B (13:35)

Stafford.

A (13:36)

Stafford. 50 game winning drives. Looking at him in the huddle and I'm thinking to myself, this must be so much fun. Like, yeah, they're pissed off and frustrated. Like, how the hell are we in overtime? But that's going to be the most fun you can ever have playing football, being the quarterback, being like, all right, it's time. I'm awesome at this stuff. So Stafford did his job and Darnold did it better. Two point conversion at the end. I'm not saying Darnold outplayed him tonight, because he didn't, but Donald did something. I thought of the course of the game and watching him like, this actually is not going to happen. There could be a little bit more on this 13 personnel thing because the Rams came out with three tight ends. And I was thinking about it, it's like, is this a great way to be foundationally? But does it mean without Adams right now, who McVeigh said, like, I still have faith he'll come back. Which actually made me feel like, well, that doesn't sound very good. Is it enough in the KUA and these other guys you're not going to be able to name every single week are all available in your fantasy leagues? Is the 13 personnel thing a really good thing to start the game off, but when the game gets kind of loose, does it mean that you're a little limited because you don't want to go out there when you're trying to like move the ball quickly out of this grouping a little bit later on. So I was thinking about that and I was like, yeah, they also scored 37 points, man. So maybe you chill out on the 13 personnel criticism right now. All right, Gruden, the final thought on all this is I still think the Rams are the best team in the NFL. And I don't care what happened tonight. It's just now they're the five seed instead of the one seed. Basketball season is here, which means the excitement of being in the stands before tip off is here too. The gametime app gives the advantage back to fans. It's the hack for unlocking amazing tickets and experiences in a few taps. It's incredibly easy to use, and the game time guarantee means you can Trust you'll get 100% authentic tickets on time at the best price. Plus fees are always included. So what you see is what you pay. I was looking at today, by the way, was wondering if I was going to make it to Minnesota today. I will not be able to, but in case I was going to go Thunder at Timberwolves tickets starting at $33. I love the idea of this matchup, by the way. I don't know if I'm the only one on this one because SGA is a better player than Ant. I prefer watching Ant. I think if Ant were SGA with a title, with an mvp, you'd make an argument that he's the biggest star in the league. Based on the personality thing, I don't think it's anything other than that. I think honestly SGA's personality is like incredible. To have that be the leader of your group for a young team, that's as good. We've talked about the Thunder and the culture and all that kind of stuff like that is a really, really hard thing. Damn near impossible in the NBA to pull off. They pull it off, but it's always like a really good test for the Timberwolves to see where they're at. Because it's a Timberwolves team that I really still think should have beaten Dallas two years ago. Last year, that series, even though there was that one amazing game and then there was blowouts both ways, it was a reminder of like, hey, Minnesota, you are not at our level. So depending on the standings and seedings and we know how it's probably going to play out, I always like to see these two teams play against each other because it just either will remind me or Give me hope of like where it really is in a playoff series. If they were to face each other again and again, nobody, nobody today in December would be picking the Timberwolves against the Thunder in the series. But I just love these two teams arc their stories and how big or how narrow that gap could ever get. Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Game time. Download the game time app, create an account and use code RUSILLO for $20 off your first purchase terms. Apply. Again, create an account and redeem code Russillo R U S S I L L O for $20 off. Download the game time app. Today we are going to preview all of the college football playoff stuff with a guy I love talking college ball with from C Ball. Get ball. Some really great content out there. You can check out his YouTube page. David Pollock, good friend from back in the day.

C (17:40)

What's up, big dog? How we doing, brother?

A (17:43)

I'm good, man. I got a lot I want to get to here, so fire away.

C (17:46)

Let's get it.

A (17:47)

Which game you want to start with? You.

C (17:49)

You pick. I'm in.

A (17:50)

All right, let's go, Bama. Oklahoma. I'll give you my, my two cents on this, all right?

C (17:54)

Yeah.

A (17:55)

Scoring drives for Oklahoma in this game. 23 yards on a field goal. The pick six puts him up 10 nothing. Ryan Williams fumble. 31 yard touchdown drive. Tyson fumble. Field goal drive, 22 yards. I know what Bama can't do. I know the Simpson decline of the last couple games. I know all the amazing Oklahoma defensive numbers. I cannot get that game out of my head even though it's going to be a Norman.

C (18:21)

Yeah, the, the, the Simpson decline, man, I put that at the feet of Grub and deboer. I mean, it's been when I watched them, Ryan, like, I know what's coming most of the time and they're extremely pass happy and they do a good job. But they're trying to. They want to be in the, in the perfect play and they want to put guys in motion. A lot of times they're going to go three by one. Three receivers on one side, one on the other side. They're trying to figure out whether you're running man or zone. And then that's what they want. That's how they want to attack you. Well, teams have gotten really smart when they do that. Now teams are. They're not playing it. They're not playing that game. They're not going in motion with them. Like they're holding their water a little bit, waiting for the play clock. To go down. And then they've. They've kind of fooled them. Excuse me. They've kind of fooled them and had some success doing it. So I think Alabama's got to get more creative if you're going to get blitzed ad nauseam, which Venables blitzed them, you know, two thirds of the time, like 66% of the time, everybody since them has followed suit. Like Georgia was. Was over 50%. Everybody's been. Auburn has been at that mark. Like, dude, you've got to adjust. You've got to run some screens. You've got to get the run game going. You can't always have five guys out in a route. So hopefully, if you're an Alabama fan, hopefully your offense went to work and the last couple weeks and you decided to break some tendencies, you decided to run the football and you decided to have a little bit more variation to your pass game.

A (19:44)

The rushing numbers for Bama are just brutal. And it's even worse when you think about going up against this Oklahoma defense. I mean, you know, I'm trying to think of, to your point, like, how do you map out the game plan? It's like, okay, well, we're Bama and we haven't run the football all year. Oh, and by the way, we're going up against the number one yards per carry defense in all of college football. So, like, what's the point? Why, why even bother? What do you think it is about this rush offense with Bama where, you know, there's some names on that old line. You thought they were going to be dudes. It's not like this is the first time that's ever happened with some guys with some rep and some prestige coming into a year and the unit is falling apart part, especially on offensive line. I feel like I've seen this a lot throughout the years in college football, but, you know, you really study this film. It's. I don't know how it's solvable this week, but what do you think happened to this group and why they became so one dimensional?

C (20:38)

Well, I think you. You weren't successful at it. When you're not successful at it, it makes you want to stop. Now listen, this is who Ryan Grubb was at Seattle too. Like, that's why he's not in the NFL anymore. Like, he didn't want to run the football. That's not his. He'd rather play, you know, pitch and catch. And I get that. But when you do that, what does that allow teams to do? It allows teams to Play in sub package more. It allows teams to rush the passer a lot more, to be more aggressive, to, to do the things that attack your pressure. You got to make them pay. I've been disappointed watching Alabama's offensive line at just identifying guys like understanding and communicating up front. There's a lot of times where there's guys getting run throughs way too much where it's just simple communication. It's not a guy whipping the guy in front of him. It's identifying where they're going to be at Alabama and what they do best. What they do best is throw the football. What they do best is two minutes. So operate in that, like operate in the no huddle. Like that doesn't mean you have to snap the ball really, really quickly, but it allows Venables. What is Venables, Ryan, what is Venables been notorious for, for all of these years? What is all these coaches, what have they been telling us? What does he do?

A (21:41)

Pressure. I mean he's, he's just relentless pressure.

C (21:44)

Like crazy and steel signs like crazy.

A (21:47)

Oh well, he's still saying yeah, yeah.

C (21:48)

Well here's the thing. If you, you can combat that, you've seen people combat it in the past. How do you combat it? Well, line up near the line of scrimmage, wait, go shift and snap the ball. Like be quicker, go faster. Don't allow them to get as exotic. Make them pay and go fast. So I think Alabama, they're better in the two minute drill than anything else. They're better at throwing the football. Well if you're going to be better at it and that's where you want to live, live in it. But you do, you do have to find a way to, to run with Ty Simpson and Jan Miller's going to be back which is good but like to create some balance so they can't get so exotic and put so many little people on the field. Like if they can live and dime and they can have so many DBs on the field, it allows their past defense to be so much better.

A (22:31)

Ar Mason Thomas coming back and I still think his play against Tennessee is one of the most impressive plays I've seen from a defensive player all year long. It was so impressive that I don't even think the broadcast Fowler. I don't know that they even knew what had happened as it was happening. I'm pretty sure it was them. I hope it wasn't McElroy and McDonough and I'm mixing up my Saturday SEC games but like I can't Believe Oklahoma won that. Like, Oklahoma has a few of these games this year. Like, how do they win the Bama game? All right, well, it's turnovers and the whole thing. Tennessee game and that game at halftime, watching the first 30 minutes, I'm like, tennessee's losing this football game, but their edge guys are studs. And if. If Thomas is back healthy too, in this one, which is the projection that it's going to happen, what do you see from those guys that's just beyond the normal Oklahoma athletes and Venables attack.

C (23:23)

Style, it's just like, first of all, our Mason Thomas, he's. He's the definition of what you don't want to see as. As an offensive tackle because he's got a stupid first step. Like, he gets off the ball at an alarmingly fast rate. He's about six, two. He's not huge, but he also. He has the ability to beat you with speed, which makes tackles now over set and go, oh, my gosh, like, I gotta catch him. And then he'll hit that spin back inside. So, like, you don't have to have. As a pass rusher, you don't need an arsenal. Like, you need a great move and a great counter move. He has that, and he competes consistently at a high level. And it's not just them. It's stone. It's. It's 44. Like, we could go down the list of guys that they rotate in and out that can rush the passer, but they also do as good a job as anybody in the country. And if you're asking me, like, as a defensive lineman and I'm coming out, I'm like, yeah, I want to play there. Like, I want to go play at Oklahoma because they're going to. They don't just line up in two gap or play very conservative techniques. Like, a lot of times they're stunting and twisting and taking gaps. You've seen Georgia do that. Like, Georgia from where they started the season to now, like, they look a lot more like that. They're doing so much more create. They're using so much more creativity because they don't have the. There's not a Jalen Carter. There's not a Devonte Wyatt. There's not a. There's not those guys, those big guys in the middle that they've had for all those years. Now Oklahoma has those dudes and some scheme and some aggressiveness consistently. That always puts pressure on you. So that's why they're so hard to. To stop up front.

A (24:55)

You know, I really Thought about this. Is that touchdown, Granted, it was a different play. Reminds me of your touchdown in a way where it was. Now, granted, he had a much longer run.

C (25:06)

Yes.

A (25:07)

His hard end zone. Yeah. But yours was in all this traffic. And it was a similar play in the sense that you're like, did that just. Wait, did that just happen? And again, I love your touchdown because I remember where I was when I was watching it and I'm like, what the. I'm like, what the fuck did that?

C (25:25)

Well, he need, he needed oxygen though. After him. He was hurt. I think that's what hurt him and knocked him out for weeks. Because us big fat boys, we don't want to go the length. Hey, I got an interception against Florida my sophomore year. I caught it on the, on the two yard line, them going in. I made a couple guys miss Ryan. I got to the 30 and bro, the gas tank was empty. Like I wasn't going to make it. So I literally turned to Sean Jones, I handed it to Sean Jones. Sean's running down the field. I walk straight to the oxygen. I literally go, I have the oxygen mask on. When he scores the touchdown, like that's how fast I, I wasn't watching. I'm like, I'll look at the board, I'll peep it later. But yeah, we don't want to run that far if we can help it.

A (26:08)

Did you get yelled at for handing it off?

C (26:11)

No, but it was the worst call in the history of college football because they caught a forward lateral on a handoff. The stupidest thing. I've never seen it called since. And they can kick rocks for that. Bad call. It's fricking terrible.

A (26:23)

For this game. We got to finish on Mater. It doesn't take Todd McShay to figure out this guy's been two different quarterbacks. First and second half of the season. The offense is. I mean, what number do you want? I can throw a bunch of really bad ones at you, but I have no problem. Based on the resume and they should be in the playoff. Some of this eye test stuff that I was seeing was argued late in the year with them. I'm like, go through their schedule again and try to tell me that this team wasn't tested this year. But look, Mater healthy. No question I'm picking Oklahoma. But this offense has been limited. It's been, I mean, not limited to being nice. So what do you see from him other than maybe a guy who's just not the same since that hand injury?

C (27:09)

He hasn't been the same. But But I'll say this, I've been very disappointed with the decision making. Like, it's okay to miss. And especially when you're coming back with your team and you're, and you want to go on the field and you're trying to gut it out and you miss with accuracy. It's another thing when you miss with this up here and you're not taking the easy steps, you're not taking the layups. He consistently gives up first downs to make big plays. He doesn't have big play receivers. Like, he's got some guys that can catch it and run with it, but he doesn't have guys that are burning by people and blowing the doors off of people and winning out wide. And so I think everybody's been very comfortable. Like, listen, I'm not letting you win over the middle of the field. If you want to take deep shots, you can take deep shots. He can rip the ball like you talk about horsepower. He's second to none in the country. Like that thing comes off of his hand and it's like it's. He can throw it to a car wash and not get it wet right. Like it is, it is humming. It's got some revolutions on it. But I think the decision making. But the thing about Mater, first of all, there's three freshmen on the offensive line. They don't get a lot of movement. There's not a lot of run game. Most of it has some form of a read with it and Mattier has to read it and make the right decision. And I would say in the run game, he doesn't always make the right decisions either. But I'll say this, he needs to run the football. Like, if this offense wants a chance to win the next several games. He's not, he's not, he's not Marcel Reed, he's not Kevin Jennings. He's not tiny. Like, he's got a big lower half. Like, I might let this dude carry the ball 20 times. Like he has to be physical, run the ball downhill, get first downs, win some time of possession. The one thing this Oklahoma offense has done, when you look at the LSU game and the Bama game, like they like the plays down the stretch where they needed to make plays that are big plays. They'll make two or three a game and that's all they've needed. But they're not going to do that through the playoffs. They're going to play better teams that have great defenses. They're not going to win low shooting, low, low scoring games consistently. So They've got to find a way to be better. He's got to be better with his decision making process for sure.

A (29:12)

I don't know if they can take Tanya out of the game. Right. But I mean, he is so dependent or I should say the passing offense is so dependent on him. But like, I've changed my mind about this game a bunch of times. The yards per attempt stuff is hilarious. Like, we're like, ifama can't run the football. They're 121 in college football. Oklahoma's not great. They're 101, you know, so you start putting together some of the Simpson falloff numbers, you talk about the offensive line issues for both of these teams. And because I've gone back and forth, back and forth, I'm like, all right, it's in Norman. I'm just going to pick Oklahoma. How about you?

C (29:46)

That's smart. That's the smart play. But I still go back to, I still go back to out gaining him by 200 yards, losing the turnover battle three to nothing. Alabama and turnovers a lot of times have a way of evening themselves out. Like Oklahoma played clean, got the special teams fumble, got the pick six, got the strip sack. Like, are they going to get those again?

A (30:10)

You wouldn't think so. I mean, it's, it's, it was my position every time I've been like, dude, do not do this. You watched the game, you watched the game and it wasn't close. And they lost. Like they're not going to lose it the second time around. And I, I just, I mean, this is.

C (30:28)

But then you watch the SEC championship game and you're like, what the heck was that crap?

A (30:31)

Like, I, I, that one felt easier, that one felt easier going into that one for me that week because even though they played each other and everything, and I was like, I, I think George's front here looks a lot different than it did at the beginning of the year, to your point. And, and just like, it's like, okay, now I'm starting to write dudes names down. Where the beginning here with Georgia. I was like, you know, other than C.J. allen, you're like, you know, there wasn't a lot of, outside of the Georgia fan base, there weren't a lot of people that everybody was familiar with. And now it's like, all right, 15 this guy, you know, on and on.

C (30:57)

Usually, you usually usually point out like three All Americans and a couple of first round picks for Georgia. And coming into the year, you're like, where are they? That's that's 100% not normal.

A (31:08)

I may change my mind again on it. But it wasn't just the Oklahoma defense, too. Oddly enough, as bad as this Oklahoma offense is, they're terrific in touchdown, red zone percentage, which doesn't make any sense that they'd be this good in the red zone on touchdown percentage. And then their kickers, the man.

C (31:23)

So the man in his Daisy dukes, his cut, his. His three inch shorts, that. Those are. Those literally. Listen, if you make it at that rate, so be it. You can.

A (31:32)

You can wear whatever you want.

C (31:33)

But I've never seen, like, I've seen the knee pad not covered. I've never seen where I can almost see the dude's root coming out of his pants. Like, what are we doing here? Like, that's. That's a little aggressive.

A (31:43)

My man Herb street was offended. Visually.

C (31:47)

Hurt his feelings.

A (31:49)

Yeah. All right. Miami at Texas A and M. This A and M defense, I love it. Although you could argue they're really good. They're incredible on third down. I can run all the numbers for you, you know, where they rank, making you go third and long. But they do tend to give up some stuff, which is like a weird combo of a defense that I really like, but they'll allow some of the explosives. If this were a less tested Miami team, I would be, like, going into College Station against this defense. Like, no. And I'm not telling you I necessarily love Carson Beck, but I love that he's been around, and I love that they have these edge guys and their receivers incredible and all that kind of stuff. Like, this should be the primetime game, because this feels like Miami might be able to handle this in a way. Most teams coming into a first round matchup, having to play against this A and M team that some people thought, you know, at one point with the number one team in the country, I never thought that. I always thought they were behind the two Big Ten teams. They. They have a better chance, I think, than other teams that I'd be picking. And I'm not considering, like, I'm not talking about James Madison in Tulane because that would make all the sense in the world. I think Miami is sort of built to go into this challenge well, and.

C (32:55)

That'S what Miami's at 12, because they don't want to compete with the NFL game at night. So that's. That's smart demographics for the companies. Right? Like, there's. There's NFL Saturday night. I can avoid that. Right? Like that.

A (33:06)

Yeah, I know. It's. I'm. I'm thinking selfishly, west coast, like, this is the 9:00am game.

C (33:13)

Yeah, that sucks. Yeah. That's not. That's not how it should be.

A (33:16)

I'm not ready.

C (33:17)

You know, I'm not ready that you haven't got your swole session in. You haven't got settled in yet in the morning. Listen, I think I'm very curious to figure this out. Like, Malachi Tony has been one of the best players in the country, period. And that dude is a freshman. He's a freak. Ryan, the best thing you'd like about that dude is compared to so many diva wide receivers across the country like Ryan Williams. Like, when they start to do his tape and they start to. And McShay starts to break him down, he's going to be like, he has no desire to block. Like, less than none. He'll. He'll. He'll throw his body out of the way to make sure he doesn't get hit. Malachi Tony's tiny. He's a freshman. That dude will throw his face in the fan to go block you. Like, it is impressive. And they'll hand it to him in the Wildcat. They'll hand it to him on jet sweeps. He'll throw it. He played high school quarter, crystal ball told me on the show. He said his senior year, going into his senior year, he said the QB got hurt for his school. So they put Malachi Tony at. @ QB. He finished the rest of the season. They went and won a state championship. Like, he's that kind of athlete. So Beck has a guy with answers the perimeter game. Texas A and M is really good at tackling that stuff. Like, they're really good at shutting down the screens. But the tackling in the open field sometimes will give them problems. Can. Can Miami exert their will? Can they run the football? Can. Can they be physical? They're so vanilla the way they run it. And when they get in the red, it makes me want to bang my head up against the wall because they just bring everybody in tight and just try to pound you. And I get it. You got. You got a left tackle that's got brontosaurusaurus bones. I get it. Like, he's 6, 9, he's 370. Like, he's huge. But when you bring everything in tight, it makes it really tough to get through all of the different bodies. And then you got Carson Beck, who's not a good athlete at the quarterback spot. To me, I worry about Miami's offense. I worry about Carson Beck. The two losses, four picks against Louisville Two picks against SMU when they lost to smu. That great pass rush got negated a little bit by Jennings in the tempo of SMU because Jennings could scramble and make plays. So can they limit Marcel Reed's ability to scramble? I think that'll go a long way in determining that football.

A (35:29)

Game. Yeah, Reed's got to clean up the mistakes that bothered me. Where you're like, these aren't just, hey, you know, there was a tip ball or I didn't see the safety or, you know, the stuff that happens over the course of the season. I just don't like down in distance, three points in your back pocket. When he seems to really, really push the limits, it seems like he raises the risk at the point of the field where he shouldn't be hot and.

C (35:54)

Cold. Very. Like he can get really streaky and, and, and those weapons, though, man, like Casey Concepcion and Mario Craver, man, you. You talk about the, the fastest dude like before the season. I was talking about Casey can to Casey Concepcion. To anybody who would listen, he's Percy Harvard to me. Like, he's a running back that plays the slot. That is ridiculous. With the ball in his hand. He has strength, he understands. And then Craver, like both those guys that. My biggest concern for Miami is you got a running quarterback, you got to get on the ground. And then if you, when you don't and when you miss him, now you've got guys that run 101 hundreds, 102 hundreds, all over the field. Running in the back end against your secondary, that's not the strength of your team. And so the big plays will be there. Beck's inability to move going against Cassius, how if they get in third down and long, they're in trouble. Like if they can stay out of those situations, they can survive. They can win this football game. But if they can't run the ball, Miami's not going to drop back every play and get one dimensional because A and M's really good with a pass rush and really good in disguise. And especially in those third downs. They're.

A (37:00)

Stupid. Yeah, the third down numbers, I mean, look, they average seven and a half tackles per loss per game. They're forcing opponents into third and long. So third and seven or more yards, 73% of the possessions they're number one against third down, the conversion rates in the low 20s. But I like some of the secondary from Miami maybe more than you do. And you're right about the Malachi Tony stuff. Like I looked in the numbers this morning. You know, he's Credited with zero drops all season long. Like, he doesn't have a drop that he's credited with. And he's got 31 missed tackles, which is the most of any wide receiver in all the college football. So there's stuff there. And you know, we haven't even talked about the edge guys with Miami that you know at some point are going to show up and going to make some kind of plays. I think a lot of it would be don't get too upfield against Reed because if you start thinking you're beating these tackles, you're getting up field and then it's like Reed's going to be psyched because he's going to be one read and then he's going to run and then maybe there's the adjustment with that kind of stuff. So I can't wait for this game. But with A and M at home and this defense, I'm going to.

C (37:57)

Go A and M. I'm with you on that too. I'm going A and M too. Just I think that it's like now you get playoff time. Like, I think reed can have 10 carries a game. And when you start running that option game again, if you've got great players, Ryan, like they do on the edges with Bane and Mezadore, that's fine. If I'm going Bane's way, I'm going to stick that ball right here into Concepcion stomach while he runs across and I'm going to read that guy. If he flies up the field, I'm going to pull it and I'm going to run it. I don't have to block one. Like I can. I can block the backside and I can read the other one. Like it really puts me in a jam because why would I spend more resource resources to block your best players with two of my guys when I can put them in the read action and run the football. But I look for A and M's, talked a little bit of this and I like that. I'm here for that. I have no problem with that. They're like, yeah, I'm not worried about Bane. I mean, the offensive tackle that's going to go against him was like, yeah, he's okay. Marcel Reid was on my show. He was like, yeah, they're good. I mean, I got my guys back, like, and then Ruben Owens, like, I'm just impressed. Like A&M's pretty confident coming into it and they're playing at home, so I like A and M in a close one.

A (39:02)

Too. Speaking of guys, you've had on your show. I thought Caleb Downs was awesome. So good, man. I mean, you're not just drafting somebody with him here where you're going to go, all right, well, we know all the things that he can do on tape. We know he's done it at Bama and he's done it at Ohio State. And even if he's not getting his name called during the broadcast, then it'd be like, do you see all the stuff that he's doing? Because nobody. It's like that basketball player with all this gravity that is bringing all this stuff to him, where it's the opposite effect in football, where it's just like, they don't want to do anything with this guy because they're so afraid of him. I found the quote about the SEC in the Big Ten thing to be really, really interesting. Even in a season where I just don't like the SEC contenders nearly as much as I usually would like them, it's collectively like a down year for that. But it's been trending in that way a little bit. But my argument was always, hey, let's run through some of these schedules. Let's run through what the Big Ten has to do to close out five or six games and then look at what a handful of these SEC teams have to do like this. Why are we even having this kind of debate again? I've done it too many times, but that's basically Caleb's thing. And he was smart enough to be like, yeah, but you look at the bowl games last year and look, the SEC got stomped by a bunch of these Big Ten matchups in that bowl season. And I don't think you can just blame its default of like, well, their guys weren't as into it, or these guys are opting out on all this kind of stuff because you same do the same thing with Florida State and Georgia because everybody made fun of Florida State after they came and you're like, come on, guys, like, be reasonable about this stuff. But what did you think about his answer? Specific to that, where I know everyone listening, that's like a Big Ten fans, like, no shit. You guys liked it. But, you know, if. If he's not supposed to say that, you know, he's supposed to say it the other way the way. Every coach that goes to the Big Ten is like, oh, there's not that much of a difference. And as soon as that same coach is in the sec, he's like, ah, it's not even.

C (40:53)

Close. Yeah, I, I've been. I've had A running dialogue with Dan Lanning all year via text message. And it's, it's hilarious because me and Dan are so similar and like energy and we want to go and we want you, we want you to, we want, we want you to get on board with our opinion. And like it's been a back and forth, back and forth. And then I called him one day after we've been texting for a while and we just went through it. Debate, debate, debate, debate. Listen, Caleb said it, it's a week in and week out thing like it. Here's my example. Ryan, when you go play South Carolina this year, Lenora Sellers, first round pick, Dylan on the edge, coming off the edge, guess what? First round pick, top 15 pick, Dylan Stewart. Stewart can rush the passer against anyone. Like you got a receiver, Nick harper who runs 10, two. Like there's, there's guys that can beat you. And then, you know, the argument we, we've had back and forth was, okay, well there was 79 players drafted out of the SEC. There was 72 out of the Big Ten. And I'm like, okay, then there's also two less teams. So the talent is more concentrated on those teams. And where do you want to play? Which atmospheres do you want to play? And so the bottom line is there's, there's a lot of debate that we could go in with that there's a lot more competent teams that can beat you week in and week out in the sec. But the title contenders are in the Big Ten. Like, there's, there's four teams that can win this whole thing. It's Indiana, it's Ohio State, it's Georgia, and it's Oregon. Like, those are the four teams that can win it. And the Big Ten at the top of those teams, they have something in common. They got some quarterbacks that can absolutely spin it. Like, and Mendoza is obviously going to be the number one pick and he's a dual threat guy and he's super tough, super talented. And then you obviously you got Dante Moore who's a top 10 pick when he decides to come out. He can run it, he can throw it. And then Julian saying who's throwing the two first round picks at wide receiver. Like, and they got a good defense. So the top of the Big Ten is better than the Big Ten when it comes to.

A (42:47)

Championships. Better than the sec.

C (42:49)

Right? Yeah, or sec, sorry, championship. Quality teams. There's three teams to me that can win it. There's one in the sec. So, but as far as the league week in and week out, it's a lot harder to be. To be in the sec, to.

A (43:00)

Compete. Yeah. Look, I don't. I don't think it's that complicated to say both things are true, but it's going to be shock. I'll be shocked if a Big Ten team doesn't win another national championship this year. You know, just with the odds on of those. Those three teams where I could even make an argument. I think there's certain times throughout the season, I know I like Dante Moore a hell of a lot more than Gunner Stockton, you know, just because I think the Stockton thing's up and down, that's not really much of a conversation, so to say. Like, hey, I might like Oregon better than even Georgia, and that's three teams in the same conference that are the Big Ten. So. Anyway, I just wanted to. Sure. I address that a little bit. The Big Shack is out now, and it's a serious burger. We're talking two Angus beef patties, three buns, new secret sauce. It's stacked, balanced, and built the right way. You get everything you expect from Shake Shack. Fresh ingredients, that toasted potato bun and sauce that pulls the whole thing together. It's big, it's fresh, and it's legit. One of their best burgers yet. I'm telling you right now, moms, dads, that holiday season hustle that you're trying to navigate. You know what? I think there used to be deals that we'd make as kids. You'd be like, hey, if I could get this, this can be my next. This can be my birthday present, and it can be my Christmas present. I don't know. Maybe that's why I wanted to be a gm, because I'd be talking to my parents, be like, I will give you two birthdays and two Christmases if you can get me this bike now. And I'll never ask for anything else. So I'll give you two future unprotected. We don't know swaps. I don't think I would have understood swaps at time. Like, I'll give you two unprotected birthdays, two unprotected Christmases if we can just make this my, like, mega birthday present right now. By the way, that never worked out. And I think I remember my father saying, like, so just so we were clear, if we do this bike deal for you in August and then around Christmas, you just have no presence. And I point to the bike in the shed outside, you're going to be totally okay with that. And I'M like, yeah, absolutely. I'll totally be okay with that. Don't even worry about it. He knew I would not be okay with it. So that deal never came to fruition. But I do wonder if you were sitting there and you're going like, look, kids, Santa, he might not be able to get everything on your list, but this burger, this Shack burger, this much burger, all you can handle. If I can give this to you now, burger in hand, instead of burger in the bush. You see what I'm getting at here? There could be a little negotiating because I think after your kid has this burger and you watch them, you'll actually be able to tell what kind of kid you're going to have by the way he handles the Big Shack. I think there's some stuff. There's stuff. Look, don't make a decision today. Write it down. Think about it. If you've been waiting to see what all the hype's about, today's the day. Go to Shake shack and order the Big shack. Sounds familiar. Made different. Okay, Ole Miss Tulane rematch time, 45:10. The first time they played, their left tackle was out. Retslaff was a mess in this 15 of 1756 yards. Another thing that was interesting that I was kind of thinking back about this game and reading about some of this stuff is that Tulane hadn't really probably had any tape on Chambliss, so it felt like they blitzed the shit out of him and then he actually burned them on this. So between the two teams, whether it's Oregon and James Madison, Tulane and Ole Miss here, who do you think has a better chance at the.

C (46:17)

Upset? I'll give it to tulane. It was 20 to three in that game and it was gold to go. And Tulane got stopped, you know, going in. Jake Retzlaff is a guy that played at BYU that transferred to Tulane before the season. He had the knee injury that slowed him down from running. This is a one game scenario. Like, he can tote it 20 times if he needs to. And I think that, you know.

A (46:39)

What, like, look at his rushing numbers, though, lately. And I know he went off against North Texas in the last game, but he's a different guy. First half, second half. And when you look at those, those rushing stuff, and I know, like, some of the other numbers get baked into that too, with the sacks and everything, but he's getting the touchdowns. But you might be right. Like, they may just say, hey, you're going to run like crazy today like you did in the last game.

C (47:01)

Because he's going to have to. Well, he also hurt his knee and so for a while they didn't want to run him. And I think they also understood they, they could win other ways. But, but Tulane, their defense isn't great, so it's not going to keep a minute. So how else can you win? Like, if I'm, if I'm their defense, I'm not doing what I did last time because Trinidad went over 100 rushing. They stopped Lacy. Congratulations. But every deep ball Trinidad threw, I think he threw seven of them, six were completed big time plays. Like everything was, everything was working. So how do I shorten this game? Let Lacey have the rock, let them run the football, not give up the big plays. But we also got to address too Lane Kiffin ain't there. And Ryan, you know the swagger that dude has. Like, that dude walks in there and when he talks to you, you feel like you got this figured out. Like, I got this. Like, this is my dude. He. He makes you feel like you've got a real chance. What does the offense look like? Pete Golding, who's the defensive coordinator, has never been a head coach, not like ever at a big level, ever, ever. Like, he's never done it. So now you're addressing me and the team and I think it's a really good thing it's in Oxford. I think they'll be going nuts because they're going to be so ticked off and they want to show Lane what he's missing and show the country, you know, what Ole Miss is about. But I think Tulane can run the football a little bit because of Retslav Red Slap can make some plays. Ole misses weakness is by far their defense. It's not been their offense. So can, can they play great, inconsistent for a game? Can Tulane create some big plays, run the football, possess it? That's their shot. I'm not giving them a big shot by any chance, but that's their shot to stay in the game and keep it.

A (48:36)

Close. If I'm trying to come up with some sort of James Madison thing here, do you put any stock into? I mean, ironically, we're still talking about Ole Miss because like my issue with Ole Miss all seasons was like, hey, that's a game. This is still a game. I watched the Washington State game for some reason, I just happened to watch, like most of it. I was like, this is still a game. Like, let them hung around. Yeah, what's going on here? And this is a Washington State team that, you know, ends up six and six they won the rematch against Oregon State, but they lost to them the first time around. Oregon State was terrible. There's a little bit of like, well, James Madison beat Washington State at their place back in November. So is there any transitive property that like, hey, you're, you're. I guess basically it feels like people. I'm not even going to do it, so I'm just going to shut up. There's a reach of like they beat a P4 team and it's a P4 team that hung around with Ole Miss at their place this season. That's my position and it is not one with.

C (49:32)

Strength. It's not one with strength. But, but here is a position of strength if you want to get a little bit weird. Will Stein, their offensive coordinator, he's going to Kentucky. So right now he is waist deep in recruiting the portal for Kentucky, trying to get guys to come to Kentucky. Like that's his number one. Probably that's what's taking the majority of his time. Tosh Lapoy on defense, he's a cow. He's doing the same thing at Cal, trying to put together roster, trying to put together a full staff. So they are divided whether they want to admit it or not. And you've seen it throughout time like it's a real thing. People can't go in one direction full speed if they've got two different jobs going on. Right. So. So maybe some of that comes into play. Oregon's been banged up like crazy. The offensive line got dinged, the receiver position with Bryant Moore, they haven't been in there. Evan Stewart hasn't played all year because of the Achilles. So they can get like, they can get healthier. But the problem is if this is a sloppy game and it's. If this is a. I can't throw it, if it's a bad weather game, Oregon could just pound it cause they're the best team in the. One of the best teams in the country at running it. Like they've got a three headed back system in there that they. It doesn't matter who's in there. They run pissed off. Like they fall forward and hit you in the mouth. Like they're just. Whittingham Davidson, good, good. Hill, good group of running backs. Like I just. JMU strength is stopping the run. JMU strength, they create some turnovers. JMU strength is running the football like against Bear Bryant and Tuohy and those guys up front like Bear Bryant, Bear Alexander. Bear Bryant's gone for a while, but I just don't. I Can't make a case for them, even if they're sluggish, because JMU realistically shouldn't be in the playoff. Like, we know. We all know.

A (51:16)

That. Yeah, some good red zone touchdown numbers there. Like, if they're turning three into seven and turning seven into three, you know, they're. They're good on both sides of the ball there. But we like the running back, by the way, the receiver situation for. For Oregon. Apparently all those guys practice this week, so more practice, Brian practice and Stuart practice. So I don't know if the Stewart thing is trying to mess with all of us, but they're not going to need it. I wouldn't think against jmu, but that changes the conversation because that guy's a stud. It's just we haven't seen him in a really long time.

C (51:50)

Yeah. And I would like to, if I was a coach. I want him on the field, man. Like, I need to get some reps because you've already had a layoff for him all season and then you've had this layoff the last couple of weeks. Like, you kind of want to get him in some action. So he's not near as rusty as he would be, obviously, when it comes when you're going to really need him down the.

A (52:06)

Road. Okay, so overall, who's your. Who's your pick for. To win the whole thing? As we try to map this.

C (52:12)

Out a little, I would take Ohio State. I think the daily injury to Indiana, Ryan, I know some people dismiss it and think it's not a big deal. If it's not a big deal, why did he play every single snap in the Big Ten championship game? Every single snap. He's one of the only players that played every snap up front. And so he got hurt celebrating after the game, which sucks. I can't stand that that's how he got hurt. But I think one of Indiana's biggest or best traits is having those four guys up front that are 270 that can impact the game and slant and twist and stunt. You've already lost one edge guy before that. He was the backup. So I think that hurts them. I don't think their depth making it through the playoff. I don't think they'll get through it. But I've got Ohio State, and if you're going to take me from the other side, then, then I think it'd be Oregon who will meet Ohio State in the championship game like they did years and years and years ago. The only other time Oregon got a playoff win, actually against Mariota versus Jameis.

A (53:10)

Winston. Yeah, I was in the building for both of those. And I was coming off of that Rose bowl game where they just dominated Florida State team. That was weird too, because remember that Florida State year, they'd won the title the year before. They were winning every week, but every week you're like, well, this doesn't look as good. They weren't yet. Yeah, right. And the rank is. I just remember all the chaos from, like Florida State fans that were losing their shit during that.

C (53:35)

Whole. And then James slips and throws the ball backwards and they scoop it up and score a touchdown and they get the crap kicked out of him in the Rose.

A (53:41)

Bowl. So then we go down to Texas for the national championship game and I'm picking Oregon. Like, I'm like Helfrich. All right, well, this is. This time they're going to get it. They're going to make up for lose. And then I remember being on the field and watching, I actually ended up hanging out with you in the back because I think there ended up being some sort of like, you're not on TV and then I used your pass. I think they go back out there because you're like, I don't give a shit. That was one of the first. I mean, it's happened plenty of times. You're watching two teams line up and kind of go through their shit and hit each other in the drills. That was one of the times in the field is like, I can't believe I picked against the team in red. Because it looked, it was an alarming visual of having those two teams lined up next to each other. And look, that was almost 15 years ago.

C (54:23)

So. Yeah, it's not like that anymore. No, it's not like what Dan's brought in there. It's. It's a, It's a different.

A (54:28)

Animal. Yeah, I guess I look, Indiana beating Ohio State, even if you're like, hey, Ohio State misses the field goal. It could have been 13, 13 for three plus hours. Indiana was a better football team. Would you agree with that? Like, I don't think there was anything fluky about that. Where I felt like, hey, Indiana didn't just win the game. I thought they were better. Oh, it sounds like a little hesitation. All.

C (54:52)

Right. Ohio State got stopped on a fourth down. On a fourth and one inside the red. Remember, like inside the 10 yard line where Sang's knee kind of went down and he was down.

A (55:01)

So. Well, I do remember it, but I, you know, unfortunately, and I really hope the broadcast partners aren't going to Change their mind based on what I'm saying. You can't go to commercial on that kind of replay where we go to commercial knowing it's going to be reviewed, thinking we have the first down because that's how it's called in the field. And the next thing you know it's like, hey, guess what, it's fourth down. But I thought that was really telling David because they didn't want to run on third and one. They had the rollout and completion of the left and then it was like, can we get the yard with saying he's down on the replay. So you're right, it was the right call. And then they go for the field goal in the same situation later on. Like, that's pretty telling of Ohio State going up against anybody's. Like, we don't trust ourselves to get the.

B (55:42)

Yard.

C (55:42)

Yeah. And I think.

A (55:43)

Right. Of the three decisions, because it was passed saying overturn and then the field goal miss, which was again fourth and short. Like, I think it was only a.

C (55:52)

Yard. Well, and that's, that's the reason they haven't beat Michigan. Right. All these years was, was the physicality in the run game. Now I thought Julian Saying played his worst game, but it's not a surprise. He also got pressured.

A (56:04)

Right. So.

C (56:04)

Yeah. What, what are your answers? He, he missed some things that I think they can, they can change. Surely they're not going to have Smith and Tate off the field as much as they did. Like they, they should be on the field every snap. I'm not sure how that ever goes awry. Those dudes are genetic freaks and they need to play as much as possible. But I thought it was a back and forth game. Like, I thought Mendoza made some big plays. I thought Indiana made some good contested catches. But like, I didn't walk away and go, man, Indiana is clearly the better team. But, but I do think you've got to go through this bracket. And so if one struggles, you know who's going to pick it up? Like both sides of the football. And honestly, that's what worries me about Georgia a little bit. Like, if they get in a shootout and the defense doesn't play great, can they go tick for tack? Like, can they win that big? And listen, I know they did it against Tennessee and Ole Miss. Ole Miss and Tennessee don't play great defense. So I think, you know, Ohio State to me that the talent, who they are, what they are, like, they can win a multitude of ways. And I think Indiana gets dinged by that defensive line death. But it was a, it was a, it was a great game. And they were the one and two for a.

A (57:12)

Reason. Right. And you should, should not have left out on the missed field goal. Third and one. They passed it again. So that's actually like four decisions in there where they're like 27 yard field.

C (57:22)

Goal. Like the percentages of missing that is like 8%. Like that was, that was pathetic. That was really bad.

A (57:29)

Like. Oh, you miss it because it's.

C (57:31)

Huge. Yes. You, you, you gagged that for sure. Like that was, that was so.

A (57:36)

Bad. All right, so if we go the rest of the way because I don't want to sit here and agree with you on everything here, but I mean even the Alabama, Oklahoma thing, I'm starting to realize I should be rooting for Alabama so that all the Alabama crew who gives me a pass come out to LA for the Rose bowl here for the Indiana matchup. All right, let me ask you this. Even though Tech is the four seed and Oregon's the five seed. Well, maybe I'll do it differently here. All right. If you're Indiana, would you rather play? Well, this is. Let's just do this for the exercise. Say Indiana gets through the winter of Oklahoma and Alabama, Oregon beats James Madison. If you're Indiana looking at the other side and wondering what's going to happen in the semifinal, who would you rather play if you're Indiana, Texas Tech or.

C (58:20)

Oregon? I'd rather play Texas Tech. Now Texas Tech's got some monsters and they're going to eat you defensively. Like they're going to be really good. Texas Tech's offense is not very good. Like it. There's. I like the running backs, but when it comes to the throw, again, the throw game and the red zone offense, like they're just not. They haven't been in sick. Now listen, Morton's also been. He's been in a boot most of the week. He's got like a broken tibia. Like he. So he's been in a boot. So this couple weeks off, maybe the passing game, you know, picks up. But the Texas Tech offense has just been so inconsistent. I mean so they very rarely been really good. Like that's, that's. You haven't even seen flashes of them being really good. Oregon can get hot. Oregon can get healthy on offense. Oregon has balance. They can run and throw the football like Texas Tech doesn't. Hasn't shown that ability throughout the.

A (59:12)

Season.

C (59:12)

So. And the rematch with Oregon, them being ticked off, learning a lot from the first time that they played. You Know, probably being healthier now with their squad. Like, I would give Oregon a good.

A (59:23)

Chance. I don't think I'd pick Oregon in a rematch against Indiana because that's one of those games too, where I felt like they got pushed around so badly. Where that was another one of those games where, yeah, it's 2020 and I'm like, Indiana is better than that, man. Like, they're just, they. They've beaten them up on both sides. And I think this is not. Now this can happen to teams. Like, Oregon is a very physical football team, the way they run the football. So it wasn't like, hey, this high flying style of Oregon and you know, they're just bad matchup against other physical teams. I mean, all you have to do is watch that Iowa game to realize like, what Oregon has this other gear if they want to go to it. Would you rather play Georgia or Oregon? I know they're on the other side of the bracket, but hypothetical, if. If you are one of the other top teams, like, who would you rather.

C (60:10)

Play? I think it would depend on what kind of team I am. But like, I, I'm just telling you, like Georgia always. Georgia reminds me of those guys, Ryan online that you watch that are. They stand in front of each other and they do that slap thing and they're like, all right, you get first crack. Like, okay, that really.

A (60:25)

Hurt. Like, you do that with your kids.

C (60:27)

Right? Yeah. Those big barley jokers that you're like, no way. But you get a free slap all you want. Like, you can hit Georgia, you got to kill them. Like, you've got to knock them out because of what they have. And I think their combination of physicality, there's not a lot of people that are going to want that smoke. Like, they're going to be tough to handle because of that. So. And their defense has just done this and really. Ellis Robinson at corner, he's a six foot three kid. He was the number one corner in the country two years ago coming out of high school, played a little bit as a freshman. And look this, this early in the season, it looked okay. Very okay. Now you watch tape and you're like, that's the first round pick. Okay, he's legit. Like, so now you got him and Everett on the outside. You can be more aggressive. They've been more creative. And you just physically, you've got a match. Gunner's going to fall forward for two or three yards every time. Frazier has been one of the best backs in the country. Branch in the slot is just Annoying enough where you throw it to him and then you use them as a disguise so they know who they are. Their special teams is great. Like, so I wouldn't want to play Georgia. I just, I think the way that they finished this season on a hot streak and playing well and the way you got to knock them out, like, I just don't think many people want to go in a, in a dark alley with those.

A (61:41)

Dudes. Ellis Robinson is a freak, okay? So certain times throughout the year too, and then I look him up, I'm like, he's from New Haven, Connecticut. And then I hit up Stanford, Steve. And I was like, what do you got on Robinson the fourth year? He's like, dude, that kid was down in Florida. Like, he wasn't. He wasn't running around the Valley. You know, he's like, I don't think they had to play against Staples. So I don't, I don't know the full scope of it, but anybody that has any connection to Connecticut, I check with Stanford, Steve, I'm like, what do you got? Like, this kid's running around. You know, technically he's a freshman, even though he did get snaps last year. But I mean, he had that deep ball interception where it looked like an awesome NFL player. Like, if you, an NFL guy had done that, you'd be like, oh, that's why he's one of the best safeties in league. Or like a Patrick Surtan did it. You know, you're going like, that's why he's a special corner. Like, he can make these game changing plays and this guy's doing it back.

C (62:33)

There. If you've seen the clips of him too, Ryan online, like, the reason he got ranked number one in the country because they do all that flag football basically stuff, all those one on one, seven on sevens. It was him and Jeremiah Smith. Like, those were the two dudes that went head to head, toe to toe, and he was the only one that could hang with him. Like, he was clearly the number one corner. And that, like, gave Jeremiah Smith all he could handle. That. That shows you what kind of freak he.

A (62:56)

Is. Okay, so your final pick again for the national championship is Ohio State.

C (63:02)

Yeah. Back to back Ohio State vs Oregon, rematch of the national championship. You were at when it was a really good game and you picked.

A (63:12)

Oregon or there was that fumble there deep in Ohio State territory. There was no.

C (63:19)

Play. It got really close.

A (63:21)

No. Yeah, you're like, if they had gone in. That's what Scott and I were. I think we did the show. The Next day, we were like, you know, if that doesn't. Because I think we both had picked Oregon, so we're doing a little creative housekeeping on the story of the.

C (63:33)

Game. Trying.

A (63:33)

To. Yeah. I don't know that we would ever just flat out, like, lie, but at that time, I was like, they're going in again. You know, like, they're moving it around. And it was like, yep. No, that's not going to. Because I was saying this on Monday. We forget. I don't think you do, but I think so much of this conversation around football. We forget about the fight. We forget about what this game is and that it's a fight for three and a half hours and staying in the fight, and it can look really bad. I mean, some of these people that comment after it's 14 nothing, it's like, have you ever watched one of these games? I'm assuming if you're watching today and tweeting about it, I assume you've watched a football game before, and there are teams that are built for the fight, and they may not be as much fun. You know, I think about the Chargers this way a little bit sometimes. Like, I don't think of picking the Chargers to, like, do anything that significant in the end. There's. There's plenty of stuff that's happened with the Chargers this year where I'm like, I don't. I don't really like them, but there's something about your guys having a bad series, going to the sideline, and then going back out when it's their turn to be. Like, I'm. I'm still right where I need to be mentally. And I think it's hard for us that haven't played to always see that the way you guys see it, because.

C (64:49)

It'S. It's such a sport of failure, man. Like, at practice, like, you. You get your ace whipped. You know, you got 6, 7, 3, 30, and you miss with your hands, like, welcome to baptism in the name of the Father, the Son, right? You're going down like, it's not. It's not going to be pretty. And then you've got to learn to. To line right back up. And it's your offense throws a pick like, you got to go right back on the field. Special teams gives up a punt return, like, yeah, and who can build that, too, man? Because not everybody's built like that. Not. Not everybody's built to respond in Big Mo. That's why Georgia scares the piss out of everybody, because they. Everybody knows, man. Like, there is no There is no quit, and we've seen it. Now, listen, you're going to get frustrated because sometimes you're like, what are we doing? Like, what the heck are you doing here? And. But then all of a sudden they wake up and they're not going to quit swinging late. And, yeah, that championship DNA usually comes out. They show who they are in the end of the season, and Ryan more than ever, because that was. That was four teams back in the day. Now you got to win several to get to the championships. The fluky nature is gone. Like, you can have one good game, that's sure, but you got to have four, right? Like, it's a hard. It's a hard gauntlet to.

A (65:58)

Run. It's ridiculous. I mean, we only have to compare it to last year. But the fact that Ohio State doesn't have the buy last year has to go through. Those teams do what they do. Like, all right, you know, whatever. We could talk about Tennessee, be like, ah, they were kind of fluky. And it's like, all right, well, now you've got to beat Oregon, who beat you at their place. You humiliate them. Oh, and guess what's next? Texas. And. And now you. You've got to beat Notre Dame, who was a really good football team last year. So it's. It's asking a lot. You got to have the right guys. I think Ohio State wins back to back. I think they salvage or avenge the loss. I don't know if Indiana will be on the other side. I think Oregon has a really good chance. I do like them both better than Tech at this point, but I kind of can't wait. I can't. Can't wait to see if George can overcome the passing deficiency that they would have, you know, because, look, I'm not going to worry about saying have the bad first game in that spot. Indiana's awesome. Maybe they win the whole thing, but I'd expect Sand's going to respond. It's Georgia. If that game happens, it's going to be about Georgia overcoming the gap that they have to Ohio State's passing game, because that gap exists and it's significant. Yeah, big time. C ball, get ball. David Pollock. He'll be locked in, in all the games. And I'm telling you, man, his interviews are really, really. So if you love college football, you'll love what David's doing. So make sure you check it out. I'm not going back to college to be your.

C (67:22)

Friend. I'm going so I can get Uber one for.

A (67:24)

Students. It saves you on Uber and Uber Eats. I'm there for zero dollar delivery fee on cheeseburgers, up to 10% off smoothies and 6% Uber credits back on rides. Just to be clear, I'm there for savings, not whatever you think college is.

C (67:38)

For. Get Uber one for students a.

A (67:41)

Membership to save on Uber and Uber.

D (67:42)

Eats. With deals this good, everyone wants to be a.

A (67:45)

Student. Join for just 4.99amonth. Savings may vary eligibility and member terms apply. A good time before the holidays. Excited to do this. He's got a new show out on Netflix. Ransom Canyon it is. Friend of the podcast, Josh Duhamel. What's up.

D (67:58)

Man? How you doing, Ryan? Good to see you.

A (68:00)

Pal. Yeah, it's good to see you again too. I am a couple episodes in, and I love learning about the process of how this is casted and the decisions you make. Is this someone your reps pitching to you? Is it Netflix saying, hey, we want to build a show around you, or is it the opposite where it's a script and you go, all right, I like this role. I'm the lead, and let's do.

D (68:20)

This. Well, it happened where I was. I was out at my cabin out the woods, and it was like I was almost kind of living this life anyway. I'm not raising cattle or riding horses around there, but I am an attractor a lot. So, you know, I was in that mindset when April Blair, the showrunner, came to me, sent the script. And I just. I just love the idea of it. You know, I love the, you know, the family legacy. The, you know, the American Western theme has always been something that I love. So, you know, it just. It just clicked right away. And we, you know, we've. We're in our site. We're about to finish our second season. Tomorrow's my last day until Christmas break, and then we come back for, like, three days, and then we're done with the second season. So it's just been two really fun years of work. Really great cast, really great writers and showrunners. And, you know, it's been. It's been one of the good ones, for.

A (69:16)

Sure. Yeah. The pilot, you know, the pilot's always that tricky thing, and, you know, you're right in it. Wife's dead, loses on. It's like. So, you know, I think sometimes the structure is like, okay, where's his wife and where's his family? Like, you know, what are the things that he's coming home to to round out the character that being different in him, sort of searching, you know, like, what's the point of all this stuff? How is that different than, you know, more traditional roles where most of the pilots would be like, okay, here's all the other elements of his life, and with your guy here, it's a massive void from the.

D (69:52)

Jump. Yeah, yeah, that was. It was a dark beginning for this character, for sure. You know, having lost his wife a year earlier, and then he loses his son shortly after, like, early on in the first episode. So, yeah, it was. There was a lot there, too, you know, and it's one of those things where it's easy to fall into the darkness of that. But, you know, for. For me, that was. That was just something to sort of play against rather than to play too much into it, you know, and then, you know, Minka is a. Is a. An amazing act. Minka Kelly's just fantastic. And, you know, that's kind of the. This jumping off point of our relationship has always been something that's been kind of there, but never really had the opportunity because, you know, I was married with a family. But if you go all the way back to high school, it was something that was never really pursued, I.

C (70:49)

Guess. And this.

D (70:49)

Is. This is kind of the beginning of.

A (70:50)

That. How do you prepare yourself for the lane of, like, I have to express this tension, this romantic tension with her, but clearly, we're not going to solve this. You know, it's a TV show. This isn't going to happen. But, hey, we like each other. It's all going to work out. Like, it's just. That's just not the way this stuff works. So I. I do think, you know, there's this. This separation of, like, understanding. Like, hey, it's an action movie, so I'm going to be the hero. Or, hey, there's the love movies, you know, the romantic interest. It's all out there, like, trying to figure out kind of what lane you want to be in where you're hinting at all this stuff, but you're not necessarily giving it away in the way, like, a movie would tell that.

D (71:33)

Story. Yeah, I mean, you have a lot more time to, you know, tell these stories in a series. And, you know, it is kind of the classic will they or won't they, knowing they probably will. But.

A (71:44)

It'S.

D (71:44)

It's. It's in how you get there. And that, to me, is, you know, there's a lot. And there's a lot of pitfalls in that because you don't want to fall into the melodrama of, you know, constantly pining over each other or, you know, saying things that every guy watching is like, oh, my God, can we go back to the football game? You know, you want. You want to try to keep it as realistic and. And I guess vulnerable is a good way to put it, because for me, you know, these things, there's good versions of this, and there's versions that are just too, you know, over the top. So we really worked on just trying to keep it as realistic as possible so that it's relatable to anybody watching. You know, obviously, this is. This is a show that's about, you know, romance and all those things, but it's also about family, and it's about legacy, and it's about, you know, water rights and all these things that go along with it. So if it were up to me, we would have leaned really into that, and the romance would have been something that just sort of happens on the side. But, you know, Netflix wants. They want that romance, so then you got to find a way to do it. So it's not going to be just two in their face the whole time. So it feels like it's just, you know, something. Some soap that. That you see everywhere. We wanted to try to make something real authentic and.

A (73:09)

Relatable. In the second episode, you get hammered at a dive bar, and you start singing a Hootie and Blowfish, which I appreciated later at the dinner where you're like, did I go full Hootie last night? I'm wondering. I'm just. You know, I'm not. You know, you're an actor, so you can pull this stuff off. Have you ever, in the past, decided to go, like, full Martin Sheen and get hammered for the scene in which you're supposed to be portraying somebody?

D (73:32)

Hammered. I have actually tried that, and it never ends. Well, it doesn't, because.

A (73:37)

You'Re. When did you do.

D (73:39)

It? I don't know. Years ago. So I was like, I'm gonna go full method. I'm gonna get hammered for this. I'm gonna be. I'm supposed to be drunk. Why not just get drunk? Well, what you don't realize is you're actually shooting that scene for several hours. And, you know, it's. It's hard to, you know, manage the level of drunkenness that you are. And it just. It.

A (73:58)

Just.

D (73:59)

It. It really does go off the rails quickly. So I learned early on to try to stay away from that. As far as the Hootie bit, that was supposed to be Shania Twain, they wanted me to sing Shania. I was like, you guys you know, to my point before, I'm trying to keep this, you know, for the guys as much as it is for the girls. And I was like, I can't sing. We can't. I can't be a believable cowboy singing Shania Twain. Can I sing Hootie? And they said, well, we can check. So they had to go through all these different, you know, back channels to get to the Hootie team. And they were like, are you going to be making fun of us? I was like, I promise he's a huge fan. He's not going to. And I, you know, Hootie and the Blowfish was the anthem to my college years. That's. We listened to Hootie, we listened to the Counting Crows and we listened.

A (74:43)

To.

D (74:43)

To. What was the other one? Pearl Jam. That was, that was basically all we listened to in college. So when I had a chance to sing Hoodie, I jumped at.

A (74:54)

It. Yeah, it worked. And you know, you had said, as you, your character describes, it's like, hey, that was in my range. And then you even make the sh. So now I understand the Shania reference that you. Because you're like, I. I hope I didn't do that. That's pretty, that's actually pretty funny. You mentioned though, kind of like where you're at now. And I know that, you know, we touch base every now and then and you've. You've kind of gone off grid a little bit, right? Like, where are you spending most of your time? Because I don't even know how often you're even in la or if you have a place here anymore or like you, you, you seem to be at a place in your life where you are more comfortable, maybe just going like, hey, I'm capable of doing this and I prefer to kind of be away from all of.

D (75:33)

It. Yeah, I think Covid did that for a lot of people. You know, you realize that you don't necessarily have to be in one place. We do still spend a fair amount of time in Los Angeles. We have a place there. My son is there, my 12 year old son is there. So, you know, just out of necessity, we have to be there. And I like LA well enough. But, you know, my happy place is that cabin out in the woods. We're official residents of North Dakota again. My wife is also from there. And then our cabin is. Is very close by. So, you know, if I could live there, I would. But we are literally 40 miles from anything from any grocery store, from, you know, pretty much civilization. So, you know, I don't know if it's just, as I've gotten older, I'm a bit of a recluse. I'm not sure, but I really do love. It's the getting back to the basics, I think, is what I love about it. You're the freedom of.

A (76:29)

It.

D (76:30)

The. I feel like I'm more in the moment there than I am anywhere else. I'm not concerned about, you know, a meeting or, you know, I'm worried about, you know, making sure we got enough wood, enough water, enough food, making sure that we, you know, can survive, you know, and for me, I built it mostly because I had this vision that. And it still may come true. You know, LA goes sideways, how do I get the hell out of there and where do I go? And that was kind of the real reason I did it in the first place. I still haven't completely figured out how I get out of Los Angeles. I have a dirt bike, but then I gotta somehow get my family. You know, there's a, there's a, there's a marina down Marinadale. Maybe I get like a little boat that takes me up the coast and I have a car parked in a parking. You know, I go through all these scenarios. I'm, I'm fucking crazy, Ryan. Do you not ever go? Do you not ever have these ideas that if one thing goes off the rails, the whole city locks up and we're stuck here and the zombie apocalypse.

A (77:35)

Occurs? I could do an hour on this. So let's spend some time. I don't live in this fear of Los Angeles going sideways. I understand people that do. I have people that are like, oh, you live out there? And I go, I don't even think about it, man. I don't even think about it. However, I do have a boat in Marina Del Rey. And I've run myself through those scenarios of like, what if, what if, like, there was a, there's an oil refinery not that far from me and it was on fire not that long ago, and people were hitting me up, being like, oh, you're going to be okay. You're going to be evacuated or whatever. And then I, I, I don't know that you can't help. Maybe he's just being imaginative as a person or whatever. You're like, okay, in theory, like, what would you do? And you're like, all right, so if there's enough gas, I know how many hours I would have in the boat. And then I was like, but this is like, what are you gonna do? Go to San Diego? So you're gonna do Catalina. You're just gonna be in line with everybody else with an even bigger boat than what I have. So I think. I think there's something about man in general, whether, you know, I was reading, like, a bunch of Western stuff and Western civilization. I've read Lonesome Some Dove for the first time. So after I got done with Lonesome Dove, I couldn't get it out of my system. Like, I was reading everything I could about settling the West. And you start thinking, like, there is something inherently about man. Whether it's the cliche, go west, young man, or this idea that. I think a lot of us kind of just have this love affair with this idea of getting off the grid and being in this cabin and having you set up. But then I also have to have a moment where I check myself. Like, you also like your nice shit, and you also like to go to Equinox, and you also like to go to the beach, and you also, like, you know, like, going to Erewhon and getting. So, like, I'm softer than I've ever been. So I admire if you think you would go full shift and you would be completely happy. But I also wonder, like, being a dude who's an actor who's also famous, and it's like, I can also kind of relive some of my youth and get back to LA and. And feel like a big deal. And if I can get a little taste of it, that. That makes me feel even better when I'm off the grid, where if I were there 100% of the time, I wonder if you'd go, you know.

D (79:48)

What? I kind of miss a little.

A (79:49)

Bit being a big deal in la just a couple weeks a.

D (79:52)

Year. Well, hey, yeah, I mean, for sure. I'm not saying forever. I'm just saying, you know, and if I had to. And if I. If I had to, like, live. If I had to, like, literally live off the grid for a month, two months, even three months, we'd be okay. I'm not saying I'm going to live out there forever all the time, but it is. It is one of those things that I've, you know, you know, over the years. And at first. And it's not as if we're living. You know, when I first built this place, it was almost like homesteading. I mean, we didn't have electricity. We didn't even have water at one of the.

A (80:24)

Cabins. And the wife was totally fine with.

D (80:27)

It. Well, not. Not really. Turns out women you're dating don't love having to go, you know, to the outhouse out back in the dead of.

A (80:36)

Winter. I take our.

D (80:38)

Side. But we did have to. You know, we did. We were washing our plates in the lake. It was like, full on for a long time now, you know, we built it up and it's pretty. You know, we have all those amenities that. That we didn't have for those first ten years or so. So it is pretty. It is pretty cush, but it's nowhere near, you know, the amenities that you have when you're living in Los Angeles or the proximity to an Erewhon or an Equinox or, you know, a nice sushi restaurant. You know, none of that's there. It's a. It's a different. There's definitely a different way of life, which I actually.

A (81:11)

Love. I. Because I keep thinking about it. I keep thinking, like, all right, if I could go. And then it's like, okay, what are you gonna do? You get better at finger picking guitar. Like you're gonna write something better than what you've. Like, I keep. I keep fantasizing about this, like, creative. It's like you also have bills to pay. You also have a pretty good job. Like, things are pretty good. And you would get out there and you'd be in the mid woods. It's like, it's not like I'm the most social guy now ever. So then you'd be going, yeah, but after a few months, you'd probably be like, you know what? You know what? I'd like to do all the stuff that I can do. Go ahead, go.

D (81:46)

Ahead. Well, that's the beauty of it, though, because I still can. I still get to go back to Los Angeles, and I do love going to nice restaurants, and I also love Equinox, and I love, you know, all the nice shit that you can get at, you know, five minutes down the street. But it is nice to get away to unplug from that stuff a little bit too. I'm gonna have you out there sometime. I would love to have you out.

A (82:06)

There. I'd love to check it out. I mean, you sent me a couple pictures, and I was just looking around going, like, is he placing rusted tractors for the aesthetics or is he actually, like, working on this stuff? Which also worked out great for Ransom Canyon because it seems like your guy's pretty handy on top of everything.

D (82:21)

Else. Yeah, but I mean it. I'd love to have you come out sometime. Maybe even the.

A (82:25)

Summer. Done. It's a lot of fun, man. Look, I love that Stuff. My father had this property that was right on the border of Canada. We were little kids and it was 10 acres. And I mean, it's in this small, small town that you never even know was on a map. And we used to go out there and there was like an abandoned hippie bus of people going into Canada through this back route on the other side of the Canadian border. And it was wild, you know, and he would keep the thing up because, you know, he grew up as a bricklayer and then a carpenter and then building houses and he would maintain it. And we'd all go and like, we didn't have anything, we didn't TV nothing there. We just running around and it was the simple part of that life. Like you, you forget how simple. I think we're of kind of the same age of like realizing what everything was like before. And maybe we're being a little too myopic and in, in our specific generation, but just to be out there where, you know, your only options are yourself, to entertain yourself and it's kind of something that's pretty cool when you think about how simple that.

D (83:28)

Was. Yeah, yeah, you just, you, you just. I enter into a different mindset. I really do. And by the way, to your point about when you were kids, it's a great place to take kids and have them spend a lot of their, you know, their young years not only in front of an iPad in Los Angeles, but getting them out there, you know, on the water helping me fix whatever or clean out whatever, whatever we're doing. I always, I try to get them as, you know, involved and try to teach, especially my 12 year old, as much as I is, you know, and I've learned a lot. When I got out there, I didn't know anything. I never had a cabin or a lake or boat or anything like that growing up, so I've had to learn it. So for me, it's fun to, you know, pass this stuff on to my kids now and get them out of it, get them off the.

A (84:16)

Screens. Yeah, totally. I imagine the horseback part of it you had locked in then you were like, I'm.

D (84:23)

Good. Well, I'm not a huge horse guy, you know, I don't look, I actually this year I've liked it a lot more. Last year because I hadn't been on. I grew up in North Dakota, obviously in close proximity to horses and had ridden quite a bit. But, but when we, we went to this, we had a little cowboy camp before we went, and I was not really looking for it. You Know, because I just, I knew I had a friend who was a kid who got kicked in the head and I'm always afraid I'm going to get bucked off and break my neck like Christopher, you know, just like all these things run through my head. So I have this healthy fear of horses. Some people absolutely love it. And they look so much, they look so forward to it. But this year's been different. You know, I got my horse, jw. I know I can trust him. He's not gonna do anything crazy. And it's actually been a lot more.

A (85:12)

Fun. Yeah, it works. I mean, look, if you're gonna shoot this kind of show, all that stuff has to, has to look really natural. The roles that, you know, I'm not gonna do like the full Josh Duhamel filmography here. But, you know, the industry's change, it's changing so fast that sometimes you can feel like, okay, what, what is out there for someone like me? And talking to different people that are writers and it's like some of the movies that we all kind of love, these smaller budget movies and everything, it's just like they don't really make them anymore. And I think that's a little negative to be like, hey, they don't make, they're never going to make any of them, because that's not true. Like, there's still places that are doing some of the smaller stuff, but it's definitely not popular with decision makers. So when you're kind of mapping out like a game plan and the roles that were available to you and I'm not just talking about like an age thing, but, but the creative roles that may be available to you 20 years ago in the industry versus what's available now for somebody that can be a leading man, how do you try to navigate what makes sense for you and what the best opportunities are and the chance for.

D (86:16)

Success? Well, I would argue that there's more opportunity to do those smaller indies than there ever was because they're making fewer big tent pole movies than they used to. There's just not as many of them being made. I mean, the business is really sort of tighten the, tighten their belt, you know, as far as what they're spending. And the streamers are kind of the king of the hill right now. So I've had a lot more opportunity to do those smaller ones. The really fun sort of indie things that I really do love to do. And then things like Ransom Canyon or, you know, Shotgun Wedding. These things, these things come up because it's fun to do those too. Those big popcorn movies are also fun. Honestly when I look at. So I never know what I want to do until I read it. I just read a script called Killing John Wayne which is amazing. It's going to be I think an eight or ten episode series and it's just so irreverent and true. I don't know if you knew this but Stalin had a, an obsession with John Wayne and when stall and I won't get too into the story, I'll probably get myself into trouble even talking about it. But it's this story about how he found out, you know, he has an obsession with American cinema and he would, he would, he would, you know that he'd always be watching these movies and he found out that John Wayne was against, really against communism and was. Became the president of this board that was sort of meant to preserve the sanctity of American morals. It was some kind of. I forget what the name of the board was or the, the, the company. And he puts a hit on, on him, you know. And so John Wayne literally had FBI agents protecting him from these communists that were. These, these assassins basically were coming up from. I didn't know this was true and I don't know it's. The script says it's true. I've never read anything about that before but I was like, wow, it's that kind of stuff that you know, gets me excited, you know, so that you just never know what it is until you read.

A (88:26)

It. So are you saying then because like I guess everything that I've read is more of like maybe the studios are not interested, but the traditional studios. But your position is that because there's so much content in this battle for streaming that there's more of an open mindedness maybe on the streaming side of making these smaller things. Because I would, I would argue that it felt like the studio shifted towards let's spend more money on less things as opposed to just buying up millions of scripts like they used to do in the.

D (88:55)

Past. Yeah, that might be true because.

A (88:58)

I think there's just a lot of writers that would tell you it's, it's harder. Like stuff like hey, this isn't going to work. But if you go towards some of the stuff that's happening now. Yeah. You dial up the front page of Netflix and you're like, I don't even. Like I have so much to choose from.

D (89:14)

Here. I know. Well, that's the problem too is you. There's so much content out there. So how do you decide what's going to make noise and what's just going to get lost in the sea of content. And for me, it's about just finding things a. That really resonate with me, something I feel like I could do, you know, excel in and something that's going to make some noise. It's not just going to be another version of whatever thing we've seen 20 times before. So I don't know. There is a lot of content. I think too much content. I think part of the, you know, eventually they're probably going to end up consolidating a lot of these streaming platforms into, you know, what used to be like a network, you know, Fox Channel.

A (90:02)

Cbs.

D (90:02)

Yeah. But it'll be, you know, it'll be. It'll be a bunch of these dreamers sort of conglomerated. And then, you know, there'll be three or four bigger ones that hopefully will make it feel like there's. Because it's almost. It's just.

A (90:15)

Overwhelming. You know, when.

D (90:17)

You. When you go to some of these sites, there's just too much content out.

A (90:20)

There. How are you doing with your.

D (90:23)

Vikings? Not.

A (90:24)

Great. Give me your overall, like, position on where you're.

D (90:30)

At. I knew this probably wasn't going to be our year. I mean, we knew that JJ was probably not going to come in and take us to the promised land his first full season. I was pretty skeptical about us getting rid of Darnold last year, but also knowing that, you know, we've got the kid here, eventually he's going to be the guy. So one thing had to give and. And of course, he goes off to Seattle and crushes it. Same with Daniel Jones. He was also in the locker room last year, and I was pretty down on jj, I think, for the first few times. First of all, I thought they protected him way too much as far as they hit him. He didn't play enough in the preseason. In my mind, I'm like, this dude isn't Aaron Rodgers. Let's get him out there and get him reps. And then he gets hurt right away again. And then we bring my boy Carson in, who gets just completely annihilated, and then he doesn't play.

A (91:29)

Well. But now, I don't mean to laugh. I just. The way you said it.

D (91:31)

Sorry. I love. I love Carson Wentz. I get a lot of. I get a lot of heat for that, but I really do love the dude. Maybe it's just our North Dakota roots, but you know what? He's looked pretty good these last couple of weeks. I feel like you know, you look at the Bryce Youngs and the Caleb Williams and some of these other young quarterbacks who struggle early on, you just got to give him a little time to adapt. Now, is he going to be. Is he going to be an elite quarterback? I'm not sure. What do you.

A (91:57)

Think? Well, as ugly as it was, and it was really ugly, and there was a lot of stuff that you could pick through going, oh, my God. You know, I don't know. The receivers are the most understanding people ever, but when you're seeing one of the best, maybe the best in Jefferson out there, like getting frustrated time and time again. I think it was the game like a month.

D (92:15)

Ago.

A (92:16)

Yeah. Against Detroit maybe. And it was just like, this is getting so bad. But having said all that, it's like, if you've spent the pick on him, you've moved on from Darnold, like, you actually have to bring him back next year and make sure because you've invested this pick into it. Now, I would leave the caveat in there. Like, if you're around him and oconnells like, this is not the guy. We've made a massive mistake, then does it mean you're punting on 26 again? Like, I would allow that if the people that around it every single day being like, we completely screwed it up, he's not the guy we can't punt on another year here. But more often than not as bad as any rookie QB looks, because that's really what we're talking about here, especially one taking that high. You have to give him the chance to prove that he can't play. And these last two weeks, it's a massive improvement. Yeah, you've got a coach who's done wonders with other quarterbacks in the past here. And, you know, maybe it's as simple as that. Maybe it's as simple as some of these other guys that get off to these awful, awful starts. But it also tells you something about the faith they must have had in him to move on from Darnold. You know, I'm not saying Darnold is perfect, but I mean, this guy, prior to those last two games, was in the MVP conversation in 24. He's like, well, if they moved on from him again, I'm not around it. So when they make that kind of decision and they seem like smart guys, especially at that position, like, they must love jj, like they must love this guy. And, you know, you can go back and replay history and go, oh, well, he never was asked to do anything at Michigan and why would you make this kind of mistake? And plenty of people that are smarter than us have made the mistake of the position over and over and over again. But I think it'd be incredibly unfair, as bad as it may end up looking on the entire season for JJ to not even give him a chance going into.

D (93:58)

26. Yeah, I agree. I think. I think we got to give him another season. And I do think he's shown enough improvement to earn that. I totally trust Kevin o'. Connell. I feel like there's nobody better, like, you know, grooming these young quarterbacks. And he obviously does see something in him, his accuracy. It needs to improve for sure. I don't think he's got a huge arm, but I think it's strong.

A (94:21)

Enough.

D (94:22)

He. He's not the most athletic, but he's pretty athletic. But what I do, what I do like about him that I've noticed is that he does have that thing, that, that winning sort of thing that he's. He can will a team to, to victory. And I saw it. We were in. I was at the Bears game in Minneapolis. We played that crap the entire game. Offense looked terrible, but he was able to get us down and score a touchdown right at the end. Then we blew it by letting him run a 40 yard, you know, kick return back to the 40 and like. But, you know, so he does have that thing. And I've seen him do that a couple of years. And that's really what you want in your quarterback is a game guy that, you know is going to give you a shot with two minutes left. And I feel like he kind of is. He does kind of have that thing, I think. So, you know, it's just a matter of KLC doing what he does. He seems like a hard worker. He seems like he's got the right attitude, feels like a pretty good leader. But that NFC north is going to be good for a.

A (95:25)

While. Yeah, it's a brutal division. It's a brutal division. And you mentioned, like, he might have that thing, and I don't know that he does or he doesn't, but at the end of the Bears game at Chicago in the beginning of the year, and it's that fourth quarter and it's like, oh, and just look at him out there and he's got this intensity. He's kind of selling the whole thing. Like, that personality is either going to be like the defining thing for him in the best way possible. This guy always had a ton of fight in him. Or it's going to be so Bad the other way that it was like, can you believe that people were falling for this stuff? Because it's still too soon to really know, like, what the guy is all about. Because I think you probably appreciate this as an actor. I think we'd all know if you've watched enough football, you know how you're supposed to act. You know how you're supposed to act as the leader and inspiring guys. Like, sometimes I'll see guys mic'd up that are tapping the team, and it's like the quarterback has stunk for two quarters, and they finally put together a touchdown drive. And then he's going to the offensive line. He's like, that's all we need. Like, keep going. And then sometimes I feel like the old lines like, man, you're average as hell. Like, stop. Stop hyping us up because the mic is.

D (96:36)

On. Yeah, yeah. This is, this goes all the way back. You know, you just, you, you take risks, risks on these young quarterbacks, and sometimes they pan out. You just, you know, and so many times, quarterbacks that could have been great were in the wrong situation in a system that wasn't able to properly develop their talents. Well, I don't think that's the case here. I do think that any young quarterback is in a pretty good position to excel under, under Kevin o'. Connell. So, you know, if he crashes and burns, it's because he just didn't have it. And, you know, it was, it was just a bad pick. It wasn't because he didn't have the proper sort of mentorship or tutoring along the way. But I, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm ever hopeful. You know, I want one super bowl ring before we die. Before I die. I'm going to blow the, the horn this weekend, Christmas Day, for the, for the bikes.

A (97:36)

Game. Oh, you are? How's that get worked.

D (97:38)

Out? You know what I.

A (97:40)

Got. Do you have to ask or do you, you can't ask because then it makes it.

D (97:44)

Worse. Listen to this. I, I, I hope I don't look like I'm, you know, bragging, but I got a call from Mark.

A (97:50)

Wolf. I think you can brag. It's.

D (97:52)

Okay. Mark Wolf called me. I was like, whoa, the owner of the Vikings is calling me, asked me to do this. I got to do it right. Christmas Day was tough because it was, you know, it's Christmas. But I talked to my wife, and she said that, you know, go for it. Just try to get back as soon as you can. So I'll probably Go to the horn, probably fly out at 6am Go to the horn, stick around for a couple of quarters, and then catch a flight back so I can get home for Christmas. But I got to do that, right? I mean, when. When. When the owner of the bikes calls you, you gotta. You gotta. You gotta do what he.

A (98:25)

Asks. Yeah. What's the flight status on that? Because I know. I know. We've. We've talked about those.

D (98:30)

Challenges. Be great if he could send me his private.

A (98:32)

Jet. Yeah.

D (98:35)

Christmas. He didn't offer that, though. He didn't offer.

A (98:38)

It. Well, hopefully I. The Vikings get it done before you get too old at some point. But I know with your new brand, and it's not just you and a partnership, this is something that you've done with Gatlin where maybe you extend life long enough to extend that Vikings.

D (98:56)

Window. Hey, that's. Hey, maybe that. That should be my. My sole purpose and motivation behind this company. I just want to live long enough to see the Vikings win a Super.

C (99:06)

Bowl.

D (99:06)

That's. That's Gatlin's new.

A (99:08)

Mantra. Yeah. Or look like your costar cap in Ransom Canyon. That guy's.

D (99:13)

Age. He's a handsome man, isn't he? James Brolin is 80 some years old and still looks like a supermodel. It's.

A (99:19)

Unbelievable. He's.

D (99:21)

80. He's over 80. I think he's mid-80s. We should look that up. But I think he.

A (99:28)

Is. We'll get it on that. Yeah. No, your co star, like, he's. It's kind of cool they have this, like, father figure type thing for you. But look, as somebody who still likes to stay active, is out there in the wild, in the game all the time. What. What is this company? What is it that you're doing? What. What motivated you to say, I got to do something. Something different as I get older.

D (99:51)

Here? Well, it was my. My friend Fabian Calvo, who's my. My partner in this thing, had been developing this for a couple of years and came to me, and you can imagine the amount of blocking and tackling it takes just to get a telemedicine company and all the FDA compliance, everything else off the ground. So they'd done it. They'd done a fair amount of work, and at the time, it was just a testosterone replacement therapy company. I was like. I'd been doing TRT for the last few years, so I totally believed in this stuff, but I didn't know if I wanted to be the face of it. And then I thought, you know what? Why not? I should be the guy that does this. If anybody should be doing this, I feel like, like I should because it really, truly changed my world. And, you know, rather than getting out there and selling a vodka or tequila, I felt like, why not do something that's going to help a lot of guys and talk about this thing that nobody wants to talk about, Take some of the shame off of it. It's got a stigma, you know, there's, there's a stigma attached and guys generally don't want to, you know, talk about losing their edge. But it happens, you know, and, and it happens to everybody. And so it was an opportunity, you know, what was, what was an obstacle in the beginning of not wanting to, you know, share my dirty little secrets became an opportunity to, you know, start the conversation and shine a light on something that I think that we all could talk more about. Because the shit works. Whether it's the peptides, BPC157, the Wolverine stack that we got to get you on to help your, you know, with your joints in your, in your recovery or some more lin or, you know, there's so many things now that you can take. Whether it's nad or even for women, testosterone is a thing. You know, I have some friends who were, that had low trt female friends had low, low testosterone and that completely changed their world. So, you know, it's an opportunity to really sort of not only talk about it, but educate people about it. We've got an amazing group of doctors that do this stuff all day and are some of the foremost longevity doctors in the world. So I'm excited about it. It's an opportunity to really do something that I feel can not only extend my life, but help other guys. And by the way, my dad's getting up there now and that just dawned on me the other day that to your point earlier, with all of the new discoveries in this field and all the stuff that they have out there now, you know, they say that if you can just, you know, like people of a certain age, if they can just live an extra 10 years, there's going to be so much advancement in longevity that, that, you know, people are going to live to much, much older ages and healthy ages. The longer health span, it's not just about the lifespan, it's about living a healthy, a healthy, longer.

A (102:51)

Life. Yeah, I appreciate that. You didn't go full abs on the website. You're doing a very, you got the flannel on a little outboard behind you. You know, it's kind of like the, the Every man approach to this because, like, in all honesty, too, like the stigma part of it, if, if you're of a certain age and you're going to your doctor and you're like, hey, what are the opportunities? You know, and there's going to be a lot of doctors, like, that's insane. You shouldn't be doing this stuff. And then there's going to be a wellness clinic that's like, what do you need? You know? So I think we're on the cusp of the very beginning of people understanding. There's, there's very mild things that can improve. And it's not a longevity, it's just feeling a little bit better. Especially if you're staying active in your.

D (103:38)

50S. Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's the main thing. I'm not, of course, if guys want to get jacked and if they want to get like, they want to, like. Part of this was vanity for me too, in the beginning when I first started doing it. But now it's more about staying active, staying young, keeping my edge, staying in the game, being able to roll around with my kids in the dirt, you know, just doing all the things. And I do, I feel more healthy than I have even in my mid-30s. It's unbelievable. So I know 100 that this stuff works. And it's about, like you said, you know, just improving your life. And when, once you start feeling better, you have more, you have more motivation to go do more, you know, to. And it's all like a cyclical thing where if you're, if you're, if you're, if you're, you know, post Christmas, been drinking, been eating too much, it's hard to get that motivation up to get back into it. But once you start feeling better and looking better, you start making more money, you start, you become a better, you become a more present husband and friend or brother, whatever it is. I mean, all this stuff is sort of interconnected. And that was a big reason why I jumped into this too, is, you know, to, to. I have a, I have a real curiosity about it. It's the, it's, it's, it and all the stuff that they're, they're, you know, that they're, they're finding. And there's all these new peptides that are going to be coming out and, you know, people can, people can, you know, believe it or not, but I just say that, you know, if you get your, if you get your levels tested, get your blood tested, find out where your levels are at, what you're deficient in what you can improve on. There are things out there that can really improve your quality of.

A (105:18)

Life. For more information on that, you can go to Gatlin.com that's G-A-T L A N dot com. Yeah, man, let's. I'd say let's connect in LA, but I'm. I'm down for the cabin visit because I do like that stuff. Stuff. Especially if you have.

D (105:34)

Internet. Oh yeah, we do. Starlink.

A (105:37)

Baby. I imagine so. And make sure you check out Josh on Ransom Canyon, Netflix. And again, congrats on season two, man. So when's that one coming.

D (105:45)

Out? They're saying early summer. I've heard May, I've heard June, and I've heard July. I don't know. I don't even know if they know yet. But it's. It's gonna be.

A (105:55)

Good. All right, man. Well, I'm happy for it. I always love catching up, so.

D (105:58)

Thanks. Appreciate you having.

A (106:00)

Me. Ryan, Golf season is in full.

D (106:04)

Swing and getting out there to work on your game is bound to make any day even.

A (106:09)

Better. And if you're looking to improve your drive, Chevy Equinox EV is the.

D (106:14)

Smartest choice you can.

C (106:15)

Make. Bold athletic styling, a commanding presence.

A (106:19)

Award winning tech and impressive range, all with an affordable msrp. Chevy Equinox EV will put a.

D (106:25)

Smile on your face no matter how your.

A (106:27)

Scorecard. Shakespeare out. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's.

D (106:35)

Up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine and best of all, kids, I am.

C (106:44)

Liquid. So now you know what's.

A (106:47)

Possible. Let me tell you what's required. Lifeadvice.rrmail.com that is the email address. Just a heads up on our DraftKings alliance pick for this week because the lines are not up as the time of this taping. Ceruti. We were just going to do a social post and we're good at DraftKings will be happy. Everybody's good. Back on the winning.

B (107:04)

Side. Yep. It'll be for the Friday night games. So looking for that first dub. We didn't. There's only two games because the cup on Tuesday so we didn't do the king of the court. Maybe we'll be back after the new year but check the socials. We'll have it there for you. We've been good as a unit. We just haven't hit one parlay. So take the bets individually if you want. That's probably the way to.

A (107:23)

Go. Too. Yeah, There you go. That's. That's what? You know, sure. They love to hear that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, no, I mean, you know, look the best. You know, you know, let's. Let's pick it up here. A couple moments here to follow up on. We have had a stream of emails, like, I don't know if it's the wine spill. Follow up. We have a lot of people wondering about the guy who's trying to live with his buddies. But. But it's such a bummer reading all of these emails about guys whose wives cheated on them after listening to that story that you're going to do this? No, I just want to acknowledge these guys are pouring their hearts out to us in these emails. And I would say, collectively, I'm sorry, some of these stories are just awful, and I just don't want to read them because, like, the guy who wrote in the original email, like, you know, we don't know his situation. And I think there's also a thing that will happen when there's tragedy with someone else and there's a relatable tragedy that happens to you, then you want their tragedy to be just as bad as yours is. And, you know, I don't know that that's fair of the emailer. Like, he's already probably freaked out enough that we're even referencing any of this stuff, because now it went from, hey, my wife's annoying to, yeah, does this mean she's cheating on me? I was just trying to see if these guys were going to do the picks for the College Football Playoff, and now I'm questioning my entire life. I don't know that I want to be that important.

B (109:03)

Ever.

A (109:04)

Nope. I don't want this. You know, we're doing. We're doing well over here. I don't know that I ever want to be that important of a show. So I think the emailer, he's not following up. It's just. I've seen your emails. I've read your stories. I'm sorry, but I. I don't know that I want to bum out the original guy that much more. And everybody could be projecting on him, you know, as much as they're accusing the wife of projecting on our guy that sent in the email. So I. I felt like that was the best way to handle it. Some of those stories are brutal, man. Brutal. Okay, I got. Glad we did.

C (109:36)

That. All.

B (109:36)

Right.

A (109:37)

Yeah. Was that bad? Should I have done.

D (109:39)

That? Glad we did.

B (109:40)

That. Happy.

A (109:41)

Holidays. Yeah. Yeah. Some guy's, like, holding two presents in his hand right now for his wife that he's kind of got questions about. And he's like, you know what, just give me the plated one. Give me the plated gold. This was something I even forwarded to Serti because I loved it as soon as it came in. Cerutty's iconic moment. 26 years old, five' ten, not much for lifting stats, more of a sneaky cardio athlete. Player comp. Peak Rockets Luis Scola Andres Bindrins free throw shooting Tony Allen's jumper. Rodney Stuckey's body. I thought Rodney Stuckey's body was fine. I think I'm an avid listener. We'll alternate between the audio and video format of the podcast depending on the time of day. Approximately six months ago, on the podcast, during life Advice, Ceruti gave a cowboy impression accent saying yeah. Ryan broke out laughter like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was all caps. Incredible. Can anybody, you or the listeners remember what episode that was? Because something triggered me to remember it today and I had an instant deja vu and I needed to listen to this 30 second clip again to relive the glory. Thanks in advance. Would love if you do a live show in the Bay Area because of your love of Steph would allow you to eat free in the Bay Area for life. I don't know. I mean, we're going to be doing the super bowl stuff, which is a massive pivot because we thought we were done with Super Bowls. And now because it's the first year, I was like, you know what? Eff it, we're in. Do you remember what this is? It was like a concert yell, right? Like the way I've described this. I had a buddy, Bobby, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, maybe a Marin county guy who knows what those guys are up to, but he used to do this concert yell and it was like the idea of like thumb in your jean pocket, maybe a beer or a Johnnie Walker. And you're like Steve Miller, pregame parking lot. And you're just letting out this concert yell. Is that what you did for us? Because I love.

B (111:34)

It. I remember. Yeah. I remember the noise. I don't remember why we got into it. I use that a lot. It's just like a. It's just like a. Yeah. Kind of thing, you know, Like, I don't, I don't know what else like I.

A (111:48)

Use. It wasn't.

B (111:49)

Higher. I don't think it was higher. That's usually my go to, but I don't remember the context. I certainly don't remember what the episode was. I now would also like to go back. So if anybody has some free time. Yeah, let us know, because I'm interested in why I even did that in the first place. But I'll do that around the house. And Matty thinks it's kind of funny.

A (112:05)

So. What is it.

B (112:06)

Again? Yeah, it's kind of like.

A (112:09)

A. It's kind of like a macho.

B (112:11)

Man. No, it's not that. Yeah, I'm getting. There's. Yeah, it's like a sarcastic tough guy. I don't know why. Like, you know, a guy who. I don't know, maybe like, you're listening to Creed in the garage by yourself, hitting some golf.

A (112:23)

Balls. I don't.

B (112:24)

Know. And you just, you know, you're just loving life, and it's just a you're happy to be alive kind of.

A (112:28)

Thing. Do you know what I'm talking about, though, with the Steve Miller guy? Like, it's a higher pitch and it's.

B (112:34)

Louder. It's like. No, I do love Steve Miller.

A (112:37)

Though. Are you talking more of a woo? It's more like a yelp, where it's like. It's not a woo, it's not a woo, but it's. It's like a. It's like a who? You know? I don't know. This guy's the only one who's not embarrassed to try it on the mic, so I guess we'll never. We'll never get it. You can tell Ryan's, like, trying to describe it without doing it. I don't even know what, you.

B (113:02)

Know, what you're talking about, because the only Steve Miller thing that I. I remember is that, like, whistle in. What's. What's that song in Jungle Love.

A (113:11)

You know, he does.

B (113:11)

The. You know what I'm talking.

A (113:13)

About.

B (113:14)

Yeah. Great song, by the way. Just letting it fly today.

A (113:19)

Apparently, my thing is so loud. The thing I'm thinking of is so loud that. Yeah, it would be. I gotta turn the knob down on the right. I gotta go all for.

B (113:30)

It. Step back a little.

A (113:31)

Bit. I don't want a guy in a car. You know, it's like, what the hell? Fair. So I don't. I don't know how it would be subtitled on Netflix. Nice. So there's always a danger there. Anyway, the show's not on Netflix yet, so don't worry about it. Okay, Couple emails here. Lifelong Hooper, missing the game. All right, we'll do this one. 28 years old. 651-806-11. Wingspan 357. Marathon this guy. Is he real? No. Impressive gym stats. None needed after that. 6:11 Wingspan sub 4 Marathon NBA comp Rudy Gobert I live in the paint, protect the rim, keep it old school on offense with a baby hook and drop steps can still throw it down when needed. On the court I enjoy my job working in finance. I'm happily married one year old. Boy dilemma I like how he organized this email I miss playing real organized basketball. High school ball, college intramurals, running with the same squad all year. I find myself daydreaming about those days all the time. I moved away after college so none of my high school or college friends are around. I play pickup regularly and have tried a few local men's leagues but honestly it's just ISO ball guys hunting for calls or dudes looking to start fights. There's no real teamwork, no chemistry. Most of the time I'm not even having My question is how can I go back to truly enjoying basketball? I don't see a way to recapture that feeling I had when I was younger and honestly that bums me out. Have you guys dealt with this or do you know anyone who has any advice would mean a lot. Appreciate you guys keep up the great.

B (114:55)

Work. I think I know. Does he just miss someone a basketball.

A (115:00)

Team? Like does he miss a locker room? That's what everyone misses the most from basketball, right? What happened to the game I loved Mark Jackson? You know, go ahead.

B (115:07)

Siri. I think you gotta find what time do the old guys play at the.

A (115:12)

Y. There you.

B (115:13)

Go. Because those guys play the right way. Real teamwork and you know, you might not win as much as you want, but they're like at least going to move the ball. They communicate on defense. They certainly aren't isoing anybody trying to take anyone off the dribble. That's if you're looking for like the pure form of basketball that's probably what you got to do because I remember like you know we would. I haven't played the wide a long time but there were a bunch of old guys that were skill level probably not as good as some of the other guys but I would have 100% draft for them first if we were doing like a fantasy draft of guys that we could have picked at the Y and so I think that's probably your move. You need a good balance of the young and the old. So if you can find a couple of your buddies that you trust or anybody that you kind of know that you like and then mix in a couple of old heads guys that are kind of maybe wearing like gray. A lot of gray. Yeah. Maybe some new balances. Who knows? New balances you want to play.

A (115:58)

With. Yeah. Hit the blue plate special after a dub. That'd be great. I feel like the old guys are still wearing Under.

B (116:05)

Armour.

A (116:06)

Yes. That's like a good indicator. So, like it went from a younger thing, compression, and now I feel like the older guys are super late to the compression thing and they, they haven't got any of these shorts. Some of the stuff, some of the stuff, compression wise, doesn't like. You don't have to wear this out. Although I respect it. I brought that up numerous times. I see a guy out on a compression, under armor, full sleep, and he's gone out to drink that way. Yeah, it's like his drinks will be on me tonight. Like, do you want to say hi? No, I don't want to meet him. I definitely don't want to talk to him. But I want his. I want that move to be acknowledged and respected. I've talked about that before. Yep, that's. That's the move. I mean, there were different games when I was still playing and I'd show up in Hartford or something. And especially if you were like the only white guy and you were older, I'm like, okay, no one's ever gonna pass to me. I think a couple times I may have said, like, I'm not here to set screens all day, guys. And then it's just a bunch of younger kids looking at you, just being like, what the. You know, and then it's kind of on you and then, you know, whatever. There's nobody's gonna pass you the ball. But the older games, and since you're 28 and it sounds like you've got some frame here, like, it's going to be up to you to like, understand like, how much older the guys that you're playing with are. Like, I know, like, you're not going to want to go in and be like, yeah, but if I play with these guys, like, no one can handle me physically and it's not going to be as much fun. I actually think it will be more fun. I think the overall message that I would say to you is that if you love basketball this much and you're 28, do not let anything get in the way of you, like, like playing bad games. Because I'd rather play in bad games and be able to run around and move than playing no games. Because if you do the long gap of not playing and then you come back, it's going to be a disaster. So just, just keep playing. And I think survey nailed that one with the older guy thing because I don't know, I played in like a men's league towards the end of me playing like in pick up stuff and you know, half the games were great and half the games were terrible. So. You know, the thing about signup sheets is the sign up sheet doesn't know what your deal is. You just write the.

B (118:25)

Check. Yeah, I got put on in my most recent pickup thing. I joined a league in town and I got, I think. Did I say this before? I forget. I got put on like basically a free agent.

A (118:34)

Team. There's like.

B (118:35)

A. There was like eight of us or eight or nine new people and the guy was just like, yeah, just throw them all on the same team and that. Great guys. But that was a disaster. No one had any chemistry. It was like one guy who was like kind of good, he shot a lot. But it's because like we need one guy to at least be assertive. No one was that old and no one really knew how to cut, move and whatever. I wasn't good either. And that's. It was a tough situation to be.

A (118:57)

In. Yeah, that's. There's also like just way less leeway. If you're 65 with a 611 wingspan though, and you're 28 years old and you could still dunk, then I think guys are going to defer to you. So I'm a little surprised. Like this guy's just about the game, the purity of it. All right, Because I'd imagine you're still getting touches even if you're saying like if your offense is more like Rudy. But I think everybody would want you on the team. But again, boxing out, setting screens, getting back on defense, like that stuff's just not appreciated that much. It's just a free for all of guys. But you know, there's just. When it's new basketball players, players playing with each other, there's zero tolerance for anyone else, if this makes any sense. And I'm not doing a great job with this, but if you're doing something wrong or you're messing up, but it's guys that you've played with, then nobody ever gets caught up in all the bullshit of what you're doing. And you can be just as good and then in a completely new setting and then it's just guys get so mad at each other about the same shit that you would never get mad about. I mean, you could relate this.

B (120:02)

To like, should we switch to zone is always the best we're getting. Like, eat up and lean alive. It's like we can. I'm not sure that's going to.

A (120:08)

Solve our problems, but I remember this one game I played in where it was a bunch of guys that always played this, like, half court thing, so it wasn't even like a full run. And I got so mad at it because, like, they got burned in the same pick and roll every. Like, it was like eight buckets in a row. And I was like, are you guys ever. Are you just gonna let this happen the whole time? And then none of them knew me except for one guy. And then I was like, the dick. But I just. I couldn't take it anymore. Like, I think they figured out how to break the D guys. And you're like, off to the side and then you're like, well, then I'll. I'll jump in here and if you're not going to, like, if you're not going to. If you can't figure out what it is that they're doing when they've done it eight times in a row and you're not doing anything different, like, what the fuck are we doing? I don't.

B (120:47)

Know. It's also the guy, though, too, who, who, like, does the scoring maybe, or is one of the better players, but, like, thinks that he doesn't really have to get back on defense and then yells at you at, like, his teammates for, like, letting layups happen. It's like, hey, man, you're your guys the one getting back and beating us in transition. Like, cool. Like, you know, you made a couple buckets here. But we're net negative because you're not really giving a crap about the other end of the.

A (121:08)

Court. It's really the same thing as, like, having a relationship with somebody versus, you know, stranger. Our tolerance for a stranger is incredibly low. I mean, especially when.

B (121:20)

Driving. Come on.

A (121:20)

Now.

B (121:20)

Yeah. No one's ever given anyone the benefit of the drought driving.

A (121:23)

Yeah. Not even that profound. Let's keep it moving. All right. How do I reject a relocation at work? 5, 9, 31 years old, not listing. Waiter Jim Stats. Because I've been tanking the last few years to kickstart the rebuild. I like that lower expectations around you. It's kind of like when I used to have hair. I would let it grow out long and it'd be kind of like nasty, like hockey hair as that guy in the echl. And then I would get it cleaned up and it's like, wow, look how Hot rosillo is I'm like not really but I just look better than before. I think that's a great move for you guys that are out there. Let yourselves go a little bit. Don't be lego guy, you know. Don't be the same guy. All 12 months look worse to then look better. All right, back to the email. Never played basketball but high school football. Comp would be the height, ball skills and brain of Wes Welker, but agility and speed of Tony Sierragusa. Tough combo. I live in a large western city and I work for a massive company headquarters out here. I've been working here nearly 10 years now. Generally enjoy my job and the people I work with. I've been a quote key talent development employee, gotten top performance ratings, multiple raises, promotions, et cetera. This is not intended as a brag, more laying the foundation for my issue. That's fine man. It's not bragging if you're doing it right. I make decent money and we have good benefits. My wife also works with the company is based locally, but she works remote. Over the summer I got moved into a new department, not a job I applied for initially was told I would have to travel to the main office two times per month. I was already traveling a lot for my previous role, so while this was not ideal, it wasn't a huge change for me. Then after I accepted the role, it was made clear to me that I was going to have to relocate. I was able to partially fight it off as my wife and I were expecting our first baby, a daughter we had eight weeks ago. This past week my boss told me that coming out of the holidays, she would like a more definitive timeline on when I would be relocating. I've already moved four times for this company, including moving myself back to a major mountain city when my job on the west coast was eliminated and I was transitioned to remote position. My family and my wife's family both are near us. We just had the first grandchild in July, back to the age week thing. After missing. Wait a minute, not in July. Our first grandchild of our family, which we just covered. Again after missing a lot of family events and time with our families in the last seven years because we didn't live here, my wife and I do not want to move for the foreseeable future. Where I could use the help of this esteemed committee is how do I tell my boss that relocation is not going to happen without fully torpedoing my promising career? They have roles in my city, but they are few and far between I'm unsure if the decision will kill my chances to get one of them. I've been a great employee for 10 years, but I'm anxious that all my goodwill is going to get tossed. Deciding the spot. I'm a dead man walking. Or am I a dead man walking? Or is there a way to do this that won't get me fired? Kyle, I don't know what it's like anymore. I thought it was just like, I feel like I knew a bunch of people with dads who were just like, yeah, we're going to Tennessee now. It was just like, oh.

C (124:09)

Okay. Like, I think you think that.

A (124:11)

Happened? You think dad stopped moving to Tennessee? I don't know. I just. I wonder if Covid, you know.

B (124:15)

A lot of people started moving to.

A (124:16)

Tennessee. Covid changed a lot of things. A lot of people were like, I don't have to do this shit anymore. And I mean, some companies, we're good with it and we're like, we gotta get back. So I just don't know. I don't know what, like, I've been incredibly lucky where I'm, you know, sitting in my wood panel basement here doing this thing in the stick, so to speak. But I don't know what it's like in the real world anymore for regular jobs where if it's more of a strong suggestion that everyone do this thing or if it's just like, you know, that's it, or hit the bricks. So I don't. I don't know what it's like out there.

B (124:47)

There. So just to go back this. He was. He was not told that he specifically had to relocate. And then now they're. It was kind of like on the table. And now they're just like, hey, when is that going to.

A (125:01)

Happen? Might have been like page 12. He said, after he said, quote. Then after I accepted the role, it was made clear to me that I was going to have to.

B (125:09)

Relocate. Yeah, I think that, I mean, he probably should have said that part.

A (125:14)

If he's stringing it along though. And the boss is like, hey, after the holidays, I to.

D (125:16)

Want. Want.

A (125:17)

Some. You know, he probably could.

B (125:18)

Have. Probably could have clarity about the.

A (125:20)

Real estate to be like, yeah, now you're kidding. Now you look like you're moving the goalposts. Like, now that someone asked you, hey, what's going on with that project? And you're just like, you know, actually, I think this on projects is. Is unfair or something. You know, it's just. It might be tough to bring it out now that you've been basically quiet about it for this.

B (125:36)

Long. I don't like that I'm going to say this, but like, and I don't, you know, nobody likes Toby, obviously, but like, this feels like an HR problem. Like, you were not. You, you did not have to. This was not part of the deal. And now it's just sprung on you that this is part of you taking this gig. Like, that's, that's not really like a thing that should happen. That's, that's something that, that's what the reason HR is there to kind of protect you, even though it probably might like make you look like an asshole in the long term and who knows? But like, that's probably the most official and clean route you can go. I mean, maybe just be honest with your boss and just say, hey, like, this was not something we agreed to and I'm, I just had a kid and just kind of like lay out all the stuff that you have. Like, I'm, I like this company. I'm good here. But like, this is not something I'm really willing to do in the near future. And if it becomes a huge problem, then that you have to kind of raise it up the levels. But like, I think, I think, I think they, anyone would be on your side if this wasn't part of the deal when you took the job or at least the new.

A (126:26)

Position. Yeah, this comes down to like the scouting report. What's the scouting report on your boss. You know, she's telling you she wants a definitive timeline now, is she? Because bosses have to remember all of their encounters and you only have to remember your encounter with her. Which is the downside of being the boss is like, you're talking to all these different people. And like, you know, I've always had some things in the past where I'm like, you know, look, this is what was said and you know, the advantages with me here because I only have to remember what you said to me. I don't have to remember everything that you said, like to all these other people. And it's very simple that you could have gotten lost here. She may be remembering this scenario as if you accepted the job after you were told that you were going to have to relocate. And it doesn't mean anybody's evil or anybody's doing anything different. But like, you've got to figure out, out the scattering port. Is this somebody that just forgets things? Is this someone that doesn't care and is going to just hopefully march right over anybody that's in the way of her decision, she may fully know that you took the job before you knew this relocation thing. And she's thinking in the boss employee relationship that you're just going to go with it. And the last thing I'd ever want to do is give somebody advice on this. And the guy checks in, two weeks later he's like, yeah, I just got fired. Thanks man. But every one of our professional lives, I think you could break it down to something really simple. You'll be fucked with for a long time with the ultimate goal of hoping to do it to a point of, you can't really fuck with me now on.

B (127:48)

This. Ultimately, it sounds like you're in a good spot.

A (127:51)

Too. Ten years in, you're probably getting close to that. Yeah. Year 10, you've moved four times. If everything that you said to us was true, I mean, what's the worst that can happen by saying I'm not. I didn't accept it. It based on this for all of these factors. We just had the kid, he's here with his grandparents. The family thing is incredibly important to me. My wife already works for the company. I'm going to do everything within reason to want to work here for a really long time. I mean, if you don't at least stick up for yourself, then not only is this going to trample you, they're going to think of you. Their scattering report on you is that you're going to always give in in. So this is always a case by case scenario here where, you know, I don't. Again, we're just reading the email here, but like to that original point, like when I was at espn, I knew like no matter what was happening in all those decisions, for the most part I'm like, yeah, but guess what, like you're kind of we can fuck with this guy list. And it was a very short list of people that they couldn't do that to. But I was on the longer list of all these people so I could get mad up into a point and then it's like, oh, how mad are you going to be? Like, you're still working in here? Yeah, yeah, you're gonna, you're gonna talk yourself into this tough guy thing. And then ultimately when it comes down to it, it's like, yeah, this is still probably the best option. I'm just gonna have to deal with the things that I'm gonna have to deal with until you think you can get to a point of guess what? Now I don't have to deal with this anymore. I don't have to accept these changes or whatever. I don't know if 10 years is enough. I don't know if you've been valuable enough for you to be able to get away with that. But I, like anybody, I would say you at least have to accept. Have to offer them your position. And based on the timeline, if that's correct, be like, I would not have accepted this role. So we need to figure out another way to do this. And be not defiant, but, like, defend yourself in a way that's, you know, don't talk for too long, which is something I would struggle with. But you can just go, hey, here's the timeline. Boom, boom, boom. I've been this, I've done this. These are why, the reasons I have to stay here. And let's see if we can't figure out some sort of compromise. And. And you know what? Sometimes with bosses, it's amazing because they just go, hey, this person's right. And I don't really have them. You'll never know. And like, some of the people that are managers that are listening to the pod right now, you know, the shit you try to pull, like, you know, some of the stuff that you try to pull on people, it's like, well, maybe I can get this person to go over here. And I'm trying to, like, figure out all this stuff. And, you know, sometimes it's great, too, as an employee, like, if you become the employee, it's like, I can't really fuck with that guy and he's valuable. So again, I don't want to get an email in here and be like, yeah, great, they let me go. But if everything you said to us in this email is true, you at least have to present your case and go in there in a way that they feel like there is no leeway because they'll take advantage of that too. All right, that'll do it. For life advice. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Steve. Make sure you check out our YouTube page and subscribe. And also. So, holiday schedule, how are we doing this? We're doing a Monday pod and a Wednesday.

B (130:50)

Pod. Yep. We're going to have Gruden on Monday and Fred Warner on.

A (130:55)

Wednesday. Sounds like that'll be some good content. Ryan Rossillo show, part of the Barstool Network.