Pistons Take Game 1 & OKC Are Coasting, Plus US Soccer Legend Clint Dempsey

Summary

---

The Ryen Russillo Show

Episode: Pistons Take Game 1 & OKC Are Coasting, Plus US Soccer Legend Clint Dempsey
Date: May 6, 2026
Host: Ryen Russillo (w/ Kyle and Ceruti)
Notable Guest: Clint Dempsey

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, Ryen Russillo breaks down the latest NBA Playoff action, focusing on Detroit's surprising Game 1 victory over Cleveland and OKC’s dominance over the Lakers. The show also features an in-depth interview with US Men's National Team legend Clint Dempsey, discussing his career, the growth of soccer in the US, World Cup hopes, and more. As always, the episode wraps with audience “Life Advice,” bringing humor and candid takes on real-life dilemmas.

---

NBA Playoff Recap & Analysis

Detroit Pistons vs. Cleveland Cavaliers: Game 1 Breakdown

• Asar’s Defense on Donovan Mitchell

  • Mitchell scores 9 in Q1, 9 in the second half—below his historic playoff standards.
    • “He's now gone six games where he's below 25 points... that's not who this guy has been in the playoffs.” (04:04)
  • Free throw rate for Mitchell is way down: 18 attempts in 8 games (vs. 89 in nine games last year)
    • “Mitchell was frustrated. Maybe I need to sell it a little bit more. I need to flop. But...we did not lose this game tonight because of the whistle.” (05:52)

• Jalen Duren Makes the Difference

  • Stat line: 11 pts, 12 boards, but Russillo emphasizes his impact far exceeds box score.
    • “Do not look at the 11 points and think that he was disappointing last night because he was the difference.” (14:06)
  • Duren matches Allen + Mobley in boards, outmuscles them inside, especially critical offensive boards.
    • “Mobley’s having these possessions...you have to prepare yourself on the box out for what’s coming.” (07:19)

• Rotation Decisions

  • Allen in foul trouble, Cleveland forced to stagger Mobley/Allen.
  • Detroit closes for spacing with Jenkins and Duncan Robinson, Asar with foul issues.

• Harden Watch

  • “He looks like he doesn’t want to be out there.” (10:51)
  • Noted for defensive disengagement, turnover-prone, late surge in the 4th quarter with “four sick drives.”
    • “When Cleveland put together that run...they took him out at the end of the third quarter, it just looked different.” (11:38)

• Cade Cunningham: Clutch Factor

  • Compared to Luka for playoff composure and shot-creation in crunch time.
    • “Cade is really high up that list where like I always think, hey, Luka’s probably going to get a good shot more often than maybe anybody else in the NBA. ... But I think Cade, he doesn’t even have to do it with scoring…” (14:22)

---

OKC vs. Lakers: Thunder in Control

• OKC Rotation & Depth

  • Played 11 guys in the first half: “They’re basically fucking with teams five games through the playoffs.” (18:00)
  • Jalen Williams has played only 52 minutes in the playoffs (injuries/easing back).
  • OKC used three bigs early to counter Lakers’ size.

• Thunder’s Playoff Improvement

  • Last year: weak at rebounding and 3-pt shooting, but won the title.
  • This year: 4th in rebounding rate and 3PT shooting—the team is more complete.
    • “Despite them deciding, you know, in these information-gathering games...it doesn't matter.” (19:33)

• Lakers’ Grit But Outmatched

  • Reaves struggling post-injury (“second time in five seasons where he scored eight or fewer points playing 36+ minutes”). (16:42)
  • Lakers’ turnover rate is the worst in these playoffs (18.8% of possessions).
  • “Their group chat tries but it can never keep up with Reddit.” (19:55)

---

Interview: Clint Dempsey (U.S. Soccer Legend)

[Starts ~21:31]

Soccer’s Growth in the US

• Popularity Shift Since Dempsey’s Early Career

  • “I think truly it’s going to take, I think a US team winning a major trophy or really performing well...to get more of a buzz with the whole country.” (22:17)

• Automatic Qualification Downside

  • “You don’t really have competitive games to like iron sharpening iron...I think there was something beautiful about that qualifying process and preparing you to truly appreciate what it took...” (23:25)

USMNT: Mentality, Talent, and Style

• On "Motherfucker" Playing Style & Mentality:

  • “It truly was a grind for me, and the hardships...I think kind of always had that chip on my shoulder.” (26:02)

• Is New US Team Less Scrappy?

  • “I think not having the chance to qualify again for this World Cup, you didn’t get to get that test, to go through that grind and to battle together, because I think through hardships, you kind of form more of a bond…” (27:02)
  • Praises Weston McKennie for “fighter” mentality.

• Coaching, Tactics, and Culture

  • “I just think you’re under that microscope...the most important thing is I think creating a culture that everybody feels that you have to earn it...you have to fight for each other...” (31:10)
  • On whether he’d want to coach: “I mean, I just think it'd be so stressful. It's a grind. ... Maybe when the kids are older and out of the house, maybe that's something I reassess.” (33:23)

Playing in England

• Premier League Transition

  • “I went from being an MLS all-star to like a player that was a sub...I had to earn the respect to be a starter.” (36:16)
  • On skeptics: “You couldn’t just be better than the British players...You had to be significantly better if you wanted to get on that pitch.” (37:10)
  • “My first goal for the club that won us the game, it saved us from relegation. That's when I felt like I belonged in the Premier League.” (37:45)

• Culture Shock & Fame

  • “It was really cool, like seeing recaps of games in the newspapers, watching on Sky, seeing highlights and being in those highlights from the games on the weekends...” (39:21)

Fan/Ceruti Questions Segment

• Does Dempsey Mentors Current Players?

  • “No, I don’t think it’s a situation where players kind of reach out to me. ... I do check in with players in terms of if they've got injuries or tough times...but I'm not one of those guys...” (42:09)
  • Ceruti to Dempsey: “I think we want players to play like you and be like you… we miss Clint. We miss the drive.” (43:35)

• World Cup Home Pressure

  • “I always felt pressure because it was like, you always felt like you're on the chopping block... especially when you have kids and you got to provide for them...” (45:01)

• Favorite Players to Watch Today

  • “Lamine Yamal is a true talent. ... when I was growing up and who I was watching, Cristiano Ronaldo...then Diego Maradona, Raquelme, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo (the original)...Zidane.” (46:00-47:09)

• What Would Dempsey Have Done If Not Soccer?

  • “Probably would have tried to play baseball...I was a decent shortstop... would have been playing men’s league on Sunday.” (47:40)

---

Notable Quotes

• On U.S. Soccer’s Growth:
  “It's going to take a US team winning a major trophy...really performing well and starting to get more of a buzz with the whole country.” (22:17)
• On Hard-Nosed Soccer:
  “I think not having the chance to qualify again for this World Cup, you didn’t get to get that test, to go through that grind and to battle together...” (27:02)
• On Coaching and Culture:
  “The most important thing is...creating a culture that everybody feels that you have to earn it to get into the team... fight for each other...” (31:10)
• On Premier League Pressure:
  “You had to make them play you and they couldn’t take you out of the lineup.” (37:10)

---

Life Advice Segment

Highlights

• Barber Arrested, Still Need a Haircut ([~58:54])

  • Listener dilemma: Barber arrested, has appointment after release—how to address?
    • Russillo: “If he doesn’t bring it up, you don’t bring it up and walk out...$10 light and a hell of a lot fresher.” (63:33)
  • General consensus: Don't overthink, follow the barber's lead; value the $10 haircut.

• Law School Regret ([~63:55])

  • Listener’s deep misery in law school; should he stick it out or quit?
    • Russillo: “Just finish...that law degree, it's going to be a really impressive thing throughout the rest of your life.” (68:14)
    • Ceruti: “Even if you don’t want to be a lawyer, there’s other ways you can use that.” (69:41)
    • Kyle: “If you're at that point where your stomach hurts... you know it's not what you want to do, then maybe you're just prolonging this.” (78:24)
  • Balanced perspective: Finishing gives optionality and pride, but severe unhappiness might warrant leaving.

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• NBA Playoffs Deep Dive: 02:40 – 21:11
• Clint Dempsey Interview: 21:31 – 51:21
• Life Advice Section: 52:11 – end (~85:18)
  • Barber dilemma: ~58:54 – 63:35
  • Law school struggle: ~63:55 – 78:57

---

Memorable Moments

• Russillo’s analogy comparing NBA playoff “big nights” to media ratings, and to Donovan Mitchell’s potential.
• Dempsey praised for his “chip on the shoulder” and blending humility with tenacity (26:02).
• Ceruti and Russillo’s admiration for Dempsey’s no-nonsense, blue-collar soccer mentality—“We miss the drive.” (43:35)
• Dempsey’s honest take on mentoring, being “an open door,” but not overtly seeking to guide.
• Lively Life Advice with classic Russillo humor and group dynamic, especially on the barber and law school topics.

---

Overall Tone & Style

• Candid, observant, and wryly humorous—Russillo remains both analytical and approachable in sports dissection.
• Dempsey is direct, humble, and insightful; Ceruti and Kyle add camaraderie and comic relief.
• Free-flowing, banter-heavy, gym talk meets sharp analysis—classic RR Show energy.

---

For those who missed it:
This episode blends sharp NBA playoff analysis, real-talk on soccer’s place in America, a revealing chat with Clint Dempsey, and the always-enjoyable “Life Advice” — insightful, honest, and never taking itself too seriously.

Transcript

[Ryan Rosillo]

Hey Resilo listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. What if your drive was fueled with more like More protection for more time on the road? Shelby Power Nitro plus provides more protection for longer lasting engines, so it helps you keep your engine running like new for whatever drive is ahead. Shelby Power Nitro engine performance that lasts compared to minimum detergent gasoline with continuous use of Shelby Power Nitro plus and gasoline direct injection engines, effects and benefits may vary. See Shell Us. More Protection for more information. The Ryan Rosillo show is presented by DraftKings. On today's show, I'll run through game ones. Detroit's win, OKC's win, Duran's big night. Not just the box score and why

[Kyle]

OKC isn't even really taking these games well, they're taking them seriously. But there's some stuff that they're doing as well where you're like, God, they are not even close to being challenged yet.

[Ryan Rosillo]

We've got life advice and we've got Clint Dempsey, US Men's national team legend. He has a new documentary out. I will talk soccer with him and

[Kyle]

then the soccer will get a little

[Ryan Rosillo]

bit better cause Ceruti is going to

[Kyle]

jump in and talk to him for a little while. Clint was a great hang. So there you go.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The NBA playoffs are here in DraftKings sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA brings excitement to every game day the whole postseason. When the lights get brightest, the best players in the world show you exactly who they are. Playoff stars turn it up round by round, and DraftKings turns it up with them. From the first round all the way to the Finals. Bet player. Props bet live. From the opening tip to the final possession, every bucket, every dime, every clutch takeover matters. And only DraftKings sportsbook keeps you in on the action all the way through. New DraftKings customers bet just $5 and you get $100 in bonus instantly. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app. Use the Code Ryan so you're ready for the moment. That's code Ryan. R Y E N turn five bucks into $100 in bonus bets instantly. In partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours.

[DraftKings Announcer]

Gambling problem. Call 1-800- GAMBLER or 1-800- MY RESET New York call 877-8-HOPE and wire text hope and why Connecticut? Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org on behalf of Boothill Casino in Kansas. Wager tax pass through. May apply in Illinois 21 and over in most states. Void in on bonus bets. Expire seven days after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see sportsbook.draftkings.com promos Limited time offer

[Ryan Rosillo]

two games last night, two game one victories

[Kyle]

for Detroit and OKC.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I'll break down Detroit, Cleveland a little

[Kyle]

bit more in depth. And then obviously I have some thoughts on OKC and the Lakers, but what were your expectations for that?

[Ryan Rosillo]

So the first three things, let's start with number one, Asar, and what his

[Kyle]

defensive assignment would be. And it's on Donovan Mitchell.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Mitchell had nine points in the first

[Kyle]

quarter, nine points in the second half.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He was doing that big windmill Euro

[Kyle]

step thing, which is just unstoppable kind

[Ryan Rosillo]

of play from him, but it still hasn't quite happened yet.

[Kyle]

And I'll run through his scoring history for you here. Nine, 19 from the floor.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Okay, he's had 32 and 30 in

[Kyle]

Games 1 and 2 against Toronto.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He's now gone six games where he's below 25 points.

[Kyle]

You're like, all right, well, look, he's still getting his 20.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But this is not who this guy has been in the playoffs. Even if you want to talk about his team and the games that he's

[Kyle]

had, that's been disappointing.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Like, the reason I kind of defend him in the analogy that I used about the ratings thing, which the more

[Kyle]

I think about it, it's good. It's like, do I have a product that can at least get me an

[Ryan Rosillo]

absurd number if There's a Game 7 in the NBA Finals, or if I have this live rights package, is there a potential, like, I blow the ratings numbers out of the water? Like, that's part of the price, is that there's a chance. And I think part of the price and admiration I have for Mitchell is that you just expect one of these absurd playoff games where he's going to be completely unstoppable, and that might win you one or two in the series,

[Kyle]

even though again, historically, guys never gotten out of the second round. So.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And that's also kind of the rule on how this works for NBA players. Like, Mitchell's never considered a top five. He's not in the hunt for best player. So you're almost kind of in that Jimmy Butler lane of drafting all the

[Kyle]

other guys that we've all accepted that

[Ryan Rosillo]

are better than you because they're all better than you. And so when you're a little bit more disappointing on the playoff resume and never in the MVP conversations, you live a little safer because you're just not taking all of the heat that those other guys are. But to my point about his playoff resume, these are games, these are score. Like I could have done more if I wanted to. He said 38, 57, 51, 44, 45, 37, 37, 39, 38, 50, 39, 48, 43. He's had those games on his playoff resume. He is now seventh all time in playoff scoring. That's actually down, I think.

[Kyle]

I think he was fifth before the playoffs started because that has gone down now.

[Ryan Rosillo]

How is this happening? Because I keep going like, look, that game is coming, that 40 piece, that

[Kyle]

45 point game is coming from Mitchell.

[Ryan Rosillo]

However, the free throw numbers for him aren't even close to what he normally is. And I'm not sitting here saying, hey, I wish these guys get more free throws. Hey, I wish they sold calls more because we have. We could do an hour on that

[Kyle]

collectively if you all wanted to do this.

[Ryan Rosillo]

We're at the game of risk right now and everybody's picking up which country and in this case, player they want

[Kyle]

to attack based on the way they're

[Ryan Rosillo]

playing in some of these games. Mitchell's not getting to the line. Six free throw attempts per game during the regular season. In the playoffs now he's at 2.3. He has taken 18 free throw attempts in eight games. Last year in the playoffs, he played in nine games. He had 89 free throw attempts. 18 and 8. 89 in nine games last year. They talked about it after the fact. I thought Cleveland was very fair and reasonable.

[Kyle]

The way they talk about the whistle because they were saying, hey, look, he's not going to the line. Mitchell was frustrated. Hey, maybe I need to sell it a little bit more. I need to flop. But I think I saw two lines there from Atkinson and Mitchell or either they were saying the exact same thing where it was like, hey, we did not lose this game tonight because of the whistle. Want to make that clear? Because that's true. That's not why they lost the game.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They lost the game because I think

[Kyle]

Dern was a beast.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Do not be fooled by the box score here. 11 of points, 11 points on 4 of 11 shooting. Because you know, the thing of all the different things that I'm looking for and how all these series starts, right?

[Kyle]

I could just list a million things and some things I may not even be thinking about.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But with Cleveland in particular, it's, oh, how will this double big thing look? Will they give up spacing? Offensively, their preference is to stagger. These guys start With Mobley and Allen,

[Kyle]

then they just kind of sub them

[Ryan Rosillo]

in and out, sub them in and out. They close with both sort of. Sometimes they won't, but, you know, it's this thing that's kind of great from a talent standpoint. I like Cleveland's talent much better than I like Detroit's talent in this series. But Cleveland has to figure out a way to not let Duran do what

[Kyle]

he did last night multiple times throughout

[Ryan Rosillo]

the series, because he's got 12 boards, which is the same as Allen and Mobley combined. Granted, Allen had foul trouble early three in the first quarter. He played the first six minutes. He didn't play again in that first

[Kyle]

half and then he was out again later.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He contested during. Did 21 shots last night at 88, 82. Ron Holland at the line. How about those Ron Holland minutes? Hide your kids, huh? He comes out, he's at the free throw line, he misses the second free throw and Duran just beast Mobley. It's like Mobley's having these possessions. Like you do realize it's the playoffs and this guy is a beast and he's really strong. You have to prepare yourself on the box out for what's coming. You have to prepare yourself on a cut. You know, if he's going to try to seal you, you're going to have to match his early work with your early work and fight for this stuff like this isn't regular season anymore. You know, just let everybody kind of waltz into wherever they want to go and set up offensively. You've got to fight them. And you have to fight Duran because he doesn't want to be more than 12ft outside of the rim. And Mobley on this huge spot where, you know, Cleveland's going through this momentum push. They had a momentum push in the late third quarter.

[Kyle]

They've got this momentum.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They did tie it at 93. But that offensive rebound from Dern, kick it out to Duncan Robinson. Just an aside. I was worried there was a Tommy Alter curse going on between Bridges. Bad offense, Cam Johnson and then what was going on with Duncan Robinson missing some of these shots, Ben Stiller going to the Met, like a lot of Tommy's. If Trey Murphy were in the playoffs,

[Kyle]

I don't know what to expect.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But I think the Tommy Alter curse is over. We don't have to worry about it

[Kyle]

if there even was one because Duncan

[Ryan Rosillo]

was terrific last night. He was even making twos.

[Kyle]

He was like, wait, I can take these.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But that kick out makes it 91, 82. And that's even more work for Cleveland. Have to fight back. So the double big staggering. You would think that Cleveland would say we will give up some spacing here and not stagger Allen and Mobley as much. We'll give up spacing for crowding because if we can keep these guys around, that should be able to cut down on Duran's effectiveness, Cade's ability to just

[Kyle]

run to the rim as much as he wants to.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But the Allen Fowler trouble thing, I

[Kyle]

don't think we've learned anything about what Atkinson's plan is after just game one.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think Allen was out 347 to go in the fourth quarter. Al was out.

[Kyle]

They needed the scoring. They closed with Wade and Streuss with the other three guys.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Detroit closing group. And this is with them playing mostly with a lead other than that 93, 93 part there. They went with Dennis Jenkins and Duncan Robinson. So Robinson was giving him plenty of offense and spacing.

[Kyle]

But they went with a more spacing

[Ryan Rosillo]

lineup than they did defensively because Asar had been getting into some of the foul trouble stuff. I thought a couple more bullshit fouls, but Cleveland was much happier with the

[Kyle]

spacing, which was opening up some other stuff with the drives.

[Ryan Rosillo]

What do we do with Harden? I did the Harden tracker last night.

[Kyle]

I told myself I wasn't going to do it. I swear to God. I think they may send somebody after me. The crazy thing is, I don't even know if it's real or not, but somebody DM me once on Instagram and was like, hey man, part of Team Harden would love to collab. And I was like, what? Ziggy, are you aware of the work we've been doing over here? It may not even have been real. Really nice message, totally professional. May not have actually had the authorization

[Ryan Rosillo]

to collab on anything but his first half. If you had told, and he's never

[Kyle]

going to tell you this, but if

[Ryan Rosillo]

you said, hey, this is the first half you're going to get from James

[Kyle]

Harden, you go, well, cool, we'll just play Dennis Schroeder.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I know you're not going to believe me.

[Kyle]

I know you're going to tell me you got 13 points in the fourth

[Ryan Rosillo]

quarter and then I'm being harsh.

[Kyle]

He looks like he doesn't want to be out there.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He almost lost the ball dribbling up

[Kyle]

in transition when there was no one around him.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I mean, I could rip through all the turnovers.

[Kyle]

I could rip through. I've got a couple of plays here defensively. Or it's like if you're on a SAR and you don't even have to defend anybody.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Like, if you don't have to defend Aar, which is basically what he's allowed

[Kyle]

to do, you take off every single defensive possession unless he's put into the action, which actually isn't happening a lot, at least in game one. Pick something else to do, man. Again, Mitchell Schwarz find work.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So I'm not going to do the Hardened tracker I did.

[Kyle]

I do have it at the ready, but I'm, I'm not going to do that. And you know, you had three.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He had an incredible series of floaters there. He also had five points on foul baiting.

[Kyle]

The three point thing, I don't know

[Ryan Rosillo]

why you NBA refs let this keep happening to you.

[Kyle]

You know exactly what he's going to do.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Nothing's working for him. He's turning the ball over constantly. He's totally disengaged. When Cleveland put together that run where they took him out at the end of the third quarter, it just looked different. It was like, hey, wait, there's a little bit more action.

[Kyle]

There's a little bit more intention on this stuff. The, the intensity is cranked up here a little bit.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Instead of just some of these passes from Harden bringing the ball up and

[Kyle]

then he's just whipping it to somebody else and it's like, okay, so he doesn't want to be out there right now.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But he ended up on those free throws tying this game up. So at 93 apiece, Harden, who again, there's four sick drives in there.

[Kyle]

I'll give it to him on those.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He throws up a floater. Duran blocks this and Cade brings the ball down. It's an unbelievable block by Duran.

[Kyle]

Let's go through a couple of his

[Ryan Rosillo]

makes off of all the Cade stuff. Cade brings it down and four people are on Cade. And this is another one of those deals where Harden was totally off of.

[Kyle]

Maybe it was Jenkins that he was assigned to.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And Harden's not closing out to anybody. And it's like he kind of just does a swipe and that's when you watch a film and you go, hey, if you're not going to be on the guy in the perimeter, which is fine if you want to help decade, which is. I don't know if it's the rule. It's certainly something you would do naturally

[Kyle]

as a defensive player, going like, maybe I can get in there, disrupt this

[Ryan Rosillo]

a little bit, then do that, do that. You can't play it like a regular season possession. So Cade drives four guys on him.

[Kyle]

That's Duran's first make.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Then Cade beats Struse without a screen. And then Allen comes up to meet him. Cade's so strong that he moves Allen's body backwards on the contest, could have been a foul, and then dumps it down to Duran for a dunk make number two. And then this play is kind of

[Kyle]

what I'm talking about with Mobley and some of this stuff where it's such a great play and it's such a great play by Duran.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Duran, they're in transition. Duran gets to like the left elbow and he gets inside position on Mobley. It's open underneath into the paint. And Dern waits for Cade to bring it down. Seals Mobley off. Mobley just lets it happen to him because he wasn't playing with the same intention or awareness that Dern was. In this huge possession, Cade brings it right down. I mean, it's a nice pass and

[Kyle]

it's great that he saw it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But the work, the best part of this play is Duran doing that work. And I'm telling you right now, do

[Kyle]

not look at the 11 points and think that he was disappointing last night because he was, he was the difference.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And then there's also just the Cade

[Kyle]

Luca thing that I would bring up here.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I'm not saying they're the same guy, but Cade is entering because it's not like he made a ton of shots

[Kyle]

in the fourth quarter at all.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But Luka, who's always going to take more shots than a Cade, but if you're thinking about the handful of players with the ball in their hands, huge spot, huge playoff possession, like, will I at least get a good look out of this? Cade is really high up that list where like I always think, hey, Luke is probably going to get a good

[Kyle]

shot more often than maybe anybody else in the NBA. Certainly SGA is on the list and all that kind of stuff. But I think Cade, he doesn't even have to do it with scoring any points because once he gets some sort of angle and against again, Harden in

[Ryan Rosillo]

the switch, he smoked Mitchell where she

[Kyle]

just smoked him with the ball. It wasn't even screen.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Getting the angle on Streuss, the Dean Wade stuff where, you know, they want to be able to body type, kind

[Kyle]

of match Cade and Wade for the most part's been a really nice defensive piece from this team. Something that they desperately need if they're going to try to play some of those other guys out there.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So look, great win, great win from Detroit. We'll see if that Mitchell game is coming and we'll see if Harden wants

[Kyle]

to play any of the first three quarters of Game two.

[Ryan Rosillo]

OKCLA I don't have a lot of negative things to say about the Lakers because the fact that they're even here is pretty remarkable considering what's happened to them.

[Kyle]

Injury wise.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I would argue that Houston of the realistic first round opponents for the Lakers, certainly not Phoenix nor Portland because the

[Kyle]

Lakers are not going to be a one or two seed.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But if you said, all right, let's go through all of the other teams that they could potentially have played, would you pick this Lakers group against anyone other than Houston, especially without kd now with Katie, I would have picked the

[Kyle]

Rockets even though I didn't necessarily like them. I think we've already covered all that stuff.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So when I watched what happened last night, I'm like, well, this is kind of what's supposed to happen, but I think the game planning has been really good. I think the role players have had

[Kyle]

moments for the Lakers throughout this entire thing where they've stayed in games.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But we also should remember like just

[Kyle]

because one team is outmanned, it doesn't mean they're going to be down 20 points in the first quarter. Like there's always kind of that 28 to 22 first quarter that makes you think the underdog has some kind of chance here.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Reaves has struggled. I could be harsh on him, but

[Kyle]

I don't even know that he'd be

[Ryan Rosillo]

playing if it were the regular season coming off of his injuries.

[Kyle]

But it was rough last night. Last Night was the second time in

[Ryan Rosillo]

five seasons where he scored eight or

[Kyle]

fewer points playing 36 plus minutes.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So the turnovers continue to be an

[Kyle]

issue for the Lakers.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They're turning the basketball over on 18.8% of their possessions. It wasn't the nightmare scenario last night

[Kyle]

because there were only two more turnovers than okc. That was a little sloppy with the basketball. But that almost 19% turnover rate, that is the worst of any NBA team in the playoffs so far.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They hung in there on the boards only a minus three, especially with the big lineup in the first half that

[Kyle]

OKC threw at them, which we'll get to that in a second.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's not a free throw game.

[Kyle]

This is not some massive free throw disparity.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I saw the SGA clips too because

[Kyle]

I also watched the game but I saw kind of the marketing after the fact.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Look, I hate it too. I hate it whenever it's anybody.

[Kyle]

That's unethical. I think we've Covered this. I think, you know, kind of where I'm at with this, like, hey, do you think this guy's like, if we

[Ryan Rosillo]

did the unethical rankings, maybe we'll do it this summer. But I hate it as much as you do. But it's also not what happened last night.

[Kyle]

Like he didn't get the calls despite all the shit that he was trying to do. And I don't blame you if you just get frustrated with OKC fans that are online all the time defending all this garbage, but it's not the result from last night.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So another thing here with the Thunder is that they're basically fucking with teams

[Kyle]

five games through the playoffs. Like think about some of the stuff that they're doing.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They played 11 guys in the first half last night in the second round

[Kyle]

of a game one.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They played 11 guys in the 1st half because their second best players only played in 2 of 5 games. Jalen Williams played, I think to this

[Kyle]

point,

[Ryan Rosillo]

is it 52 minutes. He's played 52 minutes total in the playoffs. They played the three bigs 36 minutes and 30 seconds in the first half. And that's why I was kind of like, hey, the Lakers hung in there rebounding wise and okc, you know, last year there was two alarming numbers about them throughout the playoffs that still didn't necessarily matter. Last year they were 12 out of 16 in rebound rate for all 16 playoff teams. They won the title. And you throw in the fact that last year they were 13th from the three point line. So they were one of the worst rebounding teams. They were one of the worst three point shooting teams. And yeah, look, they had two game sevens in there. So it's not as dominant as they feel because maybe it's mapping out who they're going to be for a long time. That was not some all time fo fo foe run from the Thunder last season. That was not a 1718 Golden State thing.

[Kyle]

This and even they had a deep Western Conference finals.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But this year through the playoffs, again,

[Kyle]

only five games, completely outmatched teams.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They're fourth in rebound rate and they're

[Kyle]

fourth in three point shooting.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So despite them deciding, you know, in these information gathering games that are actually like, hey, these are also the playoffs, it doesn't matter. And they win by 18 on a night where SGA doesn't crack 20 points for the first time, the first time in any game since Game 3 of

[Kyle]

last year's Western Conference finals,

[Ryan Rosillo]

your group chat tries but it can never keep up with Reddit. During any sports season between rivalry games, rankings, drama, late night, chaos, race, Reddit is always the first place to check on Reddit. You're plugged into millions of fans who are just as hopeful, dramatic, analytical and as loyal as you are. Think of Reddit as your real time game day app, the place for inside scoops, a laugh, and the vital stuff, broadcast times, where to stream the game, and how to snag a ticket. Look, I'll tell you my favorite part of Reddit is when I'm traveling to

[Kyle]

all these places that I don't know that much about.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Every time that I click on, like hey, things do or whatever here, stuff

[Kyle]

you have to see, it's always all

[Ryan Rosillo]

these sponsored links everywhere else. Reddit cuts through all of that with real firsthand experience, where I found it to be probably one of the most valuable tools that I have at my disposal when I am traveling to places

[Kyle]

that I've never been before.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And the best part? If it's sports, it's real fans. It's not analysts or those talking heads

[Kyle]

guys at those podcasts breaking it all

[Ryan Rosillo]

down in the most honest, entertaining way. Even if it's off season, Reddit sports communities don't go quiet. Trades, drafts and preseason discussions always happening. Cerutty is all over the Orlando Magic subreddit. He also loves Explain Like I'm five,

[Kyle]

which may be what some of you Magic fans feel like of not being

[Ryan Rosillo]

able to understand the season. Reddit is where the real fans hang out. Download the Reddit app and dive into hot takes, fresh memes and the group chat that never sleeps. Download the Reddit app today. We are psyched to have a legend in U.S. soccer history. You don't know where I'm from dog is a comprehensive look at the life

[Kyle]

and career of American soccer legend Clint Dempsey, produced by CBS Sports and also

[Ryan Rosillo]

streaming right now on Paramount.

[Kyle]

And Clint Dempsey joins the show. What's up?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Thanks for doing this.

[Clint Dempsey]

What's up? Thanks for having me. Really appreciate it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I can't even say I'm a casual soccer fan. I'm below casual. But I would say that I'm proud of myself.

[Kyle]

Like a sign of maturity is instead of being a kid who played other sports and thinking soccer was lame, I was stuck in a hotel for a bunch of days and watched some of the UEFA stuff and and I kind of fell in love with it. And I think it's once you understand

[Ryan Rosillo]

it, you're more into it. So I guess my first question is, where do you think this sport's popularity is? The way it's talked about today in comparison to when you first started coming

[Kyle]

up playing for the Revs and then obviously internationally for sure.

[Clint Dempsey]

I mean, globally, it's always been the biggest thing. There's no comparison in terms of around the world and when World Cups come around. But stateside, I mean, it continues to grow. I mean, it's a country that is really diverse. It has a lot of people from different backgrounds and I think that it's an area that continues to improve. I mean, you see with Messi coming now, being in the MLS and having this sport being talked about more on a weekly basis as opposed to waiting around every four years for a World cup to happen, for the needle to move. So you're starting to see some changes there. But I think truly it's going to take, I think a US Team winning a major trophy or really performing well and starting to get more of a buzz with the whole country as opposed to, you know, just little, making just a little bit of noise here and there.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The wrap up for this tournament. What is the actual downside to automatically

[Kyle]

qualify as the host nation for the

[Clint Dempsey]

U.S. i think the downside is you don't really have competitive games to like iron sharpening iron to make sure you're truly ready for that tournament and had your back against the wall and experience what it's like to maybe not get the result you want away from home and being in a must win situation every time you're on home soil and you know, really fighting it out to truly deserve to be in the competition. I think there was something like beautiful about that going through that qualifying process and preparing you to truly appreciate what it took to be able to play in a World Cup. So. But it is what it is. You have to make the most of the situation you're in. I mean, it's great to be in a position that you don't have to qualify and you get to have a World cup on home soil. So maybe it's a chance to experiment a little bit more than what you normally would do. I mean, the only thing I think that has made this one a little bit more difficult of a situation is you had The Copa America 2 years ago on home soil and you're the first host country to not get out of the group and then you have the next con, the next competition being the CONCACAF Nations League. You have a semifinal game versus Panama and you're losing that. So it's not a situation where you're able to take another step forward after what they did in 2022. You know, they qualified for the World cup, played in the World cup, got out of the group stage, they lost to the Netherlands, and then it's like, okay, what's that next step forward you're going to take? Right? And with the Copa America, the CONCACAF Nations League, that being so close to the World cup this summer, and, you know, the Gold cup, yes, they got to the final, but they didn't have all their, you know, the full roster wasn't there. In terms of some of the players that were in Europe. I don't think the fan base for the States is really gotten that sense of excitement about this team. I mean, I think it hurt a little bit. The last friendly window, losing to Belgium and Portugal in the way we did, and now the only thing we have left is the Senegal, Germany friendly matches to prepare us for this World Cup.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I have heard you describe.

[Kyle]

I think you'll take this as a compliment, but as a motherfucker of a player, right?

[Ryan Rosillo]

And just, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Clint Dempsey]

I mean, you know, I'm someone who had to do it the hard way. I mean, I think everybody who makes it at a high level, they. They had some things to overcome. But, I mean, it truly was a grind for me, and the hardships that I face, I think kind of always had that chip on my shoulder. So. I agree with you.

[Kyle]

Yeah, I think it's one of the best compliments you could have as an

[Ryan Rosillo]

athlete and wondering how this team.

[Kyle]

Because I think we always kind of look at U.S. soccer and be like, oh, if the best athletes played, if we had more talent and all that kind of stuff, if we played a

[Ryan Rosillo]

different style, I think there's a feeling that collectively it's the most talent the team's had. But is the team getting away from this grinding mentality that maybe your group had that was just tougher to play

[Kyle]

and that maybe the country's adapting to

[Ryan Rosillo]

a style that doesn't necessarily fit them

[Kyle]

and make them as tough of an out internationally.

[Clint Dempsey]

I think they were put in a tough position. Right. I was part of the team that didn't qualify in 2018, and it was kind of like a rebuild. So you had a lot of new faces coming in. I think the issue that we had in the past is you had a lot of teams that weren't qualifying for Olympics, so you didn't really have that resurgence or whatever it's called. You kind of breaking into the national team and really pushing the veterans and having a good mix of younger and older players. It seemed like the development kind of wasn't there. And then now you have this young group that was going into the World Cup. They qualified for it in 2022, and a lot of it was their first time. And then it's like trying to go on and take it to another level. But there's not really many veterans in the team in terms of, you know, that 30, 31, 32 year old player that's played in a few World Cups or are able to like, give some of these younger guys an idea of what it's like to go through that World cup qualifying process or to be in those competitions like World Cups and in Copa America. So it's been a lot of these guys kind of learning on the go, like you said. I think not having the chance to qualify again for this World cup, you didn't get to get that test, to go through that grind and to battle together, because I think through hardships, you kind of form more of a bond and you understand that you really have to have each other's back if you, if you want to be successful. And it's almost like you can sometimes maybe take something for granted if it's kind of given to you. But I still believe in this team. I still think there's some fighters in this team. I mean, a player that I relate a lot with is Weston McKinney, just in terms of what he's had to deal with at the club level, of always kind of being questioned beginning of the season, on the outside, looking in, always kind of earns his place back into the team and being one of the main players each year for the club team that he plays with. But yeah, I still think that they do have some of that fighter mentality in them. It's just we were kind of robbed of seeing them kind of have that bonding experience through that World cup qualifying, you know, you know, time since they were got an automatic bid.

[Ryan Rosillo]

What's your favorite American team sport, you

[Kyle]

know, other than soccer? Ooh.

[Clint Dempsey]

I mean, growing up, I like baseball a lot, even though it's completely opposite. There was a lot of stoppages in that. But my grandpa, he was just a big baseball fan. And I think you kind of get passionate about the things that people in your family are passionate about because it's a way that you kind of bond with them. But I really like all the sports, whether it's basketball, American football. I mean, as a kid, I did everything. So it's one of those that I just think it's important to try everything to kind of figure out what you're passionate about. But I have appreciation really for every sport. But like growing up in Texas, I mean those were kind of really the only sports that I was around.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Because one thing that I know about American sports, especially like a football, I don't.

[Kyle]

It probably happens in the NFL more than it does even in college. But that is like, if your team

[Ryan Rosillo]

isn't playing well, then you start with

[Kyle]

something that you could just say, hey, I don't like the plays we're calling. I don't think the coach is very good. If there's one thing that I've noticed about soccer fans is that no matter who is coaching the US Men's team,

[Ryan Rosillo]

after an exit earlier than everybody wants it. Just like I sort of laugh about it as a not day in and day out soccer guy.

[Kyle]

Just going like you guys hate the coach no matter who it is. Every single time. It's like, hey, we need to go back to this, go back to that.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So in, no in basketball, in the NBA, I would say it doesn't really matter who the coach is. Football has a lot more to do with it. What can a coach actually do with your sport and advancing a team, like taking their ceiling to a different level or is it really kind of more on the players the way it is in the NBA?

[Clint Dempsey]

I mean, I feel like in any sport though, like everybody's just completely criticized whether you're the coach, whether you're a player. I just think you're under that microscope and the people who are passionate about whatever sport that you're playing, they're going to have an opinion and something to say about it. But it's important that a coach kind of manages everybody in a way that they feel body that there is a blueprint to get into the team that through training well, that your spot is kind of earned to play on the weekend. Obviously, depending on what talent you have on the team, what kind of formation you should play, what's going to help your team kind of be the most successful, you know, whether it's you're a really skillful team, maybe, you know, you figure out total football possession building out of the bag, how to get forward and create really good attacking opportunities and getting goals. But if you're a team who struggles in keeping possession, maybe it's a team that kind of sits back and is more defensive with the counter attacking style. So it's just like everybody kind of has their own thing that kind of makes them tick. And depending on what kind of players you have, you might need to dumb it down. Depends on you Know what the expect expectations are of your fan base and what they want to see and, and as a coach, like what kind of backing that you got to take risk because some people are kind of put in situations where they're just kind of like they're not picking, maybe they're not able to pick the players they want to come in. They don't have the complete backing or go after the players that they truly want. So I think it's a difficult one, difficult one to kind of answer. But I mean the most important thing is I think creating a culture that everybody feels that you have to earn it to get into the team and that you have to fight for each other and you have to bring more people along than that are in the starting 11. You have to people on the bench that believe that they're still part of the team and they can make a difference when they go on. So I think that's, that's a true skill to just manage people and to keep everybody bought in.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Would you ever want to do it? Me?

[Clint Dempsey]

To be honest with you, I would, man. Not at this point right now. I mean, I just think it'd be so stressful. It's a grind. You're on the road all the time. I mean, I have six kids, so I would miss out on a lot of their stuff. And I just think, are you trying

[Ryan Rosillo]

to build a team?

[Clint Dempsey]

What's up?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Are you trying to build a team your own D5 short?

[Clint Dempsey]

That's what it looks like. But during my playing career, I mean I was moving my family around a lot. Whether it was from Fulham to Tottenham and being in London, coming all the way back to Seattle, it's like, how long do you keep kind of chasing your dream? But then it's time for them to kind of help them follow theirs. So, you know, maybe when the kids are older and out of the house, maybe that's something I kind of reassess and look at. But for right now, I mean I'm really enjoying just being on the analyst side, being around the game covering stuff that I'm passionate about, which is mainly us soccer and, and just kind of rooting them on and being able to do something that I am still able to like go to my kids games on the weekends and support them. So they say never say never, so we'll see. But it would definitely have to be a situation where you had control and you're able to like take risk and kind of fully kind of implement your style and give you the time to build something. So we'll see.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I made it over to London and went to Craven's Cottage. Where you played for Fulham.

[Kyle]

It was kind of a random thing for me.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's my first ever Premier League game

[Kyle]

and I of course loved it, even

[Ryan Rosillo]

with the rainy London weather. What was it like for you going over there?

[Kyle]

I mean, it's an open ended question.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I have some more specifics. But to go over an American player playing in that league, what was that

[Kyle]

transition like for you?

[Clint Dempsey]

To be honest with you, it was awesome. I mean, I didn't really think about going to Europe or thinking it was a possibility until I played in the World cup in 2006. And then it was like I had the chance to go over and play with Fulham and play in one of the best leagues in the world against the best players in the world. And it's like you couldn't ask for more than an opportunity to test yourself and kind of see where you stack up against some of the greats. So. And to go somewhere where the sport you played was the most popular sport, right? Like it placed that you fully, you felt like you belong. Because you got to think, growing up in Nacogdoches, Texas, you told people you were playing soccer outside the Latin community. It was like, what are you doing? Why aren't you playing American football, baseball or basketball? Like, do you really think that you're going to get a college scholarship doing this? Or you think you're going to be able to make a living and provide for your family, you know, doing this sport? And for me it was just like, wow, this is what I've always dreamed of being, where everybody was all in being around the culture, the fans of each team and the passion that they had and the pitches that you got to play on and the history that a lot of these clubs had and learning, learning about that and just taking that journey. And for me, it was really eye opening and you had to start again from the bottom. I went from being an MLS all star to like a player that was a sub coming off the bench and happened to earn the respect to be a starter. And I was, I was able to do that.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Was there pushback maybe in the way like an international player comes in the NBA? I mean, the international part of the

[Kyle]

NBA is so common now that I don't think it's that much of a thing, but I think in the beginning it'd be like, oh, this 6, 9 guy from one of the countries, I forget which, which, you know what I mean? Like, was there a.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Hey, he's A nice player, but he

[Kyle]

was playing the mls like, this is, this isn't going to work.

[Clint Dempsey]

I mean, it's one of those things. It's like, oh, it's an American coming over here. There's been some before that have done, done pretty good. But like, really, like, what's, what's he going to really do? I honestly felt like you couldn't just be better than like the British players. Like, you couldn't be equal to him. You had to be significantly better if you wanted to get on that pitch. You kind of had to force your way into teams and you had to put in a situation where you had to make them play you and they couldn't take you out of the lineup. And for me, being attacking player, the only way you could do that was get goals, get assists, get stuck in, you know, run into you. You couldn't run anymore. You know, you're looking at 11k to 12k game in terms of distance that you would cover from a midfield position. But yeah, I mean, that's what it's all about. In anything that you do, no matter where you're from, you got to earn your respect. And I was happy to have the opportunity to do that. Was able to do that in my first year, really. I mean, getting the goal against Liverpool, my first goal for the club that won us the game, it saved us from relegation. That's when I truly felt like I belonged in the Premier League because I wasn't part of the promotion process of when they're in the championship to earn their way up. So that's, that's kind of when you like, earn your stripes and you start getting respect, that you can come up and make a difference in big moments. So that's kind of what I held on to and used to like, build my confidence. And then every year was just trying to be better and better in terms of your, your goals and assists production.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I feel like the soccer star, you know, depending on which club you're with,

[Kyle]

like, if I'm just keeping it to the London area, like those guys, you

[Ryan Rosillo]

know, whatever rock star level we have,

[Kyle]

I think it's beyond even the quarterback of the Cowboys or one of the best players in the NBA.

[Ryan Rosillo]

How much of a culture shock was

[Kyle]

that for you as like a Texas kid? And now you're surrounded by like, again,

[Ryan Rosillo]

these guys have the looks down. They're in the tabloids constantly. It's just another level that I think

[Kyle]

even we have with our stars here in America.

[Clint Dempsey]

Yeah, I mean, I was never on the top four Team, I think the highest finish that we ever had in the Premier League was six with Fulham, and then with Tottenham, I think we finished fifth, just outside the Champions League spot. So there's a lot of teams in London in terms of, like, probably bigger teams and bigger names that make more of the headlines and stuff like that. But for me, it was just cool. It's just kind of like I was able to do what I love, still be around the game that was the most popular, but it was still kind of. You're a little bit under the radar. But when I think back to my time there and, like, the best years I had, I mean, for sure, it had to be when I finished top four in scoring in all the Premier League, especially from, like, a midfield position. So, yeah, it was. It was really cool, like seeing recaps of games in the newspapers, watching on sky, seeing highlights and being in those highlights from the games on the weekends. So. And doing it against the best teams and best players. So it was. It was a great experience. And when I think back in, like, the most important and special moments that I had, I mean, I would say my club ball playing in England and I would say playing in the World Cups for my country is kind of what I hold my. My hat on in terms of what I did in my career.

[Chevy Silverado Announcer]

Okay, guys, it's grit week. This is the part of the football calendar where nobody's watching, but everything gets built. Early mornings, pads back on, conditioning, film reps. Spring training in football is all about putting in the work when nobody's cheering yet. And honestly, that's the same mindset behind the Chevy Silverado. This is a truck that is the definition of grit. Long days, dirty work, and showing up day after day, no matter the conditions. Strong, dependable, and built for the grind. Because grit isn't about being flashy. It's about being ready when it's time to go. Check out the current offers and build your [e-mail] that's Silverado. All grit, no quit. And you can build your [e-mail] today.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I want to bring in our guy,

[Kyle]

Steve Ceruti, who you met before we started this. So I'll promise the audience this isn't a surprise. He's hosted soccer podcasts in the past and he has a couple questions. So I want to sit back and watch guys more educated talk about this sport.

[Steve Ceruti]

Well, I wouldn't go that far, but Clint, I. We can go rapid fire on some of these, too, but I'm interested, like, how much is how much does this current crop of players, us players reach out to for advice? Like, I think. I think we. I think we want players to play like you and be like you. And I think, you know, from a fan perspective, it's like, you know, we miss Clint. We miss the drive. Like, do they reach out to you and for any advice and stuff?

[Clint Dempsey]

No, I don't think it's a situation where players kind of reach out to me, but saying that I'm always. I'm always an open door or, you know, I always pick up my phone if anybody wants to talk. I mean, I do check in with players in terms of, like, if they're going through a tough time or have an injury. I try to reach out to some of them and, you know, let them know that, hey, stay strong and hope to see you back soon. But I'm not one of those guys like, hey, hit me up. Let me. Let me help you out. You know, it's one of those things, like, look, if you want my advice, I'm happy to give it, and if you don't, that's cool. But it almost seems like there's a little bit of that, you know, the former player and especially having some of them being more. More in the media and in an analyst role, that maybe there's a little bit of a disconnect there. And I just think it's. It's tough being in a position to, like, try to put people in the locker room and to try to analyze in a game and talk about the good and the bad things that happen. But also, it's like, you got to remember that you are a player as well, and you know how sensitive people can get when people are criticizing kind of what you do. And I think that's always a difficult balance. And. And because of that, maybe that disrupts some of the kind of chemistry or the reasons to kind of to reach out. But all you can do is is do you and. And keep it real. And, you know, people want to hit me up, I'll be glad to help out. And if. And if not is what it is,

[Steve Ceruti]

I. I don't want to speak for all fans, but I think. I think we want some of them, too. Clint, I think we missed some of the. Some of the ways that you play. Like, I. I'm not, you know, I'm not blowing smoke. Like, watching you play back in the day was awesome. Like, it was just. Like, it was a different. It was just different than it is kind of now. And, you know, Ryan, I were kind of talking before you know, the interview and the question about, like, this, the style of play of like, hey, you guys were just hard to beat back then, and like, maybe you weren't as talented, but, like, you just gave everybody hell. Whereas now it feels like, are we a little easier to be? Are we more talented? We trying to do stuff that we can't do. But I think, you know, I'm not trying to put the bat signal out there, but I think. I think we love guys to hit you up.

[Clint Dempsey]

I mean, it's one of those things, though, like, for me, when I think back when I was growing up as a kid, what I dreamed about as a kid, it was represent my country, it was playing in the World cup that meant the most to me. And once we didn't qualify in 2018 and my phone wasn't being hit up to come into a national team camp, that's when I knew it was over with. I knew it was done because it's like, if I didn't have that, that was truly the thing that I love the most. Don't get me wrong, I love playing club ball and I love being able to provide for my family. But if you're talking about the purity of the game and what I dreamed about as a kid, it was always representing my country and putting on that jersey and trying to do something special in the World Cup.

[Steve Ceruti]

What do you. So that's a. That's a good segue then. You never played in a World cup on home soil. Was the World cup, though, Was that like, the most pressure you've ever felt? And what do you think these guys will feel like playing here in the States?

[Clint Dempsey]

I think I always felt pressure because it was like, you always felt like you're on the chopping block. You always felt like, you know, especially when you have kids and you got to provide for them, that, like, you got to make the career last as long as possible because you want to give them the best life possible. But I just think I always kind of did a good job of keeping a lot of pressure on myself and expecting a lot and knowing that, like, it all could go away so quick. I mean, I know what it's like to grow up, you know, eating ramen noodles and Spam and, you know, having to put some nickels together to be able to get something, you know, and I'm from a working class family, so that was always kind of instilled in me to. You got to work hard, and those are the things that you'll appreciate the most. In the end,

[Steve Ceruti]

who's your favorite player to watch right now. It doesn't have to be a U.S. player, but just favorite guy that you like watching right now.

[Clint Dempsey]

Ooh, that's a great question. It's a lot actually.

[Steve Ceruti]

You mentioned Wes, but don't pick West. Somebody else. Yeah, yeah.

[Clint Dempsey]

I mean US Team. Yeah, I enjoy watching him. I mean around the world. I mean Lamine, Jamal,

[Steve Ceruti]

he's a, he's

[Clint Dempsey]

a, he's a true talent. I mean watching the players on Bayern Munich, psg. I mean that, that game that we're looking forward to watching tonight, I mean that, that is some of the, if you're an attacker, that's some of the best football that you're going to watch. I mean, in terms of like

[Steve Ceruti]

when

[Clint Dempsey]

I was growing up and who I was watching, I mean Cristiano Ronaldo when he was at Man United and right before kind of me turning pro and then getting a chance like to go up against him and, and being in the generation of playing against, you know, Messi. But in terms of like, like inspired me growing up. I mean, I'll take it all the way back. I mean Diego Maradona, Raquel May, Ronaldinho. Ronaldo, the number, the original Ronaldo.

[Steve Ceruti]

Arnon. Yeah.

[Clint Dempsey]

You know, playing, playing and for Real Madrid and stuff like that. So Zidane. I mean there's just so many great players that I was privileged to be able to grow up watching and then also so many great players that I was able to go up against.

[Steve Ceruti]

Last one I got for you and I maybe will get you like a prediction, I guess, for the World cup on the way out. But if you didn't play soccer, if it didn't work out or you just did, something happened. What would you be doing? What would you have done? What would you be doing right now?

[Clint Dempsey]

I probably would have tried to play baseball. I was, I mean, saying that, I mean, in fifth grade I had to make the decision what I wanted to do because it was an opportunity to go play soccer in Dallas. And for me it was a 2 hour 45 minute one way drive and 2 hour 45 minute back. And we're doing that twice a week, so. But I was a decent shortstop. I was, you know, someone that could get on base. I mean, I wasn't hitting a lot of home runs, but I was someone to get your RBIs and get on base. But in terms of like what I'd done, if I would have made it in soccer, I mean I probably would have been playing Ming Men's League on Sunday. You know, who Knows, man.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Getting fights in the parking lot.

[Clint Dempsey]

Exactly, exactly. Having a beer after the game, saying, back in the day, you should just remember the glory days when we were in high school.

[Steve Ceruti]

And he was nice.

[Clint Dempsey]

Yeah. But no, that's a great question. I don't know what I'd have done. I mean, I would still have the same hobbies. I would still love fishing. I would still love hunting, but, you know, those type of things. But, yeah, I don't know. I don't know what I'd have done.

[Steve Ceruti]

Was a rod. Your guy back then, though? Shortstop, I guess. Rangers.

[Clint Dempsey]

Man, I liked a rod. I liked Cal Ripken. I was a big Nolan Ryan fan. I liked pitching. I wasn't a great pitcher, but I love watching Nolan Ryan and watching this documentary, Chasing Nolan, that was pretty cool. Just to see how everything developed and how he kind of changed his, you know, the way that he threw to generate more speed and then just how his wife pushed him as well, how competitive she was and just what. What he was able to do. Not many people can go from a rival and still be loved, whether you're going from the Astros to the Ranger, but Rangers. But he was one of those guys for me, that I didn't matter where you went. I was. I was going to follow.

[Ryan Rosillo]

If you want to learn more about Clint again, it's up now. We were watching some of it last night.

[Kyle]

It's really good.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, you don't know where I'm from, dog.

[Kyle]

Again.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Produced by CBS Sports and streaming now on Paramount.

[Kyle]

Plus, before we let you go, do you have a prediction for us, Clint?

[Clint Dempsey]

Prediction for the World Cup?

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Or the NBA Finals.

[Clint Dempsey]

Oh, NBA Finals. No, I just meant Finals pick, too.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Clint Dempsey]

I like the spurs, man. I ain't gonna lie. I like the Spurs. I was, you know, I grew up. I was a. I was a Spurs fan. So for basketball, for.

[Steve Ceruti]

Have you met Wemby?

[Clint Dempsey]

What's up?

[Steve Ceruti]

Have you met Wemby?

[Clint Dempsey]

Man, I haven't. I haven't. But I really enjoyed watching Tim Duncan play Robertson, Tony Parker. Parker Ginobili. So, yeah. But I think it's exciting. It's exciting looking at the playoffs and seeing what's going to happen. I mean, Timberwolves ain't no joke. So that's going to be a good series.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think people. And that was really good.

[Kyle]

So we appreciate that. But I think people probably wanted the World Cup. One more.

[Clint Dempsey]

All right. So, man, shoot. It's tough to look past Spain, man. They are really good team, the way that they play. You know, you're going to need to keep the ball, especially with this heat that you have in the States. A sleeper team, I'd say maybe one of the African cup of nations like Senegal or Morocco. And you can't look past Argentina. They won the last two Copa Americas, the last World cup. It's Messi's last tournament. And you know Portugal, they won the last UEFA Nations League. It'd be interesting to see a battle between one final battle of Cristiano and Messi.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Clinton, you're a legend, man. We appreciate the time, especially you know,

[Kyle]

as you're getting ramped up here. You'll be part of the coverage and again, check out his doc on Paramount plus for the time.

[Clint Dempsey]

Yes, sir. Thank you all.

[Chevy Silverado Football Guy]

In sports, winning takes more than talent. It takes strength, reliability and the drive to go the distance. Sound familiar? That's the same DNA you'll find in a Chevy Silverado. As capable and dependable as a winning team, Chevy Silverado shows up and gets the job done. It won't flinch when the pressure's on. It doesn't take plays off when it comes to trucks. Chevy Silverado is football guy approved. To learn more about Silverado, visit chevy.com you want details? Buy I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.

[Kyle]

What's up?

[Chevy Silverado Football Guy]

I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Today's life advice is brought to you by Microsoft 365 copilot. What if you could add an AI assistant to your work without leaving your workflow built into Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook? Copilot works where you work, helping you do more in the apps you already use in Word, Copilot helps you turn scattered notes into a first draft. In Excel, it generates insights from your data. And in Outlook, it cuts through the noise to get you up to speed faster. The apps, you know, go further with Copilot. Learn [e-mail] work not to oversell it

[Kyle]

here, but the other day I opened up a Word doc doing some draft stuff and it was like, hey, what do you want to do today? And I was like, when I have more free time, I'm just going to who knows what I want to do?

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Make a new friend.

[Kyle]

Yeah, just type it in. That felt specific. Kyle.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

No.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Are you doing anything today, Copilot?

[Kyle]

Copilot's like, well, I just want to help you outline something. Do you want to maybe go to the beach?

[Ryan Rosillo]

So I don't know if it's going to be able to do. We could be a couple years away

[Kyle]

from taking co pilot to the beach and just chatting about Civil war stuff. Actually, he'd be. Or he or she. Who knows? They. Them, I don't know. But think about the travelogues.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Travelogues would be perfect.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Never travel alone again, dude.

[Kyle]

Oh, my God.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But also like, hey, how real is this port au wine thing with Great Britain?

[Kyle]

Is it really? Because they were at war with France, they're going to let me know immediately. So it could help because the research part of those travelogs is probably the part where I'm like, all right, I actually have to sit here and do two hours of research for this one segment.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So, yeah, before we get to it. Live show last night, 10 years, part of my take. Uber driver dropped me off at the Katt Williams show.

[Kyle]

I didn't think that part of my take is successful as is. I didn't think that it was going to sell out the Intuit Dome YouTube theater across the street. And I would say for a moment there, I was like, this crowd looks a little different from what I'd expect for a part of my take live show. But I was like, this is unbelievable. I love that they're this big in la. And then it was like, no, you're across the street. So another Jerry o'. Connell. I mean, didn't even know the guy. I've seen him now twice in five years.

[Steve Ceruti]

He's a guy now. Yeah.

[Kyle]

Yep. Blake Griffin, backstage, incredibly likable guy. And then went out there and did some stuff. So fresh and ready to go.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

That looks like a serious theater, too. That was like. Looked big even from pictures.

[Kyle]

Like, that was cool.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Maybe we'll break down the wall. Because I was thinking, so should I

[Kyle]

tell the audience what I was planning on doing, or should I save it for something else?

[Steve Ceruti]

Well, what are you going to save it for? I don't.

[Kyle]

Yeah, I don't really know that I could ever save it again.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

I'd like to be a part of this. So, yeah, you should probably tell us.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Well, I was trying to figure out a way to do something a little

[Kyle]

different in the beginning, which I think over the years you'd say like, yeah, you know, try something. It doesn't mean it's always going to work. And I wasn't going to tell anybody what I was going to do. But since it was Netflix as a joke where you can watch all of our podcasts, and it's basically like 98% comedians doing these shows and the lineup of, like, I was looking at tickets for something the other day and it was just all of these different places in la, all these different venues, right?

[Ryan Rosillo]

And so since they're already out on

[Kyle]

the set in the couches, I was like, I'll just go out and have a microphone that doesn't work, and then stand center stage and ask for a spotlight and then take out some note cards and pretend as if I thought they were asking me to do standup, because everybody's doing standup with the entire thing, but they wouldn't know. And then I would talk on the microphone that's not working and be so nervous, maybe even shaking the microphone a little bit for effect. But I don't know if I'm much of a physical actor presence, perhaps, but I don't know.

[Steve Ceruti]

Well, while Big Cat and BMT watch you.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, go like, what is he doing?

[Kyle]

And then I would just play it straight and go like, oh, this whole time, I've been freaking out for four days. That's why I left Vegas early. I've been rehearsing this. I've been going over the material over and over and over again. I have 10 minutes. I've got all these note cards. 10 minutes. And I actually wrote out terrible jokes, but would act as if I was.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Nobody was going to hear them, though.

[Kyle]

Maybe the people in the front audience, very front row would hear me just talking and not on the microphone.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And really all it was for was

[Kyle]

30 seconds of just Big Cat and pft to go, what the fuck is he doing? And I pitched it to Max. I was like, I'll tell Max. And I'm just telling you, when you pitch something and the other person is like, don't do that. That was what I was getting.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I felt like he was coming around

[Kyle]

to me a little bit more.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I'm like. He's like, well, what if it bombs? I'm like, well, of course it's going to bomb. But I'm not trying to bomb necessarily.

[Kyle]

I'm just trying to throw those guys off for 30 seconds. And that's the joke. And we came up with something else because they made fun of Chris Paul a little bit. And so then I. I came out.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah, yeah.

[Kyle]

It came out on fire. Being like, I didn't come here on a night off to hear you guys.

[Steve Ceruti]

You defended. You defended Chris Paul more than Blake Griffin did. Interesting.

[Kyle]

I definitely did.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

That could have kind of backfired, though, if those guys are more More. Yeah. If they were more unflappable than you think, they're like, all right, well, we got time.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Just do your.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Do your set. And it's like, you just had a fake 10 minutes, and now, like, now what?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, that would have sucked

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

down.

[Kyle]

You have to go sit down. Yeah. Big Cat.

[Steve Ceruti]

That's something that feels like something Big Cat would absolutely try to get you.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

He would love.

[Steve Ceruti]

He would eat that up scenario for you. Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I could also just stop because no

[Steve Ceruti]

one is like, power of no.

[Kyle]

Yeah, you can't make it. Well, that wasn't. That was. I don't actually have 10 minutes for you.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And there may be some people like,

[Kyle]

hey, that's a completely terrible idea. And they may have been right.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah, that was Max.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You know, he did get a little closer to my side.

[Kyle]

Like the beginning. I just tell you, read a guy's face, and I was like, oh, he hates this idea. You know, I was like, this isn't about bombing. It's about them being uncomfortable because they can't understand what I'm doing, doing. And then that 30 seconds of the audience being like, what is he doing? And no one can hear him. And then there's some guy up in the soundstage being like, his mic isn't even on. Get a light on.

[Steve Ceruti]

Get a light.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

That's 30 seconds of panic. It's all worth it.

[Kyle]

Got any doctors?

[Steve Ceruti]

Never know. And we can't see it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, let's read a couple emails.

[Kyle]

All right. That was a new one that I wasn't ready for.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Barber arrested. Now what? 6 foot 180. No crazy gym stats, but did. But the dad strength is real, right? Serutti, how much stronger are you?

[Kyle]

Seruti?

[Steve Ceruti]

You know, people needed to tell me, it's not the baby, it's when she's like, a toddler. Because now I'm like, yeah, my, you know, left arm is like. I don't know. I haven't, like, really, like, tested it

[Kyle]

out, but I wish we had gotten some data on your strength. We should have done some strength tests. We totally had times kids.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Yeah, I know.

[Steve Ceruti]

It would have been pretty unimpressive, to be honest with you. But, yeah, we could have done that. But am I. Am I 3% stronger in my left arm? Maybe?

[Kyle]

So that guy has great shoulders. Three kids under the age of five.

[Steve Ceruti]

Does he work out? No.

[Kyle]

No.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, I need advice on how to handle my next interaction with my barber. For context, my barber runs an under the table barber shop in my neighborhood. Is a side hustle. He lives Directly across the street from me. He only charges $10 and doesn't ask for tips.

[Kyle]

That's a good deal. I haven't cut my hair professionally in a while.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

What country is this guy in? $10 buzz cut.

[Steve Ceruti]

That's crazy. Is it a 2 all the way around kind of thing? Like, it's probably not a lot of fades going on.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

I don't know.

[Steve Ceruti]

Maybe I'm wrong.

[Ryan Rosillo]

After I got home from work yesterday, I was sitting in the living room with my wife when three cop cars came down our street, stopped at their house.

[Kyle]

They surrounded the house and then went

[Ryan Rosillo]

in the side door. My barber and his partner both came out in cuffs. We have a large window in our living room where they were clearly looking

[Kyle]

around to see if anyone saw them being arrested. I don't know if they could see us inside or not. We tried to keep a distance from the window, but did not want to miss any of the action.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think the window.

[Kyle]

Whether or not they saw you thing is a sunlight based thing. Right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So you're saying afternoon.

[Kyle]

Depending on the angle, there's a chance they didn't see you at all. And he's probably, I don't know, his mind was probably on some other things if he was getting raided. So you may have gotten away with it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But my dilemma is that I have a haircut appointment with him Thursday afternoon. I'm sure he'll be out of the slammer by then as the charges listed online are minor.

[Kyle]

My question is, do I act.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So this guy went online to find out what it. My question is, do I act like nothing happened?

[Kyle]

Do I make a joke to lighten the potential tension? My guess is that he knows that I saw him get arrested. I want to handle this correctly because a $10 haircut from a professional barber

[Ryan Rosillo]

is a perk I can't afford to

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

lose, especially if it's $10. He's probably, you know, filled up. But hold on. I mean, barbers, for me at least, they're always that point, like, so what'd you do last weekend? That's usually one of their open. It's one of their opener lines, you know, what'd you do last week?

[Kyle]

Whatever.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

So you say your. Say your piece and then just ask him. I mean, I don't know why you would think that he saw you while he was being arrested, looking, you know, a few houses down. I don't think so. I think you could just. Once you. Once you get through your, you know, your spiel of what you did, because that's at least what happens to me? Just throw it right back at him.

[Ryan Rosillo]

See what he says.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

If he doesn't want you to. If he doesn't want to discuss it,

[Kyle]

he won't tell you.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah, I wouldn't bring it up unless he brought it up. Like, I would.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Just.

[Steve Ceruti]

It would be business as usual, $10 haircuts. Not trying to ruin that situation. Seems like you have a good thing going there.

[Kyle]

They may be 15 now.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah, I was gonna say, you can give him 20 bucks. And to say that's for bail.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

I just think you've been doing a really good job lately, you know, I won't hear.

[Kyle]

No, I won't.

[Steve Ceruti]

Real stand up guy.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I won't hear of it.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

You take this extra tap.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't think you need to adjust. Like, you don't have to say anything,

[Steve Ceruti]

especially if you're a guy. Yeah. Like, guys are just that. Just push, don't ask, don't tell kind of thing.

[Kyle]

Yeah, I don't. You're overthinking it. I mean, I get your point, and it's kind of, you know, a humorous observation from you. Not so great for him. Unless the charges are true, which, again, they're.

[Steve Ceruti]

Well, I wish we knew the charges because, like, are they kind of funny?

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

It sounds like they're not barbershop related. Right. Otherwise, he would have definitely told us about that.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah. Is it like racketeering? Like, what is it?

[Kyle]

No, I know what they are, but I'm not going to share it because he asked me to not share it. I would say it's not like you're not rooting for him, but it's a minor thing.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I mean, I think the only reason

[Kyle]

he included that it was minors so that he knows he can still get his haircut this Thursday.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

He'll be back.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He's not doing a moral thing here. He's more about, I would expect, processing this manageable. Yeah, this is a completely. Let him. He's Fred Astaire in this one.

[Kyle]

You just got to let him lead.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You go in, what's up? Throws on the apron. If he doesn't bring it up, you

[Kyle]

don't bring it up and you walk out of there.

[Ryan Rosillo]

$10 light and a hell of a lot fresher.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Talk playoffs, whatever. World Cup's coming, you fill the time, man.

[Kyle]

It's fire. Yeah, don't say something like that. Lou Dort should be in jail. Easy. Stay away from analogies.

[Steve Ceruti]

Speaking of jail.

[Kyle]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Law school is destroying my life.

[Kyle]

Wow. That's bleak.

[Ryan Rosillo]

510, 170 bench 275. Before law school started to destroy my life.

[Kyle]

That's a great number, buddy.

[Ryan Rosillo]

275, weighing 170. 24 years old. Graduated from. Well, he puts all this stuff in here.

[Kyle]

I'm going to.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Graduated from university two years ago.

[Kyle]

Got a good job selling medical supplies. I was successful, won some awards. Medical sales awards. How long do they stay out on the mantle?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Well, whatever. The guy's proud of it.

[Kyle]

He shared them with us. He's telling us that he was. I remember I got invited once to go with somebody to Hawaii because they came in third place nationally for some place medical sales thing. I kind of regret not going now. Anyway, gotta say, those door to door

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

people, really, when I'm sitting in a waiting room and I just have to hear like they do it all out

[Kyle]

in the open, you know, it's just

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

feels a little gross.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But that's not door to door.

[Kyle]

Like that's, you know, doctor's office to doctor.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

So we're talking about equipment, right?

[Ryan Rosillo]

I guess when I'm thinking door to

[Kyle]

door, I'm thinking like when the guy came to my parents house to bring us the Encyclopedia Britannica thing, I just

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

mean they go to doctor's offices and

[Kyle]

they're like, you know, is he in?

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

It's like, I'm fucking 20 minutes late for my appointment. You better not be allowed to talk to this fucking guy today. I'll tell you that much because I'm already waiting anyway.

[Kyle]

By the way, if you work in the encyclopedia business, can you check in, let us know how you're doing? That's got to be. I don't know that it even really dawned on me until recently.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Wikipedia is begging for money. So maybe they're doing all right again.

[Kyle]

How's the Britannica stock price? Can we look that up? I can't imagine. I don't know if that's ever going to recover. I was thinking about this the other day too, because I don't know that I've met anybody that's under 80 that's into being a ventriloquist. I feel like that entire industry is wiped out.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I mean, there's probably some weird country

[Kyle]

somewhere where it's part of the culture. I don't know what that would be, but I don't think there's nearly as many ventriloquists today as there were when I was growing up. So I would tell you, if you had a kid that was into it, way less competition than ever before. Based on again my observations, I googled Britannica stock price.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

And then I just started listening again. When you got under ventriloquist. And I don't know how it happened so fast, but looks like they're targeting an ipo, but I don't think there's

[Kyle]

a stock price right now.

[Steve Ceruti]

Wasn't there like a. Remember the medieval game that came with Britannica? Do you remember what I'm talking about?

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

No, I wasn't a Britannica kid, if you couldn't tell.

[Steve Ceruti]

Oh, no. Yeah, it was like this game.

[Kyle]

We got the first one though, we got volume A. And then my parents were like, I think we're going to do it it because we have kids and, you know, we want to. We don't want to be morons. And then my father was like, how much is this? Like you're going to be. You guys are going to be stuck on A for a while.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Going to quiz you on a. So don't just think you're done.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Alligators.

[Kyle]

Azores locked in. You get to the bees. The kid can't. No. Starts walking backwards. All right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It was a chill job that let me do my own thing. I always dreamed of going to law

[Kyle]

school and convinced myself I wouldn't be

[Ryan Rosillo]

able to live with a regret. Regret that I never gave it a shot. So I quit my job after a

[Kyle]

year, enrolled in law school. It's not that I can't do the work. I'm passing my classes, even have a decent internship lined up for the summer. But I'm absolutely miserable. I have no money to go out with my friends on weekends or breaks. I have no time to do anything anymore. At times I feel the struggle is necessary for happiness down the line. But I think about my future sometimes. I don't know if I see myself doing this. Do I feel this way because I'm currently going through the struggle or is this an issue and I need to get out and do something else? Also all time leading scorer high school for his state. I just don't want you to give us too much information here, man, and then have law school go.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So you hate your life, huh, man? He also sent in an email fairly

[Kyle]

soon after that and said, and I'd like to clarify, I think about my future and I do not see myself doing this.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I'll just start real quick. I'm stupid in that my advice is probably wrong. My thing would be, hey, just finish and then you have that law degree.

[Kyle]

It's going to be really impressive thing throughout the rest of your life that you finished law school and you have A degree. And I think it's a real separate now.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Maybe I'm way too old school with that.

[Kyle]

Of like, hey, if you went through all of this stuff, it was a bit like one night when like six pledges all quit at the same time, even though he'd been getting hazed for, like, four months. And I was like, hey, that's a long time. Oh, ours went forever. It's. Holy shit. The whole story to the whole thing. That was very. It actually sucks. The story sucks. But okay, we had, like a big meeting, right? And I was like, you're gonna let

[Ryan Rosillo]

these guys with you for four months

[Kyle]

and get nothing out of it? Like, you might as well just finish and then we'll all be in, and the guys you hate will be gone and. And we'll be good to go. But there were six guys that were just like, hey, something happened. This is the window. I'm out of here. Like, anybody that was on the fence once, one guy was like, I'm done. Then the other guys were like, cool, somebody broke the ice. I'll get out too.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Not the same thing. But my point is, like, you've invested all this time, you've made this decision, and maybe the mental health, happiness part of this.

[Kyle]

I'm sorry, sir. I know you need to get in here.

[Steve Ceruti]

No.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Is to get out now. Like, there's probably more people listening and you might all be right. Get out now. But my advice is almost like, you've already done this much again. Maybe I don't know how far along in the process you are. Maybe part of it was learning you

[Kyle]

actually don't want to do it, and that's the benefit. But I would kind of hate not

[Ryan Rosillo]

just getting the degree part and.

[Kyle]

And, you know, but maybe you already know the answer. Go ahead.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah, I'm kind of with you. I've never really understood the, like, hey, I'm going to drop out a semester short of graduating. Like, how far along do you say was the year? Year.

[Kyle]

I gotta double check that because.

[Steve Ceruti]

Year.

[Clint Dempsey]

Two years.

[Steve Ceruti]

I mean, I know the sunken cost fallacy thing, yada, yada, but it's like, yeah, like, just, you know, you've gone this far. Like, I kind of feel like even if you don't want to be a lawyer, there's other ways that you can. This is maybe stupid and I. I could sound dumb just like you said, Ryan, but, like, there's got to be other ways. You could use that. I do have some lawyer friends as well. Doesn't seem awesome. Gonna be awesome. No, no.

[Kyle]

No.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Law school or being a lawyer?

[Steve Ceruti]

Being a lawyer. Both, probably, but being a lawyer, man, Like, I mean, I guess it depends on what kind of law you're doing,

[Kyle]

too, but, like, I think it depends greatly on which field that you're in.

[Steve Ceruti]

Like, if you're in corporate law, it's like, man, it's a lot of hours, a lot of combing through stuff. You can make good money, obviously. But I. Yeah, I don't.

[Kyle]

I don't blame you for a guy in your town.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

See all those guys you haven't seen since.

[Kyle]

Yeah, we got a girl.

[Steve Ceruti]

We have, you know, woman, Female, woman.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Be on the radio in the area.

[Steve Ceruti]

Hartford, whatever. She's got billboards. It's like, straight out of. What was the movie? I love you, man. Remember at the end when he puts up all those. It's literally the movie. She just has, like.

[Ryan Rosillo]

She's.

[Steve Ceruti]

There's one with her and Saquon Barkley. There's one with her and Jared Goff. It's, like, unbelievable, like, how much? And it's crazy. She. Everywhere you go in the state of Connecticut, like, this woman's face is on

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

there doing some creative billing there, you know? Especially when we're talking, like, hundreds of dollars.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Steve Ceruti]

Anyway, so I don't know. I'm kind of with you. I would. I would stick it out. I did. I did dabble in the, like, should I do the law school thing. Before I started espn, I took the lsat.

[Kyle]

You did? I didn't even know that.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yep.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Steve Ceruti]

No, I lived in D.C. for a bit. I really liked it there. And I was like, do I want to kind of go, you know, down the political route, whatever? And thank God I didn't lobbyist coyote. Back then, it sounded like it was the best job you can get. Now everybody hates those people, which is fine. But, yeah, I think we should probably

[Kyle]

always hated him, right?

[Steve Ceruti]

Maybe.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Great.

[Kyle]

Great anecdote.

[Steve Ceruti]

But, yeah, I don't know.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

So I guess. What? I would just ask, do you quit stuff? I mean, you quit this job that you were doing okay at, right? He said he won, like, did he

[Kyle]

win an award or.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Brian said he knew, but he's like. He said he did.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He has awards.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Okay. He's got awards. He quit this because he thought that was cool. This is like, news flash. This is hard. Did you. Did you, like. Do you have a track record of this? It sounds like. Not in the workout department, because that bench number was great. But I'm just. I'd ask yourself. Is like, do you think. Don't you think everybody that's on, like, you know, the medical track or the law track has, like, has a moment where, like, wow, this shit is real, huh? That's why there's, like, way less people that do this. So, you know, I would just. I would just think, is it like, is it. Is it just would be so cool if you could push the eject button and, like, life would get better mentally? Or is it just, you know, did you know it was gonna be hard?

[Kyle]

And it's like, you're just.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

You're just saying this because it would be. It's fun to, like, talk about what if I just ran away?

[Kyle]

So I don't know.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

I think I would. I'd stick it out if you're already doing.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Feels like he's a year in.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

And what is this usually, like, three years?

[Steve Ceruti]

Three years? Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Clint Dempsey]

I just.

[Steve Ceruti]

I just couldn't get over, like, how much time I would have wasted, you know? It's like, hey, I wasted down from three years. Like, to your point, Ryan, like, I don't like. It just. It just feels like there is some value in finishing it off. It's kind of like if you've been watching the, like, the barstool stream that's going on right now, it's like just dudes touching a golf cart for however long.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. It's like the Hands on Hard body.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

I don't know if you guys have ever seen that documentary, which is incredible.

[Steve Ceruti]

I have not, but it's seen it. No. Should I?

[Kyle]

Yes.

[Clint Dempsey]

Okay.

[Kyle]

It's over 20. It's going to be over 20 years old.

[Steve Ceruti]

What's it called?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Hands on a Hard body.

[Steve Ceruti]

The documentary, 1997.

[Kyle]

God.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Is that right around your cutoff, Steve?

[Steve Ceruti]

No, no, we're good.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

97 still in the 90s is fine zone.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah, for the most part. But I would say, like, I think there's like, three guys left, and they've been holding this golf cart for, like, 36 hours. It's like, at this point point, like, I would die before I didn't touch that golf cart. Like, what, What. How much wasted time that would be. You know, you don't win this prize and you're holding this golf cart for. For a day and a half. That's insane. Yeah, that's kind of how I feel about this. It's a little to a lesser degree,

[Ryan Rosillo]

but what if I told you you were going to have to hold it

[Kyle]

for two more days and be incredibly miserable? But then I lost.

[Steve Ceruti]

I've already lost the day and a half, so. Whatever. But you know, you have.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

But you can just make it stop by just saying, I'm done.

[Kyle]

You know, if.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

If that's all.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think my advice is bad.

[Kyle]

I do. I think it's bad because I think

[Ryan Rosillo]

there's a lot of people that are

[Kyle]

listening to this that are far more like, hey, we can't know everything. Right? But that have gone through this. And maybe I just think it's cool when I hear that Jay Billis also has a law degree. And I'm like, yeah, that's so cool.

[Steve Ceruti]

You take them way more seriously. Right? You like him a lot more.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. Did I dabble in like going, hey,

[Kyle]

I don't have any kids, like, could I just part time law school and see if I could do it? Because I'm a way better student. I'm a student of life now, you know, I was better prepared.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah, I think, I think everybody says that though. It's like, oh, man, I wish I could go to school now. I would just take like history classes, get my PhD in history and really to Genghis Khan. I don't know, maybe.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And all it is is like an impressive icebreaker.

[Steve Ceruti]

Right?

[Kyle]

Because it doesn't really matter because nobody's going to want to talk to you about Genghis Khan if you're like, I have a PhD.

[Steve Ceruti]

Oh, don't talk to Steve. He's gonna talk to you about Genghis Khan.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

It's actually Genghis. Let's just start there.

[Kyle]

Yeah, right.

[Steve Ceruti]

Okay. We had an argument about this with a history teacher about whether it's Genghis or Genghis. Actually, my buddy, remember the story I told about the buddy who didn't go to school but still went to classes? He's the one that got into an argument with the professor about the pronunciation of Genghis Khan. But yeah, anyway, that kid's winning.

[Kyle]

He was learning while not taking out any student loans.

[Steve Ceruti]

He didn't, he literally didn't go here. He was arguing with the teacher.

[Kyle]

Can you just say that story again really quickly?

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah. My buddy, he was between schools and he just kind of didn't have a lot going on. He just wanted to come to our history class and he came and he became an active participant. Good participant.

[Kyle]

That's so funny.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Is he successful now? Yeah,

[Kyle]

I would think he would be. Or it's like, I don't know. I guess that can go a bunch of different ways.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think there are people listening to this saying, you already know deep down

[Kyle]

to the emailer, you hate, hate this. So why Keep doing it. And if you have no passion for

[Ryan Rosillo]

the law whatsoever, to continue to pay

[Kyle]

for school and to be miserable for a couple more years on top of taking the LSATs and everything else, like, why would you put yourself through this? Maybe your education was that you realized up close and personal this is not what you want to do and now you're able to just move past it and to sit here and sacrifice a couple more years. I would just say like at 24, like, no shit. When your other buddies have normal jobs and have a little coin.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Because when we talked about this post college thing where the first guy was

[Kyle]

like, oh my God, is this happening? Everything's going to suck.

[Ryan Rosillo]

We had a lot of emails in from people where I admire that's like, there's actually this extended thing that can happen in your early 20s to like

[Kyle]

27, 28, depending on how aggressive your group is with like getting engaged, getting married.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But there's a lot of people depending on kind of where you're from or where you're living.

[Kyle]

I think it's more of a northeast thing than it is a South or Midwest thing. But it's like you can have this extended college adolescence throughout your 20s because you're actually making some money, you can

[Ryan Rosillo]

do some really cool stuff.

[Kyle]

And if everybody's still connected and two

[Ryan Rosillo]

dudes are living with each other, those

[Kyle]

can be awesome years.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And if that's what you're surrounded by

[Kyle]

and you're missing out on that on top of everything else, does it mean you're going to miss out on it forever?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Or does it mean you're going to have a law degree in two years

[Kyle]

and you pick it right back up with those guys.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I know for a fact I felt

[Kyle]

like I had way too much extended

[Ryan Rosillo]

pointless years that were fun.

[Kyle]

And then it was almost like the self punishment of once I decided to pursue media, knowing how broke I was going to be because I was already broke to begin with. And then I was out of the mix with all these guys, but I just had to accept it. I was like, you're never going to go to any of this stuff. You're going to stop being invited to all this stuff. They're just going to be like, rosillo's poor. Don't even bother hitting him up if that's what you're going through right now. Well, hopefully it doesn't go like 20 years for you.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It would be nice to know that

[Kyle]

I can go back to that. But look, I don't know that it's

[Ryan Rosillo]

really like if you're getting to the point, I've had a couple different moments in my life where it's like, my stomach hurts because of what I'm now doing.

[Kyle]

I'm so against what it is about where I'm at in my life that I'm like, all right, I'm now physically, like, I don't feel good. And I think I can remember, like, three different times that's happened to me. And honestly, I'm kind of glad it did happen because then it was like, all right, this is. And if you're.

[Ryan Rosillo]

If you're at that point, then maybe

[Kyle]

you're also prolonging this. And that's why I don't think I'm going to sit here and say with full clarity of like, hey, you absolutely have to do this versus doing the other thing of bailing.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think there's going to be a

[Kyle]

lot of people that email and say, hey, tell the guy you should bail if you hate it this much already.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Copilot does case law summaries as well. I just googled that. So, you know, have you tried to copilot your way through this thing too? So think about it.

[Steve Ceruti]

I do think your advice is the best, Kyle, though. Of like, there are those periods where it's like, are you just miserable in this period and your life is going to get better and you just have to get through it, or is this just like a life fork moment where you're like, I can't do this anymore. Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I do think it's funny when you see, like, incredibly successful people be like, you know, I'm.

[Kyle]

I miss the miserable phase. Or like, I tell young people all the time, enjoy the struggle. You're like, dude, shut up.

[Steve Ceruti]

I live for the grind.

[Kyle]

Yeah, yeah.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

No.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Somebody being happily married telling the guy's divorce like, hey, man, this is part of life.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

But to a lesser degree, like the conditioning week of like football practice when they're like, maybe a guy does quit or something.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And hell week.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

I'm not like 2 a days, whatever, weed people out. They always say that. And like, in those moments, you're like, man, maybe I could quit this. But again, I don't want to be back there. But it is cool that I made it through that one. You know what I mean? I don't want to, like, wish I could start that this week. Well, obviously I do. I wish I could just go to practice, really just somebody so peer pressure me to finish my runs and stuff. But, like, I guess my point is, like, it's cool that you Went through it.

[Kyle]

I don't want to start running.

[Steve Ceruti]

More practice.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Most guys are like, motivation for running would be. Yeah, motivation for running would be good

[Kyle]

for me, I think.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, what if we did something where you paid you per wind sprint?

[Kyle]

Like, your bonus?

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

That'd be sick. But again, I think just the ire of my high school classmates would do more than you know. I mean, we could talk figures when we're off airport.

[Ryan Rosillo]

What if I pay you 10 bucks a wind sprint? Can't go over 50.

[Kyle]

There's a maximum of 500 bucks a month. I can't. I can't. Like, that's it. After that, your commissions are capped.

[Ryan Rosillo]

That's very interesting.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Yeah, I like that.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So I'll give you $10 for every

[Kyle]

film wind sprint that you give us.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Oh, God. Film. Yeah, of course. It has to be.

[Kyle]

I mean, look, I can't. Yeah, no, no, no. Content.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Of course not.

[Kyle]

Maybe just hanging out with part of my take last night.

[Steve Ceruti]

It's a great deal. Yeah.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Think about it. Yeah, that's. That's pretty good. Totally stepped on my point. But, you know, I'll be. I stand corrected. That's great.

[Ryan Rosillo]

As we close this topic, though, I'd

[Kyle]

like to think that I'm not a quitter,

[Ryan Rosillo]

but there is some freedom.

[Kyle]

There's this feeling of like, oh, wait, I can just stop doing this. I'm in charge. Like, I'd ask this email.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Are you the oldest of your siblings?

[Kyle]

Did you maybe get parented the hardest, or do you always look at things like, I can never. Are you trying to fulfill some sort of prophecy not only for yourself, but for someone else? Because I remember one time when I quit working for J Crew to load up all these fucking boxes.

[Steve Ceruti]

You worked at J.

[Kyle]

Crew? No, I did a thing on campus where it was like me and another buddy signed up for this thing, and it was unloading these cargo, like, 18 wheelers of all this J. Crew stuff. And then you'd set it up on campus, and then you were just wheeling all the boxes in, and then it was like an outlet sale, right? And so me and my buddy morons, we went out at night and then went right from that to, I think we were 18 years old. And I needed the money on top of everything else. But the only problem is he pointed me and the other guy out.

[Ryan Rosillo]

We were doing all the hauling.

[Kyle]

We were, like, running the jacks and hauling for hours and hours and hours, all this stuff. And then everybody else was just setting out the sweaters, like, color coordinated. My hands were blowing.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Hey, if you guys got any larges back there can find, put those boxes on first.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

There's a girl over there.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

A weird gap on the table.

[Ryan Rosillo]

If it's. If it's French Terry, it has to be over here. And again, me and my boy dripping sweat, hands bleeding, miserable.

[Kyle]

I don't know that I'd ever quit anything. And I just looked at him and

[Ryan Rosillo]

went, I think I'm out of here.

[Kyle]

Even though I desperately want the 40 bucks.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Like, I think I'm just going to leave. He's like, what do you mean? Was like, campus is right there.

[Kyle]

My bed is.

[Steve Ceruti]

Once again, college is not real. Yeah, like, you know, like, you could

[Kyle]

do that in college.

[Steve Ceruti]

This guy's a real human being in life.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, true. Because I was never gonna run into the J.

[Kyle]

Crew.

[Ryan Rosillo]

These were just like road ops people. It was all garbage, too, by the way. Shit was terrible.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Like, hey, headed straight to Marshalls after that. Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Tangerine trench coat. Yeah.

[Kyle]

It's like, okay, that didn't sell. No way.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

So quick, quick stop on the way to Marshalls and then blowed it back

[Kyle]

up, put it on the table. Yeah, right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The last stop will be some of these college kids are going to pay everybody nothing.

[Kyle]

And then they're going to set up

[Ryan Rosillo]

all the things, and then the enticement

[Kyle]

will be that you'll get even further discount on all this different stuff. Because I didn't have any money for clothes. So there was part of me that was thinking like, oh, I'm going to be booted.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Dripped out.

[Kyle]

Yeah, Dope af. Like, you telling me I don't have both.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Both gray polos.

[Kyle]

I've got the two tone.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. So I was so, so miserable. And I remember just going, hey, I could just leave. I could just leave.

[Kyle]

And then I told Trevor. I was like, I think I'm leaving. He's like, you're just going to leave? He's like, dude, that means I'm going to be emptying the truck by myself if you leave. I was like, yeah. I was like, I'm sorry.

[Steve Ceruti]

You leave too, dude. Yeah.

[Kyle]

And then he stayed. And then I immediately went back to the dorm, fell asleep. Then I had a voicemail from him. He's like, I left a half an hour after you did. He's like, the guy was like, he's like, you left. And then he's like, it was so

[Ryan Rosillo]

much worse when you were gone because

[Kyle]

I was the only one they put on any of the loading stuff. He's like, so I left, too. I was like, all right,

[Steve Ceruti]

I Don't

[Kyle]

know if that story works, though.

[Steve Ceruti]

I don't know either, but it was.

[Kyle]

No, it does.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

It's just like, nobody's doing anything to you. Like, that was like something that was done to you. They looked around, they were like, all right, this is good. This, Today is going to suck for you guys.

[Steve Ceruti]

I don't think you didn't need a plan.

[Unidentified Male (possibly a co-host or guest)]

Law school isn't doing that to this guy. It's just.

[Kyle]

This is what it was.

[Steve Ceruti]

This guy needs a plan. Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

No one was ever going to say,

[Kyle]

like, hey, this is my friend. He worked on the J. Crew outlet campus tour first. So that's different.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think the reason I'm telling that

[Kyle]

story is that it wasn't being dropped off at school. For the first moment that I felt freedom. I think that day was the. The first time I truly felt free. I went, I don't have to actually do this, and I can leave. I think it was supposed to be like two or three days too. I was like, see ya.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, that'll do it for the show.

[Kyle]

Did you have fun talking to Clint Dempsey today, Siri?

[Steve Ceruti]

I did, yeah. He's. He's the man.

[Kyle]

He is kind of the man.

[Steve Ceruti]

He's like a. He feels like a. You go out with him, have a good night, and he's going to be one of your favorite people.

[Kyle]

Yeah. He reminds me of Chris Long a little bit.

[Steve Ceruti]

Yeah, I can see that. They're just both like real dudes.

[Kyle]

Yeah. You don't have to marinate on it. We'll talk about it maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Brian Windhorst again. You can check out the full episodes on Netflix. Thanks to Tom and Kevin Cerruti and

[Kyle]

Kyle Ryan Rosilla show Barstool Sports 2 Sam.