NBA Mailbag Questions & Another Ja Morant Self-Own, Plus CFB Rivalry Week w/ Stanford Steve

Summary

The Ryen Russillo Show – "NBA Mailbag Questions & Another Ja Morant Self-Own, Plus CFB Rivalry Week w/ Stanford Steve"

Date: November 26, 2025
Host: Ryen Russillo (now at Barstool Sports)
Guests: Steve Ceruti, Kyle, Stanford Steve

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Overview

In this episode, Ryen Russillo delivers a classic mix of NBA analysis, listener mailbag, college football breakdowns with Stanford Steve, and the ever-popular Life Advice segment. The show kicks off with an in-depth timeline and reflection on Ja Morant’s turbulent past year, pivots into NBA mailbag questions (touching on SGA, the Heat, and Sixers), then transitions into extensive CFB conference and playoff implications with Stanford Steve. The episode wraps up with personal advice, light banter, and life musings, all in Russillo’s signature, conversational tone.

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Main Themes & Segments

1. Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies, and "The Self-Own"

Timestamps: 02:14 – 12:45

• Russillo explores the ongoing struggles and self-inflicted setbacks in Ja Morant’s career.
  • Details Memphis being in the 10th seed in the West, their hopeless start, and pick scenarios involving OKC and Utah.
  • Runs through recent and older Ja Morant incidents, including suspensions, public persona, and his baffling continued behavior despite significant brand and team losses.
• Reflects on "Memphis Curses", experimenting with dunk minutes and fresh roster rotations that aren’t working.
• Critiques the “victim” mentality Morant seems to be adopting and challenges whether fans (and himself) should expect maturity from public figures.

Notable Quotes:

• “The best moment in the Ja era is probably the ‘whoop that trick’ game... when he wasn’t playing because he got hurt.” – Ryen Russillo (06:00)
• “Why would you even want to go after Klay? Yeah, Klay’s not as good now. No shit, he’s old.” (12:05)

Memorable Moment:

• The “Ja broke the code” circular feud between Morant, Kerr, Brooks, and Payton, highlighting the layers of NBA drama.

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2. NBA Mailbag: SGA, Heat Culture, and Sixers Rotations

Timestamps: 12:45 – 25:47
Mailbag led by Steve Ceruti

a. SGA’s Push-Offs & Harden Comparisons

• Listener frustration with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s “push off to create space”.
• Russillo recommends perspective: “Watch Harden, then go back, watch SGA—okay, so it could be worse.” (14:29)
• Insightful breakdown of how the league subtly permits offensive players to manufacture space, touching on officiating quirks over the years.

b. Heat Culture & Being Wrong About Miami

• Listener flags preseason skepticism about the Heat.
• Both concede Miami’s new high-paced, share-the-ball approach is genuinely fun and unexpected, especially given historical slowness.
• Russillo admits: “I didn’t know they’d have this system when they’ve never played fast... I did not expect this.” (21:21)
• Both hold back from picking the Heat for the East, still favoring more talented rosters in the playoffs.

c. Sixers Guard Rotation

• Listener asks about ideal Philly rotations with various players returning.
• Russillo analyzes sound backcourt combinations, suggests “closing with VJ and Maxey if healthy,” but acknowledges it’s a challenging mix due to guard depth and Embiid’s needs.
• Light mockery of passionate Sixers/Heat mailbag obsession: “What is this mailbag gonna be, just Heat and Sixers fans?” (23:08)

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3. College Football Rivalry Week Deep-Dive

Timestamps: 27:53 – 62:13
With Stanford Steve

a. Big Ten, SEC, and Playoff Gaps

• Discuss the comparative strength of Indiana, Ohio State, and Oregon vs. SEC teams at the top.
• Stanford Steve sees only a minimal gap: “I don’t think it’s large at all, Ryan. I think it’s minimal...I actually look at Oregon after seeing them in person...” (28:35)
• Praises Oregon’s physicality, depth at running back, and handling of adversity.

b. Program Cultures & Stadium Experiences

• Extended anecdotes about Eugene, Oregon – stadium upgrades, in-game traditions, and nostalgia for wild Halloween games.
• Discussion transitions to Georgia’s tactical resilience and the program’s ability to adjust during games: “Kirby’s not throwing a visor, he’s not throwing a headset... it’s this methodical, pro-like approach.” (39:28)

c. Other Team Assessments

• A&M’s defensive strengths and coaching tactics.
• Notre Dame, Tech, Bama, and their realistic paths to playoff relevance.
• Widens to a coaching/roster analysis and memorable/quirky road-trip stories.

d. CFB Committee Rankings Gripes

• Russillo and Steve scrutinize BYU, Utah, and Miami’s placement.
• Both find the committee’s affection for Utah odd, with Steve noting, “I don’t understand it” (58:37), and Russillo adding, “I just don’t like it [BYU/Utah] in front of the Hurricanes.” (57:57)

Notable Quotes:

• “Arvell Reese, he’s a different animal. They just line him up wherever they want.” – Stanford Steve (29:30)
• “Give me all of Kenyon Sadiq, dude—he wears a uniform like no other guy in college football.” – Stanford Steve (30:39)
• “It’s not really a 12-team playoff if we’re gonna have a group of five and Notre Dame is gonna be a part of it; it’s group 5+10.” – Stanford Steve (59:51)

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4. NFL Picks & Thanksgiving Football Banter

Timestamps: 62:13 – 67:50

• Steve delivers his Philly “Black Friday” pick: “We’ll lay it with Philly.” (63:20)
• Russillo jokes about late-night London game routines and the “untapped opportunity” with Sky Sports for former NFLers.
• Amusing sidebar on TV streaming issues and the stress of missing games while traveling.

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5. Life Advice: The “Rebuilding Year”, Social Hermitage, and Ethics of Reselling Gifts

Timestamps: 70:44 – 90:32

Segment Highlights:

• A listener asks about a friend’s extended “rebuilding year”—avoiding social life, postponing dating, focusing on physical and financial self-improvement.
• Russillo & crew toggle between empathy and light razzing, mostly advising patience unless the friend’s isolation persists too long:
  “You can have a three-year rebuilding plan, as plenty of fan bases know—doesn’t mean it’ll only take three years.” (80:36)
• Suggest picking a hard deadline for re-entering the world, possibly timed with NBA milestones as a motivational joke.

Ethics of Selling Gifted Tickets:

• Listener dilemma: is it wrong to sell high-value tickets received as a gift upon leaving a job?
• Consensus: It depends on whether the givers could find out; selling is tempting if anonymous, but doesn’t “feel right” if the gift was meant as a personal experience.

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Notable Quotes & Banter

• “I love that Philly responding. National embarrassment... My adrenaline.” – Ryen Russillo (63:22)
• “Play them this... Just play them this last bit of the clip.” – Stanford Steve, encouraging the first listener to share the Life Advice segment with his isolated friend. (83:18)
• “If I were a talent agent... I would be calling Sky Sports. Get reps, NFL guys!” – Russillo on creative ways to break into TV sports. (63:35)

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Episode Tone and Style

Lively, self-aware, a mix of playful ribbing and earnest analysis. Russillo and his regulars are unafraid of tangents—whether on gym etiquette, nostalgia for campus bar fights, or thorough explorations of team-building philosophy. The segment with Stanford Steve is full of mutual respect and CFB “inside baseball.” Life Advice oscillates between compassionate and comedic.

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Timestamps for Key Sections

• Ja Morant Deep Dive — 02:14 to 12:45
• NBA Mailbag — 12:45 to 25:47
• CFB Rivalry Week with Stanford Steve — 27:53 to 62:13
• NFL Thanksgiving Picks — 62:13 to 67:50
• Life Advice & Listener Dilemmas — 70:44 to 90:32

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Conclusion

This is an episode for dedicated hoops and football fans who love narrative as much as stats—delivering NBA insights, NCAA playoff conjectures, and authentic “locker room” wisdom about life, friendship, and the comedy of sports. Presented with wit, humility, and plenty of insider anecdotes.

Transcript

[Ryan Rosillo]

Hey barstool listeners. You can find every episode of the Ryan Rosillo show on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. The Ryan Rosilla show is presented by DraftKings. Today I'm going to run through the Ja Morant timeline. It's just something I've wanted to talk about and a conclusion I think we all need to come to. And we're going to do our NBA Mailbag from a good 10 minutes from our YouTube page with Cerutty asking us some questions, which feels like it could be just Sixers fans giving me a hard time, which may be fair in some cases, unfair in others. We've got Sam Receive talking college football, going through the contenders and then trying to make sense of this byu, Utah, Miami ranking and then looking ahead to how the rankings will look on Tuesday. He gives us a winner for Thanksgiving week. We've got life advice so all that is coming up right now. Do you know about the three T's of Thanksgiving? Turkey for eating, table for gathering and touchdowns for winning with DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL, every touchdown could bring you closer to cashing in before dessert. With DraftKings sportsbook, all the actions in your hands. First touchdown, anytime, TD Live bets, every play, every snap, every game counts. Big plays, bold calls and bragging rights. When the games get good, the bets get better. And here's the best part. New customers bet just $5 and if your bet wins, you get $200 in bonus bets instantly. When touchdowns happen, we feast. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use the code Ryan. That's code Ryan Ryen. Bet five bucks and get $200 in bonus bets. If your bet wins in partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York, call 877-8-HOPENY or text hopeny467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas.

[Kyle]

Pass through of per wager tax may.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Apply in Illinois 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario, restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DK Slash Audio limited Time offer. We're gonna do some NBA mailbag stuff that we do on our YouTube. A good 10 minutes. NBA a good 10 minutes. I don't really know technically what the title is. I think it's just a good 10 minutes. Normally it always goes longer than that. And then obviously we got Stanford Steve coming up here on life advice before a holiday for a bunch of you. I just came back from London, landed late last night, got up, was ready to go, then did a little NBA tv. So I'm in an NBA mood. I'm excited about it. So I want to talk a little bit about John Morant, the Memphis curses and kind of where they're at. Not that any of this is breaking news, but if we run through the timeline and we touched on the jaw and clay stuff from the past week where you're just like, what are you doing? Like, what? What is your goal, John Morant? So we touched on that Monday. All right, let's take a look at Memphis here. They're 10th in the West. They're a half a game up on Utah and the Clippers. Sacramento is a game behind them. You know, beginning in the plan for the Grizzlies this year, you could probably label it as what's the point. Memphis does own their pick. Utah's a top eight protected pick to Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City, by the way, could have a scenario where they look, they have the Clippers unprotected picks. So you imagine the Clippers are going to fight to get into the plan. Utah, you would think, wants nothing to do with the plan. They have to have the odds have to go in their favor this year and a really good draft at the top. So okc, best case scenarios they could.

[Steve Cerutti]

Have.

[Ryan Rosillo]

If you run through this, they'll have the Clippers unprotected, which could be number one. They could have Utah's. If it lands at nine or lower, then they're going to have Houston and Philadelphia's first round pick. So that's four. They also have Dallas's unprotected second rounder. So it's just a joke. OKC's pick actually goes to Washington this year. So that's some other stuff for you. But if you look at the plan and you look at where we're at historically entering our sixth year of the playing, huh? How about that? Chicago Bulls fans, You knew that. You knew that. You're like, yeah, I mean, I preorder my play in ticket package every summer. Like, yeah, of course we know that it's been that long. But if you look at their record at 10th, like it's an abysmal record. They're 6 and 12. So they're like.333 winning percentage. If you go back through the west over the previous years, last season it was a 39 and 43 team, the 10 seed. One year with the warriors it was 46 and 36. That was the 10th best record in the West. That's ridiculous. Then it was 42 and 40, 34 and 48. 33 and 39 in a shorter season in 21. So basically all of these records at the worst, the 34 and 48 is a. 415 winning percentage. So winning one third of your games is probably not going to get it done. We're not even 20 games into the season yet, but again with them off to this bad start and this new system that I want to get to and everything but like bringing it back to job. He's not playing. He has the cap strength. He was already suspended this season. The team is just a mess. Offensively they're not great. Defensively they're okay rebounding wise. And they're one of the worst four shooting teams in the league since shot played in 61 games in 23. 23 was the Lakers first round exit when they were the two seed that everybody. Some people get really excited about. I think the best era, like the, the best moment in the jaw era is probably the whoop. That trick game in 22 against the Golden State warriors when he wasn't playing because remember he got hurt on that play. His knee was hurt. And then Jordan Pool kind of swiped at his knee. I was watching the play again this morning. He barely touches him. And then JA tweeted out, broke the code. Broke the code because Steve Kerr talked about breaking the code when Dylan Brooks tried to murder Gary Payton. He also went after Gary Payton because Gary Payton, when he had had a dunk earlier, like did the on his head thing. So Dylan Brooks, AKA Captain Retribution. So then we had some broke the code debates.

[Steve Cerutti]

Did.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Did anyone break the code again? I think he kind of barely touches him post game. You know, Josh just beside himself. So then you run through more of the stuff. 23 games or excuse me, eight games. He was suspended in 23 for the gun video incident. I was on an island on this one. I thought some of the suspension stuff with him was a little excessive because then there was another video incident. But it was also a culmination of like some of the other stuff when there was that big feature a couple years ago. And like what's going on with this Gu May of 23 investigated, then suspended the first 25 games of the next upcoming Season. So you're like, all right, look, he's still young enough. He can turn this thing around. He's going to be fine. No big deal. I think when his dad was wearing the redemption hoodie, and I think his dad is in the hoodie with jaw, like, giving it up to the crowd. I don't know, maybe he is or isn't. I could see the dad being like, let's get one with jaw, but I'd also like to be in it. Is that possible? Maybe. Maybe shot from the back, you know, just kind of open up that pov. That was. The thing is, it wasn't. It wasn't like, all right, I gotta fix some of this stuff. Like, I'm a nine figure brand. I've got this shoe and I remember going to, like, a Nike. I think it was in time. Time Square is usually where I'd be when I go to New York City. I'm pretty sure I was not in Times Square. It was SoHo. And I walked into the Nike store and I asked the guy, I was like, how are the Josh shoes doing? He's like, can't keep them in here. He's like, people love them. Kids love the shoes. I was like, that's cool. Good for him. But I think the thing that we learned is all that stuff was going on. It was like, oh, this guy's not going to be accountable to anything. There's nothing that's in his head. It's like, okay. And when the world is against you, I can imagine being like, all right. My first instinct is to defend myself. And you're going to see so many things when it's you that you're like, well, that's not true. That's wrong. That's bullshit. All these people talking, you know, can't keep my name out their mouths. But then his whole demeanor since then has been worse. Like, that should have been a moment on his timeline of like, all right, man, a lot of this stuff is really stupid. Like, this is pretty fixable stuff, right?

[Kyle]

Like, what.

[Ryan Rosillo]

What's the point of pursuing this? This. This role playing that. He seems to be obsessed with that. That I don't understand while he's watching a ton. So then he had, like, the warrior celebration where he pointed the gun at the guys, and then he immediately had the grenade celebration. You're like, oh, you just don't get it. You know, sometimes we'll spend a lot of time talking about public figures, being like, why would he do this? Why would he do that? And sometimes we're like, Maybe we need to stop having as high of expectations. So this year he has that disastrous Friday night game, says talk to the coaches, he gets suspended again. You know, this new system with Memphis where the plan is play a bunch of guys, shorter burst rotations. I'm kind of fascinated by the entire idea. Like, could you build a team that was 12 deep in the NBA and over the course of a grueling season just be that much fresher at the end by playing no. 1, no one on the team? Jaren Jackson doesn't even crack 29 minutes a game, right? And they sub out four at a time. I'm actually really interested in whether or not this could work. But you know what, it's not going to work with these guys. Because the first thing an athlete does, if you change something, like, you can be bad as a head coach, but as long as you're bad with stuff they're familiar with, you're probably going to last a little bit longer. If you're bad with innovation, you're fucked. And that's what's clearly happened with this guy and the fact that he's from Finland. Like these dudes are just going to go, no thanks. The other problem with limiting minutes for players is no guy. And I remember talking to, I think Jalen Rose even had this because ironically, that Jalen Rose Ja Morant interview still was like a sign. You're like, this is a sign. This is not good. But Jalen used to tell us this load management deal doesn't work with minutes. It has to be the full game. Because no good player, no 20 point a game guy wants to go, oh, this is my 15 minute a game week. And now I'm destroying all my averages. If I sit out the entire game, then my averages are still good and I'll be fine. So inviting this into the NBA locker room, that alone was going to be a big reason why there was going to be all this resistance to it. They play like 13, I think here. You know, the minutes range from, I don't know, 29 to like 12. But the numbers are brutal. I mean, Jaren Jackson's advanced stuff, because that's another thing you say, hey, I'm not really getting comfortable. I'm not really going to be in a rhythm. It might not even be true, but that's what the player is going to say. He's gone from 22 to 17. His PER. Even if you don't like per. He was always like a 17 to 21 guy. He's at 13 now. His advanced stuff Is awful. You look at this season, his advanced line, you're like, who is that guy? And if you want to stay with some of these numbers here, I mean, Ja, who never could shoot it. His shooting splits this season are 36 and 17% from three on five three point attempts. And then Tim Bontemps had this number that basically his numbers inside. His percentage of attempts inside the restricted area has gone down every single year from his rookie year. This is a guy that was 7 at MVP voting his third year in at 22 years old. And to bring it full circle, like, why would you even want to go after Clay? Yeah, Clay's not as good now. No shit. He's old. I'm just. I guess I'm done trying to figure out why Ja wants to play the victim when none of his responses to any of this other stuff ever would give you the idea that this is somebody that's in the business of wanting to figure any of this out. We got Serutti jumping in here. We're gonna do a little NBA mailbag again. NBA mailbag. Rrmail.com Serti's in charge of reading these. So what do we got?

[Steve Cerutti]

Some good ones, actually. We'll get these in on the YouTube only sometimes on the actual pod, but I enjoy this first one. Ryan, congrats on the new gig, by the way. This is from Fred. He doesn't give us a location. Congrats on the new gig. I've enjoyed your work for a while. I'm 59 years old. What's that?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Suspicious?

[Steve Cerutti]

He's 59 years old. Played basketball at a reasonably high level. Held my own with a D2, a D2 players, and with D1 players who didn't like playing defense until my knees and my lower back said, enough. My favorite player to watch back in the day was Kevin McHale. I feel like most guys in that age range, they just love Kevin McHale. It's incredible.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I love Kevin McHale.

[Steve Cerutti]

I didn't, you know, I didn't grow up in, like, in that scene watching him. I mean, I've seen YouTube highlights. He seems awesome, but it's just like, Kevin McHale.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I owe Kevin McHale. That was a huge part of my pickup career, was just nobody knew what to do with those things. Nobody knew those up and unders, up and unders, turn, turn, turn. Left shoulder, right shoulder. Set them up. Go early, then don't go early. It was just, I mean, just. I wish I had video. I would watch it.

[Steve Cerutti]

Footwork of a ballerina. Let's see my Basketball viewing perspective has evolved with the times for the most part, with one glaring exception, sga. I recognize that he's immensely skilled for being one of the best players on the planet, but I can't ignore unsee that he pushes off to create space for his pull up jumper on seemingly every shot. It bothers me greatly. Obviously you've emailed the show. As a basketball expert, what would you recommend I do to get past this issue with this part of SGA's game? There seems to be so much to appreciate, but I haven't yet found a way to get past this push offs. Thanks for any help you provide, friend.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I'd watch hard and then go back, watch SBA and be like, okay, so.

[Steve Cerutti]

So it could be worse is your answer.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I don't know why the refs. I'll, I'll never understand this era of the officiating where they just said, you know what, if you want to Heisman everybody on your way there, if you're kind of clever about it, it's fine. It's totally fine. Like there's nothing you can do. First of all, you can't be out of position on the drive. Or then you're at the mercy of like, oh, you were out of position and he drove into you and you weren't in defending position. It's like, yeah, but he drove right at me and hit into my hip. He didn't want to score, he didn't want to go around me, he wanted to drive in me and I just happened to be turned. So now you have to be in like perfect defensive position. And then, I mean, Harden's so good with it because he keeps it like inside and then he flicks you and he's so strong. But like those times, especially like peak Harden, when the SportsCenter app was run by I have no idea who it was and it looked like they were just ejected out of a James Bond car. And then it'd be like, put them on skates. Be like, no, he didn't. Fucking shoved him. And why the officials never decided to be like, do you know how many offensive players are just Heismaning their way to getting to a good spot? So yeah, watch hard and then you won't feel as bad. I think the dink the biggest thing about the foul baiting, the difference between like Embiid's foul baiting, Trey Young's foul baiting is that at least sga, a lot of it is like, what would they tell you when you were a kid? Stay on your feet, stay on your feet. So if it's an up fake and you're into the air and then he's getting into you, even if you feel like it's. It's really the priority is the contact and the free throws, it doesn't feel as gross to me as some of the other stuff other guys do, which I know is not a great. But how about do this with sga? His. His movement the way where he doesn't have to be dynamic like Ant, but how he can get to wherever he wants to. Granted, you know, sometimes it's the physicality and all this kind of stuff, but I don't know, maybe it's that trade off that the officials will talk about. Like we can't have defensive players never be allowed to touch anybody. So if we're allowing some kind of contact from the defensive player, then we have to allow the offensive player to then kind of initiate it and it becomes this like cycle of where it's going. But I just think there are certain players that have. That have made careers off of this.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yeah. It reminds me, you know, like, do you play Super Smash Brothers growing up at all?

[Ryan Rosillo]

I didn't.

[Steve Cerutti]

So, you know, there's like a lot of button combination things here and there, yada yada. And like, you know, you can get frustrated with the guys but like he just. Like there's. Some guys just have these sequences nailed down or they just like know how to play with certain, you know, with. With Link or Yoshi or whoever they're using. Right. And like sga, everything he does up until that point, even the push off is masterful. Like I get. I get annoyed with SGA too. I don't like it. I said the same thing about Jalen Brunson on a couple pause ago and I had Knicks fans kind of mad at me. But it's the same thing. Those guys, when they get into that position even before all. Even before they have the chance to push off, it's kind of master. It's like an art form. It's incredible to watch. So I think there is a part of it you can appreciate while still being annoyed about the.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, all right.

[Steve Cerutti]

And it's fair to be annoyed about it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. But there are some players where I think I'm so annoyed by them, it gets in the way of any appreciation. That's never been the case with SGA for me. So.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yeah, I don't think he's. He's not Trey Young level. You're right. He's not. He's not hardened level. So Like I guess cut him some slack. I don't know that I love that like, it could be worse though situation. But I think it's you're allowed to not like players. It's okay. All right, next one. This is from Steven. You probably won't read this based on the subject, but you or Cerutty seeing Heat culture in your mailbox and rolling your eyes is probably enough for me. That's a good start. I like that. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Heat and how wrong you both were about them before the season. Hand up again. It's only, what, not even 20 games in the season. I don't think anyone saw them playing this style, but serious dismissiveness about spo. I wasn't dismissive about spo. SPO is the guy first off. And the franchise that has done more in the past seven years than the Magic have done in their entire existence is absolutely disrespectful. Lastly, one of my favorite rucillo moments happened in the first pod on the new show and it was during a Shake Shack ad read. It was a read for the new burger and how it has so much protein in it that you can have it before or after the gym. Ryan did a little chuckle reading. You can have it before or after the gym. And it was so funny because there's no way anyone is eating that before they're going to the gym and they shouldn't after either. First off, that's incorrect. That's just flat out incorrect. I know Ryan and I know his eating habits. And you do love Shake Shacks. That's all like, happy to do more reads for Shake Shack. They're awesome. Shake Shack. The protein is real and it's the best burger out there. I don't know what to tell you.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The Heat are fascinating. This whole pace thing's ridiculous. I ran through all the pace numbers. They're never even in the teens. The last couple of years they were like one of the three worst pace teams. They come in. This year, everybody's going to touch the ball. We're going to go fast. I love teams that want to go fast, but then you're usually giving up something defensively, but then to also do this without Bam, who I think is their best player. And of course, like, I get the hero part of it. There is a bit of the Trae Young light thing going on here with Miami, where Atlanta is better without Trey Young. But you're also missing his incredible shot making. And in those spots, like a tight playoff game, like Is there some way you can get us a bucket? And Trey is obviously that guy. Whatever the rest of his deficiencies are, he's going to find a way to like solve your screwed up possession. I may not always be the best shot selection, but you get the point. Over the years with Tyler Herro, I would say early on I didn't appreciate his on ball shot creation enough and I'd say the last couple years like man, when he gets it going like he is really something special but you also realize like you're giving up something there defensively and he's probably going to mess with your whole usage, sharing, passing, everybody touches it thing. So I didn't know what was going to happen with Hawkheads. His rookie year was so good and then last year was bad that he was just kind of a question mark. So yeah, I mean I didn't know that they were going to have this system when they've never played fast and you always kind of give them the benefit of the doubt like they'll outperform, their record will be better than what their talent is and then the Norm Powell acquisition on top of everything else. And I still like the Jovich minutes. You know, they, they're, they're an absolute post London class organization.

[Kyle]

But.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think it's really fun for Heat fans. But do you want me to pick them like you guys picking them to win the East? Because I'm not.

[Steve Cerutti]

But that's the thing is that like SPO has to coaches mind off to get them to this point. Like I don't think, you know, there's probably not another coach in the league that can get them to where they are right now. Like I maybe. Are they the most boring team in the league where we may be wrong about that in the, in the preseason for sure.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Well, they were, they were and now they're not and they're playing fast and it's fun and everybody touches the ball and, and Davion's a menace and I think Ware's going to be a good player. But if you start putting them up against other healthy teams in the east, talent for talent in the playoffs, I'm not, I'm. I don't know, I'm probably still not going to like them or pick them. We'll see how the rest of the season plays out here. Or maybe, maybe the Heat counterpoint would be maybe we started to see the beginning of this with the Pacers where if you play fast enough, if you trust that many people on your team with the ball in their hands and therefore you have to defend all of these initiators with the ball. Like, can you make up for the talent gap? Or did the Pacers, you know, look, the Pacers played really good basketball from I think, January 1st on. So we'll, we'll see. But yeah, I guess I was wrong in the sense that, well, I don't feel wrong because all the data was everything we had seen before was like, God, this is a boring team and I'm never going to pick him against anybody and like, have fun against Chicago or Atlanta in the play in like, whatever, like, what's the fucking point of this? But I did not expect this. So that part I would say, yeah, totally wrong again.

[Steve Cerutti]

What, what's their ceiling, though? We're actually going to do an east ceiling thing at some point. Maybe we'll do it after, after Thanksgiving. All right, last one here. This is from Robbie Ryan, longtime listener, first time caller. You touched on the Sixers and how exciting their guards are. What would be your ideal rotation for the Sixers now that Wofford is back? PG is expected to be back in the next week OR so and McCain is coming back as well. Also, why are you very critical of him? Be knowing he's on a minutes restriction. You conveniently left out that he was in nine plus 23 minutes, albeit against Washington in your Ted Good Minutes video. Thank you. And excited for the NBA season preview on PMT coming in January.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I don't, I don't know what UMB guys want. I mean, what is this mailbag going to be? Just Heat and Sixers fans, like, with a direct line.

[Steve Cerutti]

It's going to be, hey, you said this and you're wrong. Explain yourself.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I feel very right about historically my mb.

[Steve Cerutti]

The MB take now.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I mean, it's never been stronger. Yeah. I mean, look, I hope he gets back and I hope he's healthy. That, that part of it's all. What was the question in there? Did you just want to say I was wrong about a plus minus from one game in there?

[Steve Cerutti]

He wants to know how you would deal with the Sixers guard rotations with, you know, PG coming back. McCain, Watford. The MB thing was like almost kind of an aside.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Oh, yeah, I guess. Look, that's probably my fault. That's on the host. I got more focused on that and worked up about it. Well, you have to kind of get Maxi. Probably you would hope he's not going to have to play 40 plus minutes the entire time. I mean, once he gets going downhill with the basketball, it's Over. I know VJ has been a little up and down, but I've loved the totality of it, and I kind of love his makeup and it backs up everything else. And McCain was so good. He was like the only good thing that was going on with his team last year. It's probably those three, because the priority over Grimes is just a contract thing. Like, the Grimes number for this year is totally manageable. But I wouldn't be surprised if they were to get Embiid back and feel a little bit better about how he looks, which I know is a big ask. I thought George looked pretty good coming back. I mean, Uber for them in totality has been. I don't know what the last week was, but he wasn't always one of my favorite guys, and I think he's been terrific, like, throughout most of the entire run. So I don't know how they're going to play those four guys together or. Excuse me, they're obviously not playing all four of them together. But that's a lot of shots. It's a lot of touches. And when Embiid is playing, like, he's going to want his touches there. So Grimes. Grimes is so good, though, man. Yeah. I don't really have, like, a clear answer for this other than Daryl when they had Chris Paul and Harden. Granted, that's two guards compared to four guards. Maybe it's just as dramatic as we'll make sure that two of the four are always out there at the exact same time. And then you're closing with Vijay and Maxi. I would imagine, if you're healthy, because you would want the size. I don't know that you'd want three guys that small going up against some of the other guys. But look, let's see who else is healthy in the East. Orlando. Like, if they were to play Orlando in the playoffs, hypothetically, you're. You could probably only play two of those guards against all of that size in the wing with Paul George playing. So, yeah, it's a good problem to have because the other problem is a bad problem to have. All right.

[Steve Cerutti]

NBA Mailbag RR Gmail.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, there you go. NBA Mailbag R. Gmail. We'll do it every week, usually just on YouTube, but for the holidays, we're hooking you up. Oh, let's do it. We're going to have them on a bunch. Stanford Steve from espn, AKA Cocktails, AKA Daddy Gronk, AKA the Ambassador of Ansonia, the Valley Viking, Steve Coughlin. I'm just making up a bunch of these, but I think Daddy Gronk.

[Kyle]

May.

[Ryan Rosillo]

May play that could play. What's up, man? It's good to see you.

[Kyle]

No, good to see you, buddy. Yeah. Not familiar grounds here at the in laws and Antonio. We got Valley New Year tomorrow night.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So you make it to the club. When's the last time you've been at the club? You still paying your dues?

[Kyle]

No, I gotta get on that. They're already on me. Not. Not even, hey, what time are we going? Hey, you gotta pay your dues. Out of state. Thieves. So I gotta. I don't know. I don't even know if they take credit debit cards still. Probably just check or cash. Cash always works at the club.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They still serving those hypes? Those shots with the energy drink that I didn't know. I didn't know there was caffeine in them. And we're just like, oh, yeah, these are like lifesavers. You're like, why are we taking these at 2 in the morning?

[Kyle]

Yeah. After watching the Super Bowl. No, I think big upgrade. I believe they have casabigos now. Big upgrade.

[Ryan Rosillo]

That doesn't seem like that place. Just to put it in perspective, before it was remodeled, this is just a men's club in Ansonia. So I went down, I was like, I got to see this place and it was everything I wanted to be and even more. And then it was just sort of chaotic. You were sort of allowed to bartend whenever you wanted to, even though as people shift. But, like, you bartended there, but you weren't working that night. And then anybody that just wanted a shot at any point, they'd be like, Donnie, couple hypes. Hypes.

[Kyle]

Get around.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Get around Hypes. And it just was endless. Endless. So, anyway, all right, let's start. Let's start with some college ball here. I. You've heard me say this. You and I have talked, you know, look, I. The SEC teams at the top that are kind of in this group, I'm like, I don't know that I love these teams. Like, I usually love one team out of this group. And then I think about, like, who Indiana and Ohio State have played. Look, I think those two teams are just better than anything else the SEC has to offer. Certainly at sports, it doesn't mean that they're going to face each other in the national championship depending on how the seating breaks down. But, like, what do you think the gap is between those two teams and whoever you think is in that next group?

[Kyle]

I don't think it's large at all, Ryan. I Think it's minimal. I actually look at Oregon after seeing them in person Saturday again and think about what's ahead for the Ducks. You know, there's talks about Evan Stewart coming back. No one still knows about Jacorian Moore, but now that they are situated in the offensive line and that three headed monster at running back, like they didn't want to run the ball, have to run the ball against Indiana, but now they have to and they like to. And I went back and watched the Iowa game as we were getting ready. I think that was Iowa, usc, and I'm like, wow, Oregon rolled. I mean, the last drive everybody will talk about because how good Dante was, but they rolled their sleeves up and ran the ball down Iowa's throat in the rain. Like, no, you don't do that in the Big Ten. And Oregon went in there and did it. Whittington has been unbelievable. I didn't think he was going to be this kind of guy, a grinder that, you know, churns out yards carry after carry. So I even look at Oregon as getting into that tier if they get healthy with their skill. Guys, I thought Indiana did a great job being there for that game, making Dante look really uncomfortable because the whole Penn State game, after being there, I was impressed with how comfortable Dante looked in those surroundings. And I really thought that's where Decorian made it. But I mean, Kenyon Siddiq, I mean, give me all of that, dude, he wears a uniform like no other guy in college football. And I'll, I'll put, I'll put the Georgia linebackers up there. I'll put whoever you want. But my man, I mean, he feels those shoulder pads have a really hard time getting over to Delts, which I know you appreciate, but I don't, I don't see this large gap. I really don't. And I, I'm. When I look at Indiana, after seeing them in Ohio State in person, I still think Indiana is more sound. And then Ohio State is just different this time because they don't have the difference maker up front on the defensive line. We've, we've seen guys go, go to the pros. And in this now, Arvell Reese, he's a different animal. They just line him up wherever they want. But when you're talking about Larry Johnson having those guys with the Boses, with Chase Young, I'm forgetting a few here. They always had that one guy they could count on. This is more of a scheme. And Patricia's done a great job of adapting to what he has but that'll be, I'm interested to see like how many points wins that game if Indiana plays Ohio State, the Big Ten title game. Because that's. Those defenses are really, really sound. And with this idea of the winning quarterback from the Big Ten camp championship game is going to win the Heisman, I'm not so sure of that because I don't know if they're going to be that impressive in that game just knowing they just want to get a win and win a Big Ten title.

[Ryan Rosillo]

First of all, I love that you went with Oregon there because I think that Iowa game was a real statement game considering the tackle situation. And then they ended up losing Bryant at receiver after already losing Sadiq. And also Moore has been out for this entire time. Like, I don't even count Stewart anymore. But whether It's Davis Chance, 6 foot 236 freshman Hill, the freshman who's come along, like they just have a carousel of running backs that look like they want to not only, you know, bust one open, but can also play physical. That's why, you know, there were some metrics there that would tell you, hey, Oregon's beating up on some of these other teams and the schedule hasn't been as good or whatever, but I think there was just early on more ended up being so much better. Like I didn't know what to expect of him. So it's not like I thought he was going to be bad, but he kind of carried them in the beginning of the year with all the receiver talent and after they had lost Indiana, which happens with the ap, it's just, it's like, look, if you think Indiana is that good and granted Oregon's at home and Indiana was in control of that football game, so the 2020 is a little misleading that it's like, oh, it's a one score game and Oregon's right there. I thought it was so impressive for Indiana, but also like, man, Oregon, like you never felt comfortable in that one. However, them dropping behind all of these other teams, granted those SEC teams get a better resume win because they're going to end up going through this gauntlet of all these different ranked teams depending on if you want to fight that argument. It just felt like people had turned on them way too quickly and now everybody's kind of caught back up. Like them being behind Ole Miss was, was maddening to me because I just was like, you can't, you can't have them behind Ole Miss. Considering how Ole Miss flirts with some really average teams this season.

[Kyle]

I, I See what you're saying there. I just. What do you have? What, what's on your docket? What's, what's your, what's your win? You know, and I, I still look at that Ole Miss win because, see, that was my problem. And I, and Oregon fans were not happy with me Saturday morning because I didn't want on there and I said 7 to 10. I got an issue with, I think Alabama and Oklahoma should be ahead of, of Oregon because they have multiple top 25 wins. They, I mean, Georgia, the, the win by Bama at Georgia is right up there right now with Indiana at Oregon, and then even Notre Dame had the win over sc. So I thought Oregon should have been behind these teams. Now, to your credit and to what you're pointing out, they're, they're finding themselves, you know, like they, that, that was a, that was a, I don't count it as a great win. But to go to Penn State and go toe to toe in overtime and they, you know, the travel's no joke either. And what they've done with losing guys and coming back and getting that win, I thought there was a lot of pressure on them. You could tell there was a sense of urgency. You know, you go down seven, nothing, which Lincoln Riley does a lot and with, with his teams. But Oregon, there was no fear. I, I, I also want to give a lot of credit to Will Stein. I, I think he's adapted this offense and playing to the strengths. You know, you get down in the red zone and like I said, this Sadiq guy, like, he's just running by guys. I don't care if it's a linebacker, safety, even a nickel sometimes.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So it's, it's your favorite. Is he your favorite tight end?

[Kyle]

Ooh, Probably. I mean, he's, he's a free, he's just an absolute freak show, whereas he's, he's not asked to, you know, put his hand in the dirt a lot. But it's, it's, it's, it's awesome to watch every week and see, see new guys. I think the, the kid, the Purdue transfer at Ohio State's done a really good job. The kid from Cal that went to Texas has done a good job. The little man at Oklahoma was a defensive player. Kayak. Everybody's finding the roles. But I mean, Sadiq with the wow factor. Yeah. Right now.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Okay, good answer. So how was Eugene, by the way? As great as always.

[Kyle]

You. When's the last time? You bet.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I've been in forever.

[Kyle]

It's Ryan. It's so much better. And I'm talking about the in game experience.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And it was awesome, by the way, before. So that's amazing, right?

[Kyle]

And I remember you walking through Austin with Chip and talking about, yeah, we changed it. That looked like over here, let's repaint this and, you know, get the neon going. But in game with the music, they do this Matt Kearney thing where he sings this Oregon song at the end of the first quarter. The whole stadium's singing it. And then for shout now, they have a new shout personalized, like, our guy Neil is in a toga. Joey Harrington is in the band with Shades. Like, they went up to Eugene and filmed it, I think two years ago. And that's what, that's what airs now. Well, Michael James is in it. Marcus Mariota, CG Hyde in it. But they all went up there for a film. I was talking to Neil about it. It's so good. Like, it just puts the whole place in a frenzy, but it's that much better. And you know, our guy Rob Mullins, you know, came in as good as there is in the business as an ad came over Friday. Hey, what's going on? Mind if I sit in a meeting? Like you guys need anything. It just, it's. It's warmed up. And I was glad Lanning said that on game day. Just talking about why his name is in the body. He's like, I'm good, man. I'm really good here. And they're even extending the facility now. Like where they used to do game day outside the mall. That. No, on the other side where the football facility is. They're extending that even more. Supposedly a couple. The head coach wanted more of a flat layer. Not too many floors with elevators. So they dig it up and they're going to redo it. So you know how they do it in Eugene?

[Steve Cerutti]

It's.

[Kyle]

It's fantastic. And it was just awesome. Like 50 degrees and clear. It was. It was perfect. A great, great day. And it made me think back to Halloween night with USC in those uniforms at Austin, which is an Alzheimer for you. And I. I know.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Alzheimer, Alzheimer. One of the, one of the best nights was it.

[Kyle]

Was it Chewbacca?

[Ryan Rosillo]

You were in backup at 7:11.

[Kyle]

At 3 in the morning, we had to drive to the airport. It was like Chewbacca and somebody.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It was like an entire. Well, no, the. The thing that happened was the fight at Taylor's between the Super Mario Brother and Dog the Bounty Hunter on the dance floor.

[Kyle]

That's what it was. Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Taylor's Closed rip though.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, no, they ran into some, some stuff. Yeah. Taylor's isn't cool to reference anymore. So we are not in fact doing it. We were just saying where we saw this fight happen. Talk Georgia. Because I think you know this team really well. I, like a lot of people probably a little guilty of like, okay, they've turned the corner. It is crazy to think about, like how the season would feel right now for Georgia and Ole Miss if Georgia doesn't come back and Ole Miss doesn't blow that lead. Like, that game was one of those defining, like storytelling like paths of choose your own adventure for college football programs. Like where Ole Miss would be, how much weirder the Lane Kiffin story would be if they didn't have like, if they were undefeated and then you'd be going like, Georgia still playing for their lives. So I, I thought that Stockton game against Texas was like, look, one of the plays is totally broken coverage. The Delp touchdown where her does a great job of being like, hey, Stockton selling this as a keeper with the way he tucks the ball then gets it out. Like just awesome. Youth football, like prep, you know, just prep football. Like, hey, if you're going to do this as a threat at running as a quarterback. So like it wasn't like he was dialing these 15 yard throws from one hash to the other, you know, throwing to the sideline. I don't know that we are ever going to get to see that from him, but he was always kind of a limitation guy. We saw the limitations in Bama. I think the front now for Georgia, whether it's. It's probably more on the linebackers here. And I know Allen went down in that game, but now I'm starting to feel like when I'm watching them, it looks like Georgia and that's where I'm at with them. And I like them better than A and M. Wow.

[Kyle]

Okay. I, I go back, I've seen him a ton this year in person. I go back to, to Knoxville. I mean, you talk about being up against it. I mean, it's 217 and that. I mean, it's shaking and the way they pump in all the stuff now, I mean, you're like, how are we gonna get this? I mean, Tennessee's doing whatever they want offensively. Kirby's running through corners trying to figure out a combo. But when I was on the sideline, I'm watching Kirby, he's not throwing a visor, he's not throwing a headset. He's coming over, he's like, all right, what, what did you see? What were they in? All right, let's do this. He goes over and meets with Schuman and it's like this methodical pro, like, all right, we know we're going 15 rounds, right? Okay, let's make an adjustment here. When you see the, see the left hook or whatever, let's do this. And slowly but surely the shallow stuff and the waiting on and the deep crossers, they don't have time for it. So they're making adjustments with pressure and sending guys and not sending everybody with the simulated stuff. And then we go to Ole Miss game and of course they come back. The fourth down throw by Gunners is an all timer. I mean the stadium that goes from 100 to 0 happened then. And then, like, I think it was what, 12 minutes later with the Miss field goal, like it was. And, and Knoxville is another one that's on one since the last time we went there. It's incredible how much better that experience is. But the Ole Miss game, I'm like, okay, I know what I'm getting in for here. I know what Ole Miss has to bring. The table for me, that day was all about Trinidad and I was super impressed. And Georgia comes out, throws a deep bait to Colby Young right in front of me. He gets hurt on that play. We haven't seen him since. But again, 15 round fight, Georgia slowly but surely makes adjustments, starts sending different guys, tries to get Trinidad off his first read. And that game, everybody wants to pounce on Lane and whatever, but I look at that game in the Texas game, those wins for Georgia, Kirby just did an unbelievable job of not giving the other team the ball in the fourth quarter. Quarter, they, they owned it. And, and that's to Gunner Stockton's credit. And I did Poock's podcast or before the Ole Miss game, and I'm like, I just love what I've seen from Mike Bobo this year. And he was like, oh, you can't, you can't say that in Athens.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You can't say that.

[Kyle]

We don't like, we don't like Mike Bobo. I'm like, I love what I've seen from Mike Bobo. So it does.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You know, talking to Kirby before that.

[Kyle]

Tennessee game, they, they still were wondering. I mean, they, they look at the, I mean, you watch, everybody watches NFL Sundays. It's, it's Georgia guy, Georgia guy, Georgia Guy. And there's a lot of youth now. It's just the overturn. And now he learns what they have. I, it's the biggest one to Me is It sounds like C.J. allen's not hurt that bad. When he went off, I mean, they lost him. What first quarter, second quarter against Texas. That's the guy. To me, when I look at him, he's the quarterback, he's as tough as anybody. Georgia's going to tackle you. They're going to sell out a little bit to the run and give up things on the back end. But yes, they're, they have an identity. It's just different. It's. They, they, they are really confident in their offensive skill guys and you know, you look at bringing in Branch, the kid, Noah Brown from A and M coming in has stepped up since Colby went out. The tight ends, they do a great, I mean, what they do, you just, you're, you know, you have a good scheme when you're running stuff and you just see tight ends running up the seam wide open, you know, and they do that continuously. So they're good. Is as good as anybody in that league. And you know, them and Ole Miss, if they don't make it to Atlanta, I don't think they're going to be bad. They're going to be sitting at home games in the playoff. And it's just this whole different thing because all we have at a 12 team playoff is from what we saw last year. And everybody that had the buy got busted up. So people want the home game. And you know, talking to everybody around the country, it's like, what would you rather have, the buy or the home game? People are like, give us the home game. We want, we want our stadium for, for a home playoff game. So that's kind of a different turn and Georgia's sitting there. What they've done in the resume is, is just awesome. And I wouldn't be surprised if that offense gave Georgia Tech a dose, knowing what Georgia Tech looks like on defense this week.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. The latest on CJ with that hamstring injury is that he's just, it's, it's still unknown. Right. You know, so we'll see. It'd be interesting. Especially last year, we think about how ridiculous that Georgia Tech game was and what it could have cost Georgia and then where Tech was. But Tech's defense has really kind of fallen off the cliffs.

[Kyle]

Right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So they may feel like, hey, we, we might be walking in this game already knowing we're scoring 40, so maybe we don't need CJ Allen on the other side of this. But it's just, it's starting to look a little bit more like Georgia. Let's Go through. I want you to take this really wherever you want to go. Because we've touched on these top teams. It sounds like you want to push back a little bit on liking Georgia better than A and M. So as I craft this next question, if you want to give us 60 seconds on that, I just would like your A and M thoughts.

[Kyle]

They got difference makers up front, and Elko is an absolute assassin when you get in third downs, man. I mean, I've watched quarterback after quarterback and there's been some good ones, but, like, I get it. They haven't had the best year. But I still think Lenora Sellers has seen a lot in that second half. When A and M makes that comeback, he's. He's head on a swivel, and that's a guy that's really confident in his ability. But just to see and then to hear Coach Saban talk about it, he's like that guy on third. You got to stay out on third downs because of what they do. And then with Cassius doing. I mean, I love their personnel up front, what they had last year with Scorton and the two chimeres. But this. This gash is. Is no joke. And. And the way he.

[Steve Cerutti]

It.

[Kyle]

It's one thing like, all right, hey, we're going to do this and somebody's going to get to the quarterback, right? But it's like, no, he's that good. Where it's like, we're going to do this and we're going to get cash as a free runner. It's like how he's your best rusher. You're gonna just trust me. We're gonna do this. So I, I just. The difference makers up front for A M is just why. And I. Their receivers are. Are tremendous. I said going into this season, I thought Notre Dame made the biggest upgrade at wide receiver from what they were. And I guess, you know, you could make some argument because of how bad Notre Dame was at that position, but A and M's guys, I mean, those guys are incredible. Incredible what they've done. I love concepcion at. @ NC State, but he just didn't have a guy that was consistent enough. And then Craver's been unbelievable, and I thought it was an awesome story that Elko told about getting him, and he went to his. He went to his secondary. He's like, hey, last year, rank the guys and they're like, mississippi State guy, get him. They got him, and he's been awesome.

[Ryan Rosillo]

If you start digging in a little bit further along, like, do you think Tech can win this whole thing? Do you think Oklahoma can win the whole thing? Do you think Bama, is there someone from that group, Notre Dame where you're like, if I had to pick one. So you think Notre Dame is the best chance of kind of that secondary group? And again, this may not even be, I'm not even doing this as hey, the top four teams are tier one, then the next two teams or whatever. But I'm just talking specific to the bunching of the rankings.

[Kyle]

Yeah, I, I listened to your interview with McGuire. I, I think he's a fascinating dude because of how genuine he is. But there's also, if you listen to him while he's talking to you, he's got belief in his team, man. He really does. He likes what he has, he likes that he have, he has a difference makers on the defensive line. My issue with Tech, and this is what has always been it, but it's, I mean Scott and I talk about this every week after we talk about Texas Tech. Isn't it nuts that this is the first time in your lifetime that they've had a defense like you put on Texas Tech every Saturday you're like, holy. Texas Tech plays beat that stuff, dude.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The Mahomes years were ridiculous. Like I remember Herb street during one game was actually like disgusted.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Disgusted with the inability to be able to tackle.

[Kyle]

One of the local guys told it might have been the Sid or a local. He told me Mahomes scored 40 times at Tech in his career and lost every game. Like 10 times. He scored 40 and lost.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

So anyway, the issue I have with Tech, I still don't know how good the offensive line is. I, I, I wonder about them in a setting, in a game where they're not at home. I thought they benefited a ton being at byu, but give them credit, they, they dominated and I've still that one.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Being at home, you mean?

[Kyle]

Yes. Yeah. Like them in a neutral site where the place is going to be sold out against the Big Ten or an SEC school, that, that will be the test. Because I, I, I love, I love hearing Maguire talk about Baron Martin, how he's a coach's son and what he's, he's been through every step of this bill that they've done. And you know, there's a lot of prideful people there. That's what, that's why I love Lubbock so much, is, is there, everybody's bought in and it's like this island in the state of Texas really is. And speaking of places that's Way better than it used to be. A couple more hotels for us down there, so if you need to get down there, there's, there's people down there.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Blood on the sheets.

[Kyle]

Yeah, exactly. But I think Tech is the. And where I look at Notre Dame, they've gone against the Miami, they've gone against an A and M. I have more confidence in that offensive line. But you and I think if we talk about this week's games, the biggest factor, and I know you always talk about this and you're awesome on it, is these guys going on the road and in big third down situations like what's Julian saying going to do like this weekend? I want to see it, you know, Trinidad, you know, going. I mean, I know it's Mississippi State. Even, even Marcel, Mississippi State's a tougher out.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I mean, you know, if people have forgotten here, this is not a bad.

[Kyle]

We've seen some bad, bad, bad State teams. This ain't one of them.

[Ryan Rosillo]

No, I mean, when you beat Arizona State with Levitt there. Yeah, that's an incredible win.

[Kyle]

Yep.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And they almost blew it too. And then, you know, on top of everything else, you blow the lead, you're like, okay, this is the difference between, you know, you expecting to lose versus expecting to win. And then the fact that they hung out of the game. Granted, a lot of things have changed since then. It hasn't really mattered. But there's, there's plenty of Mississippi State stuff this year that tells you. And that's why like the lane part of it. I feel bad for Ole Miss fans.

[Kyle]

It's going to be an absolute circus, absolute circus, that game. I mean, all the fast.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Is Starkville a lot better than it used to be.

[Kyle]

Haven't been, haven't been since our ride. I told coach Saban that we drove there that weekend. We went there for G. He's like, you drove Starkville from Birmingham. I'm like, yep, right from the airport. He's like that. There's not too much scenery on that trap. I'm like, no, like a lot of front porches, though. A lot of front porches.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I could use some fixing up.

[Kyle]

Yeah. What I will say. And it made me more confident in Indiana going in the year when we're talking about these quarterbacks of these teams is talking to spav. Jake Spavital, who had Mendoza at Calvary, he made a great point. Just about. He was humbled real early on and he's only building up like he. I mean, he didn't have much at Cal. I mean, you're going to places. Oregon, you know, Washington back in the day as a young dude. Like they had to play him and it's made him what he is. And that ability to throw those back shoulder fades on the road in Eugene, that stuff's real because it's unguardable if you're on point. And I thought it said a lot about Surat and Cooper in that and obviously Cooper makes play against Penn State, but those guys are real. But from the other tier. What are you saying? 6 to 12 say Bama's in there. Yeah, I got, I got a lot of stuff on Bama for this week that I'm real. I just Jeremy Bernard and their center Parker Brailsford and Cuevas didn't play against Eastern Illinois. I'm hearing Bernard and Brailsworth should be back. They really need Cuevas. He's been as much of improved player but if they don't have him, I don't know what they do. And I've loved what Grub has done is play like that offensive game plan going into the JO in Athens, like just coming out and throwing, punching, punching, punching was awesome and it set the tone for that whole game. And in the end, Georgia wasn't able to come back, but they can't. What is it? Two? I haven't. I just did it all. Auburn gives up 2.5 yards of carry at home. Alabama runs for 3.1 in the SEC. And when I watched Ty Simpson, who I absolutely love going back to probably lsu, who was the game before that, he wasn't great but they got the lsu, he made some absolute NFL throws. I thought LSU screw up the end of the first, that, that really got separation in that game. But then you go back to the Oklahoma deal and throws for 280 yards or 240. 240 in the first half, held to 80 in the second half. And it really looked to me he's. He got frustrated by the lack of run game. And now speaking of circuses that you're going into this weekend, that place, I mean to hear Saban say it, he, he firmly believes the place is haunted. He's like, that place is.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't blame him.

[Kyle]

We do the zoom call. He takes the glass. Anyone, anytime anyone brings up Barbara and at home or Jordan, hair, whatever, the glasses comes off and he just starts shaking his head. It's like, look at the shit that happens. Look at the shit that happens there. And we've all seen it. So I think Alabama really has to just roll her sleeves up here and on the other side. I wonder.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But they can't. I mean, I'm, they're not going to figure out running the football this year, you know, like it's, it's not going to happen. I remember when Hill started getting more involved in the running game because he's just a bruiser. I was like, all right, maybe they'll have something here. The receivers, incredible. I can't imagine Bernard not being a great NFL player, that guy. When you watch Jeremy, watch every time he has the ball and there's maybe three yards to the sticks and he's on the sideline and you think somebody has the angle on him, not only does he get the first down, then through contact, it's like, hey, did you notice once again he didn't end up on the ground. He didn't end up on the ground, that guy. There's going to be maybe guys that test better than him. There's probably going to be like two or three receivers that are taken ahead of Jeremy that we're going to look back in five years going, how did they get drafted ahead of that guy? That, that's my, that's my Bernard rant. But they cannot. Figuring out how to. Having to figure out how to run the football this week. Like, I think we could put it to bed.

[Kyle]

Yeah. No, but on top of that, knowing what Auburn has shown offensively with Daniels at quarterback, he's a, he's an, he's a weapon in the run game. And also, I'm just taking a wild guess. I haven't talked to you much about Auburn. I'm guessing you absolutely love Cam Coleman.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I actually like was excited going back to the beginning of the year because I was like, Auburn might be all right. I mean, there's probably, I mean, Hughes just going to. If we hadn't promised Jackson because of the, you know, you know what he's telling everybody going, if I had just gone with the other guy, we hadn't promised him in and the portal because he was a higher profile guy at Oklahoma. If I had just done all this before, I mean, the lines held basically minus five and a half, which I think a lot of people, when you looked at it, you went, oh, like now I want nothing to do with this thing. Like, I felt way better. Like when Oregon came out at ten and a half against sc, I was like, okay, good. Like they, they see it. The way I see it, they're the better football team. SC doesn't have enough playmakers on defense to probably score some points, whatever. And it's kind of that tricky number that you're playing with when you like another team. And then you look at who this. It has everything to do with history. When you saw it at five and a half, I was like, this is gross. Like, ugh. Yeah.

[Kyle]

I was talking McElroy this week. I thought he made a great point. Just like all these Alabama people. He's like, I can't stand. He's like, oh, this is a must win. He's like, when have we gone to Jordan Hare? And it's not been a must win. It's always a must win there. They. You know what you're getting into there. And I think, you know, Ohio State and Alabama are in the same predicament. This like, you just got to go there and win, man. You, no matter what it takes, no matter what it looks like, no matter how many points you score, you. No one cares. You just got to win the game. But the reason I brought Cam Coleman up is since Freeze was gone, it's two games, 20 targets. So you got that going for you. But I, I can't, I cannot wait for these games this week. The other thing about Ty Simpson, he's fumbled each of the last five games. That's. And that just. He's pressing. He's pressing and in that atmosphere to be able to take a deep breath, say, all right, I know I got weapons here, let's use them. So you know, to your point, Bernard using him in the screen game to offset the lack of run game there. Grub will have it all laid out. I just can't wait to see what happens because Auburn talking to coaches in the sec, they are blown away at that roster he was able to put together for the amount of money that it was. They, they, they thought they think the.

[Ryan Rosillo]

World of that defense last college thing and a couple NFL things getting ready for the week. But let's get into the BYU ranking. There are 11th in the AP. We'll see what happens. If you go back to last week again, obviously the committee rankings 11th there as well. You know, Utah was 12th, so there's a fascination there with Utah. That tech BYU game should be more alarming than score. Tech kicked a million field goals. There was a bunch of points left on the. It wasn't even close. Now, you know, rematch, we'll see. But I don't know why anybody would have BYU ahead of Miami even with the extra loss. And I understand Miami fans being upset. There's some stuff I agree with. There's other stuff I would completely push back on The Utah love seems odd in the committee. They dropped in the AP even after pulling out that win against K State. I don't know if K State running for almost 500 yards is going to make the committee go. Maybe this isn't the 11th or 12th best team in the country here, but it feels kind of connected. Where. Well, if we think this of Tech, then we'll think this of byu because we also still think this way of Utah and they still have the wind to bank on from the previous weekend if they want to go with that. The BYU Utah element. I just don't like it in front of the Hurricanes.

[Kyle]

I'm with you. The, the Utah thing, I don't understand.

[Ryan Rosillo]

None of us do.

[Kyle]

I, I don't like. They absolutely annihilated Arizona State and Jeff Sims first start as a quarter. Like Levitt didn't play in that game.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Sims is 38. He hadn't played, you know.

[Kyle]

Exactly. Yeah, I'm kidding.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But he. Look at his resume. He's been around a little while.

[Kyle]

I'm, I'm with you. But like Here you go Utah. Strength of Schedule 55, Miami 48. Miami's got the win over top nine team. You know, four turnovers against Louisville and then you know that, that rough in the pastor call against smu. I, I just hope that's not the difference in them making it. But the, the byu, I, the head to head against Utah like that. I don't know what else. Strength of record six. I don't understand it. I even look at Vanderbilt in Utah. Like Vanderbilt's probably going to lose ranked wins with Missouri losing again.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But yeah, their rank wins are South Carolina, LSU and then Mizzou is going to be out after the loss. They dropped. SC didn't drop out. Go ahead.

[Kyle]

No, I'm talking about the, the playoff rankings that, the Tuesday night deal. So I think they got to reassess Utah with that win against Arizona State. That's the one thing I can only think of. And like you're saying Miami had a byu. I'm obviously thinking Miami ahead of BYU and Utah. But this is the, this is the deal though. It's not really a 12 team playoff. If we're gonna have a group of five and Notre Dame is going to be a part of it, it's group 5, 10. So it makes it even harder, you know, to move up there. The one nightmare scenario I had for Notre Dame was that if BYU were to beat Texas Tech in the Big 12 final game and then Bama won the SEC, that would. That Would make, I think, Notre Dame a little nervous.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Say that again. BYU beats Tech in the rematch.

[Kyle]

BYU comes back, beats Tech in the Big 12. And then SEC Bama wins, beats Auburn, beats A and M. That's. You're playing with fire there. But I was just trying to think of, you know, those scenarios that we've always.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Well, that's. That's the byu, Notre Dame scenario. But even then. Correct. You know, it's. It's group of five. I can't. I wish we. Yeah, I still don't know that that would be enough to get in front of them, because.

[Kyle]

I. I'm not saying it's going to. You're just going to have a lot. You know how it is. I mean, Notre Dame sits at home and on Championship Saturday, we've had days that just get flipped upside down and you don't know where to. Where to. Where the shit's going to fall.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So they've also said in the 12 game thing, they're not going to penalize the losers because you knew, like, the Big 12, all the. Remember all those years where it's like, if the Big 12 had won, they had to play the extra game, they lose, then this is. We're even going back to, like, BCS stuff. And that's why the Big 12 specifically was like, they got rid of the Commerce Championship game because it was just. You could look at it two different ways. An extra chance to screw up and then take yourself out of your slot for the national championship or an extra chance to prove yourself if you feel like going into the final week, you need it. And for the Big 12, for just a bunch of bad years it didn't work out for. For.

[Kyle]

And that's where, like, we haven't had this yet. Where you're having a team outside the top 10 beat top five and a top three team. What do you do? So it's just you. You don't want to see that.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, give us. Give us a winner. Sneaking off into the bathroom, getting the play in Thanksgiving, we were like, hey, I gotta. I gotta check on this bank transfer. Detroit's -2 and a half against a Packers team that went from everybody's favorite to, like, even when they win, none of us like them now. Kansas City's -3 on the road at Dallas. Baltimore -7 at home against Cincinnati.

[Kyle]

Could I give you a Philly Black Friday?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, we'll take a Black Friday winner. We're not gonna. Yeah, we're gonna.

[Kyle]

I have. I started two weeks ago, and I'm just Trying to do the roulette theory of double against the Bears. So we're still going against. We had a push last week with the Steelers. I thought that was auto, but no, we'll. I'm guessing Philly's gonna be given like seven and a half now.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's seven. Yeah, seven.

[Kyle]

Yeah. We'll weigh it with Philly.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I love that Philly responding. National embarrassment. You know, a little later slot there in London. I was up till 1am watching that game. My adrenaline.

[Kyle]

New appreciation for Sky Sports.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I would say this, if I were a talent agent and I had a guy that wants to get into television and cover the NFL, I would. I would be calling Sky Sports. You call them this week. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving. I'd be like, do you need any other NFL bodies? And like somebody, you know, somebody. I think O.C. human Euro was doing something over there, which makes a ton of sense. And there was another guy that I think was actually legitimately English. I'm not knocking anybody. I'm not knocking, but I'm just telling you there's some reps available. Sky Sports get involved. NFL stuff. Like if your guy just retired, he's 30, he's got some name brand value to it. He wants to get in tv. What do you want to do? You want to get in line behind Orlowski? Good fucking luck, bro. Dance cranking the team across the pound.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So head over to London town. Sky Sports, you know, they do their post game stuff. I couldn't believe it. Or like, are the Bears you're talking about it?

[Kyle]

Yeah, I want to get it. I look for it on my app, see if YouTube has it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The number of things I was signing up for this weekend, hoping to find a way to get games and then I forgot that I do have this global thing. So it all. It all worked out, but it was stressful. But then I remember what Van Pelt used to be like on the road when his iPad wasn't working for the Maryland game. And so I was like, you know what? I don't want to turn into that. I don't want to turn into that. And granted there was nobody even in my room, so there was no one for me to bum out. But like when the Van Pelt tornado of how come my iPad can't get the Terps game on when there's a few people around, it can be a. It can change the mood a bit. A little bit.

[Kyle]

Yeah, a little bit. Affects others in a way.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Leaders have to be aware of how they lead.

[Kyle]

Yes. Yeah. That is very correct.

[Ryan Rosillo]

What's your favorite. Let me let you go on this one. What's your favorite NFL spot that you've been to this year with Van Pell that you didn't expect? I know it's Lambo, but then it says. You can't say that.

[Kyle]

I'll say this Lambo. The second time was so much better. It was.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Feels like there's a theme here. Everything's getting better. It's like there's a lot of money.

[Kyle]

In football or something. Yeah. First off, wherever John Sutcliffe is, post game is the best. Because that guy.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I put you on the spot. He's Mexican, right? Yeah.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Say it again.

[Kyle]

Per dinky.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Okay.

[Steve Cerutti]

I'm not.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't feel comfortable saying that.

[Kyle]

No, me neither. You cut that s. I'll tell you what, I really. I really like the Vegas Stadium. I thought that was really good. The way they have everything backloaded in for the trucks, like Arizona is with the. With that drive in thing. There's an in n out at the top of the ramp that always helps. What's crazy is probably the best game and atmosphere was the Chiefs losing at Jacksonville this year. I mean, that place was rock. I'm Duvall. It was rock. I mean, it is an absolute shit show. Ryan. They. They're doing the stadium from, like, if it makes it like the outside in. So, like, you're literally walking underneath all these scaffoldings where that's. That's gonna, like, all connect. Like doing the bridge, like the Euro stadiums, I guess, but they're doing it all, like, hundreds of yards back. So, like, everybody's walking underneath tarps and scaffoldings. And then when you get in there, it was. It was awesome. And I just. It shows how much everyone hates the Chiefs. It really does. Whereas I find myself now on the other side because I still believe they're the best teams. Kind of went at it last week. He's like, you still believe they are? I'm like, yeah, you think the Chiefs.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Are the best team in the NFL?

[Kyle]

I would take them to win the.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Super bowl over everybody else.

[Kyle]

Over the Rams in the afc.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Oh. Oh, okay. All right.

[Steve Cerutti]

All right.

[Kyle]

Talking afc.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Kyle]

Because I was like. He's like, oh, they haven't won a close game. And I'm like, well, they've won them in the past and they're going to keep playing them. They just don't have guys that can get away on man coverage.

[Steve Cerutti]

It's.

[Kyle]

It's unreal. But I'll still take my shot with 50. I still. I've always been a proponent of their defense and no one ever talks about them being in games because it. And I thought they showed that Sunday against Jonathan Taylor. What do we got?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Somebody did a. Dude, dude.

[Kyle]

Foxborough this week.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They're back, dude. You can have Foxborough.

[Kyle]

I. I've tried. It was last night. It was Kelsey, Ryan, Clark and Scott in there. And Scott's like.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I was like, have you been there?

[Kyle]

He's like, for Maryland lacrosse, natural chairmanship. I'm like, buddy and Ryan and Jason just start shaking their heads. They're like, oh, boy. They're gonna be out in full force for the G Men coming in. It should be a lot of fun. I just. I'm bummed they got those. The end zone suites in the end zone now. I used to. My buddy had seats right there and those were just the best. So we'll see. The guys with the muskets will be blaring. I can't wait to see Braves. I haven't seen him in a while. I'm happy for him. Yeah, it's been a while. Been a while since that place has been. Has been on one and then. And then we'll be out in la. Billy. Billy invades the charger.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So that's nice. It'll be a home game for Philly, so.

[Kyle]

Oh, God.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Get ready for it. You're the best. Enjoy Thanksgiving. Enjoy. Enjoy the Valley. I can't believe you're back in the Valley. And say hi to our mutual tall friend. Thanks, man. This segment is presented by DraftKings. Before we get to life, advice, a little ceruti recap on how the alliance marches on here with our partnership with DraftKings. What do we got?

[Steve Cerutti]

Yeah, we're taping. We're taping this. The Wednesday pot on Tuesday holidays, obviously, you know, getting everybody out early on a Wednesday. So we can't. The props aren't up. We're not going to give our alliance pick out. It will be up on social. It'll be up on the Ryan Brazil show, I think Twitter or extra whatever, Instagram. So check it out there. It'll be up on DraftKings as well. And we had a tough, tough week last week because. I know, man.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Great start. Too hot.

[Steve Cerutti]

We got cock blocked last week. We just did. Kyle wrote it until it died. And unfortunately that was the only one wrong last week.

[Stanford Steve]

We haven't done the cockblocks. I know. Getting off the cox.

[Steve Cerutti]

So we're officially off the cox. So there you go. But check it Out Wednesday, we'll have. We'll have it up on DraftKings and up on our socials too.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right. Yeah, we'll get those out for you. Get our picks. King of the Court's been really good so far this year, so check out all the latest lines on DraftKings. You want details?

[Steve Cerutti]

Bye.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.

[Kyle]

What's up?

[Steve Cerutti]

I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I have every toy you can possibly.

[Kyle]

Imagine, and best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Let me tell you what's required. Life advice. The email address is lifeadvice. Rrmail.com, we've got Kyle, we've got Cerutty. Let's get right to it. Back stateside. That was annoying. That was an annoying way to say that.

[Steve Cerutti]

We've already started seeing class, so that's cool.

[Stanford Steve]

You dropping any mates?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Any mates? Oi. No, I just said bloke once last week, though. All right, bloke.

[Steve Cerutti]

Bloke is such a great term. I wish we would use that here. For the longest time I thought bloke was an insult and it's just like. Not just a dude.

[Stanford Steve]

Yeah, it sounds like another word for penis or something, doesn't it?

[Ryan Rosillo]

No, it's like I'm sort of thinking I should start saying the C word a little bit more. Dude.

[Stanford Steve]

They just make it work. They really let it rip.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yeah, they really let that one rip.

[Stanford Steve]

Australia.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Why can't we do that, like over here? It's.

[Steve Cerutti]

It's less aggressive when they do. It's like more normal when we say it. It's more like. Oh, man, that's.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, but if we all just started saying it, then it'd be. Norm.

[Steve Cerutti]

You start.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Steve Cerutti]

People follow, you know?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Steve Cerutti]

Nobody guys.

[Stanford Steve]

No one wants to be first, right?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, that's the thing. I don't know. If no one went first, where would we all be? Fucking great point. We'd all be living in the Middle east still.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yeah. True friend center.

[Kyle]

Deep cut.

[Stanford Steve]

Deep cut.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, waiting on that. Flood the next one. All right, thoughts on tanking and taking a personal rebuilding year. 34 year old dude in one of Ryan's favorite cities. No gym stats since. This isn't really about me, okay. I've got a friend my age who's gone all in on what he calls his rebuilding year. I fucking headline. I fucking love this.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yep. It's all about branding. This is a great brand.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. This would be an unbelievable. I mean, first of all, obviously, I've thought about this, but this would be an unbelievable seminar. You're in there maybe a couple cycles of growth. You're in some lobby of a Marriott in Austin, Texas. You're welcoming guys in, and you're just getting up there Tom Cruise, Magnolia style and speaking to your people and going, everyone needs to take a year off. Like a reset year for yourself.

[Kyle]

You're not a loser.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You just are skating, you're skiing. Man, I've thought about taking a rebrand. Like an art year. Just learn Mountain Jam on guitar, finish a different script.

[Stanford Steve]

Rent a garage somewhere, Start throwing paint on the walls.

[Steve Cerutti]

Isn't that what college is for? Yeah, you either learn the piano, you learn guitar.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, but the problem is, is that you don't appreciate it enough. You think you're supposed to do it. Imagine doing that at like 40.

[Steve Cerutti]

I think about it all the time. All the history classes that I like. Wish I could go back and actually pay more attention in.

[Stanford Steve]

Dude, I might go to the culinary. It's right here in Hyde park.

[Kyle]

CIA.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Dude.

[Stanford Steve]

Those one off glasses are expensive, though.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Christmas bonus. Consider it covered.

[Stanford Steve]

Like a little knife. Knife class. You know, I love.

[Steve Cerutti]

We got to make a series out of this, too. I feel we got cameras there.

[Stanford Steve]

I. Yeah, I just.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I.

[Stanford Steve]

As much as I enjoy cooking, my knife skills are just embarrassing. Like, I almost don't want to cut. Like, I was like, go, leave the room. I'm going to chop this onion.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's really, really sad. Do you want to. Do you want to sign up for an online course at lsu? We can say we're LSU grad students.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yeah. Like, take modern Russia or something, you know?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Well, that way I won't feel like as much of a fraud. And then if Lane Kiffin's there. And then part of my guy asked for Lane Kiffin, and then I asked for Lane Kiffin, and they're like, well, look, we have a better relationship. A part of my take, like, Lane's cool with those guys. Like, Lane doesn't like you, and then you're like, okay, but he's a student at lsu.

[Steve Cerutti]

Active student. Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. It's one of the biggest student podcasts we have.

[Steve Cerutti]

I'm in.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Okay. All right. So he says it so often, I'm honestly surprised he hasn't printed it on a hoodie. He's been single for about two years after a long relationship. Been on some dates, but they've not been great. Nothing crazy, just your standard ghosting, weird energy, a few situations where it was clearly the backup plan. Enough to make him feel like he needed to regroup. Yeah, that'll do it to you.

[Stanford Steve]

This guy is plugged in with what's going on with his friend. I wouldn't have any of this information other than like, yeah, he just had a rough, rough patch. He's got a lot of info.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I. Every now and then we'll get an email where they're actually writing about me, fucking with me the whole time. And this one I don't think is. I don't think so. Very recently had elbow surgery. They'll sideline him in the gym for a bit. He's annoyed. He can't even do basic lists without wincing. Earlier this summer he thought his hair was thinning, so he buzzed it off and got on Propecia. He also quit drinking, which is good for him, but it instantly removed 90% of the scenarios where he used to leave his apartment. Somewhere along the way he convinced himself that he cannot re enter the world until his hair grows back exactly how he wants it. His arms return to pre surgery size or better. Honestly, there's a lot of things like me on this. And his finances are so dialed in that even a CPA would be impressed. Until then, he acts like he's on lockdown. Put that all together and he's basically retreated to a home based witness protection program. He skips almost every social event. He turns down setups for people who generally think he'd get along with someone. Most studies doing pt, cooking the same rotation of three meals, watching videos, reading about supplements and telling himself he is getting everything quote, dialed in. I kind of fucking love this guy.

[Stanford Steve]

I think you have to leave him alone.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yeah, he's putting himself like through the combine of like life, you know, he's just.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Oh wait, he keeps throwing out the line about I'm tanking for AJ DeBonsa. And I honestly can't tell anymore if he's joking or if he's willing to or if he's waiting for a first overall pick to fix his confidence. So he's just.

[Steve Cerutti]

I love that.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Here's my dilemma. I want him to feel good about himself. I want him to get healthy and grounded and confident again. But I keep wondering if all his time away is quietly working against him. Is he going to feel out of practice once he tries to date again? Is he going to psych himself out because he hasn't interacted casually with anyone in months? Is he building himself up for something? Some mythical moment where everybody magically. Where something. Where everything, excuse me, magically clicks instead of just letting him be normal. A normal human who is still figuring things out. I care about the guy. He's a good friend. I want whatever helps him long term. I just can't tell if he's generally rebuilding or if he's created a very comfortable holding pattern that is starting to look like a lifestyle rather than a phase. Do I need to drag him out against his will? So I'm curious what you all think. Do rebuilding years actually help if you stretch them out this long? Or is he unintentionally heading toward the Washington Wizards version of personal growth where every year is like the year before the things? Every year is the year before the year things get better.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yep. He's two years away from being two years away.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. Yeah, right.

[Stanford Steve]

How much longer does he have on this PT post surgery thing? I mean, he could just be like, I don't really want to get in the mix until I feel right about that too. I mean, obviously it's probably a little bit of both, right? It's probably a little bit of like, this shit is not going to be what he expects it when he comes out of his cocoon as this butterfly man that he's expecting to be. And then the other part is, you know, maybe he just doesn't feel up to, you know, I don't know what it's like. I know PT is could be shitty and I don't know how he actually feels about it, but I don't know if there's an end to the pt. I think that's when you line up as insurgents and just go into his apartment and grab him out when he's done with that. If the actual end date isn't the actual end date, then. But other than that, I'd let him rock. It doesn't sound like he's being self destructive, just being a little bit of a hermit.

[Steve Cerutti]

See, it does all depend on the timing. I do feel like it's, you know, you get hit with a couple little things, like not little things, but like you have the medical thing and then like your hair situation and like, hey, your dating situation doesn't go right. And then all these. And then you're just like, hey, I'm not who I want to be as a person. And you get in kind of a dangerous space of like trying to figure out who you are and, and, but. And that's fine. That's all normal. I feel like it good for guys to like self reflect and, and be like, okay, can I be a better person?

[Ryan Rosillo]

But.

[Steve Cerutti]

But it's like, how long does that take? Like, you can't be in this cocoon, as you said, Kyle, for like, you know, multiple years. I like the idea in principle, but I think, I mean, you would know, like, as the friend, like there's, there's just going to be a time when it's like, this feels too long. I need to do something so it doesn't feel like we're at like that break in case of emergency point. I'd say leave him alone and let him kind of, kind of try to figure his stuff out. But if he's like, if he is literally just a cocoon and all of a sudden it's just like on Reddit threads all night. It sounds like he's at least trying to be somewhat productive, though. Like, he's reading books, he's taken supplements, he's learned how to make himself a better person physically. Like, that's, that's all good stuff and positive things, but you still do need that human interaction in some way.

[Stanford Steve]

He's not holed up with a handle of Tito's.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Right?

[Stanford Steve]

I mean, it's like, it's a little different than that's like if someone in my group was gonna, was to disappear, that'd probably be what would be happening. And I'm wondering.

[Steve Cerutti]

He quit drinking, right?

[Stanford Steve]

He quit drinking, right?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Exactly.

[Stanford Steve]

He's reading about supplements and stuff like that. I wonder, like, is there, he didn't mention about any other people? Are you the only one that could put pressure on him to come out if it's just you? I mean, I don't know when there's, when there's like three or four, it's like you kind of, I feel like the, the guy will give in a little bit more if it's just you.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You know, I don't know, I'd, I'd.

[Stanford Steve]

Plan your approach a little bit more careful, but if there's four of you, I'd say, you know, there's strength in numbers, dude. Just bully him into coming out. It'll, it'll work itself out.

[Ryan Rosillo]

If he's actually that upset about this breakup of a long term relationship. Right. And this is kind of an age, especially at like 34, maybe you think this really is the one. And you're starting to do some planning. You're starting to think about like, what do you want out of life and how many kids. And then when that gets disrupted, it's a little than, oh, no, I can't go. Like, I broke up with a bartender from the Chance, so I can't Go there on Thursdays. Now that's a little kissy thing. There's a chance.

[Stanford Steve]

There must be another one.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Okay. Right. There's probably a few. There's probably a few bars. Maybe Murphs. Like, wait, Murphs and Boise. Okay. All right, look, I, I love this because it's a funny way to say, hey, I think I'm going to be bummed out for a year.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yes. Better than to call back the other guys. Better than walking in a room and sighing in front of your buddies. This is at least, at least you're doing it by yourself.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Take control.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Right. So I don't know, it's cool that you care about him and everything like that, but I just wonder if there's a funny way to be. Like, the reason why NBA stuff works or other stuff is because there's deadlines. Like the next season has to start. Right? Like you need to ask him. Like, as long as you're building for 26, 27. And it's not a three year plan because like three year rebuilding, you can have a three year rebuilding planet. As plenty of fan bases know. Just because you said it's going to take three years doesn't mean it's only going to take three years. So the fact that he's like a little creative about the whole thing, the hair thing, probably bums me out for him a little. Watching videos is not really a reset year. Like you're just watching videos all the.

[Steve Cerutti]

Time and somebody TED Talks, you know, maybe he's just trying to get his education levels up.

[Stanford Steve]

TED Talks is over, right?

[Ryan Rosillo]

No, it's doing that.

[Steve Cerutti]

I watched the ted. What is it? The TED Ed stuff, You know, they're like, is it still.

[Stanford Steve]

I felt like it swept the nation. And then I haven't heard, I haven't heard the name TED Talk with someone like referring to something that's not a TED Talk as.

[Steve Cerutti]

Anyway.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I digress.

[Steve Cerutti]

I'm just saying there are videos you could, you could. That are sure you could learn things.

[Stanford Steve]

Internet's a big place. Yeah, I agree. I don't think that when he comes out, everything's going to be fixed. When like what he says he's got these benchmarks.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He's like, obviously not.

[Kyle]

PT's over.

[Stanford Steve]

Like the women aren't going to be. They're like, oh my God, did you see the head of hair on that guy? I haven't seen in two years. Like, it's not going to be like that.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He seems hyper focused. Exactly, exactly.

[Stanford Steve]

His skin looks like he's Been getting the right amount of chlorophyll in his supplements or whatever.

[Steve Cerutti]

Like, I.

[Stanford Steve]

It's not. It's not going to be this thing, but I guess anything will feel better than no one talking to you. But I don't know, maybe there's a way to, like, temper the expectations of like, dude, it's never going to be perfect.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So I don't know, I would just ask him, like, which year do you think you're going to start season? That kind of stuff. Yeah, I like that.

[Steve Cerutti]

Maybe time it up with AJ with the AJ Thing and just say, hey, once the NBA draft is here and he gets drafted, you're also drafted into the real world. World, like that's right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Late June. Late June. You got to get ready to put some big summer here.

[Stanford Steve]

Yeah, Bald boy summer.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Let's go. Dude, it is really funny. And I would say once he gets back out there, if, you know, he starts, he's back in the wild, he's going on dates and girls are like, you know, what have you been up to the last year? Maybe leave this out.

[Stanford Steve]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You know, or maybe you meet the right person and they totally understand it. The fear is, I'll end here. The fear is once you start spending a lot of time by yourself, you get real used to it.

[Stanford Steve]

Play them this, man. Play them this. Just play them this last bit of the clip.

[Ryan Rosillo]

There you go. Be like, I can leave today or I can leave tomorrow, or I can leave next week or I can not go or I can go there. All right, quick. 16 foot, 175, gym stats in the mud. Player comp. Domus Sabonis. My friend said that once in pickup because I'm left handed and scored a couple nice sweeping hook shots. All right, my email is quick, but a pretty big moral dilemma for me. I got a new job. Leaving my old company is a going away gift. They gifted me tickets to a sporting event. I'm thrilled. Love to go to the game and it's my favorite team in the sport. But after checking the tickets, they're worth a thousand each on the resale market. Money's been tight for a while. Living in an expensive city and an extra 2k would obviously be massive, but it feels quite unethical to sell a gift like this. Let me know what you guys think. Love the pod. Keep going.

[Stanford Steve]

The question is, are they going to find out? And I feel like with today's technology, they most certainly are going to get an email that the tickets have changed hands. So how do you feel about them knowing that is the real question.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yep. I'm with Kyle. I don't think.

[Stanford Steve]

Who gave you the tickets? If, like, if I left my manager, Steve Ceruti, I'd be comfortable being like, hey, man, this is what I'm gonna do. But if you don't have a guy like Steve in your corner, I don't know who gave you the tickets. Were you very surprised to get these tickets?

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't know.

[Stanford Steve]

There's a lot of stuff I don't understand about the dynamic at the place you're leaving. At the end of the day. It's sort of like leaving an apartment.

[Steve Cerutti]

You could.

[Stanford Steve]

You could leave the. You could. I mean, I left my TV mount in the wall, and what are they going to do about it? I tried to clean. You know, I made it look like I made an effort, but at the end of the day, there were some things that I just didn't quite follow through on.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So, you know, you do.

[Stanford Steve]

You have that whole.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's in the rear view. So.

[Kyle]

Yeah, and I'm not.

[Steve Cerutti]

I'm usually not like, anti. You know, this is kind of like a different thing. But, like, you know, obviously we have two kids. Like, you know, you get books, right? And then you just re gift a book that you don't use. Like, you know, we have books that were signed to somebody else that we got. Like, it just happened. They change hands. But experiences, I don't know that person. Like, you know, that's. That's something like, hey, I. I kind of expect you to go to this thing that I gave these things to you for. If not, let me know because I'll maybe take them back. I. I don't. I wouldn't feel good about it. I just wouldn't. And I know. I mean, listen, the money thing, I get it. If you feel like you can get away with it, maybe it's worth doing it, but I don't know. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that.

[Stanford Steve]

Mom and pop. Doesn't sound like it. If they're dropping two grand on going away tickets. Doesn't sound like a Mom and pop, which, you know, stick it to the man. I'm just kidding, but I think I might have done it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't know. I'd probably sell them. I might sell them two grand when you need two grand. Yeah, but what do you get confronted?

[Steve Cerutti]

What do you say?

[Stanford Steve]

Well, like what? I would have called and said to.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You, like, you want some of this bitch?

[Stanford Steve]

He's got a good reason.

[Steve Cerutti]

You know, no more gifts for you.

[Stanford Steve]

Yeah, doing a lot of moving and shaking over here. Two grand would help me a lot more than going here and spending whatever I'm going to spend on the game too, so.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, we got another one here by forward to Rudy. If you could forward this one to Kyle mid reading just so we can see the picture. So we all have the picture. That would be amazing. Purple hat guy, question mark. Question mark? Question mark. Hey, guys. 24, 510, 215 pounds. Not a basketball player, unfortunately, but I think my baseball player comp would be 2013. Koji Uhara. Just come in and get shit done. Love it. Love that. Let me give you a quick background. Born and raised in Kansas. Transplanted in New Mexico a few years ago. I'm a huge K State guy. Sorry about that one. In Utah, especially baseball. So naturally I wear a K State baseball hat to the gym. But I've recently had an epiphany. I wear one literally every time I'm in the gym. And most people in New Mexico are not familiar with K State, so I just look like some asshole that only wears purple hats. Should I even care? Should I branch out and get some different colors in the rotation? I know this is a menial issue, but I love your thoughts. Thanks, guys. P.S. ryan, what does a guy have to do to get more baseball content out of you? I don't know. All right. Did you send this to Kyle?

[Steve Cerutti]

I had the email, but the photo did not send to me.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Okay. Because our boy.

[Steve Cerutti]

But I get the idea.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. He went.

[Stanford Steve]

Is there a logo on the hat or is there no logo on the hat?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Case is cats.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

All right.

[Stanford Steve]

There you go, everyone.

[Ryan Rosillo]

This guy, everyone. Awesome. He's drenched in sweat. The sink that he's taking the picture in front of is in the mirror and it's. This is not the nicest gym. The outlets, for whatever reason, are covered in filth. This reminds me a bit of when you see a girl on Instagram posting a picture from her bathroom and she's about to absolutely kill it tonight or whatever. It's like, not with that fucking rusty towel hanger in the background.

[Stanford Steve]

Ignore the mirror.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Do you have the pic? Hasn't loaded for you, Serutti. What are you getting over there?

[Steve Cerutti]

It's not. It's not attached. It's not attached.

[Kyle]

I don't know.

[Stanford Steve]

You've been falling short with your email and stuff lately, bud.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't know. Because you guys change your emails for obvious reasons.

[Stanford Steve]

Oh, yeah, I did it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Oh, it loaded.

[Steve Cerutti]

I got it. Hold on. Text.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I Don't think this guy needs to change anything. Just keep rocking your case state stuff. It doesn't matter.

[Stanford Steve]

And you not have your sports in where he's at. I mean, I don't understand. I don't understand. People leave out of state to go to school. I don't understand.

[Steve Cerutti]

Looks like Big Cat.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Big Cat wishes.

[Steve Cerutti]

It's kind of an absurd hat. I'm gonna be honest.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I love Think so.

[Stanford Steve]

Like, is it a ball cap or what? I mean, no, it looks like I.

[Steve Cerutti]

Don'T have like, a little like a base up, like the Case 8 baseball team hat, you know, which isn't a.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Bad thing, but, dude, be Purple hat guy. Do you have it yet, Kyle? Did you send it to him?

[Stanford Steve]

I don't have it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The anticipation is intense right now.

[Steve Cerutti]

All right, Sentinel, It's. The text thread is loading. God damn it. Got some technical difficulties today.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I just.

[Stanford Steve]

I want to have an opinion and I don't. I don't want to have to change it. Let's see. Fuck yeah, dude.

[Kyle]

What? I. What?

[Stanford Steve]

What?

[Ryan Rosillo]

He looks great. He looks great.

[Kyle]

And it's.

[Stanford Steve]

It's a. It's a hat of a team, you know, he's.

[Steve Cerutti]

Wait. He's only worried about wearing this at the gym, though. Or is this just like. He wears this all the time.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He just thinks because he's in New Mexico, he shouldn't be wearing K State gear all the time. I think you're K steak guy. You're. You're thick. You're. That's not a stringer tank, but it's. It's pushing the limits. There's some places, early ESPN gym, they wouldn't let you rock that. The sink, the tiling, the backsplash. That place. I hope the. I hope the membership isn't too much because that bathroom looks fucking terrible. Drop ceiling, all sorts of problems.

[Stanford Steve]

I don't see one. Like, weird brown spot on that ceiling, though. You know, that's what happens when you get the drop ceilings. This one looks like it was recently done.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They recommitted to it tracks. They're all okay.

[Stanford Steve]

I can't believe this was an email.

[Ryan Rosillo]

No, we should post this. We should hook this guy up.

[Steve Cerutti]

I think that people wear weirder shit at the gym. You're fine.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Conclusion, Perfect. All right.

[Stanford Steve]

Jeans, dude.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. Well done. Well done, Kyle Ceruti, thank you for jumping on the pod. Hope everybody has a terrific Thanksgiving travel pod. Could we turn that around for people on a Wednesday? Could we do that in a day, Kyle? Or that's.

[Stanford Steve]

Yeah, it would have Been nice to hear about that when you sent me the files, but sure, I'll just do it.

[Steve Cerutti]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, sure. All right, so there we go. You're gonna have three pods three days in a row from us or. No, should we not do that? Because this is Wednesday. Wednesday.

[Steve Cerutti]

Let's drop it on. Thanks. Well, drop it on Thanksgiving, motherfuckers.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Let's do it. That's even worse.

[Steve Cerutti]

Why is that worse in the morning?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Because Kyle needs the deadline. Kyle needs it to be Wednesday because if you tell him it's Thursday, then he'll do it Wednesday and that cuts Wednesday.

[Steve Cerutti]

You tell me that.

[Ryan Rosillo]

This is one of the biggest Wednesdays Kyle's had in years.

[Kyle]

Huge.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Huge. Kyle. Text me what you think you can do.

[Steve Cerutti]

Separately TBD on this.

[Stanford Steve]

Oh, I thought this was be a nice little Christmas present for. No, it's all right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Oh, you want it to be Christmas.

[Stanford Steve]

We'Ll get it done. I don't know. I figured it was going to be sometime when we were going to go short, go a short week, but not this one.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, you want to save us.

[Stanford Steve]

For Christmas, you let me know what's going on. You're the boss.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, but I don't want to.

[Stanford Steve]

I'm the guy who just got a new email.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So what's.

[Stanford Steve]

Yeah, you tell me what's up.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, maybe it won't be out. Yeah, because we're releasing this one the day before Thanksgiving anyway. Everybody, enjoy your family travel. Hopefully it's not a huge pain in the ass. Please subscribe to the Ryan Rosillo show, part of the Barstool Now.