistake is saying, oh, the 2026 NFL Draft, let's look at that in 2027. I think that the best things to look at in 2030 and see how it's impacting your team. And no player can impact your team more than a quarterback. Especially he's nurtured properly. So giving them a chance to be nurtured under one of the great coaching staffs, offensive coaching staff, some football behind one of the. I mean, I'm guessing Stafford's a future hall of Famer, future hall of Fame quarterback, and a really good dude. You know, somebody that's gonna like, sit there and teach him the tricks of the trade. And then, you know, he was, he was raised so well at Alabama under Kalin's staff. You know, he did things that other quarterbacks in college football weren't asked to do. So he comes in a little more prepared mentally than most as well.
- [65:23]
A
Yeah, he had said because, I mean, it's an alarming number when you look at the history of. If you have this many starts or less, like, history does not tell you that that's a very successful thing. And part of his argument is like, look, I've grown up with it differently. I've grown up with a dad as a coach. I've played against Saban defenses in the early part of my career. Like, this is. The preparation that I've had is very different than the preparation for some of these other guys that just come in and play one year and then they're gone.
- [65:50]
D
I agree with that. I still think you need starts. I would say that is a good reason, not a great reason. Like, if you go back and look at Mark Sanchez when he's playing in the Pac12 and the competition he played against spot zone coverages, not a lot going on bad defense. Their defense they were playing was, was good in practice, but not elite. I think the numbers were elite, but just the scheme, the, the personnel. You go to an Alabama practice and you're practicing against elite, elite players, elite schemes. It's sticky, it's tight, everything's contested and that's most of the NFL passing game, especially on third down and in the red zone. So, yeah, I think it's a good reason. I still think you need playing time. I think you got to be the quarterback. You know, I think there's something we say to lead 11 all the time and that this kind of metric proved out over time really well. How many times has he been asked to be the quarterback? The quarterback on campus, the quarterback at a meeting room, the quarterback in the locker room, the quarterback in the media, the quarterback on game day. Like not just a guy in the quarterback room, but the quarterback. I think all being the quarterback, being the CEO, being the face, being the whatever comes with a ton of pressure, comes with a ton of figured out. You know, you got to be pliable and figure it out over time. And the more opportunities you are to be the quarterback, the more seasoned you're going to be and then the better you're going to be when you're asked to be the quarterback in the NFL. So I think Ty's pedigree, his nurture, is a good reason. I still think he needs time to sit and to watch a master at the position go about his craft and sit there and absorb as much as he can. And I do think Matthew, you know, I don't know Matthew well, but know his reputation very well, that he'll be somebody that will pour into Ty when he can and give him the tricks of the trade and towel be more ready to, to be successful when he takes over. He's also talented too. Now, it's not like he doesn't have talent and he makes big throws and contested pockets. You know, the other two things that stand out over time when you're evaluating quarterbacks. And it was shameful not to hear more of this. I really Ms. Todd McShade, to be honest with you. Like, he was the guy that probably explained this better than anybody else to the national audience and drafted on draft day during the draft is I miss, you know, the truth of that. The other two characteristics that show up with getting quarterbacks right, or how do they play in conflict, so how do they play in muddy waters, how they play in adverse situations, and then how many tight throws, how many times you throw a guy open? Because in college so much, you know, there's high school open, there's college open, and there's NFL open. And Ty made a lot of NFL open throws and threw guys open and played in some very contested situations. And both those things jumped out when you watch the tape. And that's, that's why I think guys that hit on quarterbacks, it jumped out to them like, yeah, this guy can play the position at a very high level.
- [69:05]
A
I know we were talking about this because you had talked about it with McShay years ago and like, trying to figure out, like, what are the things that we're missing, you know, what are we collectively missing about trying to figure out different quarterbacks? And I think Simpson's in a rare case because at Alabama, usually it's like, okay, there's four first round receivers or tight ends, there's five draftable offensive linemen, there's probably one of the five best running backs in college football behind you. And you're also practicing against like, you know, a great group NFL guys. But it's, it's almost like plug and play. Like, we've seen some of these quarterbacks look terrific at Alabama. And then you're like, yeah, but this guy's not a pro. He's never going to do anything in the pros. And yet you don't really know what to do because you're like, well, it looks like he's pretty good. And it's like he has this massive advantage. Simpson, they became so one dimensional this season. Like, I think that an Alabama football team cannot run the football, that he probably experienced adversity with Bama surroundings in a way that we haven't seen in a really long time. So I don't know if that speaks necessarily to Simpson or if that is a broader thing that you will continue to look for is, hey, I may like this guy, but was it ever really hard on him? Right. Not series to series, but long stretches in a season. And I think Simpson, certainly the second half of the season, that team was kind of a mess.
- [70:28]
D
Yeah, I think where I'd go with that is, is the quarterback has to carry the team. Is he the reason they win? Are they the reason they move the Ball or they is he the reason, see carrying a bigger bird. I'll use me as an example. I didn't carry a great burden in Baltimore in 2000. You know, I, I'm the first to admit that, like I was part of the reason we won, but I was not the reason we won. I didn't carry a heavy burden of that offense. We ran the football well, we took advantage of opportunities, we play great defense. Then you look at quarterbacks that are asked to be the reason their team wins. I think Ty was asked, carried a large burden on why that team had a chance to win. They would not have won without him not being able to run the ball, not playing the level of defense they've played in the past. Alabama football's changed with parody, with power fours, with money being spread out, not stockpiling players. They're just not as good as they used to be, so not as deep. So I think he was, he carried a huge burden. I think the other things you just cannot miss here, and this is probably the biggest thing as we talk through quarterbacks over the past 10 years in the state of college football is quarterbacks aren't being asked to do very much in college football. There's some really talented kids that didn't get drafted very high or drafted at all because they're not asked to do a lot in college. Their, their systems are. It's just a very different game. College football, first and second down football is very different than pro first and second down football, which is there, you know. And I, I think Ty was asked to do probably as much as any quarterback in the country, probably outside ours. At uab, there's, there's only a handful of quarterbacks that are asked to do and train to do the things that NFL quarterbacks do because frankly it's a, it's a burden to the coaches. Like you have to put in extra time to train the quarterbacks to flip protection protections and handle the run game and make true audibles and late second play decisions deep in the play clock and signal receivers. And I mean I can go on and on and on. And Ty's asked to do all that. I mean you see tons of examples of him flipping five man protections to pick up corner cats and six man protections to protect overloads and getting into a seven man protections because he's not protected or letting pressures come and retreating and knowing where his eye placement starting point is right with his hots like he, he played a very graduate level of football because that's their offensive staff's. Mentality. Most offensive stabs in college football bypass a lot of that stuff and just say, you know, we don't have enough time to teach everybody this stuff. Let's find another RPO or another gimmick or check to a screen or, you know, be loose in protection and not protect the quarterback. Let them go make a play. There's just a lot of that in college football right now. And when NFL people see that when they're watching that, they're like, is he going to be able to learn this? Has he been asked to do enough to where we feel like he can come in and immediately add value? Because you need your young players to add value rather quickly. So I think there's a lot that goes into that and I think how NFL personnel, especially coaches, not the, not the scouts, not the front offices, because they may not know the X's and O's, but the NFL coordinator and quarterback coach are sitting there watching a lot of college tape going, I, I like this kid now. I really liked him when he went to so and so school and I thought he was really going to progress well, but just wasn't asked to do very much. And we're going to have to teach all this stuff with a limited off season. That's another point we should, we should talk about is now at the limited offseasons NFL, you don't get true quarterback schools. You don't have your players there, you know, for six months and can nurture them. So it's, it's a system that is really hurting the development of quarterbacks to be pro ready.
- [74:39]
A
If it were before the draft and Brady calls you and part of the Vegas Mendoza selection is just the simplicity of, hey, we're picking this high. We may, he may not be the perfect quarterback prospect, but, but we have to take them and hopefully get this right. But if Brady calls you before the draft and says Mendoza, what do you think? I'd say Tom side, Low side?
- [75:02]
D
Yeah, I say Tom, we probably see a lot of the same things. Phenomenal talent, I mean, just exceptional talent. I think an exceptional human, I think gritty and tough. Cheesy at times, but gritty and tough. And you know, I think Tom and I would see a lot of our generation of quarterback in him. How he approaches the game unselfish, not into the, hey, look at me stuff like he's not, as Parcells would say, what they call him, a Hollywood quarterback. You know, he's not that he's about the team, but I'd say, hey, you see the Same thing I see, right, like he's not asked to do a ton in the passing game. Now he overcomes it with being exceptionally accurate, has fantastic. He has NFL timing and he has really good movement quality so he can get himself out of trouble. But like, you watch that tape and I've watched every snap of Indiana 25 or 24, 25. When I got fired, I had nothing to do. So I went and studied Indiana, Oregon and North Texas. Every snap, I mean, just sit there and grind it note after note after note. And I have blown away. I think he's absolutely worthy of the first pick. I think I. There is a concern.
- [76:16]
A
You just said he wasn't asked to do a lot though. That kind of like made me think,
- [76:20]
D
well, he wasn't like their passing game is. I'd call pick and stick versus man. That's why you see so many of those perimeter helmet shot, back, shoulder, whatever you call them, throw guy, open throws, which is impressive. And that's a big part of NFL football, is finding your one on one and making a play and trusting your guy. But in terms of like full field progressions, they really had two concepts that were full field progressions that showed up over the course of the year. And I mean, I'll just give you an example. I'll just use us because I don't want to speak in other people. In lipscomb, I have 16 in high school, you know, we have 16 full field progression plays that our quarterbacks are asked to execute at a extremely high level. Consistent with recently, UAB might have been 45, you know, studying Oregon, you know, Dante Moore at Oregon and Oregon. Oregon probably has 30 that show up Will Stein over the course of the year.
- [77:19]
A
Can you just explain what that means? Full field progressions mean the difference between having two and 30.
- [77:25]
D
It's like, all right, they're going to play this defense, they're dictating terms. They're going to play a one high man rack, cover coverage. We have to throw the ball there because that's the only route in this play where that ball can go. Okay? That's what they're doing a lot of times where. Or it's split safety. Okay, it's split safety, kind of, let's say it's half to the boundary, quarters to the field. They're matching underneath, they're sticky coverage, match coverage underneath. Hey, you really have one winner. That's your winner. That's where you got to throw the ball. So it kind of simplifies the math for a quarterback. The ball snap, you don't have a lot of processing going on. You're like, oh, this coverage that look, I'm throwing it there. It's, this is a good way to play football sometimes. Whereas what I'm talking about is, hey, you have a, you have a play and we're going to get four or five guys out and it doesn't really matter what they play. Your eyes are going to start there and you're going to work through your progressions and you're going to kind of do the calculus as the play is, is developing and you're going to have to move in the pocket and you know, adjust and, and you know, it's not simple. It's not one plus one equals two. And I think a lot of that. And this is, this is not a criticism. I, there's a lot of good, a lot of really explosive offenses playing this way. You just, you don't get away with that in the NFL. The coverages are too complex. And again, especially on third down in the red zone, two minute situation, just get too many looks where you can't say, one high safety, throw it there. Two high safeties, throw it there. Spot drop zone, throw it there. You know, match coverage, throw it there. I mean, that would be nice if you could. I mean, I was way better when I the math was one plus one equals two because I'm not very smart. But when the math got complicated, like you're, you're not only have these incredible humans rushing you, trying to hit you, but you're doing calculus in the process. So I would like to see some evidence of calculus in college football so that I can trust he could do it. Now, I will say this. When he was asked to run those hand to fulfill progression, he was excellent at doing like, fantastic eyes, matched feet, great timing, really good decision maker, very accurate in the process. So there's evidence he could do it at a high level. He is absolutely worthy of the first pick. But to sit there and to say, and one, most guys don't watch every snap, so that's one. I just happen to have free time at a vacation home being fired. You know, most guys don't have time to watch every single snap, but if you watch every single snap, it's pretty alarming that the same stuff shows up in the passing game for two straight years at Indiana. I know I only played one, but it's the same stuff. And you're like, dang, they must get 15, 20, 30 reps of this in practice a day. Whereas in some programs you might get One rep from the left hash of a third down beater and you got to make sure that you master that play. With one rep, you might get four. An entire week of a red zone concept that you're trusting to use to win the game. They're getting multiple reps of those in practice because they've limited their package so much. Was hats off. I think they're a fantastic staff. My point is that I'm looking at this going, wow, we got coaches, hey, let's start getting this full field stuff and some protection checks and these things. There's not evidence of him doing. Let's get on this right away if we're expecting to play right away.
- [80:57]
A
Okay, good breakdown. So Beck goes in the third round. Aller goes in the fourth round. Klubnick, fourth round. I probably want to get your thoughts on Nussmeier, which felt more like a health issue for him to last all the way to the seventh round. Is there anyone out of this group? These big name guys that will all fit flirting with being first round quarterbacks a year ago in the mocks. Is there one out of this group that you really like?
- [81:26]
D
I like all their talent.
- [81:29]
A
And you had all these guys too, didn't you?
- [81:31]
D
Yeah, we, we. Yeah, we've had every one of these guys. I think in 2000, what was the Ponder drive? I text you about this. What was it? The 2013. I think it's 12. And you had Ponder Gabbard. Then you had somebody like top of this, top of the second. Like it was a ton of quarterbacks that went like the first 50 picks or something. I was doing ESPN at the time. I. If you're looking at 2011. 11. If this was 2011, you would had five guys won the first round easy. Maybe the South Dakota, North Dakota State guy goes to Peyton. Yeah.
- [82:10]
A
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So even with the tape that we had from Club Nick from Aller probably never fully being what you'd had hoped, you know, like there's some Aller and I don't want to make it just about Penn State, but there's some Hackenberg Aller parallels.
- [82:27]
D
I totally agree with that. Oh my gosh. Because we had them both. Two of the most phenomenal high school prospects you could find that never really grew in college. Agree with you. Go ahead.
- [82:39]
A
And I forget who we had in. I'll never forget. I think it was Josh McCown, who's obviously, you know, everybody loves him.
- [82:48]
D
He's amazing.
- [82:49]
A
He's everybody's favorite guy. I mean, I wouldn't say I'm super close with him. But I remember we had him in studio and he asked about him and it's his teammate and he's like, and it's, and he's not going to say anything bad. And he's like, man, big kid can let it rip. And I was like, wow, he thinks he's terrible. Like, that's what I got. It was the nice, nicest way of him saying it. And so all right, back to I'm, I'm getting us again.
- [83:13]
D
It goes back, I will say let's just, let's sit on this for 30 seconds, 60 seconds. It's the same formula every time, Ryan. Every time. One of these talented kids that we would see is as soon as 8th graders, but let's call it their junior year, senior year. And then we become close with them, we actually go to college and then we see them not become the NFL prospect that, that they probably should have been. It's the same exact. Well, it's one of two things. They got, they lost their edge when they got to college becoming because and they became comfortable. That's one thing. But more oftenest they weren't asked to do calculus. They got to college and it was one plus one equals two. That is the number one thing we saw over 1112 years now that now we're 20 years into it and the number one thing. And if you're a college coach and you want to have NFL quarterbacks, then don't make 1 +1 =2. Like I know it makes your job easier, but you are hurting your ability to develop your quarterback because you're not asking them to do calculus while they're in college because that's what they're going to be asked to do in the NFL.
- [84:20]
A
So even with the tape from all of these guys here in 25 to end up with Beck, Aller, Klubnick and Nussmar again, I, you know, the last year wasn't good. I know what the arguments would be against Nussmeier, but again, this became a health thing for him to go this far down. All right, he's probably in that third, fourth round range if they feel like the medicals are better on him. Do you just think the NFL would have taken all these guys in the first round still?
- [84:44]
D
Yeah. Based on traits, personal workouts, they all can rip it. You know, they're all talented guys. Nuss Meyer shock shocks me. I think there was a regression there and obviously the hell stuff but the pedigree. He makes big time throws and conflict. He hits the Check. He hits the boxes that a lot of these NFL guys are looking for. But yeah, I just think, I think there's a risk management thing going on in the NFL. It's my assumption. Again, I'm not tight in like I used to be, but I think they've just been. Owners have let coaches and front offices make so many mistakes at quarterback. It's just alarming how many mistakes have been made in the draft at quarterback. There's less off season. Again, like you just don't have the time in the NFL to, to just fully immerse these quarterbacks in their development at some point. And I would do it as an owner, I'd just be like, we're not taking this chance chance. Like we'll just go find one in free agency when our guy's done. Or we'll go take somebody really late and do the Brock Purdy thing with them. Because there's really not that much difference sometimes between the late round pick and the early round pick. Maybe the early round pick did calculus in College and at 6:3,230 pounds, it can rip it. And the guy that's in this sixth round, seventh round, undrafted free agent did the calculus, but he's only six one and a half, 218 and doesn't have a super powerful Tony Romo, but did, but can really play football. Like let's go take the guy later. That's way less risky. And if it doesn't pan out, we'll do it again next year or it doesn't pan out that year, we'll do it the year after that. But let's not take this chance on, on going real early on something that we don't have any evidence of. This guy doing high level quarterbacking in college.
- [86:42]
A
That's interesting because I know you and I, one of our first conversations I think we even had was when I would go through it, I'd be like, all these guys that go in the third and fourth round, they didn't even get any reps. So you're just replacing them with the next guys that likely aren't going to get any reps unless your starter gets hurt for the entire season. And then you lock into something, right? So half of these guys, how did
- [87:04]
D
Tony Romo get so good without getting reps? How did Matt Hasselback get so good without getting reps? How did Brock Purdy get so good without getting reps? How did some of these guys develop? One, they're all kind of from the same trees of coaches. Two, they all did some Things in college that made an NFL coach go, huh? Yeah, that's kind of how we do it. That's interesting. And I'll say the biggest is they're all pick up a ball and we'll kick your ass type guys, you know what I mean? Whether it's ping pong, tennis, golf, hoops, whatever, like, they're just wired differently, you know, and, and if you only get two Tom Brady talks about all the time, you got two reps, right? He had to make those two reps count. You know, I was spoiled. I got a ton of reps because I was a, you know, I was 6 pick of the draft. But like these guys that come in, you know, I remember Casey Weldon who was with me in Tampa and you know, he'd get one rep a day, but to him that was the super bowl. And he would study all night long to make sure that one rep counted. That's why he played for a while in the NFL. You know, it's just a different mentality. They're wired differently. And I think you have to find that too. If you're going to take a guy late because he's not going to get great opportunity, but that's the max. Maximize the opportunities he does get. And he's got to play well in the preseason, you know, I mean, he's got to go in there because you're not going to play your server much in the preseason. You got to go be the quarterback in the preseason and show that you have the stuff to, to make it when, when the real games start.
- [88:33]
A
Let's talk about you. We haven't, we haven't spoken since podcast got canned. Yeah, I mean, it's. I don't mean to be so forward, but what's it like to get fired in the middle of the season?
- [88:50]
D
It was, I kind of felt it coming, you know, for one. So it was not shocking. We played horrifically bad defense for the third straight year. I could just never get that fixed. It was. It hurt because I really love that stat. You know, I'd really hired some coaches there that I really love and think are fantastic. I think that's as good. Offensive staff there's. In college football, I think if you look at that, that football staff on offense, it's. It's incredibly good. It is so hard, you know, now that I'm at Lipscomb, I'm having all these college coaches come through recruiting our players. And it's just this common theme of which direction do you take at the group of five or group of Six, or they call it level. Do you try to win if you have no resources, or do you become a glorified jc? And if I would have gone back and I made a lot of mistakes, I would have gone back and done it all over again. I would have gone with what my gut told me to do when I went there. Pretty much every time I didn't follow my gut, I made a mistake. And my gut.
- [89:55]
A
What were those things?
- [89:56]
D
The biggest thing was go high school. The biggest thing was forget the portal. You know, I was told I was going to have a lot of resources and then went down there and had none. But either way, I think I would have started paying high school kids if I did have resources. I think Alex Goulish did the best. I think the guy. And he was the exact same year as me, and I think he just hit a home run. And I admire Alex so much. He's been a friend for years. He just didn't buy into the portal thing. He went down to USF and immediately went high school. High school, high school development, high school. Pay him to keep them, retain them. Now, he had a lot of resources to do it.
- [90:31]
A
But.
- [90:32]
D
But, you know, just dipping in and out of the portal and getting these guys, there's a reason they're in it there, a reason they're going to sign with us. You're overpaying for damaged goods. You're overpaying for guys that don't have traits. You're overpaying for guys that shrinking games instead of rise.
- [90:49]
A
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Though. I think. I think some people will say, like, well, wait a minute. If the portal, like, they'll say, hey, Trent, you're picking the wrong guy. Is it different when you're portaling in guys to UAB as opposed to.
- [91:00]
D
Yeah, yeah, yeah, please. You know, it's very different than the portal you guys are following on. On three. You know what I mean? Or whatever it is. No, that. Those are good kid. You know, those are kids. Those are NFL free agents. Okay, here's how you look at it. There's NFL free agency. That happens really about a week before NFL free agency starts, as we all know. You know, all the deals are being made and those are the high prize. Like, we got to go get these guys. They're going to change our ball club. So multiply that by about 30, because there's more college teams. And the same thing happens. You start seeing at the end of the year, hey, this guy's going to go to the portal and you start seeing the high prize NFL free agents. That's the portal you're talking about. Most people are watching the portal. The, the group of fives that don't have resources are talking about is more like August. Signing NFL free agents to fill out your training camp roster to get you through practice. Practice. That's, that's the portal that the rest of us deal with. And in the NFL, you get those guys for nothing because they're begging to get on a roster. Here, those guys are holding you hostage because you just went through spring with seven offensive linemen. Seven. And three of them are walk ons. Because in May, your whole offensive, I mean in the portal, the January portal, your whole offensive line was taken, taken from you and paid 500 grand when you're the ones that took him as a skinny 6, 6, 235 pound volleyball player and put £50 on them and turned them into a group of five tackle. Your offensive line coaches have spent every waking moment of every day pouring into this kid so that he can get $500,000 go to Power 4 school. So you're sitting there in spring ball in April, May, and you got seven offensive linemen. So now the next portal comes and you have offensive tackle from wherever and he's like, you guys don't have anybody. I'm the starter. Yeah, but you, you know, you've coming off three knee injuries, your shoulders jacked up, you smoke a ton of weed, you're not a very good student, you really don't play the way we want you to play. You play high, you don't have great feet, stinking pass protection, but yeah, I'll give you a hundred grand just so we can have a tackle. That's the portal I'm talking. Okay, so what I would have done is I would have just taken every scholarship, every resource, put it back in the high school. Alabama high school football is awesome. You get to go to Georgia, you get to come up here to Nashville, you can hit Mississippi where some of the greatest football players you'll ever see, you have this, this 300 mile radius that's just an amazing recruiting base. Bring them in, develop them and treat it like a jc and you just launch them, you know, treat it like Mississippi, Gulf coast, who puts out 15 Power 4 guys every year. Treat it like San Mateo Junior College in California. Develop them, make them better men. Let them get paid and celebrate it like yes, man.
- [94:08]
A
So cool.
- [94:08]
D
You came here, you made a few bucks and now you're getting rich and then just have freshman after freshman after freshman behind Them and just look at your administration and say, hey, this is what it's going to be until you give me 5 million bucks where I can match. Because they're really getting paid to go be backups most of the time, right? Most the time they're leaving to go. They're getting their 250 to 500 to go be a backup. Well, if I can say, hey, I can give you 250 grand and you can play and you can get snapshots, and now the NFL can see you getting snaps and then maybe your last year, go hit the big payday. That's. That's kind of the formula that the group of fives have to use. It's just really hard to find that administration that's willing to do that. But that's. Man, that was the biggest mistake I made by far. Because now the reason we're so bad on defense. Cause you never created, you know, defense is about team. It's about 11 guys thinking the same thoughts and running the football and being animals and. And knowing where the help is and knowing how to, you know, fit it all together. Well, we're like a revolving door at safety and defensive tackle and inside backer and jack linebacker and whatever it is, there's never any continuity. So, you know, I, Yeah, I. I deserve to be fired. I'd be the first to say it. That's. That's the biggest regret I have, is I just go with my gut and tell everybody to shut up. Don't care what you think. Coaches don't care what you think. Personnel department. We are going to high school. We're going to build this thing the right way. We're going to build a program because we don't have the resources to build a team. There's people out there building teams year to year. They have the resources to do it. Let's go build a program. Make the coolest JC program ever. Win our 6, 7 games until we're fully funded and, and go from there. Price gotten fired, but had a lot more fun doing it.
- [96:04]
A
Did you know, because you had said something the very beginning of this answer where it was like, I kind of knew it was coming. Like, were they. Were they talking to you about, like, hey, you know, giving up a lot of points, Trent, like, how does that happen between AD and then maybe just the, the feeling around a program when you're the, the face of it.
- [96:22]
D
Well, nobody's at our gangs, you know, that's number one. And Birmingham is an incredible city and they really want us. They. I mean, it's an awesome city. I have nothing bad to say about Birmingham. Could live there the rest of my life. Some of the finest people I've ever met. They want to go to the games. Why are you coming to the games? The product isn't what you want to see. I'm not a. You know, I did my years of being PR Correct. That's not who I am. I say what I think. I don't think that played real well at times were historically bad on defense after Bill Clark, who's a great coach who was there before and done wrong. To be quite honest with you. Now that I know more built that thing on defense and grit now different time when he could maintain his. I mean, there's different circumstances there. But, you know, is it defensive? It'd be like going to Baltimore or Pittsburgh. Those are the two best NFL cities and saying, you know what? Forget defense. We're just going to draft offense and be for open spread offense and have fun and get after it. You know, I mean, they, the, the culture to be like, no, you're not. You know, we play defense here. Like we play defense. That's kind of UAB and we didn't. And then, you know, we're down 28 at FAU and, and they, they're, they weren't very good. You know, I think that coach has done a great job and, but we go down there the, the night before I get fired and we should have won that game. You know, I mean, they, they weren't very good. We, it's probably one of the few games we felt like we were more talented than them. We're on 28. Nothing before we can fart like it's, it was unbelievable. I, I, and I'm just sitting there going, wow, how did this happen?
- [98:13]
A
Happen?
- [98:15]
D
Yeah, we fight, we compete and blah, blah, blah. But we give up 50 at FAU against a very, very average team. And I, I knew that night on the, on the plane that that was probably it.
- [98:28]
A
I know you well enough to know that you probably beat yourself up about this for a long time.
- [98:34]
D
I beat myself up on the, some of the. Not going with my gut. You know, I think that's the biggest thing. And, and my coat. You know, I'm still very close to most of those coaches. You know, Mort's the head coach there. I love him to death like a son. Brought him in, you know, game his first chance as a coordinator. All those offensive coaches stay. They're, they're like sons or brothers to me. I don't know anybody on the new defensive staff. But the personnel department I built from scratch, they didn't have a personnel department when I got there. Like, literally, they didn't have a personnel department. They have a scouting department department. They didn't have a recruiting department. So we built a lot of the infrastructure there that. That is now there. They would tell you that they knew when I didn't go with my gut, we were wrong. I let too many voices. You know, you gotta have conviction. I think anything in life, what you're really good at, what you do, if you're good at anything, if. If you've climbed a mountain, you've probably done it with grit and conviction. And I lacked conviction at times. I let too many people speak into things and they don't know what they're talking about. You know what I mean? They just didn't know what they're talking about. And unfortunately, I listened to it. And if I were to go back, do it all over again, I just would have been like, hey, I don't care if you like this or not. This is how we're doing. When I've done that in my life, I've been very successful.
- [99:58]
A
Do you think you get the chance to do it again?
- [100:00]
D
I don't want to do it again. No, I don't think I would, and I don't want to do it again. That was the biggest epiphany. And I don't want to make this about me. People don't give a crap about me. They care about the draft. But I will say this, you're my guest, and I.
- [100:13]
A
This is what I want to talk about.
- [100:14]
D
So I had a lot of opportunities, and I wouldn't visit some places where I really respect these people. I mean, like, they are one of the few groups. I mean, I went to two programs in college and had a couple NFL things planned. And I told my wife, I'm only going places for people that I think I can work for, and that's a very small list. And I was going to go do the coordinator thing and, you know, rehabilitate your reputation and go put up 40 for somebody and change their offense and get their quarterback drafted. And, you know, that's. That's what the agents are saying, and that's the logical road. And I had those opportunities. And I'm sitting there, I'm like, I was sick to my stomach seeing the transactional nature of what college football balls become. And then the NFL game, I'm talk. I'm watching what some of these people are doing, and I'm Looking at like their coaching roster and I'm like, dude, that was the ball boy when I was in Cleveland, you know, like, that was, I'm old, I'm out of the NFL loop. The dudes running the NFL now were like ball boys when I was playing. And they're not, they're good at what they do. I'm not criticizing that. But I remember being a young, you know, getting out of the league, being young at ESPN or my late, my career. And the old gray haired would talk into like, well, you should do it this way. Football is so much better then. And I'd be like, shut up, old man. And I'm like, I'm that old man. I don't want to be that person. I, I, I enjoy watching what the NFL's done. I like the brand, I like the players. I'm not one of the crotchy old farts that's going, ah, they should do this, they should do that. And I'm like, I don't fit in the NFL. And we're driving across the country and literally, I think we're in, we were in a snowstorm in Wyoming. We had this great weather. My wife and I are going across the country or vacation home with our dog and we get stuck in Wyoming. This big storm comes through and we're sitting there on the side of the road. It's like two hours. And I looked her and said, I hate college football. She goes, okay, cool. I didn't really love that three years either, so I love watching it. I just hate what it's become. And I said, I don't fit in the NFL. I said, when was the happiest, most joyful, most productive, best dad, best grandpa, best husband I ever was? She goes, no brainer Lipscomb. I said, that's what I am. I love this. This is what brings out the best in me in my life. I think I have the most to offer this group, this population. And I've been back for a few months now and I just, I have so much joy. It's not happiness all the time. It's not easy. I just have joy. I really lacked joy at UAB. I lack joy at ESPN the 4. I lack joy in retirement. The best joy has come out of my life and overflowed into the people that I impact when I'm at, when I'm in this high school arena.
- [103:17]
A
Well, I'm happy to see you back in that office. And I'm, I'm happy for you because.
- [103:20]
D
Thanks, man.
- [103:21]
A
You're my friend. And I, I'M just thrilled to have you on the pod again. So now let's do it.
- [103:27]
D
My afternoons are great. This is. What is this? Mid morning and high school football. It's really about rosters and spring practice and scripts and probably go up to lunch and see the kids here a little bit.
- [103:40]
A
All right, well, it sounds good. We'll check in again soon. Thanks, Trent.
- [103:43]
D
All right, brother. Appreciate you.
- [103:44]
A
I'm happy Dilfer's back at Limscomb, and I know he's excited to be back coaching as he just said there. And I wanted to remind everybody that's in the area that he's got Nick Saban coming in May 8th to speak to the team.
- [104:00]
B
Stell Blue Coffee's new can lattes are here. Crafted with 100 Colombian coffee, each can is is a good source of protein and comes in two smooth flavors, Espresso Cafe Mocha and Espresso Sweet Cream. And whether you're braving your morning commute or chasing your pup, Stell Blue cans are for those always on the go and for those who care. Stell Blue is more than just great coffee. It's about giving back. I named the brand after my rescue dog, Stella, who inspired our mission to help more dogs find their forever homes. Every purchase supports animal rescue organizations. So when you drink Stella Blue, you're not just fueling your day, you're saving a dog's life. Try the new cans today. Taste the difference and make a difference. All new Stoull Blue Coffee Can Latte is now available@stellabluecoffee.com or subscribe on Amazon for 10% off.
- [104:49]
C
You want details?
- [104:50]
D
Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous, ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible.
- [105:06]
A
Let me tell you what's required. Today's life advice is brought to you by Microsoft 365 copilot what if you could add an AI assistant to your work without leaving your workflow built into Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook? Copilot works where you work, helping you do more in the apps you already use. In Word, Copilot helps turn scattered notes into a first draft. In Excel, it generates insights from your data. And in Outlook, it cuts through the noise to get you up to speed faster. The apps you know go further with Copilot. Learn more@365copilot.com work lifeadvice rrmail.com I'm not just saying this because they're doing the ad. I used it finally on an email response. First time I've ever done it. Talking with LA property tax group and anybody who lives in the LA county who's had to deal with this. You know, my pain, what I'm dealing with right now. But I wrote the email and there's always times it's like the suggestions. It's actually really funny because it offers up suggestions to every life advice email that we get. We're not responding to these.
- [106:17]
E
Maybe you should read one of those one time.
- [106:20]
F
What does AI think about Doug borrowed
- [106:22]
A
a rake from Jeff. Maybe Doug should just ask Jeff for his rake back. Sincerely, Life Advice.
- [106:32]
E
Don't kill the segment Copilot.
- [106:35]
A
I know, right? Didn't Cowherd do like an AI segment once on the radio show? Like when AI was hot. It was new. What's going on here? I'm sure he did.
- [106:46]
F
Was he comparing some player to AI? I don't know. He like.
- [106:49]
A
No, no, I think they did like they did. This is what a cowherd AI segment would be. I don't know that that was like a long term play. It was just something everybody was talking about AI in the very beginning. Anyway, Copilot did a great job in summarizing my email and it was better than I wrote it and I was like, damn, it's got it. Still no response though, so we'll see if it can help us with that. All right, what we do have here is I think a critical email of us. So a little Friday feedback here. We haven't done one of those in a while. Maybe we'll do it for Netflix Friday. Feedbackrmail.com just thoughts, critiques all trying to get better. Who knows? Have you hit your peak yet? I never think I have. That's how I want to live my life. All right, so gents just had to weigh in and our guy going to stream song for context. I'm an assistant golf pro at a very nice course in New England, but I grew up playing public courses my entire life. So I feel like I have a broad perspective to weigh in on things here. I'm just going to come out and say it. Love you all mean it, but this is by far the most wrong and worst advice you will all have ever given. You have all given as a collective that I've heard. Yet I've been listening since 2018. There's a pretty good chance you've given worse advice.
- [108:01]
F
Yeah, that's not true at all.
- [108:03]
E
Yeah, there's Been some pretty hairy.
- [108:05]
A
Stakes are pretty low.
- [108:05]
E
We decided to stick around. Grounded for too long. It's definitely not the caddy thing, but.
- [108:09]
A
All right. But this is this guy's lane.
- [108:11]
E
Yeah.
- [108:12]
A
So he's going to process it different than the non golf pros out there. Yeah. Going on a trip to a course like Stream Song and not all caps. Getting a caddy is like taking a trip to Paris and staying at a Best Western. Our boy who wrote in is right. All seven of his boys are wrong. Getting a caddy to course like this enhances the experience so much more than reading greens, finding your ball, carrying your bag. You spend more time with your friends in this format than just the one other person you're riding with. The section is. This section is admittedly douchey. The advice you gave just tells us that none of you have used a caddy at a premier golf course.
- [108:49]
C
I never have.
- [108:50]
A
Totally. Right.
- [108:52]
E
Purely faking it till I make it in golf right now.
- [108:54]
A
All right.
- [108:55]
E
I really am.
- [108:57]
A
Yeah. But I have and I'm not even. Ceruti's our golf pro. You told us that you did at Pinehurst. So this is even more upsetting to me. Playing golf with a caddy is the only way to play. And those who have do it on any semblance of a regular basis know exactly what I'm talking about. There's a reason that pros do it. Just saying so to our listener. Get the caddy for every round. You're going to a premier golf course, so take full advantage of it. Love the pod. Sorry for the negativity, but I was yelling in my car when I heard the advice. Boys. No hard feelings. You hit at such a high percentage. That won't bring your batting average down at all. All right. Ceruti.
- [109:35]
F
No, I, I, He's. I had, I had never heard of the course. Actually. You know, it's funny. Somebody brought it up to me. What's that?
- [109:45]
A
Nothing.
- [109:45]
F
All right.
- [109:46]
A
Sorry.
- [109:46]
E
Didn't land.
- [109:47]
A
Damn.
- [109:48]
F
Sorry. I actually didn't hear it, so that's my bad. But I never heard of the course. It's a nice course.
- [109:52]
A
All right.
- [109:52]
F
Great. It's still one on seven. And I feel like it's still weird to be the one, though. And that's the crux of the question. Like your boys can all be wrong. Maybe they are. But you're going to be the one guy with the caddy. That still is a little bit strange. And again, I don't know the course. So maybe totally opening to the possibility that I am wrong. But that was kind of what we were debating, was that you're going to be the one guy on the dude strip who is kind of taking it too seriously.
- [110:22]
A
Yeah, I. I don't think it's even that. I don't even take offense to this whatsoever, because it's not my world at all. But I have had caddies. My caddy experience at really nice courses is usually the caddy ends up being super disappointed because I'm not that good. Like the caddies we had at Pinehurst. And then when we. I played two, which is the course that they played the US Open on. And it's. And I was playing well. I played great two rounds before it. I played awesome to win on the last day of whatever other game that we had. But the actual, like, hey, we're playing two. So before that day, I think I told the story in the air, but the other caddy that had me before was like, hey, so and so's on your bag today, because he kind of gets the celebrities. And I was like, oh, joking. Like, who else are we playing with? And, you know, so the guy was all excited by Whole12. I sucked so bad that day that he was kind of like, you could probably just do whatever you want. And, like, oh, really bummed out. Oh, yeah.
- [111:26]
E
He was like. They were like, doctors. It's like, dude, I see everyone, you
- [111:29]
A
know, like, that's what I'm worried about.
- [111:31]
E
Like a doctor seeing you, like, you know, when you're doing the cough test, it's like, he's not thinking about it like, that he's a doctor. Like, I'd imagine it'd be like your golf game where you're like, he's, like, professional the whole way, you know, like,
- [111:40]
A
don't even know he thought I was good. And because I played well. And the other guy's like, yeah, he's all right. And so there was, like, real game management and planning and, like, hey, you can get it there. Or this one.
- [111:50]
E
Oh, he changed his whole strategy. Yeah.
- [111:52]
A
And then at that point, like, I'm not breaking 100, and he's just going, yeah, dude. You know, he's like, whatever. And then I actually had the same experience. Another, like, prestigious course in not Bel Air, because their caddies are awesome. And I've had a blast the two times I've played there. But I played another course, and that went so bad that the guy. You know, it sucked, too, because, like, I teed off last. And this course in particular, like, the first tee box is, like, majestic. And the caddies are like, looks like we got some sticks up here. I'm like, because, like, I fill out the shirt, of course, and then the first three guys just piping it and I'm like, oh, great. And I hit one so far out of bounds left that the guys were like, hey, why don't we just, you know, no one was looking. Breakfast ball, why don't we grab you another ball there, Pull out a four iron one. I don't know that I've swung weaker on a drive after that first one. Anyway, I don't even think this is that. Like, he's probably right. But Ceruti, if you're on the boys trip and the other seven are saying no, and you're, you know Alex P. Keaton in it with your own caddy reference, no one's gonna guess, no, I didn't get it. Yeah, you're gonna, you're gonna take a ton of shit.
- [113:14]
E
I'll just never get another chance to say this, but yesterday I pulled off the perfect exploding ball gag. We could just move on. It's like, it's a tough setup and I really. I nailed it yesterday.
- [113:23]
A
After you threw it?
- [113:24]
E
No, no, it was just my. I was playing with my brother and my buddy and he shanked one completely out of bounds. I think he was gonna find it, but I was like, oh, dude, just take just here. I just put it right on his tee. Cause they're a lot lighter. You can't really hand it or toss it to him. It's, you know, you gotta. It's a delicate dance to be able to like tee up somebody else's ball. Like your antennas might go up a little bit. But he was so frustrated with how, how tough the shank was. He just, he went right for it and smiles all around. It was really nice. I had ordered them from Amazon. It was gonna be my first try with them and really, really worked well.
- [113:53]
A
So how.
- [113:55]
F
What hole was it on? How, like, how long have you been plotting this for?
- [113:59]
E
I think, I think it was on hole three. Hole two, you know, it was fine. Yeah, so I, I was, I didn't even have him out of the pack.
- [114:06]
A
I don't know if you were like
- [114:06]
F
16 being like, am I going to be able to get this in today?
- [114:09]
E
No, no, I just wanted. Yeah, I didn't want it to be when people were bummed. So I was like, let's do this early on. And. And hole three.
- [114:15]
A
My.
- [114:15]
E
I just jumped on it. It was great.
- [114:17]
A
I got two more.
- [114:18]
E
I'm excited. I think I gotta wait A little while, but it's gonna be good.
- [114:21]
A
Yeah, you should do it to yourself to set up the next.
- [114:26]
E
I do want to see what it feels like.
- [114:28]
A
Yeah, but that way you go like are you serious guys? Who did that? Now it's like Littlefinger. Little mystery going on, right? Yeah.
- [114:36]
E
Thinking about fake snakes and stuff. I might have to switch it up a little bit. I love little hijinks on the golf course.
- [114:40]
A
I really enjoy it. I love that. I love that for you. Okay, let's just read this one email. I could probably do a three hour special on this topic. Is my life over? Is the headline. What's up boys? Six Two recently managed to rep out eight reps of 45 pound weighted pull ups without tearing my pec. Oh, so you're going to start with that huh? By the way, it was a strain. We're back to 95 pound dumbbells so I think we're okay. Damn. But we're going to hold off on the 110 115s. I'm about to graduate from college and have been reevaluating my life from this point on. Would prefer that you do not share the details, but the question is so broad I'm not sure listener even need to know. By the way, the schools that he listed where he's moving. I don't think anybody's going to figure you out, but we'll leave it out. Moving to North America after my bachelor degree in business. Anyway, that was made up. Okay, here's his question and it's quick. I would say I had a pretty successful college career. Fraternity clubs, intramural sports. I have a job lined up. Will start end of summer early fall in a typical finance role that will be well paying but likely a ton of hours. I have a hot girlfriend whom I met in college and we both plan to continue dating post grad. That being said, my life is and has been pretty awesome. I am worried that my life following this period will suck ass. Examples not being with my friends 24 7, going out three times a week. Is it going to be that bad? I understand you fellows likely had different experiences immediately after college, but I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance. Is the advice is it's just time to grow up up and I'd get it. Thanks guys. Love the pot. I'll just say this to anyone that's about to graduate. I would have been more depressed had I known how much fun I wasn't going to have after those formative years with all my friends. Not to bum everyone out. Not saying, hey, be more bummed out here. As you ramp it up in May, in this awesome period of your life, if you're about to graduate. But the whole college thing is, like, fake adulting.
- [116:55]
E
It's a fantasy land.
- [116:56]
A
Yeah.
- [116:57]
F
It's not. There's nothing even adulting about it. There's nothing adulting about it.
- [117:01]
A
You.
- [117:01]
F
You're.
- [117:01]
A
Sometimes you have to go to, like, an administrator's office about a course, and you're like, oh, my God. And you haven't hated Watermen today. Oh, my God. What? At noon 30? This sucks. Yeah, go ahead.
- [117:14]
F
That's why I just always think about that. Like, it doesn't really prepare you for real life at all. It's not even remotely like real life. It's just like. Like a little. It's like more fun high school where you have to live with your friends
- [117:23]
A
because you think you're an adult.
- [117:25]
F
Yeah. And, yeah.
- [117:26]
A
You think you have rich parents. It's like.
- [117:29]
F
Right. Yeah.
- [117:30]
D
Get it.
- [117:30]
A
You know?
- [117:33]
F
So. I couldn't agree more. I mean, this sounds like he's a little bit too aware of the Andy Bernard quote of, like, is there a way to know you're in the good, good old days before you actually left them? He knows. Like, he's. I. I wasn't fully aware. Like, I. I was like, oh, yeah, like, whatever. Like, this will be fun. Like. Like, work nine to five, and then, like, I don't go out at night. Like, what's the big deal? It's not the end of the world. And then you realize just how hard that is. It's kind of like when you graduate high school, too, and it's like, everyone's like, oh, man. Like, you know, we'll see each other soon. You just like, never see that guy for, you know, a decade. And then it's like, hey, Thanksgiving, dude.
- [118:02]
A
Yeah, I'd love to go to Merrimack for a weekend and visit you. Yeah.
- [118:07]
E
But that's how. That's how sick that time is, that it fuels these trips when you guys are in your 40s that you'll still do something like this and go pick
- [118:15]
A
a spot and do.
- [118:16]
E
Or don't get a Caddy, I guess. But, like. Like, this is the shit. Like, that was so good that this is how these things even remotely stay together. And if you're the guy who's super afraid of missing this, maybe you're the glue guy going forward. Maybe that's the role you can take.
- [118:33]
A
I love that, Kyle. Maybe this guy gives these guys a speech because they're going to a big city and there's going to be other guys there and be like, hey, you're not going to be able to go out as much. Like, breaking news.
- [118:44]
E
There isn't enough fuel in the world.
- [118:45]
A
It's funny when it's in college, but when you're, when you're trying to sneak in, you'll. You'll go out like that. Those, that first, those first couple years are actually, you're like, more dangerous post college than you are as college because, like, guys at work are like, what the hell did you get into last night? Yeah, the older dudes are jealous of
- [119:04]
F
you and they want to hear stories. 20, 21 post grad to like 28 was some of the most fun I've ever had. It's just different. It just like, you just have to,
- [119:14]
A
like, do other stuff.
- [119:15]
F
So, like, and then again, I don't know, like, there's other stuff to look for. There's other stuff to look forward to in life, right? Like, are you interested in getting married one day? Having kids? Like, there's, there's all these different stages of life that are difficult, are more hard, but also give you a lot back as well. So, like, yes, you may be leaving this incredibly carefree, fun stage of your life, which is sad, but, like, you're not, you're not dying. Dude.
- [119:36]
E
Dude, when that grassy hot wife.
- [119:38]
F
Great, awesome, cool city. It sounds like with some friends. That's awesome. You get to go out all the time. You could probably play some golf, you know, there's just more to look forward to. It's just going to be different.
- [119:52]
A
Like a lawn. That was a good line and that
- [119:54]
E
grass seed actually works. And you're like, every patch is fucking humming right now.
- [119:59]
A
I got the right mix. Yeah.
- [120:01]
E
Got a little too close with the snow blower this summer, but holy shit, it's right back to normal. Look at that perfect rain. We needed this stuff like that.
- [120:10]
A
I just feel like there's so many stages in life where there's the delayed acceptance. And when you're caught up in that delayed acceptance, it freaks you out a little bit. And that's what that post college thing is. It's like all my buddies that moved to the city or all the guys that were, I think the New York City guys had a little bit more fun than the Boston guys did. Then there were the guys that ventured out west and they all like stuck it out with each other and they all still went out and they were all. Granted, they realized, hey, this is a lot Harder. Then you're hitting up that girl that used to get her notes from like Rock Science Lab and you're like, hey, are you guys going down to Joe's Crab Shack? You're like reaching out because you're going, oh, wait, this isn't a layup. This isn't as easy. Now this guy has a girlfriend. You're like, this is far more challenging. Who's this 28 year old with a car in New York City and he's going to some shack in Woodstock on the weekends. I'm competing with a real guy who's been banking money for a little bit and he's still in his 20s. This sucks. This is a little bit harder than RJ's. So I think there's this thing that you're going to go through where you want to have the same amount of fun and you want to keep these friendships. And Kyle, to your point, Maybe it's a DiCaprio type speech to the guys. Be like, we are not. Not. We don't have to give up. We have to give in a little bit to the changes of life, but we don't have to completely give up here. But then you'll realize when you're in your late 20s, or maybe it happens at 35 for other guys. I mean, who knows? Everybody's different here. You'll look back at this post college time and be like, we were still in the fight. We were trying to be in the fight. And it actually was a lot of fun.
- [121:54]
F
But you appreciate it more too.
- [121:56]
A
In college.
- [121:57]
F
It's like, it's like, you know, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Like you're gonna have fun almost no
- [122:00]
A
matter what you do. That's a great hall. What are you doing? Breaking in.
- [122:06]
F
Yeah. Oh, shit. He's got a football human bowling in the hallway.
- [122:09]
A
Yeah, there you go.
- [122:10]
F
Like this stuff. Like, whereas, like when you have a good night out in your early 20s and it's awesome, it just, it does hit different because it's like, man, we worked for this. Like, this is. We had to earn this, this good time. And that, that dopamine hit is totally, It's. I wanna say it's just as fun, but it's pretty awesome.
- [122:27]
E
And it doesn't even have to be like, come on, you guys really aren't coming out on Friday. You could be planning around tent pole moments where you're like, dude, March 25th. What are you guys thinking? Do you think we. That's far enough out. It could just be like one like a Just a periodical group egg instead of just like making sure nobody falls off that every other weekend thing that you're trying to set up. So maybe you're just the guy that, you know, puts. Puts the bug in people's ears and, you know, you don't want to be annoying about it because people have shit going on. But, you know, maybe you're the guy who can find whatever new tradition that is, that is not super hard to stick to. So that could be good.
- [123:01]
F
Yeah. It's also great, too, because I remember, like, my wife always says this. Like, she's like, I've never had more fun and been and felt more financially secure than I when I made like $36,000, like my first two years out of school. Because you just, like, you have responsibilities too, but you're like, all right, you're paying rent and you're going out. Like, other than that, like, there's not much else. Like, you really like. It's a. It's a. It's a step up, but it's not like a huge step up.
- [123:20]
A
Up.
- [123:21]
F
And, you know, like, you know, you go out Thursday, you still go out Friday, Saturday, maybe even Sunday. Like, there's still plenty of times to do these things, you know. The thing that sucks is, is you're just not going to see your friends
- [123:31]
A
as much, which blows.
- [123:32]
E
Well, shout out to the job.
- [123:34]
A
You're not going to. Sorry, Kyle, go ahead.
- [123:36]
E
No, I was just saying shout out to the job, too. That's like a lot of. A lot of people are like, fuck, this is not the job I'm supposed to have. So, like, you've spent a bunch of time, like, my life is over now, actually. But you have that part too, so that's not even a thing you got
- [123:49]
A
to worry about, which is nice.
- [123:51]
E
Lots of hours and decent money instead of back to the hardware store while I search on, indeed, endlessly to try to make this whole thing worth it. So that's also pretty solid, too.
- [124:02]
A
Yeah. And as far as the job part of it, you'll learn pretty quickly too, if that's for you. And hopefully you have a job that you go, hey, this is going to suck. Like, entry level finance stuff. That stuff sucks, man. Man. But you're not doing it because it's going to be fun. You're doing it because of a lake house,
- [124:22]
E
right, that the boys can come
- [124:24]
A
meet up at, Right? There you go. Be the first guy to have a lake house.
- [124:27]
D
Do it for them, dude.
- [124:28]
A
Everybody will be hitting you up.
- [124:29]
E
Do it for the gang.
- [124:30]
F
The race to be the first guy to have a lake house is incredible.
- [124:32]
A
Yeah. I'm trying to think how far down the standings for the first lake house was. I was pretty low.
- [124:43]
E
Yeah, it sounds like you were missing wedding invites.
- [124:44]
A
I don't think you were on the I've been invited as far as like, hey, is Priscilla gonna have a lake house before I will? No, that will not. Well, I don't know that we ever did that exercise, but it was probably hinted at different times. All right, well, that'll do it for the show today. Thanks to Tom and Kevin and of course, Rudy and Kyle. You could watch a show on Netflix and please subscribe to the podcast out three days a week. The Ryan Rossillo Show Barstool Sports.