← The Ryen Russillo Show
The Ryen Russillo Show
CFP Rankings Reactions & Inside the NFL Trade Deadline With Dianna Russini Plus Woj on Leaving the Insider Life
02:04:29
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- [00:00]
Ryan Rosillo
Hey barstool listeners. You can find every episode of the Ryan Roso show on Apple podcast, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. The Ryan Rosilla show presented by DraftKings packed show for you today. Diana Rossini on the NFL trade deadline the jets turning the page. What are the Cowboys doing in a huge name that didn't get traded? We've also got our guy Woj Adrian Wojnarowski who is up at St. Bonaventure as the general manager of the men's basketball team. What that job has been like for a year and also his thoughts on moving on from the media and did he feel left out when the LUCA trade happened? We've got that and life advice. We are presented by DraftKings Sportsbook. All of your favorite NBA players are back and DraftKings sportsbook and official sports betting partner of the NBA is the place to bet on NBA stars this season. Steph Curry drilling logo threes, Donovan Mitchell taking over and Cade Cunningham leading the next wave. 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Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. NBA League Pass Auto renews until canceled. Additional terms at DKNG CO Audio Limited time offer. Probably not going to be the best open you've ever heard, but let's talk about the College Football Committee rankings, the playoff rankings as of right now. We'll run through it. I just don't know that it was that exciting. I don't think it was, but that's okay. I mean it is 25 slots here. I don't know that you can get mad about one or two, but it is interesting whenever the committee rankings come out and then the usual suspects just out of the woodwork going, oh well if this is this and then this is this, it'd be like, oh, you have a problem with a list of order of preference of 25 things? No way. I don't know that I can get super mad about any of this. Group of five is probably not loving it right now. There are zero non big 10 sec, big 12 acc teams other than notre dame who came in at 10. So we'll run through the rankings in case you haven't bought a computer. Ohio State, Indiana A and M, top three Bama, that would be your fourth buy four seed Georgia, Ole Miss, BYU at seven, Texas Tech eight, number nine Oregon, number 10 Notre Dame. Texas is 11, Oklahoma is 12. Oklahoma and Texas kind of fall into that old, I always use that old Baylor TCU thing from what was that? Like, I don't know, 10 years ago where the problem was the head to head was the loss, but it was a better loss. You know what I mean? Like you're sitting there going, hey, how are we going to do this? Like, well, the head to head should matter and the head to head should matter up until like maybe it doesn't matter and I don't even know necessarily how to define it because there'll be times where I'm just huge on the head to head. But then if you go Texas, Oklahoma and you're like, okay, wait a minute, Texas losses are to at number one Ohio State. But then the Florida loss is worse because technically if you're looking at what Oklahoma did, their loss is better to Texas who was actually unranked at that time and now ranked again. And then at home against Ole Miss against the top 10 team in the country. But they have the Michigan win in there. So look, if you want to do that for an hour, go ahead. I'm not going to do it right here. I think really what we would have are sort of the, the main talking points. If I were doing radio Today, I had three hours to fill. I'd probably still be talking NFL, but Texas, Oklahoma at 11 to 12 is irrelevant because on the seating part of this UVAs your 11 seed as the ACC champ even though they're ranked 14th in the committee's rankings. And then the 12 seed for this would be Memphis as your Highest group of five who again is not ranked. They're 22 in the AP. So yeah, big party momentum here for the bigger conferences. Small guys feeling left out. Welcome to college football. So Texas and Oklahoma is both relevant based on how the committee seems like if Texas all of a sudden or one of those two teams with like 14 or 15, you'd be like, okay, maybe they have work to make or some ground to make up here, some work to do. Although the committee emphasizes that we reseeded every single week. You can say that. But it also means it's like this is how you feel about these teams, which will be likely a lingering feeling through the rest of these rankings. So Oregon at nine. I have them four. No one agrees with me. The AP has them at six. The coaches poll has them at six. So the coaches, AP a little bit closer to me on this one. I understand the argument against Oregon. I understand every one of them. Best win is what Northwestern. Rosillo, you're. You pretend to be a knower of ball. Yeah. Resume is not going to work. You want something even worse for the Oregon resume. Their opponents combined winning percentage is just about 47% which ranks 116 in the country. Not great. Their loss is really good because again, I think conversely, the Indiana win at Eugene is the best win of the college football season. So can you be the best win and then also suck? Because I think a lot of people agree with the first part and disagree with the second part. I could tell you it was 2020 in the fourth quarter against Indiana because it was. But even I came on after that weekend was like, look, I'm putting Indiana too. I think it's the best win. And we can sit there and pretend it was really, really close, but I would say for three hours Indiana was clearly the better football team. So now you look at Oregon, if you really want to attack this and go, well, if you're digging into it like Northwestern's your best win, Montana State, Oklahoma State. Hey, Rosillo, don't you usually bring up those kinds of games and go, this is who you played in your non conference? Are you kidding me? Did you see what South Carolina was slated with this year? Fair point. Sometimes I do just watch the teams and go, hey, I think this team is pretty good. And it's kind of the, the thing that I can never, I can't say it other than you just have to believe in me. I believe at Happy Valley in the whiteout a few weeks ago, despite what's happened at Penn State and what's happened to James Franklin, I Believe that that was a hard game and a nice win. You want to believe that it was easy retroactively because Penn State shit on themselves against ucla, Northwestern against James Franklin looks like he's going to be vatech. If you want to tell me that it was actually way easier and the non ball knowers are falling for it, you can, you can make your point. I'm just going to disagree with it now if you want to say, hey, the lsu, Clemson, did you do the exact same thing I did? I thought beating Clemson opening week at Clemson was a tougher game. I think what we've learned is both those teams weren't that good. And I think that it could be, you know, it can be true with the Penn State one again, it's my opinion versus the LSU Clemson one where it could be my opinion that it's not as impactful. But there's more argument for that. I just think again, like Bama losing to Florida State, I think that was a really tough game for Bama. Florida State looked awesome. Sure. Bama was down three guys. Teams like Bama, I usually don't have a ton of sympathy when it's like, oh, you're missing, I mean other than a quarterback, maybe your left tackle or your best edge guy, they're missing a running back, one of the edge guys, and I think another offensive lineman who's not one of their best offensive linemen. So there's, there's a game that we're all going to keep playing here over and over and over again arguing for or against. And what I think is lost in all of that is that anytime a team doesn't have necessarily a great record or you're the disaster that is Penn State based on expectations and everything that's happened with them, then the mistake is that that win actually isn't a good win. And I don't, I'll never agree with that. I'll never think after watching that Penn State, Oregon game going like, yeah, it was pretty easy actually because Penn State sucks. Shouldn't have gone overtime if Oregon's that good. So a lot of arguments against my position on liking Oregon more. I totally understand all of them. Let them fly. But that's where I'm at with the Ducks, uva, what do we do with Chandler, Morris and the crew? Because if you start looking at the worst loss, the Bama Florida State loss as of right now looks like the worst loss of any of these top teams. Then maybe you go Texas, Florida. I don't think at the Swamp is a bad loss. Then you start thinking, okay, where's that next bad one? Is it Virginia and NC State? Virginia is in a weird stretch, double overtime, Florida State. The overtime game, Louisville 2220 against Washington State is 4 and 5 overtime win at UNC, which I guess UNC's a little bit better, but I don't think Syracuse played like a lacrosse player at quarterback. And then at Cal, which I, you know, traveling all the way out there, going out of Cal, even though Sanga Pulatelli is not like the hipster thing anymore for them. I don't know that that's like, hey, I was on the fence about uva, but after those five games, I'm all in. But ACC champ, they're going to get in, so it's not going to matter. Look, I think the biggest thing that I, I kind of love about this year versus last year is how dumb we all collectively can be as people. I'm reading 1929 right now in the Great Depression. And more and more as I've, I've gone through my readings, if you're new here, I just start coming back. Like, I think there's so many of us that want to do the right thing, that are not a burden to society, that just get really frustrated with the people. It's like, are you just a taker? Are you a complainer and a taker? I mean, the combination of like the worst people you can think of. Because I think most of us are wired the right way and kind of want to stay out of each other's way and hope everybody does as well as they can and are happy. I think unfortunately we hear from a lot of the people that fuck it up. But then you read a book like 1929 and you're like, maybe we just are all way worse collectively than we'd like to believe. Maybe my first point is actually completely wrong and that even if we're nice to people and we stay out of each other's way, our belief system, the way we project things, that we were just so much more flawed than we could ever imagine. You know, the no good government line of like, do you ever realize that whatever system that you have, you always think that the other system is going to be better? Much like firing head coaches in college football. And so when I think about the playoff committee and structuring this new 12 team playoff last year for them to go, hey, we're just going to give straight seeds to the conference championship winners no matter what, you're like, you do realize you could have a disastrous season where that team's automatically getting a bid and a chance to play for a national championship championship. Like there will probably be a eight win team. If you ran this out for 20 years as 12 teams, which isn't going to happen if you had that much history right in this, in the same exact system. Because you know, it doesn't really make a ton of sense like, well, last year the committee did this. It's like, well, last year was the first year of a new system. So it's going to run out 10, 20 years before we think we can come up with any kind of tread trend. And again, the committee is completely different every single year. But that with this system in play, someone in a hypothetical scenario that stinks as a conference champ of a conference, that's terrible. It's like, hey, you're welcome to the party here because we want this to be. I'm not going to bring up socialism right now, but we want there to be elements of this where it feels like everybody's involved and everybody gets their chance to. Everyone has a seat at the table, the program. And then you're like, yeah, but we're also going to give the top four seats, those champs or the higher ranked group of five team that we had last year. And you just go, yeah, that's really stupid. That's really stupid. Like you could have Oregon who got the buy in the second round playing Ohio State. Penn State who did not get the buy because they smashed SSMU as the ACC champ for two years now. It's just ACC is not doing a great job perception wise. But then you have Penn State play SMU and then they're playing Boise. So Penn State's playing Boise because of the seating stuff in the second round and Oregon's playing Ohio State. And this is the part back to the human nature where I'll finish again is that sometimes we can see the mistake before the mistake happens. But we don't change until has to take place. We can see the hypotheticals and be like, ah, we'll be fine. And then the first year of the new 12 team playoff, you're like, you know what's not cool is that, is that seeding. So at least now we have the straight seeds. Even if I still hate the 12 teams.
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Adrian Wojnarowski
It's official.
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Ryan Rosillo
The big shack is out now. I tried it just two days ago and it lives up to the name. It's a serious burger. Two Angus beef patties, three buns, new secret sauce. It's stacked, balanced and built the right way. You get everything you expect From Shake Shack. Fresh ingredients, that toasted potato bun and sauce that pulls the whole thing together for 9.99. It's kind of wild how much burger you're getting, especially one that doesn't taste like typical fast food. It's big, it's fresh, and it's legit. One of their best burgers yet. I gotta be honest with you, I've been around for a lot of the Shake Shack timeline. I remember the first time I was like, wheat, this is allowed. We're allowed to have it taste this good and come out this quickly. I was even the voice of the Buffalo chicken thing. Buffalo Shack. That was me. It was like, man, that sounds familiar. That guy's usually just giving us great NBA takes. Is he talking about spicy chicken, too? Well, now I'm talking about burgers, and I'm talking about multiple patties, and I'm talking about the middle bun in there, the foundation, the just putting up the forms and pouring it. That's what that middle bun is doing. It was incredible having the smell of Shake Shack in my house for an entire day and starting on a Monday morning. And I loved it. I don't want to tell you I took a little long in getting the boxes out of here, but it's just something about it inspires me. If you've been waiting to see what all the hype's about, today's the day. Go to Shake Shack and order the Big Shack. Sounds familiar. Made different trade deadlines behind us. It was an exciting one. Very excited to talk to Diana Rossini, who joins us quite a bit from the athletic. Check out her column on Saturday mornings. Me and the family, we start our Saturdays with it. Soccer practice. We're like, we'll get there, but we've got to read all this info first. And of course, her podcast, Scoop City. It's good to see you. What's up? Busy day?
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Diana Rossini
Hi. Busy day. Yeah. Not expected. I will say that it was one of these trade deadlines where, you know, when you talk to a bunch of people around the league, they all say the same thing, which is, ah, it's a lot of smoke. You know how this goes. Everyone just likes to make it sound exciting. And then Monday, I feel like it shifted it. Conversations that I think were. I think a lot of the flirting started to get really serious. And then we saw what we saw, which. Which was pretty wild. And it. When you take a look at it, big picture, though, if the jets didn't decide to do what they did, I actually don't think this Would have been as juicy. Right. It would have been just like they always are. It was the jets making that call over the weekend, which is, from what I understand is when they, when they said, okay, we're doing this, that's essentially what made this fireworks, you know.
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Ryan Rosillo
All right, so let's get into the jets thinking here. The Sauce trade is huge. We'll talk about the cold side of it, obviously, the cor. So we're talking about like two. Two pieces of your defense here, foundational pieces. They just redone the deal with Sauce, which is like historic in itself. Like, hey, rookie, massive extension, but we'll trade you before that. I think the number I saw was like two first rounders involved in season in the trade. First time it happened, like 30 years or something. Or maybe the second time in the last 30 years. So let's start at least with Sauce. It's a need for the Colts with their injuries at the secondary, you could argue a bit like there's some declining numbers there. You look at the passer rating against Sauce, at least for this season. But, you know, okay, so fine, like maybe he's dipped a bit, but the thought of resetting it already, even though, yeah, it's been a largely disappointing year for the Jets.
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Diana Rossini
Yeah, I think that just tells you that they made that decision collectively. And from what I understand that it was. This wasn't like Woody or his son saying, we're doing this, we have to tear this thing down. This is Mugi and Aaron Glenn who, you know, you gotta take into account that Aaron Glenn was a corner and he just traded it away in all pro corner. Right. Like, you know that position well and you know what the expectations are. And that just says to me that they didn't think they were good enough for what they want to do. But I also think they know that the New York jets aren't going to be good enough to have these guys on the team. There's no reason to have them when they can start building towards doing what they need to do, which is go get a quarterback. Like, that's what this move is about. That's what both these moves are about, of how can we finally go get what we need. And I mean, initially when I, when I was reflecting on the moves they made, I'm like, this just feels like deja vu. And it is. They did this already, right? But they did this a few years ago and they found the pillars and these two guys were part of it, yet they just haven't had the quarterback. I was at the owners Meeting like two weeks ago, and I was talking to Woody Johnson about all the different things from the past year. And he was, he was really transparent. He was really open. He took time to, to talk and I appreciated that. But the last thing I asked him, right as I could tell, like he was kind of done talking to me, I said, hey, before you go, who are the most important people with the New York jets organization in terms of the players on your roster? Like, when you look at your roster, name the foundational pieces, the pillars, and he's like, we're all good here. And he walked away. And I was like, that's so weird. That's a layup question, right? Like, that's an opportunity to talk about all the guys that you want. And yet I think I know why now. I think he knew then that he was going to have to move on from the pieces that we would have thought a Quinn and Williams was a Sauce Garner. We're going to be the future Garrett Wilson, obviously he's like loved by Woody Johnson, so I knew he wasn't going anywhere. Couple teams called to to get a feel, but the jets phones were busy over the weekend because I think a lot of teams realized that they were willing to tear this thing down a bit.
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Ryan Rosillo
Okay, now take us through the Corinne Williams thing because again, it's the Sauce decline for whatever we think it is. It's probably being overstated. Right? Like, I share that number. Go ahead. It seems like you have something in your mind.
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Diana Rossini
Yeah, no, no. It made me think of Indy. Right. Like Indy's not saying it. Indy's not looking at it that way. Like it is funny because it's now their prize. I just think what sauce was going to be able to provide the jets for right now is a wash. Whereas you look at Chris Ballard making a move like this and Lou Adoromo is sitting in a meeting yesterday when he found out about it, and you know, he's jumping for joy just knowing what it can do for a beat up secondary, as you explained, but also just to help with the pass rush. Right. Like, think about what Lou was able to do in that AFC Championship game with a roster that I would argue was not as good as this indie roster. Like, this is the piece they need. An organization that believes that they, they're in this, they're going all the way, they're going all in. And also obviously going in, all in on. On Daniel Jones. Right. Because that was another thing. I talked to Indy a few weeks ago. Like, why don't you just extend the guy, if you like him so much, and they'll go, we'll get there. We'll get there. We want to see. Well, we don't have to see, right? They just told us. They just told us Daniel Jones is the future, whether they have a deal with him or not. In eight games, which I don't know, are you, like, are you sold yet? Like, I don't know, maybe I'm too close to New York and I saw too much Daniel Jones that I'm still like, damn. Like, isn't there an injury that's going to pop up here? And I don't want to put that out there, you know, but that's a lot to. To say. Daniel Jones is the guy already.
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Ryan Rosillo
I've seen it argued a bit like this just means that the Jones thing will happen because they're using this kind of draft capital on a corner, which would take them out of the. Look, it doesn't take them out of the market. If Jones thing doesn't work out, it's like, oh, we made the sauce trade, so now we cannot figure out a way to draft another quarterback. We draft one later. There's. It just allows you less flexibility to use as much capital for somebody on that. But, yeah, I'm. This is. This is a lot like college football in Indiana, Ohio State, like, Ohio State's a 3 1/2 point favorite and a hypothetical matchup here in the Big Ten Championship. And I think Indiana is incredible. I think they've had the best win in college football this season. But it's going to be really, really hard for me to pick Indiana in that game. And it's going to have everything to do with just the history and the uniforms and all the stuff that shouldn't matter. And when I look at the afc, I was looking at the playoff seedings today. I was like, I have to get to the fifth seed before, like, okay, you know, like, I'm not going to pick Denver to win the afc. I'm not going to pick Pittsburgh, which is now only seated the way it is because of the division. You know, I'm not going to pick New England, which is a nice story, but it probably has as much to do with scheduling, and we'll see how the rest of it plays out here. And so that leaves you with the Colts. And it's like, every single number tells you. Like, every number here tells you. Like, they're really balanced. Jones would be great. I know this is coming off the Steelers loss where they had five turnovers before the Steelers had That fumble.
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Adrian Wojnarowski
But.
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Ryan Rosillo
The only thing getting in the way is that is this really going to happen? They're really going to play in the super bowl. Turning this thing around with Daniel Jones in one year.
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Diana Rossini
Yeah.
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Ryan Rosillo
Like, it just feels hard. It feels hard to say that.
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Diana Rossini
It's so hard. It's in. You know, is Ice Spice gotta like Indy? You know, she dates Sauce Gardner. You probably don't know that. Do you know who Ice Spice is?
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Ryan Rosillo
But I do. Let me write that down. Is it spelled the normal way?
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Diana Rossini
This is why I come on the show, to keep you updated with all the. The rappers, dating players. Cardi B. See her in the, in the, in the, in the suite.
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Ryan Rosillo
I did see that.
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Diana Rossini
Rubbing that belly.
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Ryan Rosillo
I was happy. Everybody seemed to be having a pretty good time.
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Diana Rossini
When did New England become fun? Oh, my gosh. It's like everything on my. On my, like, social media is just like them, like, celebrating. I'm like, what is where. What planet am I on right now? But yeah, so. So really to. To put a bow on Indy. Yeah.
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Ryan Rosillo
It's a huge need though, to your point. Like, Javarius wards out with that strange pregame injury. No, it's not like there's name brands at corner and they've been shuffling. Go ahead.
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Diana Rossini
But there's talent. And I keep stepping on you today. Sorry, man. It's not like I came in hot, it's just there. The roster has been talented, though. And I remember talking to someone there this summer and I wasn't like, they kept telling me how good they are, which, you know, everyone says that in the summer, but I'm like, what? Like, really? And. And it's always like, oh, we're a quarterback away. We're a quarterback way. And then when you kind of go through that, like, you see, you're like, you're kind of right. Like, they are built really well. They just have been so bad at quarterback. It's been hard to appreciate them because they haven't been able to show that off. And go figure, it's Daniel Jones that is the one that, that shines the star now. Um, so I'll be curious to see what kind of deal they will reflect. Like a Sam Darnold deal that we just saw get done. You know, the two quarterbacks right now that I had no idea were going to be this good this year are now the story. And remember too, in this time of year, this is a general manager who, you know, he was under the gun to win this year. He is like, he's had plenty of time. And Shane Sten as well. So I think you make these moves because you're all in. You have this attitude of like, we got to win, we got to do this. And he may. Right. He may be right. Just like I look at the jets making these decisions, we may look at this in three years and be like, holy hell, the jets are dangerous. Or we'll be having a conversation about who the new general manager is going to be.
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Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, right. It just depends on whether or not they hit on these draft picks. And then, I mean, we're talking not a couple years before the picks. We're talking like five years to know if this even worked out. And so whenever you're trading somebody like Sauce, who, you know, you think more often than not, you know, he's not certain. I don't think he's Singletary, but he's certainly in the next conversation. You know, it's. It's a bit like. And I'm, I'm doing another analogy here, but I cannot stand when bad baseball teams trade an ace, especially like a young guy that's under control. Because I'll just think, like, you're going to. Whatever you think you're doing in two or three years, you're desperately going to want one of these pitchers and you're not going to have it. So if he's happy and he's fine, like, I don't think the need is that everything has to be torn down and you're not allowed to have anything good.
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Diana Rossini
Well, that's why they didn't move Jermaine Johnson. That's why they didn't move Bree Hall. Right. Like, I think there's a little bit of that there as well.
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Ryan Rosillo
But the whole thing, the whole thing would have happened if they've gotten the third rounder instead of the fourth rounder. Right. Which it probably felt like other teams that were calling or they go like, look, they're tearing it down. They'll give in. It's a running back. They're not going to argue third or fourth rounder. And it sounds like they held to that.
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Diana Rossini
Yeah, they did. And, and I don't necessarily. Not that I'm like Ms. GM over here, but I don't necessarily agree with that decision because you're not keeping the guy, obviously. Right. You're not going to tag him. I mean, if they tag him, I don't, I really don't get that. Right. You. You already haven't extended him. And he wants out, like, everything is in line to just move, to just move the player and just get More back, but they didn't want to do it. The Jermaine Johnson one over the weekend, I was hunting on that because I had heard from a bunch of teams, like, they're listening on him, Quinn, and not so much. And the. And people with the jets kept putting it out to us, like, yeah, we're not moving them unless it's for a boatload. So the fact that Dallas was able to come in, I think it was around Saturday night when conversations started to get serious, or even Sunday morning where it was like, oh, wait, it. Dallas may actually really do this and give up a lot. And, you know, even talking to Jerry Jones recently about it, I mean, he loved telling us all, like, I got the picks. I got them. I got. You know, I got the ammunition, and I want to do something with it. Everything. He's. It's funny, I kept getting questions from even, like, my editor. He's like, hey, you got these great on the record quotes on. From Jerry Jones. Do you believe him? I'm like, I know. Is that crazy? Like, I have to wonder if the. If the owner's lying to me. But he didn't. He did lie. Like, he was like, I'm not going pass rush, and I'm going to make moves. So it's like he's like. And I like to stir it up. So everything, check, check, check, check. And he did it. You know, it's just. I don't know what their plan is, but why don't we go back to the jets real quick on the Quinn and thing, and then we'll. You. You want to talk a little Dallas here?
- [27:51]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, yeah, because, I mean, Quinn and I. And I hate that I keep kind of referencing it this way because I just don't think. I think Sauce maybe has numbers this year that don't look as good. There's other numbers that do look good. The Aaron Glenn part of it is absolutely fascinating. I don't know if it means that Lou's going to use Sauce more in zone, which is probably more to his liking, and that they're like, hey, they're using him wrong. And Glenn wanted to be somebody different. The Quinn and Decline feels like it's a little bit more real. And he's expensive. If you talk time to pressure, it's gone down, like, three straight seasons. I still think he's a terrific player. Okay. But Dallas, I was wondering, is everyone kind of on the same page and you need a zag here? There's no argument to understand the Parsons transaction in relation to Quinn, and there's none. Especially once you realize that the jets control. It's almost like the NBA swap here. They control the better of the 27 first rounders. So considering how massive that might be between where the packers, which we'd expect to still be good, the gap between who the packers would be and then who the Cowboys would be and then going we'll take the better pick. Like that's the kind of movement that can cost you a first rounder in and of itself to move up to the 20s into say the teens. If the Cowboys are like, it could be even worse. So sure Quinn and is less than Micah costs. But to brag about the Micah hall and then to flip it for Quinn and later on use some of that money that you could have used in Micah and then have the 27 pick the better one in the jets control. This is fucking stupid.
- [29:20]
Diana Rossini
They don't think it is though, right? And, and look, they're dug in on it. They made the decision. And Jerry will tell you a million times he has no regrets. I got the picks, I'm not spending as much money. And they're going to try to make and prove that this was the right move. But you break it down the way you just did. And most people that I was talking to trying to get some reaction to all this around the league yesterday look at it exactly the same. Like this is. This is not a win in terms of if you want to compare it, because there is no comparison. And it's such a basic response. But my favorite thing people say is like, do you know what the Dallas Cowboys need? They need Micah Parsons, you know what I mean? And this will just go down as one of those trades. And I just think the fact that we just don't know what the philosophy is there, especially when you have a front office, including Jerry, by the way, to give him the credit that is draft so well. And they built up this team really well based on the on the roster. Like Will McClay is definitely sitting there like, what the hell, man? Like, I've given you so many players. Why are we giving away so much I can draft well, what we're giving this away to to get Quinn and Williams right now is like, is this really going to move the needle for us? Is this really going to get us into the NFC Championship game? Based on the way I've seen this defense look, I don't think so. Like, I don't think Logan Wilson is going to come in here, you know, a Dallas defense that struggles and then they go, oh wait, let's go get a player from a worst defense. You know what I mean? Like, let's go get Logan. I just. I'm not sure what they were trying to do here. And look, they looked into a lot of other options too. You know, they called the Bengals about Trey Hendrickson. That was a name, by the way, that I did think would generate more. He. He cooled off in the last day or so. They were looking for a first rounder for him. Monday afternoon, it was like 4:30. I was talking to someone. Like, they're still looking for a first rounder for him. This has got to drop. I do think it wound up getting down to about a second rounder, but. But no one took it. And so Trey Hendrickson stuck there for the next half of the year in Cincinnati.
- [31:37]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, the other part of it, and, you know, not to bring it back to Micah, but it makes sense in looking. Okay, you brought this in. These are the arguments and whatever. But, you know, whatever you think of. Of Micah even, okay, like, you like Garrett better than him, fine. You like Max Crosby better than him, fine. I don't think anybody would want TJ over him at this point. Bose's injuries kind of take him out of the equation here a little bit. There's some other pass rushes that maybe for a year that we like, but, like, what are we talking about? Third best of his position and you can line up all over the place, and he's young and he plays and like, is he at worst a top 20 player in the NFL? And then you want to start getting cute about money? I just don't have any sympathy for teams when it's like, okay, so whatever the structure of the deal is now, it's fine. But like, in 2021, the NFL salary cap was 120. Excuse me, 182.5 million. This year, it's 279 million. So even to the Sauce contract, we're like, oh, well, the extension hasn't even kicked in. The Colts may look at that and going, hey, we really love this guy. We love the age. We love the certainty. Sure, it's a big price, but like. Like, we have him locked in at a number now. That's not. It's not that it's in the 20s. It's that. Look at how much it declines versus what it is, percentage of our total cap space. And that's kind of the mica part of it where it's like, all right, you don't like the money up front, you don't like the cash out, you don't like the three years that you're locked into this whole thing. But the NFL with this exploding business is created almost, you know, this, this, it's not like a get out of jail free card, but like you can kind of screw up on a contract in a way. The other sports you can't screw up on because of how like the cap number has absolutely exploded here in a very short amount of time.
- [33:23]
Diana Rossini
Which is why the other big theme that, that you saw, like a bit of a trend and Philly, probably more specifically, they ate a lot of money for better draft picks, right? When teams were making trades where they were willing to take on a lot of the contract knowing that it's not a big deal, they can afford it, the seller kept going up, you know, and, and teams that smart, teams were doing that in order to get better draft capital. But I, I will say this for, especially as somebody that has been so hard on the jets just because it hasn't been good, right? Like we've reported a lot. I, I, I like the aggressiveness here and I like the honesty that they're having. Right. Because I think that's a big issue that teams go through is what are we really. And no one wants to just say the truth, which is we're not good and we're not going to be good for a while because nobody wants to hear that. And no owner wants to hear it because most people in these positions in the general manager and head coaching roles aren't confident, confident enough in, in their roles, but also just in, in the, the team's commitment to them to say it, to go look like we gotta do a lot of things over the next few years because most owners are impatient. So, so credit to the jets for having the guts here to go, we need to make big moves here and take a couple swings to, to set this thing right. Because if we just keep treading water like this, we're all going to lose our jobs.
- [34:50]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, I like it. Especially when you don't have the quarterback and you're like, we're not going to be good. And you could even apply that a little bit. Even though this Dallas offense is terrific, Dak has been really good. You love the receivers, what they've done at running back, like the tight end, and they're just scoring all these points, but the record isn't very good. Nobody really thinks they're any kind of threat whatsoever. So it's like, what are you doing here? Like, why are you giving up this kind of capital for Quinn? And who May not even really be a need. Even though. Look, I, I like Quinn and Williams. I mean, if there's. There's one part of this that I want to make clear is that I definitely like him.
- [35:21]
Diana Rossini
It kind of reminds me, like, you know. You know when you go to the casino and you hit and you got like a bunch of cash that you didn't start the day with, and you're like, oh, it's just house money. So you, you, you. Like, I play roulette. Like, I, I'll throw like 50 bucks on one number. Something I would never do, but because I have it, I'm like, yeah, why not? Like, I think there's a little bit of that too in this for, for Jerry. Of like, well, I got these things. I gotta do something with it. I'm getting older, you know, I can't just sit on these things. I'm not saying that's what he did, but it made me think of it yesterday. I'm like, man, he. He's playing roulette the way I do, which is not good, by the way.
- [35:56]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, what's the deadline? Like, hey, let's do something. Well, I don't know.
- [35:59]
Ceruti
This.
- [36:00]
Ryan Rosillo
This one's really, really tough to justify. I think in connection with the Parsons thing, which we've covered, you mentioned Hendrickson as a name. I don't know if we're allowed to get a little irresponsible here. I don't want you to get yourself in trouble, but were there any other names that at least people were saying, hey, this could be in play that. That didn't happen.
- [36:18]
Diana Rossini
Yeah, there's names in teams, right? I think the pass rush position was, was a need for, for, for everybody. Buffalo was poking around all day. They were trying to make something happen. In terms of player. Yes. Trey Hendrickson definitely leads the pack. For me, in my mind, Jermaine Johnson. I know the Bears were trying to get something done there that even close to the, to the deadline, it was like one 132 o'. Clock. I was talking to somebody that was like, this. Be ready for this. This could happen. And then the jets decided to stay pat on it because they weren't getting the second rounder that they were looking for. I think A.J. brown had the biggest name in this trade deadline from a. Philly was so strong about letting everyone know we are not moving him. We love him. We need him. But it was so hard to gauge what was the reality. Just knowing how miserable the player's been. Right. Like, all you have to do is go to his Instagram. And you can pretty much read the tea leaves here, which is. He was fed up with everyone and everything, with the way the offense was running, you know, and. And look, there's a couple conversations that you could have in relation to AJ Brown, one of it being, what is he so upset about coming off the Minnesota game? He's got two touchdowns, 120 yards. He wants to be part of this offense consistently throughout. Right. He. He doesn't want to just be used to use his word right. When. When they need him. So how do you fix that? And if you have a disgruntled wide receiver, which we've seen a million times in our careers, right, where, you know, they want the ball more, how do you manage those personalities and keep him happy? Which is why I kept watching that. I know Philadelphia fans were getting frustrated with some of my reporting on it, because some. I've seen this happen a million times where the player pushes enough that whether or not financially it works or doesn't, teams will just go, I'm done with this. You are a cancer. This is not helping us. And I'm not saying A.J. brown's a cancer, but how much can they manage there? And lucky. Lucky for AJ and really lucky for Howie Roseman. Philly's good at one thing, and that's dealing with drama. Right? They've done. They've done very well with that over the last year. They did it last year, and they won a Super Bowl. A.J. brown wasn't happy last year. Right. So we'll see what happens in the off season. But. But that was a name that I. Look, I knew it was a very small shot they were going to move them, but I thought maybe it would get hot, depending on what the relationship was between the player and the team.
- [39:01]
Ryan Rosillo
Just an aside on the AJ Brown thing. Why is anyone acting like this is some secret? I mean, this has been going on now for a little while. You know what? I also started thinking about leading up to this trade deadline with just whatever stuff I was reading. It's not like I'm talking to anybody, but when he read the book on the sideline, and then it got pivoted into. This is just a way that he resets his mind and the book has really helped him. And then it was hilarious because then the author was, like, crushing it because everybody started buying the book and the whole thing. I just couldn't help myself, like, months removed from that, if, like, A.J. brown wasn't sitting there talking with his buddies, being like, I was doing that strictly Just to, like, I'm reading a book during the game, and then somehow it gets packaged into some sort of feature on these pregame shows of, like. Like, yeah, man. You know, this is because it's actually still, I think, kind of up.
- [39:49]
Diana Rossini
It is really up. Like, that is a distraction. Like, most. Most organizations would be. Like, yeah, you're not going to be part of this. This is selfish. Right. But I think, yeah, again, like, it's not.
- [40:02]
Ryan Rosillo
Like, that's the problem. Like, Right. Like, it's. How selfish is it if it's helping him with his mental health and all this? It's like, yeah, but, like, hey, go to imagine if just a bunch of dudes just started reading books all the time. Like, oh, I've got this new Philbrick.
- [40:17]
Diana Rossini
Remember, like, Odell was, like, kicking nets and stuff, and we were like, get him out of New York. Like, you know, like, it's like, so stupid. Like, the. The. The.
- [40:25]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, the net kicked him back or headbutted him.
- [40:27]
Diana Rossini
Yeah, yeah. Did he get. He got, like, hurt, right, or he didn't get, like, serious?
- [40:31]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, I don't think he got hurt. It didn't work out.
- [40:33]
Diana Rossini
It didn't work out.
- [40:34]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah.
- [40:34]
Diana Rossini
Yeah. I. I just think with the A.J. brown situation, it's. It's kind of like watching, you know, it's. It's just boiling up, and he's allowed it to explode, and they know it. And you're right. Like, I don't think people in Philly are blind to it. I think they're in denial. Right. They don't want to see it because nobody wants to see this offense without AJ Brown. After Lane Johnson, he's the best player, right? On offense. Like, I'd say A.J. brown is, without a doubt their best player after Lane.
- [41:06]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, I don't know. I mean, Saquon's in the conversation, not the issue. Or are you just going on 25 and the fact that.
- [41:13]
Diana Rossini
Yeah, that'd be interesting.
- [41:16]
Ryan Rosillo
I mean, we're just talking about player.
- [41:17]
Diana Rossini
Like, we have to mention, like, we're not, like, annoyed either way. He said he's crucial, right?
- [41:22]
Ryan Rosillo
Sure. Yeah. Yeah.
- [41:23]
Diana Rossini
So, look, we'll. We'll see how they manage it, but it definitely would have been the headline if they just. If they decided to move them.
- [41:33]
Ryan Rosillo
Were you surprised that Arizona went with Brissette in the way that they did? In that they were like, hey, even if Kyler's healthy, Brissette's going to be the starter.
- [41:42]
Diana Rossini
Something's so weird there, right? Like, something's. Something's not right in In Arizona.
- [41:47]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, they had the out. They. They could have not said it that way and yet still believed it.
- [41:51]
Ceruti
Yeah.
- [41:52]
Diana Rossini
Like, doesn't that tell you? Like, going back to what we.
- [41:54]
Ryan Rosillo
It tells me.
- [41:55]
Kyle
It tells me a lot. Yeah.
- [41:56]
Diana Rossini
Like, we're like, why do we do this? Like, if. If we can see it, it's probably happening and there's probably something wrong. Like, that's not the normal way you do it. If you think that he's the best player for your team to play quarterback. And look, Jacoby versus done a really good job. And you look at. I can't believe we're even saying this in 2025, that Jacoby Brissette did a really good job over Kyler Murray, who, when he is healthy and it is working, he's electric. Right. He's. He's a good quarterback when. When it's coming together and it's right. But there's always been something with him internally in the building that it's. I don't know if it's. It's being a teammate. I don't know if it's. If it's his habits. I don't know if it's the job of playing quarterback. Right. You always hear coaches talk about that, like, you have to know how to be the guy in that position because it comes with more than just understanding the playbook. But. But it definitely feels off there in. In terms of what this regime wants and if they're going to be committed to him, and I'd be interested to see what they do this off season, what he would be worth, you know.
- [43:08]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. And the numbers are. I mean, whether it's eye test or numbers, they're better on third down. They're scoring five more points per game. McBride has been different. Marvin Harrison has been completely different. And, you know, it's kind of interesting, too, because when you take out Kyler's rushing stats for the team on the yards per carry, it's not like they're this threatening run team, and yet Dallas is just going for play action all night against them, and they just. They just dominated that part of the game against them. So I guess I'm always a little surprised in the massaging of the decision. Like, we can all sit there and say, hey, man, it looks like Brissette's just been steadier. This Kyler thing, you know, there were some early years where I thought, hey, this guy's making throws that there's just not a very long list of people that can pull some of this stuff off. There was that season where it felt like the only reason they were in these games or having these big moments at the end was just sheerly based on his talent. With not a great roster. I'm over, like, all the early immaturity stuff, like, it doesn't really matter, but the fact is, like, he'll take hits that you can't believe he got hurt on. And then it's not like, hey, I'm going to be limping around next quarter. It's like, I'm going to be out for a month. And it would make sense based on his frame. And so, you know, looking at the money, they're still into a lot of money. There's like a $50 million number going into, I think, 26. And then maybe after that they can get out of this kind of thing.
- [44:22]
Diana Rossini
But that he's got guaranteed money left.
- [44:25]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Next year's number is, like, really big. So it also talks about, like, from the trade. Like, that's the other thing that'll happen is you would think if you've turned on. If you've turned the page from him as an organization, and then you're thinking, like, okay, well, we have to trade him, then you're almost making excuses for him to sort of retain some sort of value if you were going to talk to other teams about it. So I. I'm not saying it was like, I appreciate the honesty, but I was surprised at the transparency.
- [44:53]
Diana Rossini
Yeah, there's been a lot of that around where people, like, look at Dan Quinn the other day, just straight up was like, yep, I messed that up. Which I.
- [45:01]
Ryan Rosillo
All right, so let. I know you have something on that, so let's talk about that. With Daniel's injury.
- [45:04]
Diana Rossini
Well, I think there's a lot to it. There is a lot, but there's not a lot. Right. This is obviously a bad decision. He admitted it. We don't have to debate why he did it. We know that he made the wrong call. The reason why they did it, from what I understand, though, was to give the offense some confidence. Not in this game. Like, this is about, like, just trying to find a rhythm, and they just felt like they were so disjointed. Again, I'm, I, I'm. I'm just sharing why they did it. I don't agree with it. It's stupid. Like, you think you need to find rhythm in your offense in the fourth quarter when you're down four scores. Like, this doesn't make any sense to me. It's funny. I was talking to my co host On Scoop City, Chase Daniel about it and he's the backup quarterback. Perspective, so funny to me. He's like in a game like that, like I'm warmed up, like I'm going in. Like you're, you don't think you're not going in any other time. Nine times out of ten you're going in. And so he was just saying like if it's a three score game, he understood why they kept him in. But four score, like this is stupid. That's just dumb. And look, that's something Dan Quinn has to, has to deal with now. But also I think you also, you have to take into account and even just talking to friends of mine that live in Washington, like everyone's got PTSD so bad from RG3, like another injury against Seattle, you know, and, and it, it feels like a long time ago and it was. But that was the last time Washington felt like this, you know, where Washington felt like they were a true contender with a quarterback and now he goes and gets hurt because the coach kept him in too long again, like really we're doing this. So unfortunately I just think this is the, the second year quarterback syndrome and this isn't on Jaden. I just think collectively Washington's just too old. They didn't make a lot of good decisions in terms of the roster and they've got injuries. So this will be the, this is the bad vibes team for me probably after Miami for this year.
- [47:10]
Ryan Rosillo
Mike Santo had this note yesterday on his piece in that in the Athletic and looking back, like running through the true media game scenarios. So six time over the past five regular seasons that a team trailing by exactly 31 points took possession between 13 and 12 minutes remaining in regulation per true media. And the other five cases coaches for the trailing teams did not make quarterback changes for that drive, including when Sean Payton left Nixon for a game last season in a 4110 loss.
- [47:38]
Diana Rossini
Wait, so that's in favor of Dan Quinn's decision making?
- [47:42]
Ceruti
Yeah.
- [47:43]
Ryan Rosillo
And I knew like, look, you can make a Jaden argument specific to Jaden where it's like he's already been dealing with injuries.
- [47:50]
Diana Rossini
He's a scrambler. Yep.
- [47:53]
Ryan Rosillo
I do wonder if Quinn believed it because history tells us that actually you do leave the quarterback in and you know, it's the prime time part of it. And if I've learned anything about this business, it's no one loves anything more than hey, the person that has this job that's supposed to know everything may look stupid and I may look smarter.
- [48:15]
Diana Rossini
Yes.
- [48:16]
Ryan Rosillo
So it was just universal praise of, like, Quinn's a moron. And it was also a very freaky injury, but because it was prime time, because it, you know, if it's a one o' clock window, I. This, this is not getting even close to the amount of tension. It's. It's like, oh, what happened? Oh, he got hurt. Oh, that's ugly. I mean, it's obviously really, really gross. But I think we're. Look, history tells us we're lying to ourselves if we think that every other quarterback is yanked in that situation.
- [48:47]
Diana Rossini
I, I hear you. I just think. And you made the point a minute ago. I just think who it is. Change the way you handle it. That's all. It's the style of quarterback he does. You know, this isn't Jared Goff, you know, Like, I'm just trying to think of someone that likes, you know, a different type of sit in the pocket type of quarterback. Like, this guy is athletic as hell and is making moves with his legs all day long, which is going to put him at risk all the time. So, yes, history says it. I just don't necessarily agree. It was the best thing not trying to pile on to Dan Quinn because it takes a lot of that to. To go out there and, and own that, by the way. Like, I don't know. I don't know a lot of coaches that would have done that. Maybe he had it though, right? It's like, at this point, what else is. He can't defend?
- [49:32]
Ryan Rosillo
It was smart. It was smart to own it, because even if he didn't believe it, then it adds on at a whole other layer. It's like, oh, what. What's up with this guy?
- [49:40]
Diana Rossini
Isn't that, like a lesson in life, though? Like, people just want to hear you eat it. They just want to hear you say it. That's what I've learned.
- [49:47]
Kyle
Yeah.
- [49:47]
Diana Rossini
That's why I'm so quick to be like, yeah, I fucked up, right? Because, like, because they want to watch you. Just, like, even. Just like, in reporting, like, I've made mistakes, especially early on, you know, I've. I've had to go on TV and be like, I got that wrong, you know, and then everyone gets off you. But if you, if you, if you just stick with it, then everyone just wants to tear you down all the time.
- [50:07]
Ryan Rosillo
Hey, we appreciate it. Make sure you check out Racini's column every Saturday morning for all of your NFL information and get some. I'd say get some rest, but I know you're not going to.
- [50:18]
Diana Rossini
Oh, yeah, the story of, like, insiders not sleeping is getting old. We sleep. Congratulations on the show. Congratulations to your whole crew. I just want to get on life advice once I know I don't bug you too much on things. I never have you come on my shows and stuff because I just don't do that. I don't like to ask people I care about to do stuff like that like you do. So I don't know, I just thought maybe, maybe a life advice segment one day. Because, you know, I love talking about all this stuff. Stuff. Especially now that, like, I'm old. Like, I've lived through a lot of things I want to share.
- [50:51]
Ryan Rosillo
I think you'd be great at it. I would just tell you we keep planning on having Michelle Smallman on. So if you hear Smallman before you, it has nothing to do with that. We weren't going to use you. It's just that that was a promise that was made and for whatever reason, it hasn't happened yet. She's just so busy five days a week now. She's a five days a week gal.
- [51:10]
Diana Rossini
Yeah, she's busy. I. I understand that, though. I think the listeners want to hear her first. My advice, by the way, I wasn't saying that because I have good advice. I just like to share the ridiculous things that I've decided in mind. In fact, I'm an example of what not to do. That's why you should have me on. But all right. I look forward to hearing Michelle. But. But for real, congrats. I'm so happy for you guys. You deserve all the success and I. I hope you guys continue to dominate.
- [51:34]
Ryan Rosillo
All right, thank you. I appreciate that. We're drive kings, guys, and we're excited about it. So, Rudy, Kyle, we've got a couple things chefing up for you. Some Harley Davidson gear as well for Kyle today. Notice I'm seeing him up on the video.
- [51:48]
Kyle
Dude, I might just start riding. I'm trying to decide who I'm going to be. There was an exercise ball. I was like, should I sit on the exercise ball today? I'm like, you know, it's new.
- [51:55]
Ryan Rosillo
New me, better for sex.
- [51:58]
Ceruti
Those upstate New York roast, man, they're.
- [52:00]
Ryan Rosillo
Just free office reference. You would have to understand that. And I said, you better get the reference in there because you just look super weird. Can we decide on who you're trying to be prior to life advice? Can we do that a little bit later in the show? Because I love this. I love the entire topic. I could do. I could not read emails and Just do this with you for 30 minutes.
- [52:17]
Kyle
I was thinking about maybe even going one button for life advice. One less button.
- [52:21]
Ryan Rosillo
I don't know.
- [52:21]
Kyle
We'll see. We'll figure it out.
- [52:22]
Ryan Rosillo
It's a long show on the table.
- [52:23]
Kyle
It's a long show.
- [52:25]
Ryan Rosillo
We're trying different stuff. I mean, the show is essentially the same, but who knows, you know, maybe. Maybe some different bunting. All right, good start. Good start for us. And we've got a. We've got an alliance play for you as well. So what do we got? Serious?
- [52:38]
Ceruti
Yeah. So we did our first king of the court pick last night. As a group, we each picked one guy and Ryan, you hit it. Josh Giddey, who is the top five player in the NBA apparently right now. He leads the night in points, rebounds, and assists. So you and anyone that followed you, I think it was like 10,000 people had giddy. He was. I think he was like the fourth highest choice. So everyone who had him won almost 100 bucks, like 90 something bucks in bonus bets, which is awesome. I had Maxi who came in second, and Kyle had Devin Booker came into fourth. So honestly, like, we were on it last night like we were locked in. So we are. We are king. You're king of the court. You're home for king of the court, apparently on DraftKings.
- [53:15]
Ryan Rosillo
So I get a shirt. I have to get a shirt out of that, don't you think? First pick with the new sponsorship and then it's just a good feeling.
- [53:22]
Kyle
You could probably expect at least a shirt. Yeah.
- [53:26]
Ceruti
Feels like we could pull that off. Yeah.
- [53:27]
Ryan Rosillo
Okay. That'd be cool. Originally, I was gonna go with Lamelo. I was gonna go.
- [53:31]
Ceruti
I know, scratch.
- [53:33]
Ryan Rosillo
And Ceruse's like, late scratch, buddy. And I was like, you know what? Give me Giddy. And how about the comeback for the Bulls? Last night I went to OKC's comeback. James Harden, I think at 17 points, eight minutes into the game, I had a blast. I was like, this is what I came here for. And you know, Jim played well. No Kawhi last night, but you could sense especially like Wiggins hits that three, they kind of messed up Collins. It was the two for one. And then they had the ball to almost the same as the game. Clock, shot clock. And then they took a shot a little bit too early. OKC comes. He said three. I was like, thunder winning this game. They're gonna come back and win this game. And they did. There you go. Little NBA for you. Tales from. Not the couch. Tales from the club seats. So, all right.
- [54:17]
Ceruti
We're bringing the alliance back. NBA alliance. So three picks for your boys. We're gonna do player props and be alliance.
- [54:24]
Kyle
Never, never, never is it a support I'm locked in on, but I'm. I'm a chameleon. I'll make a pick just like you guys.
- [54:30]
Ceruti
Yeah. What do we need? What do we need, Kyle? To bet, I guess. Drake Mayovers.
- [54:34]
Kyle
Hey, college special. I don't think anybody would dispute I'm a college basketball guy the last couple years at least.
- [54:39]
Ryan Rosillo
So if it was about watching, I wouldn't have had as disastrous a year in college football as I did. So, you know, don't worry about it.
- [54:46]
Kyle
Oh, you know what? You're right about that.
- [54:47]
Ryan Rosillo
All right, cool.
- [54:47]
Ceruti
Sometimes they say the more you watch, the worse you are, you know?
- [54:50]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, last year for college ball, for.
- [54:51]
Kyle
Me, absolutely becoming a little gratuitous.
- [54:53]
Ryan Rosillo
Let's get to the second. All right. How are you, though? How are you feeling, guys?
- [54:57]
Ceruti
I'm feeling great. And honestly, Kyle, why don't you lead us off? So we're going to do player props again. You could bet these individually or as a parlay, as the alliance parlay on DraftKings. So what do you got, Kyle?
- [55:06]
Kyle
I was looking at Brunson. I knew it. Off the jump, it's just, you know, the energy's here, even in the crown jewel.
- [55:12]
Ceruti
Feel it. Even upstate.
- [55:13]
Kyle
Yeah, Any bar you go in, the Knicks are on. It's awesome. And I had to scroll a little bit to the left to get. Because they wanted me to bet like over. Over 30 or 28. I went to 25. I believe that's like minus one 180 or minus 150. But for a parlay, that'll work for us. So I have Brunson 25 or more points as my leg.
- [55:33]
Ceruti
That is good. I am going to take my former nemesis, Lori Markkanen playing the Pistons tonight. He's averaging like 31 a game. Give me 25 plus points for Lori. So there you go.
- [55:45]
Ryan Rosillo
Donna George is going off. He's not even making threes yet. Yeah.
- [55:48]
Ceruti
Yep.
- [55:50]
Ryan Rosillo
Okay.
- [55:51]
Kyle
You like that 25 number too cool.
- [55:53]
Ceruti
Yeah.
- [55:53]
Ryan Rosillo
So we're gonna go with that.
- [55:54]
Ceruti
But then. And then. Ryan, what are you taking?
- [55:57]
Ryan Rosillo
I'm gonna zag on all this jaw stuff. I wouldn't trade you dick for that guy.
- [56:05]
Kyle
But.
- [56:08]
Ryan Rosillo
Give me noted for a night. Although I don't necessarily love the matchup defensively for him in this one. Maybe angry job gets up 26 shots tonight. So give me. I don't like the payout on the 20 or over points, the 22 or over, it drops down dramatically. I think it's like minus 194 to minus 120. So it's worth it. Just the value alone on the two extra points. So.
- [56:29]
Ceruti
All right, so Jalen Brunson, 25 or more. Lori Market in 25 or more and ja, 22 or more pays out just over 4 to 1. So come on, let's go.
- [56:39]
Kyle
Sweet spot.
- [56:41]
Ryan Rosillo
Also a little seed planting. I've got a thought because I was going to use this today, but he's not playing tonight. Embiid's not playing? I don't believe. I mean, do I need to double check this? Let me see. Let me go back. Because he's not on the board right now because I was going to do something different with my play that was Embiid based and it's watching a lot of Sixers. So let's just double check here. He's not playing back to back, so.
- [57:05]
Ceruti
It feels like he's not playing yet.
- [57:07]
Ryan Rosillo
And he wasn't available to pick here because I was looking for first. I was looking for action on first point scored in a game. If you watch Sixers games, one of the first things that they're trying to do is get him fouled. So they. He ended up taking a three in the Charlotte game. So he did score the first points in that one against Washington. This is when I first noticed it, when I was like, okay, he got an absolute dog foul call on Alex Saar and he was at the free throw line, made the free throw then against Boston in the rematch. I can't believe I'm going through this again. He had free throws. Actually, it was two minutes later there. So he was touching the ball when Jabari Parker. Excuse me, not Jabari Parker. That would be news. Jabari Walker ended up making the layup off the Embiid play. And then the reason that I'm bringing this to your attention is that last night as I watched the start of the Bulls game, I was like, oh, wow, 10 seconds into the game, bullshit foul on Buchovich, where all he's doing is just like, let me see if I can flail and get to the free throw line here early. So that's three of the last four games and the other was when he actually had the assist. So just planting the seed, planting the seed. First point scored. Next time he's back in there. And the reason I remember it is not so much because of tracking or charting what they're running. It's just how mad I would get. It'd be like, four, four o', clock, West Coast. Your visceral reaction, five o', clock, West Coast. All right, on the couch, ready to go. And then it's like the first thing I'm seeing to start the night is that foul call. That's garbage almost all the time. So rant over.
- [58:47]
Ceruti
All right, Good Note.
- [58:47]
Kyle
Shout out DraftKings.
- [58:49]
Ceruti
Yeah.
- [58:52]
Ryan Rosillo
He was. You know, I don't want Herb street to get jealous, but our guy here was going to be our first guest on the Ryan Russello show here. But he had a game. He had a big game. It's Adrian Orjnarowski, who is the general manager of Saint Bonaventures men's basketball team, and he's also the host of a podcast because he just can't leave this media stuff behind him. The program with Woj. Please subscribe to that and check out the first few episodes. It is great to see you, my friend. How are you, Ryan?
- [59:18]
Adrian Wojnarowski
It's great. Great to see you. Great to be with you, and it's great to be one. And now I'll tell you that.
- [59:24]
Ryan Rosillo
Okay, most of all, look, the announcement is just over a year old, right? You're leaving espn. You're going to a place that I know you love dearly, and we're going to get into that a little bit. So what's this year been like for you?
- [59:38]
Adrian Wojnarowski
It's been awesome. It's been awesome just being certainly back on campus, you know, spending the time that you do with our players and our guys. And then this university that, that I, I love and met my wife here and her side of the family all went here. And so it's a special place. But, oh, it's a challenge this job is, especially in this climate for schools like Saint Bonaventure. It's a challenge. It's like putting a puzzle together. But I love it. And, and it's. It's fun, ryan, to, at 56 years old, you know, really learn something entirely new and sort of take the things that, you know, I think are helpful from the job I used to do that helped me in this. But then kind of also recognize you've got blind spots and you've got a lot to learn, and that's been. That's been a ton of fun.
- [60:30]
Ryan Rosillo
So, you know, you've spent your life watching sports. You know, I know that you had a bit more of a. Of a diversity of background and, like, some of the sports that you covered and, and, you know, like, you were ground, you know, up Grassroots, like, grinding local newspaper and all that kind of stuff. But then you become the most powerful person in information when it comes to the NBA. And I know that I've spent. I remember the Tate George draft pick. I was like, hey, I watched this guy all these years, like, he's not an NBA player. I can't believe they drafted him. Like, nice shot against Clemson. But like, come on, you'd be kidding me. So. So I think those of us that spend our lives watching this sport assume that we think we can evaluate talent. So did you. Did you think that you could evaluate talent while you were also covering this league?
- [61:16]
Adrian Wojnarowski
No, but I think that what I thought I could do and what I thought that would certainly be something that would be helpful to me was that having been around two things I thought that I had coming into this job, the kind of people, the kind of players who are successful and who they are and who's around them and what they're about, like, as people, and then the kind of people who fit at St. Bonaventure. And for us, that's gym rats. That's guys who love to play. There's no distractions at our place. It's probably. I think it's a lot like being at uvm, you know, if you're looking for a third thing, we don't have it. You know, you're going to go to school, you're going to play ball, and we've got a great coach and an incredible environment to play college basketball in a great league in the A10. But there's no question. And that's kind of the blind spots of learning curve. And so what I tried to do, Ryan, is kind of come into this really humble at that, and, you know, initially, you know, come in with. With players or think, hey, I think this might be a fit for us. And you go to an assistant and sit down and talk about, hey, why that's not a fit for us. Being at practice every day really helps to see. It's one thing to be able to. You know, I used to watch all the games at Bonaventure, being in practice every day to see who can play for Coach Schmidt here. But. But then really leaning on people who know, I'm not that smart, Ryan, but I do know a lot of smart people. And so sharing tape and getting evaluations from folks in the NBA. I'll give you an example. When we're recruiting international players, especially, you know, there's European scouts or outside of Europe or wherever we are in the world, you know, if You're a good enough player for St. Bonaventure. If you're good enough for us to want to be able to recruit, there are evaluations on you with incredible intel that NBA teams have. So being able to get access to those and, you know, especially to learn about guys, backgrounds, who they are, if there's any red flags and, you know, you're just trying to eliminate people and then, you know, spending a lot of time watching guys. And so we're excited about the group we put together. And then the other thing, Ryan, is we all can tell who the good players are, but it's in context of. Of what we can afford, trying to put a payroll together. And, you know, we've got a guy, Kaden Charles from Division 2 North Georgia, who's starting for us. I had. When we. When we signed him and recruited him, I thought he'd be a guy that would practice hard every day. High character guy, had done a lot of winning in Division 2. I didn't imagine he would be a starter for us. And he comes out against Bradley and goes for 15, eight, three steals. And, you know, you. You know, you feel good about, you know, hitting on some guys, but. But I was never. I'll say this, Ryan, I never imagined doing anything but what I did. I only ever imagined being a sports rider. And then what it all turned into. I had no. I wasn't one of those guys like, oh, hey, I want to go work for a team. I didn't. It didn't seem interesting to me. I didn't feel particularly qualified to do that, that I loved what I did. But coming to Bonaventure when I did, with what's going on in the world, I thought I could help, and I would only have done it for Bonaventure, and I don't aspire to be anywhere else.
- [64:51]
Ryan Rosillo
Then why did you do it?
- [64:54]
Adrian Wojnarowski
Two things I was done with, the other thing I was done with, I just felt I had done everything I wanted to do in, you know, as an insider in media. It kind of felt like the same thing over and over. It didn't feel particularly challenging anymore. I'm not saying it wasn't hard and you don't have incredible competition, but I never felt like I was challenging myself. And it started to feel a little like rinse and repeat. And, you know, for me, I really felt it in the last year. And the best reason I could think of staying to do it was the money. And the money wasn't a good enough reason for me.
- [65:43]
Ryan Rosillo
All right, that's Clear. Let's, let's go back to something you said that I think is really interesting here though, because you're connected to everybody. So are you talking about help with evaluations with not just only your own staff, but, but you know, I'm sure there's some of these GMs you've known for decades. There's probably scouts and coaches you've known for decades. Do you ask them, hey, what do you think of this guy? Or are there times where they're watching somebody internationally, they go, hey, you know what? Like this guy's not good enough to be drafted. He's probably looking for a landing spot in the States to go to school for a couple years. Is that part of what happens here?
- [66:15]
Adrian Wojnarowski
Yeah, I would say it's more me going to them with players and hey, what do you think? And sharing, you know, video and, you know, whatever information I might have to get an evaluation and see. Do you, am I missing something here again, Ryan, like, you know, we've got to do it differently at Saint Bonaventure. If we're in it with a bunch of, I'm going to say necessarily say high majors, but mid major pluses who have a lot more money than us, I'm probably moving out of it quick. You got to find the guys who value growth, development who aren't as worried about maybe the first paycheck as they are what our environment can help them get to. And then you're also looking at agents and folks around the world who care and the people in their life who care about what our environment is. Small school, but in a, you know, the sixth or seventh ranked league in any given year in the Atlantic 10. But you're coming to a school with 2,000 students, you're going to have a pro day which no other mid major is doing, like we did this year in New York City, you know, had 23, 24 NBA teams there. And it doesn't mean you're going to get drafted. That doesn't mean I have some magic dust I can sprinkle and get somebody, have a relationship with the league to draft you, that that's not going to happen. But it's about opportunity, exposure and then also learning like how much further you have to go and you know, the NBA stuff, I mean that might mean, can I help you get a summer league invite? Can I help you get workouts with an NBA team pre draft? Can I help you get into Portsmouth or Chicago pre draft? There's more than just are you one of the 60 players on draft night. Obviously, there's very few guys who get that, especially out of college basketball. Almost half the draft is outside of college now. So all those things are helpful and. But yeah, there's no question that for us and for what I'm doing here, you know, you try to find the advantages where you can. And I've been all over the world, you know, I think sometimes about like football and like, if I had to recruit a class of 30 guys, it seems insurmountable. But it's basketball and we need like eight or nine who can really play. And somewhere on this planet I know that within our price range, what we can afford, we can put a team out there that's really competitive in the A10. I think we've done that this year. I think people saw that a little bit opening day against, you know, really good Bradley team. And so the way I did my previous job and the way I evolved in that industry, I tried to do things different. I tried to look at things in a different way. Coming from small newspapers, coming from a website at Yahoo that was just starting up in sports at the time. And I'm approaching it the same way here.
- [69:28]
Ryan Rosillo
When you're talking about fit, like you say, hey, we know who can play. So, like, you can look at the five stars, you can go to the camps and you can just go, okay, you know, here with my staff, let's go down this list and then cross off all of these people. Because it's probably just a waste of time for you. It's a waste of even pretending that you can compete with the nil. How do you put together a plan of, like, who's obtainable but yet also still fits and understands? Like, we're not one of the power fours. We're not probably a place that you're coming for one and done. So even though you know, you speaking of you, like, I have all this notoriety, like, this is not the kind of program that we're able to run. So how do you balance fit versus just the talent guys that everybody could decide that they would want?
- [70:12]
Adrian Wojnarowski
Yeah, and I. And I think like the camps, the summer evaluation camps have very little value for us anymore. We're recruiting so few high school guys. You know, some of the high school guys you're recruiting, you're just recruiting them for when they're in the portal. I can build a relationship with them. I can get to know them. You know, we're offering you, but we know you may take more nil to go to a high major. But we also know the statistics that you're probably going to move on at least once in your career. And so I spend time with players that I know I'm not going to get now but in a year or two when they're in the portal, maybe they visited campus, maybe they came to our pro day in New York, they got to know us and so that has value. I look at it that way. I thought of it a little bit in the NBA where guys they're not drafting high enough to be able to pick a player but they're able to get 30 minutes with him at the pre draft camp interviewing him and they get a window into him and he gets a window into them for later on. That's important. But I mean just you look at our starting lineup right now, Ryan, you know our point guard Desante Bowen, started at Iowa, transferred to Bonaventure, got injured last year, red shirted preseason second team, maybe a little more traditional, was like a top 75 high school player in Boston. You know our shooting guard Buddy Simmons who had a great game against 24 against Bradley, probably one of the most undervalued guys in the portal came from Gardner Webb where he averaged almost 18 a game, had a 40 point game, had 22 on Tennessee, was really efficient and in the end even in his recruitment was under recruited again out of the portal because he's 511 and he's going to be terrific for us. Our three man is a Division 2 player from North Georgia who I found out about on a Saturday, talked to him on a Sunday and had it done on a Monday. You know, minimal nil, just incredible kid, family winner but you know, Division 2 player who we didn't know what to expect when he came in and he is starting for us, goes for 15, 8 and 3 against a really physical good Bradley team. Our four man is Droghovic Junior College player from California who played two games of high school basketball, didn't go to school for five or six years after played at 24, 7 fitness, played in the Drew League, worked at a warehouse, worked baling hay, worked as a sander, every blue collar job you can imagine and then goes to Fullerton College last year. You know I would be out there, I would let you know Ryan, hey I'm out in LA again, I'm out in California. You know, I went from staying at that Ritz downtown where they would keep us for ESPN down to the Fullerton Marriott. It was great. And in chasing Joe in a recruitment but played one year at JC basketball, he's 24 years old. We got in early with him and then held off a lot of big schools in the end because we built a relationship and I think he really valued a smaller school, a place where he trusted, knew the people. And then our center, Frank Mitchell, was a hockey player in Canada, was working construction, gets laid off during COVID goes to the park and starts playing basketball, plays one year at a juco in Canada, goes to Canisius, goes to Minnesota and he comes back to us, a Canadian kid. We're 90 minutes from the border. You know, he's going to be a double, double guy for us. So you can go through the list, it is a non traditional group yet, I think. And then you go down a little further down our bench and I think we have guys who, you know, their paths are a little different. And then the international players, two from Italy and one from Russia and I think the Italian players were very highly recruited and so wasn't Ilya Ermikov, the point guard from Moscow. Those guys were high, major recruits. What you're selling them, Ryan, is a chance to come and play, get an opportunity right away. It may not be a four year situation but I think agents especially they see going to that high major and not playing at all initially isn't that helpful. And if you come to a place like Bonaventure in the Atlantic 10, you know, Melbourne Council last year for us comes from Wagner, comes to Bonaventure, you know, he leaves for, you know, an incredible opportunity, incredible money at Kansas and so we're a trampoline in that way. But I think the international players are going to be huge for us in Canada. We got three from Canada. We're obviously right near the border. We're spending a lot of time there and then internationally when I go over there, I do see, you know, they, I'm like this 1990s rock band that no one talks about in the US anymore. But somehow you're in Europe and they're filling a stadium or they're like number 11 on the charts and you're like, I haven't heard the song in 20 years. That's kind of like what I am walking around Europe. So I'm going to try to ride that as long as I can.
- [75:38]
Ryan Rosillo
Okay. I think there's a follow up in there with that. But I want to stay at least on the roster building for one more question. What do you understand about the NIL now that you've been in it that you didn't understand prior to being a part of this?
- [75:54]
Adrian Wojnarowski
If it's if it's the first thing somebody brings up, it's going to be a quick conversation with me because the way I see it and the way it has to work for say, Bonaventure is let's figure out if we're fit. Let's figure out, let me get to know you and why don't you get to know us. Figure out all the things that go into style of play, who we are as a school, what we can do, all of those things. And then if we both really like each other, then let's figure out the money, let's figure out if we can get there. Too many of the conversations start opposite that and you get on with an agent or somebody and the first thing they say is, what can you pay? And you're like, what can I pay? I watched the five minute clip that was posted, you know, I looked at his stats and his numbers. I'm calling you to kind of see where your process is. He hasn't talked to us, I haven't talked to him. I don't know anybody around him yet. And when it's that kind of initial call, you just go, probably not going to be, we're probably not going to be the place. And that doesn't mean you. We have to be competitive financially. And I spend every day, most of my day on money and trying to raise it and trying to be creative with it and trying to stretch the money we do have. But you better find value for people well beyond just the money. And you know, that's what I try to do in our environment is to give guys and their families my time and you know, like a full investment whether they're going to be here one year or two years. Like I'm going to try to put people in their lives, on the court, off the court that they can take with them and get a lot of value and know that they can still call on me for stuff. That's how we have to do it. Because if it's just about the money, like I'm probably trying to move off that one quick.
- [77:54]
Ryan Rosillo
You left this job where, you know, I, I'm glad that you'll admit some of this stuff because I think sometimes you're a little too humble with the answers, but you're just, just a rock star, a global rock star for NBA fans. I still don't even know what that china thing was, but I love the logo. I, I forget what it was called, but the first time I saw that I was like, wo.
- [78:12]
Adrian Wojnarowski
In the house. In the house.
- [78:13]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah.
- [78:13]
Adrian Wojnarowski
That's what it was called.
- [78:16]
Ryan Rosillo
If we go back to February of this year, February 1, and the Luca trades announced in that moment. Did you miss it?
- [78:23]
Adrian Wojnarowski
No. I'll tell you what I was doing. I live over a bar, as you might have heard. And we had, you know, a guy that we, you know, the big guy from California, Joe Grohovic, was coming in that weekend for his visit was Super Bowl Sunday. And we were playing at noon, which is a brutal time to play a college basketball game because sort of your fans who travel in from Buffalo, Rochester, they're going to have super bowl parties. Maybe they're not coming in as easily. You know, students, maybe people go home. You're just trying to make sure that place is packed. And we had put so much time into. Joe, I was. There's, like I said, there's like a big student bar downstairs where I hung out in, you know, all my friends hung out in. But I just have an apartment over it. I never go in there, especially when there's people in there. Just. Just can't be the old guy, like, wandering around the student bar. But I did go in. I was just recruiting kids to go to the game Sunday. So I don't know if that was a Thursday night or Friday night. I don't remember what night it was, but I remember I stopped in there and I was just like, hey, are we gonna see you Sunday? We need you there. And for like, five minutes. And I went upstairs and I got a couple texts. I don't know. It might have been, like, midnight or 11:30. I don't remember.
- [79:47]
Ryan Rosillo
It was late. It was really late. Yeah.
- [79:48]
Adrian Wojnarowski
Yeah, I remember I got a couple texts about it, and I just shut my phone off and. And went to bed. I, I would just say Ryan. Like, I, I, I. It just felt like I've done it right, you know, one trade's bigger than the other. I get it. If I wanted to still be doing it, I'd be doing it. And the time you. So much of that job is, it's not necessarily chasing the story. It's if you've got it pretty wired when it's either happening or you're waiting for it to be completed. You're waiting for the team to tell the player, waiting for the team to tell the agent. You're waiting for the owner to get found because nobody knows we're here. Whatever it is, so much of that job is waiting, and it's sort of paralyzing to your life. You have to be, you know, you just sort of sit Very often in this concrete room off the studio. And a lot of your life is just spent alone, you know, waiting to tell producers you've got what the big thing is. Typically, now that one may. I'm not saying they don't come out of the blue, because that one probably. I don't know the process of it exactly. But I would say in most cases, I would generally have had an idea if something was in the works. I'm not saying I would have on that one or. But you're charting a million different things all the time. I think there just comes a point where you say, I just don't want to spend my time on it anymore. Somebody has to. And I did the piece with Mannix at si, and there was a quote where I said something about breaking news is a vapor, and in the end, nobody gives a shit. I didn't mean that the job isn't really important. If you're at ESPN and you're ESPN and you've got the rights to the NBA, the NFL, college football, you better own the news. You better own it. And that's why they brought me to espn, because they didn't own the news before we got there. And so. But what I'm saying is, for me, it just didn't feel important to me anymore. And so the big trades come and go. And it's funny, I'll hear from Schefter or I'll hear from Thamil when they're sitting on something big and you're just. They're there waiting for it to come, and I'll get a text from one of those guys or pass them, like, hey, just be glad you're. You know, like, I know you're glad you're not doing this right now. And. And again, you're really lucky to get to do that job. They pay a lot of money. You get famous or. I'm not complaining about it, but I just had done it. Ryan, as long as I think you're meant to do it. I was 55. I'd done it a long time, and I'm like, am I supposed to just do this forever? Am I supposed to. Because as long as someone will pay me all this money, think. Am I supposed to just keep doing this? Like I said, I never imagined doing something else. And I think if the Bonaventure thing, where I started thinking about that, if that wasn't there, I probably would have stayed maybe another year at espn. And if I did, it would have been a big mistake. I would have regretted it.
- [83:14]
Ryan Rosillo
I know, I've talked to you about this whenever we've hung out a little bit, because it's almost like a hard thing when you're competitive to even give up the belt. Belt. Like, I have the belt. But you're also explaining, like, all right, I've done it. Like, I've been maximized this. I don't even know what another level is. And then you have this thing that I know that you're in love with kind of drawing you to, like this whole reinventing yourself. But is it when you're in that life, you realize it sucks, or now that you've been out of it for a year, you realize it sucks even more than you thought it did.
- [83:40]
Adrian Wojnarowski
It's a bubble. Being out of it, you realize what a bubble you lived in. And. And I really see how it affected my family and being around me and I think just how unappealing it was to be around me as I did that job. I don't know how my wife did it for as long as she did, or my kids. You're there, but you're not there. You're present. Even when you're there. You've got your, you know, half your brain is percolating with these other things that are all going on and you're just trying to do simple things that if you want. If you really want to try to be dominant at it, that you just have to not do and not be a part of. And once I didn't have to live. Now I worry about a hundred other things now. Like, I'm worried now about an X ray. I'm worried about an mri. Literally today. I'm worried about somebody's grades. I'm worried about somebody's family member who's not doing well and how it affects the guys that we have and all those things. So it's not like you don't. But, like, I could shut my phone off. Like, I turned my phone off for as long as we're here and I'm not worried, I turn it back on. I would never do that. And, you know, you're always flying like, you know, 6am flights or red eye flights. And again, I don't mean to complain, like, like, the media business is brutal. And I look at people who are so talented and have had incredible careers and this thing is getting away from the thing, you know, like, it's getting away from them. It's harder and harder to find good jobs in the business. And so I'm not complaining about it, but I just know all that said I did it for as long as I felt I was supposed to do it. I just felt like I wasn't. It just felt like the same thing over and over. Not that challenging. I'm not saying it wasn't, like, super competitive and hard. It was, but I, like, bounce out of bed every day to do this job. Like, I wake up earlier than I ever woke up to get in here. And I definitely didn't feel like that at the end.
- [86:02]
Ryan Rosillo
At espn, do people still check in with you about, like, hey, do you know if they'd move this guy? Or do, you know, like, do you still have NBA people reaching out to you, following up on something maybe they're wondering about?
- [86:16]
Adrian Wojnarowski
No, I do get once in a while, you know this person well, can you feel this out? I still get a couple of those. The calls I still get and still talk to a lot of the same folks that I always did were more just, how you doing? And they're very curious about what's going on here, how I'm enjoying it. And I call with questions. I call with, like, medical questions about an injury. And how does your. Can you ask your trainer or can you connect me with your trainer or your sports performance person on how they handle this or, you know, any number of things. Negotiations, contracts. You know, I go from being like a sports writer pretending to be a GM to now a GM pretending to be a lawyer, a trainer, because there's all these areas that you've got to be fluent in. And so I'm always calling guys and asking them about how they approach things. But the agents and guys I've known, like, they. They may not be dealing with the college player, but somebody in their orbit at their company is, and they're trying to be helpful with us and help us find guys. And that's the. That's been a great part of this, is how much people have wanted to help us and help me. That doesn't mean, like, someone can just hand you something. It's still business. There's still a marketplace. But, you know, at times it helps to open some doors. And, you know, but I still talk to. I mean, you know, you and I have a lot of common friends in the league. I think they would tell you, you know, it's probably not. It's not the everyday thing it used to be. I mean, you know, there were a couple guys who had trades. I mean, I laughed last spring. You know, my Twitter is. There's no NBA in my Twitter. It's just college. I mean, I unfollow I muted. I wouldn't unfollow my friends, but I definitely muted them. I just want, like, it's like, college basketball recruiting nil stuff. Bruce Springsteen, save Democracy. Like. Like, that's my feed right now. So.
- [88:22]
Ryan Rosillo
So.
- [88:24]
Adrian Wojnarowski
But I would still be on email lists for teams. Like, you get the press release, and those things come out, like, three days after a trade's reported, right? By the time the physicals. And I did laugh last year, there were a couple times where on my personal account, I got the email about a trade that happened three or four days earlier, and it was the first I knew about it. And a couple times I did text a guy going, I would have been talking to you every five minutes for six days before this deal. And I just found out about it five minutes ago. And so. But I would tell you very quickly, like, it felt normal, and it just felt like I made the right decision for me, for my family. I'm just invested in this place. I'm invested, like, so much more in the results of what we're doing, the lives of the guys we have. And more than, like, are we going to drive a ratings point this week? Because we talked five days on the Lakers, like, not terribly inspiring to me anymore, but someone's got to do it, and God bless those guys for still doing it.
- [89:28]
Ryan Rosillo
You know, A couple more thoughts here before we finish up, but the thing that you just finished on has always kind of been what I think would. Would draw in anyone is that, I mean, you have to be really competitive to accomplish what you accomplished in your world. But I would argue, like, hey, all the hours of watching and on the phone and all these different things, and it's like, okay, for what, though? Because I got it. I tweeted it out 30 seconds before the other guy did, and to then pivot into. Well, it's still the same field, although I'm attacking it from a different way. Like, all the hours you're putting in now, you're putting in for a community, you're putting in for a win or a loss. You're putting it in for kids. And whether that's a professional level or college level, obviously the kids changes the dynamic there at the NBA level. That, I think is the thing that is always really appealing to anybody that loves this sport, that it's like, what if I spent all of this time working towards something that everybody could be proud of as opposed to, like, kind of, to your point, this imaginary win, like, yeah, maybe technically it's a win because I got this huge story first. But. But no one cares tomorrow. No one will remember tomorrow. That's where I think the transition into that side of it. Granted, it's a massive pay cut. That's the part that I completely understand because that's the part that I think about sometimes.
- [90:52]
Adrian Wojnarowski
Yeah, I don't know where St. Bonaventure would be in 10 years if we're not in the Atlantic 10. Basketball is so important to this school and it has been. And it's what brings back all of our alumni. We only have 2,000 students. We have like 30,000 living alumni. There's a school or two in the Atlantic 10 that have almost as many students. So multiply that. So fundraising, all that is difficult. But you know, like just something like we were down at the field of 68 Monday morning, 11:00am, second college game of the day and that place was packed with Bonnie spans and our players like as much as we told them. This is what it's like when you travel to hear the whole place chanting, let's go. Bonnie's in the final minute of a rope of a win against a really good team. You feel a part of something and it's fun. And I believe strongly that if we aren't competitive in basketball, we're not in this fight. Now does that mean like we got to go to the NC tournament? I mean it's really hard to do. The Atlantic 10's become in the last few years a one bid league, which is crazy to me given we're the sixth ranked league in the country. But it sort of shows you how the high majors have gobbled up sort of this thing. To me, you feel like you're fighting for the school and for. This is a really difficult time. And how do we stay in this fight financially with Rev Share Nil and a league where, you know, we have schools with high major resources in our league and, and we've got to figure out how do we have high major players on mid major money. And that's sort of my challenge or our challenge every day. And so I don't feel like I've got a bunch of answers, Ryan, on how to do this. I'm trying to learn, you know, I'm trying to contribute here the best I can and. But I haven't looked back once and said I wish I was still doing it. I miss people. I talk to the guys in the, you know, people I worked with often they're friends and all over the NBA. But there's not been one moment where I said I long for that. And I did I think I did it just long enough. I just think I did it long enough. And Lee Jenkins had a great line to me when I was asking him about that. We were talking about potentially doing this, and he said, I mean, Lee was at the top of our profession. Lee's probably. To me, he's the best sports rider of my generation. And he went to the Clippers, and he stayed at the Clippers, and he's had a chance to come back to media at high levels, and he stayed there. And the one thing he said to me that stuck was, it's okay to say you did it. You don't have to do it forever. And I feel that even more strongly now that I'm here. And I don't know how long I'm committed to being here. And I want us to, you know, I want us to be successful. Who knows how long I do it, But I love every day of it. And, you know, people that I care about, who are important in my life, care about this place, and so that's enough for me.
- [93:51]
Ryan Rosillo
It was funny earlier in this Woj, when you were kind of like, laying out the plan, I was like, man, this is such a good pitch. Kentucky might call and go. You wanted. And I know. I know the. But were there NBA, maybe even owners? Were people reaching out to you once you'd made this decision to be like, well, I didn't know you wanted to run a team. Like, we would have been interested.
- [94:14]
Adrian Wojnarowski
No, not really. Couple in passing are like, no, no, I wouldn't say that. There have been a couple college ones since I did this. But, like, that's not. I'm here at Saint Bonaventure. I want to be a Bonaventure. I'm not looking to make. I'm not trying to make a career out of being a college GM or aspire to do it somewhere else. Like, I want to help Bonaventure. There's nobody else I would say this. There's nobody else I would work this hard for. I will never work this hard again. I'm not working any less, probably, than I did at espn. It's just different. But it's a little easier again having, you know, my wife is invested in this place the way that I am and her family. So it just means more. She's much more interested in what I'm doing now than what I used to do. She. You know, so that makes it easier. But, yeah, I'm not. I'm gonna be a bond venture.
- [95:16]
Ryan Rosillo
I don't know if the SEC will Like you using their tagline for that.
- [95:19]
Adrian Wojnarowski
But listen, I would say this, like, I'm you. It's unique to this place. Like, like, I, I wouldn't make much of an impact at any of those places. There are far more qualified people. I think the one thing about this college GM thing that's different from NBA, even like the richest to the poorest team in the NBA, the gap isn't if you have like a really good player, if I don't know who we would say, let's say maybe the Pacers have had the lowest payroll on average, or they're going to give Tyrese Halliburton a max deal. Like, they're not going to lose him because they won't pay him. We're probably going to lose our best player to Kentucky, to use them as an example, if they really want to pay him. We lost our best player to Kansas. And you just. The disparity is so much different. So the jobs are so much different. And the way that I do the job at St. Bonaventure is so different. And I talk to a lot of the college GMs and compare notes and talk about contracts and how we're doing things at the high major level. The job's just very different than it is here. We're almost doing everything and so a little bit of everything. So. But it's fun and I love the challenge of it. I started the program with Woj is the YouTube show podcast. It's not an NBA show. It's a show on team building and sports. So it'll be basketball, football, College Pro International, talking to people who are doing interesting things in team building or who are around really interesting team building. But I'm doing it for the nil money. Like I otherwise would not be doing that. I'm not going back to media. It is not an entry back, but it was a way that there was an interest. There was sponsorship with Novig and you know, Chris Corcoran, who I started my podcast career with back at Yahoo. If it wasn't him and somebody I really trusted, I probably wouldn't have done it. But, like, you know, I think we can get really good guests on and I think the, the revenue that we can bring to it for Bonaventure was something I couldn't say no to because we need to be as creative as we can to stay in this fight.
- [97:35]
Ryan Rosillo
I'll say this as we say goodbye. You know, we didn't know each other prior to espn. We have a mutual friend, you know, justice, who is we all love with Utah Jazz. And he was like, you're gonna love. Ouch. And I was like, I don't know. Like, will I. I think he was talking. Talking me up to. To you. And then we were at the combine, and it was just sort of an awkward, like, oh, hey, you know, new guy. But obviously, you know, we'll see how it goes. And then, I don't know. I don't know what it was between you and I, but very quickly, we became friends. And your friendship means a ton to me. And I would say this to everybody listening, but. But, you know, those. Those rare occasions where Woj would be in Manhattan beach, he'd like to come out here a lot. And I'd get the text, I'd get the. The. The call and be like, hey, let's do a dinner tonight. And we'd sit there for, you know, maybe two hours. And you would light up whenever I would be able to hang. I can't hang with you on any of the old school Connecticut stuff and the high school stuff, But I told you who my AAU coach was from Wethersfield. I told you about how I went to this game and the old field house with Calhoun and all the Yukon people. And to see wo just face light up like he didn't want to talk about any of the NBA stuff. There'd be even sometimes like, can you tell me the market on this guy without, you know, thinking I'm going to give it away or anything. We could have spent two hours having dinner. We might talk old school, Big east and New England hoops, and he would know every single high school coach and every single player. And this guy was this. To see you light up like that in a way that you did not light up. Not to say you didn't love or appreciate the NBA, but I could tell when this was announced and you and I had talked about it, it was like, this makes all the sense in the world once I understood what you truly got excited about. So I'm so happy for you.
- [99:22]
Adrian Wojnarowski
That means a lot. Ryan, you. You know I love you. I appreciate your friendship. And in a lot of ways, and what you're describing it, some of it feels like. Like I'm in, You know, I'll go to high school games. I'm in high school gyms. I'm in these gyms in Europe in these really interesting places, and it's such an education. And it feels like. Not that you're apart, but even when I go to a high school game, we do recruit some. There it reminds me of how I started out in the business when you just wanted a byline and you just wanted the Hartford Courant to give this kid who was a clerk in the office a chance to go out and write 10, you know, 400 words on a high school game. And it was the biggest thrill. I got so much more of a thrill out of that than breaking some big trade at espn. And so a lot of it does bring me back to that. And I actually still run into faces that were there when I started doing this, and that's been an awesome part of this, because you can lose yourself at espn, you can lose yourself in that place and start to think that there's a world that revolves around you, and. And you have to fight that. And just being back here and living the way I live, I mean, I joke with people. I went from Stephen A. Picking my hotels to AAA picking my hotels. But it's. It's kind of true.
- [100:51]
Ryan Rosillo
We will end on that. There's some people close to me. They're gonna be upset if I don't say, go, Bonnie. There'll be some other people close to me that'll be upset if I do say it. But, hey, whoa. Go, Bonnie's. I know this means a ton to you, and we'll talk again soon. All right?
- [101:03]
Adrian Wojnarowski
Thanks, Ryan. Awesome to be with you.
- [101:08]
Ceruti
You want details?
- [101:09]
Kyle
Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.
- [101:13]
Ryan Rosillo
What's up?
- [101:15]
Adrian Wojnarowski
I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly.
- [101:19]
Ryan Rosillo
Imagine, and best of all, kids, I am liquid.
- [101:24]
Adrian Wojnarowski
So now. Now you know what's possible.
- [101:26]
Kyle
Let me tell you what's required.
- [101:27]
Ryan Rosillo
Our email address. Lifeadvicerrgmail.com Again, lifeadvicerrgmail.com Cerruti and Kyle with us on a Wednesday. What's going on? Actually, we teased it a little bit earlier, so let's stay in this. Let's stay in this a little bit. You, Kyle, I don't know if you're. It's funny that you said it, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe you are. Are you at a stage where you want to reinvent yourself like Woj, maybe?
- [101:53]
Kyle
No, I don't think so. I mean, it's just, you know, I'm usually here in vacation mode, and now. Now I'm here, like, and. And just, like, gotta play the next. The next thing I'm doing, like, for the rest of my life sort of deal. And. And like, at both times, people are a lot nicer here. And also, I'VE been way more afraid here than I ever was walking around la. So like, like, I'll be talking about like, I'm in a Dunkin Donuts, right? And everyone, place, everyone. It's absolutely not. I don't even think anyone. I'd say maybe 0.005% of Poughkeepsie even knows like, what I've been up to. So, like, it's just, it's. Which has been wonderful, you know, but like I'm in a Dunkin Donuts and everyone's like just talking to each other, strangers. I mean, it's great. And then at the same time, I'm on Main street and I'm just like 10 times more head on a swivel than I ever was on Hollywood Boulevard, you know? And I can't really explain why. It's just a feeling. I'm just like, I remember what happens here. So. So I don't know, It's. It's just still full of excitement. Every day is like a new adventure.
- [102:52]
Ryan Rosillo
Does it feel crazy just driving around and being like, I live here now? Yeah.
- [102:56]
Kyle
I'm wondering when it's gonna. Like, I'm gonna stop just listening to the radio because that was like my one thing I'd come here. It's like I'm not listening to podcasts. I'm not checking in. I just drive around, listen to wpdh and I'm like, all right, when are you gonna figure out how you're doing every day, man? You're just listening to the drive time radio. The drunk guys are calling in at one o'.
- [103:13]
Ceruti
Clock.
- [103:13]
Kyle
It's like, come on, on, let's. Let's figure out maybe a little bit of a routine, but like my hasn't even arrived from. From LA yet. That's going to be like next week. Movers are taking their time, but. So like, I just haven't even repeating.
- [103:24]
Ceruti
The Harley Davidson shirt.
- [103:26]
Kyle
You could say.
- [103:27]
Ryan Rosillo
You could say that.
- [103:28]
Ceruti
That's all right. It's a good one to have, I.
- [103:29]
Kyle
Think, throw a hoodie under it. I might even be like a hoodie under a big button up guy. I mean, the possibilities are endless.
- [103:36]
Ceruti
Anyway, has the word gone out that Kyle's back in town? Like, they're. Well, are people hitting you up?
- [103:41]
Kyle
People are showing up. People are showing up. You know, they basically know I'm either at my dad's or my mom's for the most part during the day off of work, and they're just showing up. So it's been great.
- [103:50]
Ceruti
Nice.
- [103:51]
Ryan Rosillo
Love seeing that smile. On your face.
- [103:53]
Ceruti
Thanks.
- [103:53]
Ryan Rosillo
All right, let's get to some emails here. Music. Did your brother do the music for the new show? Yes, he did. How many different cuts do we have going? Three.
- [104:04]
Adrian Wojnarowski
We had.
- [104:05]
Ceruti
There was like five different tracks we were potentially choosing from. And then we. I liked one and we. I kind of chose that one.
- [104:11]
Ryan Rosillo
I just.
- [104:11]
Kyle
Some of us just did what Rudy said. Yeah, whatever you say, man.
- [104:16]
Adrian Wojnarowski
It.
- [104:17]
Ceruti
Yeah, I did sort of put my foot down on that one. I don't usually do that a lot, but I was like, I think this is the one. This is why. And then our guy Francis made the intro with it. I'm like, it looks awesome and it sounds awesome. The vibe is right, so why change it?
- [104:29]
Ryan Rosillo
I'm into it and obviously I'm biased, but my brother was fired up to provide some of that music. We're probably layering some different things. I remember we tried a monologue with music once and that didn't go over well at all.
- [104:43]
Kyle
You were big into music. You wear like in a big music bed face for a while there.
- [104:47]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, the problem is when you don't have any music that's licensed to your pod. Pickens can be slim. Be a little slim. And so, you know, that was something that was just like, is there any way we could maybe get a song or something? Like something that I like, you know.
- [105:02]
Ceruti
So does remind me back at the radio days when it was, you know, it'd be like we'd do a segment. It's like, hey, just fade up the. The NFL films bed if we're talking about football that day. Yeah, throw a little.
- [105:13]
Ryan Rosillo
I love that. I love that music. Even when red zone goes like off the air and it's like, what do you do with a drunken sailor NFL version? And it's just on in the background because we were testing the equipment the other day so the red zone was on in the kitchen and I just liked it. I liked it. I didn't even turn it off. I was like going up and down the staircase and it was just on a loop the entire time as I was waiting for the late game. And I was just, you know, the first I before the big game, you know, it's like came coming out of the tunnel like Hardy warrior. That's how I spend my free time. All right, run clubs. Couple follow UPS here. 6, 4, 2, 10. It's a lot of size basketball comp would be maybe a mid career Joakim Noah. Not great but can still give you some run. I love Noah, love him as a player. Love him as a person I don't even know hung out.
- [105:58]
Ceruti
Have you heard we told the joke of Noah story on the pod.
- [106:01]
Ryan Rosillo
What do you. He destroyed the protein shake in the worst possible.
- [106:05]
Ceruti
It wasn't him. It was his buddy, right?
- [106:07]
Ryan Rosillo
His buddy did it, right? Yeah, yeah.
- [106:09]
Ceruti
In the studio at espn, his buddy just goes to shake a protein shake. And the top was almost exploded all over the equipment, all over the room.
- [106:17]
Ryan Rosillo
All over the studio.
- [106:18]
Ceruti
Not great. Not great.
- [106:19]
Kyle
There are little like stickers everywhere. No food and drink. And everyone's sort of like, everyone's like, listen, we'll just be adults about it. We can bring in a water and then that guy does that. And it's like, we gotta joke.
- [106:28]
Ceruti
Noah's entourage cared about that sign.
- [106:30]
Kyle
Nope, of course not. And neither does, neither does like talent either. But it's just like everyone's like, but it's gone okay for a while. And now it's like we're back to square one. And it's like, we need to have a talk. Just a little refresh on the no food and drink rules.
- [106:42]
Ceruti
Yeah.
- [106:42]
Ryan Rosillo
Oh, man. Somebody got yelled at and it wasn't Noah. Right? Noah was dying laughing. He looked like a 12 year old. He was like, this is the funniest thing in the world. And it wasn't like in a punky way, even though it kind of at its core was a punky thing that he just looking at his friend who up so bad, but nobody could say anything to him because he was doing a car wash and he was famous. But I can tell you, tell you a guy hoping to crank out 22 hours that week, going to talking to. And he didn't even do anything. Wasn't even his routine. All right. Like si. I used to think run clubs were stupid. That's until I started training for a marathon. I started showing up to the Saturday long runs because once you start getting into it, 10, 20 mile runs, it gets hard to map those out and oftentimes these groups and have pre map routes. I was skeptical, but the first thing I noticed once I started with them is they push you without even trying. I was running these long distances around one to two minutes per mile, faster than previously, simply due to me not wanting to get lost in my own competitiveness. First marathon is in a few weeks and I'm hoping for the 4:24,30 mark and would be disappointed if it took 5,5 hours. Bearing an injury, of course. Barring an injury, of course. Well, thanks.
- [107:58]
Ceruti
Yeah, but the point, the point, like there's always going to be Somebody who's holding back in the run club. Right. There's always going to be the fastest guy who's not quite going as fast as everybody else because he has to keep. He has to, like, stay in the herd. And, you know, that was the point of the last email, was that he'd have to stay with his girlfriend this whole time. And that's kind of a bummer.
- [108:15]
Ryan Rosillo
What do you think of, like, the accepted social norms of. Of meeting people? Do you know you'll never do like Kyle?
- [108:25]
Kyle
We could say run clubs is not happening.
- [108:26]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah.
- [108:27]
Kyle
Just for the exercise.
- [108:28]
Ryan Rosillo
Who's the least likely of the three to join a run club?
- [108:31]
Kyle
Well, it's certainly me. Well, I don't know. Maybe I. Maybe it's like, oh, geez, was that a heart attack? Maybe you better get out there.
- [108:36]
Adrian Wojnarowski
I think it's me.
- [108:37]
Ryan Rosillo
No, no, no, no.
- [108:39]
Ceruti
I don't run.
- [108:40]
Kyle
Yeah, but you look like out of all three of us, you look like you might.
- [108:44]
Ceruti
Thanks, I appreciate that. I did say I was sneaky slow in the past, so I don't know what, but I think I'm the. I'm. I would not join a run.
- [108:50]
Ryan Rosillo
Captain of the football team is senior year. He's sneaky slow at safety.
- [108:53]
Ceruti
I was not. Now we're just. We're getting carried away.
- [108:59]
Ryan Rosillo
Wait, so Kyle was the captain of his football team though, right?
- [109:03]
Kyle
No, I was defensive player of the week. I got the shirt to prove it, but I wouldn't say I was a captain.
- [109:08]
Ryan Rosillo
Did that shirt make it in the move or do you put that in the carry on just to make sure?
- [109:11]
Kyle
No, that wasn't in the carry on.
- [109:12]
Adrian Wojnarowski
I'm just.
- [109:13]
Kyle
I'm hoping it.
- [109:14]
Ryan Rosillo
Have you worn that? You've worn it once, right?
- [109:16]
Kyle
Yeah, I wore it once. I think it was laundry day. Anyway, that one's more for me. That's.
- [109:22]
Ryan Rosillo
How about that? Of the three guys on this show, the only guy that wasn't captain of a psychical football team is me.
- [109:28]
Ceruti
Crazy.
- [109:29]
Ryan Rosillo
Who would have ever guessed? All right, relationships. How can I address this politely to my new girlfriend? I will go by Sam and we can call her Gabby. Well, that doesn't sound like it's going to work out. Out from the jump, but we'll go with it. Hey, guys. Love life advice. Some stories make me literally laugh out loud as I listen. All at the gym. I have a question for you around if this is an acceptable thing to bring up to my new girlfriend. Stats. 6 foot, 215 pounds, 27 years old. Gym stats can max bench 240, but I'm typically doing 225 for three sets of five reps. Not trying to bulk up it much anymore. So I'm fine sticking around these numbers. Okay, great. Right. NBA player comp. Marcus Smart.
- [110:12]
Kyle
That's it.
- [110:13]
Ryan Rosillo
Solid defender and passer act. Act as the soul of the team too, despite not being near the best player. When opposing teams see me shooting a three pointer, it's a victory for their defense. But when they are going in is backbreaking for them. Do you also try to end Steph Curry's season by ripping his arm out of his socket at the beginning of the year and then holding up your arms going, what?
- [110:33]
Ceruti
What?
- [110:34]
Ryan Rosillo
Back to the question. Rant over. Is this appropriate to dress with my new girlfriend or how can I go about addressing her politely without offending her? Gabby and I have been dating for about two months now. Things have been great. Our humors, plural, go well together. She's beautiful, she's in great shape. I'm very happy to be dating her, exclamation point. We recently, after a handful of dates, finally completed the final step in that dating process, if you catch my drift.
- [111:00]
Ceruti
Nice.
- [111:00]
Kyle
I think I got you.
- [111:02]
Ryan Rosillo
Sounds like a 30 year loan.
- [111:03]
Ceruti
Congrats, man.
- [111:05]
Ryan Rosillo
Finish the paperwork there. It was great. And the chemistry is definitely there. There was one small thing I did notice and it is still bothering me. While literally there is not a thing that could be wrong with her body anywhere. Built like Sloan from Entourage. If you know, you know.
- [111:20]
Ceruti
Yeah.
- [111:20]
Kyle
Nice, dude.
- [111:21]
Ryan Rosillo
Wow. Sloan, high approval rating on the show. Didn't even know that. I could not help but notice that on her chest, Gabby has several two to three. So that's more than one. Several is. So we're talking Gabby has two or three long hairs on each side of her chest. Maybe an inch long each. Yeah. I've been with other women and I've.
- [111:51]
Kyle
Never run into what color, man. Blonde. I just say forget about it if it's blonde. I just say, you know, train yourself. Train yourself to forget about it. But if we're talking dark hair, I could see how you'd write an email about it.
- [112:08]
Ryan Rosillo
Just a thick, thick, gnarly.
- [112:11]
Kyle
She's Italian. We put it this way, she's Italian.
- [112:14]
Ryan Rosillo
Pre root homicide chest hair or I don't know. Well, I guess side would be oblique. She literally doesn't have much other body hair. Am I shallow for even caring? Should I just let it go because things are going well? Is there any way to address this politely to her at some point without her getting offended? If so, please Let me know. Hey, bro, if we had easy ones for you, I feel like a quick tweezer would go a long way. Please let me know. I'm just thinking.
- [112:46]
Ceruti
I'm.
- [112:46]
Kyle
I was thinking whether I should say it or not, but I think I can. But again, this is me being married. We've been together for years and years and years. Sometimes when, like, she's got something going on a little long, I'll just making sure she's not walking by. I'll just, like, bink.
- [113:00]
Ryan Rosillo
I'll just.
- [113:02]
Kyle
And. But like, not actually pull it out. Just, like, get a. Get, like, get a little traction on it so she.
- [113:07]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, yeah.
- [113:09]
Kyle
Reduce the drag and not say anything. I'll be like, what?
- [113:11]
Adrian Wojnarowski
I love it.
- [113:12]
Ryan Rosillo
Then, you know, I'm sure she loves that I love it.
- [113:16]
Kyle
No, but obviously, you know, it gets addressed, like, within the next 2448.
- [113:20]
Ryan Rosillo
But, you know, I. I don't.
- [113:22]
Kyle
I haven't come with a great way to, like, mention it, so I don't. I'll just, like, give it a little traction and that's it. I'm not saying this is correct, but.
- [113:31]
Ceruti
But you're married early.
- [113:33]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, I know.
- [113:34]
Ceruti
That's why I said, as am I. You can't. You can't. There's nothing.
- [113:37]
Kyle
I'm safe.
- [113:37]
Ceruti
We're talking maybe years of you just. This is just something that's gonna have to happen without you saying anything. Like. Yeah, like when you're comfortably, maybe, like, engaged, married, or even, like, years of dating. Okay. And you're comfortable in that spot, you're still in that weird place where, like, it can go either way. It also sounds like you're, like, really pumped to be dating her, which is great. And if you throw something like this in there, like, you just never know and you're probably gonna regret it because it's not really matter. It's not something that really matters, you know, like. Yeah, you may think about it here and there, but it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. It does remind me, in college, we did have this girl who was kind of around, who was known to have.
- [114:17]
Kyle
Finish it, dude. I mean, what the hell are you trying to say?
- [114:19]
Ryan Rosillo
2 to 3. Several individual chest hairs.
- [114:22]
Ceruti
She was known for that. A specific part of the chest, like, maybe around the nipple area. And she was, like, known for that. Which I always used to think, like, that's such a bummer. Like, all these dudes know that you have hairy Nicholas College. And she was good looking, too, which is crazy. But. Yeah. And so I don't think anybody said anything to her about it, I would imagine.
- [114:41]
Kyle
I'm wondering. Listen, you certainly have to, like, wait it out a little bit. You said you just sealed the deal. Like, this is just. Just revel in that and focus on the good for now. I'm wondering if you could, like, you know, while you're sealing the deal again, one time, you could just be like.
- [114:55]
Ryan Rosillo
Like.
- [114:56]
Ceruti
Like.
- [114:56]
Kyle
You know what I mean?
- [114:57]
Ryan Rosillo
Just don't.
- [114:57]
Kyle
Don't say anything, but, like, just pull.
- [114:59]
Ryan Rosillo
It out of your mouth.
- [115:00]
Ceruti
Yeah.
- [115:01]
Ryan Rosillo
Your little fur ball. Like a cat.
- [115:02]
Kyle
Yeah.
- [115:03]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, that'll go. Yeah, that's a great wait.
- [115:05]
Kyle
But even if it's not true, like, you could. You don't. I don't say you have to actually get it there, but you could just be, like, make it seem like it happened, and then. Then, like, she'll take a look, and that's. You're not saying anything. It just happened. You're being a good sport. I don't know, man. This is tough. I mean, this isn't.
- [115:18]
Ryan Rosillo
It's a very tough one. Yeah, you're right.
- [115:20]
Kyle
I'm just trying to give you some. Something.
- [115:21]
Ceruti
It's.
- [115:21]
Ryan Rosillo
Trying to get me.
- [115:22]
Ceruti
It's a hard ignore. It's a hard ignore until, like, further notice. You're. You're doing fine. She's hot. Sounds like you're out kicking your coverage. You like everything else about her. This is not something to make a big deal out of at all.
- [115:32]
Ryan Rosillo
I think the only move is the zag. Like, the John Moran over where you just. Next time maybe, you know, you. Things are heating up, you know, and you're just, like, whispering or every. Like, oh, my God, I love your individual two to three long chest, you know, like, so you're complimenting them. And then she's probably unaware, doesn't realize, and then she's like, oh, my God. What are you talking about? And then you're like, oh, I like them. And then she's like, I don't. Boom, problem solved. But she thinks you complimented it instead of criticized her way too early in the relationship.
- [116:05]
Kyle
What if you guys get spray tans? What if you got to spray tan? Don't you have to shave if you're getting a spray tan?
- [116:11]
Ryan Rosillo
Not your entire body.
- [116:12]
Kyle
Oh, I don't know. I never.
- [116:14]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, I guess there's probably guys in New Jersey screaming right now being like, yeah, you do.
- [116:18]
Kyle
Yeah. What are you, an idiot.
- [116:21]
Ryan Rosillo
And saugus. Not just New Jersey. All right, we got another one here. This one's a little tougher. This one is Another complicated.
- [116:29]
Kyle
That one was kind of tough.
- [116:30]
Ryan Rosillo
So, yeah, starting. Starting really tough here. All right. Love the show. 26 years old, six foot, 182. Love it.
- [116:40]
Ceruti
Wow.
- [116:40]
Ryan Rosillo
Player comp. Derek White. Incredible third, fourth option. But when asked to do more with the ball in my hands, you'll see some real flaws come out. Our rec team has some former All State players, so I'm happy to hit corner three and occasionally run the floor. The problem. My sister won't stop kissing my son. My son is four months old, but this issue's been going on since we brought him home from the hospital. My sister's 33 years old and has no kids of her own. And no, they're not normal newborn kiss on the head type of kisses. These are full, open mouth, mouth, full open mouth to mouth kisses. I've wondered if she's ever gotten some tongue involved. This is.
- [117:17]
Ceruti
That is.
- [117:17]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, well, he has to explain it to us so we understand. The audience understands. But I don't want to ever read that sentence again for context. My sister lives about six minutes from me and my wife. Sister's incredible cook and is very often making dinner for our family. She probably makes us five meals per week, most of which are more than enough for dinner and enough for lunch at work the next day. It's a huge bonus. No cooking and dishes for us, but we get homemade meals and not having to spend money eating out. So this makes the situation a little sticky. I don't want to offend her and have less meals delivered to us, but this kissing has gotten out of hand. When my wife mentioned to me that this was a serious problem, I told my sister, with sixth season coming up, we don't want anyone kissing the baby. She said, that's a great idea, exclamation point. When I walked into the next room, she proceeded to smooch him. The final straw came last night while I was at my rec game. We won 113.61. Dude, 113 in a wreck game.
- [118:08]
Kyle
There's no mercy rules in red games.
- [118:10]
Ryan Rosillo
That's crazy. Like Loyola back in the day, my sister delivered some chicken Alfredo with bacon and garlic bread to my wife. Whoa. You didn't like. You don't like Alfredo at all, huh?
- [118:24]
Ceruti
No, no, I'm saying I think. I think the kissing is going to continue if that's what's going to be.
- [118:27]
Ryan Rosillo
On the menu with a side of smooch. Yeah, yeah.
- [118:31]
Ceruti
I've got no problem with it at this point.
- [118:34]
Ryan Rosillo
She walked right into the house, grabbed my son from my wife My wife said he might be sad because he's teething. My s. Kisses him on the mouth and puts her finger in his mouth to feel his teeth. Oh, my God. No, I actually think the second part isn't that abnormal. You don't check babies for their teething.
- [118:48]
Ceruti
Not other people's babies coming off the street.
- [118:50]
Ryan Rosillo
I mean, usually constantly checking.
- [118:53]
Kyle
Coming off the street.
- [118:55]
Ryan Rosillo
Was it the farmers market yesterday? I was like, oh, they're coming in good. I checked out.
- [118:58]
Ceruti
Let me get my hand. Get my hand in there.
- [119:00]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. How's it going? I'm Brian. Oh, we love the father. What's going on with your kids, Jibs? Let's get in there. How do we stop this behavior without meals getting impacted? She's pretty easily offended. And if I approach this the wrong way, I could see her being upset. Not upset enough to make a huge deal, but enough to suddenly stop cooking food for us. Any advice or guidance is appreciated. Well, you guys are the married guys and sort of you. Yeah, sure.
- [119:24]
Kyle
Do you start, buddy?
- [119:25]
Ryan Rosillo
I don't know.
- [119:26]
Ceruti
No, this is. I mean, this is like, a legitimately reasonable request. My wife was way more into it than I was. About just like, you know, hey, when the baby comes home. Because we had our baby, our first kid in the middle of COVID And so, like, happy birthday was kind of on edge. RSV was bad. Thank you. Yeah, she just turned three, so, like, she was really like, hey, no one. I don't want anyone's face around the baby. So she. She was kind of the one that was, like, being the. The no kissing police kind of thing. That's definitely way more lax with the second one, but it is, like, a legitimate concern.
- [119:58]
Ryan Rosillo
Second one's smoking.
- [120:00]
Ceruti
I. Yeah, she's. Yeah, listen, she. Just leave her alone in rooms at times. It's fine. She's great. But it's tough because I. I think the play is. You're not gonna. You might not like this, but I think the play is like, the kids that are gonna get a cold at some point, right? And then after the kid gets a cold, I think you say, hey, we gotta put our foot down, pass a lot of germs around. There's a no kissing rule now, so that way you can at least blame it on something. If you do it out of nowhere right now, it's gonna feel like a personal attack to your sister. It's gonna be bad. Hopefully it's a minor. I mean, these. The. My babies get sick all the time, and they're usually pretty minor, and then you get sick it's super fun. Love it. I was just sick for like a week and a half right before the show started.
- [120:36]
Kyle
You still sound kind of shitty.
- [120:37]
Ceruti
I still. Dude, not to be great at all. Not blown snots up my nose. They're looking these days. It is unbelievable. It is actually insane.
- [120:45]
Ryan Rosillo
But neither during the holiday season though you'd be amped up hopefully.
- [120:49]
Ceruti
I mean, you think my immune system we better, but it just has not. I've been sick more in the three years of life that I've had kids than I was literally in my entire life combined.
- [120:56]
Ryan Rosillo
Literally.
- [120:57]
Ceruti
So I'm just a weaker human now.
- [120:58]
Ryan Rosillo
It's great.
- [121:00]
Ceruti
So anyway, back to the original thing. Wait for the kid to maybe get a minor cold, just say, hey, we gotta put our foot down. Like we're just worried about the kid getting sick again. So we don't want any stuff. And that's kind of how you do it and not really have it be a personal thing to her.
- [121:11]
Kyle
The one thing I'm seeing here is.
- [121:13]
Ryan Rosillo
This is your sister.
- [121:13]
Kyle
This would have been like, I feel like we've heard a version of this email where, you know, it's not putting fingers in baby's mouths or it's something else, but it's just like, like it's my mother in law, it's my great aunt, it's my great, like my, my wife's aunt. Like you have a direct line. You should be able to be like, is it his first kid? You can be like, hey, listen, it's our first kid. You know how it goes. The second kid ever, we're just, you know, we're a little bit over cautious and I just think this is a thing that we like would make us all feel comfortable if we could just not have it. This is your sister. I know you're like, you don't want to have a tough conversation and you're like, I don't want to get my free. It's like not. She's not like forgetting that she's giving you free meals and like all of a sudden she'll be, It'll be like, oh, oh. Like this has to stop because you mentioned something to me.
- [121:51]
Ryan Rosillo
This is your sister.
- [121:52]
Kyle
I don't know what kind of sister you have. You say you live six minutes away and she comes over all the time. This is something that I think they can handle. Especially if it's your first kid. You can be like, you know, you always hear like people are a little crazy about the first kids. You know, we're just whatever. Do you Mind this. We're just making it a hard and fast rule. Whatever. The neighbor's doing it. We're just. You can make up some. I guess she's six minutes away. You could say this, you know, the neighbor's coming over and getting in the baby's face. So we're just trying to like, you know, put a, put a small new rule in place. But this is your sister again. I just think that's. You got to consider what kind of relationship you guys.
- [122:21]
Ceruti
But she said, he said she's easily offended, which I think we know that, who that person is, and I think we know how it's going to go.
- [122:27]
Ryan Rosillo
It's not going to go well, right? I mean, a lot of times when we have these, these things presented to us, I kind of defaulted. Like, well, who can get away with telling the person they want them to stop doing the thing? Is it the husband or the wife in this case? And since, you know, it is kind of weird that you were there to see your son's first kiss, but if you look at it like your sister can mess with you, you know, she's just, you're still her brother, you know, like, this is, this is more since she doesn't have kids and she's 33, I think is what he said. Like, this is so much more than just a nephew. This is like, oh, my God, like, my brother has a baby and like, people freak out about babies. You know, people drive hours on weekends just because someone had a baby. I mean, I think, I don't know if Six Flags towards the end was like, do we just tear down the rides and have babies everywhere and then we'll, we'll get back, back in the black here. But I, I think if you were to blame the wife on this one and not have a wife is huge. Yeah.
- [123:32]
Ceruti
Yeah, it is.
- [123:33]
Ryan Rosillo
This is part of marriage is that they go, all right, who's taken the hit here? And then the wife doesn't actually have to have the conversation. So all you have to do is the brother and go, look, I think she's crazy. But, oh, yeah, you know, like, you got to chill out on making out with my four month old son. Like, she's just, she's worried about germs. I think Ceru's ultimate advice on this one, though, like, germ police cranking up. We got Halloween, we got Thanksgiving, we got right into Christmas, right in New Year's, President's Day, for Christ's sakes. I mean, you know, we're on fire. So.
- [124:13]
Ceruti
Print out an article that says like hey RSV is tough this year that comes out every year. Just give it to her and hey this is going around. We just really want to be protective of our kid.
- [124:20]
Kyle
Boom.
- [124:22]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. Or blame your wife.
- [124:25]
Ceruti
Yeah.
- [124:25]
Kyle
This article has her going nuts.
- [124:27]
Ryan Rosillo
There you go.
- [124:27]
Kyle
Now you got it all into one little package. Shout out to being married dude sometimes falls in your lap.
- [124:33]
Ryan Rosillo
I saw this on the the atlantic the other day. It's like why 5 month olds shouldn't make out with grown women.
- [124:40]
Ceruti
I disagree but this is what the Atlanta said.
- [124:42]
Ryan Rosillo
I think it's but I Ben slash something something something thinks it's a great idea.
- [124:50]
Ceruti
You all right on blue sky?
- [124:51]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, That'll do it for us today on the show. Thanks to Ceruti. Thanks to Kyle as always. Make sure you subscribe and check out our YouTube exclusives as well. The Ryan Rossillo show part of the bar stool network. Sam.