Indiana Are Champs! How Cignetti Did It and Can It Be Replicated w/ David Pollack

Summary

The Ryen Russillo Show: "Indiana Are Champs! How Cignetti Did It and Can It Be Replicated"

Date: January 20, 2026
Host: Ryen Russillo (Barstool Sports)
Guest: David Pollack

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Overview

In this episode, Ryen Russillo celebrates Indiana’s stunning run to the college football national championship, breaking down what made Curt Cignetti's Hoosiers so special. Joined by analyst David Pollack, they examine whether Indiana’s success is a fluke of the new NIL landscape or something deeper—potentially even repeatable. The episode features tactical and cultural analysis, praise and skepticism, memorable storytelling, and the classic “Life Advice” segment with co-hosts Kyle and Ceruti.

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Main Theme

Indiana’s Unthinkable National Championship:
Ryen and David discuss how Indiana, long a football afterthought, completed an undefeated season and won the national title. They go deep on what Cignetti built, the role of star QB Mendoza, culture versus talent, NIL realities, and what it means for college football’s future.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Indiana’s Championship Run: Unprecedented and Unlikely

• Historic Undefeated Season: Indiana went 16–0, beating powerhouses like Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, and Miami.

• Low Preseason Expectations: Indiana ranked 72nd in preseason talent composite, with a roster filled with low- and zero-star recruits.

• Culture and Intelligence: Russillo and Pollack repeatedly highlight Indiana’s discipline, intelligence, and lack of self-inflicted mistakes.

  “I can't believe that fucking guy won a national championship. The Indiana Hoosiers are the kings of college football, and I still can't believe it.” — Ryen Russillo [02:01]

• Signature Moments:

  • Miami went 0-for-8 on third down to start the game—Indiana’s defense was “smart, physical, and responded to adversity.”
  • LB Aiden Fisher’s awareness and discipline typified Indiana’s edge on defense.
  • Blocked punt touchdown was a decisive play.

• Mendoza’s Heisman Season: Former zero-star, now Heisman winner and possible No. 1 NFL pick, led with unselfishness and poise.

  “If you put Mendoza on any Final Four team, it’s 100% they win. … He’s that kind of good, that kind of tough.” — David Pollack [16:57]

2. Was This All NIL? The ‘New Normal’ Debate

• NIL’s Role: The hosts debate whether Indiana’s success is simply a product of heavy NIL investment, or something deeper related to Cignetti’s program-building.

• Not Just Money: Russillo lists Indiana’s unheralded roster; says it’s a disservice to chalk it up only to NIL.

• Perfect Storm: Both agree Indiana combined an elite, overlooked coach with timing, NIL, and a unique team culture.

  “To just package this up as, like, hey, it’s NIL...I don’t know if it’s that. It might just be Cignetti. It might be this guy.” — Ryen Russillo [09:29]

3. Game Analysis: Indiana vs. Miami (National Championship)

• First Half Domination: Miami "couldn’t do anything" against Indiana’s D.

• Key Adjustments: Miami’s front (Bain and Mesidor) rattled Mendoza more than any other team this season.

• Coaching Guts: Cignetti called two huge fourth down attempts, including a critical draw by Mendoza—showcasing trust and “onions.”

• Play of the Game: Mendoza adjusted on a broken play, taking matters into his own hands—fluid, gutsy decision-making.

• Miami’s Comeback: Miami changed tactics (outside zone runs, RPOs), but crucial special teams mistakes were costly (blocked punt TD).

  “Their special teams let them down. That was the big play of the game.” — David Pollack [19:02]

4. The Big Picture: Can This Be Replicated?

• Pollack’s Take: This was probably a one-off—a “perfect storm” of circumstances, unique coach, NIL chaos, and a generational quarterback.

• Russillo’s View: Most programs shouldn’t get delusional hopes, but Indiana changes the conversation; “delusion as a superpower.”

• Are Blue Bloods Still Safe?: Texas, Texas A&M, Oregon—programs with billionaire backers—are likely best positioned, but Indiana’s triumph tweaks expectations.

  “I don’t think we’ll see this again...But man, we just did, Ryan. Good lord.” — David Pollack [36:34]

• Effect on Athletic Directors and Fanbases: More dreams, but also more pressure; having the “right guy” matters more than ever.

5. Individual and Team Recognition

• Player-Led Teams: Both note the importance of leadership—success comes when your best players set the standard.

  “Coach-led teams don’t win. Player-led teams win.” — David Pollack [17:30]

• Defensive Discipline: Pollack raves about Indiana’s defense, noting their ability to stunt and shift without breaking assignment discipline.

  “I’ve never watched a defense stunt more up front and not get out of position. I don’t know how they do it.” — David Pollack [28:47]

• Cignetti’s “Delusional Belief”:

  “That was some Muhammad Ali type shit, what he just did. He said all these things and he backed it up.” — Ryen Russillo [12:40]

6. What’s Next for Indiana?

• Recruiting Impact: Pollack notes Indiana will be more talented via transfers and recruiting, but cautions that culture and leadership are harder to replicate than pure ability.

• Will High School Kids Suddenly Want Indiana?: So far, not hearing it, but change could come.

  “They're going to get more talented players, but more talented players and more highly paid guys...doesn't mean you're a better led team.” — David Pollack [45:08]

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On the Indiana Miracle:

  “Signetti should have been on the field last night…screaming ‘Anything is possible!’” — Ryen Russillo [12:14]

• On NIL ‘Billionaire Clubs’:

  “I want to be Texas. I want to be Texas A&M. … Those are billionaire clubs. Those are teams I want to be.” — David Pollack [33:02]

• On Special Teams:

  “Indiana gets a block punt and scores a touchdown. And that’s the difference in the game. Which is crazy.” — David Pollack [19:25]

• On Defensive Philosophy:

  “Referees let these dudes play this postseason. You could mug people. … Becker made several of [the contested catches] that just change the game.” — David Pollack [30:46]

• On the ‘Dream’ and Delusional Belief:

  “If you're thinking about the tough careers…delusional can be your superpower.” — Ryen Russillo [10:35]

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Important Timestamps

• Indiana’s Championship Context & Roster Breakdown: [02:00–10:30]
• Delusional Belief and Cignetti’s “Anything is Possible” Moment: [10:30–13:00]
• David Pollack Joins: Game Breakdown, Mendoza’s Brilliance: [13:00–16:30]
• Key 4th Down Play / Mendoza’s Postgame Explanation: [15:26]
• Analysis: Miami’s Comeback, Adjustments, and Special Teams Mistake: [18:32–22:15]
• Zone Coverage, Indiana’s Defensive Discipline: [24:07–28:47]
• Big Picture: NIL, College Football’s New Hierarchies: [32:56–36:34]
• Will Indiana’s Story Be Replicated? [34:00–38:57]
• Michigan/Ohio State vs. Indiana—Who Pisses off the SEC More?: [38:57–40:41]
• Coach Cristobal’s Growth and Miami’s Bright Future: [40:41–44:43]
• Recruiting Impact, Indiana’s Legacy: [44:43–46:22]
• Life Advice Segment Begins: [47:25]
• (For detailed game recaps and strategic breakdowns, focus on [13:00–28:47])

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Tone

• Russillo: Sarcastic, incredulous, cerebral, with moments of reverence for Cignetti and the Indiana story.
• Pollack: Football nerd, practical, energized, equally in awe of Indiana's discipline and Cignetti’s leadership.

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Life Advice Segment (Summary)

• Topics Covered:
  • Returning to run the family business—should you do it, and when?
  • The importance of being enthusiastic if you inherit a legacy business.
  • Telling a friend they weren't invited to a wedding—being straightforward is best.
  • Light banter about small-town business dreams (owning a bar, hardware store, lumberyard).
• Notable Quote:

  “Once you do this, you’re kind of signing up for that for the rest of your life. So say that…at least for the rest of his life.” — Russillo [61:42]

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Final Thoughts

Russillo and Pollack conclude Indiana’s run was a unique intersection of coaching genius, leadership, “delusional belief,” and new NIL rules—but shouldn’t necessarily reset all expectations for college football upward mobility. Still, Indiana’s triumph injects new hope (and new pressure) for programs everywhere.

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Summary prepared for listeners who want in-depth analysis of one of college football’s most remarkable upsets, lessons in team-building, and real talk about the sport’s future.

Transcript

[A]

Hey Priscilla. Listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcast and Spotify Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. The Ryan Russello show is presented by DraftKings. We're going to talk Indiana's national championship in college football. I'll run through what this means for Signetti and really where all of the praise should be directed. David Pollock will further break down Signetti's story, end the game and of course we have life advice. DraftKings Sportsbook, the number one sportsbook for live betting is making every snap, every drive, every moment of the NFL playoffs worth watching. With over 2.5 million in prizes up for grabs every Sunday during the playoffs, they're turning up the stakes for every DraftKings customer. Here's how simple it is. Head to the DraftKings sportsbook app, opt in and receive a promo token. Place a live bet of $1 or more on any of Sunday's playoff games and you're automatically entered. That's it. And every live bet means another chance to win. Place a live bet and stack your entries all Sunday long. There'll be more than 75,000 winners every NFL playoff Sunday. Jump in, bet live and let the entries roll. For a shot at a share of over 2.5 million in prizes, download the Drive King Sportsbook app. Use the code Ryan. That's code ryenbetlive for your share of 2.5 million in prizes with code in partnership with DraftKings, the crown is yours. Gambling problem call 1-800- gambler New York call 877-8-HOPE NY or text hope and why Connecticut? Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org on behalf.

[B]

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[A]

Wager tax pass through may apply in Illinois, 21 and over in most states. Void in Ontario, restrictions apply. No purchase necessary. 3 sweepstakes with separate opt ins minimum OD prizes either bonus bets that expire in seven days or single use profit boost. See official rules at DKNG co livemillions for entry period and free method of entry. Sponsored by Crown Gaming, Inc. I can't believe that fucking guy won a national championship. The Indiana Hoosiers are the kings of college football, and I still can't believe it. 16 and 0 beat Ohio State, destroy Alabama, run through Oregon. And there was a couple things that we've been talking about in only two years of this format where it's like, hey, the team's with the buy. What happens to them? I'm still not even sure that that's necessarily a real Thing didn't matter for Indiana. What about the Power 4 rematch? You know, it always goes to the team that loses. Well, not the case against Oregon. And then in the first half last night I'm like, so Miami's not going to be able to do anything against this team. And all the things that we love about Indiana football, the things that you respect, the things that you expect to see, is that they're smart, they're physical, they respond to any kind of adversity, which they've done all season long. Mendoza getting cracked in the Ohio State game, a mistake here or there doesn't even phase this guy. And then it's happening in the first half and I mean Miami can't do anything. They ended up 0 for 8 in their first eight third down attempts. They finally converted on the ninth. They fought back in the second half. They got Fletcher going a little bit and their front, their defensive front, Bain and Messador, these guys started wrecking things and actually affecting an offensive line in a way with Indiana that you just hadn't seen all season long. So they fought back in this thing. But in that first half I'm like, so Indiana is just like, this is an all time football team. And they still may be in that group when you start talking about who they are historically. One play in particular, Miami's deep. We're going to talk more about this game in depth. Pollock coming up here shortly. But Malachi, Tony's kind of the target. It's a third and seven. Miami's backed up deep. Fisher, their linebacker, who's just incredible, he shows a little bit of pressure and it looks like he freelances a little bit, realizing that Tony's behind him on this short route. And Fisher doesn't make the initial tackle, but he gets in the way just by reading it. And I'm so glad that Herb street and Fowler focused on this play because as I was watching I'm like, look at what he did. It was pretty simple, but he realized like, let me not get myself out of position. Let me just kind of hang around here and be some extra traffic. And it slowed Tony down enough. Teammate comes over, cleans it up. They end up tackling short of the sticks. The Miami's get a punt again, just littered with three and outs all night long. And that's the kind of play that I'm like, that's what Indiana football is like. In that moment, Fisher was just smart enough recognition wise to realize what he should have been doing. So with Indiana's win, I think the conversation there's a bunch of things we can do here. But is this a signal to the college football world that the world is now different, that everything is different? And with this happening during this nil phase, this era here, I shouldn't call it a phase, but like, this early nil days, like, is the only reason that this happened. It's like, well, you know, this is, this is now the new normal. I don't know, man. That feels like it's discrediting Signetti. It feels like it's discrediting their evaluation eye, their ability to develop. Like, I don't know that this is just about the nil and that they went out and bought Mendoza, who won the Heisman and might be the number one pick in the NFL draft. Like, you could make it that simple. But I don't think that that's fair. And I think it's, it's limiting how much credit we should be giving what this, this whole program was able to accomplish this year. You know, if you think about the talent composite rankings before the season, they run these out in August. You rivals 24 7. If you look at Indiana's roster that just won a national championship, they ranked 72nd in talent based on rankings coming out of High School, 72nd, that team that just won a national championship last night. So I don't think it's just about the nil and making sure your tackle has a truck now, because if you run through the roster and these guys are playing like Surat's a zero star, the tight ends a zero star, the left guards a zero star, the tackles are three stars. Landino, who's just a beast on the defensive lines of three star. The defensive tackles are zero stars. Aiden Fisher, the linebacker, I'm sitting here raving about zero stars. Charlie Becker. And I'm glad Herbstreet talked about his story because even Herb Street's like, hey, I knew this kid. Like, I didn't think he was going to be this. Sigdadi's like, hey, you shouldn't transfer. You should stay here. You should play special teams, get better. And then, by the way, you're going to have every huge catch during the playoffs and help us win a national championship. So I don't think that this is the new normal. I, yeah, I like, I, I probably expect that the blue bloods are going to keep winning all these national championships. And I think just to package this up as, like, hey, it's nil. And, and this is all new. Like, I don't know if it's that it might Just be Signetti, it might be this guy. Because if you ran through this exercise, right, and said, okay, well, does this mean that, like, Virginia Tech is now going to be in the mix to win a national championship or a Virginia Tech type team in the ACC? At least tech was in the mix 25 years ago. I would, you know, there's some Big 12 teams that have flirted with some success, right? Baylor, obviously, TCU played a national championship game. He, Houston, now in the conference, had like a little bit of a run there, but obviously nothing like this. So, I mean, if I were to use a Big Ten example, I guess I could say, like, does this mean Purdue and ucla, if they had the right guy there with some money, that they could be winning a national championship? I wouldn't even have used Indiana as an example for this exercise before Signetti, probably even last year, before he had the job, before we saw them play, I wouldn't even have used them as an example. I'd be like, okay, well, now you're being absolutely ridiculous when you consider the Hoosiers history in this sport. But if you're a fan of any of these other programs, you might be thinking differently about it today. I don't know if Signetti's success makes it easier or harder for an athletic director. It might be harder dealing with your boosters now because of what this guy just pulled off in Bloomington. The relationship in college football is usually not a very rewarding relationship, at least in the pros. You feel like if the NBA, you get the right lottery pick, or in the NFL, I think the number or the line. The other night when Houston was playing the Pats, Texans were the only team in the NFL that hadn't played in a conference championship game. And granted, that has more to do with them being a newer franchise, but you still feel like the structure of those pro leagues, you will have some sort of chance. There will be some sort of cycle that's not supposed to happen in college football at all. And if you were to tell a kid like, hey, here's the deal. You're going to sign up for this relationship and you're going to work yourself up into thinking you have a chance. And every year you're going to be disappointed. It's going to go on for like 40 plus years, like, there's going to be way more pain than actual joy. Are you. Are you interested in that kind of relationship? I mean, if you laid it out that way, who would ever say yes? But millions of us say yes to it because it's Just nice to have something that you care about outside of your family. Maybe it isn't always the healthiest thing, but in a way, it could be really healthy because it's a distraction. Hey, just enjoy your Saturdays. It's not that big of a deal. Indiana is going to change the way the rest of those programs think. And I still don't know that that's. My guess is today is that's still not going to happen. I like to talk about being delusional because it can be your superpower. If you're thinking about the tough careers, the careers where everybody else is telling you that's not going to work, you shouldn't even try to do that. There's some actors that I look at and be like, imagine when that guy was telling his buddies, like, yeah, I think I want to go out to Hollywood and become an actor. They're like, dude, are you serious? Have you looked in a mirror? But that guy had to believe in himself. He had to almost lie to himself that he was doing the right thing. And that's what I respect about Signetti as much as all the football stuff, is that he had to get to a point one day where he was like, I am going to be delusional. And maybe he was so delusional, he didn't even realize he was being delusional. He was just lying to himself so much about what he was able to accomplish in the face of everyone telling him that he couldn't do any of these things, that that's why he's sitting there at the top of college football last night and this morning. I really think it's an important thing to have when no one thinks you can do the thing that you want to do. Who else do you have to fall back on but yourself? And who cares if you're lying to yourself as long as somebody believes in you, because nobody else is. In 2008, Kevin Garnett won an NBA championship with the Celtics against the Lakers. It was Game 6. I was doing a lot of TV for the Celtics broadcast back then. So I was in the building, was on the floor, and KG did as anything as possible scream. Which, you know, may have also been an Adidas ad. But, you know, it was a moment, and it. It's lived on for a while. And I'll admit, you know, if you know me, you heard me talk. There's part of me, it's like, anything's possible. Dude, you're 71. You're one of the, like, the. The most freakish basketball players. I'VE ever seen in my entire life. And you're on the Celtics like, you know, there's a pretty good chance you guys had a he had a chance at a ring this year. Signetti should have been on the field last night during Adidas team. He should have been on the field screaming anything is possible because what they did makes you think it's real, even if it isn't. For all those other programs. I couldn't stand him last year. I don't feel bad or wrong about anything I said about Signetti in 2024, but his entire approach being delusional belief. You know, that was the start of it. That was some Muhammad Ali type shit, what he just did. He said all these things and he backed it up. And in 25, it's not just respect for Signetti, just in complete awe of what he did with this program. Before we move on with the show, a quick word on the tool that keeps people's workflow tighter than my takes Microsoft 365 copilot the world moves fast. Your workday even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 copilot is your AI assistant for work built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft 3, 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create and summarize so you can cut through the clutter and clear a path to your best work. Learn [e-mail] m365copilot to further break down the national championship for Indiana over Miami, David Pollack, who's joined us throughout the season and make sure you subscribe and check out his awesome page on Ball C Ball get ball with David Pollack. All right man, do it. Biggest thing that jumped out to you about let's just stay with last night's game and then we'll do bigger picture Indiana stuff. Like what do you think the difference was last night?

[C]

It's kind of what you saw from Indiana all year long. They don't make mistakes. You know, one of the biggest things coming into the game I was like, can Miami beat Indiana? Because Indiana is not going to beat itself. Like 30 something yards of penalties, top five in the, in the FBS and tackling. They have seven drops on the season. Surat dropping the ball last night was like what? Wait a minute. Like they just don't beat themselves. They played great defense, obviously blocking a kick, scoring a touchdown. So like it's the typical, it's the typical Indiana and what they've been able to accomplish, man, they're just not Going to make mistakes, they're not going to change their identity. They're not going to change who they are. I think the coolest part about it was, first of all, one of my. One of my keys, one of my questions in the game was, is Mendoza human? And because he had five incompletions and eight touchdown passes going into the game versus Alabama and Oregon, those in his first two round matchups, we saw he's human because he bleed. He bled like he actually bled. And Miami's. Miami's was. Miami was like, I'm going to rough this dude up. Like as soon as they carry out a fake, by the way, that's what you're supposed to do as a defensive guy. If you want to carry out a fake, I'm going to get my pound of flesh. Like that's absolutely what you're taught. Now the targeting aspect underneath the chin, maybe not so much, but. But you don't want to give them the freedom to carry out those fakes and not make them pay. So I get making them pay. And they made him bleed. And that usually makes people gun shy. And that slows you down. And I think it did a little bit. And that's the first time I've seen Mendoza in a while. Sped up like Surat dropped that ball because the ball was out 2/3 fast. And Mendoza was really. He was getting hit by Bane, he was getting hit by Mezador, the. But he was like, I got to get this thing out a little bit quicker than normal. But I think that. And then just the signetti onions, you know, at 4th and 4 to go for it when probably everybody else is going to kick it. And then fourth and five, we're going to do it again. And then Mendoza proves he's not human. Like to do that, to run the draw play, the great timing, sticking his foot in the ground, waiting a beat which is perfect. Cutting at 6, 5 or 6, 4, 2, 3, 5, cutting backside because he saw the safety. Was it like the vision and then the. Just like, I'm going to run through you and do whatever it takes. Like just a unbelievable punctuation to what Indiana has become in college football, which is nuts.

[A]

I would have normally missed it. I don't know if you caught it, but I saw Mendoza sitting down with Van Pelt there on the field doing the Post game on SportsCenter and ESPN last night. And he asked him about that play. And I'm going to share it with you now because I just thought it was so great. Mendoza's like out of the timeout. We're thinking we. We're going to get this look. And he's like, we thought we were going to get this Tampa look where the safety was to be here. So, like, that's the draw. I'm going to get the five yards. Like, if they come out in this look, and we had seen something before that we knew this is what they were probably going to go to. And he's like. And then I get back there and they're not in it. He's like, they're in this hybrid where he's like, I wasn't even 100% sure, but it wasn't the look that we all thought it was supposed to be. It already called the timeout and the clock. And he's like, all right. He's like, it was supposed to be a pass because of them changing the look. And he's like, I just said screw it. And, like, ran well.

[C]

And you saw. Yeah. Cause you definitely saw the safeties expanded. They. They both went out wide to start, so they. What they were worried about was the pass out wide. And they were like, all right, we're not going to get bean topped again by Becker, who's one of the best stories in the history of college football. How cool is that guy? Like Charlie Becker, all he does is make contested catches and have zero drops on the season and really came on throughout the year. And when Surat got hurt, you know, and Cooper got hurt, he really got more reps and more run. And because of that, like, so. Yeah. But. But just to have a player like, listen, Ryan, if you put Mendoza on any Final Four team, it's 100% they win. Like, that team wins it all. There's no doubt. If you put them on any playoff team, I'm probably going to give you any playoff team besides maybe Alabama. And they win it all, like, because Alabama can't run the football at all. I would probably take them off the board. But everybody else, like, he's that kind of good, man. He's that kind of tough and just like, dude, you know, 41 touchdowns. He's sixth in Indiana passing history after this season. He's six. Like, he just. It's. It was fun to watch them and fun to watch Signetti build this roster. And obviously the confidence and the swag and what he has, you can tell the attention to detail. The coaching staff is elite. The guys. But. But here's. Here's the number one thing, man. When your best players are your best human beings and your best leaders, you can do some special things. Next year, Indiana is going to be more talented across the board. They won't have that guy. It will, it will be different when you have that guy at the helm who's unselfish, who's a team first, guy who's going to work, who's going to say the right things, do the right things, live the right things. Like Signetti's message gets to the team. Right, like you're coaching. Because we've heard this for years and you've talked about it. We all talked about it for years. Coach led teams don't win. Player led team. When you got that guy who's built up all the right stuff, it spreads through the whole team. And so I think it has. So Signetti deserves all the props in the world. He's the one who starts it. But if you don't have Mendoza, 100%, they're not getting to where they just got.

[A]

What did you think about how Miami was able to get back into this game? Because it's probably the first time all season long where you felt like, hey, Indiana's O line is not going to be able to solve these guys.

[C]

Yeah, it was, it was, it was the way they've gotten back or the way they've really made their run, right? It was Bane and Mazador starting in the second half. You're down 10, they get the ball. This game could be over on the first possession and you come out and both of you get a sack and then you still mess up and get a face mask. I thought, I thought Miami. Listen, I understand Lucas was out at corner, but. But I thought they did a really bad job of giving free access on the outside. And you saw him spit on the perimeter. Indiana just, they made it too easy for him. Listen, I'm fine with you not trusting your guys out wide. That's okay. But show press and then bail a little bit. But to give a pre snap read of being off so much, it was just too easy.

[B]

Right?

[C]

And then I thought Indiana did a really good job with the RPO game to mix it up. I mean, they ran ISO RPO and Mendoza really took his time, got the football out. So I think they had a good plan. But. But I thought, I thought Miami on the outside made it a little bit too easy. And listen, Mendoza did one thing in this game. If you want to go back and watch this tape over and over again, it's like, all right, where is Waldo? Where's 24 for Miami? I'm not going to put his name out There and put him on blast that much. But it's like, where's 24? I'm attacking him. It's kind of like NBA in your world, man. Like, okay, let's go get this guy that's going to get a switch. Let's get Steph Curry in the pick and roll, right? Like, let's. Let's get these guys. Let's get these guys to have to switch and play. And they said, okay, if we're going at that guy repeatedly. And, and. But I thought Miami, the first. The first play, they ran. They ran outside zone in the second half, like, Indiana did a great job there in that bear front there. They got all the guys inside. All they're thinking about is Pistol, you know, running back behind Beck, downhill, downhill. Cause that's what Miami's done. And they bludgeoned A and M and they bludgeoned Ohio State and they bludgeoned Ole Miss. They couldn't bludgeon Indiana. And Indiana stacked the box well. Then they go out wide with Fletcher, and they did a great job in the outside zone. And he goes, you know, 57. And they had 20 in the whole first half, 20 yards rushing on 12 carries. So I think they changed it up. The creativity, using Tony. Then they fake that outside zone, same look, throw it to Tony. He gets him inside the 10. Then they use Tony again and hand it to Fletcher from the fullback position. So I thought Dawson had a bunch of answers. I thought Beck made some. Made some really nice plays. The first, third down conversion, he converted. Man, was him buying time, scrambling, hitting his guys. So I was impressed with. With Miami and the way they hung in there, getting down early. Indiana has been so good and so consistent. They outgained Indiana. Like their special teams let them down. Like, that was the big play of the game where it looked like they weren't even paying attention. It was punt, safe. It wasn't even a punt. Block in. Indiana gets a block punt and scores a touchdown. And that's the difference in the game. Which is. Which is crazy.

[A]

Yeah, there's a lot there. I mean, especially on the punt, you know, 87 just lets Kamara go right past him, you know.

[C]

Well, and I understand why, because here's the thing. Like, when you do that little bit of a rugby style, you can't widen out. The more you widen out, you start to get in the way. So you got to stay tight and make him come tight off of that wedge because you want to keep him in the pocket so it looks like he's not giving effort. But I understand what the gunner is doing. He's doing what he's supposed to. But the, the time to punt, that took too long. Like, that's the bottom line. It took way too long to punt it. But he's supposed to keep guys out of that inside, so he just wants to make them go around them. And the punt should have been off, right?

[A]

But if it's not a block, maybe you're, you're watching it going, all right, well, maybe I try to get a little chip onto this guy out there. But you're right, because even on the broadcast when they had timed the punt, they were like, hey, that was a really slow punt on top everything else. I thought Dawson was terrific. The OC for Miami, that Tony motion handoff to Fletcher inside, I mean, they had. No one was even. I mean, we're talking about a handoff right at the goal line and no one's even touching Fletcher because the defense is so confused. I think that Beck third down conversion was it Daniels, where he looks like, hey, this is going to be nasty. This is going to be really bad. But you know, you start. It always feels like in both the NFL and college, like late when you need to move the ball. Because like I'm watching that false start for Indiana when it backs him up from second and one to second and six. And now you're like, hey, we're not getting the new set of downs. We're not running clock here. So now we're kicking. And if they decide. And that's one thing with Beck, it reminded me of the Alabama game when it was that show showdown with Milroe where it's, it's different when you're throwing, like, I have no choice to throw. He had a one on one shot in the left side. I think Marion wasn't able to hang onto the football. That was an unbelievable ball. But it was also the part of Beck's mind where he doesn't want to throw those balls unless he feels that he has to. Which is a different bet conversation altogether. But, you know, it's, it's probably frustrating for Miami fans because you're thinking like, all right, once this guy, like had no choice but to start opening it up. That's the best they looked on the offense other than, you know, the Fletcher part of it, who was carrying them because they weren't doing anything through the air. There was one big pass play in the first half. You take that away. I think Beckwood had like 24, I think 24, 25 yards passing in that first half, so they're moving the ball all because of that false start. They have extra clock. You're going to have plenty of time. And then he. He just misreads. Like, there was just miscommunication on the interception, right?

[C]

Well, I think he misread it. But here, Here. Here's the. Here's the bottom line. Carson Beck had a great season, and it was fun to watch him. But Carson Beck's arm, he can't attack down the field. Like, he's been really bad in the playoffs. He had the one against Ole Miss where it was a busted coverage, where it goes for a touchdown, but that's because it was a busted coverage. He doesn't throw the deep ball great. His arm is not fully back to strength yet of what it used to be. So throwing him down the. Down the field has just not been a strength. Indiana, I love the plan. Indiana is an aggressive. If you watch Indiana versus Oregon, it's late in the game, they're murdering them, and they're still bringing blitzes. Like, they, they just. They're still going for the jugular. What do they do against Carson Beck? Carson Beck is elite versus zone coverage. He's so good. They dropped eight the whole. The whole first part of the game. And Carson had no clue what to do with the football, like, because he wants to throw it and get rid of it in these timing windows. And I think they expected Indiana to be way more aggressive, to get pressure. He had all day to throw to start the game. He had all day. But. But he didn't understand the answers, and they didn't. They didn't have a plan for the answer. So it was great job by Indiana. And then you started to see Fletcher out of the backfield, Tony out of the backfield. Like, check those balls down. But, but, man, Indiana, like, they are so good. Ryan, usually when you watch tape, man, one guy stands out in zone coverage. Like, one guy has these elite eyes that you go, man, he sees the ball and breaks on. So when the, when the hands are on the ball, like, as soon as they separate, man, I'm supposed to break on the football as a db, as a linebacker, as a safety. You got so many guys that doesn't happen. But the angle of the arm. So if I turn my shoulder this direction, obviously I got to throw it this way unless I'm Mahomes, and I do that, some of that crap. But, like, so I'm reading angles and breaking on the football. Indiana, man, in that zone coverage, they do it so well, and they Literally said, beck's not going to take deep shots. So now you're talking about literally like a team playing in the NBA that they. They get to the bucket. They get to the bucket. Well, we're just going to run zone and we're going to pack in the paint and we're going to make you shoot from the outside. And I think they wanted him to do it. They dared him to do it. D' Angelo Ponds on the outside was. Was absolutely fantastic. If that dude was 3 or 4 inches taller and wasn't 5, 7, he played high school football with Jeremiah Smith, by the way, I bet they had some mores. But if he was a couple inches taller, he'd be the best cornerback in the country. Wouldn't even be a debate with anybody. But I thought the plan for Indiana kind of caught them off guard. But I did think Dawson, the counterpunch to get the ball on the perimeter. I'd have done it the whole game, though. Like, if you're going to put Fisher in the game and you're going to keep your base, which Indiana does, they stay base the majority of the time. I'm going to spit the ball on the perimeter of the whole game and make you tackle them. I'm going to make you run sideline to sideline. I'm going to try to wear you out from that advantage. But it just took a little while for Beck and then to solve the puzzle of Indiana's dropping eight and confusing them.

[A]

Yeah, I think Indiana was prepared for that Tony stuff and those, those wide receiver screens, I thought early on they had the numbers for it, so maybe that's why they got away from it a little bit or whatever. But you're right, like in some of those things, I'm thinking about where Beck had time prior to the last drive there, when he had time, it still didn't. He just. There wasn't anything there for him. And that drop eight stuff, like, it's funny because sometimes I'll think about coverage, right? Because so many teams are obsessed with keeping everything in front of him. We don't want to get beat over the top or anything. And then sometimes you'll watch, like when Lucas comes into the game and he starts jamming the Indiana receivers and you're like, well, if you have a corner and granted you have to have the personnel for it, but like, sometimes I think, why do you want to give up all of this, this soft coverage? Like, why do you want to give up some of these yards? Especially knowing that Mendoza is like, cool, especially on The, The Becker throw, where Frederick misses the tackle, it looks like he went to the end zone. They reviewed it, he stepped out of bounds, didn't matter, they ended up scoring. But there's times when I'll look at teams going, sometimes when you sit down and attack these routes, it's so much harder because you don't feel like there's anything there. Like there's. I know you're worried about getting beat and double move and like, hey, if they're going to sit on these routes, then. Then we're going to have to adjust off of that. So maybe you're setting yourself up to stuff in the second half. So I, I guess I'm just. I feel like too many teams just baseline, like, hey, let's just play off coverage on everything, keep everybody deep the entire time. And it's like, yeah, but if. If you're just giving up some of these yards, like, are you even giving yourself a chance as a defense to go, hey, maybe we need to jam up their timing here a little bit and be more physical. And when it's right, when it's done right and it's really physical like that, that feels to me far more daunting than any zone coverage that you would see.

[C]

Yeah, it's hard to line up, period, and play zone the whole time, you know, like, it's hard to do anything consistently, but, you know, they try the pulp screen and try to run the tight end, you know, up the. Basically on a rail route up the sideline and Pons is right there and breaks it up perfectly. You know, like, the discipline within structure is really good, is so good with them. I've never watched. I've never watched a defense, Ryan, and seen a defense stunt more up front and not get out of position. I don't know how they do it. I really don't. Because most of the time when you're a stunt and movement team, like Indiana is on the D line because. Because they're not huge guys, but when you stunt and move and then these big guys get their hands on you, a lot of times they move you an extra gap or two gaps and it widens up and then you give up big plays. They don't do it, man. I mean, it's just. It's impressive to watch their. Their discipline within their system, their understanding of who they are, what they're supposed to do. Their DC is one of the best period in the business. Haynes is elite of elite, and they did such a good job of. They did such a good job of mixing it up, but I think having a plan. But no, it's not. It's not the individual talent. It's the collective of all those guys that work together, that know their strengths, know their weaknesses. And here's another thing about playing corner, man. These refs let these dudes play this postseason. Like, they let them play. And so, like, I would be telling my DBs, because here's what you do, man. Every. Every coach, when they go into a game, they have the. They have the scouting report on the referee, right? Like that. We all have that now. Like, it's literally this ref calls this, this and this, okay? Wear your white gloves with your white uniform or their white uniform accordingly. Right? Like, you're. You're. You're thinking about all the details of. Of playing all these different positions. But. But you know, man, you got a way you could mug people in this postseason. And here's the. Here's why I like. I like more of that because I watched the NFL and I watched the Bills and Broncos. It got decided by that bull crap that PIs those PIs late, which I didn't like. But. But. But here's what. Receivers have done such a good job evolving to. They know how that works. And receivers used to just hide their hands and just bring them up at the last second. Like, don't bring your hands up early because that's when the DB punches through. Well, now receivers aren't doing that near as much anymore. Receivers are putting both hands on DBs, both hands, like, both hands on the DV to keep their hands off of them or keep their hands down and then making contested catches. So, okay, if I'm a db, I'm afforded the same, right. I need to be. If you're putting your hands on me, I need to be able to put my hands on you. So I think that's where they let that play. And you've got to be physical within those rules. But it definitely makes contested catches more at a premium because. Because if you're going to let them play physical on the outside, who's going to make those plays? And Becker made several of them that just change the game.

[A]

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[C]

It is. It's a more open party, but it's not open to the people that you're used to it being open to anymore.

[B]

Ryan.

[C]

Like, here's the thing. Here's who I want to be in this new world. I want to be Texas. I want to be Texas A and M. I want to be Texas Tech because they find more money in their couch cushions than we've ever thought about having. Like, I want to be Oregon with a billion dollar booster. I want to be Indiana with Mark Cuban and company. I want to be Michigan. I want to be Ohio State. Like, listen out. Those are, those are billionaire clubs. Those are a different level, man. Those are the teams that I want to be. Like, if you're talking about who I get to go get, man, how about Texas? Texas just spent quarterback money on a wide receiver. They spent quarterback money. Like, I think you should, you're going to, you're going to spend the most money on your quarterback. You have to, right? Like, that's the world we're living in. It's the most important guy. And the fact that they can just go get another five and be like, hey, you're playing wide receiver. You ain't even had over 800 yards in your career, like receiving in a season. But we're going to, we're going to pay for you.

[A]

Like, well, they saw the offense he.

[C]

Was in last year, so agreed, I agreed. But like, but I just saying, like, yeah, this, this is a new world, man. And that just so.

[A]

But it's a new world. But you're not, you're not naming like Indiana type teams. You're naming blue bloods. Even if Tech doesn't like, Tech is not historically what you're thinking of. When you're thinking of Texas, I mean, it sounds like you just named a bunch of Texas schools and then Ohio State and Michigan. So like in Oregon. Oregon. All right. But Oregon played for two national championships before any of this. So I want to know if you think like, does Wake have a run in them? You know, like if Indiana did this, what are you willing to believe is possible?

[C]

Well, I think, by the way, as soon as you said that, all I could think of was Kevin Garnett. Anything's possible. But like that the. Here's the thing. I do think. I don't think we'll see this again. I think this was. Obviously we've never seen it before, so it's hard to say we'll see it again. But I think this was a perfect storm of. This is an elite coach that was at a. That it was at little smaller programs but was still a really, really good football coach. And I don't know why he didn't get a job. I really don't. Probably like a little bit of his personality and who he. And the way he. I'm going to guess he rubs some people the wrong way just like he does with some people out there. And that's probably why he didn't get an opportunity. But he obviously proven he's a great coach. But the timing of the world we're in to me has as much to do with it because the true blue bloods of the programs, the true blue blood programs, they. They haven't figured out the world yet because the world keeps changing. Like, like the history, the tradition, if all. The tradition and the history and the money, if it's all equal, like we're going to have the same teams and it's the same teams we saw for all those years. But here's what happened now. Now you've changed the game, you've changed the money, the talent spread out all across the country now. So every. It's continuing to change. So who's going to be ahead of the curve? Who's going to evolve? The talent spread out so much that now that there is no team that has way more talent than everybody else like it used to. So now coaching matters. So I would say I don't think we'll see it again. I think it was a perfect storm of rules being all in flux, the system being crazy, whatever it is right now, no rules. Wild Wild west and Indiana stepped in with a plan, with a coach that had a plan, that brought a bunch of his guys with him, that built a veteran roster and found the QB that was the number one overall pick somehow, some way that nobody else could find because Literally, that's what happened. Because Miami needed a quarterback and they got Carson back a lot of places needed a quarterback and fermented. Fernando Mendoza was not high on every. Was not the number one guy on everybody's board that they were all looking to try to get. But he was on several people's in the South. I know several schools I know Georgia was really high on. They wanted him that they definitely looked. They thought he was the number one guy in this class. So I don't think we'll continue to see it, but. But man, we just did. Ryan. Good lord.

[A]

Yeah, that's. That's kind of where I'm. I'm at with this in that I. I think it's. As I'd said in the open. I think it's discrediting Indiana's accomplishment by thinking, well, with these new parameters in place, like, this is a very doable thing. And it's like, I don't, I don't. I mean, this is one of the greatest seasons we've ever seen. Now granted, with the extra game, the expansion of the 12 teams, like you're going to have what Ohio State did and running through the teams that they ran through, you know, to win a national championship, like, that's a ridiculous resume of teams. What is it? Notre Dame? It's Texas, It's Oregon in the rematch. It's embarrassing. Tennessee at their place. So every team now that wins in a 12 team and granted it's going to expand again, but you're going to have this run. Whoever ends up winning this whole thing of like, this is ridiculous. But Big Ten championship, Alabama humiliation, Oregon humiliation and you know, credit to Miami for fighting back in this one. But it looked like it was going to be another one of these Hoosier games that are absolutely rolling.

[C]

You know, I didn't think we'd ever see an undefeated team again. I literally didn't. Like, I thought, I thought those days were gone because of the expanded season. Now the playoff, like, I just didn't think we'd see it. And Indiana does it like Indy because Ohio State couldn't do it a year ago with all that talent is as good as they were. Like to bring it every single week and find a way not to mess it up. That speaks to how crazy good discipline and structured and I mean, just how awesome this team was start to finish this season to make the plays in the, the Penn State game, a lot of people lose that game. The Iowa game, people lose that game. So like this team, like, this is not 2019 LSU by any stretch of the imagination, but man, to run the table and go 16 0. Like, in this world, in this era, like, it's. It's beyond mind blowing. And it's beyond, like, you tip the cap. Like, you definitely put this team in a different stratosphere to be able to do that.

[A]

Do you think Ohio State, Michigan winning titles or Indiana winning a title pisses off SEC programs more?

[C]

Probably Ohio State and Michigan, because I feel like everybody was pulling for Indiana. It's like, you know, little old Indiana, like, they've never been good, especially against Miami.

[A]

Like, I don't think Miami has a ton of neutral fans. I don't think Notre Dame has any neutral fans. Bama doesn't have any neutral fans. Yeah, I think, you know, and what was kind of lost, like, I keep thinking about it. Like, imagine if this game were you Imagine it's just a Columbus. Like, granted, you know, that would not be the venue for the national championship game because it's not in the bowl venue cycle. But for Miami to also be playing at home on top of everything else, like, it was. It was something that was easy to keep forgetting just because, you know, when you think about Miami playing at home and playing in that stadium, it just doesn't feel the same as, like, other college venues. But, I mean, the spread comes out and you're like, Indiana's favored by eight and a half, seven and a half. I think a kick. It's like they're actually playing a road game in the national championship, even if it felt like there was far more Hoosier fans inside the building.

[C]

Yeah, I knew that right when it came out. Like, people were like, oh, my gosh, India or Miami's playing at home. I'm like, no, like, that will be a. That will be at least 60, 40 Indiana. Indiana fans were so. Jack. It was like 90, 10 in the Mercedes Benz. Like, they were so jacked to be there. And then Miami fans, they're not, as. You've been there a million times, right? Like, they're not as. They're not as. They're not as willing to show up as much as a lot of fan bases and travel. But. But Crystal Ball is definitely, obviously helped his cause with what he did this year.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I think Miami, you know, no one wants to spend a ton of time on this, but the whole, like, to me, that's your back. You didn't have to win a national championship to be officially back as dumb as whatever grading system we have on this kind of stuff. But, you know, he he's through some of those years where it was talented, and you're thinking, okay, but do I trust this guy? You know, do I trust that this guy is going to be able to do this? And, you know, you can point to, like, anything in a game, like, oh, he shouldn't have done this, or, this is a mistake. Look, I think Signetti should have called a timeout as soon as he knew Miami was going to wait and kick the field goal and run the clock down. They would have had a minute left. The way the ball and the way the ball moves and the clock stops in college football, like, I was kind of shocked from somebody who has it, so. But now. And it also seemed like Signetti was upset about that, so maybe that was something he was thinking about after the fact. Facts, like, well, they're. Because you could see crystal ball. When they were deciding to kick that field goal, he was talking to guys, do you want to go for it? And then he was like, do you want to kick it? Yeah, we'll kick it. We're going to kick it. Then they were on the clock, and Indiana had the timeout. So there's always something. I just. I'm saying this because I think we're way too hard on coaches with things that we can identify because most of us don't know what the hell we're talking about. Adjustments and coverages and all that kind of stuff. So if somebody doesn't use a timeout, uses a timeout at the wrong time, then we all just jump on the guy, be like, oh, this coach sucks. I can't believe you used that timeout. Didn't use the timeout. There's, I think, crystal ball, like, at least the bigger picture crystal ball thing, the appearance in the national championship game. A team that was almost left out of the playoffs. Depending on which side of the Notre Dame argument you wanted, maybe Bama's in there as well. I just think it's important for Miami fans to probably, like, acknowledge, hey, a guy a lot of people thought was really good at bringing guys in, but maybe wasn't a great coach, made it through these games and fought his way back into a national championship.

[C]

Listen, I'll admit I was wrong. I didn't think. I didn't think crystal ball could do what he's done. I just. I thought crystal ball was really good at assembling talent. The clock management was really bad. Like at Oregon, Stanford. I remember being there for that one. It was very similar to the Georgia Tech game with.

[A]

Well, the Georgia Tech game's like an all. Like, that's a tough one to ever lose off of your resume, but go ahead, dude.

[C]

Oregon, Stanford was the exact same thing. It was the exact same thing. They lost to Stanford because of doing the same thing and fumbling late. So you saw those things. But, but I do think, like, he's done an unbelievable job of building his culture. And when you go to those practices, man, like, flying around, like they are flying around with energy. All the coaches have energy. Like it's a. It's a. You can tell. And then the bodies are just enormous. Like they're just. They're. They're. They're dinosaur bones. Like they're just crazy. They pick the, They've picked the. The right type of guys. They built it his. His style, his way. And then the recruiting has been fantastic. And how about identifying the quarterback? Because Cam Ward, a year ago, being the number one pick, going and getting back like Mensah is next, right? Like you. You've got to understand that position and get people involved and make sure you get that spot. How about their coordinators? I think he's done a great job with his coordinators because he's had to. He's had to change coordinators around left and right. And now I think he's got two really, really good ones that are young, that are. That are solid like that I think will be with him. So I think Crystal Ball has done an unbelievable job and he's done it his way and he's a Miami alum. And to watch him do it with, you can tell he's got pride in it. You could tell he's got purpose in it. And so, I mean, I give him a lot of credit for what he's been able to build. And they ain't going nowhere that this is the, this is the foundation. Like last year, you saw a lot of signs of this to come. Like, they just had to fix some things defensively. They fixed some things defensively. They had the, the number one pick in the draft and now you see it take off. And they got some ace kickers, man, some guys that just, that, that, that attack and fight. And the way they play with their effort, man, like, that's all you need to do is turn on their defensive tape and watch Bane and Mezadore, who are, who are first round draft picks. They'll run 20 yards down the field if they need to. Like, they play their freaking butts off. And that's because coaches coach their butt off. You take on the identity of your coach.

[A]

Last thought you're down in the south, you're around a lot of the high school kids. Have you heard any high school kids being like, I want to play at Indiana now?

[C]

No, but, but man, like, here's the thing.

[A]

I don't mean to ask that as like a knock on. I just want to get the feeling.

[C]

Exactly what you're saying. I think it's just like me when I took my official visit to Ohio State, Ryan and I land on the ground and I was like, mom, what's that white stuff? And she's like, that's snow. I'm like, oh, absolutely not. No, no, no, I'm not doing that. I think that will still be a real thing. But here's the thing. Like, they've got obviously Hoover in the, in the transfer portal and they got Marsh. They'll. They'll be more talented moving forward, like, and they'll, they'll be more talented in a lot of spots. But don't think that I don't. That doesn't mean I think that they're going to be more talented. All of a sudden this is going to be business as usual. Like, again, that was a once in a lifetime quarterback that you just got. Like, that doesn't happen very often. Like, that was, that was incredible to have that guy. So I'm very interested to watch it. But they're going to get more talented players, but more talented players and more highly paid guys. And spot. That doesn't mean you're better, you're a better led team. This team had this man, a bunch of guys that they were told they were too small and you don't deserve to play big time college football. Like, that forges you and gives you something different. Maintaining that is completely different. But like the story is the story and it's the greatest story we've seen in college football. It's going to be a movie one day. It has to be right. Like, that's how you should write it. Ryan, you're the writer over here. Like, it's got to be a movie. It's something that we've never seen.

[A]

This would be one of the books I would read because I would want to know more about Signetti. You know, if the book came out last year, if the last, last year the book came out, I'd be like, no, thanks, I'm good.

[C]

But when he walked on set, like when he walked on set before the game and just the Coastal Carolina thing, he's definitely, he's definitely got that. Listen, you got to believe in yourself before people believe in you. Like, a lot of times, like, you've got to have that inner belief and that, like, I'm going to do it my way and screw you. And he is one of the. One of the foremost people I would think of. Like, I'm doing it my way. Shut the heck up. I'm not worried about what you say.

[A]

And you, if I know you as well as I think I do, would that be your kind of guy? So, hey, thanks so much, man. Let's just do it again soon. C ball. Get ball. Please subscribe to David's show on YouTube. It's terrific. And he's our guy. We'll talk to him again soon.

[C]

You demand, Ryan. Thank you, brother.

[A]

You want details?

[C]

Fine.

[A]

I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the south fork.

[C]

I have every toy you can possibly imagine.

[A]

And best of all, kids, I am liquid.

[C]

So now you know what's possible.

[A]

Let me tell you what's required. Life advice. Life advice. Rrmail.com. we have Kyle and Steve, and we're ready to go. All right, let's go with the Kyle one here. I've got these AI things now in the emails, and even though it's really nothing and super easy to ignore, it's throwing me off a little bit today.

[B]

Is it because the emails have a certain structure where dudes are giving you their stats? That AI doesn't know what to like. Does it not understand what the point of the emails are? Just because we have a certain style of our inbox.

[A]

I don't know what's going on. I. I mean, it's a great question. I don't know what's going on.

[B]

Understood.

[D]

It's kind of how I feel about it or not in general.

[B]

I. I don't know.

[A]

I. Yeah, sure.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, somebody.

[D]

Wild videos rolling around last night of Jimmy Johnson. If you saw that, just. My parents are being fooled left and right. You didn't see it? Yeah, it's. Yeah.

[B]

Oh, is it gross?

[A]

Oh, okay.

[D]

Yeah, it was weird. It was kind of shitty, actually. Shocker. But I did see, like, that. Like, now we're going just down a whole rabbit hole. But I sent my. My friends this. Like, is it. OpenAI is set to lose like $14 billion this year, and it's like, shocker. Who could have seen that coming? They overestimated how awesome they were doing.

[B]

Anyway, I'm a little.

[D]

I'm a little worried.

[A]

I don't have anything to add. I haven't looked at Their quarterly.

[B]

I'm a little worried for my A, I think, because I still get fooled by those fake sports breaking news accounts. Just sent one to Ryan, like two weeks ago.

[D]

Oh, Sentinel, about the.

[B]

It wasn't fake.

[A]

He sent me a fake St. John's one.

[B]

I sent the fake thing to Brian Curtis from the press box and I was like, God, that's so embarrassing. And that's not even AI. That's just a guy who knows how to make graphics that look like any other sports website. So I'm just. I'm worried for the future. I don't consider myself a. A huge dumbass, but the fact that I still get caught by those things.

[D]

Listen, don't feel bad because I mean, like, actual, you know, I think ESPN's gotten screwed by ball sack sports like half a dozen times, so I do love that. I think you're all right, man. It happens.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

But yeah, it used to be like, you know, hey, my parents would send me this email or this video. You'd be like, guys, come on.

[A]

Like.

[D]

And now it's like, I don't even know, man. Sure, there's like some natural disaster that you see, and it's like, no, that's fake. Is that real? Is it fake? I don't know.

[B]

Or then it's like, oh, this was actually from 2011. And this as a place. And like, I guess I wouldn't have known that. So my sniffer isn't as good as I thought.

[A]

Yeah, I'm supposed to be in the age gap. I'm supposed to be sending you stuff.

[B]

That's fine. I know, I know.

[A]

I'm sorry.

[B]

I'll try to cut.

[A]

And then all I can think about is like, nursing homes. Nursing homes in 30 years, they just can be like, hey, there's no Internet, no phones in here. Like, they can't handle it.

[D]

We're off the grid.

[B]

I'm only thinking of risk. That's what we have.

[A]

Yeah, I'm pretty bummed out about the stuff. I'm already going to be tricked by 20 years. There's no way I'm going to be able to keep it.

[D]

How do I sign up for that? Dude, I want to be in like, you know, if I'm ever have to be in a nursing home, like, I just give me just like an Xbox. Give me like, yeah, I'll play Risk. Like, I'm not online.

[A]

I don't need. No, no, no, not online.

[B]

All finally learned Settlers of Catan.

[A]

Yeah, all local stuff.

[D]

Yeah, we'll just play, you know, two controllers you know, whatever you want to do. Or just have, like, a huge monopoly party. I'll sign up for that tic tac toe board. Hell, yeah, that's fine. Just leave me there.

[A]

That would be pretty interesting if you start projecting out nursing homes, and I hate this topic, but, like, would you be playing vids? Wouldn't that make sense? Like, generationally, you know, buddies talk about.

[D]

This all the time. Yeah. Like, hopefully we can get hooked up in the same one, and we just, you know, do like, a. An NCAA dynasty, and we're just doing on the same one, and there you go.

[B]

It's crazy, right? Old guys, college over again. Old guys have been doing, like, cards was their thing for, like, a thousand years. And then with us, it's going to be like, Xbox.

[A]

There you go.

[B]

Crazy.

[A]

It's like, I'd play cards, too.

[D]

I have no issue. I do both. We got a lot of time.

[A]

Cards are great.

[D]

I got nothing but time.

[A]

I want to be a guy who escapes.

[D]

Yeah, I could see that. Yeah. Rosilla's gone again.

[A]

There you go.

[D]

What is it? Silver alert?

[B]

Is that what it's called?

[D]

Yeah. Right?

[B]

That's a fun name.

[A]

Yeah. Like, I'm not doing this today.

[D]

We had one up here recently.

[B]

I got.

[A]

He started smoking, remember? That's right.

[B]

Lifelong dream of his, actually. Just finally did it.

[A]

There's a couple things, but let's just keep it moving here. Yeah. AI. No, I had an AI story. I'll just make it quick. It was Grok, right? And someone was like, what is Rosillo's avatar? And they were. Grok was like, oh, I did see that.

[D]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

And it was like, it's old Dirty Bastard.

[D]

Right?

[A]

Because it's Russell. And then the Rosillo joke that Rosillo makes all the time.

[B]

All the time.

[A]

Yeah. And it was like, who. Who's. Who's on the controls today over there guy. It's not. It's always been Fife dog, which was. There was a personal reason behind it because I. He had hit me up right before he died, and I didn't get back to him because I was. He had asked me a question about, like, hey, I'd like to do some more stuff. And I was like, yep. And then I'm. I'm. I didn't say anything because I was trying to think of what would make sense to be able to use him on the show a little bit more regularly. And then he died. And I'm not going to sit here and pretend I'm super, super close to the guy, but he's one of my all time favorites and got to meet him and hang out with him a bunch of times and he loved, loved sports. And so I just was like, I'm going to leave it up there, whatever. I mean, that's my decision. And I'll never ever forget that fucking dork of an actor who let's say some non high approval Rosillo phases there who like came after me and started like changing it to Macklemore because he was like basically saying I was like trying to be cool but then I didn't deserve it the hip hop because he was so fucking cool. And I'll never forget who that actor is.

[B]

Well, it sounds like I'll have to ask you off air because it doesn't sound like you're going to drop that gem.

[A]

Fucking dork. Anyway.

[B]

Let's make Grok put him in a bikini.

[D]

Well, have you seen, you know, speaking of AI stuff? Like, they'll be like, hey, how many S's are in the word messenger? And like they'll be like three. And it's like, no, it's two. You'll be, no, no, no, it's definitely two. It's definitely two. And then it'll respond be like, nope, there are three S's in messenger. And you're like, what? This is what we spent all this money.

[B]

Good baseline. Yeah, it's a good baseline right now.

[A]

Yeah, that's not a glow. But I think long term it's going to be like, will laugh about these early days. There's just too many times where it's like the first time something's new. It's like, oh, this is stupid Internet. What's that for? You know, I remember those conversations. So I'm telling you, I'm long AI, but I just, I hope this entire thing that we just did is not collectively like being dismissive of it, but it is funny when it screws it up. You're just like, all right. It's so common. It's almost like delusional Signetti. Delusion.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, boy, you're feeling yourself right now. Gemini. All right.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

What's the.

[A]

Moving back to a small town.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

64205. Can rep 225. Eight times. Max was 12 NBA comp. Kevin Love. Used to be a rebounding machine. Could score from multiple levels. Knew what I was doing with the outlet passes too. Since college I've moved further away from the paint, so I'm not walking to work with a busted up ankle or knee. Still love to play though 27 years old, grew up in a small town in the Midwest, parents still live there. A good amount of my high school friends there as well. Dude, you're 27 and you're already staying away from the paint. That's six, four. Come on man.

[D]

Don't love that.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Parents still live there and a good amount of my high school friends as well who I'm still very close with. I moved after college to a large city in the south and have enjoyed my time here. I'm not married to this city or any city for that matter. It sounds like we got a freewheeling wheels up dude. Yeah, let's go mad.

[B]

Let's go.

[A]

Yeah. But here's a predicament that I've not had to face in my young adult career yet. I'm starting to dislike my job in industry for the first time ever. No way. I work in real estate development and have for the past six years. See I always would have thought I. Well whatever. Joining it most of those six years, seeing a lot of success, growth, promotions for the first time. I've had thoughts of going to a new company in the same industry or switching industries completely. This is pretty standard for guy in his later 20s, but here's the catch. Yeah, it's totally standard. All right, here's the catch. My dad has owned a small business back home for generations in his family. I always thought the only reason I moved back home would be to transition into the next generation of owning this business as this small town doesn't have many options for great jobs that I'd be interested in. We, my dad and I have had no real conversations about this until after I told him I was frustrated with my job. Since then my dad has started the conversation to see if I'm interested in coming home and working for him. This would lead to me moving back north and taking over when he's ready to retire in a few years. I don't hate the idea but I wish it was offered to me in a few more years when I'm in my younger 30s and probably more ready to move back closer to home. I still like the bigger city faster paced lifestyle I currently have. I recently broke up with a short term girlfriend so do not have anyone I need to convince or persuade to move if I choose that a lot of yapping for me. Hey, you fit in perfect here but I really just want to hear your guys thoughts on being my age and making these tougher decisions. I do not think either option is bad but it's a big Step of either going back to a slower paced living style, not to mention the limited dating pool back home versus where I am now, or staying where I am and only traveling home for holidays and big advice. Big, big events. Excuse me. All right, looking for thoughts.

[B]

I think you know which way I'm leaning. I'm having a fucking blast lately, so I would say this was great. I'm actually, you know, staying in the, in a little bit of a small town right now, which has grown on me quite a bit. I understand what he's talking about. With some of the drawbacks. I guess the question is like, your dad's retiring, right? He's not like terminal or something. So if you take this over, you don't like it and then you basically like decide to do something else, he's going to be fucking crushed. So like to like decide to take over this family business that sounds like it's been passed down that he's been toiling away for years and he's like getting ready to figure out the next thing. He's going to retire, when he's going to retire. So if you take it as like, like taking a flyer on, on it and it doesn't work, that could actually be really crushing for that dude. So I mean, you'd have to like, you have to. I think I'd want to hear a little bit more excitement in your email about potentially doing this. So that's the one thing I'd worry about. I love the whole back home thing and you know, your, your normal day is like around the people you love and think about most. That's really. Honestly, I feel rich in that department. But if you're like, hey, I guess I probably should do this maybe. I mean, I don't hate the idea, but like, it's kind of a big commitment. Like he's passing this thing to you where, whereas he could have sold it or, or you know, found the next successor. It just, I think you should want to maybe do this business a little bit more than it sounds like you want to. Sounds like he's just saying it doesn't sound horrible. It's like, all right, yeah, I wonder.

[D]

What the gig like what, what the industry is, you know, I think that, you know something. It's hardware. No, it wasn't something.

[A]

Dude, I totally.

[B]

Every small town needs to have a hardware store. So I totally could have been.

[A]

I could see you running a hardware store. Oh my God.

[B]

I drive by hardware store.

[D]

Yeah, it's great.

[A]

I, I back you. Although I could see your friends coming over and stealing screws and stuff? No, no, A couple of them would steal screws. What do you got, Serutti?

[D]

There'd be a tab open.

[A]

He just wants to avoid this at all costs.

[D]

Okay, well, I only ask is like, it's just like, how, how easy is it for you to learn this, Whatever this is? Is it something that, like, you don't have to put a ton of, you know.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Just because you're in an hour. I mean, you're smarter than everyone, right?

[D]

Like, my dad owns a plumbing, heating, air conditioning company. He retired recently, but, like, he kind.

[A]

Of knew from her.

[D]

I think I've told this story before. He kind of knew from an early age that, like, just wasn't going to be for me. And honestly, I don't think he wanted me to be a plumber either. Which the irony now is like, dude, plumbers, like, are killing it. Like, so you, like, those dudes make a ton of money at least, like, because, you know, nobody want to do that garnish.

[A]

If you want to use Fridays to be a once, once a week plumber, I'm all for it.

[D]

Start doing odd jobs. Yeah, see, I, I will say becoming a homeowner, I have, like, learned things, like mostly through YouTube, about how to do stuff. I get some electrical work at the old house that was kind of crazy.

[B]

You have an electrical work is scary. That's a scary.

[A]

It was scary. It.

[D]

I don't think my wife is like, super confident, but the light got fixed and we. It looks. It looked pretty good, but like, my, you know, my dad went to trade school. He, he, you know, my. The business would have, you know, basically is my dad was my dad and like, so like, transitioning to somebody else. Like, the business would not exist without him. Like, can this business, like, is this something that you're just sitting in a chair basically, like signing checks and like, it just kind of runs itself? Or do you have like, how much effort do you have to put into this? And then, you know, obviously, how much effort does your dad expect you to put into this? So, you know, I think you just got to, you know, could you just be real with your dad and say, hey, like, I want to do this. You know, could I have a few years more of just like, I like living in the city? Like, what, do you just not retire yet? What his timeline is just do it.

[B]

A couple more years.

[D]

So I feel, but I think it's fair to have like, what. What is the transition plan? Is it two years? Is it five years? How long do you need me to sit next to you. Like, I think have that conversation. And, you know, if he's like, hey, this is like a five year thing where I want you to be by my side. And like, I really, I, you know, hey, I built this business. I want it to be successful. So you have to do these things. Then there's your answer. Maybe he might be cool and be like, oh, yeah, like, come in, you know, a couple of years from now, keep living your thing. When you turn 30, come back here and we'll figure it out. So I think that's kind of the conversation you have to have, but you have to be respectful. Your dad, obviously, because, like, he's the one that's hooking you up here. But I'm with Kyle to, like, maybe be a little more enthusiastic about this because it sounds like a pretty good.

[B]

Hookup because you could totally, like, yeah, your life has way more, you know, shit that you need to figure out. So if you were like, oh, that wasn't a thing, you'll find the next thing, he'll just have his business crashed or whatever happened. You know what I mean? So it would be crazy if your dad, like, Logan Roy'd you out of it. It's like you actually moved back.

[C]

You don't have it.

[D]

You're not a killer.

[B]

He's just like, yeah, you're just not a serious person. I can't leave this to you. I'm gonna stay on maybe another 10 years. Just living in the countryside. Estates.

[A]

What a weird family. Yeah, I think you guys nailed it. I'll just add a little bit to here. You don't seem. You seem like it's just a thing. And one thing that's in your favor is that you're his son. So if you want to delay this, can't be a maybe I'll do this. Because once you do this, then you kind of are signing up for that kind of for the rest of your life. So say that at least for the rest of his life.

[D]

Yeah. On your conscience. Do you want to bail on this thing that your dad hooked you up with? Yeah, of course not.

[A]

Right? Like, you can't go into this being like, you know what? This really isn't for me, you know, so why don't you get all that out of your system and move around and try something else different? If there's no timeline that you have to come back and rescue the store. Lifetime Eastern 7 Central, right?

[B]

That's right.

[A]

Like, you don't. You don't have to do this, right? Now, so are you. Are you kind of like, in that rut of dating where you're like, I guess I could date her for a little while. You know, that's kind of what this feels like a little bit. You're not. You don't want to actually date the person. It's just like, this is an option that presents yourself to distract you from your general malaise about everything else that's going on. So I would. I would hold off. I would maybe be like, hey, look, timeline wise, it doesn't really matter. He's probably super excited about the idea. He's going to get to spend more time with his son. You're coming back. I think it'd be really tough for you to come back and not be all in and then pull the plug. Like, if you get some of this stuff out of your system or maybe you end up pursuing something else totally different, that this is now no longer an option. At least you weren't, like, messing with him here. So, you know, and look, you said some things there like, hey, small town dating pool and all that stuff. You're 27, man. You're not 37 also.

[B]

Right. That is also the time when I think dudes who've been out of college and been on a certain track for a couple years are like, wait a second, like, retirement is a while away. Am I. Did I. Did I screw this up? Did I fuck this up? Where maybe you're just having a couple, you know, boring months or whatever. Like, I think it's totally. It's not a midlife crisis by any means, but I do think, like, upper 20s, when you're like, maybe on some sort of track that's outside of just, like, you know, a job and you're actually into a career a couple years in and you're just like, wait a second, should I, Should I. Am I too far down this path? So, like, I think that's a totally normal feeling for, you know, young dudes to have as well. Mm.

[D]

I will say, too, as a. As a guy who spent a lot of summers and breaks, you know, in the truck working with the guys that my dad owned. Like, you can't just show up there and take over and have these people's respect either. Like, this isn't like, you need to. You probably need to earn a lot of these people. Again, I don't know what the industry is, so I'm just speaking from like, my own personal experience.

[B]

Maybe see if you got some Carhartts in your closet before you roll in.

[D]

I don't and now, you know what? They sniffed it on me. No, I think they mostly liked me because I realized, like, I didn't know what I didn't know, and I was a good hang for the most part and, you know, whatever.

[B]

Gotta get that boss's kid stank off you.

[D]

But if you just show up and start, like, barking orders at people and they're like, you know, was it. Where did this guy come from? He didn't put in the actual hours. Like, that's not a good place you want to be either.

[A]

If you guys could own any kind of small business, what would you want to run?

[B]

Bar, Restaurant?

[A]

Publishing.

[D]

I think it's a coffee shop. Thought about this a lot. Yeah, but there's a lot of coffee shops. So it's like, is that just what.

[A]

Would be special about yours?

[D]

My coffee shop?

[C]

I'm.

[D]

I'm a pretty good. I'm. I'm pretty good at making espresso.

[B]

And.

[D]

Have one at the house. Enjoy it every day. 2pm I'm an afternoon espresso guy. But there, it's just an oversaturated market, so I don't know. I don't have. I don't really have it. I haven't thought about it in full yet. So I gotta. I gotta. What makes me special? I don't know.

[A]

I don't like your business plan.

[D]

That's why I haven't figured it out yet.

[B]

Like, I. I think for. If we want to talk about what would set my potential business apart, I think definitely patio. You can smoke patio for smoking. But really nice. Like, put. Put like a ring game out there. We're not gonna have like Jenga blocks at every table and make it like adult summer camp. I mean, some bars are just a little precious. It's like, oh, this one we have Connect four. And this one we have Jenga. It's like, all right, what are we doing here?

[A]

But ring that In Colorado, early 2000.

[B]

Yeah, ring game. Yeah, something like that. I just had eclectic menu. Like, for some reason, I really been into cheese curds lately. Fries, fried cheese curds. Not the mod. We could skip the mod sticks, do something like that.

[A]

So a Midwestern flair in the non gifts.

[B]

Got to have a good burger. You can have bacon, egg and cheeses any time of the day if you'd like. And they'll be. They'll be modestly priced. Not that, you know, this one's $15 for some reason.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Just a couple things. We'll always have obviously attentive people. There'll be A cheat sheet of what the channels are. So if you're like, can you put this on? They're saying, what channel is true tv? That's never going to happen in the bar. So, like, there's like just a couple of things, but I do, I think. I think people would notice some of those small things. You'd be like, that is nice. We can smoke out there and you can bring your beer.

[A]

That's cool.

[B]

You don't have to stand out front like you're waiting for a bus. Anyway.

[A]

I like it. Okay. I think you've thought about it more than Cerutty's thought about it.

[D]

Yeah. I would openly admit that if I.

[A]

Had seed money, I'd know which check I was in. You know, Ceruta's gonna sit there and hand you a cappuccino with some sort of fucking Italian jelly, trying to act like you're in Florence.

[D]

Like, I need a little bit these days. Well, I have thought about like, do I like opening like a. But again, I live in like a town that you need to do this in a city. So I'd have to move. But like, is it like a soccer coffee bar where, like, you could watch all the games in the morning? There's a bunch of TVs around, we make good coffee.

[A]

Like a north ending.

[B]

Three in the morning, we'd probably open.

[D]

That's the thing too, is I'm not a morning person.

[B]

So you stroll it at halftime. Like, how's everything going?

[C]

But no.

[A]

Yeah. Rudy's Coffee shop opens at 1.

[D]

You'd have to open at 6, 6am so that would be a tough turnaround. This would probably be, you know, post like, you know, all this stuff, you.

[A]

Know, before the nursing home. Yeah. After the audio for have some.

[D]

Some maybe money to. To waste. But yeah, I think that could be cool. And then like, you know, it's open from like 6am to 2 in the afternoon. You know, maybe you watch Champions League final there.

[B]

That's European as fuck. You know it's European.

[D]

Who are you talking to? You know, I don't know.

[B]

Everyone goes home.

[A]

Cigarettes you guys got there.

[B]

Yeah, right.

[C]

We get out.

[D]

I'm pro cigarette. I have no issue with you outside.

[A]

But this podcast loves smoking. Wild.

[B]

Tough time to get in. They're very expensive these days.

[A]

Really?

[B]

You guys missed the good old days.

[A]

It'd be funny though, like, sales reaches out to us and be like, well, this doesn't happen. Marlboro wants to get.

[B]

He won't believe Philip Morris wants to sponsor second.

[A]

All right, let's read another email. For the record, I would like to own a lumberyard. I've already looked into it. I don't think it's going to happen. They're pretty expensive.

[D]

Why a lot of overhead.

[A]

Are you kidding me? Lumber be awesome.

[D]

I don't. I'm genuinely. I genuinely don't know why. Why is that awesome?

[A]

I just think it would be awesome.

[B]

I drive past one around here.

[A]

It looks.

[B]

It looks like a pretty cool thing to own.

[A]

I would love it.

[B]

Gotta be careful with how much you order though, right?

[A]

I mean, well, that's what you would learn. You know, you'll probably learn the hard way, Kyle. A couple times.

[D]

What is Woody at treehouse? Not knowing this would go bad. Can you just like, what's the big deal? All right. So you just hold on to some lumber.

[A]

Well, it depends on how you're storing it.

[B]

You know which kind of storage is tough.

[D]

That's right. I guess so, yeah. Depends on where it is. Northeast, probably.

[A]

Tough finish Carpet your finished. Carpenters like, they're not going to buy product from you if you're believing that stuff outside. Is this not kiln dried? The hoodies, the pallet trucks. Kidding. Definitely start smoking. All right. New fan of the show. Can't wait for the wine to drop. The wine is real. The wine is really happening. So they asked me about a saying the other night, and I don't think we got it approved, but I wanted. It's actually. I'm going to give the Colorado guys who started the whole sav kick. So shout out to the Colorado guys from menver. You know who you are, right? Gary, Kaleido jc, et cetera. And so they used to all drink sa and their favorite thing to do would be like, is it too late to say I'm savvy? And they just started handing them out to everybody. And it worked. I'm telling you right now, it worked.

[B]

You're going to put that on the bottle and italics.

[A]

They would just start handing out savs to everybody. That's like people they didn't know and somehow they just.

[B]

They wish I liked that more.

[D]

I know.

[B]

I don't like it at all.

[A]

I'm surprised you like it like the saying. Yeah, I guess you kind of had to be there. I mean, I just thought, you know what?

[B]

Honestly, you kind of whispered it. I think maybe if you were like full throating it, like, maybe it would have. It would sound better.

[A]

I think anybody over six feet tall handing a girl a sob singing Bieber while they're doing it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You're. I think the commitment.

[B]

The commitment level of how I'm expecting you heard at that time would probably be better anyway.

[A]

Yeah. So is it too late to say savvy were going to put on the bottle, but I don't think that's going to get approved.

[B]

I think there's some might be too close.

[A]

I don't know who wrote the lyrics.

[B]

It's not parody law. Although you could look at the. You could look at the. The label and be like, maybe this is a parody wine.

[A]

No, Wine Spectator gave this one a 76. All right.

[B]

I'm pissed that there's not going to be as much as there should be and it'll all be gone and we'll never get to try it because there's like a limited amount of bottles and the hype so big, it's like only a few people even know what it's even like.

[A]

Well, that sounds like somebody really wants a bottle. And Erdie is pretty upset about being left out. So now because of your guilty pitch, I'll have to make sure some is set aside for you.

[B]

Love that.

[A]

You will definitely get some. All right.

[B]

Love that. I'll share it with Rudy.

[D]

Thanks, dude.

[A]

Yeah, I meant when you guys come to visit and have a bottle's leftover and I'd be like, all right, put out your glasses. You have to split.

[C]

This.

[A]

New fan of the show, 66205.

[B]

A lot of height on this show, averaging six five.

[A]

An email right now. That's pretty lean.

[D]

Six six. Yeah.

[A]

Yep. Finally taking the gym seriously. Added 15 pounds since September. Progressing from skinny to lanky player comp Steve Novak. So we probably didn't need to hear that from you. Ceruti 205. But he's added 15 pounds of beef. A group of my college friends live in the same city. One of them, let's call him Niko, is Greek. Well, that name works. Good job. Took myself and three friends to his homeland a few summers ago. We had a great time and towards the end of the week, we talked about how we have to come back in the future since Nico goes to see family every summer. He then told us his older sister by four years, who we've befriended but don't see frequently, was going to get married in Greece and he might be able to get us invites over the last year or so. That trip, that wedding, and our reason for going back to Greece together were a continual topic of conversation since then. One friend from the trip we'll call Mike. He and I moved in together around the Middle of last summer, Mike started working an outrageous amount and hasn't been around much. It's gotten to the point where people will joke with me. Is Mike even alive? We haven't seen him in months. Although it's known some finance jobs have brutal hours. Mike wouldn't tell people he can't make it to stuff. He just stopped texting our friends. Everyone still considered themselves close and good friends with Mike. But after a while of Mike not responding, people just stopped reaching out. Then in mid December, the wedding invites got sent out. All of us from the original trip got one, except for Mike, and he doesn't know yet. Dun dun, dun.

[D]

Wow.

[A]

This is a nasty non invite.

[D]

It is.

[A]

His invite didn't disappear. It went to a girl Nico used to casually see from our broader friend group. He has since cut that off, not wanting to be serious. Nico's sister does know her and they are friendly, but not as close as the rest of us or Mike. Nico is insisting who got the invites wasn't his decision. Well, I doubt his sister invited your hangout pal. Right. Hey, do you want to make sure you hook up at my wedding? Yeah. All right. Who should I invite? Nico is assisting. Again, the invites weren't his decision, but his sisters, which everyone, including this girl, finds suspicious. To complicate things further, Mike's job finally started letting up and he started to hang out with all of us again.

[B]

Oh no.

[A]

And when we've approached Nico about telling Mike he's not invited to the wedding, he said, quote, that's not my job, that's my sister, man. This is a real. Nico's. A real.

[B]

Nico's a hands off type of friend, huh?

[D]

Some would say bad friend.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Some would say yeah, maybe just a shithead. Which isn't going to happen. It's just an excuse. I live with Mike. I live with Mike. And our lease goes to the end of April and then I give it a two thirds chance to be moving to our own apartments after that. My current plan is not to tell Mike unless he asked me directly and just wait out our lease and hope Nico or someone else. So you're not a sick friend either.

[B]

Jesus Christ.

[A]

Jesus, man. Who should tell Mike and how and what should I do as his roommate?

[B]

Which part are you going to tell him? You think divide and conquer this.

[A]

I'll just say this. If someone. When you're mad and Mike is going to be really mad, I mean, maybe he doesn't care, maybe he doesn't care, but most people would be really mad about this and Then to not tell him, and you're his roommate, and you already know when you're mad. And then you get extra things to be mad about. The original thing. You're so fired up because you're going to turn into. I get to be even more mad. I'm psyched. I can be mad about this. You start collecting all these different things to be mad about. You have to tell him. Okay? And the best thing about you telling him is, wasn't your decision. You didn't do it to him. So the longer it goes, now you become guilty in this entire cocktail of shame. So you get out in front of it. So that way you can be like, I have nothing to do with this. But you need to know if you don't, if you're going to wait until the lease and then move into other places, and then guys are going to Greece. And Mike's like, hey, what happened with all that? It's like, oh. And he's going to go, you knew? And you're like, oh, sorry. And he's like, you never told me anything else. So if you ever want to still be friends with Mike again, Everybody's different. So maybe Mike's threshold for all this stuff, you know, who knows? Maybe Mike doesn't even want to go. But probably not. You have. There's no choice. Like, you have to be a man about this and go. Look. And the best part about this is that you're not the one that did anything to him.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. So it's not like you're admitting, hey, I did this. You have anxiety of. Of admitting this mistake that you've made that's going to upset your friend, this Nico character, the mad Greek over here.

[B]

Certainly he's let this get out of hand.

[A]

Not my problem.

[D]

Yeah, you're kind of. You're in a great spot, actually. Great. Great is not awesome. I shouldn't say great, but, like, a better.

[B]

Your liability is zero.

[A]

You.

[D]

Yeah, you're. You're like, kind of being like the, you know, Mike's boy here. This is. This is awesome. And it's not. And it wouldn't be weird if this just came up. Like, what are they going to ask you the exact circumstances of how this wedding came up? But, hey, it came up in conversation. I told them. We were like, what am I. I'm not playing secrets with this guy. So, yeah, there's no way. You can't tell him. If you like Mike at all, if you respect Mike at all, there's zero. You have to tell him because that's Incredibly fucked up.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What was the. Did I miss the roommate thing? He's like, we're also planning on dumping him.

[A]

No, he's just at. Our lease is through April, and then we're probably going to get our own apartments. You know, guys getting older get our own apartments.

[B]

I thought, like, me and this other dude that's going to the wedding.

[A]

Okay, Yeah, I got to be straight with the emailer here. Like, that plan's fucked up, too, man. Like, let me just ride this out to the lease breaks. And now we're going to be in separate places. And then that way, I'm kind of, like, washing my hands.

[B]

Hope you've been saving up, buddy. I got news for you.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Well, Nico's really let this thing. I don't know if this is the right analogy, but, like, I remember when I was in ninth grade, I had a party that, like, I had to convince my mom to, like, let us have some. You know, mostly dudes come over. We're just going to be outside. And then word had gotten around, and, like, a lot of people started showing up, and, like, people started blowing shit up. And I was like, I'm in so much trouble already.

[A]

Explosion party, ninth grade.

[B]

They were, like, blowing up. It was like, ax cans. Like, how do you make an axe can explode or something? You know, like, stuff like that. Kind of harmless. But I'm like, all right, this isn't something that sounds. Probably approved of. It was pretty awesome. But then, like, other guy dudes.

[A]

I'm just doing that.

[B]

Dudes and trucks started showing up. I'm like, I don't think I know anybody with a truck. I'm fucking 14. It got a little bit crazy, and I was just like, all right, my mom. This is the one thing. Yeah, there were beers around. It was, like, the one thing that wasn't allowed to happen. And I just went to sleep because I was like, if I'm unconscious for this, it's not my deal. That's not how she. She actually slapped me in front of everybody in the next morning when. When we woke up, it was actually. Everyone was like, holy shit. But I am, like, in my twisted brain, I was just like, if I'm not a part of this anymore, it's not my problem. Which is kind of what's going on with Nico. And he's got to kind of wake up a little bit. If I could do that party again, I probably would have tried to stop it. But that's. That's the only.

[A]

Can we. So you were 14. You had somebody's over to break things.

[B]

Which trampoline? There was a trampoline. Like it was like. Right, but.

[A]

But the stakes are going to get raised. Somebody's got a lighter on them. What can we set on fire? Within reason. A controlled fire. Yeah, right. And then dudes with mustaches, licenses, keys, girlfriend's beers started showing up to a 14 year old's party. Yes. And then you were like, well, if I go to bed, the party's over for me and I'm not responsible. And they stayed there. Yes. Now I don't blame because you were. If you were 14, maybe you were 15. Maybe 14. I don't know. Yeah, I'm gonna guess 15 if I.

[B]

Was always the youngest in my class.

[A]

So I don't know. Oh, so then maybe you were 14. Could have been.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Who?

[C]

Who?

[A]

How did the party end?

[B]

I don't know. I went to sleep. Not everyone was there when I got back, but I'm pretty sure somebody like dude slept on the trampoline. Like they were like. It just. I don't know. Again, it was delusional. But in my own screwed up head, it's like this is getting out of hand and I seem to be on the hook for this and so not my problem anymore if you guys explode. Another thing, I wasn't there. I couldn't have been there to okay this or I don't know. That was just like my fucked up brain at the time was just like I'm already in so much shit.

[D]

Your brain wasn't. It wasn't developed. Yeah. You know, it's not your fault.

[B]

It's like if you did this without my knowledge, I think it's better for me, but I don't know.

[A]

Yeah, I mean technically I kind of like what you did. It's like if I go to sleep, then the day is over.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

That's why I was thinking with Nico just like, this isn't my deal anymore. My sister's running the show. I started this whole thing but this is where I get off. So good luck to everybody.

[A]

I'm not even sure it's a perfect.

[B]

I don't think it is by the comp.

[A]

But I'm so glad that you did shared that with us that I don't even.

[B]

We've been at this a long time. I was like, I don't think I've told this story. So I was like, I'm always wondering if I'm out of stories, but how's your ankle? To my head it was really, really stiff. This morning. Put it, put it on a. Put a tight sock over it. Been moving around. Stairs are tough again. The mornings we're still close to the morning. It's like 12 o' clock here. I've been up for like, you know, four or five hours. So, you know, it's never worse than it is in the morning. So I think by the end of the day I'll feel better. Tomorrow morning I'll feel shitty again and hopefully it all just lessens as we get closer.

[A]

Okay. All right. We'll get an update on that tomorrow. Banging out well, no, it's not a weird.

[B]

It's not a weird color, I'll tell you that. I was waiting for it to get all black and purple and so far, not a weird color at all.

[A]

It's good. Yeah. I'm glad. Glad it's not like that. It's a good sign. Okay, thank you to Kyle, Steve, Tom, Kevin. Please subscribe Ryan Rosilla Show Barstool Sports.